Monaco: What's Yours Is Mine - Review

Developer: Pocketwatch Games
Publisher: Majesco Entertainment
Designers: Andy Schatz, Andy Nguyen
Artist: Adam deGrandis
Composer: Austin Wintory
Platoforms: Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X (Steam), Xbox 360 (Xbox Live Arcade), Linux
Release date: April 24th
Genre: Action, Adventure, Indie
Co-op and single player

Monaco: What's Yours Is Mine is a top-down heist game where you can only see what's in your characters line of sight. You have different characters with different roles and abilities (example: the locksmith, opens locks and doors quicker and the mole, able to dig through walls), some are avalible from the start while other have to be unlocked through heists. You also collect coins that you find thorughout the area.

Just an example of how you can't see jack shit if you're behind a corner. Also, my brightness was low as hell.

On steam it says that it's a casual game. Nah. I'm stressed as hell while I run around without vision, collecting coins and wondering where the hell I'm suppose to go. It's that funny kind of stress though.

The controls are easy, you just move around with arrows, aim your gun with your mouse (I didn't use one while playing, so shooting didn't go too well) and that's pretty much it. Fine, fine. I'd of course love a game I could play, only using my keyboard, but it's fine, really.

Graphics, as well as music/sounds are great. The graphics are kinda cute actually (I'm a girl, yes) and I like how it's mostly so dark with glowing and all. The music, as I mentioned in the first impression (link) makes me smile. It fits what you're doing and sets the mood very well.

Now, I'll be honest with you and say that I really didn't play the game all that much. While I found it entertaining, I wasn't overly thrilled by it (note, it takes A LOT to get me overly thrilled by an indie game though. I'm more of a RPG player). The story was fine, you start out with finding/freeing the rest of the characters and I think it's well introduced. The fact that the game can be multiplayer is something I didn't get the chance to try (I'm so lonely, buhu) but I think it would have been much more fun if I did.

All in all, Monaco is'n a bad game at all. I did have fun and I enjoyed the different elements, I'm just not that much of a indie player. Yet, I will recommend it.

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GamerKDS is now streaming

Yesterday I started a channel names *surprise surprise* GamerKDS on TwitchTV (link) and did some hours of League of Legends. My shame, I only reached lvl 30 yesterday. SO, I took two of the ten matches, lost one bit time because I suck at full support (I usually go tanky support-ISH Amumu) and Sona, then owned ass as Nidalee mid. I totally forgot that I am about 60% decent with Nidalee. Also, we had a killer Udyr, so yeah.

Anyway! I will from now on post updates here, and on my personal twitter (link) whenever I stream. The streams will be archived on the channel, and if there's a particularly good something, I'll upload it to ... I guess youtube? Time will show.

So, let me just name what I will stream.

League of Legends, no shocker. Summoners rift, normal and ranked, ARAM cause it's silly fun and POSSIBLY some dominion every now and then. If you want to know more about my LoL plays, I'll make another post for that.

Minecraft. I play a lot of Big Dig, but I'm gonna do a lot of other mods, especially the Hex one.

Payday, I think. I love payday, but there have been some updates that I haven't played yet, however I've heard it's killed the game pretty much. We'll see.

Other Moba games that I'm gonna play, HoN, Smite and Dota comes to mind but there will also be other.

Whatever games I'm reviewing. Humble Bundle just released an open source package with 8 games, so that's gonnabe FUN. Also, I still got a lot of indie games to play.

Hope to see you around!

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Monaco: What's yours is mine - First impression

Why yes, that is my steam name in the lower left corner. Why yes, I'd love it if you wanted to add me.

Alright! Monaco is a single player or co-op heist game. It's a top-down view, you're controlling a person with a class of your choice (locksmith, lookout, something and something) and you're trying to pull off a heist.

Steam: Monaco: What's Yours Is Mine is a single player or co-op heist game. Assemble a crack team of thieves, case the joint, and pull off the perfect heist.

Now, here's my very first impressions as I started the game and tried two rounds of the first ... heist thingy.

