Choice? I can’t decide
Remember when it was easy to decide which MMO you were going to play? Of course it was the one you had a subscription for, interrupted by the occasional single player game that needed your immediate attention.
Now I look at my desktop and find that I could start a Tetris game with the number of square colourful icons that exist in the MMO section. I with the introduction of EQ2X and LoTRo that are bursting their way into the market I really do feel spoilt for choice and slightly overwhelmed.
My desktop currently offers me the following:
- F2P MMOs
- EverQuest II Extended
- DDO Unlimited
- Runes of Magic
- Allods Online
- Wizard101
- Free Realms
- Myst Online – Uru Live
- The Chronicles of Spellborn (Which has gone now)
- MMO Trials
- Star Trek Online – Free Trial
- Champions Online – Free Trial
- Warhammer Online
- Active MMOs
- City of Heroes
- All Points Bulletin
- Eve Online
- Inactive MMOs
- Fallen Earth
- LoTRo
- Guild Wars
I play a little of this and that when possible and I’m in the right frame of mind. AS you maybe able to tell Eve is currently holding my attention for now, but I’d like to ask, How do you decide what game to load next?
A Swarming Alien? Shoot it in the face!
A little while ago Steam hired the team behind the original Alien Swarm which was an Unreal mod (not to be confused with Ben 10: Alien Swarm). In-between working on Steams other big titles L4D2/Portal2 it seems they managed to move the game onto the Source Engine and use the Steam platform, Plus they have released it for free.
Now there are a few things that instantly make this game appealing to me and it appears to many other gamers do too judging by the number of players it peaked on the Stats.
- The first thing has to be the historical link to games like Alien Syndrome and Alien Breed, which spawned wave after wave of similar games across multiple platforms during my gaming lifetime.
- Games of this genre,theme and style can make numerous film references which I can’t help but find funny
- The Co-op is the element that ties the game together and bring it to life, the built-in Voice Communications means you can instantly liaise with your team mates quickly. Which when there are Xenos breathing down your neck it’s a good thing.
On the other-side of the coin there are a couple of niggles that I’ll mention, but certainly nothing that I would say should stopping you giving it a go.
- At certain times you need to equip an object, dropping your current equipment. We’ve had this glitch and the dropped object isn’t retrievable.
- I know it’s a free game there is only 1 campaign with 7 missions. I hoped there would have been 2 campaigns slightly smaller, as a complete run through of the campaign requires a fair chunk of time by all players.
I have more to write but it’s going to wait for a follow up post.
The steam store is http://store.steampowered.com/app/630/
Direct download if you have steam is steam://install/630
Free-to-play Laser Squad Nemesis?
If you are of a certain age the the name Laser Squad will be familiar to you, either vividly or a vague recollection stored in the back of your mind somewhere.
The history blurb. The name Laser Squad was that of a computer game that was released in the late 80′s developed by a Team lead by Julian Gollop at Target Games, who was part of the Mythos Games team and delivered those Chaos, Rebel Star Raiders and of course the famous X-Com games.
After alot of difficulties around the IP of X-Com, the Gollop brothers decided to create the wonderful Laser Squad Nemesis. You can read more about the History here. I had the opportunity to meet Julian at one of the Player meet-ups and he’s a great laugh and I didn’t once blame him for the hours of my youth I lost playing his games.
The game as been in caretaker mode for some time now as the developers seek other interests and opportunities. The latest announcement on the forums by Julian is a rather sad one but shows that the potential to ensure the games future is still there.
Here is a small video I made a long time ago, but it still shows off the games unique features even if it is turn-based.
Originally spotted : http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2010/07/13/gollop-may-make-laser-squad-nemesis-free
