My new rebuild is almost ready. Just waiting for a new operating system then I'll be back as normal, posting reviews and moderating.

Monster in District 2

In Brief
A first person arena shooter.

The Game
Today's game by the developer Juri, is a first person arena shooter using the unity engine and is similar to several games we've received previously over the last few months from this developer i.e. Yesterdays game giveaway 'Monsters in District' as well as 'House in the Woods', 'Witches', 'Witches 2', 'Dangerous Killers 2', 'Dangerous Robots', 'Sinister Fear',' Space Colony' and 'Danger Desert'. All of these games use similar assets, with the main changes being the backgrounds and various building changes. You can access all the games controls (of which there are 23 plus mouse controls) via the F1 key.

As with all these games, the aim is to survive the waves of monsters that re-spawn fairly frequently. You already have all the weapons available (using your mouse wheel or the numbers 1 to 7 + 9 that include a pistol (2), shotgun (3), sniper rifle(7), a few assault rifles (4 ,5 & 6 a knife (1), sword (9) and a torch (only available via the mouse wheel or on the assault rifle number 4). You can pick up more ammo by hovering your mouse over ammo packs and weapons and pressing the F key (don't keep it depressed). All weapons and ammo packs re-spawn randomly from various spawn points, some of which are easily identified as some spawn on a coffee tables (Weapons are generally found on the floor, ammo magazines and health packs on the tables). Everything re-spawns after a time. There are safe zones within the arena, where you can rest for as long as is needed if you need a break. If you only have one monitor just press the window key to drop the game down to the task bar so that you can carry on with other tasks; though make sure you've found a safe spot otherwise you may return to find your character is dead.

Unfortunately there is no save available and when you die you start afresh. There's only one level as far as I can ascertain. I don't have enough time to explore the game further (I'm using my daughters computer and she had some streamed lectures coming up soon); however, if Monster in District 2 is like all the other FPS arena games from this developer, you definitely only get one arena to survive in.

Conclusion:
The game is playable and okay to a point; unfortunately with only the one arena it gets a little repetitive after a while. The graphic is a little dated, but still looks okay and should play on low power computers with no problems, Though I cannot vouch for older operating systems. Personally I think the developer should combine all of the games I've mentioned above into one game; with each game representing a level. They would have to include an end point to each of the levels ; for example, kill a certain number of the monsters to progress to the next level. I would also include a save feature and if possible a difficulty scale, (i.e. easy - weapon, ammo and health pack re-spawns frequently with a number of extra lives, medium - re-spawns not as often with fewer extra lives and hard - no re-spawns and no extra lives. If this was accomplished, then, and only then would I consider buying the game if it was cheap enough. You can buy fully fleshed out older AAA FPS games that used to cost £30 that still have better graphics than these unity based games that were released in the mid 2000's; for example, the Vietnam shooter Men of Valor (which is still one of my favorite Vietnam based shooters that is still available via Steam; with some amazing jungle based levels and includes the ability to set up a multiplayer server for between £3.75 to £9, depending if it's on sale).

Useful Information not related to today's game giveaway

Don't forget to check the giveaway game discussion forums HERE; especially Delenn's threads for non Steam and steam freebies. The latest Epic Game freebie is now available - Costume Quest 2 (Explore spooky time-traversing landscapes, don adorable new costumes that transform into powerful Hallo-warriors, and collect even Creepier Treat Cards to wield in combat against a legion of hygiene obsessed baddies ) and Layers of Fear 2 (a first-person psychological horror game with an emphasis on exploration and story ). With Blair Witch (psychological horror game ) and Ghostbusters: The Video Game Remastered (based on the movies) available from Thursday afternoon (UK time approx 3pm)
Indie Gala freebies include Defense of Roman Britain (60+ tower defense levels), Cosmic Pioneer (retro lunar lander type game), The Deed (an Adventure/RPG game about getting away with murder ), Hentai Mosaique Fix-IT Shopp (adult only), Zombies on a Plane Deluxe (Take on the role of the captain of a troubled jumbo jet carrying infected passengers intent on bringing the plane out of the sky, or pit yourself against hundreds of zombies in the interior of a jumbo jet or even walk along the outside as you fight to regain control as one of the passengers ), Secrets of Magic: The Book of Spells (match 3), Octave (a point 'n click horror-adventure game with elements of action and quest.), Copperbell (a unique hand drawn short adventure game and help Copperbell defeat the demon that has settled in the nearby forest. ), Dashing Dinos (a fast-paced, physics-based, local multiplayer game. Play against a couple of friends on your couch or bring your next house party to a whole new level! ), Dyna Bomb (a platformer), and Ghost Sweeper (A platformer; explore 8 different worlds, from the Dark Forest to The Evil Lord's Lair. Travel through the haunted villages and graveyards on your journey to defeat the darkness. ). There are almost 100 free games available from the site now. Some are removed, especially the bigger names.