So many games last week! So many bad games last week! Test my resolve, they did! I did not escape unscarred; I have turned to Majesty 2 to soothe the pain. (Hmm, this indirect control setup sucks and there's not much strategy... so why am I still playing?) In the meantime, the games are vanquished, the reviews have been planted as their tombstones, and you are hereby invited to browse them! (Full reviews through the links.)

Auditorium: Abstract color/sound conversion makes for relaxing fun, when you aren't pulling your hair out over some of the devilish puzzles here.

Painkiller: Recurring Evil: Get locked into a cramped arena, kill multiple waves of enemies. Rinse & repeat... for the entire game.

iBomber Defense Pacific: A competent but utterly forgettable tower defense game.

Luxor Evolved: Puzzlers and shooters should not combine this well!

Containment: The Zombie Puzzler: A puzzle game without any brains. Or a pulse, for that matter.

Which game would I continue playing? Well, I'm still chipping away at Auditorium bit-by-bit (solve 2 puzzles, hit a stumper, turn it off and let it percolate until the next time I have a few minutes to spare), but I'm sorely tempted to play through Luxor Evolved on Hard mode again to satisfy my puzzle & shooter itches at the same time. Recurring Evil was so disappointing I'm currently downloading the original Painkiller just to assure myself it's much better. All of this, of course, is inbetween finishing up Majesty 2 for... some reason I can't quite explain. Boredom, perhaps?

Hmm, finishing up last week took longer than I thought. Hopefully the game queue for this week is much smaller.

So many games last week! So many bad games last week! Test my resolve, they did! I did not escape unscarred; I have turned to Majesty 2 to soothe the pain. (Hmm, this indirect control setup sucks and there's not much strategy... so why am I still playing?) In the meantime, the games are vanquished, the reviews have been planted as their tombstones, and you are hereby invited to browse them! (Full reviews through the links.)

Auditorium: Abstract color/sound conversion makes for relaxing fun, when you aren't pulling your hair out over some of the devilish puzzles here.

Painkiller: Recurring Evil: Get locked into a cramped arena, kill multiple waves of enemies. Rinse & repeat... for the entire game.

iBomber Defense Pacific: A competent but utterly forgettable tower defense game.

Luxor Evolved: Puzzlers and shooters should not combine this well!

Containment: The Zombie Puzzler: A puzzle game without any brains. Or a pulse, for that matter.

Which game would I continue playing? Well, I'm still chipping away at Auditorium bit-by-bit (solve 2 puzzles, hit a stumper, turn it off and let it percolate until the next time I have a few minutes to spare), but I'm sorely tempted to play through Luxor Evolved on Hard mode again to satisfy my puzzle & shooter itches at the same time. Recurring Evil was so disappointing I'm currently downloading the original Painkiller just to assure myself it's much better. All of this, of course, is inbetween finishing up Majesty 2 for... some reason I can't quite explain. Boredom, perhaps?

Hmm, finishing up last week took longer than I thought. Hopefully the game queue for this week is much smaller.

Luxor Evolved was definitely my most pleasant surprise last week. I love Luxor, but it's been getting stale. Even though Evolved is crazy short, it's easily my favorite of the series.

Come to think of it, people (and the Bombcast) give developers shit for titles like "[series name] Vengeance" and "[series name] Reckoning" and "[series name] Unleashed", but "[series name] Evolved/Evolution" is also one of the biggest offenders and somehow doesn't get guff nearly as often.

@BisonHero said:

Come to think of it, people (and the Bombcast) give developers shit for titles like "[series name] Vengeance" and "[series name] Reckoning" and "[series name] Unleashed", but "[series name] Evolved/Evolution" is also one of the biggest offenders and somehow doesn't get guff nearly as often.

Possibly because it means more than Vengeance/Reckoning/Unleashed? While those 3 words would be seen as trying to slap badass on the title, Evolved either means "remake" or "more of a 1.5-quel than an actual sequel". It could be worse; I would rather read "Luxor Evolved" than "Luxor 1.5".

On another note, did anyone here play both the original Painkiller & Painkiller: Recurring Evil? I'm curious if the two are as different as I thought they were.