For our first game, we show you Rock of Ages, a quirky, quick-paced, Boulder racing game. Sound different? That’s because this charming little title is one of the strangest ideas, made into a face paced strategy game, where time is of the essence as your barrel downhill towards your opponent’s gates. The clever premise tells the story of Sisyphus, the man forever damned to push a boulder uphill, just to have it knocked back down again. One day, Sisyphus gets fed up with repeatedly having to do this meaningless task, gets the bright idea to push his boulder to the top and ride it down to smash through the gates of Hades and finally escape. After a battle with Kronos, it’s off through the gates where Sisyphus travels through time and faces several different historical figures. And their Boulders.
Although it sounds absurd, this game requires quick thinking and strategic placement to maneuver your boulder through a course to smash down your opponents door, while placing encampments to throw your enemies boulder off course. The game is played in several waves. There is a fortification wave, which allows both you and your opponent to lay down traps and other barricades such as cow soldiers, catapults, towers, and elephants, which slow down your momentum, causing less damage to your opponents door, and damaging your boulder. This wave only lasts about 30 seconds or so, and many times I found myself not being able to do what I wanted, as my opponent had already began to roll a new boulder. Your next course of action is to roll your boulder through the enemies traps, to try and ultimately smash their door down and roll into the next period of time.
The cut-scenes are ala Monty Python; little paper cut outs hilariously animated. The charm in this game is endless, and we salute the developers for going so far out there to create this bizarre gem. Rock of Ages has the honor of being the first title that we say:

DOWNLOAD THIS!!!

Just a few of the many great games in the bundle!

Not sure what the heck a Humble Bundle is? It’s a group of (great) indie games packaged into a sweet little DRM free bundle that they are willing to sell it to anyone who offers absolutely anything. The best part is that money can be split a bunch of ways for either the developers or charity. An easy to use sliding bar will let you split your $5 to $10 or more (don’t be greedy, the bundle is worth well over $60!) between the charities Child’s Play, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, or the developers of the Humble Bundle games.

The core games of the Humble Bundle #3 are Crayon’s Physics Deluxe, VVVVVV, Cogs, Hammerfight as well as And Yet it Moves. All games range between $5 to $20 alone and many have received some amazing critical remarks. Don’t worry if you’ve never heard of them, that’s part of the charm of investing in some indie gems. But wait, there’s more! (Get used to me saying that…)

If you pay more than the average donation (currently $5.47), you will also receive the contents of Humble Bundle #2! That includes Braid, Cortex Command, Machninarium, Osmosis and Revenge of the Titans. This bundle was a heavy hitter when it came out and nobody thought Humble Bundle #3 could top it…so they just threw #2 in there. Braid alone is worth $20 for the way it obliterated my mind when I played it. But wait, there’s more!

The title screen for addiction!

With the purchase of the Humble Bundle, everyone can play the amazing sandbox game, Minecraft, free until August 14! Once you begin playing Minecraft, consider it bought, because there is no way you will be able to live without it once you build your first pick. This comes just in time for it’s official release at Minecon in November. Once again, wait, there’s more!

Just announced earlier today, the hit game Atom Zombie Smasher and Steel Storm wanted in on the action and attached themselves onto the epic bundle.

So far over a quarter of a million bundles have been sold raising over $1.5 million. Check out their site for a great breakdown of how many bundles were sold for each platform (Windows, Mac or Linux) and the average of their purchases.

So just to recap, pay $6 (or more if you are charitable) and receive 12 amazing indie games, access to Minecraft until August 14, and help inspired developers and charities. Don’t forget that they are all DRM free as well, free to download and use however you wish whenever you wish. This is truly a win/win for everyone involved. Don’t miss out on these hits!

Get some Indie Humble Bundle Goodness!

Ben there Dan That is an homage to the much loved Lucasarts point and click games of old. Written by and starring Dan Marshall and Ben Ward, the game, bundled with its sequel Is on sale now on Steam for the low price of $1.24. As I usually do when I see a game priced so low I jumped over to the Steam forums to see what others had to say about the game. This is always a good practice. I am a sucker for a good bargain (thanks Grandma) and I have learned my lesson in the past by paying for stuff that I will probably never play. The comments were encouraging. “Anyone who doesn’t buy these games should be punched in the ear.” Wrote one user, “Just do it” wrote another. Ok so far so good, I thought and I went ahead got it.

