Chaos Brigade Review (Steam)

Written By Thomas G.J. Sharpe

Finally, a game which demonstrates green in a such a xenomorphic hue as 1994’s defining gaming moment Pickle Wars. Chaos Brigade is a nifty, but clunky, little game that has quite an effective take on the reiterative rogue-lite formula. Dolled up in homey, chunky pixel-art, you control one character at a time from a motley squad of space-mercs aiming to cleanse wayward spaceships of alien infestations. Kill the aliens, don’t damage the ship, and that’s all there is to it. There are five characters, each acting as a “life”, who once dead are dead. They have vaguely different performing stats, but to be honest, they all felt about the same in play.

The levels seem to be procedurally generated, with door lock system “rooms” and heal kit modules, and the like, and interestingly, destructible terrain. Destroy a block, it takes from your money (cringingly called “bitcoin”) and forms a little fire obstacle. This pushes you to not spray your weapon all over the shop. Aliens reproduce or evolve as time goes on, becoming more deadly, so there is a degree of mutability and development that the levels go through. This is reminiscent of the explosive (if repetitive) Broforce, except for the fact that you can way more easily make a level impassable in Chaos Brigade.

I started to think of Chaos Brigade a little like Broforce married with the unbelievably underrated Duskers. I then wished that the solo developer (props, indeed) had taken more of a slant to the latter. In Duskers, a beautifully satisfying strategy to rid the xenomorph presence on a vessel would be to flush the wee buggers into space by opening an exterior hull door. I wondered if the destructible element was the real opportunity in Chaos Brigade, wherein I would like to make holes and then escape the impending vacuum of a corridor, while the aliens are sucked out. Something like that, anyway. I feel this is a response to me feeling that the runnin’ n’ gunnin’ wasn’t that fun… nin’. The weapons lack a heft at this stage, and the character movement is a little slippy on the flat, and a bit hard to judge on the jumps.

In short, the environmental elements and fun enemies in Chaos Brigade (not to mention the pretty cool music), is where it is currently working. The character differentiation (outside of special skill) and general movement feel undercooked. Given some more time in the oven, and some tweaking here and there, you have a nice, characterful action-platform romp. Just not quite yet.

Overall 6/10

Worms Collection 1 Review (Evercade)

 

It was a bit of a surprise when the Evercade team announced that Worms was coming to the system. A handheld doesn’t necessarily seem like the best place for the games to be played (we have nightmares about the Gameboy version to this day). But then the VS came along, and everything made more sense.

There are only three games here, which may well raise eyebrows from some. It’s likely down to the space available as the PS1 version of Worms Armageddon is the main part of the package. The Megadrive version of the original game and GBA version of Worms Blast round out the cartridge.

The first issue we found was that Worms on the Megadrive is almost impossible to play if you are colour blind. You simply can’t see the menu’s when they highlight. This is less of an issue with the filters on the VS but still. Also, if you are going to play the original game this really is not the version to go for. If you do get a game set up and running it does run well though so if you have nostalgic memories of it, they should remain untainted - just don’t expect all the sound and videos that some of the other versions have.

Worms Blast is a take on the Puzzle Bobble format where your worm sits in a boat at the bottom of the screen and uses different weapons to blast coloured blocks. It is surprisingly addictive and well realised even in this downgraded version of the game. Colourblind issues are at the fore again, though they are less fatal here. This is really the game that most handheld Evercade players will probably play the most on the cart and while good it’s not amazing and knowing better versions exist is a shame.

The real highlight is of course Worms Armageddon, which is a stalwart of nostalgic multiplayer mayhem. The game runs well on the handheld and removes most of the visual issues that the other games have. There is also a decent single player campaign which acts as a sort of lengthy tutorial for all the weapons with players taking on different challenges. The multiplayer element will potentially last you for years with all the new weapons and additions turning an already crazy game into something even more chaotic. It is potentially the best multiplayer game on the Evercade so if you are looking for something to while away the hours with friends then this could be the game for you.

Overall, this is a difficult cart to pin down. Space may well have been an issue, but the included content does seem light. If Worms Pinball, World Party and the PS1 version of the original game had been included it would have created a much better (and criticism proof), all-round package. The Evercade doesn’t support the PS2 generation of consoles but again, having the stripped down GBA version of Blast here is also a compromise. What it really boils down to is - are you are willing to pay the money for Armageddon?  For some that will be enough. If the game had been bundled with the VS it would feel much more relevant but on its own it may well struggle to get the audience, it deserves.

 

Overall –

Worms                                 3/5

Worms: Blast                     3/5

Worms: Armageddon    5/5

Lacuna Review (Switch)

 

The Darkside detective has cut itself out a nice little niche in the market with the whole pixel art point and click adventure thing. But others are now stepping into the spotlight to provide lovers of pixelated investigation more options for sleuthing. One of these games is the cyberpunk styled Lacuna.

It may seem Bladerunner inspired to begin with but really, the cyberpunk look of the game is the only thing it maintains throughout with the future city providing amble creative ways to set up crime scenes to investigate.

Much of the game follows the pattern of the player being called on their phone and then jumping on a train which heads to the scene of the crime. Players are then briefed at the entrance to the scene about what has gone down and what they need to look for. Investigations play out by the detective then moving around the scene and speaking to people. As well as this you must look for clues which can be highlighted in a circle for further detail.

