The Reticule

Good news for anyone who has already preordered Crayon Physics Deluxe. For everyone who preordered the game (or preorders) before the 3rd of January the game will be sitting snugly in your inbox on the 4th. For everyone else it’ll be released to the public on the 7th. Apparently there’s also an iPhone version in the making as well, which I’m sure will be lovely, what with the drawing based nature of the game. If you haven’t already, I suggest you preorder the game and get the first two islands, which are both full of wonderful ways to get a ball from A to B. This is all starting to feel a little familiar, isn’t it?

It’s New Year’s Eve, and, as usual, I’m stuck in a house devoid of people my own age, in a city devoid of people my own age I know, so I will just cradle a beer and watch Jools Holland tonight. However, tomorrow is a brave new day in a brave new year, and so naturally I have to look back at the past 365 days and have a ponder. Only I need to ponder with a certain frame of mind, because, as this is a PC Gaming site, only things to do with PC gaming will do. So what follows are the tracks of 2008 that ensnared me for at least a week at a time, and were thus playing while I was playing, and are thus inextricably linked with the games I was playing. I’m sure I can try and find some valid links to games too, because that’s what journalists do, and that’s what I’m masquerading as.

(more…)

Just a quicky about a little pixel game I was shown yesterday. It’s called The Majesty of Colours (although they spell it wrong, the basts), and it’s an alternate ending based game in a similar vein to I wish I were the Moon, where doing one or more things results in an ending. The setup here is largely different though, with a little more input for the player. They basic setup is you’re dreaming that you’re some big sea tentacle, and how you interact with people is entirely up to you, although, of course, they react in like.
(more…)

I play Far Cry 2 because I can shoot dudes in the face with the gun of my liking. That’s manly, I tell myself. Humanity has not yet produced a ring large enough for the new, ultra-fashionable centimeter-wide piercings from which the gooey essence of mercenary erupts. I then stomp them in the face, just in case I’m still not considered manly enough.

But there are also moments where my bloodlust fades and I get the urge to be a gentle person. And what could be better than being a big-busted woman who mows down dinosaurs instead of people?

(more…)

I strongly recommend everyone takes a look at Steam sometime before the 2nd of January. They’re doing a cheap game bonanza. Excellent!

The Valve complete pack is just £40 for example. It’s a steal!

http://store.steampowered.com/holidaysale

This sequence of letters was originally mailed to the Duchess of York and returned unopened. It’s also been on my blog. Apologies for the formatting, I’m too lazy and incompetent to fix it.

XCOM: Terror From The Deep is almost certainly my favourite game of all time. Released by Microprose in 1995, the sequel to UFO: Enemy Unknown has captured my heart and mind, taken them back to base, researched them, and discovered my weak-spot for sumptuous turn-based strategy. Terror From The Deep is a pleasure with depth, complexity, surprise, and imagination beyond human game developers’ modern capabilities. The title of this post truly belies the significance of this game – not only a past master but a paradigm of the present.

(more…)

Well we promised it! We’ve got more 2D Boy interview goodness for you all today [first part here], and though I fully expect you’re all busy eating, opening, and arguing with the grandparents and/or in-laws while drunk on Scotch (or is that just me?), I’m sure you’ll enjoy reading part 2 of our mammoth interview with 2D Boy. The hot topics in this part are DRM and the general Indie gaming scene. Okay, so they’re not very Christmassy, but they’re interesting none-the-less!

(more…)

2D Boy is literally just Kyle Gabler and Ron Carmel, these two amazing game developers created the indie hit, World of Goo.

Recently, we here at The Reticule got the chance to pose some questions to Kyle and Ron. Or, to be more accurate, we crushed them under a veritable cavalcade of questions. Now who’s 2D, huh? They were so overwhelmed that they had to flee to Europe at one point to escape the madness. Fortunately they found the time to answer our probing questions, and in this first part of the interview we all talk about the game at the heart of it all, World of Goo.

Please think of this as an early Christmas present.

(more…)