I spent much of December being ill, and the start of January moving house and being in a minor traffic accident, so I have a stack of things to review that are growing increasingly overdue. Here, then, is the first of these as I try to overcome the backlog and get back into good reviewing habits. In this first of my reviews of the year, I share my thoughts about The Book of Unwritten Tales, which I actually finished a good few weeks ago. My memory may be hazier than I would like when starting on a review, but I hope to give a reasonable impression of my experiences.

I start, as is usual, with a little introduction to the game itself. This is a fantasy game that openly embraces the clichés of its genre: the world is being torn apart by a great war between the Army of Shadows (orcs, trolls, goblins, malevolent wizards, &c.) and the Alliance (humans, elves, dwarves, small gnomish people, &c.); meanwhile, an old gremlin archaeologist named MacGuffin holds the secret to a powerful artifact that will enable the one who wields it to determine the fate of the world; finally, through a series of coincidences, a gnome is drawn in to the adventure by coming into the possession of a ring and is forced to journey from the comfort of his home for the first time in order to deliver it safely. While all of this should seem familiar to anybody who has even heard of the fantasy genre, this is merely the canvas on which some great characters and situations are painted.

The nods are not merely in the direction of Tolkien (or, indeed, World of Warcraft), however. Pratchett’s Discworld as well as references to various other staples of fantasy, adventure games and popular culture are thrown into the melange, with a heavy dose of original humour, charm and – naturally – carefully crafted (and occasionally decidedly convoluted) puzzles, often adhering to the rule of three, which the fourth-wall shattering characters know all too well is an adventuring standard.

The undead and the odd bit of graverobbery notwithstanding.

With all this in mind, I really wanted to enjoy this game. And while I enjoyed it, I did not really enjoy it. The trouble is, that there was too little that felt new about it. In spite of what Todd might have said in his recent review for Primordia, the adventure game genre has had its revival period and is now surviving rather nicely, if not positively thriving, so it was not the breath of fresh air it might have been a few years ago before Telltale and others essentially revived it. A comic fantasy adventure appeared not all that long ago in the shape of the not altogether successful The Whispered World (though I have not played enough of this to really run a fair comparison). The writing was smart and the puzzles were clever, but a little too often KING Art’s influences were a little too apparent.

An example of this is a reference is made in one part to Simon the Sorcerer, not long after which a joke is made that is uncomfortably close to one made in Simon the Sorcerer II: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (a reference to Dungeons and Dragons). Elsewhere, having previously met Death and questioned why he does not talk in all-caps (a reference to Death of the Discworld), you encounter a ramshackle collective of undead trying to rehabilitate themselves into the world of the living. This is not just an element of the Discworld novel Reaper Man, but also a feature of the game that used this as the larger part of its plot: Discworld II: Missing Presumed…!?.

Keep off the grass.

This was enough to eject me from the world that otherwise did a lot to captivate. Each screen was beautifully rendered, the characters engaging, the writing and delivery both superb and the gameplay and puzzles far enough from frustrating to be enjoyable, but close enough to afford a challenge. In terms of its length, I would say it was rather generous, spinning an epic yarn involving four very different playable characters. If not for these moments that felt a little too jarring to a seasoned adventure gamer, it was a wonderful story well presented and would be a great foray into the genre for a first-timer, if only merely a pleasant enough addition to a collector’s library.

Summary: The Books of Unwritten Tales is the first in a series that may well take its seat at the table of adventure game staples, though it will first have to start helping itself less from the others’ plates.

Verdict: 7 out of 10

Platforms: PC, Mac

The Book of Unwritten Tales was developed by KING Art Games. It is available to purchase on their website, or via Steam, GOG.com and others. Steam is the more expensive option, so you should only consider it if you want the Digital Extras, or if you desperately need Steam in order to play a game.

Primordia is the story of Horatio Nullbuilt, Version 5, and his partner, Crispin Horatiobuilt, two robots living in the sand dunes of a post-apocalyptic earth. After their power core is taken from their home, they travel to Metropol city to get it back. This puts them in conflict with the head of the city, MetroMind.

If there is one thing going for Primordia, it’s its style. The game has a unique art and world set-up that is deep and engaging. It really feels like the remains of a planet. The art does a great job of making things look foreign and decayed. The place feels like the perfect wasteland. Woven into it is a great story. Following Horatio and Crispin is interesting, with a lot to be discovered about the characters and locations. They meet a cast of characters that are each unique and memorable. The dialogue is fun with an amusing self-awareness that never seems out of place.

