Video Game Sales #3 December 12th, 2012 Today there seem to be a lot of various opportunities for finding discount video games. With online sales, the convenience of finding the vendors which host the games your looking for is easy. "Find The Vendor"spotlights sales occurring on popular video game distributors and independent sites deserving a look.
SALE ONE
Today we can spotlight a personal favourite website GOG. To look at an objective review of the website and understand more, feel free to click here.
The "2012 DRM-FREE HOLIDAY SALE" has started! Today's deal is a bundle titled "Bullfrog Favourites" at 75 per cent off. http://www.gog.com/promo/bullfrog_favouritesThis puts the bundle of games at $11.92 where it was once $47.92.
You can also choose to just buy select games and end up saving 50 per cent of each individual price.
Video Game Sales #2 December 12th, 2012 Today there seem to be a lot of various opportunities for finding discount video games. With online sales, the convenience of finding the vendors which host the games your looking for is easy. "Find The Vendor"spotlights sales occurring on popular video game distributors and independent sites deserving a look.
SALE ONE
First, we have the Bundle In A Box Sale. Similar sale to the Humble Bundle Sale mentioned yesterday. Pay what you want at a minimum of one dollar. The bundle includes PC titles such as:
Shadows on the Vatican, Act:I. Redeemable on Desura and by direct download.
Delve Deeper & DLC. Redeemable on Desura, Steam, and by direct download.
War of the Human Tanks. Redeemable on Desura and by direct download.
Eversion. Redeemable on Steam, by direct download, and available for Mac.
Fibrillation. Redeemable on Desura and by direct download.
Extras available! Pay more than the average (currently as of writing, is $2.92) and get several more titles:
The Adventures of Shuggy. Redeemable on Desura, Steam, and by direct download.
Stay Dead. Redeemable on Desura, by direct download, and available for Mac.
The 4th Wall. Available by direct download.
Flibble. Available by direct download.
Skylight. Redeemable on Desura, by direct download, and available for Mac.
Shadows on the Vatican, Act:II (PRE-ORDER).
There was even more to gain if a certain number of sales were reached, and they have been! For everyone who paid or will pay above the average unlocked the additional:
Droidscape: Basilica OST
Sound of the Human Tanks
The Adventures of Shuggy Comic
The Adventures of Shuggy OST
Shadows on the Vatican OST
All these games are DRM-free. Five per cent will go to supporting The Hellenic Centre for Mental Health and Treatment of Child and Family charities. An Indie Dev Grant is also being formed through this sale. An indie developer has a chance to be voted for (among many) and win the grant "For every 100 bundles we sell, $10 will be added to the grant" says those at Bundle In A Box. Vote for your choice at their blog.
Video Game Sales #1 December 11th, 2012 Today there seem to be a lot of various opportunities for finding discount video games. With online sales, the convenience of finding the vendors which host the games your looking for is easy. "Find The Vendor"spotlights sales occurring on popular video game distributors and independent sites deserving a look.
SALE ONE
First, we have a great deal going on at Humble Bundle. Various developers will team up with this website to bring attention to there games by putting them up for whatever price you're willing to pay. THQ has taken an interest this time. With only one day left it's a good idea to head right on over to the Humble THQ Bundle. Featuring the games:
Red Faction: Armageddon
Darksiders
Metro 2033
Company of Heroes
Company of Heroes: Opposing Fronts
Company of Heroes: Tales of Valor
If you decide to pay over the average, then you unlock 3 bonus games:
Titan Quest
Saints Row: The Third
Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War
Paying more than the average (which as of now is $5.70 US dollars) will unlock Path of War DLC for Red Faction: Armageddon. Soundtracks for select games are available with your purchase in MP3 and FLAC formats. Soundtracks included are:
Saints Row: The Third - The Soundtrack
Darksiders Original Soundtrack - Directors Cut
Red Faction: Armageddon Original Soundtrack
Company of Heroes: All Heroes Rise
Company of Heroes: Songs From the Front
The option to send some (if not all) of the money from your purchase, to the Child's Play Charity and American Red Cross are available. This along with the option to choose how much directly go toward THQ and those at Humble Bundle are also available.
