Score: 6

"A VAST Improvement! ...But Still too difficult"

submission: StormWinds:TLC

date: November 23, 2009

When I reviewed the previous game Stormwinds 1.5 I tore it apart for its insane difficulty and lack of helpful features such as hints. At the time I didn't even know that a third installment had been released. Stormwinds the Lost Campaign has almost everything I asked for. I wanted less difficulty: this game is less difficult, but still by no means easy. I wanted more manageable waves of enemies: This game has that to a degree, so preparing appropriate defenses is less of an ordeal. I also wanted strategic hints: and this game has strategic hints! ...However, Stormwinds The Lost Campaign still has the same weird upgrade system as the previous version so bringing new weapons up to speed later on in a campaign is still a huge pain. Nevertheless I am quite pleased with the new forms of enemies and new defensive turrets. The new music is also great, but I was nonetheless relieved to hear the classic Stormwinds theme is still present.

After 2 games it seems that Stormwinds is finally getting it right!

Animation: 3
Sound and Music: 4
Interactivity: 3
Originality: 3
Weirdness: 2
Overall score: 3/5

Score: 4

"This Has Really Got Me Steamed..."

submission: StormWinds 1.5

date: November 15, 2009

...And I REALLY wish I meant that in a good way. While I thoroughly enjoyed the previous iteration of this game: StormWinds 1.5 has made the fatal error of trying to fix what isn't broken. I appreciate the new enemies, new weapons, new upgrades and new campaign. What I don't appreciate are the new layers of difficulty. With its wonky control scheme, Stormwinds is a tricky game to get into, multiply that by the increased difficulty in 1.5 and you have an experience that is no longer enjoyable. It's the inflexibility of the campaigns that makes this game utterly unplayable. Without some inkling of recommendation as to which weapons are ideal, you often find yourself with the wrong weapons for the job and not enough resources to purchase the right ones. Thanks to the weird experience based upgrade system you have no way of bringing new turrets up to snuff either, this naturally causes them to quickly be scrapped by the swarms of steam powered jerks that are constantly harassing you. A good defense game should allow the player to experiment a little, this game doesn't.

Thus ends the rant of my review, now for the helpful part:
1: Make the game less difficult.
2: Reduce the number of the enemies or increase the base hit points of all turrets. ...Or better yet, do both of those things.
3: Put some strategic hints in this game ...seriously! We need them.
4: Tweak the upgrade system, experience should be put in a common pool where they can be spent on turrets of the player's choosing. Upgrades should apply to ALL turrets of that type regardless of how long they have been around.

Implement these changes in Stormwinds 2 or Stormwinds 1.6 or whatever and you'll have a game that I'll buy no matter how much you charge for it!

Animation: 3
Sound and Music: 2
Interactivity: 0
Originality: 3
Weirdness: 2
Overall score: 2/5

Score: 6

"Canab-AAAARGH!"

submission: Canabalt

date: November 4, 2009

I have no complaints in the animation department. The gray apocalyptic environment provides a more than suiting backdrop for the game... I would argue that most of its appeal lies in its background environment and music. The ominous mechs, roaring fighter craft (and for those skilled enough to see one) massive airships are all visually interesting.

The rest of the game hasn't got much going for it though. This was made in five days, which is immediately apparent because its single key control scheme hasn't got much depth (which isn't necessarily a bad thing.) The physics are reasonable and the main character's superhuman running and jumping abilities would make even a certain pair of plumbers envious. This still doesn't do much for the game's consistently unfair difficulty however. One of the things that really kills this game in the playability department is its unforgiving nature, it has a number of features that I don't like.
1- The game hasn't any discernible ending (as far as I know) so no matter what you do you're GUARANTEED to lose eventually.
2- 99% of your success (or rather the postponement of your eventual failure) is entirely dependent on luck. Yep, that's what I said... luck.
3- If so much as one pixel of the characters shoe hits the ledge of a building it's an automatic game over.

There is a small level of strategy to breaking your own records. Purposely tripping over objects to modulate your speed can give you more time to react if you need to crash through a building or skip over a proximity bomb. However if you slow yourself down too much you could wind up breaking your nose against a brick wall and furthermore your entire body several stories below.

Animation: 4
Sound and Music: 3
Interactivity: 2
Originality: 3
Weirdness: 2
Overall score: 3/5

Score: 6

"Maybe Too Hardcore"

submission: WarioLand 3 - Pool of Rain

date: June 7, 2009

While this sounds like a solid song I'm a little too close to the original theme to fully appreciate this remix. The instruments give it a little too much oomph in my opinion. With that electric guitar dominating the song it loses that secluded pond feeling and sounds more like a theme befitting a horrifically polluted swamp at the edge of a factory. Not that such a setting would be beyond the realm of Wario of course. Everything else about this is great; I'm just a purist when it comes to video game remixes.

Instruments: 2
Composition: 4
Tempo: 4
Balance: 3
Originality: 3

Overall score: 3/5

Score: 7

"Good Ambiance"

submission: Super Mario Land - 4-1

date: June 3, 2009

As far as video game remixes go, this one really does the job. This piece flawlessly recaptures the Asian feel of the Chai Kingdom from Super Mario Land but it doesn't do anything too original with the music ...but that may be just what some purists are looking for. My only grievance with this tune is the tempo; it's just a little too fast for my taste.

Instruments: 4
Composition: 4
Tempo: 2
Balance: 4
Originality: 3
Overall score: 3/5