Review update and News

Hey everyone,

I just wanted to make a quick post to let you know what's going on with reviews on the site.

As you may know by my reviews, and limited number of them so far I am new to writing reviews.  This is something I aim to get better at, and would really like to incorperate more videos from my YouTube channel into my reviews as well.

I am currently working on a few reviews that will be coming in the following days / week.
The first one I am working on now is Beseige.  This is a really fun game and I really look forward to getting a review up soon.  I am also working on a "Let's Play / Review" video series for Beseige as well.  The first video will be online within a day (takes a while to upload).

After Beseige, I will be working on Medieval Engineers, and Hand of Fate!  These two games are looking to be quite nice as well.  I have played a little bit of Medieval Engineers so far, but not Hand of Fate.

One last thing for now,  I'd love it if you could help me out by sharing my reviews / blog site on the social networks.  I'd like to get some feedback on how I am doing as a reviewer and love to hear comments, and criticism as well.

Thanks for checking out my site, and stay tuned for more reviews.  I believe you can follow this blog site from the links below... If it's not setup for following let me know in the comments and I will get it setup.

Michael

Hero of the kingdom 2

It all starts peacefully until pirates attack the small fishing village and take your sister!  Now I must save her and help whoever I can to gain trust and fame.  Those pirates will be stopped!

Hero of the Kingdom II is a really nice game with a unique play style.  You help out anyone you can and learn about the village, and people there. 

The game does a great job with art and sound.  However, there were some times when I felt “stuck” and not able to move forward in the story.  This was because there are things that you can pick up, but you really need to look for them.  Things like crates, grains, and other trinkets scattered around the world.

Since the game is story driven I don’t want to spoil the game for you, but I do want to say that I definitely enjoyed the game and recommend it to anyone that enjoys casual, story driven games.

As you play the game more features become available, such as inventory, and a map that use can use for fast travel.

*EDIT*  I wanted to make a quick note about the developer and community for this game.  One of the things I look for when doing game reviews is how the developer is involved with the community.  Some devs really do a great job with interacting with players and responding to player feedback / problems, and of course, as we all know there are some developers that disappear after a game is released.  This developer, Lonelytroops, is doing a great job with the community.  I have seen many posts in the steam forums responding to player issues and just general discussion with people.  So, this is another reason I like this game, and this developer.

You can find the game on Steam: http://store.steampowered.com/app/346560/

And http://www.lonelytroops.com/hotk2/index.htm

Advanced System Care Pro / Ultimate

I have been using Advanced System Care Ultimate for the past few weeks and it has been a great experience.  ASC is a program from IOBit that takes care of your computer and protects it from things like system slowdowns, registry errors, malware, and a lot more.

I typically don’t use programs like this, not since Norton Systemworks.   I find these programs are bloated and resource hogs.  Advanced System Care is totally different.  It has not slowed my system down at all, in fact I find performance has been better than normal, and having it take care of problems automatically has been a great thing. 

ASC scans your system for many things as you can see in this screen shot. 

Advanced System Care Ultimate comes with a large list of tools to help keep your PC running in top shape.  Some of my favorite tools are the Disk Cleaner, and Start up Manager.  There seems to be a tool for anything you could need on your PC.  One thing to keep in mind is that these tools are separate programs that get downloaded on the first use.

So, why review ASC on my game review site?  Well, this product from IOBit does a great job of keeping your PC running smoothly and indirectly this is good for gamers and all PC users.  If you do a lot of downloading ASC keeps you protected from viruses and malware. 

IOBit has many other products that keep your PC protected and running as fast as possible.  Check out their site and see what they can do for you.  All their products have a free version to use. 

I highly recommend the ASC for all PC users.  The cost for the Pro version is only $19.99 and just $29.99 for the Ultimate version.  At this price it's a great deal and well worth it.

IOBit Web site: http://www.iobit.com/

Advanced Systemcare Ultimate: http://www.iobit.com/advanced-systemcare-antivirus.php

Space Engineers

Space Engineers is a simple, yet complicated game that puts you in deep space in charge of your destiny.

When I first started playing Space Engineers it was a little overwhelming to me, but this isn’t a bad thing.  I was really excited to see just how much I could do.  At the time I had no idea what was possible, I thought it was a “Minecraft in space” type game.  Well, saying that is just flat out wrong.  It is much more.

After playing the game for a short time I got more familiar with the controls and basics of how the game works.  I started my adventures in Survival mode because I do enjoy the process of building up a space station and fleet of ships from scratch.  This can be a daunting task at first, as Space Engineers has many components, and ores to be mined in order to get the materials needed to get started.

In the beginning you need to get ores that can be refined into ingots which in turn you use to assemble parts and components to further build your ships and stations.  Mining with the player held hand drill is a slow and tedious process, but that’s just until you can build a mining ship, or using one of the games many preset “worlds” you can start with a ship to use.  Check out this quick clip to see the huge difference in mining speed.

Not only is mining with a ship much faster, but cutting through an asteroid like a hot knife through butter a lot of fun.

