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Mac Game of the Week: Cthulhu Saves the World is the best version of a great RPG
I already sang the praises of Zeboyd Games' Cthulhu Saves the World when it appeared on iOS: I think the world could use about a million more of these kinds of classic Japanese RPGs (and Zeboyd's latest title, Penny Arcade 3, just arrived on the App Store.) But I also admitted that playing Lovecraft's God of Madness' adventure on a touchscreen wasn't ideal. The movement controls, specifically, threatened to rub the print off of my finger with all of the swiping I was doing. If anything, that makes CSTW an even better fit for the Mac App Store, where it arrived recently. This might be the ideal build for the game, as not only can you play it on a Mac's big, beautiful screen, but there are multiple modes, add-ons and new features to play with as well. You can play in the "Highlander" mode, for example, where you can only use one character but get four times the XP. Or the "Cthulhu's Angels" mode, which remixes the game up with new characters, dialogue and bosses. This is a fantastic game. If you've passed on it before, don't miss it this time. Heck, at the price of US$1.99, you might want to go ahead and buy it again just to see what it's like on the Mac. Cthulhu Saves the World is available on the Mac App Store.
Daily iPhone App: Cthulu Saves the World arrives from Xbox Live Indie Games
Zeboyd Games is a very impressive up-and-coming indie games company. They just released the third game in the Penny Arcade series on Xbox Live Indie Games to rave reviews. Cthulhu Saves the World is one of their earlier titles, and it did quite well on that same platform. It's a retro RPG in the style of 8-bit games such as Dragon Warrior or the original Final Fantasy games. But it's also a parody of these, in a way: your hero isn't a warrior of the light or a young lad finding his way in the world. It's Cthulhu, the legendary god of chaos from the series of horror stories by author HP Lovecraft. Cthulhu wakes up, and he isn't able to bring destruction to the world as usual. It's your job as a player, through a series of RPG cliches and a well-tuned combat battle system, to get him back those powers so he can be, well, Cthulhu. Cthulhu Saves the World is pretty great. It's a quality game, and a very nice addition to the iOS library. The one caveat I have is that the controls are slightly awkward. You swipe around the screen to move, and that can be kind of annoying if your finger slides in the way (not to mention that it's not very ergonomic). Swiping during menus can be unclear as well, although battles are all turn-based, so there's plenty of time to change a choice if you make the wrong one. At $1.99, however, Cthulhu Saves the World is priced super low, and there's a fair amount of content to enjoy and play through. The script is funny, the combat is solid RPG, and you'll enjoy following along with Cthulhu's story. Just be careful -- hanging around Cthulhu for too long might end up causing a little insanity.