SALE TWO
Second, with only 7 hours left, we have The Indie Gala 11. Pay what you want for three games:
Imperial Glory
XIII Century: Gold Edition
NecrovisioN: Lost Company
I assume that it's the average, but currently it states that paying over $4.85, will unlock:
Men of War™
Cryostasis™
Star Wolves 3: Civil War
Men of War: Red Tide
King's Bounty: The Legend
Fantasy Wars
Necrovision
All the games come with codes that are redeemable on Steam except Imperial Glory.
SALE THREE
Third, we have some Steam sales.These games are discounted at 75 per cent off.
Street Fighter X Tekken at a price of $12.49 (previously $49.99). Also sold separately but with the same discount are the Street Fighter and the Tekken Swap Costume Complete Packs at $3.24 each (previously $12.99).
“We are all stardust.” One of the many memorable quotes from this
album. The theme of the album is science. The title gives that away
pretty quickly.Symphony of Scienceis a compilation of various speeches from lectures/ documentaries where
notable people (I believe all to be scientists, if not a high
percentage) have their voicesauto-tuned.This to many might seem like an annoying tactic, but it’s not to alter a
singer’s voice this time. It’s used to turn regular speech into lyrics
and flow with a melody. The artist does this quite well, hence the name
Melodysheep. The themes of the songs change based on different fields of
study within science -- different topics that science tries to address
and several arguments which are often held against scientists. The songs
take an approach to such themes by using very good quotes made by
extremely intellectual and thoughtful individuals. Some of these themes
include thebrain,DNA,dinosaurs,Mars,
along with multiple other significant topics which play an important
role in society and life. There are 17 songs on the album in total. The
album is updated whenever Melodysheep decides to produce another song
relevant to science. This happens every few months, at least. Updates on
the album don’t cost a thing (unless desired, but that will be
explained later on). It can be bought at Melodysheep’sbandcamp page, along with another album calledRemixes for the Soul,
songs made in a similar style but without one all encompassing theme
around them. Almost every song released also has a great music video
composed by Melodysheep as well. They can be checked out on hisYouTube channel.
Wait, there’s more! Melodysheep isJohn D. Boswell,
creator of the Symphony of Science series ( or album) and various other
music videos which he has bundled up as an album titled the Remixes for
the Soul. He posts his work on his YouTube channel and promotes it on
hisTwitter account. Some of his works are amusing, remixing moments such as the“They're Out There, Man! UFO Guy remixed”
song which takes advantage of some laughable lines from an interview.
Melodysheep takes clips of movies or different sources and creates music
from what is not normally expected. For example, he adds in melodies
very well to make the music he makes (along with the videos) in a way
that seems to always flow. The structure seems very natural, meaning the
connection between the different elements seems to be very well woven
together.
It’s better than any deal you’ll find at a Wal-Mart Christmas sale.
Purchasing the music is convenient in every aspect. First, you can pay
what you want. If that doesn’t excite you, maybe I should make that a
bit more clear. From a starting price of nothing ($0), you can own your
very own copy of the Symphony of Science (and or his other album Remixes
for the Soul). After listening to the songs on his website or watching
the music videos on YouTube and seeing if you enjoy the music for no
fee, you can purchase the album with whatever value you decide it’s
worth. If you felt that you only liked some songs and don’t care for
others, do not fret. You can simply purchase the album for the
individual songs you find valuable. Since updates occur every so often,
you can just purchase the album again for no added fee. Though if you
feel the new song is worthy of some additional support to the artist for
his work, you are more than welcome to contribute. The album comes on
various formats as indicated by theBandcamp(the service he uses to distribute his music) FAQ “MP3320,FLAC, MP3VBR (V0),AAC,Ogg VorbisorALAC
format.” This is perfect for anyone who wants very compressed music for
ringtones or people who want decently compressed files that fit nicely
on a music player/ phone, and even if you want to listen to these in
full clarity in their bulky but gorgeous FLAC versions, you may. Take
out the digital record player and give it a spin. However, the options
don’t end there. It’s also possible to get a single format vinyl of “A Glorious Dawn.” This record is distributed through theThird Man Recordsonline store. It’s available for the low price of 6 US dollars. If
there’s a vinyl collector out there or just someone who loves some high
quality music, then this is a great product to consider. The record
comes in a small cover which displays a beautiful pair of galaxies
colliding together -- “The Antennae Galaxies/NGC 4038-4039”
(downloads and information available) is the cover art for this record.
