Shareware Game Review

THIS BLOG IS CLOSED

2008-07-09T09:57:00.000-07:00

PSP Homebrew

2008-05-13T03:43:00.000-07:00

Homebrew is the raving rebel community that thrives to make your PSP stretch beyond its capabilities and do things that you never thought your PSP would do. Games, utility software, and a lot of other applications are coded and made underground so as to make your PSP a truly versatile animal. It is much like an open source community full of enthusiastic PSP aficionados.

However, Homebrew isn’t a new phenomenon. It started with the now ubiquitous PC– in the form of freeware and shareware applications– and then moved on to many other systems. More recently we have homebrew communities for the iPhone, Gameboy Advance, Xbox, cell phones, and every other gadget ever made. Sony’s Playstation Portable has plenty of these stealth developers working away furiously on a wide range of Interesting applications.

Source: http://news.psp-downloads.biz/news/335/psp-homebrew-a-primer.html

MacHeist Retail Bundle

2008-05-13T03:40:00.000-07:00

The team behind the MacHeist software promotions has announced a new retail bundle. The bundle of Mac shareware applications can be purchased directly from the MacHeist site for $50, and, if all goes according to plan, will be available in stores later this year. If you missed out on the online deals earlier this year, or if you want to fill out your collection of software packaging materials, the MacHeist retail bundle is your friend.

So far the details are a bit thin, but it doesn’t appear that the retail bundle will feature any additional MacHeist-style shenanigans. However, as with other MacHeist efforts, 25 percent of the purchase price will go to select charities. The team has also produced a slick, high-quality video teaser for MacHeist's retail release.

Source: http://blog.wired.com/monkeybites/2008/04/macheist-retail.html

Big Bang Brain Games

2008-04-22T03:01:00.000-07:00

From the people who brought you the fantastic 'Hoards of Orcs' comes "Big Bang Brain Games" - a brain training suite of mini 'puzzle' games wrapped in a 3D engine to keep you on your toes and at the computer; monging out almost completely while paradoxically expanding your brain capacity and giggle like a school girl at the comedic touches this studio seem to lace their productions with. Big Brain Games consists of six games in total; Echo, an audio memory game, Fallacy, a logic game, NovaSweeper, which is Mine Sweeper with nobs and bells, Reaction, a fantastic little logic game (reminds me, for some reason, of the classic e-motion for you old timers out there) , Remembrance the classic card game (turn them up to match etc) and of course what brain training application would be complete without Sudoku!?

Remembrance is the classic memory card game; with a hot chick. Click her. She loves it.

The games are all pretty good; I especially like Fallacy and Remembrance which keep me entertained for longer stretches of time (not being natural Sudoku player, ie. I'm number retarded) but all the titles are great efforts which look and sound great. The presentation of this game is nothing short of immaculate, for mini games the whole atmosphere (and the bizarre random duck) really draw you in from the get go. Which in SGR's book, is a very good thing!

Great stuff.

Summary:

Six great brain training puzzle games which look, sound and play great. If you like this kinda thing, then this game delivers by the truck load.

Where Can I Get It?

http://www.freeverse.com/games/game/?id=6003

SGR Rating:

80%

New Players Join Indie Scene

2008-04-22T02:56:00.000-07:00

Independent video-game makers used to be the starving artists of the gaming world. Rather than taking cushy jobs at major companies, they lived off measly donations to create what they saw as a better, more innovative product.

No longer. Independent game makers are coming of age, thanks to new distribution methods that bring quirky, original games right into people's living rooms. And the indie scene is flourishing, just like it has in movies and music.

"We're much more high-profile than we used to be," said Phil Fish, a Montreal game designer whose game Fez, while unfinished, is being courted by large game publishers eager to tap into the indie scene.

Source: http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/business/story.html?93306

Indie Mobile, Next Big Thing

2008-04-15T05:00:00.000-07:00

Easy to pick up, easy to play, the mobile casual game is the perfect distraction to entertain us while waiting for the next train or a late friend. Likened to a "game snack," the casual game requires little commitment and minimum investment-meaning players should never have to resort to reviewing a tutorial or have to free up hours in their schedule to get through a game.

At the console level, everyone from Nintendo to Ubisoft and Electronic Arts has put increased interest in the casual, pick-up-and-play game as a way to reach a wider base beyond the core gaming demographic. The personal and virtually ubiquitous qualities of the mobile phone make it an ideal platform for the casual game, letting us fill up small slices of time-both at home and away from home-with little commitment.

More and more, we're seeing that mobile casual games are indeed for everyone. Women outnumber men in terms of numbers and revenue for mobile gaming. And mobile gamers encompass a broader age range than the typical console gamer.

