Creeper World, developed and published by Knuckle Cracker.
The Good: Distinctive enemy, varied map designs with a unique use of elevation, online score list, multiplatform
The Not So Good: Limited building options promote repetition, poor tutorial, can be frustratingly difficult
What say you? A different approach in the tower defense strategy genre delivers some memorable gameplay: 6/8

MY POORLY WRITTEN INTRODUCTION
As the U.S. launches a rocket to crash into the moon to search for water, it makes you wonder: what will happen if the human race comes into contact with an alien race? My guess is that it will somehow involve Jodie Foster. According to the developer behind Creeper World, the alien force will be an ever-expanding liquid bent on consumption of all life. Sounds neat! And messy! In Creeper World, you must advance the last floating human city from planet to planet through a series of warp gates, fending off the evil ooze along the way. How will this twist on the tower defense deliver the strategy?

GRAPHICS AND SOUND
Creeper World is presented entirely on a two dimensional map, and it's not exactly on the cutting-edge of graphics. All of the units are simple static shapes and there are very few effects in the game: just a handful of weapons and some minor explosions. The fluid-like enemy is a blue shading that slowly darkens as it fills in the crevices of the map: not exactly an imposing force. The very simple graphics, however, do not really hinder the gameplay, and as long as you approach the game as a independent title, then you won't be outstandingly disappointed. The sound design is better thanks to the spooky music that I quite enjoyed, though the sound effects are, like the graphics, minimal at best. Even independent titles can look a lot better than what Creeper World brings to the table (example).

ET AL.
In Creeper World, you are fighting off a magic blue liquid, which isn’t as much magical as it is deadly and will kill you dead. The last human city is warping between cities, hoping each time that the next leap will be the leap home. This takes place over a twenty-level story mode where you encounter increasingly more difficult odds. In addition, you are given five sets of five conquest levels (which makes for approximately twenty five more) and ten special ops missions. This is a good amount of content, and the length of some of the missions will keep you busy for a while. In addition, a map editor is currently in beta (it’s probably out by the time you read this) that will extend the life of Creeper World even further. Sadly, learning Creeper World can be a bit of a chore, as the game lacks a manual and the in-game tutorials do a very poor job explaining how some of the mechanics work, especially those dealing with energy (like how it is specifically produced, used, and what the “cost” for each building is). It’s obvious most people are “getting it,” as the online scoreboard are populated with quick times (score seems to be indirectly proportional to the amount of time spent to clear a level) from across the globe. This motivation technique certainly makes up for the lack of any in-game multiplayer features, which, frankly, are out of place in a traditionally single-player genre. Finally, Creeper World works on both Windows and Macintosh systems, so score one for unity!

Each game of Creeper World follows the same general path to survival and victory. First, you must build collectors to (surprise!) collect energy that is requires to produce new buildings and weapons. It is important to manage energy use: if you have a negative balance of production and consumption, your residents begin to starve and will essentially succumb to sweet, sweet death. Secondly, you will need to construct weapons to fight back the incoming blue liquid of doom. There are five weapons to choose from that are effective against different enemy types, from simple lasers to missiles. You also have access to relays for reaching tough areas, storage for excess energy, speeding up transmissions along your defensive network, and reactors for collecting energy in exotic locations. In the story mode, you must also collect technology to unlock new structures; it’s nice that the developers have incorporated the gameplay mechanic into acquiring new weapons, instead of using some simple research model. Disappointing is the limited suite of structures at your disposal: only ten components means that a lot of your designs will share a similar strategy, increasing the sense of repetition as you progress through the game.

Creeper World is similar to the original Perimeter (not the crap sequels) where all buildings have to be connected in order to function. This is the fundamental crux of the game: your designs must radiate out from your home city, and success in the game is predicated on the efficiency of your designs. Energy and ammunition for structures is transmitted from the home city outwards, so if your newest turrets and collectors are far from your base, it’ll take a while to become constructed. This is where the free-form levels really work for the benefit of Creeper World: you are never shepherded down a single path towards victory, as is common in so many tower defense games with fixed turret placements. The map design makes or breaks a game like this, and, for the most part, they make. The levels use elevation to great effect: since the liquid enemy will flow like, well, a liquid, you can predict their path based on the terrain and plan accordingly. I like how Creeper World uses the enemy behavior in concert with the map designs: you can subtly nudge the direction of flow with your defensive weapons, providing a safer passage for your tower layouts. Despite your limited weapon options, you can deactivate or disarm weapons to conserve energy for when you need to beat back the blue liquid of doom; it’s a small amount of annoying micromanagement, but nothing that’s too terribly tedious. Creeper World certainly becomes more interesting when all weapons are available, but since individual weapons do not upgrade, you are stuck with only five turrets to play with. Creeper World is all about making efficient designs, reducing the amount of time required to move resources to the front where you are building new stuff. You have to move blasters as you are building and time things correctly in order to push the creeper back enough to make more room, which is quite difficult to do correctly. It’s easier to build blasters back near the base, fill them with ammo, and then move them up front to dispose of the enemy properly.

