Title: Luftrausers Developer: Vlambeer Platforms: PC, Mac, Linux, PS3, PS Vita Price: $9.99 ---
Luftrausers is not a dogfighting game. You may control a plane and you may be shooting down enemy fighters (and boats and blimps), but what Luftrausers really is frenzied aerial bullet hell chaos. But, in true Vlambeer fashion, what makes the game so good besides the action and stylized graphics, are the controls.
In Luftrausers, there is no such thing as downtime. You assemble your plane in the Hangar and then launch into unfriendly skies. It only takes a few seconds for the screen to become pure mayhem as battleships and fighters fill the sepia-hued air with bullets and aces swoop in behind you, and that's before the hulking projectile-spewing blimps appear. But even in the midst of the most hectic gauntlet, you are always in the control and that's the brilliance of Luftrausers.
It's one thing to weave between some bullets and return fire. It's another to swoop into a dive, deftly plummet through a hail storm of bullets, take out a battleship, and pull up so close that the water's surface is flared up by your thrusters. Or to maneuver your enemies into a tight cluster, cut your thrusters, and shoot the planes pursuing you while your momentum carries you in the other direction. Your plane is insanely maneuverable, able to turn on a dime, reach top speed in a moment. Realism isn't a factor here; it's pure arcade handling and it makes every close call, every elegant evasive maneuver feel so satisfying. Equally impressive is how diverse your plane combinations control and feel. Each part is useful in some fashion and each combination is wholly unique, with its own shape, name, and music. Equip the hover engine and cannonball and you can easily maintain a level altitude while raining explosive fury onto your enemies. With the water-proof engine, collision-proof body, and laser, you become a devastating master of air and sea, diving beneath the surface to evade bullets and flying through enemies like an unstoppable bullet. Completing missions unlocks new parts and other rewards, such as different color schemes and the hard-as-nails absolutely unforgiving SMFT mode. Normal mode at its most chaotic is child's play compared to what awaits in SMFT.
Luftrausers isn't the most complex game, but it's certainly one of the most addictive and satisfying I've played in a while. I'd say it's easily on par with One Finger Death Punch, in terms of delivering a simple experience that's laser focused on delivering stylish finely-tuned gameplay. It's the kind of game where I'm instantly restarting upon defeat, to improve my skills, to complete missions and unlock new parts. You can purchase Luftrausers on Steam, Humble, and PSN.
Title: A-Men 2 Developer: Bloober Team Platforms: PS3, PS Vita Price: $9.99 ---
A-Men 2 is described as a game that's "easy to play but still hard to master" and I couldn't agree more. It's a precision puzzle platformer; however I don't mean precision in the sense of pixel-perfect jumps and trap avoidance, but rather precise timing and strategic use of your characters' abilities.
A-Men 2 is first and foremost a puzzle game. You have a number of different characters at your disposal, each with their own abilities ranging from disguising yourself as the enemy and placing route-altering signs, equipping a rifle that can shoot enemies, building ladders and fixing machinery, to using a grapple hook. While there is platforming involving, switching between characters at the opportune moments, using their abilities at the proper times to assist other characters or kill enemies constitute the core of the game. However that proper timing is where I found the game also frustrates. It's satisfying to finally succeed and reach the waiting evacuation chopper, but to get to that point requires an exorbitant amount of trial and error. There's no flexibility in your attempts; there's one correct way to trigger the various switches and machines ans use your characters, at the right places, at the right times, and until you get that sequence down, you'll only be making frustratingly small intervals of progress at a time. It doesn't help that you can only save at certain checkpoints in each level and dying before them requires you to restart from the beginning.
If going solo isn't your style, you can also tackle A-Men 2 cooperatively with three other players. A-Men 2 may have charming visuals, a humorous self-aware narrative with characters who know they're NPCs in a game, and the mechanics themselves are fun, but the focus on trial and error leads to frustration more often than not. You can purchase A-Men 2 on the Playstation Store.
Title: How To Survive Developer: Eko Software Platforms: PC Price: $14.99 ---
I know, I know, yet another zombie game. However, How To Survive stands out thanks to its mix of satisfying zombie action and RPG elements.
After choosing one of three characters, you find yourself on the corpse littered shores of a remote archipelago. The world of How To Survive is set across four islands, each larger than the last. The islands aren't massive but they're diverse, from the woods of the first one to fellow survivor (and your guide) Kovac's compound and the swampy marshes and jungles of the other two. You'll unlock each island as you progress through the story, as well earn weapons and tools to unlock new areas. For example the machete can chop away path-blocking bushes and you'll learn how to ignite campfires. The atmosphere is wonderful: daylight fades, night descends on the landscape, campfires flicker, the tide rolls in and out, birds fly off and when you approach, deer and tapir roam the underbrush.
Fire and illumination is important, because when night falls, creatures besides zombies roam the islands, and your precious torches, campfires, and flashlight can keep them at bay. The zombies themselves are varied as well, from simple shamblers to helmet-wearing armored undead. Thankfully your character is more than able to hold his own, thanks to a large assortment of melee weapons, projectiles, equipable armor (visible on your character), stat boosting items, and skills that allow you to craft distractions or incidenary arrows. Combat isn't the most complex mechanic but it's certainly fun. Blades lop off heads and limbs, heavy weapons explode heads, guns blow zombies apart, and melee finishers on staggered enemies are always satisfying. A crafting system allows you to swap out weapon parts to add attributes like rapid fire or make special weapons like a bone boomerang.
And that's not all! You need to watch your hunger, thirst, and exhaustion; hunting deer, fishing, filling water bottles, and sleeping in designated safehouses will keep you at peak levels. I did feel that too many missions just fell into fetch quest territory and bosses were more frustrating than anything else. The survival elements seem tacked on, just more meters to worry about rather than an deep organic feature. There's also a huge amount of ammo lying around; it was rare that I didn't have 500 rounds or more for my weapons.
Besides a single player campaign (which features co-operative play as well), there's a challenge mode to test you zombie killing skills as well as an iron man difficulty that severely limits your supplies and health. How To Survive doesn't reinvent the genre and nothing really blew me away, but its mix of satisfying zombie killing and RPG elements create a fun solid experience that's worth playing. You can purchase How To Survive from the official site or from Steam.