One of the big draws for Adventure Games is the puzzles. Here is some issue for Primordia. Some of the puzzles are fun and unique, including searching for word clues in old texts and logic problems that really make you put your thinking cap on. On the other hand, it also runs into the old problem of trying to find what little piece goes with what other item to let you go forward. Sometimes this only takes a little creative thinking, other times it’s outright madness (the cloth goes in the oil then up the giant robot nose? Really?). Still, it’s never cripplingly difficult, and getting some puzzles right offers a nice feeling of satisfaction.

Your enjoyment of Primordia will be directly related to how much you like Adventure Games. If you can take the time to work through every puzzle, there is a lot to enjoy. But if you go with a walk through and just get the story, you’ll get a short but interesting run through the end of the world. And it doesn’t hurt to go back and make some choices you didn’t before, if only to see the other endings.

Summary: Primordia is a solid Adventure Game that could afford some logic improvements, but maintains a great atmosphere and driving story.

Verdict: 7 out of 10

Platforms: PC

Primordia is available now one their website and on Steam.

In these first impressions, each game gets half an hour of play and then I review the lot. These are not meant to be all-encompassing in-depth reviews, but rather a snapshot of first experiences which are intended to help those still wobbling on the fence.

1. Splice

By far the easiest of the lot for me to review, by virtue of the fact that I have already done it. If only all my first impressions were so easy!

You can also click the image for my review, because bigger is better.

2. Eufloria

Now this is something lovely. Essentially this is an RTS, but gone away are the gritty elements typically associated with the genre and in its place are… flowers. The tutorial, which is all I had time for, guides you through the basics under the tutelage of Mother Tree, which will have you creating a base (a plant, which will automatically create new seedlings with qualities determined by the asteroid on which it is located), spreading out and taking over other asteroids, and exterminating rogue cultures. Stripped down to its core, even the most adverse to the genre (among which demographic you will find me) will find this easily accessible and a gentle challenge, which can be made tougher for the more experienced player by speeding things up.

Today, the asteroid; tomorrow… um… all the asteroids!

The game boasts procedural content to make each game different, and a tough mode for those who have beaten the game and need a new challenge. Gameplay is simple; there are no special units to learn to identify, each seedling is balanced from three stats and everything can be done smoothly from the mouse. Even if you think you hate RTS games, do give this one a try. I left it utterly charmed.

3. Waking Mars

Debuting across all the platforms the bundle caters for (and not yet available on Steam, though you can help it along the Greenlighting process), Waking Mars is another genre-bending delight. It is modelled like a platformer; you have a jetpack to get you to otherwise inaccessible places and deathly pits to avoid (mainly of acid or lava, rather than spikes, in one of many diversions from the norm). But you are not armed or kitted with tools of destruction. Instead, you have to gather and cultivate seeds in order to make your way through the world. The plants that grow from these seeds interact with each other and the other flora and fauna of subterranean Mars in unique ways, and the more you learn the more you can use these to your advantage. These plants and creatures aside, you are not entirely alone in your journey. You have a feisty assistant monitoring your well-being on the surface – at least to begin with – and a chirpy computerised companion to help you take notes and offer advice to aid your progress.

Horticulture meets the action-platformer genre at long last.

The game is quite linear in its opening sections, as it introduces you to the elements you will later use to bring the planet back to life, find what happened to your scout droid and work your way back to base. After that, how you approach the obstacles and tackle the challenges before you is more up to you. I am yet to see how the difficulty curves, but I am impressed with what I have seen so far. The storyline is simple yet intriguing and the mechanics are thus far unique enough to keep me interested. I am not yet in love with the game, but I am open to the possibilities yet to unfold. Certainly, it is something different and well worth diving into.

4. Crayon Physics Deluxe

Crayon Physics was a short concept piece developed over five days and released in mid-2007, and winner of the 2008 Independent Games Festival grand prize. In 2009 it was re-released in its Deluxe form, with a heap more levels, changes to the engine to preserve the shapes created by the player (in the original, your drawings are swithced to rectangles) and an easy-to-use level creation tool. I played through Crayon Physics a few days before starting on the bundle first impressions, so had a good idea of what to expect. I did not actually get to see that much new content, but I can see that there is a whole lot of it and, with four different ways to take on each level, there is plenty to keep you puzzling happily for many hours.

You could do that, or you could think outside of it.

To be honest, though, this is not my sort of thing (I lack the drive to innovate that the game requires) and while I found it perfectly playable, I do not see myself hurrying back for more. If the prototype (which you can still play for free) leaves you hungry for more, then you will love the additions the Deluxe version offers. If it already seems more than enough, then there is a chance that the changes will improve your experience, but it is likelier that this is the game from this bundle that is doomed to sit on your virtual shelf, gathering virtual dust, while you devote your time to the others.

5. Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP

For those who like their games of the pointing-at-things-and-then-clicking-on-them variety, this is one of the biggest things to happen to stir up the genre since its comeback in recent years. But unless you have been living under a rock in a cave on the moon of a distant planet in another galaxy then you probably knew that. For the benefit of those who have been distracted, Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP is an action-adventure game in a maximinimalist style with an emphasis on sound design (Jim Guthrie’s score is beautiful and was quite rightfully dubbed ‘Best Videogame Music of 2011′ by Kotaku), social networking (optional) and the phases of the moon (ours, not whichever you have been hiding out on).

That’s the second biggest face-shaped entrance to a network of catacombs I’ve ever seen!

The game helpfully breaks itself down into ‘sessions’, and recommends you take a break between them. A typical first session can last from 15-30 minutes, which was perfect for my intentions, although I got lost in delightedly clicking on and reading most everything available and actually wound up taking a little longer. This first session introduces you into the world, the game’s self-reflective humour and its basic combat system. I was enchanted. It was all I could do to follow the game’s advice and give it a rest, and I am eager to explore yet further and see what else the world has to offer.

6. Machinarium

Exclusively available to those who pay above the average (which also nets you the five titles that made up the Humble Bundle for Android 2), this is another clicky-pointer in which you adopt the role of a robot, ripped to pieces and thrown on the scrapheap outside of the city by the Black Cap Brotherhood. Your mission is to get yourself together, find your way back into the city limits and put right the wrongs committed by the Brotherhood. This epic journey will certainly take you longer than half an hour, so let me preface this part of the review by saying that I played it through to the end. I heard my alarm go off, alright, but I could not bear to put it down.

So I didn’t.

They may be called the Black Caps, but they are not fun guys.

Had I only played until that point I would have praised the graphic style, the way that it circumvents dialogue without ditching story by presenting the conversations between characters as comic thought bubbles, the beautiful soundtrack by Floex (also behind the score for Amanita’s Samorost2) and the clever puzzle design which challenges often but never ever employs cheap tricks and so rewards perserverence. Unlike previous games by Amanita, there is an inventory system and puzzles that span multiple screens. As I would have only just discovered, the game really opens up in the middle and there is much to explore and do. If you have enjoyed Amanita’s previous games and wished that they had more to them, then this will definitely not disappoint.

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Humble have always had a talent for assembling great bundles and this is no exception. If you have an Android phone or do not already own the games that are bonuses then you should certainly consider paying over the average. Or do so anyway because you love what they do and want to keep on supporting indie game development. Even if you cannot stretch your budget so far, you will get some great games (and their soundtracks). They will take you to exciting new worlds no matter the sort of gamer you are.

Get it here.

Again, this is a series of first impressions (not quite as detailed as my last, mainly due to the pressure of time), which will give this reviewer’s experiences of each game based entirely on short half-hour bursts.

1. Mutant Mudds

At first glance, this is standard platforming fare. You jump your way through various differently-themed ‘worlds’ collecting all the nice things and shooting or evading all the bad ones. The twist here is that each level takes place on a number of ‘layers’. You will notice platforms and enemies off in the distance and may wonder, ‘How do I get over there?’ The answer is by using launching platforms that will throw you backwards (or even forwards) to these otherwise inaccessible areas. The level retains its point of focus, however, so sometimes you will be able to see only very little of what lies ahead as you take up a large area of the screen and other times you will find yourself having to navigate behind parts of the level closer to your perspective on things.

Like all the best elderly relatives, Grannie is ever on hand with weapon and jetpack upgrades.

Each level has three goals. One is to finish the level and another is to collect all the floating… things. I am not sure what the third is because I never managed it. It could have something to do with those mysterious doors I could never quite work out how to reach. Or it could be time-based. As I never found out myself, that will have to remain an uncertainty in this particular review.

If you fail a level (which I started to do quite often, thanks to those ubiquitous spikes), you are sent back to the beginning. This makes it a little more like the classic platformers of yore the ranks of which it almost certainly hopes it may be included within. I am happy to bestow upon it this honour. A more skilled player may find they quickly get through the game. Based on my own rate of play, I can see this filling many a happily-frustrated hour.

Did I mention the spikes?

