Recent reviews by Bobmanbob

Notes: keys provided by developer and I try to exclusively review games I think I'll enjoy.


Prepare to experience a whole new level of the Nyan cat meme! isTom games have taken our beloved poptart space cat and extended the "lol factor" to new heights.

There's more to this game than you might expect at first glance: 5 game modes, extra missions which task you with collecting certain items or disarming bombs, a pet grooming/tamogotchi mode and a surprising level of customizable elements and unlockables. The core gameplay is repetetitive though, so bear that in mind if Nyan Cat doesn't appeal to you.

The regular game mode has you guiding your Nyan through space and beyond, while collecting food (points) and coins (currency for tamogotchi accessories and unlockables). Your cat is on

autopilot so the only controls needed are a jump button and the occasional mouse movement to guide rocket-powered Nyan or mouse click to disarm bombs. This mode is a somewhat samey,

survive-as-long-as-you-can affair but the wide variety of funny powerups will keep you grinning from ear to ear.

True Nyan Cat fans will be delighted to see that arch-nemesis Tac Nayn (how can you not laugh every time you say that?) not only makes apprearances as an enemy/pest but as a controller

character in his own game mode, complete with true anti-nyan right-to-left gameplay!

The tamogotchi mode is a joy. It gives you a real incentive to continue playing and collect more coins. Toys, goggles, hats, furniture, sets of skins etc can all be unlocked. Most importantly though, you can create your own Nyans (yes, multiple Nyans!) and completely customize them with a very easy to use editor. There really is a surprising amount of features and

personalisation present in this game.

My personal favourite modes to play are:

• the tricky-to-master Nyan Wings, where you have to accelrate and decelerate across hills and valleys to build up enough speed to fly to the next planet!
  
• Universe: collect enough flux batteries before time runs out and warp to the next area!

I hope you like the Nyan Cat theme, because thats the only music track on offer. Anything else would be sacrilege. Your Nyan also "talks" via random text-only speech bubbles. Because he/she is a cat, the grammar isn't perfect. You can turn the music and speech bubbles off if you wish though.

You may not extract as much fun out of Nyan Cat: Lost in Space if you're not a fan of the meme or randomness or pixelated cats, but everyone else will certainly get more than enough fun for the slim 2.99 asking price. An ideal game for the Nyan cat appreciator.


Watch some gameplay snippets here if you're interested: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQo39wexVnI


Giveaway here (ends January 4th 2016): https://www.bobmanbob.com

"Oh, cute robots!", I hear you remark. Don't become enamoured too quickly, those walking tin cans won't blink while redecorating the walls with your electronic innards. What you really have to watch out for are the trecahrous gaps that need to be leaped over though. Haywire on Fuel Station Zeta is a classical, tough-as-nails puzzle platformer.

The characters and environments have a smooth, cute look throughout and the same can be said for the animations and accompanying sound effects. Just watch your robot squeeking along with every tiny step and you'll get the idea :)
For some reason I can't help but be reminded of stop motion animations and feel very nostalgic while playing Haywire.

As alluded to earlier, the challenge is steep here, particularly those jumps. For example, some require a box to be dropped and jumped off mid-air, others require perfectly timed changes of direction mid-leap and many are of the "barely reachable" type you'll remember attempting over and over in older platformer games.

Default controls use a grid-based system, so you'll move according to the orientation of the squares on the map. You can switch to a direct control system where up will move you directly upwards and so on, but I would recommend sticking to the default setup because it's easier to use the squares to judge which direction you'll jump in using that setup.

I didn't encouter any bugs or glitches, apart from the odd occasion of your robot shuffling/stuttering instead of walking (mostly in the very first area).

If you're looking for a quirky, challenging puzzle platformer with a unique look & feel, give this game a try. This is the first release from a one-man crew, so let's see what Mad Goblin Games comes up with next!


Watch some gameplay (and lots of exploding deaths) here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LLVq-W-PEjU


Giveaway here (ends January 2nd 2016): https://www.bobmanbob.com

NOTE: extra keys provided by developer. I try to only review games I think I'll enjoy.

