SOL: Exodus
I bought this game because it reminded me of Freelancer, but I knew full-well it wasn't anything like it. In SOL: Exodus, the planet has become unlivable and toxic, so space ships are sent out on scouting missions in an attempt to locate a new world they can mess up. The game starts off with you locating a liveable planet, but quickly being attacked by a hostile alien race and forced to run away. Fast-forward to 10-years later, the newly promoted commander reaches SOL to inform everyone of the planet, and is quickly attacked by COD fighters.I'm not really sure what's going on here, the story didn't make a whole lot of sense, and felt more like an excuse to trigger a lot of battles. Combat is similar enough to freelancer, but faster paced. Controls are a bit weird, though. Sure, you use the mouse to move around, and Q and E rotate your ship along the third axis, but W and A fire two of your weapons. Even after 41 minutes of playing, I was still accidentally firing unlocked missiles thanks to the W key. Enemies dies pretty easy, and there's always a dozen more for you to take on.
What really feels odd about this game is that you're always on your own. Sure, you'll have a large ship by your side, but that's really just a giant target with a health bar, ensuring you beat the level in an appropriate amount of time. Mostly it's just you against the hordes of smaller ships. Those aren't so bad, but when you have to take on a frigate or two by yourself, it's just doesn't make any sense.SOL: Exodus isn't bad, but there's nothing about it to draw me in. Mindless combat that doesn't do much to draw me, and a story that makes no sense at all, and is just full of cliches. I do not foresee myself playing the game any more than I have so far. Freelancer on the other hand...
Swords and Soldiers HD
Yet another game that feels like it was once a flash game, turned into a full title. Gameplay consists of building units and casting spells. Most levels start with you creating a few more gold-gathering wenches, then using your upgrade panel to make a few other units and spells available. Once you start creating battle units, they will start walking forward until they reach an enemy, and will then fight to the death. If victorious, they will continue walking forward. What you get, then, is a steady stream of units constantly moving towards the right of the screen.The story was mildly amusing, at least on the Viking campaign. These guys love meat, and most of the campaign revolves around protecting your meat, and then eventually seeking the largest chili in order to make the best hot sauce. It's ridiculous, but fun, and lays down a loose reason for each encounter. The enemy types vary quite a bit, with some of the larger units being quite challenging.
Overall I found the game fun enough, but it's also extremely repetitive. You don't have a whole lot of control over things, so it's mostly repeating the same setup, build and fight phases each level. It takes a long time for the units to make their way to the front lines, even with the rage spell, so you're better off just constantly making units. My favorite spell is definitely heal, and I find it the most useful as these guys do not last long when being focused on. I played this game for 60 minutes and almost completed the first campaign, but I don't see myself coming back to what is essentially a mobile game ported to PC.Notes
I beat the Massive Munich campaign in CiM, and attempted to move onto the US Cities DLC. Unfortunately the San Francisco map is causing me quite a bit of difficulty. It's a fairly large map, and they don't give you any basic lines to start from, so I'm finding being profitable and building a base to expand upon incredibly difficult. I will keep trying, though, and see if I can succeed, as San Francisco is definitely a cool city. I've always been fairly impressed with the combination of Muni, BART and Caltrain, so I'm looking forward to trying to improve upon their model.I've met the goal for 28 games so far, with 233 still to go!
Album: Steam Challenge - Day 013
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