IN CLOSING
Creeper World starts with a classic tower defense game and takes the boring, linear gameplay out, replacing it with freedom to design any number of strategic layouts to repel the incoming blue liquid of doom. This is the clear strength of the game: the level designs allow for non-linear solutions, taking advantage of the enemy’s unique characteristics by featuring varied terrain that requires different approaches. Creeper World features about fifty different layouts, and the impending level editor means regular folk like you and me can soon make their own nefarious creations. While there isn’t competitive play on the same level, Creeper World does feature an extensive online leaderboard so that you can see just how incompetent you really are. Unfortunately, Creeper World falls short in a couple of areas. First, despite the grand amount of freedom the game allows, you do not have a great assortment of tools in which to build with: only five weapons and only five nodes means that most of your layouts will have the same overall flavor. The only real variety is in the maps, which are admittedly diverse, but a larger number of tools would serve to further expand the strategy of Creeper World. Also, the game can be quite difficult to the point of annoyance: figuring out how to make a solution is not hard, but efficiently moving your turrets to part a new path can require some advanced dexterity. Still, Creeper World does deliver some strategy goodness thanks to the level design and overall unique approach to the tower defense game.

Metal Drift, developed and published by Black Jacket Studios.
The Good: Custom tank configurations using persistent upgrades, tactically interesting weapons and abilities, strategic use of energy for speed or weapons
The Not So Good: Persistent upgrades restrict content from new players, only one mode of play, methodical pace an acquired taste, some dubious strategies, inconsistent AI
What say you? A tank-based action game that relies on varied weapons and upgrades but is tedious and unfairly restrictive: 5/8

MY POORLY WRITTEN INTRODUCTION
All of those futuristic infantry-based shooters always make me wonder: wouldn’t it be safer in a tank? It might not be as cost-effective, but being surrounded by inches of solid steel would certainly make me feel more at ease. The developers of Metal Drift clearly agree, as the only combatants in their capture-the-flag-like action game are big, metal tanks (that probably drift). In addition to maximum tank-age, this title features persistent upgrades, custom tank designs, and strategic energy usage. Will that be enough to set Metal Drift apart?

GRAPHICS AND SOUND
Not surprising of an independent title, Metal Drift features passable graphics that suffer from extreme repetition. All of the levels and vehicles look the same and use the same set of textures; to be fair, the game is called “Metal” Drift, so the overemphasis on metal hues is not unexpected. Each level looks like the last, and the clean environments do not look like they are the setting of intense tank battles with massive explosions. The best aspect of the graphics is the in-tank display, which actually looks realistic in its presentation rather than just simply being superimposed on your view. It’s reminiscent of a flight simulation, in a good way. The weapon effects are convincing enough, with enough glow effects to satisfy most. However, the explosions aren’t terribly impressive as the tanks catch on fire slightly and simply turn black. The game’s sound design features nothing of note: just some basic announcer calls to keep you informed and appropriate weapon and explosions effects. The graphics and sound certainly do not negatively impact the gameplay of Metal Drift, which is all we really ask for in an indie title.