The record itself comes with an interesting design on the back face of
the record. It’s engraved with markings which resemble that of those
which were found on theGolden Voyager Record.
Skillful editing is evident. The composition of the different voices
that are used had an interesting contrast throughout the songs. The
fusion of voice and sounds flow very well. Through auto-tune, the voices
of the different people become more digital sounding, which makes the
addition of the music blend well together. Often people complain that
the use of auto-tune is annoying because it’s abused to try and alter
the poor range of some singers who can't hit certain notes. This becomes
painfully obvious and hard to enjoy. Here, the technology is not used
to fix the incompetence of singers but to develop an illusion of singing
because the words spoken are just speeches. The transformation of
speech to music is soothing. It intertwines the melodies with the words
from the various individuals to make hearing their brilliant insights
even more enjoyable. The electronic beats which seem to come from audio
editing software have a very subtle transition between the different
sounds. These are used well to build up a new verse, or weave themselves
along with the lyrics to again emphasise the illusion that the words
being spoken are authentically part of a song. The songs have a lack of
instruments.This is due to the fact that the songs are digitally
orchestrated as mentioned before. Sometimes it can be very impressive to
see what a band can do with various instruments. But, it can be equally
impressive when hearing the work of one person and one machine. The
formation of music through the methods Melodysheep has chosen don’t fail
to deliver in quality. Video editing is also superb. The music video
editing creates visual additions to whatever is being said and showing
off those who speak the lyrics. This allows the video to be insightful
and visually attractive. Using diagrams and video footage of the
different speeches or documentaries, the videos have a well constructed
presentation that keeps your eyes peeled.
Explosions are a blast! Nothing beats theBig Bangin that regard, which is one of the many important themes used in this
album. Who needs science class? What makes this album useful is the
educational lyrics taken from documentaries, speeches, and discussions
spotlighting intelligent people. When listening, there are many poetic
verses which arise due to the explication of the world through science. I
mean, it’s pretty hard to describe something more deeply than on a
quantum level. The profundity of the lyrics in these songs comes from
the amazing truths mentioned in the detailed verses which act as a
catchy way to learn new information. The title of one of the songs is
even called “The Poetry of Reality”
which is about expressing the prodigious wonders the world has to offer
while expressing the need for appreciation toward science since it acts
as our tool to understand the world we live in. Important topics such
as these are addressed through the diverse collection of songs in this
album. I’m of course only speaking in jest when I say “who needs science
class” but the point is that there are things to learn and enjoy at the
same time from these songs. They serve more than one use. It’s a very
unique approach to take these important quotes/ people, and then present
them in this fashion where they merge with a melody. It takes away the
stressful part of learning by making it quite pleasing to listen to the
speeches. Various topics are addressed --dinosaurs,the magnificence of the universe, evolution,climate change,
and more. In any science class, there are several topics worth
examining. It's diverse ability to educate and interest the listener
really broadens the range of its value.
