Be Mine 3 With a Little Help from My Friends

Hey there, bundle fans! The Be Mine 3 came out, and with quite a few interesting games in it to boot. Awesome, right? Indeed, except for one tiny problem. Backlogged as I was with a series of reviews I had to finish, there was no way I would be able to come up with timely and insightful thoughts about this package for you folks.

Not to despair! I know plenty of insightful, smart and all around talented people on Twitter, so I turned to them for help in crafting a guest review for the Backlog Journey, the site's first ever. Let me just say I was not disappointed.

Skip past the break for our very first guest bundle review. I'm as excited as you!

The Be Mine 3 Collaborative Review Project

Hey, dear readers.

As you probably know, the details for the Be Mine 3 were unleashed and it's going live tomorrow. Like always I plan to cover it, but I've run into a few problems. Stuff like how much I irrationally hate Oddworld and how I'm contractually obligated to finish my grandiose ode to Avernum 4 elsewhere. But most importantly, I have some very time sensitive reviews to finish up this week which means the review would not go up until Thursday at the latest, and it would be very grumpy.

As I was pondering my time management skills, I thought of a slightly crazy idea. I know for a fact that lots of great bloggers, game reviewers and generally cool people follow this blog. Why not give them a chance to try their hand at bundle reviews, while saving my feeble little brain from exploding with stress? Intrigued? Skip the break.

Indie Fort 2: Return of the Fort

Remember the IndieFort? It was a pretty great bundle from GamersGate with quite a few games that, to me, felt like a breath of fresh air from the usual bundle offerings. Well, like all good bundles, it's back again for a new round with six more games. Also like the last bundle, the six games being offered are rather eccentric and unusual, which is exactly the kind of games I love.

Of course, this means you might be rather perplexed about whether or not this is the bundle for you. Well, I'm here with my usual bundle review to set you straight on all six games on hand. Skip past the break for the full scoop.

On the Move: Indie Gala Goes Mobile

Indie Gala has decided to try something new with this bundle: mobile games. While other bundles (including Indie Gala itself) have flirted with including Android games, it's still a relatively rare sight to see. I suppose it's understandable; many gamers don't have smart phones, or don't like the available games on there. And while I do agree that the Google Play market is a bit dire for finding deep gameplay experiences, there are still a few gems out there, and now some of them are bundled for us to enjoy. Plus you get PC versions of some of the games for paying more than $3.99, plus three additional PC only games. That's a lot for only a little.

The other thing I really like about this Gala is the return to just indie games. It was getting increasingly hard to accept the name when games that were not even remotely indie kept being included. I really believe that indie bundles should be about helping indie developers first, not helping publishers offload a bunch of copies of junk like Bad Rats. So yay, Indie Gala! Good work bringing things back to the indie scene.

As a quick note, the Android phone I'm using for this review is my beloved Samsung Galaxy S II. Since time is short on this one, I'm going to truncate my usual lengthy reviews into a couple of quick, succinct points. Skip past the break and take a look.

Pixel Goats and Lovely Auditoriums: The June Bug Indie Royale Round-up

I don't want to get into a big debate about which bundle is the best bundle, because the wonderful thing about bundles is that you can buy them all and gets many wonderful games from the lot of them. But I have to say that while I think the Humble Bundle V was a seriously amazing bundle, it didn't truly excite me as I owned multiple copies of every game in it. This Indie Royale, on the other hand, is jam packed with games I've always been curious about, and that I'm now thrilled to get to play and own and download and everything.

Unfortunately, aside from a Mac version of Auditorium, you're going to be sticking with Windows in this bundle. Aside from that, this is a really amazing bundle. Every time it feels like Indie Royale outdoes the last one, and this is no exception. Skip past the break to see what awaits.

Hail to the Humble King, Baby

I review bundles. That's my thing. I do other stuff too, or at least I try, but in the end my goal for each of my bundle posts is to say "Yes, this is a wise purchase of games for your backlog" or "Nah, you can probably do without these games." Obviously I'm not really needed here.

This is the best bundle Humble has ever released. OS support across the board. Soundtracks. It's sold over 500,000 copies and has raised well over 4.5 million dollars. I just can't imagine there's a single person out there who's going "Hmmm, well, I'm not sure if it's a good deal." It's the best deal. If you play video games you have to buy it.

So this is less of a review of the Humble Indie Bundle V, and more of a victory lap. It's a bit rushed and off the top of my head. There's only 19 hours to go as of this post. Why am I bothering to finish this? Because why not? Skip past the break, quick!

Indie Underdog Pack 2 Has Arrived!

Hey, you! The Indie Underdog Pack is here with a new bundle, and it has a bunch of underdogs that deserve a look. This bundle has Tesla: The Weather Man, a historical account of the AC/DC wars, Drains, an underwater rebellion with a reluctant hero, Ichi, a great one button puzzle, Clone Wolf: Protector, an onslaught of bearded fury, and 48 Chambers, an arcade jaunt through many rooms with many spikes.

But when is the review coming? Well, err, several hours ago, actually. I was fortunate enough to be asked to do a bundle overview for the Indie Game Magazine, so you can find it hosted there. So yes, go check out the review and then check out the bundle. That is all.

Indie Gala V Part 3: The Top Tier

So you've already got twelve games, but it's not enough! Well, if you pay at least six dollars, IndieGala throws in four more games and a bunch of music. Not too bad at all, no? Again, keep in mind that this is to benefit charity, and you can skew your donation to wherever you want it to go. Also keep in mind that I've previously done reviews of the tier 1 games and tier 2 games, so be sure to check those out too.

So far we've had twelve games with a few gems and a few duds mixed in. How are the final four games going to stack up? Find out past the break.

Indie Gala V Part 2: Big Rallies, Battle Mages, Black Holes and Bad Rats

And welcome to part two of my grandiose three part reviewing epic. In this instalment of the robust Indie Gala V, we take a look at the tier two games. These are the games you get for paying over $4 or more. So if you're interested, just grab a couple of toonies and pony up to help out with the earthquake in Emilia Romagna and help to fund AbleGamers. And don't forget about the eight games I've already covered.

But what games do you get on this new tier of your Gala invitation? It certainly covers a variety of genres, including 4X, racing sim, RTS and puzzles. As always, skip past the break for my take on them.

School's Out for the Indie Royale Round-up

Welcome back to another round of the Indie Royale, this time in celebration of that wonderful time of the year when the whole summer is ahead of you. In this bundle, there's plenty of slightly obscure or unknown games to check out, so you might find a few new games you never even realized you wanted. Bizarre first person adventure? B-movie beat-em-up? Murder simulator? Electrical engineering? Kitty? It's all here and more.

But you'll never find out if I just keep talking, so let's get right to the games! Skip past the break and we'll chat about the seven titles included.

Indie Gala V Part 1: Yes, There Are Sixteen Games

Yes, there are a whopping sixteen games in this Indie Gala. No, I'm not going to review them all at once. In this post I'll cover the tier one titles, then follow up with two more posts on the next two tiers. Sound good? Sounds good.

I'm fairly confident that due to the sixteen games (and forthcoming music!), Indie Gala V is the largest bundle yet. It's a fine record to hold, but with sixteen games comes sixteen questions of whether or not this is worth playing. Of course, all the proceeds are going to help out with the earthquake in Emilia Romagna, while the other charity is the always wonderful AbleGamers. You can divvy up your donation however you please, and both are very worthy causes, so even if all the games were so great there's still merit to the donations.

However, are the games not so great, or are they a spectacular bonus to an already worthy donation? Let's find out past the break.