Chasing shadows in Toby: The Secret Mine

With the holidays out of the way and E3 still ways off we move into what I lovingly refer to as "indie season."  That time of the year where very few big name publisher or studio games come out and indie and small studio games get the chance to shine.  Once again Headup Games has provided me with this weeks game.  This time one solely created by a single man, Lukáš Navrátil.  The game is Toby: The Secret Mine.  Let's take a closer look at it.

"It matters not how fast light may travel, darkness shall always be there awaiting its arrival.” ― Mark W. Boyer

Toby: The Secret Mine is another in what I’m going to call a “dark platformer” game style.  Lukáš admits he was inspired by Limbo and Badlands when making the game.  You can’t shy away from the fact that it is.  But the dark shadow silhouetted look is one of the main highlights of Toby: The Secret Cave.  The story is very minimal so graphics and gameplay are left to do the legwork of really bringing this game along.

On his website Lukáš describes the graphics as “various beautifully handcrafted environments and great visual effects” and I will agree.  He has put a lot of love into creating an interesting visual treat of contrast.  The lovely almost hand drawn look of the backgrounds with the shadow filled silhouette of the foreground is striking.

"'Darkness' is a subjective word; it depends what your viewpoint is and how you live life." - Taylor Momsen

At the start of Toby: The Secret Mine you are dropped in without any instructions or tutorials.  You learn as you go that you have three basic controls:  left/right movement, a jump button, and an action button.  The action button is used to activate switches and grab boxes.

The shadows are used to great effect in the gameplay.  Let me first make something very clear.  You will die in this game, a lot.  The main menu even has a "death meter" to show how many times you have died.  It's not that Toby: The Secret Mine is a hard game, it is learning what is hiding in the shadows and where.  There is a lot of trial and error here: Where the monsters are, where movable boxes are hidden and levers to operate machinery, how the traps are sprung, and when to dodge, jump, and weave your way around.  Thankfully well-placed checkpoints ease the pain.

Your goal is to rescue the kidnapped residents of your village.  Some are in plain sight and some are hidden in the shadows.  This plays out over 21 levels.  A short game, but perfectionists and speed runners will find a lot of replay value in trying to run through without dying or getting through as fast as possible, respectively.

Overall

At first, I wasn't sure if I would like Toby:  The Secret Mine.  I have played quite a few side-scrolling games in the last couple of months and was getting a little burned out.  In Toby: The Secret Mine, even though you are thrown in without any instructions, you always felt like you were accomplishing something.  Learn the controls, check. Learn where a box is, check.  Learn the pattern of how the “stabby snakes” burst out of the ground, check.

I enjoyed Toby: The Secret Mine.  It kept a certain level of challenge throughout, with the only drawback being a real lack of story.  I give Toby: The Secret Mine a 4 out of 5.

For more information see Lukáš Navrátil's website.

Bridging the gap in Bridge Constructor and Bridge Constructor Stunts

Do you have an inner engineer bursting to get out?  Do you wish more bridges had ramps, so you could pull off sick stunts?  Headup Games and ClockStone Software has heard you and created two games to let you tap into that need: Bridge Constructor and Bridge Constructor Stunts.  Let’s take a closer look.

Bridge Constructor

"Praise the bridge that carried you over." - George Colman

Bridge Constructor and Bridge Constructor Stunts have a lot in common.  Besides both being developed by ClockStone Software, they are physics-based puzzle games that started life on mobile platforms before making the jump to consoles.  The publisher, Headup Games, provided me with Bridge Constructor on the PlayStation 4 and Bridge Constructor Stunts on the Xbox One.

Bridge Constructor

Both games give you one simple task; get the vehicles from point “A” to point “B.”  What you do in between is up to you.  Bridge Constructor focuses more on actual bridge building to get your vehicle to its destination.  While Bridge Constructor Stunts, from the start, has you building “bridge ramps” to clear the gaps.  It seems easy enough at first, as both provide you with a large enough budget and the materials to “bridge the gap,” pun intended.  In the beginning your main building material is wood.   As the game progresses you’re introduced to steel, cabling, etc. as stronger options for construction.  The challenges ramp up as budgets get tighter and terrain between point “A” and “B” gets more extreme.  Bridge Constructor even starts taking pages from the Bridge Constructor Stunts playbook by having you make ramps to clear the gap.

Bridge Constructor Stunts

"Mistakes are the usual bridge between inexperience and wisdom." -  Phyllis Theroux

The gameplay and art style for both games is a simple digital animation full of sharp, crisp colors and a touch of whimsy.  The music, while upbeat and friendly, will start to grate on your nerves after a while.  Most gamers who sit down to play on consoles will tend to play for longer periods of time and both games were built for mobile gaming; as the intention was for small bites of gameplay.  Which means that the same music is played on a loop.  To its credit, there is different music in the menu so it isn’t all one tune, but still, it gets old. The music can be turned off if it does start to be too much for you.  