Hitoshi Sakimotowas the composer for this album. He compiled a bundle
of tracks from theValkyria Chroniclesseries. It was featured on theHumble Bundlewebsite as well, as part of the very first music oriented
bundle on the website. The bundle providedFLACandMP3formats of the
album which means both are available. The whole collection is of 24
songs, spanning from various games, including themes from the second and
third game and many other memorable tunes if you have ever played the
games before. Hitoshi has composed some memorable soundtracks before
including those forFinal Fantasy TacticsandFinal Fantasy XII. His
reputation withSquare Enixshows his high budget projects from the
past. I think it is safe to say he has a decent library. Though he has
also done work forAniplexandDigicube, meaning there is a good chance
he will be expanding and continuing to provide for your listening
pleasure.
The track seems to be instrumental with possibly slight vocals being
used in harmony with many instruments. It is almost not noticeable, with
so many different sounds being used together, a harmonious voice just
blends in well. It’s a big contrast from the major focus so many songs
put on the singer. Here it seems as if the singer is not any more
important than a musician, or even less so. A nice and well done change.
Various kinds of instruments are used such as thecello,violin,drums,trumpets,bellsand many of the chimes are done so with an impressive
clash of different notes and musicians. A combination of them all
creates a very dynamic presentation. As an experience the songs do a
pretty good job of replicating tones of intensity which are to be expect
in a game and can very vividly describe the scene of a war. With
battles going on in the Valkyria games consistently, it is actually easy
to tell what parts of the game each song would fit into.
Each track is themed and transitions in very harmonious and fluid
manners which indicate a very natural form of progression throughout the
game. Transitions are very epic (filled with various sounds and
decently long). There is a pretty good constant pace with not much build
up. The amount of activity which occurs during the majority of the song
leaves no room for build up. It’s an extensive thrill ride all the way
through the song, and in turn the album. Moving into higher notes to
represent suspense of urgence; a very effective method which does not
take up a very significant portion of the song, rather just quick
sections and transitions which are there just to provoke certain
emotions. Producing emotions that keep you on edge while not distracting
you, add to the immersion of the game. Placing importance on a games
music to the point where it feeds into the engagement of the gameplay,
is a great use of what some people consider; a simple side element not
essential to the game. It’s an opportunity to do something amazing.
Diversity is not too clear. The compositions are unique but there is a
pretty big similarity throughout all the different songs, but a common
style is expect from any album. The instruments remain the same. The
games are supposed to be a representation of war, so all the songs are
fast paced. The transitions are indeed harmonious (mostly because they
are not sudden, but gradual) though they are not given too much
importance in the song. By this I refer to all the different parts which
change throughout the song which are mostly done through many quick
notes and consistent alterations between instruments. Aside from a
similarity of the songs (which is to be expected), listening to the
album all at once, seems as if it’s an expanding piece of art that goes
on for sometime. Keeping the style present through the hole album allows
for a very fluid experience. While some look for diversity in each
song, this album is best observed as a whole, a collective of pieces if
you will, similar to that of ajigsaw puzzle.
The
art cover depicts the characters in somewhat odd uniforms but hey,
people have their own style. The guns and tank are a clear
representation of the scene of war that takes place within the game.
With that in mind while listening to the album, you can get a good
understanding of what is trying to be depicted within the game through
the music. Even without visuals, the tone of the sound can be very heavy
and very uplifting. It fluctuates in a very clear and melodic fashion.
Editing in the music seems to be almost unnoticeable. The majority of
all the instruments (if not all) that you hear at one time is due to the
orchestra who Sakimoto used at his disposal. This means it could
potentially be heard live with no equipment other than the instruments
themselves. When listening to the complexity of all that is going on and
how many different people are required to make the one moment of sound
being listened to, it is quite impressive. Composing such a record is
quite the feet.
(not the orchestra from this soundtrack)
Uniqueness of the all encompassing music you hear from anorchestrais
present in this album, with folktype elements and other morerockand
heavy components. Though the general pattern within orchestra music can
be found (it doesn’t revolutionize the genre, but that isn’t required to
be good). Even though the songs tie together really well, the range of
tone and theme of each song (past the theme of war) is vibrant. Some
tones being quite sad, reflecting death, while others joyful and
laughable, reflecting reuniting and victory. The story of the game, as
far as I can tell is displayed quite well through the music in this
soundtrack.
