MONUMENT VALLEY - FORGOTTEN SHORES (iPAD)

Some time ago I wrote my review of Monument Valley, in my opinion the best game of 2014. They released an expansion not so long ago and I honestly missed it... but now I had the chance to play it and it's as good as the original game. Maybe a little more?

In essence if you liked the original game you'll like Forgotten Shores. It's pretty much the same vision, visual style and most of the player actions. It features 8 new levels (generally 3-4 screens per each) plus a bonus level (Ida's dream)

However, most levels have a brand new gameplay option, and the experience is centered around it: In one you twist columns to blend your path towards your goal, in other you control water flows, and such. I believe the level design effort has been increased on this pack, and it's certainly refreshing

On the minus side, I would say the story side has been substantially reduced. Not that it mattered much in the first title, but doesn't look like Ida's quest has progressed much in the expansion

If you didn't play Monument Valley in the first place, you're wasting your time in life. Seriously. If you did, then go for Forgotten Shores. You won't regret it!

LIFE IS STRANGE (PC)

Since I'm working on a "interactive drama" game right now I'm taking a look at other similar titles. There was a time when Quantic Dream was pretty much the only studio working on this genre, but today there are multiple competitors and they often have interesting new approaches, like Life is Strange

In short, the proposal is basically the classic interactive story: You go around the scenario interacting with some pre-defined objects, often gathering clues and solving puzzles. Short cutscenes are used to explain how you interact with the world, dialogues and characters, and at times you need to make some choices that affect the outcome of the story and your relationships. The unique selling point of the game, though, is the ability to rewind the timeline previous to choices you made so you can select other options or solve puzzles otherwise it'll be impossible to sort out. It is an interesting new feature and certainly adds a lot of gameplay options and flavor to the game

Other than that, the game also relies on visuals to be appealing (the art direction is remarkable) and a good script. It is also an episodic game, which is always nice since you don't pay that much at the beginning and you can stop buying episodes as soon as you decide to. I honestly only played the first chapter but I hope it's enough to value the product as a whole

In every sense, it's highly recommendable if you like the genre!

PRUNE (iOS)

After being included in some of the "Best games of the year" rankings I was curious about Prune so I bought it and frankly it doesn't dissapoint. It is indeed a very good game

If you don't know it, it's quite simple: Your goal is to grow a tree so the branches reach the sun and flowers blossom. You do that by cutting branches that go in the wrong direction by swiping. That's it

Other than that it's very minimalistic. Shapes and sounds are very basic. Those players who like "poetic" experiences (in the sense that the game doesn't give you all elements and you need to complete it with your own perception/feelings) will have it easy

The most remarkable findings of the game are the lack of tutorial or any training (it's all integrated into the main experience) and the controller simplicity: You just need to swipe. Still the game offers some scalability on this basic scheme, boosted by some additional gameplay elements that offer additional complexity

If any, the game is short. You can finish the main walkthrough in 1-2 hours, make it 4 if you also do a set of post-end additional challenges (blue flowers). However the iOS platform usually don't offer long games since users actually look for shorter experiences

I certainly recommend it. You won't be disappointed.

CHRISTMAS GYMKHANA

As every year at the family reunion, I organize a gymkhana for the little ones. Truth is, they’re not that little anymore so this year I tried to update the challenges to match their age (an average of 10)

I designed a mix of quiz and treasure hunt, as follows: I divided the kids into 3 teams (lead by the elder ones) and their goal was to answer correctly 5 questions (out of 6). These were particularly complicated, so I hid the answers in papers around the house. The teams could choose to either try to response the questions directly, focus on finding the answers, assign some of their members to spy other teams or simply look for the answers online after failing

Accessing the Quiz was not free: I hid some doubloons which granted access to the questions, made by me. In addition to that, some “wild cards” were also hidden. When used, they will automatically “win” any question

Aside from the game itself, I also invested some time buying more “mature” presents. In the past we gave the kids just some plastic toys but since many of them were 10-15 years they should appreciate “older” gifts

In general, it all went well but some things could have been improved:

• The difficulty of the questions was too much for them. Just trying to answer directly was not an option
• The pool of questions (around 35) was too large. As a consequence finding all answers was almost impossible. Even with teams of 5 kids each they would find only 70% of all responses. I had to help them a lot during the quiz
• The wild cards made the difference. The winning team used 2 of them to achieve the needed 5. Otherwise it’d been impossible
• The new toys (small strategy games, mostly) were not particularly appreciated. Nor disliked, though

In summary, as a “prototype” of the game it was fine but if I do additional iterations it should be better. Every year I try to make a brand new one and it’s never completely satisfactory. Maybe next year I’ll do it again, but improved?

GAME OF THRONES (iOS)

Due to have deleted GTA Vice City, I now have space for other games to be installed in my iPad. Since I'm now working on the interactive drama genre, I think it's time to try some of those games and I started with Telltales' Game of Thrones

The game has fairly good ratings, but it hasn't impressed me much. On the positive side the story is engaging, it fits smoothly into the universe (which is no little feat) and most of the original TV series cast lend their voices for the game

On the minus side, practically there is no other mechanic than selecting dialogue options - Just a couple of times you're allowed to wander around a limited space - and above anything else other problem I already detected on (also Telltales') The Walking Dead; The outcome of the episode is defined no matter what, and aside from some minor decisions the story is a one-direction tunnel you cannot really change

I understand it's not easy to change that design (common to other games in this genre) since other options are too costly, but somehow I'm a little tired of these limitations. Maybe it's time for someone to come up with new approaches?

By the way, I feel a little uneasy listing the game here, where I only include finished games. After all, I've only played the first episode. But since I won't be playing the rest, and the business model allows you to put a stop after the first chapter, I think it's fair

GRAND THEFT AUTO VICE CITY (iOS)

I’ve been fairly focused on WoW lately, but now I hit the 21k achievement points I’m cutting down gradually. So in the last days I pushed for finishing a game I’ve had waiting in the iPad for many months: GTA Vice City

I deeply enjoyed the original PS2 version, and when I learned it was available on iOS I bought it and played it mainly on air trips. I often rank it among the best 10 games I’ve ever played. However at a point I run out of missions and couldn’t unlock the end. Now I’ve done a comprehensive search of missing properties and hidden quests, and I’ve finally completed it

The port itself sucks big time. It often crashes and the FPS drops dramatically very often. Controls are not particularly good (but not different from similar games). I suspect they dropped the difficulty substantially to make it bearable. And furthermore it is the game which occupies more space in the iPad by far of all the ones I’ve played. I don’t think they invested much time on testing, they just pushed the original build into the Apple store without much consideration

Aside from these issues, the game retains its flavor. And being a fan of the 80s and games set on past times I really value the effort. The dialogues and cutscenes are fun, enjoyable and these pals at Rockstar don’t have any shame when depicting a very ironic version of the US society. I don’t recommend it on iOS but if you can play the PS2 version and you’re not a pixel whore you will probably enjoy it

WHAT MAKES AN INDIE HIT

Excellent article on Gamasutra, about the elements you actually control when designing an indie title to make it a hit

Read it here. You're welcome!