Tag: Software

Sometimes, nuclear bombs cannot solve a strategic problem. Strategic bombers have been dropping nukes on Soviet divisions for a while, but they have enough industry to keep pumping replacements out. Dropping more nuclear bombs on their cities helps, but to actually destroy the U.S.S.R., some conventional armor thrusts are needed. That means that I need to first ensure air superiority, so I need more bases and fighters, while backing my armor with anti-air assets. All this stuff is competing in the industry queue with the nukes I need to make sure a Soviet counterattack is contained. Thankfully, the Russian far east has limited defenses, allowing for a second front that should make it easier to push into Eastern Europe. ICBM: Escalation - United States of Annihilation is developed by SoftWarWare and published by Slitherine Ltd. This is the second major downloadable content pack for the strategy game, which delivers an alternate history campaign focused on the United...

Over the past few years, we’ve seen quite a resurgence of SpongeBob SquarePants games. We’ve had the Patrick Star game, The Cosmic Shake and also Battle for Bikini Bottom – Rehydrated. Now with SpongeBob SquarePants: Titans of the Tide, we have the epitome of that 3D platforming goodness, with a very engaging story and some of the best platforming I’ve seen in quite some time. The premise of SpongeBob SquarePants: Titans of the Tide is pretty simple: you have the Flying Dutchman and King Neptune unleashing ghosts all over Bikini Bottom, and you need to do everything you can to stop them. The addition of ghosts adds a unique system here, because you can easily switch between Patrick and SpongeBob. Once you switch, the previous character you were using is near you, in the form of a ghost. It adds to the gameplay, while also making sense lore-wise. Titans of the Tide keeps a very similar layout of Bikini Bottom and the same cartoony visual style, making it a rather fa...

When I first tried Pearcleaner a couple of years ago, it was a basic and somewhat flawed app uninstaller. Since then, it has evolved into such a powerful and versatile maintenance application that it makes you wonder how it’s still available for free. With every release, more and more features are added, to the point where you can’t even call it an uninstaller anymore, or even just an all-purpose cleanup tool. It integrates the complete functionality of many free and paid apps, and it’s quickly becoming indispensable. Remove apps and leftover files Naturally, this is still the app’s bread and butter. It helps you get rid of all the files normally left behind when simply dragging an app to the Trash. The algorithm has improved, and I ran into no cases of it flagging unrelated files when using the Strict setting. When switching to Deep or even Enhanced search sensitivity, things get quite dangerous, as the app routinely includes files unrelated to ...

Enter a brimming fantasy world where your focus is to try and create an amazing team, while also battling enemies that come right in front of you. That’s what Whimsical Heroes does, it offers you the opportunity to create a party of pretty unexpected heroes, and then you battle a plethora of silly, quirky creatures. Just to put things into perspective, you have heroes like a cat, an onion and a radish battling bees, cucumbers and so on. It’s that kind of game, but it also has a heart, and it’s designed from the ground up to be quite involving and engaging as well, which is always nice. From the beginning, the game itself has a nice presentation. Don’t expect AAA visuals or anything, but the game world itself is quite colorful, and it has a nice look to it. Yes, it seems more like a cartoony world where these whimsical creatures are coming to life, and it truly is something creative and enjoyable. Not only that, but the world as a whole feels like something you want...

RENNSPORT is a new addition to the world of simulation racing, and the interesting thing about it is that you can play it free of charge. That being said, the free version is more of a demo, because you have a single track and car that you can use. Still, it gives you an idea of what RENNSPORT delivers, and that’s some pretty good, albeit punishing simulation racing. What I like about RENNSPORT is the fact that the game is focused on pure simulation only, although you can tweak the settings to make it a bit more forgiving. In fact, for casual players, I recommend you add all the assists and go for the easiest difficulty. That will help improve the experience, but you can also go full hardcore simulation where every tiny mistake might cost you the entire race. If you buy the standard edition of the game, you will enjoy using 16 cars from different categories, but also 13 different racetracks. It’s not as much content as some of us would expect, however it gives you ...