Clues and information are fairly easy to find, the challenging part comes when you have to wrap up the various parts of each case. You are given police sheets which contain questions with multiple answers. The clues you find point you towards the correct answer to each bit. For instance – one sheet asks you what colour the hair of a perpetrator is. Some of the sheets really require players to sift information for the finer details and the game only auto saves so once you have decided you are locked into it for the duration of the game.

Choices do affect the story as well. While the game continues regardless of how well or how badly you do. How successfully the investigation progresses is tied into how much you get correct and who you direct the police to in certain situations. While we completely understand the autosave decision as well it would have been nice to at least get the chance to start investigations again from the beginning of the day, rather than having to play the whole game though and start again.

At least twice we missed out on large parts of chapters by leaving the scene without realising it. A few simple notifications such as ‘you will not be able to return to this scene’ would have really helped, as sometimes you can move around the city and other times you can’t without it ending the scene and there is no real way to tell.

The investigations themselves and characters are strong and will keep you interested for the duration of the game. Dialogue is well written and the ‘turning over cards’ nature of the genre is represented well. Locations are also varied and unique which helps mask the fact you are effectively going through the same process with each new case. There is also an overarching plot which runs through each investigation which adds more layers for players to try and unpick and ponder as they progress.

Overall, Lacuna is an enjoyable dive into the realm of Noir tied to a modern point and click interface. The puzzle solving being reduced to submission of report sheets might be a step too far for point and click enthusiasts, but it does keep the narrative moving along nicely. The autosave feature will also be divisive but the game is good enough that players will likely want a second run through once they have become wise to Lacuna’s idiosyncrasies.

 Overall 7/10

Intellivision Collection 1 Review (Evercade)

The Evercade has provided a great window into games of years gone by so far and featured a host of different systems ranging from early Atari consoles to the Super Nintendo and Lynx. This cart adds another system to the collection in the Intellivision. It’s a system that many a European gamer may not be familiar with so it’s great to see the Evercade team try and give it and it’s strange, numbered controller, a worthy piece of the spotlight.

The first collection has twelve games which cover a range of genres and contains a surprising amount of fun multiplayer titles as well.  Astro Smash provides a speedy and slick version of the popular arcade title that plays well. OK, the graphics may not be at the pinnacle of video game conversions but this particular twist on the Space Invaders template it is undoubtedly fun to play. Buzz Bombers also follows a similar pattern with you blasting bees to turn them into honeycomb then having to collect it in order to score big points. Again, this is remarkably fast paced and fun despite the visual drawbacks.

There are two maze games included as well which try and innovate on the Pac-Man template. First up is Night Stalker which is a single screen game where you must collect a gun then shoot various monsters such as bats and spiders that appear for points. We found it quite tricky to get used to and didn’t really get into the high score loop with it. Thunder Castle on the other hand we really liked. Here you must make your way through a Forest, Castle and Dungeon by slaying the monster in each. This is done by picking up a magical power from a moving creature (such as a bat), which acts as a sort of power pill that then lets you kill the beastie(s) on the level.  It’s rock hard but also really good fun.

Thin Ice is another good addition to the collection. Here you play as a penguin who draws lines around other penguins to make them fall through the ice. While doing this you need to avoid a polar bear and seal who will track your lines and eat you. It’s another tough but great fun game and we found it soon became strangely addictive. Speaking of strangely addictive, you also have the wonderful Shark Shark on here. This has players controlling a very little fish who must eat his way up the food chain. Each fish you eat makes you grow a bit meaning you can then eat larger fish and so on. It’s a pure high score challenge that works well. For high score chasers there is also a pinball game included but it is a pretty basic affair and not something you are likely to spend much time with.

A host of multiplayer games help to keep things varied and fill out the collection. Slap Shot Super Pro Hockey is a surprisingly engaging, if basic, four on four version of the ice-based sport. Snafu is basically a copy of games like Tron where four ‘snakes’ move around a screen and try to box each other in, and Word Rockets has players becoming far too competitive about firing letters up the screen at moving words in a race to be the first to form fifty of them.

Perhaps the strangest of the multiplayer offerings is Frog Bog. This game is a single screen affair where two frogs sit on lily pads and leap from one to the other trying to catch insects for points. Each game lasts about three minutes and sees the frogs starting in the morning before the sun slowly sets into the evening. The player with the most points by the end of the day wins.

Amidst the genuine classics of old there is also a homebrew title included on the collection and it’s very good. A sort of Intellivision version of Ghouls and Ghosts, Princess Quest is a great platformer set across several varied and colourful levels complete with impressive boss fights. It’s a good pick by the curation team and something that adds a level of uniqueness to the collection.

Overall, it’s great to see another system added to the Evercade library. This collection of games has been carefully curated to try and highlight the strengths the of the Intellivision while at the same time overcoming the not unremarkable problem of the unique controller the system is known for. All the games on here are decent fun and as a collection it works well. We weren’t sure about this cart when it was announced but we are glad to say it is yet another worthy purchase for Evercade fans.

Overall -

Astrosmash                                                  4/5

Buzz Bombers                                              3/5

Frog Bog                                                        3/5

Night Stalker                                                 3/5

Pinball                                                            2/5

Princess Quest                                              4/5

Shark Shark                                                   3/5

Slap Shot Super Pro Hockey                       3/5

Snafu                                                              3/5

Thin Ice                                                          4/5

Thunder Castle                                             4/5

Word Rockets                                               3/5