The music is awesome, I love thief-ish music! The menues and everything looks cool, I like the glow of the colors and such, yet I am a little confused too. I might be stupid, but I'm not sure what I'm doing. Somehow I've managed to find my way to the actual game, alright, alright OH IT'S ONLINE! Ok ... fine, fine. Running around like crazy with some guy, can't see shit because my screen brightness it too damn low. Collecting some yellow coin things, still can't see shit, this guy probably thinks I'm an idiot. Guard! Stressing, rushing through the whole thing like crazy, OH THERE'S A VAN! I think I might have left the other guy behind ... I escaped, did it all work out?

SO! That's my first round of the game. I did go back to redo that same heist again by myself, brightness turned up and stress level lowered a lot. I saw more.
The game is interessting. Obviously I haven't played much, but I will give it some more playtime before I do a review. I will have to say that there's a lot of colors and stuff happening at once though, like at that one point when we were outside and it was raining, there were lights and arrows everywhere, I just ... hrrrr. But all in all, it's an interessting little thing that I think can be A LOT of fun. I'd recoment trying it, at the very least.

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New Elder Scrolls Online beta session!

You know what? I'd never get tired of seing this!
I know I still haven't done the review (I've been waiting for some recorded gameplay that's on my friend's computer) but it'll be my first priority after this beta session. I already did a "first impression" post that you can check out in until then.

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Fez review

Developer - Polytron Corporation
Publishers - Polytron Corporation, Trapdoor, Microsoft Studios
Designer - Phil Fish
Programmer - Renaud Bédard
Composer - Rich Vreeland (Disasterpeace)
Engine - Trixel
Platforms - Xbox 360 (Xbox Live Arcade), Windows (Steam), Linux, OS X, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita
Release date - April 13, 2012
Genres - Puzzle, platform
Mode - Single-player

Alright, not that we got the basic info out of the way, let me explain to you why I love Fez.
I first learned of Fez through the documentary "Indie Game - The Movie" (read my review here), and thought it looked rather nice. When the game was up in a weekly bundle form Humble Bundle, I got it right away and played for a long time straight.

Now, my history with puzzle platformers isn't very long. I mean sure, I did play some of the old Super Mario games and so on, but I've never been that much of an indie gamer. I am a sucker for pretty design and a good story though, and Fez does it.

The story behind Fez is rather simple, but it's sort of sweet and kind to the heart (at least as far as I've come). You play the character by the name of Gomez, living his life in what he thinks is a 2D world. He then comes in possesion of a magic fez hat, giving him the ability to switch around between different views of the world, as he realizes it's actually 3D.

The same place from all 4 views.

Now, there has been a problem with the world, and it's sorta kinda falling apart. You need to collect cubes to explore further into the world, and finally put the hexahedron back together, restoring the balance. Mostly, you'll find cube fragments (takes 8 to make a whole cube) and rarely, full cubes. The main goal is to gather the total of 32 cubes.

 I also happened to stumble upon an anti-cube. They're much harder to find (I solved a puzzle) and counts as normal cubes when you need to open doors and such.

One of the things you'll encounter are locked doors like this. They can be unlocked with keys you'll find throughout the world.

Throughout the game there are lots of new stuff and mechanics showing up, for example jumping platforms that turns the dimentions for you, to frustration and confusion. The landscapes are interessting and beautiful, and I love it. You travel between them through doors that you'll find on your maps, or through warp portals found every now and then.

To wrap things up, I am obliged to mention the downsides of this game. I haven't really encountered any real bugs or anything yet, so I asume it's pretty well built. The main thing that could drag this game down to a lot of people, is the fact that you can't really ... fail. If you die, usually from falling down, you'll simply respawn at the last place you stood safely. There are no enemies or boss fights, so you're safe at that. Personally, I struggle the most with jumping. I fall down a lot. Goddamnit.

But all in all, I like Fez a lot. I know a lot of people don't like the developer, but that doesn't bother me. I like the game, careless of him. I recomend it.

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Humble Bundle

There is something great that needs to be shared.
It is named, Humble Bundle.

Now, I'm sure a lot of you already know of this, but let me introduce it for those who don't. Humble Bundle is a site where you can buy games in bundles (Humble Bundle and the Weekly Sale) or seperate (Humble Store). The great thing about the bundles is that you decide the price yourself, and the pay is split between the charity, the developers and the site, even though you decide that yourself.