Bridge Constructor Stunts

Bridge Constructor Stunts has another a minor annoyance, besides the music.  On occasion I've had the vehicle land hard enough for the game engine to make the wheels phase through the ground.  Now if the wheels phase on the bridge, it still moves, abet slow, but still moves.  The problem comes when you land on the transition from bridge to land.  There it stops dead.  It's not a game-breaking glitch, I can retry and hope it doesn't land that hard again or tweak my design.  It's just annoying to see the vehicle actually complete the stunt, but not be able to cross the finish line.

Bridge Constructor

Overall

I have to say, for mobile games ported to consoles, both Bridge Constructor and Bridge Constructor Stunts are fun little brainteasers that prove to be great “in between” games.  Those games you play to take a break between your big epic sprawling story action games.  They also scratch that puzzle-solving itch many people crave.  I give Bridge Constructor a 4.5 out of 5 and Bridge Constructor Stunts a 4 out of 5.

For more information see Headup Games' Official website.

Bridge Constructor Stunts

Preview of Candleman

A quick look at the teaser for a unique puzzle platformer, Candleman.  You get 10 seconds of light, use it wisely.  I've have been playing the game a bit already and enjoying it.  I will have a full review after it officially releases on February 1st, 2017.

Build your perfect amusement park in Planet Coaster.

Once upon a time I played simulation (sim) games.  Mostly SimCity and SimCity 2000, but there were others as well.  As time progressed I found them getting more complex and more realistic, taking on more management and less lighthearted fun.  My interest in sims waned in favor of more action orientated games, but I still had fond memories.  Now I have been given Planet Coaster for review.  Will it have me feeling mired in a bureaucracy or bring back the amusement?

"Life is like a roller coaster, live it, be happy, enjoy life." - Avril Lavigne

Well, where do I start this review?  Like starting any sim style game I guess the best place to start is the tutorials.  While effectively you could dive into the main game, since the gameplay tips are never too far away, but I like to have a good understanding of the tools I have at my disposal.  The tutorials for Planet Coaster link you to a set of four YouTube videos.  These have the development team walking you through the basics of placement all the way up to advanced management.  A little different than most tutorials I’ve encountered, but they got their points across.  I was up and running in no time.

As I said the gameplay tips are never too far way in the game itself.  A quick click on the question mark brings up keyboard and mouse commands.  This came in handy after Christmas when I had been distracted by real life and came back to play Planet Coaster.  I was able to get a quick refresher then pick up where I left off with minimal frustration.

"Just when I thought I was out... they pull me back in" Michael Corleone, The Godfather, Part III

Just like other sim games Planet Coaster’s basic gameplay motto is “build it right, manage it right, and they will come.”  There are three modes for Planet Coaster: Career, Sandbox, and Challenge.

Career mode gives you pre-set parks that require specific goals in order to level up and unlock harder challenges.  For example in the Beginner scenario at the Bronze Star level, you need to attract 800 customers and build 2 rides.  Simple enough.  At the Silver Star level attract 900 guests and build 4 rides.  And finally at the Gold Star level attract 1100 guests and acquire $15,000.00.  Interestingly I managed to meet the Bronze and Gold Star levels before the Silver Star level.  The Sandbox mode is just that, pick a themed plot of land and with unlimited funds, build the park of your dreams.  Enjoy your sandbox how you want.  Challenge mode is like Sandbox mode, you get to pick a themed empty plot of land, but you are very limited on the funding you start with.  Wise management can build something from nothing.

That is the great thing about this game (and most sim games in general), you can play it however you want!  My seat of the pants plan was just to build and add things as demanded by the park guests.  Once I started seeing some patterns I adjusted.  For example, when I placed new snack stand I would not only need to place more garbage bins near the stand itself but around the park as a whole.

"I'm not sure I always feel like I'm in the seat. Sometimes I'm only holding on by one hand and flying out behind the roller coaster. I don't know anybody who doesn't feel that way." - David Morse

Another amusing thing is that you can "ride" the rides if you want.  Planet Coaster gives you a choice of three cameras on your ride: Cinematic, Seat, and Interest.  Cinematic doesn't really put you in the ride.  Instead, it gives you angles to watch the ride progress.  Seat puts you front and center on the ride and you can "experience" it from the riders point of view.  You can even select which seat to sit in, so you can ride in the front, middle, rear, or somewhere in between.  Interest turns the seat camera around and points it at the riders.  With this camera, you can see if the riders are actually enjoying themselves, bored, or scared witless.

The management side of the game let you make all sorts of decisions: research new rides and other attractions, train employees to better handle their duties and what to pay them, where to advertise and who to target, and even right down to how much to charge for snacks.  If things get out of hand you can take out loans, but remember they still have to be paid back.

Overall

Planet Coaster is a call back to more enjoyable sim games for me.  I can play around with building and managing until things seem to be going well, and then get down in around the people to see how they enjoy the park.  Developer, Frontier Developments has nicely included Steam Workshop for the modding community to build on.  This allows others, like my friend CWKnight, to build new themed buildings and rides for the game giving it a replay value that will go well beyond what Frontier Developments plan for it.

I have lost time while playing Planet Coaster and fully expect to lose more.  I still have many challenges left in the career mode to master and park themes to sort through.  I give Planet Coaster a 4.75 out of 5.

For more information about Planet Coaster see their official website.