Tag Archives: Gus
What’s Gus Playing? Field of Glory 2 – Part 1
Ancient antagonism with the armored army ant ~
Lloyd Sabin, 30 April 2018
Field of Glory 2 is an ancient PC gamer’s fantasy made real.
Spring has sprung and so have I…I’m in love! I bought Field of Glory 2 after missing out on the first PC iteration and regretting it forever, so I was hell-bent on not missing out on this new version. And I am ecstatic that I got it, because I have to tell you, Field of Glory 2 is something else.
Simple, fun, chess-like rules, a massive amount of single epic battles, custom battles, multi-battle campaigns and multi-player, along with content that spans history (as of this writing) from around 600BC all the way to around 500 AD (when the Immortal Fire and Legions Triumphant DLCs are included – not to mention an as-of-yet undisclosed third DLC coming soon)…Field of Glory 2 is an ancient PC gamer’s fantasy made real.
There are literally dozens of different factions to play as – name one and most likely it is included here. Fancy the Seleucids (I can’t blame you) – they’re in. Thebes? In. Illyrians? Also in. More of a world-destroyer? Try out the Persians or if you are more into the fall of Rome, try the Huns. There are so many factions to choose from that most players will probably never play them all.
And Field of Glory 2 is accessible enough for newbies – but with six different difficulty modes, wargame pros will definitely enjoy it when the challenge is ramped up. I kept my difficulty on the second setting, sometimes moving it up to the third setting, which often became too difficult for me. The second tier became my sweet spot, if occasionally a little too easy. Most of the time it offered a consistent challenge.
What’s Gus Playing? Deadlight!
The mighty mite of meandering muses on melancholy moods ~
Lloyd Sabin, 23 April 2018
Sometimes games just click with us. There’s no break-in period, no giving the game “a chance,” no mucking around…we love it right away.
That was how it worked with me and Deadlight, a side-scrolling, zombie-killing, puzzle-solving adventure game built in the Unreal engine by Tequila Works. Most players clocked in game length at around 5 hours…I got very close to the end between 5 and 10 hours, and then got stuck on one part where the acrobatics involved were just too much for my slowing hands.
Up until that point, though, the game was great. I loved the story, I loved the setting (Seattle and the surrounding area circa the mid 1980s) and I loved the gunplay and survival components. Players get s small variety of weapons to use including a shotgun, pistol, and ax.
The mood created by all of these facets combined was palpable…the player really does develop a sense of hopelessness, which slowly recedes the better the player gets at the game’s mechanics, which can get a bit complicated.
Certain obstacles and levels also featured the developer’s sense of humor, especially when you come across them the first time and get slaughtered…left to think ‘how the hell am I supposed to beat that?’ It also didn’t hurt that the game is now roughly six years old and I picked it up for a dollar. Literally. So I easily got my money’s worth x 25, at least, even though I didn’t quite finish the game completely.
As you can see below, Deadlight is one of those games whose visuals speak for themselves. So this week I don’t really think captions for each shot are necessary, which will allow me to show off more shots than usual! Plus I’m feeling pretty lazy today. Enjoy the below and if you can pick up Deadlight for 1, 5, 10 or even 15 dollars, it’s definitely worth it if you enjoy platformers, zombies, survival games, moody lighting and the original Pitfall game by Activision…with an edge.
What’s Gus Playing? Endless Space 2, part 2
The famous fun-sized phantasm of flight fights fearlessly ~
Lloyd Sabin, 15 April 2018
I totally forgot that I was supposed to focus on the combat of Endless Space 2 last week when I wrote up House of the Dying Sun. It happens. Our own BayonetBrant had to ask me ‘WTF happened to the 2nd part you said you were going to write up on Endless Space 2 combat?’
My response? ‘Well f– me, I totally forgot.’ Until now. Even if it is a dayweek late.
Endless Space 2 combat is liked by some, disliked by others. I enjoyed it because it had a lot of options that I had not seen it 4x games before, like your force’s offensive/defensive disposition, formations, etc. And again, I only scratched the very shallow surface of this game, including the combat component, and will be back for much more in the near future.
Battle engaged!
What’s Gus Playing? House of the Dying Sun
The lord of lilliputians launches some laser-like love ~
Lloyd Sabin, 2 April 2018
House of the Dying Sun not only sounds like the title of one of the great rock songs of all time (that’s House of the Rising Sun for the uninitiated) – it is also a great arcade space sim with VR support. I don’t have a VR set yet but I can vouch that House of the Dying Sun is just as fun and intense to play on a regular PC set-up as it may be in VR.
This game is about revenge and the cold termination of your enemies and not much else.
The basic story behind House of the Dying Sun is that your emperor has been usurped by a cabal of bloodthirsty rebel overlords. And you and what’s left of the past regime’s military must take power back for the throne, eliminating a total of a dozen of the new regime’s collaborators without prejudice.
House of the Dying Sun has a minimalist graphical style as well as a spartan UI which somehow produce an atmosphere of dark blood lust…I can’t explain it much more clearly than that. Rebel Galaxy this is not – if you are looking for a arcade space game with a sense of humor, look elsewhere. This game is about revenge and the cold termination of your enemies and not much else.
If you’re skilled at piloting your craft, the single player campaign should probably take you less than 10 hours. I got about half way through it in about 6 hours. Your ship is upgradeable as you succeed in the missions you are assigned and the campaign branches in different directions, giving the player a choice in the missions taken on. They ultimately all lead to the same ending, though – the complete destruction of the rebels and your re-domination of the galaxy. There are assassination assignments, interception, dog fighting and capital ship assault. But you will always be a pilot – you will never exit your ship for any reason.
What’s Gus Playing? Endless Space 2, part 1
The eloquent elf of exploration expresses endless exultation ~
Lloyd Sabin, 26 March 2018
Although I have only played a couple of hours of it, The Great Meshing™ happened with Endless Space 2.
Some games just mesh with us. The art style, the UI, the characters, the writing…all of it just coalesces in to a greater whole that digs its claws in to us and we love everything about it. I can always count on the Assassin’s Creed games, the Total War series, Warner Brothers games like Mad Max and Shadow of War and the Witcher series, among others, to really blow my mind, even after numerous iterations. When this Great Meshing™ happens unexpectedly with a new title, it can blow your mind.
Although I have only played a couple of hours of it, The Great Meshing™ happened with Endless Space 2. Admittedly, for most of the time I played it, I was trying to figure out what the hell was going on, learning the game’s systems, reading up on it’s factions, and generally attempting to keep my head above water. I had chosen the Vodyani to play as, which may not have been the best choice…when I return to Endless Space 2 – and I am certainly going to – I should probably chose a more straight forward faction to try.
