How to get a Starter Edition:

“Log into your Battle.net Account Management page and navigate to the Download Game Clientssection. The Diablo III Starter Edition will be available for download there. Players without a Battle.net account can create one, and then download the Starter Edition.” – Diablo III Starter Edition & Guest Pass

If you’re looking for a Diablo 3 Guest Pass then leave a comment below asking for one and I’m sure someone will be kind enough to comment with a guest pass that you can use.

More information on how Guest Passes and Starter Edition work can be found on the Battle.net site.

Swindler

The game opened up with too much difficulty. In the first level, as you’re adjusting to the controls and learning how they work, the game is already tossing a decently sized level at you with enemies. While not very challenging once you’ve completed a few levels, this was certainly something that most people thought was discouraging. The later levels were also challenging, but not in the sense that you didn’t know the controls well enough, or lacked experience in the game, but instead of a game, that was simply difficulty and well designed, that actually felt rewarding. Many games are too easy, this one though was a nice change. Already, before I was getting out of the single digit levels, I felt a real challenge. What is interesting, is that even levels, at the time of playing them, I hated them, for I would die so many times, I would actually feel the reward of completing them, which is something that I can say that many games don’t achieve. Overall, the game had a good difficulty and I loved it for that.

The gameplay itself is very simple, but the way the developer executes it and then develops it as the game progresses is extremely impressive. The game begins as a rope-physics game, where the character is attached at the end of a line and then moves by swinging. This is a concept that I’ve seen a couple of times before, but I’ve certainly never seen it so well executed. The physics also felt spot-on, which is a big bonus from me. Like i said, the game’s concept is highly developed as time goes on. New enemies are introduces and new blocks arrive. Quickly in the game, switches are introduced and make you touch them to remove a wall that is in your path. The idea that the screen can rotate is also interesting and allows a lot of room for interesting levels. The level design was amazing. Some games seem to toss together levels and then move on to the next one. These levels are obviously well though-out and offer a good challenge. What I was unimpressed with, and this is just one thing, is that some levels, and by some, I mean very few, relied less on thinking and strategy, and more on luck. Overall, for the most part the gameplay is unique to this game and it offers strong challenge and brilliant level design.

One thing that has attracted me to Nitrome, since the very first day that I saw it, was the magnificent pixel art. I am a pixel artist, but the stuff that the guys over at Nitrome come up with is genius. The artwork is sharp and has great color that seems to flow throughout every piece. The animation is super smooth and the little character is cute. I love the rough look that the game is given and the backgrounds are faded to give a good view of the playing area. Overall, the artwork was really good and I love the pixel art style that Nitrome is popular for.

The music fits the game perfectly. It had a bit of mystery and seemingly fit the puzzle theme as well. For the most part, it was quiet and had a very smooth sound, but it also incorporated some eight bit sounds that tied in with the artwork of the game. The sound effects were also a perfect addition to the game and didn’t distract too much for the beautiful music. Overall, the music incorporated nicely with the game and fit into the puzzle theme well.

Swindler

All in all, Swindler is an amazing puzzle game that I high recommend. If you want to be challenged with various puzzles and enemies, that actually feels rewarding, then look no further than Swindler, as it combines both of those into one amazing game that’ll keep you hooked. In review, the game was difficult to learn and get used to the controls, but once you do it just down to a matter of skill and thinking things out in the game. The gameplay is based off a couple of things that I’ve seen before, but it combines in such a way that Swindler is extremely unique and is unlike any other game I’ve played. The artwork, like all of Nitrome’s games that I’ve seen, is pixel-art based and really looks fantastic. Finally, the music works well with the game. Overall, Swindler is one of the best games that I’ve played in a while and I highly recommend it if you’re looking for a great puzzler. Be sure to play it today on Armor Games!

Play Swindler on Armor Games!

Mini Heroes

Anyways, I’m really looking forward to the game. I’ll be sure to keep you up-to-date on when exactly the game will be out, so far, it’s simply July and I’ll keep you up-to-date on the latest news on Mini Heroes. I know that the Likwid team has been working hard on this game for a long time now (about eight months) and I can’t wait to play the game. One last thing, if you “like” the Mini Heroes Facebook page then you’ll gain access to the beta for the game once it begins. I’m assuming that beta for the game kick-starts early June, giving the game a good month of feedback and bug-killing before an official release.

Mini Heroes Facebook Page

Roar Rampage

When I first started the game, many of the levels were extremely easy, but before I knew it the levels were increasingly becoming very difficult. I thought that the difficulty ramp was very sharp, where one level, you may breeze though, but the next you’ll struggle through for many tries. With the game’s difficult to master controls, especially where in the later levels a slip-up can mean your death, the game becomes even more challenging, but for the most part, in a frustrating manner. While, I generally love difficult games, this one seemed to have both a sharp rise in difficulty and some levels seemed to rely too much on the random chance of a health-pack or two. Overall, I’m mixed with the difficulty, some of the levels were easier, even later in the game, and some seemed to be unleveled with how much health you actually had.

