brutal
Latest
Pick up 'Inversus' and other new PS4 indies this August
August is shaping up to be a big month for indie gaming for PlayStation 4 owners, with a smattering of titles hitting next month, like the creative puzzler Inversus. It's headed for the PlayStation Store on August 16th in all its monochromatic glory.
Das Cube for iPhone
Das Cube [iTunes link, $1.99] is a simple little iPhone game that comes with a pretty impressive pedigree: it's made by one of the creators of Aquaria, Mark Johns of Space Barnacle, and features music by the composer of Canabalt's crazy addictive soundtrack. As you can see in the video above, it's got more in common with the iPhone post-apocalyptic running simulator than the underwater adventure: your job is to move a little ball that can smash together a series of abstract shapes that then explode into points. That's pretty much it -- as the game gets tougher (there are two difficulty settings, though I found the "Brutal" setting to be only a little tougher than the "Easy" setting in the first few minutes), more blocks drop, and while you can shake the iPhone occasionally to help you clear the screen, if you go too long without matching pieces, your game is over and the high scores are calculated. It's not quite as simple or addictive as Canabalt -- the controls feel a little floaty, and sometimes the ball you push around will squeeze in between the blocks. A few times while playing, it seemed to me that the easiest way to win would be to just swirl the mix around, and sure enough, when I just rolled the ball around the screen, I eventually got blocks to crash together randomly. But by the time I hit around 60,000 points or so (you can tweet your high scores, just like Canabalt), I found a little more precision was required, but even then, the controls are anything but sharp. Still, Das Cube is an amusing little mix of music and graphics. Unfortunately, there's no free trial, but what you see above is what you get: smash shapes together to groovy techno tunes. If that appeals, you can pick it up for $1.99.
Breakfast Topic: Brutal(lus) Gladiator gear
So I've been really excited about the coming of Arena season four. Unfortunately I'm not particularly thrilled about the gear models, and I am not alone. Perhaps the developers say reusing the tier 6.5 models from the Sunwell (Tier 6.5) as a good way to cut corners, but it just doesn't look like PvP gear. It seems to be the way the Arena gear is designed. I'm pretty sure whoever recolored these skins probably has an issue with their visual perception. The Hunter gear looks like an armored clown suit and the Shaman set is reminiscent of a test for colorblindness. I'm not usually one to rant, but these sets are a visual disappointment. I'm not asking for pink and black (although that appeals to my inner girly girl), but for the love of Christopher Walken, at least make the set match itself. To date my favorite set to look at is the Season Two gear, especially the Warrior set. I feel that they the designers really captured the uniqueness of the classes best with those sets. What do you think of Season Four gear so far?