2. Pineapple Smash Crew

In my last bundle review, I spent most of my time out in space. Pineapple Smash Crew was to send me back out there, part of a violently enthusiastic salvage team, exploring a series of randomly generated ships in order to find the mothership and/or some sort of wonderful life-changing haul. On the way you will encounter a vast number of dangers, powerups and enemies to help and hinder your progress. As is the case with FTL: Faster Than Light, its distant, more demure cousin, this aim is really rather secondary to the journey and, thanks to the random element, there is certainly a lot of potential for replayability.

An explosion. Just one of the many you can expect to see.

This is like an Alien Breed meeting a Syndicate in a Chaos Engine. I was pretty awful at each of these games and, it came as no great surprise, at this too. But I did have a lot of fun with it. You can change the degree of the challenge, from having an unlimited number of recruits on easy (you use four on each run, much like with Cannon Fodder, and they are relatively expendable), to having – for the ultimate challenge – only those you begin with.

Unlike Cannon Fodder, there is not even a rudimentary levelling system for individual recruits. It is hard to grow too attached to your mercenaries when the consequence of losing one is merely to have an identical replacement drop in. This means that on anything other than the highest difficulty level it is easy just to throw caution to the wind and not fear the consequences. This means that the threat of each of the other games I have namechecked here is sadly lacking.

But you can fit them with silly hats, so that is something.

Quite.

3. Spirits

Something much slower-paced here. A meditative puzzle game where your goal in each level is to guide several spirits to a floating warp zone and touch the plants dotted about the level on the way. The tools to do this are the spirits themselves, who can transform themselves into various elements, sacrificing themselves so that can help their companions reach their goal.

This helpful spirit will not be making it to the end of the level. It blows.

In the short time I played, I got to turn them into a wind-cloud, a plant that works as a short bridge (similar to those of the builders in Lemmings) and a rolly-poly-digger. Each level has a target requirement and a perfect solution. The perfectionist in me kept seeking this ideal routes and thus prevented me making as much progress as I might have hoped (and really should, given I was playing for review) and revealed that – as with my experiences with Splice before – there is much brain-crunching to be had, even in early stages, before the game will truly be exhausted.

4. Avernum: The Great Trials Trilogy

Avernum purports to be ‘massive’. In half an hour I barely made it out of the first town of Avernum 4. In this time I still managed to meet a fair amount of combat (almost entirely against goblins) and had one near-wipeout as I tried to push forward a little too hard and fast (and met a huge roaring fireball). The introduction suggests that it is self-aware as it describes perfectly the clichéd hero of the fantasy epic, thriving only when imperilled and languishing in boredom when all is well within the realm.

RPGlandia! Where anybody who wishes to walk corner-to-corner across a room must do so in a zig-zag fashion.

Mostly my gameplay involved me experimenting with the interface. I skipped the party creation sequence and went with the defaults (a balanced team for beginners), but there is great scope for adapting the team to either create a new challenge for yourself or to adjust gameplay to your own style, right down to being able to create your own character classes. In-game, I found some aspects a little fidgety (it is worth taking a little time to get familiar with the UI), but as combat is turn-based you have plenty of time to plan your strategy before you get overwhelmed.

Expect three epic stories, tonnes of subquesting and a fair amount of bursting spectacularly into fiery death.

5. BasketBelle

The only knowledge I had of this game prior to booting it was that it was about basketball and somehow also ‘gorgeous and … touching’ according to a review from the Greenlight comments that Indie Royale tweeted. How right both of these expectations turned out to be, although the first is a gross oversimplification. Certainly, the game of basketball forms the fundamentals of the game, but from that spark there is spun quite the fantastic yarn, which will see you battling an increasingly formidable purple tentacled beast to the top of the Eiffel Tower and down again.

A basketball player who will likely not be selling many pairs of trainers.

Viewed in isolation, each of the levels would seem to be a unique minigame, yet the game flows so naturally between them that you will revel in the different challenges and be kept wondering at where it could possibly take you next. The game is short, though my last review revealed this to be no bad thing, and while it is one of those games that you will neither want nor need to replay all that much, it is a delectably sweet treat. So rapt was I that I did not even notice my timer going off to tell me to stop.

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This bundle is clearly a very mixed bag. So varied is it that I would not expect most gamers to really love more than a couple of these. Were it not so short I would say that it was worth picking up for BasketBelle alone. However, it is unlikely there will not be something else here you cannot sink your teeth into, whether you are a calculated platformer, an all-guns-blazing pyrotechnic, a reflective puzzler or a brazen adventurer. It may not be their strongest bundle to date, but it is certainly worth a second look if you are still undecided.

