Lloyd Owen
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COGConnected Latest Reviews
Tiny Metal: Full Metal Rumble is the sequel to Tiny Metal and, like its predecessor, influenced heavily by the Game Boy game Advance Wars. Back in high school my friends and I would occasionally play Advance Wars during lunch, so when I saw Tiny Metal: Full Metal Rumble, I had to see what it had to offer. In Tiny Metal: Full Metal Rumble, you follow the individual stories of a group of generals utilizing their powers and units to overwhelm your enemies. Capture cities and factories to increase your income and troops, while you use a plethora of units to outmaneuver enemies and capture their bases.
Etherborn is a perspective manipulation puzzle game from Altered Matter. Having previously previewed the title, it is great to see it finally being released. In Etherborn, you play as a humanoid figure following the beckoning call of a disembodied voice. You move through the map collecting keys to access bridges, change landscapes, etc. The puzzle is that as you walk up and down the curved ramps of the map and change your orientation, gravity changes with you. Can’t get across that gap? Just walk up the ramp and turn that wall into a floor.
Humor is a very powerful tool when it comes to politics. This is especially true for political satire. The best critiques of politics have been wrapped in humor, and nothing works better than political satire that does not take itself too seriously. So here we have Irony Curtain: From Matryoshka with Love, a great satire of cold war communism that presents a great mix of beautiful art and excellent characters with some quality comedic material.
In Vambrace: Cold Soul, the player follows Evelia Lyric in her quest to fulfill her father’s wishes to reach Icenaire. Unfortunately, Icenaire is surrounded by a magical wall that causes instant death to those who try to enter. Lyric’s father has given her a magical vambrace that allows her to enter the frozen land. Once she arrives on the other side, she falls unconscious in the snow but is found by a guard patrol. When Lyric regains consciousness, she is interrogated by the locals who believe her to be a spy but manages to convince the townspeople of her innocence. It is here that she discovers that the surface has turned hostile and that she is in fact underground.
In Fell Seal: Arbiter’s Mark you play as an arbiter. Servant of the immortals you are judge, jury, and executioner. A routine prisoner transfer thrusts your party into the pilgrimage, a life or death journey to choose the next member of the immortals. Along the way, the pasts of each of the story characters are revealed and I found myself truly enjoying their occasional banter. You have the veteran arbiter Kyrie, the wisecracking Reiner, and the apprentice Anadine who is somewhat naïve. These character stories help to add depth to the world even when the overall narrative should feel familiar.