Recent reviews by Bluddy

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the extra games

I've long been disappointed with BoI. No matter how many DLCs and items they added, the game stopped being a challenging rogue-lite and became a screensaver. With so many ways to break the game, and so little challenge, the game couldn't compare to the best rogue-lites out there, despite originally being one of the first 2 rogue-lites (together with Spelunky).

This DLC changes *everything*. Not only do you get a new alternative path that's incredibly fun, they rebalanced everything, making the core of the game what it was supposed to be all along: a difficult game where you have to carefully consider trading your HP for offense. The game has finally reached its true potential, and it's now a game I'd recommend to anyone who likes rogue-lites. In fact, I would suggest that it may now be the *best* rogue-lite, with infinite item combos and two runs truly never playing the same way.

Great game, especially because it's one of the few FPSs that support split-screen! Great fun for the kids!

Spelunky was the game that ushered in our current golden age of rogue-lites. It borrowed ideas from rogue-like turn-based games and applied them to a platformer, focusing on difficulty, permadeath and systems that operate with consistent rules. It's one of the purest forms of rogue-lites available, eschewing metagame upgrades and insisting on player skill. Since Spelunky HD, the genre has evolved, and I was curious to see what Derek Yu could do to bring a new version of Spelunky to a world where rogue-lites are now extremely popular.

I have yet to get very far in the game, but I am not disappointed. Most of the issues present in Spelunky HD have been resolved, and the new levels are challenging even for Spelunky HD pros. First, there are more items, and more of them are useful. Second, some of the strongest items from the previous game have been nerfed, allowing for freedom of choice. Additionally, you don't have to rob the shopkeeper anymore to succeed -- the game is far more generous with money. And even though the levels appear more challenging, the game is generous with handing out lives to the player. Design-wise, I would say that Spelunky 2 seems to be the superior game so far.

Some things leave a less favorable impression: The detail in the graphics is spectacular compared to the first game, but the backgrounds are now rendered in a flat, unrealistic style, with some colors being really bad choices. The music is phenomenal, but repetitive -- variety in music has been traded for quality. Some people also miss the specific design choices of the first game, which favored open environments where the player can just breeze around. Spelunky 2 prefers a more cramped style that forces you to choose which path to take. Sometimes, if you want a bonus (like rescuing the damsel), you need to spend a rope or a bomb. I think this is better design -- the original game generally allowed you to never use items, whereas here items are actually a necessity. Boots that allow you to jump higher actually serve a great function in this game, whereas in the first game, they were but an extra icon on your toolbar. Throughout the game, what you see is the designer thinking more deeply about what he wants out of the player, whereas Spelunky HD is more freeform and kind of random. Both approaches work, but my preference is for Spelunky 2's calculated approach.

To sum up, this is a masterful sequel to one of the most masterful games ever made. Big thumbs up.

Drox Operative is Soldak's most well known game, and for good reason: it's the ultimate combination of ARPG mechanics, space combat, and 4x. Often it feels like something out of Paradox games -- like a Stellaris where you act as a mercenary rather than as one of the races.

While Drox 2 is currently little more than an enhanced Drox with better graphics, more planet types, some random alien races, and more diplomatic options, given the history of Soldak games, this game will turn out to be very interesting over time.

This is the ultimate distillation of the original X-Com into a form that's both digestible to the general public and an improvement over the original in significant ways. Though original X-Com still has much to offer, the change to 2-phase combat (one move, one action) makes the battles snappier and easier to plan out. Class advancement per soldier means that you get more attached to soldiers and get interesting new abilities as soldiers mature. What is missing at the tactical level is terror, but what we get in return is easier planning and a smooth experience.

The overall strategy game is definitely simplistic compared to the original game, but it also removes exploits and annoying things like turning X-Com into a wholesale sales force.

This is a true reimagining of a classic, and in many ways has yet to be outdone.

The basic game is excellent -- one of the true classics of adventure gaming.

However, it's questionable whether the Anniversary Edition is better than the original. Some of the graphics - particularly the backgrounds - are definitely better, but some are too bright and generic-looking. The close-up models are great, but the full body character models, while animated decently, leave a lot to be desired.

Still a pretty good way to experience this excellent game.

I've come to change my mind about this particular Soldak game. I used to view it as the 'ugly duckling' of Soldak games, but due to its popularity, I've taken a second look without the expectations I built up from Din's Curse and Depths of Peril, and it's actually pretty spectacular.

In terms of graphics, this is probably the Soldak game that is closest to the state of the art. Explosions were given the right splash, space backgrounds look good, and ships are fairly attractive, while the game can still run on a potato without a hitch. And spaceships don't really animate as much as move around, which helps. So the graphics are pretty good, or at least good enough. The same cannot be said for the music, which I find to be an affront to the senses.

The gameplay consists of a translation of ARPGs to the space domain, while expanding the 'live world' feeling that existed in previous Soldak games. Quests now don't affect you, but rather, the different races, and you need to help your chosen races out while messing up your enemies.

