Lately, I've been keeping busy with the Steam Treasure Hunt; the way I see it, I might be lucky enough to be one of three people to win 100 games on Steam! (I almost hope not; I can barely find time nowadays to actually play games I've got.) I do enjoy it, however, because it's made me start playing more of the games that I've purchased, but have never really gotten around to playing. For instance, today had three challenges; Two were achievement challenges for Metro 2033 and Just Cause 2 (which I guiltily bought today for $7.50) and a leaderboard score challenge for Beat Hazard.   

I think I accidentally got Beat Hazard over the Thanksgiving break in one of the many Indie Bundles I purchased. I sort of wrote it off as a straight Geometry Wars clone, just with less 'geometry' and just 'wars;' I'd also written it off because I'd already played Audiosurf, and frankly, how many games do I need to "play with my music?" I was surprised to find that Beat Hazard was actually a bit deeper than that. 
 
Beat Hazard is, at it's core, a very simple game. You fly around space, a la Asteroids, shooting anything and everything that moves, and dodging various projectiles. While doing so, you try to keep your score multiplier, weapon power, and music volume up as much as possible, in order to become the titular "Beat Hazard." The part of the game that really gets me is that there's a Call of Duty-esque leveling system that adds perks to the core gameplay (i.e. increased multiplier bonuses, start with powerups, etc.) I finally managed to set the leaderboard score I needed for the Treasure Hunt, but I think I'm definitely going to go back to the game and explore it a little more. After the promotion is done, of course. 
 
Okay, I think that works for a semi-coherent blog post. Gonna go back to Mirror's Edge. Hopefully this won't suck. 
 
Later, 
 
RHD 
 
EDIT: The GB blog doesn't recognize tab breaks. Duly noted.