Just kidding, well not exactly…

You can access ARES' store at any time.

ARES is a sidescrolling 2d shooter with cool 3d graphics. The game plays as nice as it looks – jumping and shooting, as well as going through the menus is as smooth as it can be. There are various weapons in the game, such as your standard pistol and a wave gun that goes through walls. There’s also a sliding move that makes you invulnerable that the game uses for puzzles and boss battles.

The game itself is more Castlevania than Megaman in its level set up. Instead of a very linear map, the game gives you various pathing options to choose from as you play. Most ways off the “main” path end in dead ends with small collectibles. These collectibles add little replay value as they don’t feel very significant.

Another unique aspect of ARES is your ability to craft things as you go along with the two elements you collect throughout the game. Oftentimes I found myself in a rut and paused right before I dead in order to craft some potions to use the second I resumed. These necessary potions prevent the game from being both too hard and too easy, as well as making it impossible to upgrade all (or even most) of your weapons in one play through.

Speaking of play through, ARES is actually only a 5 level game with an unfinished storyline. The game talks as if it’s the first game in a series, but I haven’t seen any news for a sequel. So you’re looking at about 4 hours of game time, plus replays. For the perfectionist, the little collectibles found throughout the game, the additional weapons and upgrades, as well as a special prize for receiving ”SS” rank on all levels will keep you busy for much more than that, but I personally did not feel the urge to replay the game.

The boss battles in ARES have a bark worse than their bite.

As for the A.R.E.S. : The Berzerker Suit DLC, a buck gives you a very overpowered weapon that significantly lowers your health. Cool and fun, but gets boring very fast.

All in all I enjoyed my playthough of ARES. However, I would not pay 10 USD for it – for 2 bucks a level that’s too much. If you catch it on sale, though, go for it!

You can download ARES on Steam, as well as buy the DLC there.

NOTE: Steam does offer a demo of the first level on the ARES page. It’s deffinately worth the play through, especially for those eon the fence about buying this game.

You play as an old lady. You walk along a path, sit down at a bench, then listen to a song. You then get up and leave the graveyard. If you have a paid version of the game, the game may end in the old lady dying.

There’s more than that to the game, though. I’ve played through twice (both deaths, sadly), and still shudder while listening to  the music. I still get goosebumps watching the trees move in the wind. I still can’t take my eyes off the old lady’s face when it zooms in.

However, I do have one issue with it: if you die in the paid version, there is no way to leave the game other than alt-tabbing out. However, I assume this represents the finalization and inescapababilaty of death.

This is a game there is no point in describing with words. With a size you can download, install, finish, then uninstall during your lunchbreak, and still have time to finish eating, there’s really no reason not to try this game.

Get the free version of The Graveyard HERE, or get the paid version (something I’d only reccamend to those who really REALLY love this game) on Steam HERE.

It’s been one year since I wrote our original review of the awesome Mumble hosting service Command Channel, and boy have they changed! I saw it’s time for a rereview, so let’s get crackin’!

(Psst… if you want to skip to the changes since the last review, click HERE.)

About Command Channel:

Command Channel is different from other voice chat hosting services. First, they host only Mumble servers. Mumble is a free and open source voice chat software, made for gamers. It has some awesome features like very high-quality reception, an in-game overlay, availability on many platforms, and more. If you want to learn more about Mumble, check out our review.

Next, they use a unique payment scheme. Most voice chat hosting services force you into a three month to a year long contract, at which you save money the longer the contract you choose. With Command Channel there are no contracts. Instead, you pay on a monthly basis. You have about a week before your term runs out, at which time you can log back in and pay for your next month, or more beyond that in advance if you wish. This means you can try out Command Channel for a single month, and if you don’t like it can feel free to leave it!

You are also unable to custom pick your number of slots. You usually get to pick from 10, 25, 50, or 100. Command Channel isn’t like that. You choose your amount of slots (from 10 to 500) and pay 18 cents USD per slot. That means that for a ten person server you only pay 1.80 USD a month! That’s very cheap, especially without a contract!

Command Channel’s uptime is awesome. I haven’t once witnessed any downtime. That isn’t to say there aren’t server shutdowns for updates, but they take place at times when the majority of people are asleep, not online, so most people never notice them.