Is this really the best? Well it was terrific; the rest (and there’s a
lot) is worth a lot of looking into. This album is a great collection of
Sakimoto’s work and it’s great for getting started in the library of
music he has composed.
Check
out theHumble Bundle blog postabout the sale which included this
soundtrack (where I bought it):
A
small independent Czech game developer founded by Jakub
Dvorský (clickhereto find out who's part of the team). They got some attention after
winning aWebbyAwardforSamorost
2.
Later getting some attention forMachinarium,
though the attention is starting to catch up again after the release
of Botanicula.
It was debuted as a stand alone game but also in a bundle. This was a
fantastic deal, it consisted of many ofAmanita
Design's
games (the developers of Botanicula). Debuted on theHumble
Bundlewebsite; these fine game enthusiasts every so often sell a bunch of
games at an amazing price of whatever you want. So when theHumble
Botaniucla Debutwas offered, it was a bit of an Amanita Jackpot.
I'll get into more detail on the Humble Bundle in my review of their
site.
The main story line
is about saving the world, but the world is a tree. You start by
meeting the hazelnut and all the other characters (see to the right).You find out that something is
eating away, killing all the colourful life around the tree by
sucking away its colour. You command this hazelnut and its group of
creatures to try to solve problems and escape the danger while
looking for a way to save the tree.
Amanita
Design has a name based of the iconic genus of mushrooms known as
Amanita. There are
over 600 species of agracis
including a lot of quite toxic mushrooms that should probably be
avoided on a pizza. The
iconic amanita muscaria,
commonly known as the fly agaric, was the specific choice by Amanita
Design for their logo. Though a cartoon version it's still pretty
clear that it's the red domed mushroom with those deadly white
specks. When people think of poisonous mushrooms it's the common
picture. The games name Botanicula is a play on the word botanical.
Botanical
just means relating to plants, since the whole game is played on a
planet, it has creatures seemingly inspired by the very ecosystem of
a tree or flower.
The art style is
something quirky. With creative creatures all around (see to the left) the
interesting spin on the normal things we see on trees and planets is
vast. From characters based off peanuts, to bugs with one wing,
characters designed for this story are usually quite adorable. There
are some creepy creatures as well (I won't show any more because I
don't want to spoil) but to all of you testosterone filled readers
there won't be any violence. Amanita made sure that you would need to
think about how to get through the game, adding in several puzzles,
and designing the tree with many mazes. What that has to due with a
lack of violence is, no combat. That may seem friendly and inviting
until you want to pull your hair out from one of the puzzles. They
probably aren't too hard but I still had to get a paper and pen out
to make notes. Regardless if that happens to you I'm the one
reviewing the game so just consider that the puzzles get more
difficult as you progress. Starting at the top of the tree you try to
make your way down, exploring more and venturing farther. A map you
get near the beginning helps you keep track and find your way around
the numerous mazes.
As you can see it's
a leaf that seems to have the outline of whatever part of the tree
you're at. Every map will only show you areas you've already been to
so it forces exploration. Which in this case isn't tedious, it's a
lot of fun because the level designers put a lot of interesting ideas
into each section (at one point even plugging in a cameo from another
game). The leaf maps can only show a certain amount of area at a
time. Once you have filled it all up by exploring the available area
you essentially transition to a new level and that's when you get a
new blank leaf to scout. One could think of the tree as the game, the
leafs as levels, and the little sections of the leaf you uncover as
missions/ puzzles/ quests you need to complete. The presentation is
done fantastically with a prodigious pallet of colour. From the
pictures already one can see the variety. With so many bright colours
it's easy to catch the eyes of the player, though they make sure to
not forget the darker tones for emphasising death. The core problem
after all is the colour that was sucked away by the monsters (the
colour representing death).
