Recent reviews by Estrios

Absolutely recommended. Anyone who enjoys strategy games needs to add this game to their list of must-plays.

Creeper World is a very simple game at its root—the graphics and music give off the feel of your classic 90s- or 00s-era game, and the rules of gameplay are fairly simple, with only a handful of new developments coming into play as you progress through the story. When it comes to gameplay, however, the game developers perfected a formula here that makes for an outstanding, long-lasting strategy game. I played this game as a kid almost a decade ago, and now that I have it on Steam I continue to come back to it as one of my top go-to games.

The Creeper is your enemy in this game; it is an indestructible *thing* that spreads across the map in the form of a liquid that decimates anything it touches. Your goal in each level is to keep the creeper contained using various weapons (blasters, mortars, SAMs, etc.) long enough to expand your network (consisting of collectors, reactors, relays, and other towers) to "relics" spread across the map that allow you to escape the planet and proceed to the next level. As you move from level to level, each map becomes more difficult than the last, and, appropriately, you gain access to new technologies and upgrades as you proceed in order to better stave off the creeper.

The campaign consists of 20 levels—these can take anywhere from 10 to 45 minutes; on my first run, I generally averaged 15-25 minutes per level. This timing makes Creeper World a great game to open for just a round if you're short on time or just don't want to get sucked into a 2-hour gaming session. But don't worry about getting bored, because there is no lack of levels to play in this game, some of which are frustratingly difficult to the point that I needed to play them through 5 or more times before I could beat them. Besides the 20 campaign levels, this game includes 25 Conquest levels and 10 Spec Ops levels, as well as a near-infinite number of Chronos levels and custom maps. Even after many hours of playtime, I still have many more levels to conquer and have yet to feel any boredom with this classic.

So, to summarize:
- Simple but engaging strategy gameplay
- More levels than you can bat an eye at; there is always another map to beat
- Fairly quick rounds, making for a perfect one-round go-to

I will grant that the storyline is not necessarily superbly engaging, but the great gameplay more than makes up for this flaw. Again, this game is highly recommended to all strategy gamers.

An awesome game! When I first started playing Hexcells, I quickly saw a similar playstyle to the classic Minesweeper. This game, however, takes this playstyle to a whole new level. Very simple rules and relaxed, minimal gameplay, but the puzzle design consistently challenges your ability to analyze and think critically. There are six worlds in the game, and each one adds a new twist into the ruleset, ensuring that the challenge is constantly adapted as you master previous puzzle sets. The only complaint I can think of is that the ambient music can get quite annoying due to its repetition and lack of rhythm.

Overall, I would recommend this game to all puzzle-gamers, as it provides a relaxed but interesting mental challenge.

Definitely recommend this game for anyone looking for casual gaming and/or an opportunity to jump their mind through some hoops. Deceptively simple, this minimal game starts out simply, but as the game progresses new features are added and the puzzles you must work to unravel become less linear and straightforward; soon, you realize that you are barely able to keep track of what is happening, and your mind must really work hard to construct appropriate pathways so that you can continue on to the next level.

The simplicity and graphics of a one-dollar game, but there is an innovative mind behind it. Again, recommend for anyone who enjoys puzzles, and anyone looking to play something that gets their mind working without exciting their adrenaline levels.

Especially with the great sale going on right about now, I certainly recommend people buy this game. Now, I will grant that it isn't perfect: it's long-lasting value is questionable, it's plot/storyline is not necessarily flourishing with detail and impact (I think), and the voiceacting I simply can't help but smirk at. But, this game definitely gets great points from me for innovation, presenting a new take on strategy and an innovative application of the tried tower defense genre. As the game progresses—at least in my case—you get the feeling that you've totally got this, but new features, units, and adversaries are constantly added and you are constantly expected to rethink your tactics to combat a threat that becomes less and less predictable and linear. Anomaly starts out simple, but eventually your ability to strategize is truly put to the test as more complicated battlefields filled with convoluted arrays of kinetic and non-kinetic threats appear.

On the practical side, this is a "tower attack" game (you play the role of a commander leading your squad of units through turret-infested landscapes), but with many innovative nuance, such as abilities that can buff your units or detriment your adversaries, the ability to purchase and upgrade your units to create a personalized squard as you move through the city blocks, and the opportunity to choose what path you want your units to take, giving you the choice of whether or not you want to try and score some bonus cash that is sitting in a swarm of defenders, or avoid combat as much as you can in order to survive through the finish. Missions are comprehensive and fun to play but are short enough that you can open this game just for a quick round, and its progressing difficulty and story keep it interesting from start to finish.

Oh, and let's not forget that this game was produced by a Polish company, and anything coming out of Poland has to be good (absolutely no bias whatsoever in this final statement).

Certainly a recommended game—I think hocus provides a very innovative take on the traditional puzzle game, playing with your perception of the environment to offer a challenge that looks simple at first but quickly shows to be a complicated thing to surmount. I'm a fan of casual games that offer a break from their strategy-intensive or action-packed counterparts, and this game is definitely near the top of my list for casual gaming.

Truly an example of a game that is good not because of overwhelming content, but because of the skillful application of simple mechanics combined with a novel idea. Again, recommended to all, especially players of puzzle games.