Kickstarter Retrospective - How Are They Doing Now?

It's been a lazy Sunday filled with movies, Once Upon a Time and Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag, so I figured it'd be a perfect day to recap how all of the Kickstarter projects I've mentioned are going now (or, if they've finished, how they did!). Two failed (DOH!), six succeeded (WOOHOO!) and four are still funding.

Name Your Own Price for Tower of Guns on IndieGameStand!

Tower of Guns is one of the games I've received a review copy of and haven't had time to try out and review yet, despite how awesome it looks. The concept is summed up best by the developer himself:

"Tower of Guns is a fast paced first-person-shooter for the twitch gamer... with a few roguelike-ish-y elements to keep it fresh with each playthrough. Think of it like FTL or Binding of Isaac mixed with Doom 2." - Taken from the IndieGameStand page

Doom & Destiny Review AND GIVEAWAY - Farce +4

Let me start off by simply saying that Doom & Destiny absolutely surprised me. All that I knew going into it was that it was an RPG and it was all about mocking other RPGs. What I didn't know was just how awesome it would be! The game rarely lets a moment go by without being funny, and despite the fact that it could have simply been another RPG Maker game that used boring game play along with the humor, the game itself is really fun and incorporates a lot of unique, genius ideas that work amazingly well. I actually found myself running around and power-leveling quite often and actually enjoying it!

Retroworld on Kickstarter - An Awesome Childhood Relived!

Retroworld has one heck of a concept going for it - you're a game-lovin' kid who goes through four different generations of games, collecting, selling and trading them while solving their mysteries, maintaining high scores, chatting with NPCs and all kinds of other things! The in-game games really appear to reflect their age's style and game play, and the developer promises dozens of them when it's all completed!

One Finger Death Punch Review AND GIVEAWAY - FINALLY, True Kung-Fu!

There are two things you should know before you go any further with reading this review. One - I'm NOT going to do this game justice. It's simply not possible. Even after letting the game stew with me for a week or two, this game has become one of my favorite games of all time. Two - There's not much point in reading it, you should just go buy the game now, and then vote it up on Steam. It's as simple as that. It will be the best dollar you've ever spent on your 360 (or $2 on PC). And don't you DARE say "well, they're stick figures, so..." because the animations, destruction and absolute anarchy are perfect; in fact, because of the complexity of the enemies, there's no way this game would have worked with anything but stick figures!

Don't even look at these screenshots, they can't possibly do the game justice either!

Diggy on Kongregate Review - There's Treasure in That Thar Ground!

Diggy was recently featured in an email from Kongregate, and as a fan of digging, upgrading and treasure I couldn't resist giving it a shot. All in all, the game is definitely fun, and satisfies my digging cravings rather well. The story follows Diggy who has decided to dig down to the center of the earth for some crazy reason, and each day he goes out digging up treasure, unearthing goodies and earning money to upgrade his drill, radar and energy pack so he can do even better the next day.

There are numerous special finds beneath the earth to collect and check off in your Hall of Fame!

Full Bore: The First Dig Review AND GIVEAWAY - Puzzles are Challenging Again!

For those of you who have been gamers for a long time, you'll remember the "good ol' days" of gaming. I know I sure do! What always surprises me when I play them again, though, is that "good ol' games" are usually REALLY hard! I can't count the action games I wanted to smash my controller over (Contra, Ghosts N Goblins), the random battles in RPGs to take on a new area or buy equipment (Dragon Warrior, Final Fantasy) and the puzzle games that were basically impossible to complete (Myst!). Heck, even Zelda was way harder back then, especially Zelda II: The Adventures of Link!!! Full bore truly is old-school for more than the fun, retro-styled graphics and animation, it's a really hard game!

NES-Cartridge Styled Flasks on Kickstarter!

Okay, this is officially one of the coolest things EVER! Eric Bailey of Examiner.com reported on these "Ink Whiskey Concealable Entertainment Flasks", which are basically really awesome NES cartridges that you can drink or pour liquor out of! As if that isn't enough, there are some really fun covers for the cartridges as well, which just makes these absolutely irresistible for drinkers and game lovers!

Class. Distinction. NES style.

Race the Sun Review AND GIVEAWAY - An Infinite Speed Experience

Race the Sun is the absolutely perfect title for this game for two reasons - the incredible sense of speed the game gives you as you fly between obstacles and the sun that brilliantly not only powers your ship but also casts growing shadows as the sun sets lower and lower. If you stay in darkness too long, whether it's from a tunnel, the long shadows or once the sun sets, you'll run out of power. The sun is literally one of your greatest foes in this game, and if you want to succeed, you need to do everything you can to race against it!

Movement is only right and left, but you can JUMP at Level 4.

Hex Paper Pads, Quill Pen Letter Openers and Breaking Bad Tees! Kickstarter Roundup!

Today's Kickstarter roundup is going to focus on three of my favorite things - paper, pens and Breaking Bad!

Fright Fight on Kickstarter - Frightening Characters + Super Smash Bros + RPG!

Happy Halloween! Today feels like a perfect day to point out Fright Fight for OUYA, iOS and Android. Oh, and there are 31 days left, which is 13 backwards! MWAHAHA! Seriously though, Fright Fight looks intriguing for its increasingly-awesome animations, online multiplayer and intriguing controls: on iOS and Android, everything is handled via gesture system, not simple buttons!