ShipLord is a side-scroller with a novel approach to level progression. Put simply: no weapons! Instead, you must quickly and carefully manoeuvre your spaceship to dodge incoming asteroids and enemy projectiles. You will be rewarded if you collect enough energy orbs along the way too.

Helping you to survive the onslaught of asteroids are 3 abilities: a shield which provides temporary invulnerability, a force field to slow down time and repel asteroids and a tracor beam

that pulls energy to your position. They're all upgradeable too, which is a nice reward between levels. Unlockable ships and bonus levels provide some extra incentive to score highly.

It's simple, addictive and exhilerating gameplay which quickly becomes challenging, not only because of the tricky asteroid projectories (and sneaky ultra-fast moon rocks!) but also due to

the lack of mid-level checkpoints. They wouldn't make much sense here however, because levels consist of surviving for "only" 1 minute or so. Expect to repeat some levels a few times until you learn when and where the troublesome asteroids pop up.

Like the regular levels, ShipLord features inventive boss encounters too. For example, you must defeat the first one without using any abilities. Better hope your dodging skills are well-honed!

Music and sound effects did not have much of an impact on me, but some of the voice acting is done well.

Gameplay is very smooth and it feels nice piloting the sapceship in and around the obstacles while collecting enough energy your nerves can risk going for. The 3D planets orbiting in the background are a pleasant distraction.

To summarize: the presentation is very nice and good attention to detail is evident throughout. Just1337 Studio have conceived an original game and executed it very well. This is only their
first release, so I would keep a close eye on Just1337 Studio if I were you!


Giveaway here (ends December 31st 2015): https://www.bobmanbob.com

NOTE: keys provided by developer. I try to only review games I think I'll enjoy, thus the lack of negatives

City of Chains takes the foundations of a retro-inspired RPG and attempts to combine them with an ambitious array of modern gameplay mechanics. Does it succeed or is it's scope too broad?
Read on for my humble opinion ...

New Reality Games have brought forward the unique presentation of their sister title Atonement: Scourge of Time and repeated it here, this time with a cyberpunk sc-fi setting. Do you remember your early gaming years when there were still games that intrigued you with their unique look? Atonement: SOT reminded me of those days so I'm glad to see the same overall aesthetics return here.

As an RPG Maker game, there is an impressive amount of custom, 'from-the-ground-up' work evident here. In fact, the entire game comes across as a very unique experience which I doubt you will find in many other places. The town and battle menus are standard and you might hear 1 or 2 familiar default sounds in there, but the character models, animations and scenery have a unique charm to them that I really enjoyed. Combat takes your typical turn-based approach and applies an extra layer of interesting stats and weaknesses. Even on casual difficulty, you'll find yourself considering your turns carefully for some of the boss encounters.

City of Chains incorporates many modern features usually non-existent in these games such as:

• Dialogue Options With Consequences: the decisions you make at these crossroads have an impact on the story going forward. You'll definitely find yourself considering those
  
  carefully.
  
• Non-combative Skills: My favorite example is the Charisma skill, which can be used to coerce NPCs or totally avoid combat. Since there is no EXP system here (only skill points which are rewarded after completing tasks), it's always a satisfying victory!
  
• Item and Crafting System: Weapons come in various forms and provide new skills to the user, all of which have their own animations. A basic crafting system can be used to create healing items and grenades.
  
• Tactical Elements: Find and use control panels to disable bots and security measures or weaken bosses. The higher your hacking skill, the greater the dampening effect will be. This is a really nice touch!
  
• Stats & Skills: Morale can be boosted or lowered which can have consequences for you and your foes, in and out of battle. A wide variety of active and passive skills keep things interesting.

The story will take you on a very fast-paced, enjoyable romp through a dark cyberpunk World where you'll meet many characters and make many important choices along the way. A little bit of exploration is allowed and some of the cities are designed really nicely, with shops and apartment building to wander around. While your story begins in rather dark and grim environments, this is not always the case. Music and sounds are suitably dark/cyberpunk and you'll hear new background music almost every few minutes.