In the same vein, I have never had any voicechat lag with Command Channel. Response time feels like half that of Ventrilo or TeamSpeak, which keeps our conversations going as if we were face to face.

And finally, Command Channel features great customer service. The operating crew is really nice and timely, and has helped me many times at getting the Mumble server up and running to its full potential.

However, I must note that I have had multiple issues with Command Channel in the past, all of which just technical difficulties the Command Channel staff did not realize were even happening. First, I was unable to make our Mumble server public for several months. I assumed it was a user error, and contacted Command Channel, who simply replied that it works. After getting frustrated, I messaged them again and asked if they could do it for me – they then replied that it was not an error on my part, but in theirs. The server has been public ever since with no issues. Second, Command Channel’s WYSIWYG editor did not allow HTML editing in my Chrome or Internet Explorer browsers (The WYSIWYG editor had some limitations I wished to transcend, so I wanted to use HTML). I alerted Command Channel of this issue, at which time they explained to me that they did not realize that the WYSIWYG editor didn’t function fully in browsers besides Firefox. The WYSIWYG editor has since been replaced with an HTML one. The conclusion: Command Channel lacks in quality control of their backend, which it makes up for in customer service.

The Changes Since Last Review:

Click to enlarge!

The biggest change to Command Channel has been their new admin menu/backend. Command Channel has some amazing features that are exclusive to their service, and are often yearned for by people self hosting or hosting off another company. The changes Command Channel made were and are definitively for the best, as the new look and feel is a nice modern touch.

Click to enlarge!

First, Command Channel now allows you to send people who have not spoken for a while into an AFK channel. You set the channel and the amount of time, and it’ll do everything else! (NOTE: the Dots do not use this feature, as some of our members only come to text-chat with each other; I don’t get it either.)

Click to enlarge!

Next, Command Channel now brings their Mumble Channel viewer to the forefront! They have excellent plugins for popular content management systems such as WordPress, as well as jQuery and PHP versions. All display the server’s rooms and members since the last reload of the page. The Dots’ have one right on our sidebar as well!

And finally, Command Channel now hosts their servers on a secure connection! This means that your server’s name is highlighted in green on the public list, as well as makes it so a warning message does not appear for new users of your server, which can deter visitors.

Summary:

If you were on the fence about trying Command Channel, now’s the time to try it! For pocket change can get you one month of service and ten slots, with no obligations to continue. Chances are, you’ll enjoy it.

Visit Command Channel at https://commandchannel.com/

Unlike Yu-Gi-Oh! Online, which is actually run by Konami, this website is run independently and does not seek profit for their website. On top of that, you do not have to buy in game “packs,” and just assemble a deck out of whichever cards you like. However, I find problems with this system as well. for one, the so-called “tier 1″ decks will be seen nearly every duel, since they are called the “meta” decks, and people often don’t go out of their way due to the fact that they have infinite cards at their disposal to create something new. This process is called “netdecking,” which is highly frowned upon in the game, but others make the counter argument that netdecking is really the only way to get better.

As for the actual game play, it’s not fully automated, but it is very good for what it is. The general YuGiOh gameplay will take place fine, but you and your opponent need to have communication when talking to each other, such as typing “synchro” or “tribute” or when someone does something, you need to remember your counters right away.

As for the community, as with all games, it is a hit and miss. There will always be cheaters, flamers, ragers, quitters, and everything else imaginable. On the flip side however, there are some very experienced duelists who are actually willing to extend a helping hand to those “not so fortunate.” The admins are also very helpful with the players, and due to the useful player search button, if one of the players who wish to result to ill-playing do just that, you can contact an admin instantly, due to the private chat function, which I find to be extremely useful.

All-in-all, you have to go to Dueling Network not to be expecting the average duelist. Most players there have a very solid grip on the game, due to the fact that while you play on Dueling Network, there is infinite amount of possibilities to take place, and as a player you will encounter many very powerful decks, and decks that counter those decks. However, it is also the best place to learn about dueling, the rules, the combinations, synchro summoning, and all. If you play around with Dueling Network just a bit, you will most likely find yourself enjoying dueling more than you ever have before!

The Dueling Network deck assembly screen: pick and choose whatever you like.