Conveying what is
good and bad based on tone is pretty common with the old white versus
dark idea, but these developers are more artistic than that. Amanita
knows not to complicate things and allows anyone to understand the
unique world they created. Humour is implemented well, hooking the
player in along with all those previous factors. The adorable
protagonists you have along your side are usually the catalyst for
amusement. The game is a point and click, this means you as the
player have to engage everything. So at times when ever you explore
or encounter a new creature the reactions from the main characters is
usually a silly one. The amount of surprise they emit often
translates over to the player (a bit subjective but hey, I'm limited
in my statistics funding) which causes a lot of fun and laughable
moments. Detail is immense, though even with all that detail the game
is not realistic. The game tries to present a unique artistic style.
With a lot of perspective shots, depth of field, and lighting done in
a way resembling some high quality photography/ cinematography.
The
hole game is played on branches of the tree, these branches are a
light green colour that is see through (see to the left). Other areas exist that aren't
on the branches but for a large amount of the time you'll see the
semi-transparent branches. Inside of the branches you can see the
veins of the tree and little organisms moving around. Adding in
attention to little detail like that make the environment of the game
a very stunning and a dynamic one.
Mechanics in this
game are quite simple. As most point and click adventures it mainly
deals with just clicking in the direction you want to move in and
clicking on whatever you want to interact with. The neat thing about
Botanicula is its constant variety in puzzles and how things are
supposed to be done. Having such simple mechanics means the real test
is that of the brain; playing the game starts to feel like second
nature. It engages, the game makes every trial you deal with have
unique obstacles. The mind is the real tool, having fluid and
straightforward mechanics work great as you try to take on each task
as if it were a jigsaw
puzzle in your hands.
That transitions
well into the difficulty and cleverness of the game, which
essentially means the puzzles. The cleverness is defiantly
progressive. The game starts of with very basic puzzles that teach
you how to play as you play, not a tutorial though, just good
conveyance of the mechanics, though this shouldn't be a surprise,
since they are so simple. Slowly adding more elements to the puzzling
system, the game challenges you the further you make your way through
the story. Some examples of this would be the implementation of
backtracking. Not to say that you have to grind
but instead there are unique events that you can interact with and
complete that will in turn help unlock further content in different
areas (sure you have to collect things at times but every time you
try to increase that counter to reach the goal something new/
interesting well happen making you want to continue on - looking
forward to what will happen next).
To the left there is a good example. Here you have to
find all the birds missing for someone and once you do you can move
on to the next area. The issue with that is that just making you
grind to find the birds is not innovative at all. Amanita has instead
implemented the much more fun method of getting a player to play a
hole new sub puzzle or mini game (found within each little hut) to get each missing bird. This takes
the generic concept of grinding and forms it into a quality filled
mission with several objectives, that in the end are all about
progressing through the game. Now that sounds appealing. Instead of
dishing out content similar to the way WoW
(World of
Warcraft) does with quests that make you gather 10 chickens by
killing a bunch of monsters 10 times over. Amanita instead dishes out
content with quality in mind that every “quest” is pieced
together with interesting content (attaining each chicken will be
different and require different thinking).
The soundtrack is
fantastic. DVA was the band who
designed the soundtrack (their name appears in the picture to the right). The points when the sounds
kick in or when you activate them usually help shift the mood a lot
so the soundtrack has a lot of variety to offer because the game
tries to convey the morphing emotions the characters feel. A lot of
the sounds in the songs are so odd I couldn't even figure out what
instruments were being used frequently. A similar style seems to
connect all the songs but I couldn't describe it with just a genre.
Songs like “Nocni Jazz” use ambient sounds very effectively to
set a mood but even if they seem simple there's a lot going on. In
that song one might think ambient as just really simple, but as the
song title says there is a lot of jazz in the song, and a lot of jazz
instruments are being used to make some of the ambience too.