I'm very impressed with the range of skills, items and features present in City of Chains, which you would not expect to see in this niche. While they are not deeply developed, their scope is perfectly matched to the games relatively modest runtime (for an RPG) and nothing ever feels like it takes too much of your time away from the action and story. You will be hacking, smashing and shooting your way through the game and leveling up your skills at a really nice pace, everything feels very rewarding and I think the perfect balance has been struck here.

Some small additions to the game I believe would be useful are:

• an in-battle ammo count
  
• a quick crafting how-to.

If the unique retro feel of City of Chains piqued your curiosity enough to read this review or want to find out more, I would say go for it and give it a try.

I put together a short preview video in case you want to take a look: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQjEsBrf06Y

Giveaway here (ends December 30th 2015): https://www.bobmanbob.com

NOTES: game keys provided by SIEIDI. I try to only reviews games I think I'll enjoy, thus the lack of negative ratings.


Do you like shooting stuff? You do? Good, because Gunnheim is a no-frills twin-stick shooter that dispenses with everything that doesn't involve blowing things to smithereens. Forget long tutorials, meandering stories and character setups, you'll be dropped straight into the action.

A hub splits the game into 4 zones, each containing 7 short levels (played in random order) + a final boss area. The goal is to shoot your way through to the finish line and defeat the game's 4 bosses blocking your way to the final encounter. Progress mid-zone is not saved, which I didn't mind at all because the gameplay is a lot of fun once you get the hang of it.

Zone 1 is quite the standard affair but things get a lot more interesting after that, not only in terms of environments but in the enemies and the way that they attack and what's required of you to complete the levels. Difficulty is not selectable and the challenge is fairly standard. I had quite a bit of trouble geting past "Are We Lost?" the first time around, but afterwards I finished the game in 1 sitting without too much trouble, after getting the knack of dodging (and not falling into holes). The other thing you may need a few minutes to familiarize yourself with is the aiming. Your character will first turn to face the direction you push the right stick to instead of instantly shooting in that line.

Gunnheim mixes cartoony graphics with gorey action into a beautiful blend of pure carnage. For a family-friendly experience, you can turn the blood off. Environments and enemies are fairly low in detail but this contrasts with surprisingly nice light and shadow effects. Blue lasers rebounding everywhere while campfires cast light and shadow onto the rocks is a pretty cool sight to behold!

Speaking of the weapons, this is my favourite element of Gunnheim. At almost 4 hours in I was still finding new weapons from the random drops. Miniguns, grenade launchers, laser cannons, acid shotguns (!!!) and the others are a real joy to wield and when I picked up what I can only describe as a very BFG, my jaw dropped when I pulled that trigger. That was an A+ moment :)

2 characters are unlocked from the beginning with 2 more as unlockables. I didn't like the male character's default weapon because it slows your movement when you fire, making it harder to dodge bullets. I learned to love the shotgun-packing female character pretty quickly and found her first aid skill to be indespensible in single-player.

I haven't tried the co-op mode, but I can only imagine it would amplify the fun. Most people should find a good deal of replayability here with the addiont of Hardcore and online/local co-op modes.

If you're looking for a straight-to-the-point twin-stick shooter thats fun to play and has some nice surprises in store, I highly recommend you give Gunnheim a try.


Giveaway here (Ends December 24th 2015): https://www.bobmanbob.com

NOTES: keys provided by Specialbit studios. I try to only review games I think I'll enjoy


The Last Dream makes great strides to take the adventure/hidden object genre to new levels of depth. As Specialbit's second Steam release, I am very impressed with the quality and attention to detail. This is coming from someone who was previously not overly interested in the genre, but it's fair to say they have a fan in me.

Not your typical hidden object game by any means, here are some of the reasons why I think this game trumps their first release (also a very enjoyable game which I would recommend):

• Animated Backgrounds - Scenes come to life with flowing water, windmills spinning and so on, while creatures and other parts of the backgrounds animate when you hover over them. The artwork is varied and gorgeous, with spooky/Halloween-inspired settings, industrial areas, underwater, nature and more.
  