ET AL.
Metal Drift is intended as a multiplayer tank combat game, although you can create (and join) a server populated with bots. The server browser provides easy access to online matches, though the player counts seem to be off. There are only five arenas to play in, but they are designed well with multiple paths to the goal. The default game length of eight minutes is just right for the game’s pace: not too long, but not too short. There is only one game mode to enjoy: capture the ball, where you must carry the ball to the goal in the enemy base. Metal Drift features all of the online score keeping trappings, like leaderboards, achivements, and persistent player data. Statistics are used to unlock additional weapons and features, a feature I dislike to the extreme. It’s fine to have upgrades that unlock over time, but only through a single game: new players should never be artificially handicapped. As it stands, new players will have a “selection” of one weapon and one ability: a strategic disadvantage right from the beginning. I prefer having all of the content available to all players, which is what Section 8 does. You have to finish a match in order to earn experience points, a questionable limitation if you have to leave in the middle of a game. You do level up quickly, especially if you capture the ball, but you do not get to choose which weapons to unlock as they are presented in a linear fashion. Boo! What if I want the super powerful weapon the really experienced guy has been killing me with? The weapons also increase in effectiveness the more you use them, which is cool. Preventing new users from all the game offers, however, is not cool.

Once you have logged enough hours in Metal Drift, you’ll have access to some pretty neat weapons and abilities, which makes restricting the content even more disappointing. While most of the weapons are pretty conventional in first person shooters terms (pulse cannon = assault rifle, ion cannon = sniper rifle, plasma launcher = grenade launcher), there are some highlights: the temporal cannon can travel through walls (making it a great pairing with the sensor upgrade that allows you to see all tanks), the artemis cannon travels through shields (like a shotgun), and the shock cannon is a short-range bomb. The upgrades offer more tactical variety: in addition to simple stat increases (armor, power, speed), you can automatically repair of your tank over time, see the positions of every tank, invisibility, or look like an enemy tank. The most popular is hyperspace, which spawns you near the ball. See why I’d like to have access to all of these neat features from the very beginning?

It takes a while to get your bearings straight in Metal Drift due to the control method: aiming is done with the mouse, but movement is done with the trusty old WASD keys, so you can be facing in a different direction then you are moving. While this makes combat easier, it can be disorienting; the game does allow you to re-center your view using the middle mouse button, however. Tanks have a poor turning radius and generally travel slowly, as you would expect gigantic metallic objects to do. Most of the weapons have low damage and excessively long reload times; since it takes a while to get to cover, combat typically has long pauses while either side reloads their weapons. This really emphasizes working together in groups, which the AI certainly does not do. Personally, I dislike the balance between damage and how often you need to reload, but I believe that the game was balanced for teammates who actually work together. The HUD is quite informative, displaying ammunition levels, speed, energy, upgrades, and armor, in addition to displaying the ball location and repair pads clearly. The mini-map is also useful for locating enemy and friendly units beyond your field of view.

Energy earned by hitting (but not necessarily killing) enemy tanks serves a dual purpose: slightly more powerful weapons or increased speed. This intriguing tactical decision is strongly slanted towards increased speed, as the tanks move quite slowly and a small speed boost can quickly move you away from enemy tanks. In addition, the weapon damage increase seems quite small and not really worth it unless you are finishing off an tank about to score a goal. Slow movement in general makes it difficult to intercept when you are out of position, and the maze-like levels make this task even more tricky. This places a lot of emphasis on using energy for speed boosts. Weapons don't do much damage and require long reload times, making the game very slow paced. Metal Drift is also subject to some suspect strategies: you can camp at ball spawn location since positions do not reset after a score. So that point you just fought hard over? Useless since the other team can just park a tank at the spawn location and speed it into goal before you can react. That’s why so many high level players use the hyperspace upgrade, which, of course, isn’t available to beginners. Also, it's actually almost better to not kill enemies in your base, since they will respawn close to your goal when you counter-attack. Games can commonly be ruined by these cheap strategies. The AI is competent but not great: they ignore you a lot of the time, especially if they do not have the ball and they are facing in the opposite direction (they could theoretically spot you on radar, as a human player would). Sometimes they simply do not shoot unless shot at even though they are facing you. The AI does not make a proper substitute for human opponents and teammates that would provide thoughtful competition and support planned attacks.