The next logical stage is the democratization of game design-where just as anyone can play games, anyone can now create games. User-generated games tap into the seemingly universal human desire for creative self-expression-as well as sharing those creations within a wider community. Whether it's in the form of video, music, or text, social networking and self-content sites have become a mainstay in today's Internet, as the consumer becomes content-provider.

Source: http://www.gamesondeck.com/feature/3533/editorial_user_generated_mobile_.php

Intel-Sponsored Amateur Tilt

2008-04-15T04:59:00.001-07:00

Intel Technology Philippines, in partnership with the Game Developers Association of the Philippines (GDAP) and the Creative Media and Film Society of the Philippines (CreaM), recently organized the Pinoy Indie Games Competition, the country’s first on-the-spot, non-stop, three-day game development challenge.

First scheduled on 1-3 February, 2008, the event drew 15 amateur teams, each looking to make history by winning the first Pinoy Indie Games Championship.

"We are very thrilled with the outcome of the event, which gave the 15 participating teams an opportunity to showcase their expertise in the field of game development," says Intel Philippines Country Manager Ricky Banaag. "The local game development scene will definitely be on the upswing with these new talents soon coming in."

Source: http://www.mb.com.ph/INFO20080415121842.html

Gimmie Indie Games

2008-04-15T04:56:00.000-07:00

Gaming may be a multi-bazillion dollar biz based on ever-advancing technology, but the definitive moment at the recent Game Developer’s Conference came courtesy of brightly coloured balloons. Real ones.

During February’s annual gather in San Francisco, a number of game gurus participated in a public rant session. Most offered the expected gripes — one challenged peers to add emotion to their programs; another complained about internet-fuelled fan overreactions; a third demanded intellectual titles for adult gamers. But what will be remembered was Jonathan Mak’s “rant.” The 25-year-old Torontonian — and CEO of one-man company Queasy Games — simply handed out balloons covered in slogans like “1point” and “I am a misunderstood robot." Instead of nodding in agreement or shaking heads in communal disgust, the crowd just started playing. With no instruction, little money and staggeringly simplistic gameplay, Mak had created instant joy.

The unspoken lesson was equally simple — you don’t need a big budget triple-A title to give gamers the fun they crave. He should know; after all Mak’s trigger-happy music game Everyday Shooter, a homemade interactive rock album where each shot essentially adds a song element, has become a hit download for Sony’s PS3 and one of the flagships of the indie gaming scene, a DIY movement that has unexpectedly exploded with the arrival of the now-gen consoles.

Source: http://www.exclaim.ca/articles/csid1=120&csid2=807&fid1=30380

Hordes of Orcs

2008-04-10T05:25:00.000-07:00

First things first; this game is freakin' awesome. No doubt, it's a winner. As is so often the case simplicity and twisted humour wins the day again with us simple SGR reviewer folk. Hordes of Orcs is a game of castle defense and tower carnage, we've all seen these before, but this one is better than the vast majority. It sounds good, looks great and plays like a dream - it's addictive to digital crack levels too.

For the uneducated and otherwise tower-defense-ignorant we'll explain what Hordes Of Orcs entails; wave after wave of progressively more hardcore Orcs stream forth from a glowing portal (the developers suggest the village elders in the game's castle call "The Glowing Portal of Really Bad Things That We Should Have Bricked-Up a Long Time Ago", Terry Pratchett like referencing FTW!) your mission is thus clear and succinct, stop the big green nasty Orc types from reaching your castle and doing whatever it is such creatures do when they sack castles, presumably rape/eat/pillage/smell bad/make the place look untidy etc.

There is nothing like the smell of flaming Orc in the morning.

It's not often I become addicted to a game while still sitting in my boxer shorts before my morning cup of tea, but today I did. Hordes of Orcs sucked me right in immediately. The strategic element of tower placing and 'which towers to place where' should not be underestimated by a casual observer, if you want it to be, this is a very in depth game as well as a fantastic novelty. Indeed, even as I write this I am actually just thinking about where best to place my flame turrets the next time I play. Hordes of Orcs is hard casual gaming at it's best.

And Hordes of Orcs doesn't stop there with just the classic 'castle defense mode', indeed it has lots of other game modes, including Capture the Flag; because as the game points it "every game is better with a capture the flag mode". They couldn't be more correct. As if this game needed more lastability, here it comes steaming in with yet more ways to enjoy it. Hordes of Orcs boastsa massive six game modes; Open Warfare, Crossroads, Capture The Flag, Maze Defense, gem Drop and Pachinko - all as entertaining as each other.

"Kill the Orcs, slay the Orcs, destroy the Orcs!" - 3 Inches of Blood lyrics go well with this game.

I think you are probably getting that it plays great and is generally going down quite well here at SGR... well kids we know you now expect us to point out some massive flaw or problem we found that the game play over comes nonetheless, well, not this time, the creators of Hordes Of Orcs don't disappoint on any level, it really does looks great too. There is something deeply satisfying about setting your defenses and zooming in to "3D mode" and watching as the various Orcs, all of whom are modelled fantastically, are set alight/radiated/frozen or simply shot at with a hail of arrows.

A lot of work has gone into the style of this game; there is something humorous at it's very core and it's good. We love the funky music track which permeates in the background as well. Damn it, there isn't anything we don't love about this game!

Just, go buy it, we wanna play more...

Summary:

Stop the Orcs doing whatever it is Orcs do using a variety of wicked awesome weapons and spells in a variety of different game modes. You really can't go wrong with this game, we can't find a single flaw in it's logic. The best game we've reviewed this year. Addictive, entertaining, looks great - it can even be run in a window and played when you should be working. Fantastic stuff all around.

Where Can I Get It?

http://freeverse.com/games/game/?id=7019

SGR Rating:

98%

7Seas Tech Bags Honours

2008-04-04T02:41:00.001-07:00

7Seas Technologies Limited, a Hyderabad-based independent game development company, has bagged the prestigious FICCI-BAF (Best of Animation Frames) award for its ‘Mouse Maze’ game in the ‘Best Online Game category’, for 2008. The FICCI-BAF awards received a total of 406 entries in 17 categories from 14 countries.

The award was received by Maruti Sanker, managing director of 7Seas Technologies, at the two-day FICCI FRAMES-2008 that concluded in Mumbai on March 26, 2008.

Mouse Maze, an online game launched by 7Seas Technologies in January 2008 that ignites creativity and enhance concentration of the gamers, is presently available on the company’s www.onlinerealgames.com and leading portals of over 50 aggregators worldwide.

Commenting on the award, Maruti Sanker said, “We are delighted to share the stage along with industry majors such as Microsoft Games, which won two awards in the ‘Best PC Game’ and ‘Best Console Game’ categories. The FICCI-BAF award for 7Seas Technologies’ Mouse Maze showed the company’s technological capabilities to the world besides increasing our responsibilities in creating more such quality games for the international game lovers.”

Full Article: http://www.merinews.com/catFull.jsp?articleID=131618

LA's Vision For Indie Titles

2008-04-04T02:38:00.000-07:00

Interesting news in the gaming world this week. The Hollywood Reporter's Paul Hyman notes that video game power house publisher 3D Realms Entertainment has announced the inception of two subsidiary companies called Radar Group and Depth Entertainment, both focusing on publishing titles that will ultimately become specs for TV and film. CEO Scott Miller uses the concept of the "storyverse" as a logical reason to homogenize the two markets based on the success of other franchises such as Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings.

Miller describes his vision for the companies by explaining that "It will all start at Radar with what I call the 'storyverse' -- or story universe -- which is a big bubble of story, character, and game play ideas...from that central hub, one spoke will go to game development, another will go to movie or TV production, and so forth."

The plan ultimately comes down to a vision for independent titles. Miller notes that "the plan is to find existing independent game developers that haven't had their big break yet and, utilizing the storyverse, work with them to create original IP in which they have some measure of ownership." Creating the two sister companies would provide the financial backup for the ideas to be taken further, resulting in a successful independent franchise.

Full Article: http://laist.com/2008/04/03/new_labased_gam.php

Third Annual Dev Contest

2008-04-02T10:04:00.000-07:00

ECD Systems(R), the technology innovator for the video game industry, is excited to announce that the company's Third Annual Independent Game Developers Contest is now open for gamers and industry enthusiasts alike to cast their votes on this year's best independently-developed games.

The best games will be chosen by online popular voting, open now though June 30, 2008, by users playing games and voting online at www.indiegameshowcase.com. A judging panel consisting of industry professionals will then select the winners and three finalists from ten semi-finalist games in each category. This year's contest also offers a scholarship award for the Best Student Game Entry. Contest results will be announced at the Austin Game Developer's Conference, September 15-17, 2008.

"We are thrilled with this year's game submission turnout - both in volume and creativity, which in turn gives our gamers an enhanced gaming experience," said Jack Hart, CEO of ECD Systems. "In addition to providing entertainment, which is of course our key goal, this contest offers independent game developers the unique opportunity to showcase their talents and their latest and greatest game designs to a growing network of gamers, peer developers, and publishers."

Voters rate games on a scale of 1-10 based on several factors: story and / or plot, graphics, sound (soundtrack and sound effects), game play controls, user interface, and fun factor. Additionally, voters weigh in on their overall rating of the game. Judges take into account that all games are designed with a certain level of sophistication and complexity in mind, therefore, final ratings for each game are assigned independently of the other games and based on the personal playing experience of each game.

Full Article: http://www.centredaily.com/business/technology/story/492240.html

The Big Leagues

2008-04-01T05:44:00.000-07:00

The 2005 Independent Games Festival was a turning point for Metanet Software, the independent video game studio co-founded by Raigan Burns and Mare Sheppard after the two met in a University of Toronto computer science class.

Metanet's first title, an elegant physics-based PC flash game called "N", had just won the festival's Audience Choice Award and was averaging between 2,000 and 3,000 downloads a day on Metanet's website, where it was offered free.

"N had racked up quite a following, and we had a user-base interested in whatever we did next," says Sheppard.

Metanet was facing the issue that all independent studios eventually have to deal with: how to convert all that loyalty and buzz into income.

Monetization can be a hard sell for indie developers who came up through the "freeware" scene, where games are created and swapped in an atmosphere of exchanging ideas.

For Burns and Sheppard, the motivation for making N profitable was so that they could realize the goal of developing video games full-time. But, it had to be on their terms.

Digital distribution has made it easier for small companies not only to share their products with customers but also to make money on them. That's because they no longer have to pay for packaging, shelf space, warehouse storage, shipping and the other costs associated with getting a game into a brick-and-mortar store.

One of the digital models Metanet first considered was PC shareware, where customers can download a demo of the game free on their computers, play it with certain restrictions – either a time limit or a limited set of features – and then pay to unlock the full version if they choose.

Another was microtransactions, where players can download the full-featured game free but pay small fees to unlock extras like bonus material and additional levels.

Full Article: http://www.thestar.com/Business/article/407375

Warblade Comes To Macs

2008-03-26T05:51:00.001-07:00

EMV Software recently released a Mac beta demo of Warblade, an action shoot'em up based on the Amiga computer classic, Deluxe Galaga. In the game players must defend the earth from alien invaders by blasting as many of the interstellar interlopers as possible.

Warblade is an arcade game with focus on very good playability. It's a shoot'em up type of game like the old classic arcade game Galaga. Warblade is a remake of my old Amiga game Deluxe Galaga. A very popular shareware game for the Amiga computer.

It's a vertical shoot-em up...

The Plot : An alien race is invading the earth and you must try to save humanity. That's the very simple plot of the game. The game is made with gameplay as the most important factor. Fast arcade fun and lots of adrenaline pumping action. The game runs under DirectX and will take advantage of all your hardware.

Full Article: http://www.insidemacgames.com/news/story.php?ID=16359

Sauerbraten (Cube 2)

2008-03-20T11:01:00.000-07:00

Sauerbraten is a freeware first person shooter that can be played in multiplayer or single player modes. My first impressions were excellent, the game is pure eye candy - especially for a freeware game. However, when you first start the game you are dropped into a map (Episode 1) with no monsters, no other players, no exits, no nothing. You have to bring up the menu for more advanced options - the menu itself even looked nice, it just hoovers in 3D space.

Being a FPS fan I was right at home, the game was responsive and pretty immerse right away. The in-game music is some pretty decent thrash metal which really sets the mode. I actually found the game fairly difficult in single player mode - not enough ammo by far. But there is a wide array of weapons at your disposal and an array of bad guys to bring the smackdown to. Small negative - having enemies run blindly toward you is a little 1990's.

Eye Candy.


Summary: 

Bring the smackdown, ignore the badly designed UI.

Where Can I Get It?

http://sauerbraten.org

SGR Rating:


80%

About Crayon Physics Deluxe

2008-03-19T10:19:00.000-07:00

An ingenious video game that looks like it was designed by a third-grader.

The annual Game Developers Conference is a chance for all the major players in the video-game industry to show off their flashiest new titles. Attendees at February's meeting, for instance, were treated to a sneak peek of the upcoming Gears of War II, a richly detailed sci-fi action game that appears indistinguishable from a blockbuster sci-fi movie. The game has subtle lighting and shadow effects, water that ripples and splashes properly, concrete walls that crack and crumble to reveal the underlying rebar. To top it all off, the guy leading the demo had his character pump bullets into an enormous cube of meat, which was authentically elastic and viscous in response to the fusillade.

Despite that absurd graphical overkill, or maybe because of it, Gears of War II wasn't the talk of the show. Most of the chatter was about a game called Crayon Physics Deluxe, which didn't get a glitzy demo on a huge video screen in front of an audience of thousands. Why all the love for a game that looks a bit like something your third-grader might ask you to stick up on the fridge? Watch the embedded video below, and you'll understand.

Full Article @ Slate.com: http://www.slate.com/id/2186848/

If you like SGR, Digg us up!

2008-03-19T10:12:00.000-07:00

If you like the SGR please digg us up and spread the word - share this site it's news, reviews and articles with anyone or anywhere you think'll like it! The more of you fine shareware and indie gamers come, the more reviews, news and articles we'll produce!

http://digg.com/pc_games/The_Shareware_Game_Review

Leprechaun Loot Slots

2008-03-17T09:53:00.000-07:00

Here is something for St Paddie's Day! Leprechaun Loot Slots / Pokies 6.01 is simply a 20 payline slot machine game with a Leprechaun and Irish theme. It works just like a real slot machine game with the pulling and the chinging. You can't win any real money (more is the pity), but you can win plenty of virtual money to impress everyone. Like the pokies? You'll like this game.

Sure, it's a grand little game if you like this kinda' thing.

Summary

Slot machine in green. End of story.

Where Can I Get It?

http://www.top-shareware.net/leprechaun_loot_slots_pokies.html

SGR Rating

55%

Classics for Good Reason

2008-03-14T05:05:00.000-07:00

Here are some of the most influential works created for portable platforms. Best of all, they're still available if you want to add a classic or two to your devices.

Breakout: Among the most important games ever created, this challenges users to clear a wall of blocks using a ball, paddle and the best angle to rebound the ball to damage the wall and clear the level.

Dope Wars: This morally challenged classic was originally developed for calculators and has spread to almost every mobile platform imaginable. You play an aspiring drug dealer who must sell stock to pay off a debt. You must work to stay alive, battle police, check local markets for favorable drug prices and save as much money as possible.

Tetris: Created in 1985, this became one of the most popular and recognizable games of all time. Centered on the idea of creating order from chaos, players shift, rotate and move falling random shapes into place to create solid lines. Once lines are complete, they disappear, earning points and advancing the player to the next level.

A combination of simple gameplay, increasingly frenetic pacing and terrific music matching the pace keeps players coming back for just one more turn.

Bejeweled: It was first released as a Web browser game in 2001 and has been translated to other platforms. Players clear a grid filled with jewels by rearranging them to create a line of three identical stones. Then the jewels disappear, earning points. A timer keeps players on their toes, and bonus points can be earned by arranging more complex combinations that clear four or five jewels.

Snake: Snake took over calculators in the '80s and grew from there. Available on almost any platform, the game is popular for play that takes only seconds to master.

Full Article: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/AR2008030601278.html

Stair Dismount

2008-03-13T08:33:00.000-07:00

Made by the same group of mentally unhinged developers responsible for "Truck Dismount" - Stair dismount follows much the same formula. Set direction and power of the shove which will push a guy down a large flight of stairs with the aim of causing as much damage as possible.

Highly amusing and like Truck Dismount can be played in a window (at your desk at work).

Poor little guy didn't stand a chance.

Summary

Shove the guy down the stairs, laugh, repeat.

Where Can I Get It?

http://jet.ro/dismount/

SGR Rating

77%

Truck Dismount

2008-03-13T08:10:00.000-07:00

I am not going to lie to you. This isn't a complicated game. The object of Truck Dismount is however quite brilliant in it's simplicity; you set up some ramps, adjust speed and placement of a guy in a van, then set the previously mentioned van to go with the aim of causing as much damage as possible to the poor little dude in the cab. Let me attempt to illustrate with video, what words cannot quite seem to describe:

You get the idea.

I dunno what it is with me and games which involve trashing motor vehicles but I digress... The graphics are good enough to make the scene amusing. Beating your high score becomes more difficult as you become more skilled in setting up the crash, and lulz are had all around. I can't really fault it.

Summary

Crash a dude into a wall, laugh, and try and cause more damage next time.

Where Can I Get It?

http://jet.ro/dismount/

SGR Rating

75%

Team Fuchikoma win compo

2008-03-13T07:43:00.000-07:00

Team Fuchikoma bagged the win at the awards night of the first Pinoy Indie Games Competition held recently at Temple Bar in Greenbelt 2 with their game Teddy’s Happy FuN TiEm Wonderland garnering the top scores.

“It was a solid game,” said Game Developers Association of the Philippines (GDAP) president Gabby Dizon. “When I tried it out, I had a feeling this was going to be one of the top contenders.”

The gameplay of Teddy’s Happy FuN TiEm Wonderland consists of a giant zombie-like monster teddy bear rampaging through the city collecting power-ups while crazy hang-gliding ninjas try and stop him. Members Joseph Cunanan, Carlos Nazareno and John Tiangco took home their Intel Core 2 Quad machines as their prizes. They beat out 13 other competitors from various colleges for the win.

Full Article: http://blogs.inquirer.net/hackenslash/2008/03/13/fuchikoma-bags-win/

Death Puck

2008-03-13T04:45:00.000-07:00

Put simply, Death Puck is Air Hockey with a weird attitude laid over blood and gore. And if that wasn't good enough for you; it's actually a highly entertaining game.

The essentially game premise is real simple; score 15 points against your opponent by smashing the puck past him with your paddle on what the game refers to as "the table of honour", but what everyone else in the world refers to as "the air hockey table".

First to 15 wins. Simple and boring right? Na-ah.

Death Puck takes it a lot further than that. For starters the game has various modes; 'Tournament' in which you face all of the preset characters (one of whom for reasons best known to the developer is 'Joe Stalin'...), 'Quick Match' mode in which you can choose which opponent how many points the game will last and on which table you will play it, 'Survival Mode' in which you see how many opponents you can beat with just 15 points allowed to be scored against you and 'Streak Mode' (or "moding of the streak" as the game sound effects call it) in which you see how many opponents you can beat in a row.

'Jack' proceeds to thrash me. That's right, that's blood splattered against the screen.

On top of the modes Death Puck has incorporated various player 'special moves', executed using mouse button combinations during the game (when your "power bar" reaches full); you can use a 'super shot' or make the opponent paddle shrink; apparently there are more but I am yet to find them! Don't think this gives you too much of an advantage, the AI have special moves of their own; which are equally annoying and great at the same time - the table shaker (the Sam character) and Stalins, puck shot (which sends the puck hurtling at your face...) are in particular effective.

There is also an option to turn the table "3D" but I didn't have any 3D glasses so I couldn't test that out correctly. I am assuming it works to some extent given the nature of the game.

The Death Puck cast and table designs on the 'Quick Match' Screen.

Deathpuck looks great - a bit weird, but great none the less. From the intro to the menu's and the table designs (which are somewhat random) it really has a stylish feel to it. It's a rare Indie game that looks this nice for such a simple premise. We like that. It sounds pretty good too - a bizarre electro techno feel to the in game music. Someone thought about this game. A lot. Just check out the advert for the game.

As for the game play, rarely do I scream "TAKE THAT YOU F***ER!" at a computer game, but Death Puck had me shouting abuse at pixels. It's highly entertaining - no doubt.

Summary

A highly entertaining air hockey sim with blood, general gore, special moves and style.

Where Can I Get It?

http://www.lucifergamestudio.com/deathpuck/

SGR Rating

85%

Shareware on the iPhone?

2008-03-13T04:43:00.001-07:00

With Apple’s introduction of an iPhone Software Development Kit (SDK) last week, it seems everyone and their brother is hopping on the iPhone bandwagon or considering the jump. There are still some issues about software distribution to be worked through, however—particularly when it comes to shareware.

Just to recap last week’s happenings, Apple plans a June release for the iPhone 2.0 software, which will include new features and capabilities including an App Store—a way for users to buy and download software for their iPhone. With the possible exception of enterprise users downloading software needed by their companies, this will be the one way for iPhone users to get legitimate software for their system.

Full Article: http://www.macworld.com/article/132455/2008/03/shareware.html

Stars!

2008-03-13T04:15:00.000-07:00

Without a doubt Stars! is one of the best strategy/empire building games I have ever played - despite the fact I remember playing it as far back as 1996!

The basic premise of the game picks up where a lot of Empire Building games (like C-Evo) seem to end; you have just achieved the ability to colonise other worlds - you start the game with an unmanned probe and a colony ship commanded by a race of your own design - with pro's and con's according to what traits you choose (examples of which are "Inner Strength", "War Monger" and my person favorite "Space Demolitions"). It is then your duty to colonise other worlds, research technology to aid you in this noble quest, build up a trade infrastructure and build fleets of custom designed warships and planetary defenses to protect your newly forged empire against the rampant AI - which have amusing sci-fi satirical names; such as the Turlindrones and the Kirks.

Stars! is highly customisable; you can set the "win parameters" to be many things; colonise 100% of all planets, wipe out all other races - there is a great degree of customizability within Stars! right from get go up through to actual combat. Every aspect of the game can be altered from map size to planet and player positioning criteria - you can even create "Battle Plans" for your combat units to refer to when engaging specific enemy targets. You can also set the difficulty (easy, medium and impossible effectively) and traits of the AI; some "hyper expand" some hide within small but well defended Empires - some wander around rather aimlessly. You have to get to know your enemy within each individual game. Hardcore stuff.

One of my ship designs, I called it a Battlestar, you see what I did there?

Stars! features some of the most strategic in depth game play I've ever be drawn in by; wars can last weeks playing a few hours a day, and long term battle plans have to reflect this. But at no time does it ever feel 'forced'. You plan because you need to, and the planning remains just as enjoyable as the final alien annihilating big push.

You can also play it with friends via email.

So, this game sounds great huh? Well, there are two problems. The first, it looks like this:

Fear my Empire... That's the bits behind the blue lines and er... blue dots.

Second of all, it's almost impossible to find on-line for download. Indeed after writing this review we couldn't find a link for it at all... Doh.

Summary

Fantastic game.

Where Can I Get It?

We can't find a download site online, but drop us an email and we might be able to send you the original shareware version.

SGR Rating

95%

Welcome to the SGR

2008-03-12T09:08:00.000-07:00

This is the first news post, on the first day of this the SGR site being live - so hi there to anyone that may be reading this, we're glad to be here, we've been planning this a little while now. We hope you like it.

This site exists because we couldn't find another one like it - no other site out there exclusively reviews shareware titles, indeed, no site we could find seriously reviewed shareware titles at all - and being a group of hairy palmed shareware fanatics we thought it our duty to change that as soon as possible and bring everything we know and love about PC shareware games, old and new, to the rest of the internet!

The first question on your lips is; "What do we define as shareware?"

Traditionally shareware was a free to copy free to own pay for if you feel like it kinda deal. Things have changed in the past decade, we at this site (regardless of what anyone else says) define shareware as any digitally delivered game that although might request you purchase a serial does not deal in the highly realms subscription and irrespective of copyright allows users to pass the software between them to try it out before they choose or choose not to purchase a serial and legitimise their copy of the game! That's quite a mouthfull, but you get the idea.

Digital Delivery. Free to pass on. These are the two things we stand for at SGR!

At this stage we expect to be posting a few reviews a week (there is a hell of a lot of shareware out there to get through) - and as much news on shareware games as we can dig up as and when we find it, interspliced with the odd article/rant about the gaming industry and specifically the future of shareware and independent games. We might even do some audio/video podcasts in the near future!

We hope you all enjoy the ride. Tell your friends. And don't forget that if you want to contact us the address is simply sharewaregamereview [at] hushmail.com - we could do with tips on new games, and tips on shareware related news!

Cheers,

The SGR Staff.

Wormux

2008-03-12T08:26:00.000-07:00

Worms is one of the games I remember loving as a kid. The original game that is; the original original one on the Amiga where you could draw your own maps in 'Deluxe Paint'. Wormux thus came as a bit of disappointment to me.

Why? It's buggy - it crashed a few times just as I was getting into it. Additionally you can't make your own teams! One of the best parts of the original was naming your opposition after people you didn't like! Why not have that option in this rehash? Wormux to me also manages to somehow be considerably less responsive than the 16bit Amiga version of the original game - it's a tad clunky and I can't work out why.

It looks great... :/

The upsides? It looks great. It sounds great. They've gone to a lot of trouble to make it look really pretty, and you have to acknowledge it. It's very stylised and I do like that in a game.

Summary

If you liked worms a lot you will like this a bit. If you don't know what worms is you might like it just that little bit more, a playable, very pretty little game you can run in a window.

Where Can I Get It?

http://www.wormux.org

SGR Rating

60%

Stunt Playground

2008-03-12T07:44:00.000-07:00

I am not a massive fan of 'motor sport' games but I do like breaking things - at speed if possible. Baring that in mind I think Stunt Playground is a fine little game. It does exactly what the title suggests; stunts in a playground of your own devising.

Put simply there are a number of preset arenas and a number of vehicles (eight in total if you count the bus, which you shouldn't) to choose from including a MONSTER TRUCK - which is always a bonus. The object, as such, of the game is to drive round the arena and make the vehicle do cool things/crash/land safely. Whatever floats your boat. You can also record 15 second clips of these antics to share with your friends. Like this one...

That's right. I can drive and everything.

There is a whole lot a really board person could potentially do with this game, and in small doses it is quite amusing. The ability to build and then save out arena's is probably the thing that'll get people to come back again and again. And the stupid crashes of course.

Monster Trucks are AWESOME. Fact. Flying Monster Trucks... doubly so.

Summary

Making cars do retarded things your thing? Look no further.

Where Can I Get It?

http://walaber.com/index.php?action=showitem&id=7

SGR Rating

70%

Regnum Online

2008-03-12T07:04:00.000-07:00

Let me start this review with a simple statement. Regnum Online is a rare rare thing; an MMO, indeed a MMORPG which is a) free and b) not shit.

The basic gist of the game is familiar, you play a either an 'Archer' a 'Mage' or a 'Warrior', you can complete quests, train new skills, progress in levels and generally become all round bad ass. There are also the customary selection of races; Elves, Dwarfs etc etc, some of which are specific the three kingdoms which make up the game map along side, and here is where it gets interesting, the "No Mans Land" between them.

It's here that Regnum becomes more than just another Online RPG and something of a "Kingdom Death Match" game. You see, you can't kill players from your own selected kingdom. You must instead rage vicious and largely Spanish (the primary language of the game) cyber war on the other two kingdoms in the no mans land. You can capture forts and the like in the no mans land but the basic rule is that no one controls it - it's a 24/7 medieval capture the flag game. This is something I like a lot.

The usual suspects... apart from the goat thing. We dunno what that is.

There game has other features; including some content you can pay for (notably Horses need to be hired with featured game credit - you never 'need' a horse, they just make moving from A-B somewhat quicker) and what I consider to be a very nice atmosphere.

The game interface is also pretty spiffing.

Summary

A good free online game. Has the feel of something you'd have paid for a few years back. Nice people, albeit largely populated by Spanish speakers. Great fun without the time and investment needed by a lot of RPG games these days.

Where Can I Get It?

http://www.regnumonline.com.ar/index.php?l=1&sec=6

SGR Rating

81%

C-Evo

2008-03-12T05:51:00.000-07:00

C-Evo is billed quite simply as a freeware empire building game for Windows. In my opinion that sells it somewhat short. This is a great game.

As with other empire building games you start with a small settlement and some eager manly outdoors types willing to go and make you another one. You improve your technology and eventually progress to "space travel and the colonisation of other planets" which is the eventual goal of this game.

There is a wide variety of technology to be developed and explored - I am pretty sure I had steam powered nuclear attack cruisers at one stage in a game. On top of this there are a number of political systems to implement - each with their own pro's and con's. You can even create your own 'tribes' (including the in game graphics for them) allowing personalisation of your nation; which just adds to the longevity.

The creators of the game would probably like me to now go on and on about how great the AI is and how it "doesn't play to the player's actions" but has "it's own agenda and plays as another human player would" - I am not going to do that despite the fact that they seem to think that that's this games main 'selling point'.

If you want to win, I suggest making a starting position like this one.

Indeed I am of the opinion that the fact the computer 'plays like a human' makes the game extremely hard for a casual gamer to get on with. News flash for developers; the computer has the ability to make 45,933 (et al) choices per turn for each and every one of it's cities and units etc; most humans, can't be bothered! This life fact gives the AI somewhat of an advantage over all but the most hardcore gamer and is likely the reason that a lot of empire building games adopt the 'reactive' AI over the 'human like AI'. I digress...

Regardless of it's difficulty C-Evo is a very entertaining game. You can even make your own maps to play on; designing the geographical features of a whole world which you can then march all over with fascist boots or liberate in a girly democratic manner. It's up to you.

Summary

Great game if you like empire building. Don't get too attached though for reasons best known to the developer there is an arbitrary 3000AD time limit - you lose your empire no matter how well you are doing. Doh.

Where Can I Get It?

http://c-evo.org/

SGR Rating

85%

Battlecruiser Millenium

2008-03-12T04:04:00.000-07:00

On the surface of it this game sounds very cool indeed. You get to fly one of a number of large 'carrier like' space vessels (this is what convinced me to give it a go in the first place - I was searching for some modern incarnation of the classic game "Carrier Command" - the fact it supposedly had Elite like qualities made it all the better) and do whatever you want in an expansive universe. You can even choose from a number of races and careers. So far, so RPG-Tastic right?

The game in actuality falls short for one primary reason; it's way too big for it's own boots. Although the concept is sound, free form roaming space combat and exploration, the actual implementation falls several light years short of it's intended target.

But bluntly; nothing happens in this game.

Sure you can fly to a planet, spend some time convincing the somewhat over complex and fiddly interface you want to take a shuttle down to the planet, then convince the shuttle to let you deploy a tank, then drive around a bit... in the nothing. But nothing ladies and gents, is still nothing. I spent 45 minutes flying from one part of an empty planet to another. Why? I have no idea. I think in my total of eight hours playing the game (and willing it to be good) I came across one spawn of "enemy". That is not a good use of my game playing time really when I could be fragging badguys left right and center (strategically or otherwise) on any number of other similar games where, and this is the kicker; ACTION ISN'T AN AFTERTHOUGHT!

A Satallite Dish... in the middle of the expansive nothing that is this game.

I'd dearly love to be able to say that this game is great. But it just isn't. It should have been. Perhaps it was just several years too late? It's really hard to tell. Either way...

Summary

If you enjoy wasting time on a massive game, with no game satisfaction what-so-ever, give it a pop - doesn't sound like you? Don't bother. It looks pretty enough and runs well; it's just a pity there is no game to actually play.

Where Can I Get It?

http://www.3000ad.com/downloads/bcm.shtml

SGR Rating

35%