Funny that I should mention the expenses that go into PC gaming, when this week all I have to talk about is games that you can play for free. Right now. There are thousands of flash games and mods that are completely free, but I’m just going to touch on the two that popped up this week that you may have heard of.

All the MMOs (Massively Multiplayer Online games) are going free-to-play these days, making most of their money on micro-transactions. In fact, World of Warcraft is really the last large one that remains with a monthly subscription. However, as of this week, it has become free-to-play!*

*Free-to-play until level 20. That’s right, start a character. play through as much as you want, whatever you want, until you reach level 20. With some great expansions and patches that have come from Blizzard in the last year, you might find yourself a little WoW-curious. It’s fine, let yourself go for a while. Now you can leisurely make your way through the first 20 levels, getting a feel for what your life may become, and then give over your first born for a year subscription.

In even awesome-er news, the hit game from Valve (aren’t they all hit games?) Team Fortress 2 has gone completely free-to-play. Forever. Never touch your wallet for some of the most amazing multiplayer gaming known to man. You will never feel as good as when you stab a Sniper in the back or blast a Heavy into a million pieces with a rocket launcher. Have no idea what I’m talking about? Get out from under your rock, watch the videos and get over to Steam to download this game now! After all, it’s free. What do you have to lose? (Except maybe a months worth of weekends.)

Some are content with paying $60 for mediocre games and $15 for less than interesting map packs. If you are not among those, perhaps it’s time to power up that old desktop (or laptop) and get into the PC gaming scene. These couple free-to-play games are merely the gateway drug to a lifetime of wallet-friendly entertainment. Heavy in the experience, light on the price.

So you now have about 9-10 months worth of gaming for the low, low price of nothing. Who said PC gaming was dying?

It's clobbering time!

Also keep in mind that Steam is constantly having deals that are impossible to beat. Seriously, check my library. It’s frightening how many games I have gotten for pennies, many of which I have never played! I will be sure to be posting every single one worth-while here, so keep an eye open!

Build a good house and NPCs will flock to it!

Gameplay in Terraria is varied, and really what you want to make of it. You start by creating your character, which means picking a hair style, then colour for hair, eyes and clothes using RGB scales up to 255. Once that’s done, you have to pick which size world you want, small, medium or large. This just decides the size of the map, as all sizes of worlds contain all available biomes and artifacts. The larger the map, the longer it takes to generate, but even large maps only take around 10 minutes tops to generate on a decent computer. Now we get to the fun part. You’ll start in the basic biome, forest, which means grass, dirt and trees, and next to you will be the first NPC, the guide. Talk to him to get a few tips on where to begin, although I’d recommend building a house, as when night falls, the zombies come out to play. You start with a basic axe and pick, which is all you really need to get started. Hack down some trees and mine some dirt and rock, build yourself a shelter, and weather the first night. After that it’s up to you, do you want to build a bigger house? Explore more of the world above? Collect resources, hunt down enemies, mine down to the bottom of the world? It’s your choice, but the more you dig and explore, the better materials you can get, and the better equipment you can create. To craft, you just have to open your inventory menu, it’s as simple as that, although more complex crafting may require you to be stood next to a forge, workbench, or an anvil.

As you explore, you’ll soon find yourself stumbling across some of the other biomes available in the game. There’s the basic dirt layer, dig further down and you’ll get to the rock layer, where there are harder enemies, but also richer rewards. Greater value minerals and metals are more likely to appear this layer, such as gold and gemstones, as well as chests containing helpful items and possibly even artifacts. Dig down even further and you’ll find yourself at the bottom of the map: Hell. Although the enemies here are some of the toughest, you’ll also find an abundance of Hellstone, the best crafting material currently in the game. Also underground in one specific section of the map will be the Underground Jungle, full of deadly insects and plants, but also items used to craft some unique pieces of equipment. If digging isn’t
your style, then after some exploration on the surface you’re likely to find the Corruption, a blight upon your world that poisons the ground and slowly spreads.

The Underground Jungle, dangerous, but full of goodies!