The ability to smash through buildings was the first thing that really caught my eye with this game. It was satisfying and fun, but the controls are what really ruined the experience. At first I liked the controls, you could pull the mouse back and then jut it forward to deliver a most powerful punch, but later in the game, due to the bad mechanics, joints, and the often small distance between you and the buildings this made the game especially difficult and let you exposed to attacks for a good amount of time before you could even break through the building or kill the enemies. What I did like about the game though were the power-ups and the neat effects that they would have on the buildings. When you could actually beat one of the later levels, it was quiet rewarding, but I still felt that there were some actual errors in the gameplay that lead to more frustrations than actually fun gameplay elements. Overall, while the controls were fun to play and experiment with in the beginning of the game, later on they became and annoyance and often you couldn’t get in strong enough punches to keep you alive.

Roar Rampage

I really admired the artwork. This is one of the few features of the game that I can say was all-round perfect. I love pixel art and this game was entirely made of it. The dinosaur looked amazing and was well animated. I loved the little additions such as the spikes on the back and the boxing gloves that seemed to really bring the piece together and incorporate the theme of the game. The buildings looked fantastic and the background was great as well. I liked the addition of the background moving up or down depending on where your mouse was. This added a bit of depth. Overall, the artwork is the best part of the game for me, it looks fantastic and is well animated.

I also really enjoyed the music. It had an energetic, but dark feeling to it, that I thought worked well with the premise of the game and also the nighttime atmosphere. The sound effects also sounded great and worked well with the game and fit in  quite well. Overall, the music and sound effects played a crucial role in the game and sounded great.

All in all, Roar Rampage is a fantastic arcade game, but i couldn’t help feeling that with a little touching up that it could have been much better. In terms of gameplay, I loved it, the game had a really great idea, but the game would have been much better if it was more zoomed out, giving you more space to swing and charge your punches, and would also give some room for creative level design. The game eventually become extremely difficult and this was because, while the amount of health points in the beginning of the game worked well, it later spelled trouble in more challenging levels. The graphics were wonderful and I loved the design of the dinosaur and the building. The music was also a good choice, it carried both the feeling of action, mystery and darkness, that I felt incorporated into the game well. Overall, if you’re looking for an awesome game to keep you busy for a while, then fire up Roar Rampage! Be sure to play it today on Armor Games!

Play Roar Rampage on Armor Games!

Turbo Kids

One of my only problems with the game is that every level, each time you start it up, or hit the retry button, the level is randomly generated. I don’t like this because the developer looses control over how difficult the level design of each level is and some earlier levels can be more difficult that later ones giving a very unbalanced difficulty ramp. Many of the levels seemed much the same and most of the races could be won on your first attempt. What I would have liked to see is a bit more control in the level design and later levels being more difficult and trickier to navigate. I realize that most running games are randomized, but they also have a fair difficulty ramp that continues throughout the character’s existence, unlike Turbo Kids. Overall, a bit more control in the level design would have been great hopefully, making some of the later levels more challenging.

Many running games are based around the idea of trying to survive for as long as you can. Instead, Turbo Kids goes in a different direction and breaks the game up into different levels. This is an interesting take on the genre and is something that I haven’t seen before – it also helps that the genre consists of only a few games. I liked this set-up, because it gave you something to strive towards and kept me playing longer than if it was just survival, or the marathon mode. I also liked the ability to be able to affect the other runners. The other running games, which have includes enemies don’t allow you to do this, and being able to toss a snowball at them and slow them down, or fire a rocket at them spiced up the game and made it unique. The power-ups, picked up while running were also unique and gave advantages to people who used them and set back others who skipped or missed them. Overall, the gameplay was unlike any other running game that I’ve played and definitely ranks high for me in its genre.

Turbo Kids

The game was very pixel-art oriented and feature beautiful art. The scenery is of winter, with snow and ice, low-lying fog and mountains in the distance. To me, this created a beautiful scene. The game holds a primarily blue color to top off the winter feel and the background, with bold, dark, blues, drawing depths of forest and rolling hills. My only problem with the art aspect of the game, was that far in the distance there are a few hills that appear pure white and light grays. Its a really sharp contrast to the rest of the scene and even things in front of it are dimmed out, which I thought these mountains should be as well. Besides that issue, I thought that the artwork was executed perfectly and looked amazing.