  
• Gameplay Mechanics - See that cat in the bottom left corner? That's one cool cat, that's all I'll say :)
  
  
• Story & Music - As you've gathered from the trailers, the effort put into these aspects is much greater than the norm, even if the story is still uncomplicated. Regular gameplay is spliced with full motion video. Particularly at the beginning, it feels like a interactive movie/adventure game hybrid that blends together nicely.
  
  
• Hidden Object Scenes/Puzzles - many more puzzles and hidden object scenes. A definite improvement!
  
  
• Dynamic Difficulties - I really like the range of options here becuase it allows for a 100% casual experience with quickly-recharging hints and skippable puzzles all the way to a figure-everything-out-yourself, challenging difficulty. Some of the puzzles are very tricky, by the way!

To summarize: The Last Dream is a gorgeous-looking, thoroughly enjoyable adventure/hidden object game with deep story elements and detailed, animated backgrounds which I would recommend to anyone, fan or not!


If you read this far, thank you :) Click here[www.bobmanbob.com] for a small surprise (Ends December 23rd 2015).


I put together a 2-minute, relatively spoiler-free preview video if you want to take a look: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbjUQcVIudk&feature=youtu.be

NOTES: game keys provided by developer. I try to review only games I think I'll enjoy.


Watching gameplay videos does not do justice to just how addictively fun this game is once you have it in your hands. Don't underestimate how long you might end up playing it for each time! While Faron's Fate can be enjoyed either for a few minutes or a few hours, I found myself itching to keep trying to get to the end "1 more time" ...

If you haven't played a rogue-like before or the thought of starting over from scratch upon death makes you run for the hills like it once did for me, please give it a chance. Remember how replayable games were in the 90's and prior? Similar to those classics, there is so much variety on offer here that the short game time quickly becomes irrelevant.

Gameplay is very focused on quick bursts of action across small randomized areas, the goal being to simply survive until the end. Story and all of that pizzaz is not present nor needed here. The music matches the retro-style graphics and becomes increasinly funky as you progress!

The second reason I would recommend Faron's Fate (aside from the instant fun factor) is for the incredible loot system and sheer amount of variety that brings to the game. Weapons, spells and armours can be found everywhere and most of them will change the way you approach combat. It's like an on-the-fly class switching system. Do you want to keep your vampire armour with stylish red scarf and lifesteal effect or swap it for a wizard's garb or a heavy-but-slowing suit of
armour that will turn you into a tank? Other pickups offer permanent bonuses, adding even more depth to your custom character class. I'm enclosing my favourite weapon in a spoiler tag here, due its awesomeness! The green necro bone has a chance to turn your enemies into a skeleton minion on hit, who will fight for you and even follow you across areas!

5 game modes enhance the replayability further. Seeded mode generates the random areas based on the code/name/swear word you input. Now that's a blast from the past!

I encountered 1 instance of a bug which caused the game to crash to desktop, but it happened within the first minute of a run and I know Winter Drake is developing a patch and is actively working on the game at the time of writing.

Giveaway here (ending approx. Dec 15th 2015): https://www.bobmanbob.com

Game key was provided by developer.

A fresh take on an old genre, Solar Shifter EX is straight-forward shoot 'em up satisfaction.

First to impress me was the "punch" the action carries with it. You can feel the wallop behind every bullet and rocket and soon enough there's an impressive fireworks display taking place on your monitor. Defeated enemy ships explode with a nice visual effect and an audible "boom". Music is upbeat and fast-paced which is a nice match for the action. I'd definitely recommend a decent pair of headphones or speakers to make the most it.

