Humble Bundle V

The latest Humble Bundle has a total of 5 games (4 if you don't meet the minimum which is just under $8 at the time of writing this), all of which are redeemable through Steam. The games included are:

• Limbo
• Psychonauts
• Amnesia: The Dark Descent
• Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP
• Bastion

All of these games are well known indie titles these days and definitely worth a buy if you haven't played them already (I can't say personally for Superbrothers as I haven't played that yet but I have heard good things about it). Bastion is the game you get if you beat the minimum and I would highly suggest doing so as it is an awesome little game.

Also this Humble Bundle is the highest grossing bundle they have done so far according to Indie Game Magazine beating it's previous record of $2,417,659 made during the Humble Bundle IV with 11 days still to go before this current bundle expires. Along with the games mentioned above you also get the soundtrack for each game included with your purchase of the bundle. Also check out Unfair Reviews 'Should I Buy?' video of the bundle for a little more info on each game.

My favourite games of 2011

Believe it or not Battlefield, CoD and Skyrim are not on my list like most others. I'm not the biggest fan of military shooters and as for Skyrim it's not that I don't like games like that, it's more the fact I will never finish the storyline as I will always get distracted by side quests and randomly killing shit. I've still not finished Oblivion purely for that reason. Anyway I've sat and came up with a list of 7 games released this year that I've really quite enjoyed.

Payday: The Heist - This is a little multi player where you play and 3 others play cooperatively in order to pull off heists, be it robbing banks or ripping off drug dealers. I've put so many hours in to game since it's release, it brings a different twist on the team coop style of games, you can definitely tell it was inspired by Left 4 Dead by the gameplay, but it is a awesome game in its own right. It has seen a number of patches already with some DLC on the way, no doubt being a map pack.



Bulletstorm - While this game didn't get the warmest reception upon it's arrival I loved this game it is the most fun I've had playing a shooter for quite some time. The skill shot system this game had is quite ingenious. The better you played the more points you got leading to you getting more and or better weapons quicker, leading again to more points. The game made you play better in order to get decent guns. This game was fun as hell.



Orcs Must Die! - This is a little indie game that I came across on youtube, possibly a Machinima video about it I can't honestly remember. It is pretty much a tower defence game with a playable character in them rather than from the top down perspective which they started off as. I release there are many 3rd person tower defence games out there these days. This one is quite a good one, only flaw in it is the lack of multi player which I could see being a lot of fun, especially if they put a harder difficulty in.  It would be good to see, but like I said there are many out there if you do want a multi player experience.



Bastion - This is another little indie game. Which has seemingly done very well for its self since it's release back in August (I believe it was out on Xbox before then but that is its Steam release date). It is a single player hack and slash adventure game. If you haven't played this game before I highly suggest picking it up. It costs about a tenner but is definitely worth it. The story, the gameplay, the music, the narration especially. It is a really good game.



Serious Sam 3 - Not much to say about this one. It's Serious Sam, if you don't know the series. It's a old school kind of shooter. Levels consist of a shed load of enemies you get a shed load of guns and you work your way through them.



The Baconing - This is the 3rd installment in the Deathspank series. It's weird, it's random and it has orphans and robot hookers in the game. If you liked any of the other Deathspank game you will like this game. It's definitely worth a look in to at the very least.



Hard Reset - This is a decent little shooter, it's also pc exclusive. It is a fun but really quite difficult game. I struggle on Normal difficulty and it's got hard and insane after that as well. I put this in the same boat as the  likes of Serious Sam and Painkiller. It's a good attempt at bring shooters back to what they used to be like. You get a variety of weapons, it's quite good what they have done with it though. They merged the two weapon system of todays shooters with the multiple weapon system of yesteryear by letting you upgrade the two weapons you do have letting them become multiple guns in one. I quite like this feature. On release it cost just over £20 and is now down to £12.99 on Steam. Definitely worth the money I would say.

Steam Daily Deal - Bastion

Steam has been doing daily deals for ages now and since the start of the month they have added their daily wishlist give away to it. Anyway todays offer is Bastion which is 67% off making it £3.83. This game is really good and I did a piece on it awhile ago nearer the time it came out which can be found here. It's a fun little hack and slash adventure kind of game and for the price it is right now I suggest picking it up.

First thought of Bastion

This game has been out for awhile on XBLA, but has just been released on PC. I ended up giving it a download after seeing a number of reviews and gameplay videos. From the videos alone it looked like a decent little indie game. I have now played though a good couple hours making notes as I went so this post will actually have some form to it instead of the usual rambling on.

First off I have been playing with an Xbox controller, which is probably more suited to the game given that it's an Xbox game in essence, the controls for the controller are very easy to get used to. I did have a quick shot with the Keyboard and Mouse setup. They went with a basic WASD layout, was easy enough to pick up, aiming was more accurate, but over all I would probably say use a controller for this game.

You start of in bed, staying there until you move which makes you get up. Out of nowhere you hear a voice, this is you the player not the character. This is turns out to be the story being told overhead. The guy that voices it sounds pretty cool aswell. Anyway so there you are next to your bed and the platform you stand on is floating, little weird I know. A little bit more weird is there doesn't seem to be a way out, it's just a floating platform. So you move around and all of a sudden a path starts to appear infront of you. This is well implimented throughout the game, there seems to be no path until you get closer to it. I guess it is same kind of deal as the fog in games like command and conquer you can not see what is there until you get closer. It is a cool little feature. The enviroment on the most part is destructable, if there is something in your way you can destroy it 9 times out of 10.

The first level, is essentially a tutorial but they still fit it nicely in with the storyline. You get a number of weapons in this first level including a giant hammer, a gun and a bow and arrow towards the end. You fight though mobs of enemies and pick up items, the most important of which being a 'Core'. You eventually get towards the end of the first level and hop on a hover boat type thing, (I forget what they called it), which leads you to the 'Bastion' which will become your base of operations. Upon getting there you see a man, who happens to be the same guy that is narrating the story. He will tell you to put the 'Core' you found in a monument just ahead of you.

You do this and the place starts to come alive and starts rebuilding itself. You can then create a building which you can use for upgrades. The more you play the game and the more 'cores' you collect the more buildings you can build letting you upgrade different things. The upgrade system is quite simple, while you are out on missions you pick up little blue shards and other items all of which can be used to upgrade if you go to the right shop. You go in see if you have enough bits click which upgrade and BAM. Done.

I do find myself getting quite addicted to this game, as I said before I played for a good couple of hours and I was still wanting more, I only stopped to walk the dog and write up this. It is definately worth a play. Another thing I noticed is you don't seem to die if you fall off the edge of a platform, which happens more than you would think, all though that might just be my playing. If you actually die from enemies you get one continue then if you die after that you get a menu screen where you can restart, go to bastion, quit etc...