Tag Archives: robots

S.O.L. Search of Light is an Interesting Little Puzzler

May 22, 2024 josechurape Leave a comment

I was sent a free copy of S.O.L Search of Light to review for my blog. While I am very grateful for the opportunity, I won’t let it sway my opinions of the game. This will be my honest review. If you enjoy my reviews, please leave a like, comment, and share this with your friends. If you’re looking for a good budget gaming headset, check out the Fifine H9s using my Amazon Affiliate link. You can check my full review here.

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What is S.O.L. Search of Light?

S.O.L. is a puzzle adventure game with unique tower defense mechanics to keep things interesting. The game is out now on Steam, Switch, and PlayStation.

You find yourself alone in a dark and strange world. As you make your way through your journey you will uncover strange new technology that will help you find a brighter future. Build your base, search for resources, solve puzzles, and fight off monsters. Most importantly, keep your base safe. What secrets will you uncover in the darkness?

Gamplay

S.O.L. is split into three phases: build, adventure, and defense.

In the build phase, players use their farmed resources to bolster their base’s defenses. They can construct buildings, upgrade existing ones, or assign roles to their hired drones. This stage is pretty straightforward. I don’t believe you’ll need a build guide, but you should be mindful of your resources. Resources are limited, and wastefulness will be punished.

Once a player is done with their build phase, they can set off on adventures. Adventures are set up in typical randomized roguelike fashion. Players have the choice of paths and activities they can do. They can solve puzzles for coins and materials, fight monsters for resources, or recruit drones to work at their base. There are also randomized events that will either grant a player a boon or give them a punishing debuff. Resources do influence a player’s decision, but the game never feels like a railroad. Most importantly, the RNG seems fair and the runs never feel repetitive.

In between adventures, monsters will invade a player’s base. Players must defend their base against a wave of enemies. The portal closes when all enemies are defeated. Hopefully, your base doesn’t get too destroyed and you don’t die. Dying or losing your base means restarting from zero. This stage is very manageable, and I always felt there was enough time to prepare between invasions. My only complaint is that the AI for the drones is dumb, and they will run into enemies and die. In a game where resource management is important, this can be a bit annoying. This isn’t a deal breaker, but it is a noticeable issue.

Combat in this game is pretty basic. Players have access to a basic melee attack for adventure and defense phases. In the defense phase, towers and traps will do most of the damage, but well-placed melee attacks are appreciated. Enemy AI can be outsmarted, which is nice.

The puzzles in this game are challenging without being impossible. I love puzzle games, and S.O.L. is no exception. The blend of genres keeps the game refreshing. My only complaint is that it is possible to get stuck in a puzzle where you have to reset the whole game to get free. I wish there were a way to reset just the puzzle, but that would take away some of the pressure from the survival aspect of this game.

Review

The game is fun and addicting. I was either stressed about building the perfect base or stressed about staying alive. This stress made the game engaging, and even though I wasn’t good enough to make it to the end, I had fun trying.

If you’re looking for a unique puzzle game with neat flavor and interesting mechanics, S.O.L. Search of Light is a solid choice. Its cute, its fun, and its different in a good way. S.O.L is the type of game you want to pick up for a fun couple of hours, but don’t want a long term commitment.

You can buy your copy of S.O.L. Search of Light Steam, Switch, and PlayStation for $19.99.

video game reviews

Illuminaria is a cute and unique resource management game, but is it worth it?

October 28, 2023 josechurape Leave a comment

I was sent Illuminaria as a review code. While I am very grateful for the opportunity, this will be my honest review of the game. If you enjoy my reviews, please leave a like, comment, follow, and share this with your friends.

Illuminaria is a base building, resource management game for PC, Switch, Android, and IOS devices. Take control of an army of adorable robots as you work to bring light back to the land. Use the robots to gather resources, build bases, and fight monsters.

Illuminaria has a unique and interesting gameplay loop. Building is probably the most relaxing experience I’ve had in the genre because of how easy it is to get organized. All you have to do is build squares, and the robots will fill those squares with resources based on your designations. This loop feels fantastic on the iPhone because all you do is tap and watch your little robots get to work. While you wait for resources, you are also researching new technologies, upgrading structures, defending your bases, and sending your robots on quests for more materials. You’ll be as busy as your little buddies on the screen, and it is such a wholesome good time!

My only real issue with this game is the price. $5 for the app is perfect. You’ll get $5 of fun from the app. If you are looking for a chill game to pick up in a waiting room or something to fill those rare gaming hours that present themselves, Illuminaria is a solid choice. The mechanics are easy to pick up, the gameplay is engaging, the art is cute, and the music is great. This is a fun game, and it’s a perfect mobile gaming experience. The problem is that this game feels short. You can try to beat the game at different difficulties, but it still feels like a $5 app. I can’t see it ever being worth full price on a console or PC. It’s not a bad game, there just isn’t enough for it to be worth it.

You can pick up Illuminaria on Steam, and Switch for $14.99, and on Android and IOS Devices for $4.99. It is on sale right now on Steam for $9.74 until November 7th, but you can also try the demo if you need some more convincing.

video game reviews

Nimbus Infinity: An unimpressive anime mech sim you are better off not getting

June 30, 2023 josechurape Leave a comment

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I was sent Nimbus Infinity as a review code, and while I am very grateful for the opportunity, I will not let it sway my opinions. This will be my honest review of the game.

Nimbus Infinity is an anime-inspired mech combat simulator available now for PC.

Peace in Japan is threatened when a hostile foreign force invades with an army of mechs, drones, and ships. The world now turns to a high school boy to save the world and achieve world peace. Luckily the hours he’s put into video games have made him an ace pilot for a power unreleased prototype mech. Take to the skies and repel hordes of barely distinguishable enemies and experience that can only be described as disorienting. Do you have what it takes to save the world?

I had fun with this game for the first few minutes until the novelty wore off. The combat could have been interesting if it didn’t get so repetitive and the missions weren’t boring. The game’s lack of polish makes combat feel cumbersome. It was almost impossible to know where I was going, what I was doing, and what I was fighting because everything is poorly rendered. The mech you control will sometimes stutter out of existence, while the enemies around you are nearly indistinguishable. The tutorial and random voice lines will suggest that different enemy types exist, but I can’t confirm if that’s true. This is annoying because each enemy type requires a different strategy, but I could never tell the enemies apart. Was I fighting drones? Spaceships? Other mechs? Who knows? You can customize your mech better fit your playstyle, but I never bothered because it didn’t matter.

The lack of polish wouldn’t have been a problem if the game was fun. The story is a bad generic anime sewn together by boring missions that feel like they take an eternity to complete. The story hits all the bad anime tropes, and it becomes so predictable that I was able to skip entire scenes and still understand what was going on. I have quit better anime for less. The voice acting is inconstant. There is some decent voice acting sprinkled randomly throughout the campaign, but most of it isn’t good.

The characters are generic and forgettable. The main character is the generic male protagonist that you can find in any poorly written anime. He is naturally gifted, cocky, and everyone will love him because he is so cool. While he isn’t the worst male protagonist, I am struggling to remember him. The rest of the cast exists to fall in love with him and are less distinguishable.

Nimbus Infinity isn’t worth the $14.99 it’s asking for on Steam. The story is boring and the combat isn’t polished enough to be fun. Maybe it will get better as they roll out updates, but I can’t recommend the game in the stage it is in now. The Steam Summer Sale is going on until July 13. I recommend you buy something else instead.