Recent reviews by GM Camulos

Good little time waster for me personally, it actually helps me unwind by just running a solo survival.

Worth a look in m opiniojn.

The creep is real. Better with a group having fun and talking.
Looking forward to updates with more content

Quick honest thoughts, takes time to master, but if your team lets you down then it really lets you down, in all games I've played so far (not as premium) I've found it to be that one side always seems to overpower the other. I've so far not had any games go down to the wire, its either a clear win or a clear loss.

Mechanics seem ok and your units tend to feel like they should for size and bulk.

Beware the clans. But if you enjoy the warhammer universe, you will enjoy the game. Just keep pushing through.

Fun little game with some progression.

Fun game to play with almost endless hours of things to do. Want to explore, explore. Want to fight, then fight. Want to trade, you guessed it. Go Solo or find yourself a group to play with. The choices are yours and there is always help to be found online if you have questions.

Mouse and Keyboard or H.O.T.A.S, easy to play the way you want to.

Cannot help but still love this twisted game, as frustrating as it can be.

I had to also grab it on the switch to play it on the go when I just can't play it at home.

Always seems to be more to unlock which throws more into the game and different synergies of the items to pick up.


But as always, the canon and backstory of the game is so twisted.

The standard game has so much to offer in the way of challenges and fun, with a compelling storyline that pulls you along.

The LABYRINTH DLC is a great addition to an already fantastic game and is a well deserved addition to the game continuing along a seperate path with greater challenges and multiple endings.

Definetly worth a grab if you are looking for something new!

Spacebase DF-9 – Preview
By GMCamulos

Genre: Simulation, Indie, Strategy
Platform: PC / Mac / Linux
Publisher / Developer: Double Fine Productions

From the Devs:
“Spacebase DF-9 is a simulation game in ongoing development at Double Fine Productions. Alpha 3b version is available right now for Windows, Mac, and Linux.”

Gameplay:
So the first simulation strategy game I ever played was Theme Hospital, and I am SO glad that the basics have stayed the same.
Spacebase DF-9 still being in early access alpha stages at the moment means there are still some bugs that need fixing, but that is not to say that the game is not engaging and fun right now, because it very much is!
From the get go you start where you want to. You pick the location to start from the galaxy map which has different indicators as to how that area will play. From how many minerals will be there for you to mine when you arrive, how close you are to warp gates for new visitors (good and bad) and even the areas magnetic field levels.
Once you find an area you like the looks of, you travel to that area in your trusty SEED Capsule with your three starting inhabitants in your roster.

You start off with 6 minutes of air in their space suits so it’s a good idea to build your beginning base as quickly as possible.

From there the game progresses with new rooms to build onto your ship, the need for food and clean air. Refineries to turn your mined resources into useable material and the delight of new people arriving at your station and the pain of having raiders try to destroy your base.
The main issue I currently have with the alpha (which I assume will be fixed pretty soon) is that half the time I need something built quickly to stop bad things happening… my builders decide that they have other more important things to do (which has resulted in everyone on my base dying from starvation about four times now).
But if you have played any simulation game in the past, it’s a quick pickup to learn how the game mechanics work and no trouble from there on in.

Graphics:
For an early access Alpha release, the game clearly shows it has had some graphical polish sought early in development.
The rich backgrounds and effects used in the game provide a very crisp and clean alpha. Not much variation once you start building, but you never know, the developers at Double Fine may add some randomisation when building rooms in a later release?

Sound:
The game does have a nice background track playing and there are some audio assets in the game, but nothing that really stood out or shocked me. I look forward to more sound assets being added in the future, but in alpha development that is not something you really wait with baited breath for.

Skill Levels and Controls:
As I stated at the start, I have been playing simulation games for a while now. And most gamers would be able to tell you the jist of what happens in The Sims.
So its not hard to understand that the game runs pretty smoothly for most gamers.
Each hotkey is listed on the action in your GUI menu for building and assignment of rosters, so no trouble there. Camera is a quick to grasp control setup as well. You basically zoom in and out and use the W,S,A,D keys to move around the map.
I think a veteran simulation player would have the best bet of survival in their first base run. But it is not 100% clear at first what is needed when and how much of something is a good idea to start with.
So expect a bit of restarting as you work things out. Which leads to:

Replayability:
Like most simulation and strategy games, there is a metric tonne of replayability, even at this alpha stage.
The maps are randomly generated when you start based on the map level indicators when you pick your base local from the galaxy map, BUT you get to choose where on the map you build your first room, and from that first room, the choice is all up to you how you want to build.
The random encounters of new inhabitants and raiders also helps determine what to build next.
But I dare say, no two bases will ever be the same!
At the moment though you can only have one base saved at a time. You start a base, then save and exit. If you start a new one and then save and exit it DOES overwrite the old base, so be careful.