IN CLOSING
Metal Drift is an average tank combat game with some interesting features that are not available to beginning players. The game is intended for multiplayer, as the bots are too inconsistent to be enjoyable: they will carry the ball to the goal, but they only respond to you some of the time, making them an easy target. The game’s only mode, capture the flag ball, does offer some interesting gameplay thanks to the level design; although there are only five maps, each level contains multiple paths to victory. The game’s persistent stats are a nice feature, but it restricts new players too much as they cannot access all of the game’s neat weaponry until they have logged sufficient game time. You should want to play a game because it’s fun, not because you need to unlock additional weapons to become competitive. Section 8 had it right: hide nothing from new players, because doing so immediately puts them at a greater disadvantage, in addition to simply being novices at the game. While individual weapons do upgrade according to usage, you cannot choose your future unlocks, sticking to the distressingly linear path chosen by the developers. And there are some interesting weapons: weapons that travel through walls, shields, and short range bombs make for some great tactical decisions. You also need to decide how to use your bonus energy: for speed or for increased weapon output. It’s too bad you can’t make those great tactical decisions the first time you play the game. The HUD is quite informative and controls are standard fare; it does take a couple of games to learn how to move your turret with the mouse independent on your movement using the keyboard. The game’s slow movement, long reload times, and low damage emphasize team-based play, for better or for worse (the latter if playing with the AI). Metal Drift allows for some questionable strategies, like camping at the ball spawn location or purposely not destroying an enemy so they can't respawn near your goal, which reduce the fun quotient. All of the hard work in making that goal is wasted by the lone wolf on the other team speeding towards their goal. Unfortunately, Metal Drift’s strong points are overshadowed by locked content and other assorted shortcomings.

Eufloria, developed by Rudolf Kremers and Alex May and published by Omni Systems.
The Good: Unique take on resource management, decent amount of content, procedurally generated levels makes each game slightly different, competent aggressive AI opponent, occasionally varied objectives, mod-friendly
The Not So Good: Simplicity introduces repetition, needs rally points for newly created units, no multiplayer
What say you? A distinctive strategy game thanks to its mechanics and presentation: 6/8

MY POORLY WRITTEN INTRODUCTION
Thanks to digital distribution, independent games (more commonly known as “ROFLCOPTER”) have garnered a nice niche in the online gaming environment. A couple of guys (or gals…yeah, right) can get together and hammer out a neat little title, put it up for download, and watch the enormous stacks of cash roll in (or so I am told). The Game Formerly Known As Dyson (renamed in a contest to something less obscure) is one of those titles; garnering some recognition through the Independent Games Festival, it is now released in retail form over the Internets. This slow-paced ambient game has you send seeds across the universe to populate distant lands, and eliminate rival seeds, of course. How does the minimalist strategy-type game stack up?

GRAPHICS AND SOUND
Eufloria takes a minimalist approach to graphics and makes a quite effective visual package. The game has a very nice ambient glow exhibited in every map, which is more impressive on levels that feature a black background. The glow makes it easy to identify which units belong to which side, at least if you are zoomed out far enough. The planets you colonize are boring, simple spheres, though the trees planted on them have a nice, varied fractal-like appearance (or whatever you want to call it). The seedling units are nicely animated while in flight, although the combat lasers are disappointingly generic. The game also plays nice while windowed. The soundtrack of the game is quite appealing and fits the casual mood of the game well. Eufloria delivers a unique look that makes it quite distinct.

ET AL.
Eufloria is a strategy game that takes places across a twenty-five level campaign, where you are liberating enemy asteroids and joining up with friendly forces. There is a minor, forgettable storyline as you progress through the game. The game also features eight quite-difficult skirmish maps and a dark matter mode with tougher AI. The objectives usually involve defeating all the enemy units and colonizing each asteroid; rarely the game introduces defend (for a period of time) or counter-attack (decrease the enemy population) goals, so your overall strategy does not waver much. Eufloria uses procedural content, which produces semi-random maps for all of the campaign and skirmish levels: it’s a nice touch that increases replay value and also slightly alters your strategy in each game. In addition, you can create your own map layouts using LUA scripting, and there are already custom levels for Eufloria available for download. Things aren’t all peachy in the universe of Eufloria, however. You cannot save your progress in the middle of game and there is no scoring whatsoever, either offline or online. In addition, Eufloria lacks multiplayer, a terrible omission for a game style that would have been great for it. You can argue that most people play single player anyway, but having the option is what counts, and multiplayer is a glaring exclusion.