While it may not hold up to World of Warcraft or Guild Wars, Vindictus certainly holds a candle in the free to play realm. Vindictus is one of the most appealing free to play games that I have ever played, both in visuals and in gameplay. Even on computers with low specs, it will still appear visually beautiful, and combat will move smoothly.

A good illustration of the game at its best: killing

As of today (Ver 1.25), Vindictus sports four completely different characters, in terms of both equipment and play styles. There is Evie, a mage who can wield either a scythe or a staff, Fiona, who I can only summarize as a defensive character who uses either a shield and a sword or shield and hammer, Lann, a highly offensive character who wields either twin swords or twin spears, and Karok, the most recent character, a giant who wields a “battle pillar,” and deals massive damage, as well as excels at taking hits.

This being said, each character is highly customizable in terms of gears, and abilities. No single character will play alike from one player to the next, nor will any battle experience ever be the same. Many hours can be put into this game, and they are very rewarding.

As far as the game is concerned, for the majority of the time, you will be sent to embark on “battle quests,” in which you can take up certain extra requirements, called “bonus missions” and “oaths of honor.” The oaths of honor are generally harder, and require much more patience than the bonus missions, which are generally more along the lines of chance. Oaths of honor can set you to a certain time limit, raise the attack power of the enemy, or even make you run the battle quest wearing no armor! This is one of the few things that sets Vindictus apart from other MMOs, and it is a welcome change. An example of a quest will be given at the bottom of this article.

Quests in this game are not turned in to visible NPCs, for the most part. Most script will be going on inside buildings, in which characters are portrayed by an avatar that represents them. The characters are vivid, and full of personality. There will be twists and turns which I will not reveal, as I would rather have the readers discover this themselves! You are going to be come attached to certain characters, almost certainly, and you will grow to hate others. There is a marketplace, where you can buy some quest items early game, but later on in the game, most quest items cannot be purchased, and you will find yourself doing battle quest time and again to get these items; that is the one flaw that I have seen with this game so far, repetitiveness, to a certain point.

Abilities are learned through an “AP” system. You earn AP by going through the dungeons at hand, and the more you run through them that day, the less AP they will give (to discourage grinding.) This is a good change, but it can also become disappointing as well, as often you will find yourself running through dungeons that give little EXP for the AP alone. The actual ability system in itself, however, is very customizable, as you can put your points into whatever you please, making the characters between players very different, and this isn’t even talking about equipment.

In summary, Vindictus is certainly a game to keep your eye on in the free to play realm, and it is going to be an interesting game to see just how it evolves.

The title page. Simple and modern.

don’t take it personally, babe, it just ain’t your story is a visual novel: an anime-styled story usually with low player control on the computer. However, there are elements, such a messaging system/social network which you – as an 11th grade literature teacher – almost stalk your students on, which set it apart from normal visual novels. don’t take it personally, babe, it just ain’t your story is available free for Windows, Mac, and Linux at it’s homepage.

The year is 2027. Everyone – absolutely everyone – has a social network account and constant access to the internet. Teachers are given the right to watch all their students’ messages – private or not – as well as everything else that goes on on the net. It also seems that the students are not aware of the teachers’ abilities, and talk about everything and anything they please. This is the basis of the story.

As I was playing, I suddenly realized the text was looping. “But before I go, I should take a

A few of the seven students in the game.

break to see if there are any new 12channel posts.” then “I’m not going immediately to my office, I should take a couple minutes to check.” then “Really, I should at least take a quick glance.”. After the previous text looped around 3 times, I realized that the game wanted ME to check the posts. So, after fiddling with my “computer” I easily found “12channel”. Once I read through the posts, the game let me continue. I appreciate this moderately subtle hinting. First, the posts had a small but significant influence on the overall feel of the scene (don’t worry, no spoilers). Second, since the game never even mentioned “12channel” before, I thought it would be the character that would check it, not me, so the hinting was necessary. I would have never did if it wasn’t for the looping text!

There are many decisions to be made throughout the game through an “Option one, or option 2?” style menu. After the first couple, I found myself rationalizing and actually thinking about the decisions I picked. On one such seemingly game-changing decision I wondered “what would have happened?”. It was then I figured out I could “go back in time” by scrolling up. I did, and selected the other decision. As I realized the immediate effects, I scrolled back up and selected my former decision. I had regretted it. And, after going on with the game, I realized one thing: in this game, there are few “right or wrong” answers. There are reasons to, and not to do, everything. I know this little tidbit led me to self inflect, even just a little. Then it did it again. Not in the repetitive way, but in the “I see what you did there” way. It only does this a few times throughout the whole game, though, and you can be sure that everything you do has a meaning. Everything.