Graphics and presentation are really nice all-around. You won't be stuck facing 1 direction the entire time, like other shoot 'em ups. The camera has many tricks up its sleeve, panning around you and adding entirely new perspectives to the gameplay. There is a great indoor scene that has you dodging pillars and fighting enemies while the camera moves around you, above you and below you like it's a spaceship itself. At times, you can see other battles raging in the backgrounds until they suddenly overspill and intertwine with your path, zooming around you from all directions.

I don't think the level of challenge here is as high as other shoot 'em ups. When you discover the right places to stick to at the right times, you'll progress well, but it's not an easy game by any means. You will definitely restart from checkpoints quite a bit, which thankfully are not too far apart.

Credits collected from defeated enemies can be spent on upgrading your primary and secondary weapons after each level. They make a nice improvement to your power and the visual effects of your weaponry (some more so than others).

I did find the suggested method of phase shifting (teleporting) a bit strange. I don't know if this is just me but after holding X/Square I have to move the left analog stick a few times until it works, then it will often phase in an undesired direction, probably because I'm using the left analog stick to fly the ship at the same time. I got used to keeping my right index finger on the fire button and my right thumb on the right analog stick, which you can simply flick in the direction you want to teleport.

Graphics are quite resource-intensive so you'll have to scale them down a bit for older machines, but it will still look pretty good.

I'm having a lot of fun with this game and I would recommend it to those even semi-interested in the genre.

If you want a quick preview of some of the levels, take a look here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ECfy5QSWkQ

Giveaway here (Ends December 28th 2015): https://www.bobmanbob.com

NOTES: game keys provided by Specialbit and Bobmanbob. I try to only review games I think I'll enjoy.

Inbetween Land is a very relaxing, simple and pleasant game. I would describe it as a light point 'n' click adventure with some hidden object scenes. The fantasy-themed story concerns the protagonist searching for her missing friend on an island in the sky.

Gameplay here is a mixture of light exploration, puzzles of various types (some of which are quite tricky!), a few hidden object scenes and even a few mini-games.

Background art is consistently pleasant on the eyes and there is a great deal of variety amongst the scenes. Cutscenes are presented differently, with a more cartoony look to them. Voice acting gets the job done well and the few pieces of music on offer fit the theme nicely.

If you want an ultra chilled-out experience and would rather leave your brain behind
altogether, the game gives you the opportinity to do just that. Puzzles and mini-games
are skippable and the hint orb recharges quite quickly on casual difficulty.

This game can be completed in approximately 2 hours, every minute of which I really enjoyed. I would recommend Inbetween Land to both fans of the genre and those who may be considering their first foray into the point 'n' click/hidden object World.

Giveaway here (ending approx 2nd Dec 2015): https://www.bobmanbob.com

Here's a 2 minute gameplay mashup trailer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jW_c74yuTik

NOTE: keys provided by developer

Build an office space, hire a team, train them and work your way up the chain of rival games corporations vying to win over the critics and collect awards.

Game Corp DX is a fun little management sim where the goal is to take your new games studio from the bottom to the top. With a limited starting budget, you have to choose who to hire, which of the 4 skills to train them in and which types of games you at to release. Your office can be upgraded with new equipment and a couple of adornments.

Choices all-around are fairly limited, which prevents you getting bogged down with choices during the relatively short playtime. Extra tasks are always available to net you some bonus money to put towards your games development and marketing costs. You'll get a few opportunities to expand the size of your studio and teach your employees new skills, which will enable them to make better quality games. The in-game time can be sped up and paused which is a handy feature.

Presentation is simple and cute. The game doesn't take itself too seriously either: critic's names are parodies of their real life counterparts, some of the employees are dressed like they are ready to sell you a sack of wheat rather than code a game, and your first reviews will be comically punishing. You might be surprised just who shows up at your door asking for work by the way!

Some nice touches I enjoyed were seeing some employees avoid the door into the office and walk through the hole I left in the wall instead and receiving extremely mixed reviews (another parody of the real World?). If you enjoy management sims and like the idea of a tongue-in-cheek games development theme, you should definitely get your money's worth of fun from the slim asking price.

Giveaway here (ending approx. Nov 26th 2015): https://www.bobmanbob.com