Humble Bundle Acquisition: Trine

If you were ever a fan of platform games (i.e. Mario, Sonic, and/or Donkey Kong Country), you absolutely want to give Trine (and, I assume, its new sequel) a shot. I'll skip over the story and just say that in Trine, you control either a Thief, a Knight, or a Mage that all have different abilities/specialties. Using these three (and switching them out as often as you like), you make your way through very detailed and gorgeous levels filled with platforms, monsters, pits, and all the good stuff. It's very puzzle-oriented as well, so there's a lot more to it than just getting from the left side of the screen to the right as fast as you can.

The soundtrack has a great fantasy vibe that is simply enchanting (I'll post a track/game play video at the at the bottom). There's really not that much more to say, if you want a great game with lots of interesting game play and virtually no learning curve, this is your game! Pick it up on Steam or try the demo (download required for the demo!).

Humble Bundle Acquisition: Binding of Issac

I'm currently out of town, so this and Monday's post were written well in advance and may be kind of short.

I'd be crying too.

Today I'm showing The Binding of Isaac, a simple yet engaging adaptation of the story of Isaac and Abraham from the book of Genesis. I said the game was engaging. Two other pretty effective terms would be gruesome and sacrilegious, however, despite that (or if you prefer, because of that) it makes for a fun premise for a game. In this version, Isaac's fanatical mother hears the voice of God telling her that she must kill Isaac as a test of faith. Isaac, in turn, runs and jumps into the basement to hide. Unfortunately for Isaac, the basement is full of legitimately terrifying monsters. You aid Issac in going deeper and deeper into the basement to escape.

You see, there's this dungeon, with monsters in it...

Gameplay wise, the easiest way to describe it is a mix between the dungeons from the original The Legend of Zelda for the NES and with dual sticks for controls (one for movement, one for the direction that you're firing). Dungeons with about 10 rooms and 2 bosses are randomly generated and include a huge assortment of possible upgrades and power-ups that help to keep the game fresh. Binding of Isaac was made by Team Meat, the same guys behind Super Meat Boy, and they decided to keep the art direction the same: simple, cartoony, and effective...with a bit more cartoon blood than is necessary. 

Soundtrack cover art.

And I know I've said it about every Humble Bundle game I've written about, but there's a musical consideration here as well. The soundtrack is very effective overall (i.e. it's really creepy), but one song, called Sacrificial, stands out as one catchy tune.

You can pick up Binding of Issac on Steam for only $5 (the soundtrack is only $1 more: worth it). You can also check out a demo here. It just occurred to me that I should be rating these games that I talk about/review. As I've yet to decide on a static rubric, I'm going to give The Binding of Isaac 3.5 teardrops out of five. To end, here's the aforementioned creepy but catchy song from the soundtrack.

Humble Bundle Acquisitions: Machinarium

Last time in Humble Bundle Acquisitions, We talked about VVVVVV. Today we'll be discussing Machinarium.

Machinarium is a sweet, point and click, puzzle game about a little robot who apparently gets bullied a lot. Your job is to help him put himself back together, cross bridges, break out of the jails, and save his friend. It's a lot like the Monkey Island series but with a lot less pirates and much better art.

Speaking of the art, this game is gorgeous. The entire game is hand-drawn in pen and ink. And the soundtrack is spectacular. One of the songs is on my top 25 most played on my iPod. There's so many charming and well-done things about this game, you should stop reading and just play the demo here. Then you should pick it up for PC, Mac, or even on your iPad! The computer version is $10 and comes with the soundtrack, which is worth it for the soundtrack alone. It's $4.99 on iTunes.

Here are two of my favorites from the soundtrack. Enjoy!

The Humble Bundle

If you don't know about The Humble Bundle you are missing out.

There are five things to know about a Humble Bundle. (1) You get awesome independently-made games that you can play on any computer (PC, Mac, or Lenix). (2) You get to name the price. (3) Part (or all, you decide)  of the money you pay is split between two charities, the American Red Cross and Child's Play. (4) The games are all DRM free, meaning you can install them as much as you want without ever having to worry about copyright issues. (5) They make very silly trailers that are always fun to watch. Sample:

As stated, you can pay as much or as little as you like. Some people (buttheads) will just pay 1 cent. However, they're offset by some of the higher donors. The highest donation in the last bundle was $16,000! Plus, there's always an incentive to pay above the average like soundtracks or extra games. As a result of this, I have about 20 in my Steam library that deserve a lot more attention than I've given them. I have decided to start a regular feature highlighting games I've received from these bundles. I'll kick it off today with VVVVVV.

VVVVVV is a side-scrolling puzzle game about scientists who get lost in another dimension...! It's also the only game I've gotten from a Humble Bundle that I've managed to get all the way through. It's fun, easy to pick up and put down in short intervals, and very challenging. It also boasts a fantastic retro soundtrack. The soundtrack is so awesome, it costs twice as much as the game (seriously). The soundtrack is so awesome, it actually made my one-year-old nephew stop crying bloody murder and burst into dance. Gameplay trailer here:

Feel free to pick it up on Steam (currently on sale for only $1.24 until January 2nd) or the author's website. Soundtrack here.