Just so you know, I am writing this when you are 1.5 years old (555 days to be exact). By the time you’re able to read this, you’ll have probably known that I like playing video games and I like playing them with friends, brothers, your mother, and most probably even you. I like sharing gaming experiences, and I actually enjoy playing games while someone is watching (ask Mommy how many times I forced her to watch me play). A lot of times these experiences get posted to Facebook, or Twitter, or Google+. By the time you’re reading this, though, Social Networking might have become obsolete (who knows?). And besides, they’re too cluttered with other posts such as check-ins, vacation photos, and many more.
So I decided to compile these gaming experiences into one blog, so that one day I get to share them with you, and so that as I play these games right now while you’re still a baby, I can play them as if I’m already showing them to a grown-up you.
In fact, I’ve taken the liberty to give you a temporary gaming nickname – Chlorine. Feel free to change it when you’re old enough.Back before the time of the Internet, multiplayer games were played side-by-sde. Instead of joining a virtual room or forming a party, your friends physically come over and play the game on the couch, sharing one screen.
This evolved to split-screen games, then to LAN games, and finally to the current internet-driven gaming scene.
TowerFall Ascension brings us back to where it all started. With its 8-bit sounds and graphics, both competitive and coop local and online multiplayer, this game is fun to play alone or even online, but really shines with your friends by your side. Think LittleBigPlanet or New Super Mario Brothers and you’ll get the gist.
Yet another example of the adage that good, high-tech graphics don’t make good games, TowerFall Ascension is trule a nod to the good ol’ past.
The game was actually originally released as TowerFall, an Ouya-exclusive title that despite the limited audience made waves in the gaming community. Ascension adds the extra coop mode, which you can also play solo, and new maps, and is the version released via Steam and to the PS4.
As of now, I played this only on the PS4, and even though it comes down to personal preference, I still have to say this: This game should be played with a game controller.
The game itself is simple. The entire map/battlefield fits the whole screen, and each player controls an archer. In coop mode, the archers must work together to defeat the waves of monsters, while in the competitive mode, obviously, the players must annihilate each other. In both modes, shooting another archer kills him/her (i.e. Friendly Fire is on).
Arrows are limited, but are preserved. This means that as soon as you kill an enemy, you can approach its carcass and pick up your used arrow, ready to be used on another target.
Powerups also pop up every now and then, giving additional or even special arrows, or shields.
Here’s a video of an entire map completed by your Mommy and I. See if you can guess which one (blue or pink) is your Mom, and which one I am:
Of course, the video won’t justify the actual fun you get when playing it. I’m sure by the time you read this, we’d have played it several times, and you probably beat us many times by now. With the right companions, maybe your closest or most makulit friends, this can be the most fun game in anyone’s game library.
Choosing to go 8bit in its art style also does not hurt the game at all. In fact, it helps bring that throwback feeling, like you’re (and of course I mean people in my generation) back in the 80s or 90s.
It’s a bit cliché now, but,
Don’t judge a book by it’s cover.
applies here. Awesome graphics is good to look at, and definitely helps, but how good a game is goes way beyond this criteria. With the right combination or fun factor, solid gameplay, action, depth, and diversity, one can easily and confidently say that, like in this game, graphics don’t matter at all.
In short, don’t judge a game purely based on graphics. In many, many cases, you just might be pleasantly surprised.
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