Stickmageddon

Stickmageddon looked quite interesting on first inspection, a game using the unreal engine, several difficulty levels and an original idea, but in reality I found this game extremely frustrating. Even when set on easy I was unable to progress past the two unlocked levels. Steam reviews say to unlock the rest of the levels you have to play this on the hardest level. I wasn't even able to survive on the easiest. Trying several times I gave up as it seems impossible to stop the stickmen from building the stairway to heaven from level 2 in the time allocated as the special abilities you get just aren't powerful enough to stop them. This is more like a clicker game. The faster you can click, the more likely you will survive; however, the abilities do have to regenerate and I was using all of them up before they were regenerating. Seems impossible to beat. Pity as I did like the concept. You can see mostly negative reviews of this game via the Steam community HERE. This version is a free standing version and does not include a Steam key, though oddly every time I booted the game up I received a message from the Steam client to plug in my VR headset (I don't have one yet). You can see several videos of game play HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE (Deutsche), HERE, HERE, HERE and via the Steam Store page HERE. Not one video showed anyone unlocking any levels, all failed to beat the game. I couldn't find one video that managed. This is a great shame as the game does have potential; that said, for a £0.79/$0.99 game, what can we expect? The developer could improve this game significantly by adding an even easier difficulty setting, or change the difficulty by making the special abilities more effective so that you can actually progress to the locked levels.

The concept behind the game was to use your special skills to stop the stickmen from building a stairway to heaven within a specified time. Once the stairway was built the totem pole would be reduced in size. When the last part of the totem touches the ground you fail. Special skills include a freeze skill, rain that makes the stickmen run away, acid slows the stickmen down, a meteorite strike that pulverizes and lightning strikes plus a special skill that can only be activated once you pick up a particular power up that wasn't available until the second level. Power ups are occasionally dropped for example an extra lightning strike. The following key bindings are used to play the game.

LMB = click on skills buttons
1,2,3,4,5 = main skills
Q = special skill
A & D = move camera

Useful Information not related to today's game giveaway:

Don't forget to check out the Epic game store HERE for the latest freebie called Horace; a huge platforming adventure which pushes the boundaries of the genre with a profound story of a small robot learning of life, the universe and Douglas Adams. Next weeks game that i will be available Thursday 23rd January is 'The Bridge', a logic puzzle game that forces the player to reevaluate their preconceptions of physics and perspective. It is Isaac Newton meets M.C. Escher combo where you manipulate gravity to redefine the ceiling as the floor while venturing through impossible architectures.

There are more free games over at Indie Gala HERE.

If you are looking for a decent and cheap game bundle well worth getting that contains a decent selection of triple A and indie arcade games, check out the latest Humble Choice bundle (formerly the monthly humble bundle) HERE; it includes 12 games of which you can choose 11 for the princely sum of only $12; total worth of those games at this time (none are on sale) is over $300. This months games include Middle-Earth: Shadows of War, Graveyard Keeper, Two Point Hospital, Dirt Rally 2.0 + 3 DLC, Street Fighter V, Bad. North: Jotun Edition, Trailmakers, Unrailed, Whisper of a Machine, Them's Fightin' Herds, Mages of Mystralia and Grip Combat Racing + 1 DLC plus a DRM free game and while subscribed you have free access to a trove of almost 100 DRM free games that would cost a small fortune to buy. It's definitely a brilliant bundle and one of the best combined offers ever {apart from the THQ and Codemasters Humble bundles from several years ago when the developer THQ's and Codemasters whole catalogue of then recent games was up for grabs for $5 each; (both bundles were worth over $400 each) just before THQ went into liquidation back in 2008}.

Finally, check out Delenns thread over in the Game Discussion forums for details of other free games and offers HERE