PC Game Review: Krater

You may not have heard of the company FatShark, but after playing Krater you will agree with me that they should be a gaming company to be watched. This game has a lot of the features that make a game a classic. While there are some things lacking, this is a young company so they have room to grow. 

The Story

Krater is a top down RPG dungeon crawler set in a post apocalyptic world.  Humanity has settled around a giant crater created by some long forgotten war or cataclysm.  This crater leads into the Underside. This is where treasures of ancient technologies can be found and this is what drives conflict in the game. Everyone wants a piece of the pie. Those who have the pie don't want to share. The resulting tensions drive deadly competition. Top this off with mutated animals and you have a recipe for awesome! Krater has a great feel. It's pretty, quirky, and everyone wears masks & dress weird. Its this atmosphere is what drives me to go deeper in to the game.  The problem with this is that the story is not driving me deeper. The story is not compelling. The world is. But good games are defined not only by the quality of the graphics and mechanics, but also by the story. I get the tingle of a potential good story but it feels lack luster after a while.

Game Play 

The combat mechanics in Krater are very well done. You control a squad of three soldiers. You choose between 4 classes to fill the ranks. They are
1) Bruiser: This is your damage soaker, your tank, your decoy.

2) Slayer, melee damage per second unit. 

3) Regulator, ranged damage per second unit. 

4) Medikus, the medic/healer of the group. 

Each soldier has two skills and a gadget. This allows you to manage 9 different skill sets at one time with them from different sources.  The squad tactics are well thought out and fun. This makes you think about how you use your soldiers and their skills & tech. Large battles can get really frantic, since you are making sure that the right soldiers are taking damage, getting healed while the others are dealing damage. This is why I feel the 3 unit squad is a good limit. Additionally, you can add depth to your characters and their skills by upgrading each soldier and skills. You find boosters and implants, or craft them as the game progresses.  Krater gives you a ton of crafting items and taking advantage of the crafting system is simple and strait forward. While I haven't found any weapon blueprints, I have relied on what is dropped in game to put things together. This isn't that bad because a lot of the weapons are pretty epic. The names for them are awesome as well.

Culture

The beauty of this game is it makes a lot of Nerd culture references.  I have seen Star Wars, League of Legends, and Clutch references in the game so far. I am sure I have probably missed or not understood others as well.  It adds to the quirkiness and fun of the Krater.

Final Assessment

This game is fun, but a weak story holds it back, as well as a fair number of bugs.  When this article was written multiplayer was still lacking. Since the video review below there have been some updates that have solved some of the graphical bugs and added a boot camp was added to give some tutorial where it was lacking. This in turn helped to to understand how to use certain items and level up a couple of my soldiers that would not otherwise level up. Still. something that I don't really like is the lack of variety in skills.  You can find unique characters with different skills, but most of the soldiers within a class all have the same two skills.  It gets a little stale after a while.  Krater is still a great game for the price paid.  The music and sfx are good, the gameplay is fun, and the atmosphere is well designed.

With bugs and all I give Krater a solid 2 Triforces out of 3.

You can get Krater on Stream for $14.99 for the standard edition and $19.99 for the collector's edition.

Video Review

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Episode 2:

Episode 3:

Episode 4:

Episode 5:

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Mobile Game Review: To-Fu, The Trial of Chi

Introduction:

Fortune Kitty & Chi.

You stick on whatever surface you hit
unless it is unique like metal or glass.

The Amazon Appstore gives away one paid app per day. If this is news to you, where have you been for the last year? This game is the free app of the day for 6/18/2012. Now, the free apps of the day vary in quality or at least in my level of interest. But when I saw the title I did a double take. It was so ridiculous I had to set aside time just to play it. It was the right call. This game is so strangely fun and amusing it has what it takes to be a hit! This is a game designed for casual gaming. Much like Angry Birds, Cut the Rope and Where's My Water, this game is designed on the simple user interface that makes the game fun and easy to play for users at all levels.

Some planks rotate, some moves\
up & down or horizontally.

The Premise:

You are To-Fu. You are a little ninja to-fu that must collect Chi and get to the Fortune Kitty (a pink fortune cookie). It is really fun and funny.

Spikes kill... but in a cute way...

Metal makes To-Fu bounce
rather than stick to the wall.

The Game Play:

The game has the basics for making a good, simple game. All you need to do is touch To-Fu and pull the character towards the area you want him to fly. The objective of this is to move him through obstacle courses. The expressions on his face as you stretch him and watch him fly is just wonderful! There are minimum moves you can try to shoot for to accomplish the obstacle course. You can also collect little blue spheres called Chi. To finish the course you must get the Fortune Kitty. It is so simple and easy. At the same time it is challenging at points. The obstacles are varied and entertaining. 

