Bionic Dues - Released

[PanzersEast]

Bionic Dues has been released on STEAM and is $7.49 through Oct. 15th.


PE

[Nefaro]

It's also $7.49 at GamersGate (Steam Key) for the next week.

http://www.gamersgate.com/DD-BIODU/bionic-dues

May as well get some extra Blue Coins out of it, too.

[Nefaro]

OMG the music in these Arcen Games is torturous.  This one is like Tweenie-Pop or even Japanese Tweenie-Pop.  *wretch*

>Music: OFF<  per usual.

:P

[Yskonyn]

Downloading now! Great find, by the way! I didn't know this was coming at all! :)

[Huw the Poo]

Buying this tonight.  I <3 Arcen Games.

[Tpek]

Buying right now :)

[Nefaro]

OMG LOL!

The enemy AI Bot voices put a grin on my face.

"It buuuurns!"

and

"Why was I programmed to feel paiiinn?!!"

;D

[Huw the Poo]

Just got my copy from the Arcen store - slightly cheaper and you get a Steam key anyway. :)

[Huw the Poo]

First impressions are good!  You can tell it's an Arcen Games, er, game.  You choose your missions on the strategic map which not only influence what kind of mission you play, but also how the overall campaign will turn out.  Take out a command centre and the final battle will draw nearer (straight out of AI War).  Win a mission to destroy a factory and you lower the overall level of the AI bots.

The missions themselves are fun, and definitely Roguelike.  I love how there's loot scattered all over the place, and you have to decide where to use your limited hacks.  It's no walk in the park either - I'm playing on easy (just to ease myself in) and my exos are still getting one-shotted at times.  I appreciate the variety of weapons (grenade launcher rules) but the weapon effects themselves are rather sad; I hope Arcen put some work in, here.  Still, you get direct shot and ground attack.  There's cover, mines, fuel tanks to blow up etc.

Not to mention the large number of exos to customise your team with, and the customisation of the exos themselves, which I haven't even looked at yet.  As is usual for Arcen Games, the replayability factor of Bionic Dues is going to be immense.

How's everyone else finding it?

[Nefaro]

Just got my copy from the Arcen store - slightly cheaper and you get a Steam key anyway. :)

I probably should've got it there, but it says you can just copy the Steam install folder anywhere you want and play from there, so backing that up to disk is just fine - no need for an installer.

It's fun thus far.  Nearly wiped on a couple missions so the difficulty can definitely be rogue-ish.  However, you don't have to start anew when you lose individual missions so it's not really perma-death either.

I don't think I'd enjoy it as much if it wasn't for the RPG customization & loot.  That's what brings it all together.  The turn-based part could use some additions in the future but it's sufficient for now and certainly keeps my thinker on it's toes.

They mentioned adding further expansions (AI War style) as time goes on, if it's popular enough.  I'm pretty sure it will be, especially at the price.

[Huw the Poo]

Yeah you can't just wade in, all guns blazing.  You need to think your way through each fight because the AI has so many more bots, each one capable of taking you out with little trouble.  I just wiped on my last mission so I think I'm going to have to look into the exo customisation.

They mentioned adding further expansions (AI War style) as time goes on, if it's popular enough.  I'm pretty sure it will be, especially at the price.

I'll be well up for that.  I didn't buy any expansions for AI War because there was a ridiculous amount of content already, but I can see myself buying packs of new exos if that's what they do.

[Nefaro]

Yeah you can't just wade in, all guns blazing.  You need to think your way through each fight because the AI has so many more bots, each one capable of taking you out with little trouble.  I just wiped on my last mission so I think I'm going to have to look into the exo customisation.

Indeed.  You'll easily be one-shotted by some of them.  Those ones with the damn Range-6 rockets are brutal if they catch you.  Therefore, I tend to value Bonus range modules very highly along with additional ammo for your AOE weapons - the better to blow up groups around corners. 

Then I've also pumped up Shields and Shield Regen on my Assault bot for killing the low-damage ones since it'll regen the little bit afterward.  Extra Stealth Moves are essential for getting out of trouble or sneaking up to plant a Virus inside an AI-exo so that it becomes friendly.  Just make sure you do that with your Ninja bot because if you take over one of those crazy Rocket exos, they tend to shoot that large AOE rocket near you;  one of your Ninja-class exos specials is not taking AOE splash damage!  ;)

They mentioned adding further expansions (AI War style) as time goes on, if it's popular enough.  I'm pretty sure it will be, especially at the price.

I'll be well up for that.  I didn't buy any expansions for AI War because there was a ridiculous amount of content already, but I can see myself buying packs of new exos if that's what they do.

If Arcen holds true to form, they'll probably also add some extra game mechanics (would be welcome here, too) along with adding extra content.  And quite affordable.

[Huw the Poo]

Oh - it supports Linux (and Mac) too!  I didn't realise that - wooooo!  I could've sworn Arcen said less than a year ago that they're unlikely to support Linux any time soon.  What a lovely surprise. :)

[tgb]

I like it.  It's tougher and deeper than it appears on the surface.  I blew my first mission by using up all my hacks too quickly.

[tgb]

5 missions in and I'm hooked. I'm starting to see the synergy between abilities (stealth + virus can be awesome), and some of the higher-level bots will make you crazy. Highly recommended, even if it wasn't only $7.50