The game has a cool "computer" which you constantly use. It's simple to use and learn to you.

I literally just finished the game. I don’t finish many RPGs. This I think is my third. Yes, my third. This is because of how engaging the ~3 hour, seven chapter story is. It really was amazing. I want to say it was comparable to Portal, with sarcasm, puns, inside jokes, and the feeling that the game designers really know their audience (the people of the internet age – 4channers, youtubers, facebookers, and everyone else who grew up using technology). Adults who did not grow up with the internet can also get something out of the game, even if they don’t have any idea what the references are to. The morals of the story will have a much stronger impact to them, though the game itself will take a little bit more perseverance to finish. All and all, I loved the game. Ups and downs aside, it definitely goes onto my list of favorite games ever. However, do not think of this “game” as a “game” or you will be disappointed. Think about it as a story. A story, in the game’s own words, of “emotion”.

The music of the game was very good to start and set a perfect mood for the story ahead, but when I realized that it just keeps going and going over and over again, I finally decided to mute it (easily done from the in game options). Though the music does occasionally change between different loops and silence depending on the scene (every 4 minutes or so).

The game supports limited auto save capabilities, as well as a manual save option in which instead of overwriting your old saves you simply make a new one and it it shown at the top of the list. In theory, this means that having multiple save files is possible, but not exactly supported. You would have to remember what time and date it was in game and what chapter you were on in order to distinguish your save from the others.

Though there are very little graphic settings (windowed mode and blur effect are about it), the game runs fine on my netbook under Ubuntu using Wine (as I am not smart enough to compile the source code). I should probably mention that my netbook is a bit stronger than most, though, and I have not tested it with weak ones, but due to it being a visual novel, it should run just fine, and is a tiny 40 mb download to boot.

To summarize, don’t take it personally, babe, it just ain’t your story is not your average

One of the first lines of the visual novel.

video game. It takes no skill, tests nothing. Instead, it’s a story in which you make decisions. The story is engaging, difference, and even special (in the good way). It has a moral; a strong moral that not only should, but needs to spread throughout the modern world. There’s comedy, gays, lesbians, romance, and everything in between. But, more than that, there’s hope. A hope for a more perfect digital age.

Get don’t take it personally, babe, it just ain’t your story at http://www.scoutshonour.com/donttakeitpersonallybabeitjustaintyourstory/ for free now! It’s well worth your time.

Like the game? Don’t like it? Tell me why below!

EDIT: The official site says “Kendall’s middle name is Morgan. Kendall Morgan Flowers.”. It’s true; I tried. If you don’t understand, that’s okay. If you do, just remember that you had to work to find that code.

The basic objective of Darkspore is to clear dungeons in order to obtain DNA, items, and to level up your cryogenitor and unlock new heroes. There was an enormous selection of heroes in the game, but not all were available at once. All of these heroes are free, but you need to level up your cryogenitor to activate new ones, as mentioned before. Darkspore’s best facet was the item reward system at the end of a dungeon. Whats even better is that you can keep continuing through dungeons and get more items at the end of your journey along with a higher chance of getting a rarified item. Also, rarified items usually have some kind of unique type of power, for example: +80% chance to find catalysts, or +20% chance to find items. Another great part about Darkspore is that when items and DNA are picked up off the ground, everyone in the party obtains the item, unless the item is rarified, in which case everyone rolls for the item and the person with the highest roll gets the item. Also, when health and power are picked up off the ground, everyone in the party and the person’s squad receives the health and power also.

There are five hero classes: Bio, Cyber, Necro, Plasma, and Quantum characters. Every class has its unique set of items that can only be equipped for that certain class. Most of the time, when a rare item is obtained, then that item can be equipped on any class that is desired. There are also items that can be bought specific to certain heroes, in most cases a weapon. Each class has its own nature of abilities, but not exactly the same ones.