Or you might even come across the Dungeon, a large pre-built structure that you’ll have to fight a gatekeeper to gain access to, but which also contains a lot of high-level loot. Occasionally, you’ll also get a notification that a Meteor has landed, if you go searching for this, you’ll find a nice chunk of space rock that you can mine. This is the second best metal available, but be careful, as it’s still hot! Lastly, if you decide to climb towards the heavens, you may find yourself bumping into a Floating Island. Generally rich in high grade ores and featuring a small building with a chest, most likely containing an artifact that helps with traversing your world. Also included in Terraria are a couple of scripted events, these are currently the Blood Moon and the Goblin Invasion. At night there is a certain chance of the Blood Moon occurring, which causes zombie spawn rate to increase, and allows zombies to break down doors, so get yourself home and batten down the hatches! The Goblin Invasion happens once you have a high enough maximum health. You will get a message warning of an invasion coming from either the east or the west, and after a set time, a horde of goblins will descend upon your spawn point, it’s not all bad though, as goblins have the chance to drop a couple of really awesome items.

Combat against the varied monsters in the game is simple, all you have to do is click the mouse and you’ll swing whatever you’re holding in the direction you’re facing. Although you can use the basic tools of pick and axe to damage enemies, I recommend that you craft yourself a stronger weapon as soon as you’re able. As far as weapons go in this game, there are a wide range of types to choose from. There’s the basic sword or bow, but there are also boomerangs, guns, flails, magic spells, wands and explosives to name a few. You’re going to need stronger weapons the further you stray from the spawn point though, because the further you explore, the more powerful the enemies get. There are also currently four bosses in the game, but make sure you have good armour and weapons, and a lot of potions, because you’ll need them. With the easiest of the bosses having 3000 HP, you’ll be in it for the long haul, unless you have a friend to help out, which moves us swiftly onto…..

Multiplayer! That’s right, you and up to 7 of your friends can all get together for a massive 8 player game and conquer the world. It’s easy enough to set up a server, and then you can all join up and build, dig and destroy to your hearts content. This also makes killing the bosses that much easier, as well as just about everything else! You’ll find houses being built in no time at all with everyone helping out! I have noticed some slight latency issues when playing multiplayer with a couple of friends, but for the most part it only causes a slight problem during combat.

Eye of Cthulhu - probably the first boss you'll fight.

Graphics are what you’d expect from any 2-D side scrolling game, simple colourful and relatively pleasing to the eye. Although not top notch graphically, I feel that 2-D was a good choice for this game, as it will age well, and won’t feel dated for some time to come. The sprites for enemies, players and NPC are very traditional, but also well styled and with a surprising amount of detail. Add in the easy to distinguish terrain and item textures, (except for silver, which looks a lot like stone!) as well as the very well thought out aesthetics of the game as a whole, and you have a game that stands out well and even exceeds against some A-list titles available in terms of visual flair. Although it takes a little while for the game to load up at the start, and to close down when you finish, there are no load times in game, which is very welcome, and quite impressive when you see just how big the game worlds actually are.

Terraria also has some really good background tracks, although a little repetitive, they’re rather good tunes that change depending on time of the day and location within the world. Sound effects are what you’d expect from a 2-D game such as this, little plinking and slashing sounds that are very reminiscent of the 16-Bit era.

Although the game has no storyline, gameplay is still varied enough to keep you coming back for more, mix in multiplayer with a friend or two, and you’ll find yourself struggling to put it down. Fans of 2-D Metroid or Castlevania games, as well as Legend of Zelda and to a lesser extend Minecraft and other similar style games, should definitely check this one out, and at $9.99, (£5.99 in the UK) you’re not going to break the bank. Well worth the cost, and with content updates continuing to expand the gameplay, this is one game you’ll find yourself returning to again, and again, and again!

9/10

Welcome to Madness

Madness Returns continues the story of Alice, who is 19 years of age now, and has succumbed once again to the guilt, horror, and terrible thoughts that lurk in her mind. Wonderland has changed. It’s not the bright, beautiful, and colorful place it once was. The rivers of water have been replaced by rivers of blood. Mechanical creatures are full and plenty. Old friends are cruel, and unhappy about the world the live in. And that darn Cheshire cat is just as sarcastic and unhelpful as ever. The majority of the game will be spent rebuilding Alice’s wonderland (which is a metaphor for her mind), but some sequences are played out in a macabre, gritty version of real-life London.