Some choice moment stand out, such as choosing whether you want a particular race to splinter into a mutated version and the original version by helping out rebels, or handing the rebels over to the authorities. You feel like you're a mercenary who's able to manipulate the galaxy, and that's a great feeling.

In terms of skill variety, Drox excels. Rather than having a skill tree or bush, as the grounded Soldak ARPGs have, Drox uses item-based skills. This system is far superior in my view, since it means you can constantly switch out your skill set, and you get pushed to different skills as items are outclassed by other items of higher levels. The downside is that different races for your avatar have little more than small race-specific bonuses -- gone are the individual skill trees found in skill-tree based systems.

Parts of the systems in place here are pure genius. For example, some of the quests are really interesting and affect the simulation between the races. Do a research quest for a race, and that species may research better weapons, which will help it dominate another race. Don't deliver medicine to a planet, and it may die out. The way the dynamic Soldak quest system interacts with the background simulation is brilliant.

I had some trouble adjusting to the notion of space that's available here. Most of the fighting you'll be doing is against space monsters and pirates rather than against the main races. One upside is that unsettled solar systems are therefore a real challenge, as you have nobody to help you against the randoms. Think of space as the wild, dangerous frontier that needs to be settled by civilizations, and you'll find that expectation met. This isn't the kind of outer space that's huge and empty.

You play in solar systems linked by warp gates. Each solar system is a circle with planets, powerups, and anomalies. Unfortunately though, space just isn't as interesting to explore as a dungeon or a forest is -- there are no landmarks to keep you grounded, so to speak. You'll be mostly looking for warp gates to other solar systems. It's great when you find a habitable planet or a new faction, but not so great when you find nothing, which is most of the time. I would rather have had a much larger scan radius, allowing me to quickly find the planets and clearing most of the fog.

Inhabited planets are your lifeblood, providing precious nanites (potions) and full repair for your ship and components. Stay away from planets for too long and you'll die and be cloned too many times, incurring an astronomical, and triggering a loss condition.

Some may say that the Soldak quest system, which worked brilliantly to create tension in DoP and Din's Curse, doesn't act as effectively here. Like those games, you only have a certain amount of time to solve quests before the situation gets worse. Take your time and bad things *will* happen. However, you're not the subject of said quests. When bad things happen, they happen to another race in the game -- not to you. You therefore don't care so much about specific boss monsters as you do about 'things happening to planets' and how you can help them or make them worse. The quest system here is something to do, but it's not the focus.

What takes a giant leap forward here is the background simulation. Races conquer planets and take over resources, and you can either help or hinder them. Some people complain about the mandatory Drox quests in the expansion, but the tension of (for example) suddenly realizing you have to eliminate the allies you've been helping all game long is amazing. You can always turn this Drox guild intervention feature off, but I recommend leaving it on for the best experience.

Let's talk about the upgrade system. Like most ARPGs, there's a lot of loot in this game. A *lot* of it. Unfortunately, unlike other ARPGs, you can't just quickly compare the new items to your current ones to figure out what you should take: you also have to consider the power requirements of every item, as well as its associated skill. Many items exist at different power levels and with different slot types. This makes for a fairly complex (and admittedly enjoyable) optimization game. However, when you need to constantly analyze new items to see how they fit into this puzzle, your brain eventually melts down.

The normal ARPG rarity system also doesn't apply well to the loot, since primary stats are far more important than secondary ones.

All in all, I think this is a great Soldak game -- possibly the best in its genre. While weaker in the quest system which made other Soldak games great, it's stronger on the 4x simulation front, and some might claim that this aspect is more interesting long-term. I think a sequel could iron out some of the kinks, but if you're into space games, you owe it to yourself to try this out.

This is the true sequel to the amazing Din's Curse. While Soldak's games are decent in their ARPG mechanics, where they really shine is in their procedural generation and realistic quest chains. When a quest tells you to do something quickly, you better do it quickly, or you'll fail the quest and something else could happen. The result is a world that feels real and interactive to a degree unmatched by many other games, and certainly unmatched by other ARPGs.

What this particular iteration brings to the table is improved graphics from the Zombasite engine; height maps that provide strategic valleys and hills; extremely randomized scenario goals, from saving a town to hunting down the altars of gods; and most importantly, a skill mutation system that gives you new skills to play with as you progress. The mutation system is critical for long-term play IMO, because it provides the same variety of skillsets that Drox Operative did using its item-based skill system. The result is in my eyes the best Soldak game to date, and a true successor to Din's Curse, which is one of my all-time favorites.

What you won't get in this iteration is clan-based depth at the level of Drox, Depths of Peril, or Zombasite. The focus here is on random scenarios, and clans may turn up occasionally. If you want to play a part of a clan that you take care of as part of a strategic game, you'll want to check out Zombasite or Drox.