There are items called catalysts that can be picked up while doing a dungeon. The catalysts are somewhat like an ingame item system, only you don’t have to buy them; they are picked up from defeated enemies. With the catalysts, if you get three of the same color then you are awarded a link bonus, which enhances each one of the catalysts’ powers by a certain amount. Unfortunately, catalysts can not be kept after the dungeon is over and cannot be transferred to another dungeon. There are some items that can increase the chance of you finding a catalyst during a dungeon, also mentioned before, which are extremely useful.

There didn’t seem to be very many bad things about Darkspore, though it really can’t be criticized for it’s minor issues, since it was still in beta. The only major thing I found wrong with it was that all of the heroes were generally the same. Once the cryogenitor level is to about level 6, there’s really no point in unlocking anymore heroes. It’s just better to stay with the heroes you unlock earlier and get used to them. Another annoying part of Darkspore was that the hotkeys for the abilities were on 12345 and not on QWERT. QWERT was used to switch between the heroes in your squad; you would think that it’d be the other way around. I continuously caught myself pressing QWERT because of how most games are set up. After playing for awhile though, I started getting used to the setup.

All-in-all, the Darkspore beta was pretty amazing when it came to gameplay and graphics. Yes, there were a few minor setbacks, but it still made the top ten of my list of good betas.

Essentially 1… 2… 3… KICK IT! (Drop That Beat Like an Ugly Baby) is a rythm game based off Dejobaan’s last game, AAAAAA!!!, in which you free fall for fame. Unlike in AAAAAA!!!, there is no death in KICK IT, or restarting: if you hit something as you fall, you just keep going, the only thing you loose are your bonuses from “kisses” in a row. A “kiss” is one of the main ways you get points in KICK IT: all you have to do is go next to objects without hitting them. Easy, right? Not really.

Also, according to what I see, KICK IT will have enemies in teh future that you must shoot down. I can see that being pretty cool, but Dejobaan really needs to focus on the hit plates first before anything.

Before getting into anything, I would like to mention that I keep getting the following error when starting a game (about fifty percent of the time), at which time it skips the music select screen and starts a level with no music:

See the logfile 'c:\program files

(x86)\steam\steamapps\common\123kickit\Maps\Python\_generate_city.exe.log

'for details

Besides that one, there seems to not be any real “bugs”; graphics are fine, the menu is fine. The game just feels… like it’s a pre release. Oh, wait. Haha.

The escape buttons does lots of random things. Actually, it does everything but pause. Sometimes it goes back to the main menu. Sometimes it starts a game. It needs to make up its mind. And hopefully its mind will be to pause, because that’s what the game really needs.

In 1… 2… 3… KICK IT! (Drop That Beat Like an Ugly Baby) you can use your own mp3 files, too. According to the dev’s Twitter they intend to add as many music formats as possible in the future.

• Built in song: Scottahtam-Be Cool: Played well; I had some issues not being able to reach plates, though. Maybe it’s because I suck. I think it’s because the game has no sensitivity settings that it REALLY REALLY NEEDS. (Hint hint)
• Piano-based music: no luck. It didn’t generate any plates in the level.
• Ska Punk Rock: Worked okay. The notes were kinda spread out near the middle; I really had to pick and choose which I could hit. I don’t know if this is a glitch or it is supposed to happen. Either way I don’t like it; It confuses me.
• Hip Hop: Works great. The notes go along with the bassline. No scattered notes; everything’s fine.
• Pop punk rock: The notes seemed to kinda understand when the music got fast and slow, but it would take them a second. At times the notes seemed to make sense, at others they didn’t. At least they weren’t scattered around.
• Hardstyle: The engine failed to generate almost any notes, only one occurring every fifteen second or so randomly. I’m surprised by this, as the bassline should (in theory) make it really easy for it.
• Techno: The engine attempted to follow the bassline in the song I tried. That’s nice and all, but it always felt half a second off. Also, it set a few plates right above a block I had to dodge. That’s harsh, man.
• Screamo: This one also worked surprisingly well. I did feel as if the notes were off slightly (as they always seem to be), but they generally kept to the music.
• Electro: Worked pretty well. Seemed fairly close to accurate. Got me pretty mad that the plates keep appearing right on top of blocks I have to doge; it’s setting me up to fail T_T.