Last thoughts:
I spent a bit during the last STEAM sales, but I am very very glad I picked up this little gem. It’s a fun take on space base simulation, and holds a lot of potential.
I will be keeping an eye out for future dev plans for this one and recommend that if you have the $24.99 then you should pick this one up for your library.

Bound By Flame – Review
By GMCamulos

Genre: RPG
Platform: PC, PS4, PS3, 360
Publisher: Focus Home Interactive
Developer: Spiders

When creating a game what do I want to add? A nice dash of action, some good graphics, great sound in both music/ambient and voice acting, a nice control system, a hint of swearing, a little somethin’ somethin’ for the guys, and conversely nice looking guys for the ladies out there, some good story elements, nice character progression and levelling and a metric tonne of other small little things that fill in the gaps between the aforementioned.
Now, can Bound By Flame find the right mix or has the ever omnipotent game master added a dash too much of one ingredient and not another?

Gameplay:
Bound By Flame was an interesting one pre-release. It looked like it had something really kicking for it. A nice combat style, a demon possessed player character (true we have seen a lot of those in the past), and hey, it was next-gen.

What we got from it was a fun solid (in areas) next-gen RPG. The story for Bound By Flame is that your character is a member of a mercenary force called the Freeborn Blades that are trying to protect the world from the Icelords who slowly taking over and killing anything they come across. The Red Scribes who hired the mercs to protect them while they find an ancient temple and try to perform a ritual to help out… can we see where this is going?
The ritual obviously has to go wrong cause is the start of the game and all, and your character is left with a very nice and friendly demon residing in him… I mean let’s see, how bad could that actually be right?
The demon will eventually try to get you to make the choices which suit IT best, which can lead to a very interesting storyline as your companions will treat you differently if they think you are turning evil.
So should you embrace the evil and grow an awesome set of horns and look like you are constantly warming up people three towns away, or will you keep your humanity and make choices that help rather than hinder?
Well if you go evil you will find that the demon can be a nice kick into the powerful meter, but the choice is yours.
It’s just a pity that its strongest feature is a nice combat and skill system. The three skill trees are Ranger, Warrior and Pyromancer.

I dare say you only spec into one of the Ranger or Warrior classes depending on how you want to play but some of the Pyro skills are very complimenting, such as the ability to have a nice fire shield or even ignite your weapon for more damage.
A quick warning before moving on, the game did kind of shock me the first time I met an elf and my whole opinion of how they can converse was tipped upside down. The occasional swear in a game is fine, but when half the cast will try to slip one in every third sentence, it drags away from it being a fantasy game and just tries to tip into a game for less mature players.
And don’t get me started on the fact that one of your more… well-endowed female companions looks like she could be shivering just looking at a fridge given what she is wearing… I still don’t understand the need to make a female character in a game have less protection than a male character… breastplates on guys… yet a breastplate on a girl will cup the breasts and show them off… I just don’t get it…
And given that there is crafting in the game I kind of wish there was more I could craft, though the recycle feature to get some materials back is a very handy touch to let you experiment with what you want to make and use/upgrade.

Graphics:
The game is next gen, so I would have liked to have seen a little more… pezaz?
Don’t get me wrong, it’s still solid and I can’t really fault it, but it’s still just at a level that says… yeah, we know we are making things for next gen, but we need it to work on everything else at the same time.
Nice little touches pop up here and there, such as the changes your character goes through the more you let your demonic inner voice take over… but its things we have seen before in other games.


Sound:
The sound is good, if we don’t talk about the lacking performance on the majority of companions. There is something to be said about your demon side and his influence and conversational chats, but the majority of the team seem to let me down. A nice casual chat while a player dies, no inflection of pain or regret, just “Yep I am dying…” ok, yeah, thanks… I mean, don’t say that, it’s not your time… bit more work could have gone into this side of the game, and I don’t just say that because I know a lot of voice actors who could use work *wink wink*

Skill Levels and Controls:
Bound By Flames combat never really had me at a point where I felt UBER as I quite often get to in other RPG’s.
The game really does ease you into how the combat and levelling works at a nice solid pace in the first section, and just keeps going from there. On normal it still felt like the monsters of the world were levelling at the same time I was, it’s just that I was able to put points into my skill tree’s that continually allowed me to stay ahead of the curve.
Some fights still gave me a bit of a headache, but still, nothing you can’t overcome.
Your choice of companions can also help with battle and thus can complement or just strengthen your play style, bit of a choice there to help out as well.

Replayability:
With the amount of choices in the game, and deciding what you want to do, the game has a little replayability unless you want to see what it’s like to swap from allowing the demon to take over, or to be the man in charge all the way through. But it’s an RPG, when you know the story, you know the story. Nothing major is going to change from playing through it again.

Last thoughts:
I did enjoy Bound By Flame, it’s a great little RPG which does have a lot of merits. I do kind of wish the game was longer and had a bit more variety, but hey, on the whole I did enjoy it and had a lot of fun playing through it all the same.

I give it 7 Demonic Possessions out of 10.