Eufloria uses a mouse-based interface that, because of its unconventional nature, has a bit of a learning curve. Once an asteroid is selected with a left click, you can left click and drag to another asteroid to send all units, or right click and drag to send one unit. Alternatively, you can left click and hold near the asteroid to select a proportion of the total units, let go, and then left click on a target destination. This mechanic is unusual, but useful once you are accustomed to it. You can also select only certain types of seedlings for specialized missions, like sending only speedy units on scouting assignments. I would like to have a box select like Galcon to make sending lots of units to a single destination easier. Further complicating things is the lack of a rally point option; this means you have to periodically select each and every one of your asteroids and send their units to the frontlines. Rally points would reduce tedium in the end-game, where you have five to fifteen (or more) asteroids but have to spend your time in the "back" sending troops up to the "front" instead of concentrating on where the action is. I just dislike having to do something manually that should be done automatically. The game speed is slow enough where sending up reinforcements doesn't negatively impact the gameplay, but it does add some extra clicks that are simply unnecessary. Do you know how annoying it is to individually click-and-hold on fifteen or twenty places every minute? You will once you play Eufloria! The interface does feature some great visual cues for attacks and tree types that are informative whether you are zoomed in or out. Team colors can be very similar, but there is an option to change it to more distinct selections.

Each asteroid has a specific rating in energy, strength, and speed, and it will produce seedlings with those attributes. New seedlings are grown by planting dyson trees, which cost ten seedlings to plant. You can also plant defensive trees for the same cost that launch mines automatically against incoming enemy units, useful for frontline or important asteroids. Eventually, mature trees will grow flowers that can be planted on asteroids for more powerful seedlings or laser mines that can be sent around the galaxy. All asteroids have a small (usually four) limit on how many trees can be planted, so expansion is a necessity. In addition, there is a limit on your expansion range dependent on the size of the asteroid, which makes for some nice choke points of intense conflict. In order to capture an enemy asteroid, you must destroy one tree so that seedlings can burrow to the core and sacrifice themselves to deplete the core energy to zero. The surviving trees are yours to keep, but you can’t destroy them and plant replacements if you don’t need so many defensive trees.

All combat is done automatically once you send your units in, so Eufloria is purely a strategic game. The AI does a decent, if disorganized, job attacking enemy planets. The rule of thumb seems to be to have double the number of units as the enemy, more if there are defensive trees. There is minor fog of war in the game: once you scout an asteroid once, you have a permanent view of it. I really like how Eufloria treats resource management, since seedlings are used both to attack and indirectly grow more seedlings. The AI, at least on later levels, is pretty good about attacking right after you invest in a non-refundable tree and don’t have enough seedlings to defend against an attack. The pace of the game is quite “relaxed” (some would say “boring”), more so in the beginning of a match as you are waiting for trees to grow more units. I would really like the ability to adjust the speed of the game at will. Once you have six or seven fully developed asteroids under your control, populations snowball quickly, but the beginning of a match involves too much waiting. Things get a lot more interesting with larger levels and multiple opponents. Of course, you're usually greatly outnumbered, so the increased difficulty isn't necessarily fair. It’s fairly easy to succeed in the game if you don’t expand too quickly (using up too many seedlings) or too slowly (not producing enough). Eufloria can get repetitive, as the objectives almost always involve exterminating all of the other players and there are few actual decisions to make along the way. That’s the trade-off for simplicity, I suppose.

IN CLOSING
Eufloria is a unique strategy game that's also fun to play. The game is easily approachable thanks to its simple mechanics and straightforward mouse-driven control scheme. The game has a good amount of content, with twenty-five procedurally generated levels that are slightly different each time you play, in addition to some skirmish offerings and a more difficult dark mode. The most significant blemish is the lack of multiplayer, especially because the design of the game really lends itself towards human competition. The objectives tend to get repetitive after a while, as the occasional defend mission or alternate goal is rarely used. Because of this, your strategy will remain the same, with slight tweaks based on what the AI is doing. Eufloria is interesting as a game because of its method of resource management: seedlings are used to attack, defend, and grow new seedlings, so you must carefully balance your units. The AI does a great job watching your moves and invading your empire right after you use seedlings for a new tree; the computer provides a good opponent, which almost makes up for the lack of multiplayer…almost. The minimal interface is good except for one glaring omission: rally points for new seedlings, as they would solve tedium in the end-game. Different asteroids produce different kinds of seedlings (energy, speed, and health) that can be used for varied purposes, which, along with the laser mines, enhanced trees, and randomized maps, can support different strategies each game. The map designs lead to some nice choke points and areas of intense conflict. However, Eufloria may be a bit too simple for its own good, as the game can get repetitive in the long term. The game really only has two important decisions: how many seedlings to use for trees and where (and when) to expand. This limited nature can result in monotony that more complex game do not suffer from. The relaxed pace of the game also cannot be adjusted, so you will typically have to sit around waiting for seedlings to develop; it helps that the game can be windowed so that you can do other things while waiting for populations to increase. In summary, Eufloria is like a slower paced Galcon, and its relaxed nature and unique simplified gameplay should be appealing to strategy fans.

Trine, developed by Frozenbyte and published by Nobilis Publishing.
The Good: Three varied characters to control, straightforward controls, fantastic visuals, cooperative play
The Not So Good: Typically linear solutions, checkpoint-only saving, no level editor, no online features
What say you? A fanciful and unique physics-based puzzle game: 6/8

MY POORLY WRITTEN INTRODUCTION
Do you like physics? Do you like puzzles? Do you like jumping over chasms adorned with spikes? Do you like cheese? Well, have I got the game for you: the developer of indie action title Shadowgrounds is tackling a much different genre this time around with a physics-based puzzle game. Now see why I asked all those questions? It all makes sense! Well, except for the cheese thing. Anyway, Trine has been getting some press for being a bit on the expensive side for a puzzle game. Is the price justified to rock your body?

GRAPHICS AND SOUND
Trine looks and sounds fantastic. Every aspect of the graphics is high quality, from the character models and animations to the special effects and level designs. Each of the game's characters and enemies have well detailed models and move fluidly through the landscape, though some of the animations (especially those dealing with death) tend to get a bit repetitive. The special powers and light effects have a nice glow to them that fits the fantasy world setting that is fantastically detailed. The puzzle elements could have been more plausibly integrated into the environment, but the theme remains strong. Even though the game plays on a 2-D plane, the use of 3-D graphics creates a distinctive look. The sound design is wonderful as well, with great narration and dialogue from the characters, as well as fittingly beautiful background music that imitates the tone of the game. The presentation of Trine is first rate.

ET AL.
Trine tells the tale of three characters brought together as one, chasing a magical something-or-other through a world with a disturbing amount of jumping puzzles. The game world is entirely in 2-D, featuring an assortment of physics-based puzzles and platform jumping sequences. Given this, it is surprising that Trine does not ship with a level editor so that you can create custom puzzles, a fairly standard feature for the genre. Trine's length is acceptable, although replay value is low since most of the levels require a specific strategy as the level design does not lend itself to experimentation well. The game's difficulty levels adjust the amount of damage your characters suffer, although it does not change the actual layouts at all, so the jumping sequences require the same precision no matter what. Trine has the annoying console “feature” of allowing checkpoint-only saves, which are infrequent enough to induce too much level repetition for my tastes. Trine technically has multiplayer, although it's a buried feature available if you have gamepads plugged into the computer and the option activated several menus deep. The lack of online elements is disappointing, but the game doesn't make adjustments for having multiple characters in the same level, so Trine is actually more difficult when you play nice with others. Thus, the lack of online play is not missed too much as it would be essentially impossible to coordinate with others; it's hard enough with someone sitting next to you.

There are three characters you can freely switch between during your time in Trine, assuming you haven't been totally incompetent and gotten them killed. The knight is your combat specialist, equipped with melee weapons and a shield to dispose of those nasty skeletons and whatever else magically spawns on either side of you. The thief is the ranged fighter armed with a grappling hook for accessing tricky, sneaky areas (or totally bypassing enemies altogether). Finally, the wizard is there to summon objects like blocks and platforms or levitate and move objects: a neat way of manipulating the environment. Each character has separate health and energy, so you will have to be aware of how close your tribe is to certain death. Between levels, you can gain upgrades for each of the characters (three skills with two upgrade levels per character), in addition to additional weapons and items. It's nice to have a little choice in who gets the upgrades and items, but the selection of abilities is far enough below a typical RPG to say that Trine has role-playing elements.

While the levels take full advantage of the robust physics engine, Trine does not offer enough solution variety for my taste. It's clear the developers have one way to do most, if not all, of the problems you will encounter. Now, the use of three characters with distinct abilities means the solutions are at least somewhat varied, with a combination of grappling hook, object movement, and combat elements. Still, it's a two-step process of figure out how the developers wanted you to solve the next room and then doing it, which can be trying with some of the more advanced platform sequences. I'm never a huge fan of jumping and timing puzzles, and Trine comes with enough of them to make the game frustrating on several occasions. The game is never really unfair, though, with a proper amount of death traps and enemies to content with. Trine overall does offer more variety that an average puzzle game thanks to the three characters and adept use of the grappling hook affords you some inventiveness, but since you can't use it everywhere, you are still mostly limited to what the developers have in mind.

IN CLOSING
Trine takes the physics-based puzzle game and injects enough innovation to make it stand out. The use of three character skill sets, though a bit gimmicky, separates the game strategy nicely and makes Trine more accessible to a casual audience. All three are important aspects to the game and the level design support using them in equal amounts. The game is pretty linear, though, as it eventually becomes quite obvious whom to use when and there isn't much leeway, other than skipping past entire sections of a level with daft use of the grappling hook. The game requires dexterity and timing to navigate past the healthy amount of jumping puzzles. This makes cooperative play less appealing since getting two or three separate characters past a tricky sequence can be, well, tricky. The game appears to have been designed for one morphing character rather than three, and the lack on online features further reduces the value of multiplayer in the game. The game is long enough; the original $30 price tag was on the expensive side, but it has recently been reduced to a more reasonable level. The stellar graphics is probably the justification for the originally increased cost, and though the game looks very nice, Trine is now more appropriately priced in the realm of $20 puzzle games. Nevertheless, puzzle fans will find a unique and enjoyable adventure.

RACE On, developed by SimBin Studios and published by Viva Media.
The Good: All of RACE 07 and STCC, new U.S. muscle and International Formula Master cars, two new U.S. tracks, 2008 WTCC season tracks and cars
The Not So Good: Does not include GTR Evolution content, missing one 2009 WTCC track
What say you? Admittedly limited if you own all previous expansions, this stand-alone product delivers entertaining feature-rich racing: 6/8

MY POORLY WRITTEN INTRODUCTION
SimBin has manufactured themselves a comfortable little rut. Starting with their first touring car simulation RACE, they have released yearly stand-alone expansions: RACE 07, STCC, and GTR Evolution. We now arrive at RACE On, which adds the Swedes from STCC to RACE 07 and adds a sprinkle of America with muscle cars and a couple of tracks, in addition to the 2008 WTCC season (why are they always a year behind?). Last time around, the embellishments were disappointing with a limited scope. Does RACE On successfully continue SimBin’s march of quality simulation racing products?

GRAPHICS AND SOUND
RACE On looks the same as previous titles in the series, as it seems this version has not received any graphical enhancements. The game still looks good, although the overall level of quality is starting to lag behind titles like GRID that have more graphical flair. All of the car models and race tracks appear to be realistic, and there isn’t an overemphasis on confusing shiny effects like bloom and blur that distract you from driving. The damage effects could be more dramatic, as bumpers fall off but the frame is never deformed. Some of the textures could be more varied and detailed, too, as road-side objects can be blurry (even on the maximum settings) and grass and track surfaces are repetitive. The advantage to the lowered graphical quality is that RACE On performs very smoothly even with the detail level cranked up. The game prompts you to increase your settings if frame rates are high: a nice feature. The sound design is generally the same as before: informative tire squeals and satisfying engine effects. The same spotter is used again, and the main menu music features a very, very annoying person shouting about winning a race: I turned it off instantly. As long as RACE products act more like expansions that true sequels, the graphical quality will remain at the same average, but acceptable, level.

ET AL.
RACE On is, surprisingly, a racing game where you race in races. These can be done both by yourself and online by taking place in a number of events. Single races comprise of practice, qualifying, and warm-up sessions, followed by the two-race (in WTCC, at least) main event. You can also take place in a full championship season with a points system, or create your own custom season with any of the game’s cars and tracks; you can even mix car types to create a staggered series. You can enjoy time attack mode (complete with online leaderboards) and practice for those who don’t know what they are doing. It should be noted that RACE On still lacks a tutorial system, something I have complained about since the first RACE title. Have they read none of my review?! The game does provide corner markers for novice-level driving and pretty clear braking zones (noted by darker tire build-up) on the tracks to help new players somewhat. Online racing is still solid, though most of the servers are located in Europe so some event can be a little laggy, though nothing that is unplayable. You can join any server that is running RACE 07 or STCC in addition to RACE On, which serves to prevent gaming community fragmentation (unless, of course, it’s running GTR Evolution and you do not). Race rules can be customized, like superpole (one-lap) qualifying, rolling starts, race lengths (both laps and time), and mandatory pitstops.

