Ridzwanhalim - Technology Blog

Backyard Football ‘09, developed by FarSight Studiosand published by Humongous.
The Good: Straightforward mouse-driven controls, simplified but entertaining gameplay, numerous game modes, real NFL teams and players
The Not So Good: Completely unfair power moves, have to unlock some players, no online play, stability issues
What say you? Despite some technical concerns, this is how you make a sports game for kids: 6/8 (more...)

Iron Grip: Warlord, developed and published by Isotx.
The Good: Very challenging and requires team coordination, both first person combat and strategic defensive placements, plentiful upgrades based on performance, chaotic fun
The Not So Good: Can’t play as the offense, brain-dead AI doesn’t cooperate well or engage vehicles in single player, only a handful of structures, enemy vehicles are overpowered
What say you? A semi-interesting defensive shooter-strategy hybrid that feels more like a mod than a full game...but it's still pretty fun online: 5/8 (more...)

Football Mogul 2009, developed and published by Sports Mogul.
The Good: Excellent playbook editor, custom league support, ratings for every player for the 2008 NFL season, lots of small enhancements
The Not So Good: Limited to ten plays per category, needs more than two included playbooks, limited to 36 total teams in a custom league, no online multiplayer
What say you? The play editing alone is almost worth $20 in this quality budget NFL football simulation: 6/8 (more...)

World War One: The Great War 1914-1918, developed by Luca Cammisa and published by AGEOD.
The Good: Detailed unit and leader properties, tactical battle planning, limited number of stacks decreases micromanagement, robust economy with research and unit production, accurate movement with weather and supply influences, logical diplomatic relations flow, novices can disable some advanced rules, very easy to modify
The Not So Good: Interface shortcomings, poor tutorial, long AI turn resolution, can’t adjust music volume, no Internet matchmaking, too many bugs
What say you? It’s quite unfriendly to new players and unpolished overall, but there is still some things to like about the first World War: 5/8 (more...)

Ford Racing Off Road, developed by Razorworks and published by Empire Interactive on Gamer’s Gate.
The Good: Easy-to-drive arcade physics, nice car models, number of racing modes
The Not So Good: Damage does not affect performance, robotic AI that ignores the race rules, can’t adjust difficulty for career mode, no penalty for going off-track, lacks online multiplayer, no car setup or part upgrade options, pixilated environments
What say you? An arcade racing game with a lot of race types but not much else: 4/8 (more...)

Feyruna 2 - The Druids, developed and published by Jochen Kärcher.
The Good: Intuitive controls, fairly unique with three different game modes
The Not So Good: Tedious and repetitive in most levels, very slow pace, can’t skip levels, no level editor, bland graphics and sound
What say you? An action puzzle game with a number of good ideas that don't come together as well as they should have: 5/8 (more...)

Bejeweled Twist, developed and published by PopCap Games.
The Good: Twisting is almost innovative, challenge mode is a great diversion, nice graphics for the genre
The Not So Good: It's been done before, no time pressure makes it less exciting, only a few special gems or powers, inability to rotate counterclockwise, repetitive normal mode
What say you? Apart from the core game mechanic (that only offers a minor change), nothing else is notably different: 5/8 (more...)

Close Combat – Wacht am Rhein, developed by Strategy 3 Tactics and published by Matrix Games.
The Good: Robust grand campaign, new maps, slightly improved AI, easier to modify
The Not So Good: New maps aren’t much better graphically, no new units, interface could have been updated
What say you? A good amount of new maps and other minor additions for an outstanding classic game: 6/8 (more...)

Spectraball, developed by Flashcube Studios and published on Steam.
The Good: Simple controls, plausible physics, online high score list, informative tutorial, only $10
The Not So Good: Extremely difficult from the start, loose controls clash with strict level design, only fifteen maps and no level editor, limited special abilities and unlockable content, can’t manually save progress between levels
What say you? A feature-light marble puzzle game that requires precision the controls do not allow for: 4/8 (more...)

Spectromancer, developed by Apus Software and published by Three Donkeys.
The Good: Intriguing gameplay with numerous strategies to employ, easy to learn, great interface clearly shows card attributes, varied card abilities, competent AI opponent, compelling branching campaign mode, online play, inexpensive
The Not So Good: Randomized decks remove overall building strategy, only 48 base cards means some repetition, wizard specialization does not matter much, unimpressive graphics
What say you? A well-designed, if somewhat limited, online turn-based card game friendly to newcomers with a robust single player campaign: 6/8 (more...)