Code Name: S.T.E.A.M.

Surprise of the Year! I wasn't attracted at all by this game, but I gave it a try and it is really fun and looks better than what static images show.

This game is made by the Fire Emblem developers and the structure is similar: Dialog -> Preparation -> Battle -> Dialog, it is also focused on strategy and has the same turn system where each player has it's turn to move all his soldiers, but it plays different.

The movement is also grid based but moving consumes steam, this same steam is required to attack and the amount of steam consumed depends on the weapon.

The combat is based on ranged weapons like shotguns, rifles, rockets, grenades, sniper, and the characters are controlled similar to a 3rd person shooter, where you need to aim and shoot. Of course it is not a shooter because it's your turn and the enemy is static so it is just to allow the player to aim to different parts of the monster in search of his weak points.

One thing that reminds me a lot to XCOM are the "counter attacks": a unit can stay in "guard" position which will allow it to attack an enemy unit that moves inside his sight during the opponent turn. Guard position requires a weapon that is able to counterattack and enough steam to shoot.

I call this an srpg though it doesn't have any level/stats progression (some people needs to see numbers to call it an rpg). The progression is made by finding "cogs" that are spread though the scenarios which rewards new weapons, and money that is earned by killing enemies, inside boxes around the scenario and you get more money for completing the misison, extra if you complete it witouth deaths and few turns. With money you get new "steam bags" that gives the soldier different effects: like more starting steam, more capacity, healing, etc.

The game is challenging, I loved the difficulty and balance of the enemies and scenarios from the start to the end. Also there's no global map/view so you don't know what's behind every corner until you come close to it, so you need to be prepared for everything!

The story is fine and there's not much dialog, but even so, I liked the characters a lot as they have a strong presence. I find videogame stories more enjoyable with images rather than text. Music has some good tunes and graphically looks better than I've seen on the internet.


Did I like it? Yes!
I think you will like it if you:
- Like srpg
- Are looking for a challenge

I rate my experience with a 8 out of 10.

Terra Battle

This probably the only android game I've played for more than 5 minutes.

The gameplay of this game is original though is a bit hard to explain, basically it's a turn based game where you have a limited amount of time each turn to move your allies trying to surround the enemies, which will cause the allies to attack. You can surround lines of enemies and also in different directions creating chains of attacks which enables the use of different skills like powerful attacks or healing.

The rest of the game is kinda poor, the story is told with text on a static background, I had no interest at all. Graphically is very simple too, the designs are nicely done but everything is very static. I can't give any opinion about the music or sound because I always have my cellphone muted.

As most mobile games, the core is about a simple but entertaining gameplay that progresses through short stages. This is fine for a few chapters but then it starts to become really repetitive because it hasn't anything else to offer.

The player can also recruit different characters, level them up and promote their class. I never dedicated time to that I just went with the flow and my starting characters were powerful enough for most of the game.

This game also have the usual "energy" that if it depletes you need to wait or buy more with real money. I never bothered about it either.

Did I like it? I got bored.
I think you will like it if you:
- Play it once in a week or so

I rate my experience with a 4 out of 10.

Driveclub

This is one of the best arcade racing games I've ever played.

The controls may be a bit tight at first, but the learning curve is excellent, giving an strong sense of progression through the events. And even that the controls are very arcade, the game has a penalty system which makes you try to drive correctly by penalizing tricks like car raming or hitting walls at high speed to reposition the car through a curve.

The events also contribute to the sense of progression, they are really challenging and events that seemed impossible at first, they slowly become doable as you get used to control the cars and learn driving tricks. There are 3 kinds of events: race, timelap and drifting. At first drifting events seemed the hardest ones until I learned how to drift, timelap are definitely the hardest ones now.

Graphically the game is really beautiful, he illumination is really realisting specially while raining and snowing. Music is not very good on menus, and there's no music while racing but I strangely didn't notice until a friend pointed it out.

About the online mode, I've tried a few challenges but I'm an average driver and see to motivation on what the online modes offers me, I prefer to play the offline events because the difficulty is very adjusted to my skills.

This game is extremelly fun, I apreciate it not being "open world" because I don't like roaming around, on an arcade game I just want quick-plays. Also it's a shame that this game released the way it did and gained many negative reviews because it affected a lot to its sales and the possibility of a sequel.

Did I like it? Yes!
I think you will like it if you:
- Like arcade racers

I rate my experience with a 8.5 out of 10.