App Review No. 52 Alpha Wave

Strong Points:
Nice Galaga/Space Invaders gameplay
Hyper modes are varied
Super bomb is powerful but not unbalancing
Graphics are good
Weapons are varied
There are a variety of enemies
Difficulty modes change the gameplay a lot while still not making it impossible or too easy
Music is catchy and sound effects are good
Graphics are OK

Weak Points:
Leaderboards are saved to specific difficulties rather than levels
For some sections of levels, you can just stand still in the middle and not get hit
Some enemies are overpowered
Not enough modes

First Impressions: Wasteland 2/Helldivers

These two games have some parts in them which are similar and some parts that are not.

Live Blog: Ultimate Pokémon Expert X and Y Battle Tournament UK 2014

9:41:

I am just driving down to London on my way to the Ultimate Pokémon Expert X and Y Battle Tournament UK 2014 (wow that's a long name). Sadly, my Pikachu onesie didn't come in time (there is a cosplay competition as well) so I've just bought the Pokéballs that Satamer and I got for preordering Pokémon X and Y as well as two figurines (Groudon and Torchic). I'm afraid that I will have to refrain from mentioning my team in case any of you readers are participating today. I don't want to scare you with the power of my team now, do I? (or give you an unfair advantage for that matter). More updates will come throughout the day.

Goodbye for now, Harry

11:47:

Gotten to the tournament and are still waiting for doors to open... 15 minutes after they were meant to open. Oh well. More later.

Goodbye for now, Harry

12:37:

We're in! It's an hour late but we're in!

More later.

Goodbye for now, Harry

12:49:

Group draws will start in about 10 minutes so I might not get to write anything for a while. Then again, I might. Johnny Vegas is hosting but the real celebrities are the three starter mascots! Right?

Goodbye for now, Harry

13:22:

I have been drawn and am competing on Table 1. The battles will start later so stay tuned for them. In other news, I have gotten absolutely loads of StreetPass hits! More later. 

Goodbye for now, Harry

13:50:

We (my mum and I) just spun the Wheel of Swag (yes that's what it's called). I won a Pokédex Trainer Kit and my mum won a Yvetal key ring. Annoyingly that's all of the merchandise here today. Anyway, battling should start soon so stay tuned. Just a little factoid: with us today are the UK two time masters champion (who isn't actually competing today) and the junior UK champion (who is). More later.

Goodbye for now, Harry

14:46:

About a half an hour ago, I finished the qualifying group matches. I'm sorry for not posting sooner but I had a train to catch. Anyway, the results: loss, loss, loss and guess what? Loss. Oh, well. I had better start training for the national qualifying later in May. Until then.

Goodbye for now, Harry

First Impressions: War Thunder

War Thunder is another PS4 game that we played at EGX. This one is a shooter where you play as a pilot of a fighter plane set in the WW2 era which leads to some interesting control choices. I've since downloaded this game on Steam (it's free) and together Satamer and I have spent four hours on it.

First Impressions: Titanfall

The Titans Have Landed. This is the next generation of first person shooters with bigger guns, better graphics, more unrealistic but awesome jumping and mechs. Massive mechs with machine guns. From the ten minutes or so I have played of this game (I am now officially an expert!), I have found it both enjoyable and incredibly frustrating. I enjoyed the gameplay with the parkour and titans but I was frustrated with mostly, my and other people's skills (mine being quite poor and other people seeming to have participated in the world championship of headshotting).

First Impressions: Hearthstone

Hearthstone is a card game based around the Warcraft series of characters from Blizzard's games Warcraft and World of Warcraft. I'd been meaning to go on it for quite some time and EGX was as good a time as any to start.

Note - Clean Up

After the increase in the amount of views we've been getting daily (20/30 to 50/70) and the amount of posts we've put up (over 200 now) we decided to give the blog a good clean up to prepare it for all the new viewers we've been getting. This included:

First Impressions: Cloudbuilt

The first thing that I have to talk about with Cloudbuilt is not the gameplay or the premise like normal but is, instead, the graphics. They're just beautiful. Set out like a crisper, more comic book like Borderlands, the graphics are sharp, colourful and amazing. The light that you follow sparkles as do the sparks created from a wall jump. Cloudbuilt is definitely a game that takes advantage of the PS4's graphical capabilities and it uses them really well. Just beautiful to look at.

First Impressions: Injustice: Gods Among Us

Injustice: Gods Among Us is a unique fighter set in the DC universe that focuses on precise moves and combos rather than chaotic button mashing (although this can still be an option). We had already played the game on the PS3 a few months ago, so I had a good idea about what was going on.

First Impressions: Super Exploding Zoo/Steamworld Dig: A Fistful of Dirt

I didn't get enough time to play through both of these thoroughly and so I've decided to do a joint First Impressions.

First Impressions: TowerFall Ascension

TowerFall Ascension is another of the indie games that I played at EGX and this is one of the few multiplayer games that I lost. I only got to play the multiplayer mode (a four-player fighter) so this First Impressions will only be about that.

First Impressions: Elder Scrolls Online

So, this is a game that I have been waiting to play for a long time and so far, I haven't been disappointed. When the game works that is.

First Impressions: OlliOlli/Fez/The Swapper

For this First Impressions, I will be doing three games in this post as I didn't get a good enough look to write too much about all of them separately. All these games are on the PS4.

First Impressions: Final Horizon

Final Horizon is a new take on the tired Tower Defence genre and from what I could see they mainly change it by cranking up the speed, scrapping the strategic placement and giving you a superpower at the end. All in all, this could be a not only a new take on an old genre but a new genre all together.

Video Game Character of the Month - April 2014 - Om Nom - Cut the Rope

Video Game Character of the Month

April 2014

Om Nom
Cut the Rope

Overview:
Now, Om Nom, do you want some candy? You know you do, now that's a good boy/green monster creature thing. Now, eat the... Ow! He bit me! Right, anyway, this month it's the turn of another app based character and I chose Om Nom. Well, how could you say no to that face (or the candy)?
A quick bit of info on Om Nom: