Humble Indie Bundle 6

For those of you not familiar with the Humble Indie Bundle may I, as a serious player of video games, suggest that you check them out. Not only are the offering a collection of some of the best indie titles out there at a price you decide, as well as offering Windows, Mac AND Linux versions of said games, but they're also donating some of your money to charity. There is absolutely no reason not to give these guys a round of internet applause.

The HiB payment system allows you to pay whatever you want, from a minimum of $1 up to any amount, and to decide who receives it. The website offers slider bars to split your donation between the HiB company themselves, the game developers or the charity(s) being supported with each bundle, which have included Child's Play, Electronic Frontier Foundation, charity: water and the American Red Cross. 

In the last six bundles there have been some phenomenal games available. Titles such as World of Goo, Braid, Machinarium, Osmos, VVVVVV, Atom Zombie Smasher, Bit.Trip Runner, Super Meat Boy, Cave Story+, Amnesia: The Dark Decent, Limbo, Psychonauts, Bastion and Lone Survivor. Any one of those games would be worth £10, and over the last few years I've managed to pick them all up for less than £40 in total, choosing to donate 50% of that to the developers, 40% to charity and 10% to the HiB team. More often than not, many of the official soundtracks for the bundled games are included.

So it's safe to say these guys are offering great games and a great chance to donate to some very worthy causes. But let's get into Bundle #6, the most recent, and cast a critical eye over the titles contained within:

Shatter

An updated version of the classic brick-breaker game, Shatter is by far one of my favourite 'casual games' I've played this year, only coming in a close second to Beat Hazard.

Originally released by Sidhe Interactive back in 2009 for the PS3, this brightly coloured, engaging title has taken the basic mechanics of a brick-breaker and added in a touch more depth and variation. The player still controls a paddle in order to bounce a ball against bricks, smashing them for points, however now the ball can be controlled with a 'suck' or 'blow' action. Simply put, you can alter the trajectory of the ball after it has bounced off your paddle in order to direct it towards that last elusive block, or to hit the critical spot on the end-of-level boss. These bosses are what I find most enjoyable about Shatter. They add a sense of achievement when defeated that brightly coloured squares don't give.

There are multiple game modes aside from the main 'story mode,' including time attack, endless play and pure boss battles including co-op versions of each, giving it a very long life. Shatter also features various power ups and paddle abilities, including a protective shield and a 'shard cannon' which turns your accumulated points into an offensive weapon which is useful for removing large sections of blocks or defeating a boss, adding an extra dimension to the well-known brick-breaker set up.

It is also worth mentioning the score, composed by Module, as it's absolutely cracking.

Torchlight

The highly-acclaimed 2009 title from Runic Games is, in my opinion, one of the purest representations of how to make a fantasy WRPG near-perfect.

Torchlight follows a very traditional path, with the player choosing from one of three archetypal characters, The Destroyer (melee) The Vanquisher (ranged) or The Alchemist (magic), and fighting their way through a variety of dungeons, mines, temples etc. slaying creeps, hoarding loot and levelling up in a similar way to the Dungeon Siege or Diablo series. It's simplistic beauty, in a genre that is quickly flaking away and becoming very bland and homogeneous, or just being abandoned all together.

The art style is simple, featuring a decent pallet, with terrain, creatures and object modelling all of a high standard. The combat system is point-and-click, meaning a faster trigger finger and a better sword will often win you more gold and fame than complex tactics, but thankfully combat is far from repetitive. Plot-wise, so far I have found it to be unsurprising, which is to say familiar and enjoyable as opposed to predictable and boring.

Vessel

Published by Strange Loop Games earlier this year, Vessel is a generic platformer/puzzle game that are two-a-penny in the indie market these days. To be fair, there isn't much here that hasn't been seen before, but Vessel still managed to initially interest me.

The game centres on M. Arkwright, the inventor of the Fluro, a liquid-based automaton designed to replace human workers. Inevitably, the Fluros don't entirely fall in line and it's down to M. Arkwright to assert control over his creations. An interesting plot, that disappointingly boils down to little or no motivation or relevance during each level.

Vessel comprises mainly of single room puzzles revolving around the use of liquid to activate switches, create and manipulate Fluros, via activating lights, and pushing switches in order to advance to the next room. For the first few puzzles this seems remarkably easy, but the difficulty curve quickly ramps to a point where so much is going on at once it can confuse the player.

I feel that there is potential in Vessel to be a truly great platformer/puzzle game, but not everything works together to give a genuinely enjoyable experience. The mechanics are often haphazard and counter-intuitive, the plot's existence doesn't seem to matter and the controls are sketchy and often woefully inaccurate.

Rochard

"Rock is hard, John Rochard is harder" reads the subtitle to this 2011 title from Recoil Games, and whilst rock may be hard, Rochard the game is fairly weak. A cartoon-style science fiction setting for a 2D physics/platformer mechanic sounds great. However, a weak plot and poor mechanics really lets Rochard down.

Set on an asteroid during a mining expedition, Rochard is essentially another puzzle/platformer with the player controlling John Rochard and navigating him through each level, comprising of a series of individual rooms containing puzzles to be solve by utilising local gravity controls, John's gravity gun and any available blocks in the nearby area.

I wasn't impressed, as the early puzzles were barely a challenge, usually consisting of moving a single block around to be able to jump high enough to reach the next platform. But quickly the difficulty increased, sometimes leaving me downright irritated by the physics engine/my inability to fling blocks with accuracy.

I'll admit that I've not spent a great deal of time playing Rochard, but what I have played of it didn't satisfy the most basic criteria of a video game; to be fun.

Dustforce

Hitbox Team's 2012 title Dustforce is high on my list for Best Art Style of 2012, with its blend of cell-shading aesthetics and animé action I instantly warmed to it.

The game focuses on four super-hero janitors, each armed with a broom or vacuum fighting to clean up the various levels of the game that have been covered in leaves or dust by four enemy characters.

The basic mechanics of Dustforce can be likened to those of Super Meat Boy, (another game I loved but was awful at as timing and speed are the two most important factors) featuring wall running, complex jumping and chain-maneuvering combos and other such precision play. Upon completing a level the player is awarded a rank based on percentage of the level 'cleaned' and the speed at which the level was completed. 

Dustforce also features multiplayer modes for up to four players, but I feel this is very much a side-note to a really good looking, good feeling game that I'm just not good enough at to fully enjoy.

Here's another title who's score deserves special mention for being awesome.

S.P.A.Z.

SPAZ, or "Space, Pirates and Zombies" to give it it's full title, was developed by MinMax Games, a two-man Canadian team who begin SPAZ by telling the player that they've developed it because they wanted to blend HD graphics and modern engines with old Golden Age gaming styles. And boy, have they done it.

SPAZ puts the player in control of a space ship, The Clockwork, as a member of a pirate organisation in search of Rez, a most precious element, by venturing into the galactic core. Along the way the player will encounter the authoritarian forces of UTA, the more amicable local colonists and space zombies. Yep.

The top-down RTS style is incredible engaging, with the player controlling one ship within a small fleet (but with the ability to swap between all members of said fleet) as they scout star-systems for resources, defend possible allied planets from raiders or take on the role of raiders themselves and pillage UTA supply depots.

Each ship is able to be customised with a variety of armaments, defenses and utility equipment to specialise in combat, mining or trade, and range in size from tiny scout ships with one laser and a pathetic shield, to huge ships with multiple lasers, missile launchers, turrets, shields, tractor beams etc.

Not only are the general mechanics well hammered out, balanced and sensible, but the progression through the galaxy has been well refined as well. There are consequences to your actions, resulting in improvements in relations with various factions and subsequent bonuses as a result. Additionally, when starting a new game the galaxy is randomly generated, allowing players to choose a smaller, more difficult campaign or a longer, easier galaxy that allows for slow growth and peaceful learning of the basics before any real challenges present themselves.

As a sucker for customisation and all things sci-fi, I predict SPAZ will be a major time-suck in the coming days, and so receives a hearty recommendation.

Overall then, the HiB #6 was well worth the money I paid, features some quality games (personal favorites being SPAZ, Shatter and Torchlight) and the knowledge that not only am I helping the indie developers stay afloat, but I'm also supporting a charity, albeit with only a few dollars. If any of the games featured in this bundle, or any others mentioned from previous bundles for that matter, appeal to you then I heartily recommend you head over to the HiB website and at least check them out.

Brave

Brave is this year's summer Pixar offering that tells the tale of young Merida, a fiercely independent and self-assured Scottish princess, trying to remain just that as her mother pressures her to behave in a more lady-like manner and to get married. Or so I was lead to believe.

As it turned out, Merida (Kelly Macdonald), is not much more than a whiny, entitled child for the first half of the film, living in the absolute lap of luxury with her three irritating brothers, gargantuan father (Billy Connolly) and fussing mother (Emma Thompson) who is insisting she conform to tradition and choose a suitor to wed. This instantly soured the character to me; why should I feel for a young princess who never wants for anything, being asked to conform to the traditions of her family and culture? I could go into the political and social ramifications of the rise and fall in popularity of arranged marriages versus marrying for love, but this is a Pixar film, so I shan't.

So the initial setting and exposition failed to impress me, put me off the main character and generally dissolved any remaining hope I had for enjoying the next 70-or-so minutes. The second act failed to change my opinion much. There's a witch (Julie Walters) and some shape shifting, resulting in a bit of slap-stick comedy and what could be considered the 'crisis' section of this by-the-numbers plot.

