Nuclear Monster

3D Realms’ Ion Maiden is Surprisingly Good?

Mar 6, 2018

—

by

Jack Slater

in video games

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QcAwzusZUrQ

The husk of 3D Realms has published a new BUILD-engine game, Ion Maiden, developed by Voidpoint. In Steam’s Early Access program, It has the atrocious Shelly “Bombshell” Harrison character from 3D Realms’ twin-stick shooter, Bombshell. I completely forgot about that game before it was even released.

Rock Paper Shotgun’s John Walker has impressions of what you get with the early access version of Ion Maiden:

It’s a game about screaming around at outrageous speeds, hammering the Use button on any object or wall that looks out of place just in case, and of course spreading enemy gibs about the walls and floor. It feels so fluid, so natural, and such a blessed respite from the bum-following misery-trudge that is so much of modern first-person shooting. It’s ludicrous in every way, enemies aiming with ridiculous skill, and you tasked to work out how to deal with that.

Ion Maiden’s Early Access preview campaign is $20 on Steam for Windows and Linux. As good as it is, I’d be unlikely to get it without seeing the finished game, which is scheduled for late this year.
Never Stop Sneakin’ on Steam

Mar 2, 2018

—

by

Jack Slater

in video games

Dean Dodrill’s Never Stop Sneakin’ has finally hit Steam after being released on the Nintendo Switch late last year. It still looks like a brilliant, but perhaps too repetitive, satirical reduction of Metal Gear Solid minus all the complex controls. I’m so glad that this is a thing in the world.

Never Stop Sneakin’ is typically $15, but it is on sale for $10 on Steam for Windows and macOS until March 5th.
Into the Breach Breached

Feb 27, 2018

—

by

Jack Slater

in video games

Subset Games’ FTL was a huge hit for anyone looking to get into the realm of managing spaceships in difficult times. Their follow-up, Into the Breach, looks a bit closer to Final Fantasy Tactics or Advance Wars, which are all the good kinds of wars.

Alex Wiltshire liked it a lot:

If you’ve played FTL, you’ll remember the very particular kind of clammy-palmed panic it’d conjure as you’d face another seemingly no-win situation. Into the Breach will bring that feeling right back, and it’s wonderful.

As a bonus until the 6th of March, Subset is offering a copy of FTL if you buy Into the Breach through gog or Humble instead of directly on Steam. It’s $15. Subset has also planned that the game will hit other platforms, but right now it’s only on Windows.
Chrono Trigger’s Surprise Steam for Windows Release

Feb 27, 2018

—

by

Jack Slater

in video games

Square surprised us all today with a version of Chrono Trigger up on Steam for Windows. No announcement before the release, just up on the shop it goes. What would be more surprising than that? What if it turned out that this is really a not-so-hot port of the mobile game? Expectations tempered. It’s $15 if you’re missing an emulator or would like to justify your download of the ROM. Recommended follow-up reading, this thread from Jason Scott.
Puyo Puyo Tetris is on Windows Today

Feb 27, 2018

—

by

Jack Slater

in video games

That sounds like a morning breakfast show, doesn’t it? Well, Windows Today isn’t a thing, but Puyo Puyo Tetris is out for Windows via Steam, today, it’s $20. I played a short bit and it felt just as good as it does on the Switch, which reviewed well as we discussed previously. It is very odd to have a lot of visual novel cutscenes that take forever to tell their story inbetween levels of the single-player campaign, but those are easily skipped if you’re not interested in anime characters screaming at each other about how their worlds have been ripped asunder to bring Puyo Puyo and Tetris together.