I really liked the music as well. It was calming and very upbeat. I thought that it fit the artistic style of the game and the, mostly, bright colors that accompanied the game. It also paced well with the speed of the game. One of the interesting points about Turbo Kids was that there were a few announcer sound effects, where in the beginning of the game the announcer would say something along the lines of “Start your engines!” and would continue by announcing short tidbits, such as combos and remarking reactions of the crowd. This reinforced the idea of a competition and was also a neat feature. Overall, the music worked very well with the game and I thoughts that the sound effects in place, especially the announcer added more to the game and gave more depth the idea of a competition.

All in all, Turbo Kids is an exciting, fast-paced game that brings the running genre to a whole new level. If you liked games like Canabalt or Ninja Run (also by YailenkoGames) then you’ll love Turbo Kids as it continues the idea of the running genre, but also takes its own unique spin with power-ups and individual levels. In review, the game wasn’t too difficulty, which I was disappointed to find. Many of the levels were much like one another and there was virtually no difficulty ramp. With a bit of tuning and more controlled level design for each level this game could be more challenging. The gameplay was something that i did not expect. I loved the addition of various power-ups as you progressed through the game. The gameplay is where Turbo Kids really sets itself apart from all other running games that I’ve come across. Another big plus for me was the artwork. It featured detailed pixel art and created a wonderful winter scene. Finally, the music was spot-on and the announcer was a nice touch to this game. Overall, Turbo Kids is one of the best running games that I’ve come across so far! Be sure to check it out today on Kongregate!

Play Turbo Kids on Kongregate!

Achievement Unlocked 3 Guide

Achievement Unlocked 3

Play Achievement Unlocked 3 on Armor Games!

Fancy Pants Adventure: World 3

The difficulty of the game hasn’t changed too much, though I’d have to say that the game has gotten easier. While, this game is about the same length as the other games, there weren’t too many enemies and I can easily beat the game without coming close to dying a single time. I always felt that this was lacking in the Fancy Pants series, but from another angle, you can see why these games are so fun, there is little challenge and the main characters run a million-miles-a-hour doing flips and going through loops. I did like the addition of the ninjas, which occasionally hit me, but never could do enough damage to actually kill me off. A new addition were the helmed units, which you couldn’t kill by jumping on their heads, but you had to hit them with your pencil sword first. As long as you plan everything correctly, this still isn’t much of a challenge.

The gameplay itself was incredible. Since I first played Fancy Pants I loved the slick controls that had Fancy Pants sliding cross the screen. While you slide, you still had a lot of control over the character, which I loved. What caught my eye when I first played the games were the loops that the character could simply run through, upside-down. Of course, Fancy Pants 3 hasn’t abandoned that and you regularly find yourself being tossed around the screen as you come off of a big loop. The storyline itself was a nice addition. The previous games had very simple storylines, one being that your ice creme cone had been stolen. Fancy Pants Adventure: World 3 takes it to a whole new level and actually delves a bit more into the world of Fancy Pants by introducing his little sister. His sister eventually becomes a pirate captain and tries to kill you. I liked the extra depth the storyline gave the game.

Fancy Pants Adventure: World 3

One of the things that I’ve always admired about the Fancy Pants series is that, while others games were aiming for a more realistic style, Fancy Pants remained very cartoonish. Some parts of the game come together very well to form a wonderful landscape. The game has a very simple style and utilizes few colors to achieve beautiful scenery. What caught my eye the first time I played the series was the extremely smooth animation. This is also true for Fancy Pants Adventure: World 3, where a few new enemies and a few new animations for Fancy Pants man comes in play. The animation is unbelievably smooth and slick – you won’t see this in too many games.

The music was also another big part of the game. There were different music tracks, it seemed, for every zone, or level. Like the previous Fancy Pants games, Fancy Pants Adventure: World 3 has a very upbeat and energetic music. It works very well with the cute storyline and the simple artwork.

All in all, Fancy Pants Adventure: World 3 is a game that you won’t want to miss! If you enjoyed the previous games, then you’ll undoubtedly love World 3 as it brings everything you love about Fancy Pants to the table, and more. In review, the game isn’t too difficulty. I would like to see some enemies with a bit more health, and able to deal more damage, but for the most part, this factor keep the game easy, fun and quick to play. The gameplay is something that I hope never changes. The game is always fun to play, as Fancy Pants man run around the levels, like an Olympic sprinter, and can run upside-down. The game also introduces a few new units that changed up the game a bit that continued to spice up the game. The artwork is simple and fits the cute and humorous writing of the game. Finally, I loved the music and the sound effects. They worked extremely well with the game and the different levels. All in all, if you loved the first games, like I, then you’ll love World 3!

Fancy Pants Adventure World 3

Play Fancy Pants Adeventure: World 3 on Kongregate!