The bundle also includes soundtracks for all the games (bar Avernum, which does not really have one), and a digital sketchbook for BasketBelle.

Get it here.

Mark of the Ninja has you playing as the unnamed ninja champion of your clan. When your home is attacked by mercenaries, you are given the tribe’s ceremonial tattoos. With them you are granted special powers. There’s a price, however. The ink drives a person insane and the champion is expected to kill himself after his mission is complete.

Klei Entertainment has done an excellent job with this game. The focus stays on being stealthy and covert, leaving the action and sword play as a secondary measure. You work through each level through various levels of platforming, finding branching routes and hidden rooms to extort. You can knock out lights to help hide you, or use one of the many items in your ninja bags of tricks to distract, terrorize, or eliminate guards.

One of the best parts of Mark of the Ninja is how accessible the stealth mechanics are. It is very rarely in question whether you are hidden or not. Your character brightens visibly in light and loses color when in the shadows. Guard’s vision is displayed to see cones, their flashlights are easy to spot, and some of the more advanced enemies have are sensors that are well defined. Staying out of sight and advancing forward, but proper forethought and use of the environment will have you prowling past guards undetected.

Oddly enough, one of the most gripping aspects of this game is the story. It is a fairly simple story of revenge and betrayal, but it is done in a style that is secretive and epic, much like a ninja. Cutscenes are wonderfully animated in Klei’s signature art style. The backgrounds and scenery offer a great atmosphere to reinforce the game’s flair. The finale astonishes for a game this small. Without giving anything away, I will say that it asks you to evaluate everything you thought you knew about your character, your companion, and your clan. The question you face at the end is one of the toughest I have faced in a long while.

The controls are sometimes a sticking point, however. There are times when you may be trying to jump off a wall and just end up slinking in and out of a wall vent like a black clad jack-in-the-box. Trying to grab an enemy might result instead in a loud kill that alerts everyone in the area to your location. And more time than I would like to count, pickpocketing someone has gotten me filled with lead. The camera can also be your enemy, sometimes keeping you from knowing if there is a ledge below and possibly sending you plummeting to your death.

The game is short, able to be beaten in about six hours. Still, there is a lot of replay value with the new game plus and hunting down the collectables. With your entire inventoryavailable, there is this awesome sense of power as you stalk through a level, knowing you could kill every single guard there, but choosing not to. If nothing else, you can see what happens when you make the other choice at the end.

Summary: Mark of the Ninja is a return to stealth unmatched in today’s market with clever design, intense thrill, and depth beyond expectation.

Verdict” 9 out of 10

Platforms: PC, Xbox 360

Mark of the Ninja is available now on Xbox Live and Steam.

What is Thirty Flights of Loving? It is the seventh chapter in the Citizen Abel series, following Gravity Bone, which put Blendo Games – known also for Atom Zombie Smasher and Flotilla – on the indie gaming map. It is a short-form tale of espionage, love, friendship, betrayal, and a heist turned sour, told as a sequence of stylised vignettes. It is a twenty-minute burst of giddy intrigue, which forces the player to take an active role in piecing together a whole that is larger than its parts. It is a shock to the system, as much as Reservoir Dogs was to the average filmgoer back in 1992. It is either a puzzle with no fixed solution, or the answers to a question you failed to hear, or a little of both.

These are the first characters you will meet. They do not want to talk to you. Get used to it.

Besides all these things and more, it is also incredibly hard to review, as so much depends on the player’s interpretation of the events presented. You see, Blendo clearly believe that you as player are capable of digesting a narrative you have not been clumsily spoon-fed. In this regard, Thirty Flights of Loving, is something quite unusual and, despite its apparent brevity, excellent value for money. Thrown in is a director’s commentary, if notes on level design are of interest, and the aforementioned Gravity Bone (which is also available free from the Blendo Games website).

Indeed, the biggest criticism I have seen has been the asking price of $5. If it can be compared to a rollercoaster – which with all of its twists and turns it is all too easy to do – then note that some coastal town rollercoasters charge about this for a single ride. Rather than a short-lived burst of adrenaline for your body, however, this is a longer-lasting rush for your mind. So, slap your virtual currency down on the counter and strap yourself in for the ride of your life.

Guns! Plans! Hooch! Geese!

Summary: Thirty Flights of Loving is a masterful piece of misdirection: the short narrative-driven game (or is it game-driven narrative?) is actually only a chunk of a larger something. It must be experienced first-hand to be truly believed.

Verdict: 7½ out of 10

Platforms: PC

Thirty Flights of Loving was developed by Blendo Games. It is available to purchase on their website, or via Steam.