Astro Golf on Kickstarter - Adventure, Golf Style!

I've played a few games in the past that revolve entirely around basically shooting yourself in a direction to get to your goal, collecting points and the like as you go. I would say it's one of my favorite genres, really, as it's a unique way to get around and explore. Imagine if you combined Angry Birds with exploration; instead of flinging yourself at a building and pigs to destroy them you flung yourself in a direction toward a goal. All of that being said, Astro Golf looks like a fun addition to the genre!

Cursed Treasure 2 Review and Interview - FREE Tower Defense Meets RPG Web Game

Awesome, fun art right from the beginning!

Cursed Treasure 2 (with the awesome, impossible-to-resist-singing subtitle of 'Hey! Heroes! Leave us Gems Alone!') is a free Flash game that places you in the role of an evil overlord that must protect gems from the invading, annoying "good heroes" that always try to spoil a good/bad time. While the game is a Tower Defense game through and through, you gain experience after each level (whether you win or not!) that help you out, making the game great for both Tower Defense lovers AND RPG fans. I won't hesitate to say that I'm absolutely terrible at Tower Defense games myself, but I fell in love with the original Cursed Treasure. As soon as I heard the a sequel had released, I spent the next several nights absorbed in getting stars from levels, upgrading skills and annihilating do-gooders with unending fury!

Lilly Looking Through Review - A Magical Adventure

Look how cute she is!!! The goggles are even way too big for her face!

I recently had the honor of playing the full version of Lilly Looking Through. In case you hadn't seen it, I'd played and reviewed the demo already, and I'm happy to report that the full game continues the demo gloriously!

For those not familiar, Lilly Looking Through is a delightful Myst-style point-and-click adventure game for PC/Linux/Mac. Lilly, an insanely adorable little girl, begins by mimicking a frog, and when a scarf goes blowing by her she decides to chase after it. Along the way, she discovers some magical goggles that let her see (and even go into) the past to mess around, allowing her to get across now-broken areas or mess with things that entirely change the present.

Ever, Jane Kickstarter - An MMO in Jane Austen's World!

Ever, Jane is one of those things that should pretty much be Kickstarted on concept alone, but has the experience and awesomeness behind it to really follow it up. The concept is pretty simple - play in a world based on Jane Austen's novels! You won't be killing dozens of enemies for quests (there are still quests though!), experience and epic loot, instead you'll be gossiping, inviting people to balls and playing minigames like sewing and hunting. There's also an early playable version for you to try out, and I happily did!

McFarlane Toys Assassin's Creed Action Figures

We were in the local Walgreens the other day getting a few things and happened across these awesome action figures! It was the first day that I started this blog so I didn't really consider getting pictures of them until we were out of the store, so we figured we'd check in Walmart and K-Mart while we were there... Somehow neither of them had em! How in the world does Walgreens get these awesome figures before K-Mart and Walmart?!

Normally I'm pretty meh about action figures, even really cool ones, but this is ASSASSIN'S CREED!! Seriously, look at it! RIGHT NEXT TO THE GUM!!! Anyway, they really do look awesome, and to make things even better they each come with a special unlockable for Assassin's Creed IV.

EvilQuest Review AND GIVEAWAY - You Are the BAD Guy

Have you ever played Dungeons and Dragons, or any other pen and paper RPG for that matter, and chosen Chaotic Evil as your alignment assuming it'd be fun to be evil, but then had trouble actually playing the game in proper character? Galvis, the absolute antihero of EvilQuest, doesn't have that issue whatsoever. From the beginning of the game, killing your fellow prisoner despite promising to help him go free just because he snored at night, EvilQuest gives you what it promised.

Free Minecraft Halloween Texture Pack for 360!

This is Halloween, this is Halloween... *hums to self*

As if Minecraft wasn't creepy enough half the time, you can pick up a FREE texture pack through November 3rd to get in the Halloween spirit! The creepers look like ghosts, the cows look rather skeleton-y and even the moon is crazy! I've yet to get a texture pack for Minecraft, and I'm one of the 7 people in the entire world that doesn't have it for PC, so I'll definitely be grabbing it and toying around. Anyone who knows me well will know I'll be tossing my controller and pausing in fear very often... Happy Halloween!

Angvik Review - The Epitome of Difficulty

"Angvik is a platform action game set in a joyful but unforgiving land."
         - Alastair John Jack, the developer of the game.

Boom! My review is pretty much done, those 13 words explain most everything about the game. My only suggestion would be to put 'UNFORGIVING' entirely in bold, capital letters. In fact, while you're at it, throw a bunch of exclamation points after it.

"... set in a joyful but UNFORGIVING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! land." There we go.

LOOK AT ALL OF THAT POTENTIAL DEATH!

Awesome Kickstarters: 8-Bit Inspired Notebooks and NEW SNES Boss Music!

Kickstarter is a really awesome place where we can geek out over stuff that's absolutely perfect for us. Today's finds include lasercut notebooks with awesome 8-bit game-themed art, hilarious and useful "passive aggressive notepads" and two different talented musicians covering SNES-era music! None of these are quite backed yet, but REALLY should be! Make sure that you give them all some love! Remember that even if you can't afford to back them, you can help out by sharing them with friends and family.