Some buzz saws are stationary.

Other buzz saws are mobile.

Impatient Much? 

Bricks crumble a little after you touch them.

If playing through the levels is just too tedious for you, there are a couple in app purchases for $0.99 each available to you. One unlocks all 100 levels contain in the game. This is a wise move on the part of the developers because it isn't necessary for the game, but the option is great IF you want to move faster. The other is called the Golden To-Fu and when you launch To-Fu it makes it so he flies to all the Chi and gets to the Fortune Kitty in a single move. It is also $0.99. Both in app purchases works on multiple devices so you get more bang for your buck. No need to buy them once for each device you have.

Maturity Rating:

This app should be rated as E for Everyone. The game contains nothing that would qualify it for an other rating.

Final Assessment:

This app is available for free until a little after 12 AM Pacific Time. After that it will be $0.99. In either case I suggest it as a great casual game. It is well thought out and executed game. It deserves a 3 out of 3 Triforce rating. It is currently only available through the Amazon Appstore,. The Google Play version is a Free Ad-supported version. The iOS version is also available in an Ad-supported Free version. 

Additional Screenshots:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mobile Game Review: Aftermath XHD

Introduction:

Zombies have been on my mind. It may have something to do with me being friends with Dr. Bishop, an English professor who has published a scholarly work on zombies. Or maybe it's because of my zombie themed children's book I've written and that is in the process of being illustrated. Also, I have recently posted an article on my blog Something Geeky This Way Comes. Either way, zombies are everywhere and I can't seem to escape them! So one can see that when confronted with another Zombie Apocalypse game I had to jump on it. 

The Story:

Your standard story line for a Zombie Apocalypse game. You are, as far as you know, the last living person on Earth or at least in your area. Starting out with a pistol, you must navigate the undead infested cityscape. The story progresses from there. And there is a story. I would presume to ruin it for you.

Controls:

Standard d-pad on the left hand side of the screen. The right hand of the side of the screen controls the view but is not limited to a d-pad. This was a wise move. To throw a grenade you simple tap the location you want it to land. The problem is that sometimes by swiping the screen you can accidentally throw grenade. Still, this isn't a game changer, just a petty annoyance. On the top right is the weapon and ammo indicator. You can change weapons and reload ammo by tapping the related image. The upper left shows health, grenade counter and pause button. The bottom left is the sprint button. Considering the game is not optimized for controllers (yet...) it is a well designed interface. The reason for the yet is because it seems that the game is well supported and very well designed.

Game Play: 

I love it! The game is third person high-up prospective. The system for firing is simple. You have a flashlight. You aim the beam at your target and you fire. You move, you run, you shoot, you throw grenade. You swear as you get cornered. You pray when you see a horde coming at you. There are objectives you have to achieve. This is part of how the story moves on. You pick up weapons as you go. You can run out of ammo. By picking up a "gun" image you gain more ammo. Same goes for grenades.

The zombies are well done. There are slow and fast ones. There are VERY fast as well. There are also hard to kill ones and the type of zombies that throw projectiles. All in all, a good balance. Since there are no difficulty modes the game is rather difficult at times.

Guns are good as well. A pistol with infinite ammunition is the only one that does not run out. Then a submichine gun, shotgun, sniper rifle and a typical battle rifle. Combined with the grenades, it is a good balance of weapons.

Graphics:

Not the top of the line, but it is well done. Honestly, I think it does well enough and actually adds to the game play. The darkness combined with the flashlight beam makes it wonderful.

Maturity Rating:

This game is rated as PG-16 ( Parental Guidance for ages under  16). The level of graphic violence merits this rating. There is no mature language, just gun use and some gore. There is no sexual contant.

Final Assessment:

In the end I give this game 2 2/3 out of 3 Triforce. At $5.99 in the Google Play store, this game is quite amazing. You can also purchase the game from the Amazon Appstore for the same price. The iOS version is $2.99 and works for both iPhone and iPad. I do advise you play it on a tablet for best experience, but it could also be played nicely on a large phone's screens. I do suggest you be running a dual core processor at least. This will ensure the game play remains zippy. I don't give it a full 3 out of 3 because of the one annoyance of the grenade mishaps. Still, perhaps that is due to my sausage fingers. In either case, if running from and at zombies while shooting them, this is the game for you my friend.

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