You race with cars, and RACE On features an impressive array of vehicles. New to the series is the 2008 WTCC season, featuring six makes of vehicles that aren’t terribly different from the 2007 or 2006 seasons that are also included. Also new is the International Formula Masters series that use the same tracks as the WTCC with the exception of two (Hungaroring and Spa) that are not included in RACE On. The primary focus of RACE On is the new U.S. muscle cars. There are four models that come in both street and racing versions: the 2009 Cadillac CTS-V, 2009 Dodge Charger, 2009 Dodge Challenger, and 2009 Chevrolet Camaro. These heavy, powerful real-wheel drive cars behave differently from the WTCC vehicles, as they are prone to oversteer (or “loose” to us Americans) when exiting a corner if you are not careful with the throttle. Additional content is gathered from RACE 07 and STCC, which are actually installed alongside RACE On as separate games, though there is no reason why you’d use them instead of RACE On that includes all of their content anyway (Steam is weird like that). Here we go with some links: the 2008 STCC season comes with nine makes, the Camaro Cup Champsionship that features (surprise!) Camaros, Caterham (3 makes), Radical (6 makes), Formula 3000 (now GP2), Formula BMW, Mini Cooper, and the 1987 WTCC season. In addition, if you have previously purchased GTR Evolution, all of that content is imported as well, making RACE On the only executable you'll ever need. In all, that’s a lot of cars and a good variety of them.

What good are cars if you have no where to race them? RACE On features three new tracks: Okayama, Road America, and Laguna Seca. That’s not a lot of new content (RACE expansions have mostly been light on the new tracks), but when you combine them with all of the tracks from RACE 07 and STCC, you do get forty-seven total, which is nice. RACE On does not include Marrakech, Morocco, featured in the 2009 WTCC season (probably saved for RACE On 2: On Harder), but SimBin is always a year behind reality. There a nice variety of slow, fast, oval, and urban tracks to race on, and everyone should find at least something they enjoy. RACE On does include competitive setups for most cars on all tracks: a nice feature. Some of the more wacky combinations (like Caterhams on the Puebla Oval) won’t be found, but including all of the conventional possibilities is impressive. The physics are seemingly realistic and different for each kind of vehicle. I personally prefer cars that are slower but handle better, like the WTCC and Mini Cooper vehicles, rather than the muscle cars or open wheel vehicles. I will say, though, that the International Formula Masters cars are the least annoying open wheel cars I've ever virtually driven, as they are not prone to breaking loose exiting every turn. The AI is still competitive; I dislike having to tweak their difficulty the first couple of races to get them “just right” (an automated slider would be greatly appreciated), but on full power they will be quite competent racers. They will also make mistakes on occasion, running off track, and are aggressive without being idiotic: a good combination for exciting racing.

IN CLOSING
Your assessment of RACE On depends on how many of the previous SimBin games you own. If you have RACE 07 and STCC and GTR Evolution, then you are paying $30 for essentially two new car classes and three new tracks: a very tough sell. However, if you’ve been lagging behind or are new to the series, then RACE On represents an excellent value for what you get. The racing options are robust, from custom championships to online event against people who own previous titles in the series. The game comes with many styles of cars: four seasons of the WTCC, the 2008 STCC season, the Camaro Cup, International Formula Masters, Caterham, Radical, Formula 3000, Formula BMW, Mini Coopers, and street and racing versions of four American muscle cars. These cars can be run on forty-seven tracks; new additions to the series include Okayama, Road America, and Laguna Seca, in addition to all of the tracks from RACE 07 and STCC. RACE On does not include the 2009 season, though, which is one less track to enjoy. The AI continues to be strong if too consistent, and competitive setups for most cars are provided for all tracks. This is very enjoyable simulation racing, from the way the cars handle to the variety of content to enjoy. RACE On is $10 cheaper than buying both RACE 07 and STCC together on Steam, plus you get all of the new content. It’s the same price as getting RACE 07 with GTR Evolution, and this represents a better value in my opinion. I think this would be a definite buy if RACE On had all of the GTR Evolution content, too. Still, getting the RACE On bundle and GTR Evolution together ($30 plus $20) equals a full price game, which I would consider all of the content as a whole to be. In the end, one of the best racing simulation series continues with another strong entry.