Last week, unless I'm highly mistaken, I bought an indie game bundle at the weekly sale. There's a thing, if you pay more than the average (mostly around $6-7) you'll get three or so more games. Among the games I got, there was Fez.

Sign up to the newsletter from Humble Bundle, it's a real clever idea! Also, Humble Bundle is extremely good if you're looking to try some new games without spending your shirt right away.
Hope you'll get some good games out of this for a silly low price!

P.S - All the games are good with Steam. Buy a bundle and the games will be redeemed to your steam account.

P.S.S - You don't HAVE to have steam to buy and install. You also get the ordinary install file.

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Indie Game - The Movie

A couple weeks ago I found a movie on Netflix named "Indie Game - The Movie". Now, I really like it. Let me explain why.

"A documentary that follows the journeys of indie game developers as they create games and release those works, and themselves, to the world."

-the description from IMDB

 This documentary follows, in particular, the creators of "Super Meat Boy" and the creators of "Fez". I for one really love"Fez", and I've been playing it for a little while now. I know it took forever to make and that people don't like the developer, but hey ... it's a good game.

No but about the movie, I really like it. I have friends who's working hard to make it in the world of game development, and watching the documentary helped me understand their passion for it. The hell and frustration, the glorious victory and just ... living. 

It's not a long documentary, 94 min and avalivble on Netflix!

Have fun.

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The Elder Scrolls Online Beta - First Impression

I was lucky enough to be part of the beta this weekend, and I'm definetley going to make a proper review as soon as I get a better look at the recorded files (yep, it was parcially frapsed).

Let me just start with this statement: I would rather have them actually makinh a new Elder Scrolls Game, single player RPG.

I am aware that it was a beta and that the social features, as well as the pvp and such aren't fully functional until the actual lauch. I am also aware of the fact that they simply mash all the beta players into the same server and thus, it was overcrowded like helllllllll. Even so, I enjoyed the world and quests as if they were normal single player. Tried to play with a friend of mine, but that just ... eh ... nah.

Key impressions:
Should have just made a normal Elder Scrolls game. 
There's something very wrong with the system of working with other players.
BEAUTIFUL surroundings, holy damn. 
Kajiit's hands look really odd and fucked up.
The character customisation looks a lot like sims. It's alright tho, I only fix what I care about and stop when I think it looks alright.
The quests, storylines and characters are all fine.
I sorta like the crafting system, even thought it might be a bit much.
Skillsystem works pretty much like in skyrim (you upgrade either health, mana or stamina and then use a skillpoint), where you can spend skillpoints on either class trees, race, crafting, guild (fighters and mage as I saw, possibly more), weapon and armour.

And that's pretty much it for the first impression. I only played this weekend, as that was my beta period, but I really did like it and I am very much looking forward to the release! Also got 3 day early game acsess! EXCITED.

Keep an eye up for the review coming up soon!

~K

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A quick introduction

Greetings!
To start off, I figured I'd do a quick introduction of myself. The initials in the blog's name, KDS, stands for Kaless DeShade. As of such, feel free to call me Kaless.
I am a 17 year old girl from the icen Norway, doing online school and actual school at the same time.

As a gamer, I'm mainly doing fantasy. A lot of fantasy/adventure RPG, some MMORPGs (tried several, including the beta of Elder Scrolls Online), strategy games and mobas. Recently I also developed an interest in indiegames like Fez and To The Moon. Here are some of the titles!

Halo, Kingdoms of Amalour: Reckoning, The Elder Scrolls series, Minecraft, Portal, Team Fortress 2, Garry's Mod, Hearthstone, Diablo, Fez, To The Moon, Civilization V, Age of Emires II, Age of Mythology, Battle For Middle Earth, Ni No Kuni, Little Big Planet, Pokemon, Saints Row, Scribblenauts, Fable, Final Fantasy Heroes of Might and Magid and so on.

MMORPG: World of Warcraft, Aion, The Elder Scrolls Online.

Moba: League of Legends, Dota 2, Heroes of Newerth, Smite


Now that I introduced myself and told you about the games I play, let me tell you real quick what this blog is going to be!
Mainly, it's gonna be reviews, first impressions, expectations and so on. It's about games, really. I also work with some people making games every now and then, so I might drop a bit of that in as well.

And that's it guys!

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