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Here are the games in this bundle I have played, and what I thought about them: Hotline Miami, in my opinion, is the centerpiece of this bundle. It's about sto

Here are the games in this bundle I have played, and what I thought about them: Hotline Miami, in my opinion, is the centerpiece of this bundle. It's about storming a building and killing all of the occupants in interesting ways. It channels this weird 80s rave aesthetic and feels like something between an arcade game, a puzzler, and an action movie. The art uses low-res 2D graphics in a way that's distinct from the usual "8-bit emulation" style, focusing instead on small details. The gameplay complements the art/sound/story elements, and somehow manages to convey more violence than I felt playing Gears of War. I mentioned a story -- it's pretty good, I think, although it's not really the main attraction of the game. Hotline Miami is a game that works very hard to make you feel like you're part of the universe, and, for me, that definitely paid off. Little Inferno is lots of fun, and casual enough that you can play it in little bites sometimes. If you're going to play it (and you should!), I would not recommend reading past this point. I really like Kyle Gabler's description that "Little Inferno is a quiet introverted art project masquerading as a loud extroverted shopping game." It's fun (although not really challenging or game-y, not that it's designed to be) at first, and then pulls you into its story very effectively. The result is that I didn't notice that my little casual play session had turned into a kind of desperate dash to unlock the next tidbit of story until the game commented on it. It plays on your feelings very well, and the ending is up there with Portal as far as innovation and poignancy are concerned. Both Little Inferno and Hotline Miami gave me trouble sleeping the days after I finished the game, and that's a good thing. Awesomenauts is like DotA, but 2D and simpler. The graphics look a little childish, but that belies the tightness with which everything handles. It's well made, and fun for the occasional bout of competitive play, especially if you don't have the time/nerves to get good at DotA/LoL like me. That said, I don't find myself playing it very often, although that's probably more because of me than because of the game. Oh -- and it has microtransactions, but they're well-managed and totally optional.

jay_m 13y ago
I can't recommend Hotline Miami enough. Excellent game. Fast-paced action, interesting story, and it feels like you're playing through a fever dream.
Ygg2 13y ago
I've played Awesomanuts and I think compared to DotA it's a bit more simple,yet hard to master. Different nauts have wildly different movement abilities which influence the positioning greatly and knowing which Naut moves how and how to (ab)use it is important (e.g. Froggy has the highest single jump, while Lonestar has the higest segmented jump, with different arcs and what not). It's all about timing, twitch skill and guessing your opponent's action or influencing it. It's a neat game, but saying it's casual is like saying TF2 is a casual game (i.e. not really). The way it works also leaves a lot to be desired for. It allows premades to play against Solo Queuers which really isn't fun for either side (premades don't learn much and SQ are unorganized and easily dealt with). NOTE: I had ~400 hrs played and I managed to reach r2 in Solo Queue (though lost it eventually).
iddqd 13y ago
I paid a tenner for Miami Hotlines soundtrack. https://soundcloud.com/devolverdigital/sets/hotline-miami-official https://soundcloud.com/devolverdigital/sets/hotline-miami-of... EDIT: Looks like the soundtrack is not included.
- swah 13y ago
  Its extractable though I don't understand if that is legal:"http://blog.hartwork.org/?p=1964 http://blog.hartwork.org/?p=1964
Centigonal 13y ago
Addendum (because HN won't allow me to edit the parent any more): I just finished playing through Thomas Was Alone. My opinion is that the game is a mediocre platformer with only a few new mechanics and scores of older, well-trodden ones, amateurish level design, lots of boring repetition, poor conveyance in parts, and lots of little flaws that make it (again, to me) not much fun at all to play. Its only saving graces are the wonderful narration (done by this exciting British guy named Danny Wallace), and the excellent use of color. If you don't enjoy the first 15 minutes, your experience probably won't improve in the many hours to come (on a side note, I feel the game is about 1.5x as long as it should be. there was a lot of "sheesh -- when will this set of levels end?" in my playthrough). You're better off just listening to all the narration (which is great, and really adds a lot of pathos to moving rectangles around a screen). I should emphasize that I don't think Thomas Was Alone is a bad game. It tries to do a lot of things (probably too many) at once and does many of them right. The ones it flubs up, though, cause the game to be tedious and unfocused and frustrating in enough places that, for me, it ceases to be fun to play. Give it a try -- you may enjoy it! I didn't. (Sorry if my complaints here are vague. There's a lot I want to say because I just finished playing, but it's late, and I'm trying to keep this to a "should I play it?" kind of blurb. If it would help someone to know exactly what I think is wrong with the game, I could make a longer thing or a video or something. )
swah 13y ago
Don't you get a little bit sad about the state of the web (assuming you work on the area) when you see how well executed those games are?

jay_m 13y ago

I can't recommend Hotline Miami enough. Excellent game. Fast-paced action, interesting story, and it feels like you're playing through a fever dream.

Ygg2 13y ago

I've played Awesomanuts and I think compared to DotA it's a bit more simple,yet hard to master. Different nauts have wildly different movement abilities which influence the positioning greatly and knowing which Naut moves how and how to (ab)use it is important (e.g. Froggy has the highest single jump, while Lonestar has the higest segmented jump, with different arcs and what not). It's all about timing, twitch skill and guessing your opponent's action or influencing it. It's a neat game, but saying it's casual is like saying TF2 is a casual game (i.e. not really). The way it works also leaves a lot to be desired for. It allows premades to play against Solo Queuers which really isn't fun for either side (premades don't learn much and SQ are unorganized and easily dealt with). NOTE: I had ~400 hrs played and I managed to reach r2 in Solo Queue (though lost it eventually).

iddqd 13y ago

I paid a tenner for Miami Hotlines soundtrack. https://soundcloud.com/devolverdigital/sets/hotline-miami-official https://soundcloud.com/devolverdigital/sets/hotline-miami-of... EDIT: Looks like the soundtrack is not included.

swah 13y ago
Its extractable though I don't understand if that is legal:"http://blog.hartwork.org/?p=1964 http://blog.hartwork.org/?p=1964

Centigonal 13y ago

Addendum (because HN won't allow me to edit the parent any more): I just finished playing through Thomas Was Alone. My opinion is that the game is a mediocre platformer with only a few new mechanics and scores of older, well-trodden ones, amateurish level design, lots of boring repetition, poor conveyance in parts, and lots of little flaws that make it (again, to me) not much fun at all to play. Its only saving graces are the wonderful narration (done by this exciting British guy named Danny Wallace), and the excellent use of color. If you don't enjoy the first 15 minutes, your experience probably won't improve in the many hours to come (on a side note, I feel the game is about 1.5x as long as it should be. there was a lot of "sheesh -- when will this set of levels end?" in my playthrough). You're better off just listening to all the narration (which is great, and really adds a lot of pathos to moving rectangles around a screen). I should emphasize that I don't think Thomas Was Alone is a bad game. It tries to do a lot of things (probably too many) at once and does many of them right. The ones it flubs up, though, cause the game to be tedious and unfocused and frustrating in enough places that, for me, it ceases to be fun to play. Give it a try -- you may enjoy it! I didn't. (Sorry if my complaints here are vague. There's a lot I want to say because I just finished playing, but it's late, and I'm trying to keep this to a "should I play it?" kind of blurb. If it would help someone to know exactly what I think is wrong with the game, I could make a longer thing or a video or something. )

swah 13y ago

Don't you get a little bit sad about the state of the web (assuming you work on the area) when you see how well executed those games are?