Suggestions:

• OPTIONS MENU. DEAR GOD. I want to change my resolution, change the loudness of the music vs the sound effects, change graphic settings, etc etc.
• I want escape to pause, not bring me back to the main menu.
• Also, when choosing a song, the shown “previous” button does not seem to function. So, of course I press escape. Guess what it does: starts the game. What the heck?
• Open source, high definition sound compatibility, please?
• The ability to change the sound the plates make when you hit them would be great. There are a lot of songs where the current symbol sound does not fit.
• Tighten the hit plates’ placement. They almost always seem a little off.

If you are interested in purchasing 1… 2… 3… KICK IT! (Drop That Beat Like an Ugly Baby) check out its Steam page. It is $10.

Free fallin'!1... 2... 3... KICK IT! (Drop That Beat Like an Ugly Baby) gets pretty trippy.

I picked Caster up on Steam for 1$ (it’s usually 5$) during the holiday sales as a last minute impulse buy. I thought for sure the next day I would regret buying it, but instead I was charmed by a great indie game.

Caster is a game that screams its indie roots at the top of its lungs. It’s focus on gameplay over both story and graphics is simply something not seen much anymore. That’s not to say Caster’s graphics and story are bad; the graphics a slightly old school and simple, and the story is just a few pop up messages before and after the game’s current 22 levels.

Caster is fast paced. Like, really fast paced. Early on, when you don’t have your jump and running leveled up, the game feels simple; I know I personally yearned for more. But after using the money I gained from killing enemies and finding orbs to level up my abilities, the game soon became uber fast paced. Not in the bad way, either. In the “I can kill anything” way.

Boss fights in Caster are usually a mix of choosing your favorite skill, running in and doging attacks, then pulling back to recover HP and reconsider your gameplan, then running back in. These boss fights are not hard; all of them are easy to damage. It’s not like Zelda where you can only kill the boss by doing a certain thing. Throughout the game you come across six unique weapons, including seeker missiles, a power shield, and attacks that deform the land around you. These skills have many uses. Of course, there are a few puzzles here and there where you have to use your land deformation skills to move objects or get orbs, but usually you don’t have to, and can just play the game shooting and not thinking. But the deciding on your plan of action is half the fun. It’s nice to have options.

Speaking of options, Caster comes with a few great ones. For example, the option to have multiple saves. I have no clue why you may want more than one, as all the levels are replayable, but it’s so nice just to know it’s there. There’s also the option to have mods for Caster. Right now, there are only a few, but I am hoping for more in the future. One more good thing I like about Caster is the jump-in-and-play factor; Caster’s levels are short and sweet, so you can play it almost any time you want.

Now’s about the time where I must mention the little things that bring this game down from a 5 to a 4. First is the slightly buggy camera. It’s fine on the ground, but when going up or along a wall, it likes to mess with you a little and it feels almost uncontrollable. It can hurt you badly when you cannot see the deadly smog at the top of some levels, or the enemies standing right behind you, or even what direction you are going in. But you are rarely on walls, so it’s okay. Speaking of walls, the camera occasionally goes into walls. Just for a second, though, and rarely, but it’s still a little buggy.

I rank this game high, as it has superb re playability, a good price, great action, many features and collectibles, cool weapon options, and amazing high-speed battles. It has some quarks, but all games do, especially indie ones. They are less bugs while in game than they are hurdles to jump over. The good kind, of course.

-Type of game/software: Third person shooter
-Positives: Great action, fast movement without being uncontrollable, various weapons, short but sweet, great deal for the price
-Negatives: Little things that could be better but doesn’t effect gameplay, story slightly stereotypical
-Similar to (if any): Megaman
-Link: http://www.elecorn.com/caster3d/
-Platform(s): Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS
-System requirements: n/a (very very low)
-Developer: Mike Smith
-Publisher: Self Published
-Price/License: $5 (3$ for iOS version)
-Final Score: 4

Are you tired of slow speeds when copying files on your computer?  Then try this new program, TeraCopy.  TeraCopy is a effective way to speed up the time it takes to copy files, even from a usb external hard drive to an internal hard drive.  It is very easy to use.  First download and install the file here: teracopy.  Make sure to select the option to use as default file copy protocol (or something along those lines).  Now you can move or copy files in a lot less time.

-mike