In my time playing I enjoyed the process of getting ores, refining, and then taking the materials and building neat things.  I did begin to realize though that if you are learning the game, and wanted to experiment with building ideas it is best to start in creative mode.  Save survival for when you know a bit more and have a plan on what you’d like to do.

Checking out the Steam Workshop for SE showed me just how much I need to practice!  There are some amazing looking creations there and of course the workshop is completely integrated into the game, which is nice. 

So, besides simply building there is more in this game that I have yet to be good at, this includes combat, and more sophisticated designs made from programmable terminals and control panels plus more.

I really enjoy this game and will continue playing for some time to come.

I recommend this game to anyone that likes to build and explore their creative side.  There is a lot to do, and with the developers continuing dedication and support I think this is a wise purchase that you will not regret.

Space Engineers is in active development and frequently updated with new features, and of course bug fixes as needed.

I found the game to be a little overwhelming in the beginning, however once I picked up the basics of how things work, I must say the learning curve is definitely worth it!

Space Engineers offers a lot of options and I have only touched the surface of what can be done.  This is the kind of game that will be around for a long time, and with the Steam Workshop support, and completely programmable block features, the stars are the limit of what is possible.

I highly recommend this game to anyone that loves sandbox games, and in particular people that enjoy Space games. 

The Forest

The following review is based on the Alpha 0.02 build of The Forest.

It all starts with a terrible plane crash on some remote island.  At first as I look around it’s not so bad.  There seems to be plenty of supplies and lots of wood to build a shelter and survive.  Then… in the distance I see them.  Mutants!  Not something I want to deal with right now.  After sneaking away from the plane crash I found a nice spot by the beach to build a shelter and get some food.  Now, as I settle in for the night, I realize that I am not alone here in The Forest!

I’m a big time fan of survival games and so far the forest is the game that looks the most promising to me.  I really love that I have to build a shelter and survive off the land.  I really hope the future updates add to this aspect of the game.

As for the Mutants, they definitely get in the way of surviving!  Seems like they don’t enjoy having anyone new on their island.  

I've played with, and without the Mutants (via a mod) and as much as I don’t like having them there, they sure do add to the tension.  Everything you do needs to be planed and done quietly without drawing attention to yourself.  Those mutants like to go out on patrols, and if they find you, they will attack.  Playing without the mutants is nice, but there isn’t any sense of danger.  As of now you cannot starve to death so really, unless you fall off a cliff, you’re not going to die.  I imagine in time that will change though.

I am very impressed with the level of detail and atmosphere in this game.  The forest is rendered perfectly.  The amount of trees, shrubs, and grass make this a very realistic game.  It’s nice just to explore the island and discover the different locations.  Chopping trees with the axe is also very well done.  Of course, cutting down too many trees will leave a nice big open area. 

When it comes to surviving, you have a very handy guide with you.  The Survival Book.  This book is a great addition to the game.  I find it is a great way to allow you to build and keep the level of immersion high.  It’s not complete right now, but there will be a lot more added in future updates.  For an early alpha release it’s very impressive at this point.

Of course the game isn't without its share of problems.  There are many glitches and bugs at this point in time.  One major issue at this time is the lack of a proper save system.  The only way to save your game is to sleep in your shelter.  Of course this means you have to have a shelter to begin with.  Also, your inve

ntory is not saved at all.  It seems like there is a “default” inventory that just gets reset when you load your game.   I would really love to see a proper save menu that I can use any time… not just when sleeping in my shelter.  Besides that, many of the other issues I found seem to be minor, and considering this is only an alpha build, I am very impressed with the progress so far, and can overlook the small bugs for now.

At the current time there are only a few mods out there for this game. Some mods have been made to fix a few of the existing bugs.  Modding of The Forest isn't supported right now, but I believe there will be support in the future, and once that happens there will be a lot of really nice mods that will expand the game to new levels.

I am looking forward to the new updates to The Forest, this is a game that I definitely want to continue playing.  The survival aspect of this game is really nice and once a few more updates come out this is going to be a game that people will be talking about for a long time!

The Forest is a new game that still has a long way to go.  If I was asked to recommend this game to someone, I would definitely say yes! The team making this game are dedicated and working hard to add features and make this a great game, and even at this stage (Alpha 0.02) it’s quite nice.  So, what are you waiting for…? Go check it out and watch out for the mutants!!

New Home for Tiger Reviews!

After being hosted with GoDaddy for the past year I have moved to blogger as my new host.

I want to be able to continue with the game reviews and have a stable provider without worrying about losing files etc.

So, here we are.  Over the next few days I will be getting everything in order and working on several reviews as well.

Currently I am working on the following reviews:

• Raven's Cry
• Space Engineers
• IOBit Software
• Advanced System Care Ultimate 8
• Malware Fighter Pro
• Advanced Mobile Care
• SimVenture

Odds are Space Engineers will be completed first, and I am currently waiting for Raven's Cry to see if it gets some updates in the following week.

Please check back and follow me on twitter for more updates.