Interesting mixtures such as this with very rare uses of sounds make
the experience refreshing. The lyrics are used wonderfully, since the
game has no narration (I'll talk more about that soon), or at least
no actual words are used, the sounds that come from the mouth are
just that, sounds, not words. Like the instruments, a lot of quick
noises are flowing together from the singers to make a melody, and
this puts a very equal amount of importance on the lyrics themselves,
not taking on a overly important role. No singer would be at the
front of the band, because the attention would always be switching to
what's going on in the back. The music is also interactive. When
playing the game pointing and clicking sometimes causes extra events
to occur. A few times this would even cause sounds to play and if you
figured out what to do, the sounds would actually function as pieces
of a puzzle. Once you solved it just like unlocking a new area, the
game awards you the complete song. Just as you figured out how the
song should play the game follows your lead and plays the rest. This
sort of twist to a point and click really show the desire to take a
simple genre, that people see as limited in so many ways, and
introduce aspects probably not predicted. It emphasises the amount of
creativity that was put into the game when people have a prejudice
towards a certain style or genre because it's so restricting, but are
then met with something like Botanicula. The lack of features one
thinks of will never match the amount of possibilities that could
exist.
Narration is all
done through imagery, there is no speech. This works very well
because without worrying about any of the writing the developers were
able to focus on a lot of the other aspects, like the visuals (it's
why they are so detailed). One might think that they are just
limiting themselves even further by making a point and click game
lacking in any dialogue, but in this case the limitations were a
catalyst. They helped bring more attention to other parts of the
game. The story itself is really simple but the way it's portrayed is
quite amusing. The characters constantly meet new creatures that you
have to help or run from. Each making their own unique sounds and
when they talk to each other it's more of a mumbling of sounds rather
then actual speech. The game really tries to go for the cute feeling,
because later on after spending so much time with these innocent
creatures you get attach to them, and the surreal world they have
been put into. It reminds me of a baby, unable to speak, also you
feel a need to help it, because your the one with all the brain
power, you have the ability to help the baby stay safe and grow up.
In Botanicula you have the ability to help the main characters get
through the tree and proceed to safety.
Settings, in terms
of resolution options, well it has the classic low, medium, and high.
So not very informative, but the game is small enough that most
computers should have no problems with running it. It gives an option
for windowed or full screen and if you choose windowed you can switch
between a 100% fill of the screen or a 60% size. 100% size with full
screen is just a bigger version of the game that doesn't actually fit
the hole screen (unless you have a small monitor [such as and iPad]).
It has a set resolution it can be stretched to. I can't inform you on
what that cap is because it's only given in terms of percent. The
only other feature is the choice to choose between languages and they
do offer a good amount of choices from English, Spanish, French,
Polish, Italian, Japanese, and more. There aren't many settings
available due to the simplicity of the game, it doesn't try to
overclock your CPU
(Central
Processing Unit) or run ultra high-definition graphics, so there
is no need for pushing your computers limits with extra settings.
Even with those limitations the game still looks quite nice, even if
it's got a small resolution.
I was surprised when
I found out the game was developed in Adobe
Flash, since the game is actually one of the better looking games
I've seen in a while, even with all of it's limitations. It would
have been nice it the resolution was higher and I could have had an
even more detailed experience but I'm not sure if that's just greedy.
The soundtrack works really well as you move through out the game and
even when I'm not playing it, the FLAC version (and other formats)
you can purchase is wonderfully composed. The game works great, runs
really fluently and has a lot of interesting and funny moments. It's
diverse library of puzzles really kept a lot of my interest, since
they get more intricate as you go along. With great visuals, music,
and a collection of puzzles this really made me feel like I was in an
interactive children book. With normally only text to guide you in
this case you have everything else but literature. A stunning
adventure that can be yours for 10 bucks.
You can buy
Botanicula at these locations:
GOG(Windows version only but you get the most bonuses: soundtrack,
wallpapers, design sketches, &c...)
Steam(Offers Mac and Windows version with purchase)
Gamers
Gate (Offers Mac and Windows version with purchase)
Botanicula.net
(Get the Windows, Mac, and Linux version plus the soundtrack for $10 or get the Vinyl)
