So I have gone up by fifty page views yay! Thank you all for taking the time to click on my little piece of internet space! You are all very quiet though, I'd love to see some opinions in the comments so speak up and let me know who you are and what you think!
So I've been in an odd mood the last few days and haven't really fancied playing my usual games like League of Legends, Minecraft, World of Warcraft etc. After finishing Halo 4 I just wanted to play games that aren't ongoing, I wanted to complete something! I love the warm fuzzy feeling you get when you complete a game so this week I finished two games I got over the Christmas sales; Little Inferno and The Unfinished Swan.
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So I bought Little Inferno after watching a few of the videos of Simon and Lewis from the Yogscast playing it. It looked like some easygoing fun just burning things and getting achievements what's not to like? There is a bit of a story to it which in my opinion is really....strange...? Basically you are playing a young boy who buys the latest craze for kids to keep warm in the freezing environment: the Little Inferno which is pretty much just a fire place with a creepy face in the middle. On arrival of your purchase you get a letter from Miss Nancy the head of the Tomorrow Corporation congratulating you on your purchase and explaining that you can buy things to burn in the catalogues you unlock as you go throughout the game. You are told about the the harsh conditions via letters from the Weatherman who rides a hot air balloon above the city and you receive regular letters from your eccentric yet strangely philosophical neighbour Sugar Plumps.
As you burn the random items you purchase you can gain money and stamps to help you buy more things to burn as well as unlocking combos such as the LOL Kitty Combo which you get by burning the Wandering Eye Camera and the Kitty Kitty Poo Poo Plushie together. Your neighbour Sugar Plumps also asks you to send her things like a magnet, fireflies and fashionable sunglasses while also telling you she cant look backwards and there is something we don't know. Just over halfway through the game you hear a rumbling sound from above and a girl screaming. A letter from the Weatherman tells you that he can see a house on fire and it is assumed poor Sugar Plumps is dead. You continue on, no longer receiving letters from poor Sugar Plumps. You do however receive a mysterious letter telling you to burn all the things you sent her together. When you do so you unlock the hidden combo and trigger the end of the game. I won't spoil it for you but it is very strange and unsatisfying in my opinion. However I still quite enjoyed the game though the story had a disappointing ending. I loved trying to figure out the combos and watching the different effects the fire had on the items I purchased (my favourite being the Phoenix Egg). The game is so simple yet very enjoyable as it goes along. It is the type of game however you will only want to play through once. I really can't see myself getting any enjoyment out of playing it over and over but it was still a fun experience or what it is.
So the second game I played I bought on a whim because quite simply it was on sale and I like swans. Yup that's all it took. I hadn't heard much about it except that it was a short game that didn't require a lot of thought or skill so I thought it would be the perfect purchase with the last of my gaming money. I wish I had looked into it more >.<
You play as a little orphan boy called Monroe who's mother has recently died. She was an artist with a habit of not finishing her work. Monroe is allowed to pick one piece out of his mother's collection to keep so he picks his favourite a painting titled 'The Unfinished Swan'. One night he sees the swan has vanished and so searches for it in the painting (because that's what we all would do right?). This brings you to the start of the game which is you in a completely white space. You get through the level by throwing ink around to reveal your surroundings as you chase the orange footprints of the swan. You find letters written on different surfaces which when you throw ink (or later in the game water) at them gets the narrator to tell the story of this world. You find out a King has created this unfinished kingdom and is locked away near his home fast asleep mourning the disappearance of his pregnant queen many years ago. As you continue chasing the swan you pop balloons to unlock new items, grow ivy to help you move along the unfinished land and try and find the different letters to unlock the story. In one particular level where you are wondering through a forest you must also avoid being hurt my the mysterious creatures that lurk in the dark.The Unfinished Swan is basically a puzzle game set in a blank world. At first I thought maybe it is a kids game but the story seems a bit too dark for kids so it left me uncertain if I should dislike the game for being too short and too easy or accept it as a game that is targeted for younger ages. I decided to look it up and saw it was advertised as 12+ which seemed accurate enough to me when I looked back at it. The game is simple enough that twelve year olds would find it not too challenging and the story wouldn't be too dark for them. However I think if I was twelve and sat down to play this game I would find some elements of it a bit too childish for me. The fact that you are playing a young boy is fine but things like the balloon currency and simplicity of the game won't keep a twelve year old's attention for long. Also most of the items you unlock bar the balloon locator aren't useful. What got me through the game was trying to unlock all of the achievements. Most of them are quite simple but getting through the first level by only throwing three ink blots is quite hard and I found myself not caring enough to try any more than five times. The game's unusual concept is quite clever and interesting but the story isn't very good, the game play is mediocre at best and the game comes off as a bit pretentious. I just didn't enjoy it very much but it could just be me being too old for this game. So what did this game teach me? Research the game a little bit before you buy it!
Before I head off I just wanted to mention a little convention called Akumakon that is run in Galway City where I live. It is a great convention that I go to every year with my friends and I always really enjoy it. A lot of work is put into it and the people who run it are really friendly and deserve a lot of credit as they don't get paid and do it completely during their free time. If your in Ireland this weekend I highly suggest you try and make it! I will put a link to their facebook page and website below!
So what do you think of these games? Did you like them? Are you going to Akumakon? Leave a comment below and let me know!
Enjoy the rest of the week guys!
-BGG
Akumakon Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Akumakon?fref=ts
Akumakon website: http://www.akumakon.com/
(Akumakon flyer image courtasy of bubblecat's deviant art http://bubblecat.deviantart.com/gallery/39317784)
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