I needed to gain access to the Seraphim a little faster. Maybe I should have made sure my two cities put out more research, even if that meant putting a smaller number of Battle Sisters in the field. The flamethrower-wielding jet-powered squads are the best way to deal with incoming Orks and Necrons, especially when backed up by two capable heroes. My delays mean I only have two on the field, close to Celestine herself, while other units are recuperating in the backline. I plan to pull back from the Necron stronghold a little to avoid significant losses. In the meantime, my cities will produce more units, and I will rearrange the battleline to have more options when the revenant machines push forward. Warhammer 40,000: Gladius - Rampage Pack is developed by Proxy Studios and published by Slitherine Ltd. This is a downloadable content pack that’s only designed to drop in more units for players to use as they seek to destroy their adversaries. There’s no narrative e...

It’s always hard to know exactly when to let go. This applies to many life moments, but, more importantly, to the core ideas of the rhythm genre. And I keep missing the cue to release the key, which is affecting my ability to get a high score. And I’m playing a song I know pretty well on an intermediate difficulty setting. I’m afraid to try a tougher challenge until I fully master the art of pressing the right key at the exact time to get a “Perfect” evaluation. To avoid any frustration, I return to story mode. A prison conversation about missing breakfast is enough to get me right back into the groove. Main character Beat and her friends are looking to escape. But until they can do that, I need to do some quality assurance, play baseball, and a little pool, and talk to my bandmates to make a plan. The escape involves Beat skating, tracking the song’s rhythm to jump and switch rails at the right time. Then the entire band joins in some musical combat while on a tra...

Whenever you hear the word Mystic, it brings you back to the idea of ancient worlds, and people rooted in those incredible beliefs. However, when we think about Mystic, we are thinking about a very interesting new game, a mix of survival, action and RPG elements, all in a very interesting mix. This new game is set to help bring the fantasy of Arabian nights into our lap, with a beautifully crafted world, lots of enemies, but also jinns and animals. Right off the bat, your focus in this world is to try and stay alive, as pretty much everyone is trying to get you. And you need to use all your skills but also find others that might help you in your quest. It’s not easy honestly, because at first, you are very unskilled, and you aren’t really going to stay alive for much time. That’s why you need to acquire and harness skills as much as possible. Whether you want to learn parkour, improve your combat skills, all of that is quite interesting and it adds new layers of ex...

The angry milk dispenser was too powerful for the previous incarnation of my dog wizard. My build was all about calling in angry trolls and then boosting them via a ring at the end of my turn, so that they could hit hard and, hopefully, take hits. Unfortunately, I had lost too much health to last much against the boss, and my tactic of stunning opponents using curses failed to deliver results. For my current run, the plan is to aim for a powerful wand and strong bones to get shields. The first two battles are relatively easy to win, despite losing one health point to poison, and I manage to get the upgrade that grants an electric shield. If I plan my bone dice three times during a turn, I will not only avoid damage but reflect it doubled to enemies, which makes some encounters trivial. Despite my shiny new abilities, the big tree boss still poses problems. The dog wizard’s abilities don’t grant it control over luck, and the rolls don’t fully go my way.  I launch ar...

A united Iberian peninsula could be a major power, both in Europe and on the world stage. But my version of Spain is currently busy with multiple other priorities, and I have to settle for making Portugal part of our Latin power bloc. Resources are needed to feed the army because its powerful interest group encourages colonialism in Africa. Still, we’re up to fifth in the power rankings, just ahead of both Austria and Prussia. Our solid alliance with the British Empire helps keep threats from other major powers at bay. Our industry is still limited but growing. I avoided rigging the vote, and soon we might actually eliminate the last remnants of Carlist influence. Victoria 3: Iberian Twilight is developed by Paradox Development Studio and published by Paradox Interactive. The downloadable content pack is classified as focusing on immersion, with gamers able to explore many possible paths for Spain, Portugal, Cuba, Morocco, and more. Both the European powers that s...