Alice focuses on two types of gameplay elements. There are platforming sequences that involve bits of puzzles, whether that be finding, and peppering a Pig’s snout, turning valves, and pulling levers. Alice can jump quite high, being able to do a total of four jumps, and can also glide, using her dress as a parachute of sorts (think Marilyn Monroe over the steam vent). These parts are quite well done, giving the game a throw-back to what 3D platforming used to be. Albeit the puzzles are rather simple, the jumping is intuitive and fun. Half way through the game, the puzzles start to mix up, throwing in picture sliders, timed pressure plates, and 2D sequences. These too are

Jump, jump, glide!

The other element of game-play is combat. The game plays as your standard button mash hack-n-slash, with tons of charm thrown
in. There are 4 weapons that are given to Alice, each with its own unique ability. First Alice is given the Vorpal Blade (it goes Snicker-snak!); Alice’s standard melee quick attacks, that can be chained from enemy to enemy. Then there is the Pepper Grinder; used for shooting down far off or unreachable enemies, and also used in puzzles. The Hobby Horse; Used to break smash-able walls, and deal massive damage to enemies. And lastly, there is the Teapot Cannon; shoots a cannonball out of the front, doing an area of damage. Different enemies take different combination’s of these four weapons to defeat. Alice is also given an Umbrella which is used to parry attacks, and return the fire to the enemies. Using all of these is a must, and using the right combination will save your life. Of course, there is always Hysteria. This is Alice’s “Hulk smash!” mode. She turns into a white bride that cries blood, and goes absolutely crazy on her opponents. Damage is increased, damage received is decreased, and some new moves become available. Hysteria can only be activated once down to the last rose of life, and is only active for a short amount of time.

That's one hysterical Alice.

The overall story in Alice: Madness Returns is a dark, menacing memory that never quite feels so maniacal. The parts of the story in which Alice is thrown out of Wonderland and back into real life, are boring segments that try to enrich the story, but end up hurting it. The children are annoying, the Doctor’s character design is nowhere near on par with Alice’s, and some major graphical issues (i.e. muddy textures, texture pop-in, and screen tear) happen in these segments. I felt taken out and annoyed each time I was thrust out of Wonderland, and these segments felt completely unnecessary. These segments would have fared much better as mere memories in the game, instead of full fledged game segments. Whilst in Wonderland however, is a different story. This is where the game comes to life, albeit with a few problems as well. The camera is the biggest complaint about Wonderland. Awkward angling puts Alice in places she does not mean to be far to often, and ends up in death quite a bit. The camera can be controlled by moving the right Analog stick, but auto angle will end up in a wall more times than not. Auto aiming whilst dodging is a problem as well. Often times while locked on to an enemy, it is very hard to dodge the attack, even with a proper timed dodge roll. More times than not, Alice would fly face first into the baddie, instead of moving out of the way of the attack. Avoidable? yes. Annoying? Indeed.

These problems are all outweighed by the overall product, so don’t be sad! Wonderland is beautiful.The brown and blue days of Unreal Engine 3 seem to be over lately, as with games like Bulletstorm and Alice showing how much color that engine can put out. The colors in Alice are beautiful and vibrant, which pulls the gamer into feeling for the land when it is all swept away by the Red Queen. The differences in environments is astounding, traveling from Wonderland woods, to the Mechanical Castle of the Mad hatter, to the Land Behind the looking glass. Each environment stands out and feels different, with it’s own little quirks not found in other places. The story changes Alice’s dress from land to land, making her fit right in with where she is (although there is some DLC which lets the player pick some unique dresses). The feeling of wonderland, and losing that wonderland are carried out very well, and shown even better.

These cards aren't here to play

As an added bonus, gamers who purchase Alice: Madness returns new, get a code to download the Original American Mcgee’s Alice on XBLA, or PSN. This is the unabridged, untouched, original Alice game in all it’s glory. The controls have not transpired well from PC to controller, and the graphics are very underwhelming (hey, it’s from 2000!), but it is an awesome gesture, and still fun experience for any of those whom didn’t play the first. This game is remarkably shorter than Madness Returns, and will take around 5 hours to complete.

Even though there is that something missing from making this feel like a completely crazy masterpiece, the workings for a fantastic IP are here, and we at B-sides can’t wait to see what American Mcgee does next. The man’s ideas on established works are quite genius, and original. Of course, nothing is perfect, and Alice is not with it’s fair share of problems, but this IP gives us hope for the future. It’s nice to have something different rather than your run of the mill 3rd person action platformer game, and Alice is that something different. B-sides gives it an 8 out of 10.

8/10