During the scenes with the witch, I couldn't help but continue to dislike Merida. All her dialogue is focused on how she's not to blame for her poor relationship with her mother, and that if only her mother would change then everything would be OK etc.without a single thought regarding her own behaviour and whether or not she should change herself as well. As  Merida  implements her spell, the complete lack of sympathy for her mother's quite obvious pain was rather jarring.  Merida seemed more excited than concerned, right up until the spell had run its course, and then all her excitement turned into fear, not for her mother, but for herself. Distinct lack of caring for her own mother. As I said, jarring.

Thankfully, we see a clear change in Merida's character as she moves from the whiny child to a more responsible young adult after some time spent in the forest (a very folky mechanic/metaphor for change). Here she becomes a far more likable character, showing compassion, humour and caring instead of the rebellious tantrums we've seen so far.

Eventually, Merida figures out how to undo the spell and return things to normal, and so we move into the third act. Here there were a few scenes that I feel were attempting humour, but never quite hit the mark. Exaggerating people's features or highlighting one character trait for comic effect only goes so far, and what were supposed to be the few non-visual gags failed to entertain.

After some rather poor and predictable action scenes and reveals the film comes to a close with the ubiquitous message that love conquers all. A poor end to a mediocre film.

Overall, a mostly dislikeable protagonist, a bland and under-used supporting cast (didn't even spot Robbie Coltrane or Kevin McKidd), a predictable plot, poor-to-none on the action front and a very thin resolution. I don't really recommend this film to anyone over the age of about 12, as it has very little appeal beyond the surface story, which is naturally aimed more at the younger audience members.

So let's talk about Brave without talking about the story it tells.

The Production

First of all, the scandal with the directors. Brenda Chapman (Prince of Egypt, Beauty & The Beast) was set to be the first female director of a Pixar film, but during production Mark Andrews (John Carter) and Steve Purcell (a helluva lot of Sam & Max stuff) were attached to the project as well. Chapman promptly left, though she still receives a Director credit. 

Secondly, with five writers, Chapman, Andrews, Purcell, Irene Mecchi and Michael Arndt, all trying to not only share the responsibilities of directing but also trying to work together (when they're not walking off the project or being replaced) to carve out a script between them, there were bound to be issues - big and small - leading to a chimera of a story. Despite some of these writers having worked on great titles such as The Lion King, Fantasia 2000, Hercules and Toy Story 3 it does show, what with there being a very under-developed sub-plot revolving around Meredith's father and a bear, basically no secondary characters to speak of besides the other clan leaders who don't really feature enough to be interesting and a very limited number of locations (I counted five in the entire film).

As a result of such a maelstrom of directing and writing the finished product only features 14 voice actors. Compare that to Toy Story's 37, or Finding Nemo's 24. There are only 7 proper speaking roles, despite the film being set in a huge castle and featuring a few scenes with large crowds of people. Pixar usually does 'background entertainment' very well, utilising larger scenes completely by including interesting characters or events whilst the foreground focuses on the more important characters. Think of all the toys in each of the Toy Story films, most of them get very little screen time - especially those in Toy Story 3. The more important minor roles, such as Crush and Squirt in Finding Nemo or the Aliens and Army Men in Toy Story, also really helped to flesh out the world, whereas in Brave, even the obligatory John Ratzenburger role was minute and easily missed. I feel this is just an indication of a rushed, chopped-and-glued script that left next to no time for anything other than the main plot to be developed, resulting in a rather dry and perfunctory attempt at a film.

The 'Feminism'

There was a rather large hoo-har about Merida being the first female protagonist in a Pixar film. Think back, there really hasn't been one. Not in the Cars series, Toy Stories, Nemo, Up, WALL-E, every single one was male (or a robot). And now we have a fiery-haired Scottish princess heading up the story in Brave. Only, she's not exactly a great role-model.

With Merida, Pixar had the opportunity to sculpt a believable female role model to contrast the Disney princesses we're all too familiar with. What they have ended up creating is a character who enjoys all things tomboyish. There is not a thing wrong with girls enjoying horse riding, archery, rock climbing and other such activities deemed 'unladylike' by Brave.

However, when you contrast that with the incessant nagging of Merida's mother, who is trying to turn her daughter into a 'proper lady,' you have a clear gender divide between the more female pursuit of marrying a man and the more male pursuit of sportsmanship and such. This is such a black-and-white contrast that it backfires horribly. Where there could've been a respectable, strong young girl who just wants to do her own thing instead of being shackled to a man we're presented with a strong young girl who wants to be a boy.

When presented with the suitors, Merida is initially completely uninterested in them. That is, until a rather gorgeous looking gentleman is presented to her, at the sight of whom her jaw drops open. Another example of this film just missing the mark. Had she remained uninterested then I would've believed she really did have a problem with marriage. As it turns out, she just has a problem being married to ugly men.

I really couldn't believe this. I was skeptical that Merida was going to do to Pixar films what Ripley did to action films, but to see the finished product really disheartened me. It would appear that only Joss Whedon can write female characters that are not only relatable, realistic and deep but also entertaining to watch.