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Joystiq review: Plants vs. Zombies
Something terrible happened to the Joystiq staff in the spring of 2007. Our desire to work was leeched by some uncanny force, some primordial vacuum of journalistic motivation. These sapping energies could be easily identified by scanning our browser history -- there, a repeated phrase, a moniker for our destitution: Desktop Tower Defense, Desktop Tower Defense, Desktop Tower Defense, Google, Desktop Tower Defense -- and so on, et cetera.Two years (and a hundred thousand Pellet Towers) later, our thirsts had been quenched, and our diligence restored. Then, on May 5, the minds at PopCap gave birth to a new source of blogger work ethic poison -- as is their nefarious custom -- titled Plants vs. Zombies. Yes, those monsters combined our two biggest interests (the undead and household horticulture), and wrapped the whole package up in a neat Tower Defense crust, which they then sprinkled with humor, and roasted until brilliant.Also, there's probably some crack (or equally addictive narcotic) in there as well.
Fieldrunners: DTD for iPhone
Yes, I am one of those people.: the bleary-eyed Desktop Tower Defense addicts. The game concept is simple, but remarkably addictive. A series of creatures is attempting to get from the left to the right side of the playing field. You get a limited budget to build various kinds of weapons towers to prevent them from getting across. The more you kill, the more money you get to build more towers. We've covered various implementations of the basic concepts, like Hordes of Orcs for the Mac. But now this sublime time-suck has an excellent iPhone version in Fieldrunner from Subatomic Studios (App Store link). Sticking to the tried and true gameplay, you have the option of placing four different types of towers (each of which can also be upgraded for additional cost). There are several different kind of enemies (some walking, some on wheels, some flying), each of which is more or less susceptible to the various towers.The game responds more or less exactly how you would expect. You can zoom in and out with standard iPhone gestures to place your towers with more detail. Towers are positioned by dragging them onto the field from slots below. Each tower already in play can be tapped to bring up a menu to either sell it or upgrade it (if you've got the cash). The graphics are attractive (especially when zoomed in) and responsive. The biggest thing missing is sound, but since I prefer my own music anyway that's not much of a loss. In any case, they promise sound effects are coming in a future version along with new enemies and new towers.Fieldrunner is $4.99 on the App Store, and worth every penny if you're a DTD fan. Check out some more images after the jump.[via Infinite Loop]
Joystiq impressions: Lock's Quest (DS)
Lock's Quest is a tower-defense-style game where you try to protect a group of inept friends from incoming attackers. Unlike those Flash games you might have played, Lock issues commands from the ground, running around small maps to build walls, turrets, and directly fight advancing enemies. The result comes together as a real-time strategy and action game, with light role-playing elements. Completely stylus driven, you move Lock around much like Link. (The D-pad can shift the view, but the stylus issues all actions.) Taps direct Lock to new areas, while other stylus swings cause special attacks and specific actions. For example, gamers sequentially tap a group of randomly ordered numbers to add a boost. But much of the game is about designing and defending structures. Lock uses resources enemies drop to build walls, gates, and turrets. The attackers advance randomly at first, but after the first wave hits your base, they learn where they were thwarted. The following groups will attempt other tactics to broach the defenses, possibly approaching from a different side or fighting with a different tactic. Your job is to hold up the fort over several "days" of these marching enemies, after which, everything repeats with a new level. Scheduled for a Fall, 2008 release, Lock's Quest could be a unique action-puzzler with wide appeal. Action, RTS, and fans of other genres might all find something to like. %Gallery-19858%
Lila Dreams devs are blogging up new MMO insights
Back in late January, Eliah posted about an interesting little MMO called Lila Dreams, that was intriguing for a few reasons. Not only is it being developed as a 2D game in Java and Flash on Kongregate.com (a website probably most known for the extremely popular Desktop Tower Defense game), but the premise sounds terrific: the game takes place all inside a little girl's dream, with platforming and "gardening," and "mood-based world altering." Sure, it might not appeal to the Counterstrike crowd, but to experienced game players and developers that just sounds perfect.Since we first posted about it, the developers of the game have been blogging, and now there's quite a bit to read there about the process behind the game, including some good tidbits about how to make an RPG without a grind, and how to include microtransactions that vibe with both players and the people who want to make money from them.It'll definitely be interesting to see what comes of this. It certainly seems new, and as a great movie once said, the new needs friends.[Via KTR]
NPR takes a condescending look at stories in games
Did you know that video games have stories? Oh, you did? Well, apparently NPR's Chana Joffe-Walt didn't, which only partly explains her condescending -- borderline inflammatory -- piece on Bungie's Joseph Staten, who wrote the latest Halo novel, Contact Harvest. Throughout the piece, Joffe-Walt takes unfair jabs at video game fans, questioning their literacy ("Do gamers read?") as well as their general sophistication. Near the beginning of the interview, Joffe-Walt asks Staten, quite sincerely: "Isn't gaming all just, like, shoot-em-up? Why do you need story?" Clearly, she might not have been the best choice to do a piece on video games. In the future, NPR, please leave the video game stories to Heather Chaplin, whose recent piece "Video Games that Got Away" offered a positive and mainstream-oriented look at games, as opposed to a negative, narrow-minded one.
Best of the Rest: Justin's Picks of 2007
Dead Head Fred (PSP) Though he may have been on a small screen, Dead Head Fred (voiced by Scrubs' John C. McGinley), had more character than 90 percent of the leads in this year's crop of console games. If you haven't played it, do yourself a favor and track it down. It's excellent stuff.
NPR covers 2007's games that got away
NPR's All Things Considered has been spending a moment each day this week reflecting on "the ones that got away." Whether it be books, which they covered on Monday, or television shows, which they covered on Wednesday, or video games, which they covered on Christmas day (a present from them to us? We think so). Journalist Heather Chaplin, author of Smartbomb and friend of the 'stiq, discussed three games which may not be getting the attention they deserve as the year wraps up. While BioShock is busy mopping up nearly every single game of the year honor out there, we're glad to hear a mainstream outlet like NPR take the time to honor ought-seven's unsung heroes of gaming. When area/code's Frank Lantz refers to the "rococo" aesthetic of modern games relative to Portal's minimalism, you can practically smell the title bout between the aforementioned BioShock and Valve's infectious puzzler, which Lantz calls one of his favorite games of all time. But Portal wasn't the only onetime indie game on their list to make it to the big leagues: they also covered Everyday Shooter, the IGF finalist turned PlayStation Network title, and Desktop Tower Defense, the addictive web game that recently won its own game of the year honor. It's a great listen, even if they're preaching to our choir.
