Space Pirates and Zombies is a little jewel of a game developed by a two person workshop called MinMax games.  It is an interesting mix of 2D space action à la Escape Velocity mixed with some rudimentary RPG aspects and varying ship customization.  At first glance, the game may seem very simple. You go from planet to planet, pick a side to fight for, buy whatever’s available, then move on.  However, as the game goes on, you’ll find yourself beginning to grasp the subtle differences between each ship and its weapon load outs as you start doing more and more experimentation.  Although a typical SPAZ game won’t be extremely long (20-25 hours tops), it is extremely hard to get enough research points to max out every category.  This leaves a lot of room for replayability.

more »

75 million dollars.  Apparently, that’s what you can get from the Rhode Island government as a game development studio, despite having no prior published games at all.  No wonder this state is broke.  Well, as a gamer, RI resident, and taxpayer, I feel that it is my duty to at least try out the demo that was recently released (and provide faint praise) in order to do my little part.  But wait!  This first game, called Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, isn’t even developed here in RI.  The studio is actually created by the Maryland-based subsidiary of 38 Studios.  Well, that does it.  Time to bust out the gloves of bashing +5

more »

2011 Gaming.Stackexchange Picks

It’s now the end of 2011, and it’s time to look back on some of our most memorable gaming moments of the year.  This has been a great year for gaming, with so many excellent AAA titles such as Deus Ex Human Revolution, Skyrim, Uncharted 3, and Portal 2, along with many indie hits such as Bastion, Frozen Synapse, Terraria, and last but not least, Minecraft.  We asked many Gaming SE users and blog writers to share their most surprising moments, most enjoyable games, and the games they are most looking forward to in 2012.

more »

So there I was playing Skyrim like everyone else in the world when Egosoft released a DLC called X3: Albion Prelude bridging the gap between their previous game X3: Terran Conflict and their upcoming X: Rebirth.  Now, being a HUGE fan of Egosoft and the X-series, I immediately punted on my current Skyrim playthrough (sorry, Punchy the Khajiit!) and snagged this little gem of a DLC.  Not many games will make me put down Skyrim, but an X-series game is definitely one—possibly the only one.

more »

2nd Review Attempt: The Revenge of the Zombies

Now that the launch mess has been sorted out, I finally got my hands on a proper copy of Dead Island.  Dead Island is best described as being the unholy lovechild of Left 4 Dead 2 and Borderlands, combining the zombie survival genre with Borderlands style loot collecting of weapons. Being a fan of any game involving zombies, I spent 30 hours thoroughly exploring and enjoying the game before writing this review.

Warning. Contains some spoilers!

more »

Tropico 4 is the latest installment published by Kalypso where you rule over an island sweat-shop paradise.  Having played the previous games, I am eager to resume my enlightened rule over the puny Tropicans while exploring the new features and gameplay.  There are 20 new missions and 10 different maps waiting to be dominated explored.

more »

I am a huge fan of games involving zombies (I’m also a sucker for games involving jet packs). I am COMPELLED to play any zombie game, be it Resident Evil, Left 4 Dead or Atom Zombie Smasher (great indie game, by the way). Naturally when the first Dead Island teaser video came out showing the infection of a little girl using a nonlinear sequence presentation, I was hooked. I have been waiting eagerly ever since to play this game. Unfortunately, despite the release of the game on Steam, I am still eagerly waiting to play this game. So with no game to review due to its extreme bugginess, I have to occupy my time in another manner, so I present to you:

The 10 Buggiest (released) Games of All Time

more »

The hacking mini-game in Deus Ex Human Revolution is quite entertaining and is a great way of getting into places that offer more experience and loot as a reward.  Here are a few tips and tricks that can be used to greatly improve your chances of breaking into a system and getting the goods.

more »

Global Agenda is an online team-based third person shooter that recently went to the free-to-play model.  The game world is set in a post apocalyptic 22nd century Earth where a severe global disaster has decimated the majority of Earth’s population and a tyrannical government called the Commonwealth rules through an army of artificially intelligent robots.  Inhabitable land in this desolate world is scarce, and subject to intense scrabbles between Agencies for domination.

more »

I previously alluded to the fact that the most common form of death in the X-Universe is death by incineration from plasma burst generators.  Well the second most common death is due to overconfidence.  In a regular style game, if you die, you can curse a few times and reload an earlier safe, hoping you didn’t lose too much progress.  In a dead is dead game, if you die, its game over.

So here I am, hugging a space station for dear life while deadly combat drones buzz and swarm nearby trying to get some pot shots at me due to a moment of weakness and me being over confident.  Look on the bright side, at least I’m not dead yet.

Despite objections by the owner, stations are great shields when in a bind.

more »