In This Issue!
Tazer News: No Gamer Gazette Next Month: Next month there will be no Issue of The Gamer Gazette because our editor is going to be on Holiday, and therefore will not be able to sort out everything for release. However, in November with will a slightly larger issue than usual to make up for it. New Video Schedule for YT: We have come up with a brand new YouTube schedule which took effect on Monday 29th September 2014. This will include several new series as well as dropping some of the old
ones. Among the new series are “Early Access Reviews”, “Free Games Fridays” and “Games with Nathan”. To find out more information about the changes please visit our YouTube Channels. New Tazer Member: We now have a brand new member to the Tazer Roster called Korpah. He is a small YouTuber from Holland who will be joining us to take over the Tazer Plays! Series. But if you can’t wait till the first video is released, why not check out his review of Action Henk in this Issue of The Gamer Gazette!
Hello everyone, this is Korpah! Welcome to the running, jumping and buttsliding to glory, toy-filled world of Action Henk! Yep, that’s a title you won’t soon forget! I’m Korpah the new member of Tazer PC Gaming Community, and when I joined Nathan asked me if I’d like to do a review on a game he’d got his hands on. I of course jumped at the opportunity to get my first review out there. So, Action Henk is a game in early access on steam currently version 5. It is developed and published by the Dutch indie developer Rage Squid. So it’s great to see and review a game that has been made on Dutch soil!
Action Henk is an action racing game, and normally not on my ‘play’ list, so I was very interested as to what my thoughts would be about this game. So truthfully, I went into the game a bit skeptical, but when I launched Action Henk for the first time my ears where filled with joyful music while my eyes were captivated by the colorful menu. When checking out the graphic menu there are a lot of options to make the game look better, but it also shows you what FPS (Frames Per Second) the game will run on. As this is a fast-paced game the last thing you want is a slow FPS, by turning on or off options the FPS will change which gives you less trial and error runs with the
options menu if the game isn’t running perfectly so that is great! When starting up my first track I had to select a Hero and here is where our Henk enters the frame, Henk is a fat, strong looking, middle aged man, with a t-shirt too short for his belly, resulting in a great deal of it sticking out. Yeah...that’s our hero Action Henk! It seems more heroes will become available later on when you have completed multiple tracks and when the game is further down its development path. Although I could not find out if a specific hero gives a specific pro or con. But action Henk will be our butt-sliding hero and he will set the best time needed to win all the Rainbow medals… well that’s the plan. The first track looks like a race car track, and a lot of other toys are involved in the
track and the area surrounding the track. These provide a nice environment together with the music that just makes you want to go fast! The game starts off easy providing you with the right learning curve to learn all the tricks like; jump, slide, and further down the game the use of a suction gun which makes you swing like Tarzan in the jungle! While the game provides onscreen tips as to what buttons to press, to jump and slide, the game is really fast paced and you have almost no time to read the onscreen information and to press the right button to, jump, slide and to use your suction gun on time, making a repeat of the map nearly unavoidable. But it seems that the developer Rage Squid knew that and provided a one-press ‘restart the map button’, which really works well and it’s a good thing that it’s there. However, re-trying a map is not the only
thing you have to do to become a better butt-sliding hero, there’s also a ghost depending on the medal you selected, that shows you how it needs to be done in order to get that gold medal! Or even a rainbow one! I played this game with the Xbox controller and although this game works with mouse and keyboard I would recommend you play this with a controller. It feels more natural and this is just one of those games that you have to play with a controller, in order for you to get the most out of it. I haven’t tried out the multiplayer yet because it wasn’t available at the time of the review, it seems that they release it every Thursday and Saturday so they can keep track of the play, and keep a close eye to make sure everything works properly. It’s a shame that I could not test it though, because I can see myself playing this with my girlfriend or a friend for a quick laugh. Although I could not find out if there will be hot seat/versus mode available without the need of being connected to the internet, I sure hope there will be one! So if you like fast action-paced racing games, Action Henk just might be what you’re looking for, so make sure to follow it on steam if you do. Take into consideration that this game is in early access and thus not finished, it seems the developers are
doing regular updates and the game is very playable in its current state. Although, a lot can still be added to make the game worth its price tag of 10 euro’s, or your region equivalent. (£6.99 for the UK)
Pro’s
Great rich environment and Music Fun characters and maps Provides a good learning curve Controller and keyboard/mouse support
Con’s Still in Early Access No Multiplayer as of yet
Thanks for taking the time to read this. And I would love to hear your thoughts on the review. Thank you!
Hi people, first I would like to say this is another alpha game so what I will say here is about its current state and NOT the finished product. So I will simply tell you about the game as it is right now. It’s Thursday the 25th of September, just so you know when this was made. I think it's important to know this as the game will undoubtedly be moving forward and continually changing till release day. Ok, so now we’ve gotten that out of the way this game is hard to make a review on, not because its good or bad but for the absence of so much else. I don’t know what the point of the game is. Is it to survive or to fight back from the alien organism? Since the game doesn’t tell me otherwise I will assume it's simply to survive. But that’s all the story there is so far or maybe I just haven’t dug deep enough to get to anything else. I normally divide this into chapters such as gameplay, characters and story. But since I know very little about the story and there's only 3 characters in the game... well 2... 1 is
still in development and there's no voice acting to speak of. So I think I’ll simply talk about the gameplay itself and whenever I need to jump back and forth about the games features I will. When you start out you're in a safe house and will get a few hints about how to control your character and how to make some basic items like a campfire. Then you are off out into the world. As you explore you will find houses, some big, some small and start by looting everything that’s not nailed down, I know I did, and still do as much as possible. This means I’ll be forced to leave behind a few things since I don’t know what is important or not. The crafting system tries to help though by telling me what I can do as soon as I enter the menu for it and it's not that hard to craft, most recipes are already there and it's easy to get going. But a lot of stuff is just junk as far as I can see, but I just keep gathering stuff till I find something better or have to throw it away. And this is what I hate with all crafting
games, what to keep and what to give up. I simply don’t know what will be useful later. And I'm not very good with storing it somewhere so I can pick it up later, my memory won't allow that, so I end up getting pissy and frustrated instead. Even if the crafting system tries to help me along I still don’t like it at all. I don’t even know why, maybe the crafting gods are stroking my hairs counter clock wise while I play it, but it just feels tiresome to look at, be it the layout or colour I simply don’t know. In truth I can't find much that I like with it at all. The environments feel like a bad painting, they’re not ugly in any specific way, just very boring. Even in midday it's still dark and boring, I remember being forced to see the extended cut of Schindler’s List in school, it's like that, with the commentaries'. It's just not "alive" to the point where I would like it. It's all grey and whites and becomes very boring very fast. And to top it off I found a ‘Rat Sausage’ in one of the cupboards, and you have no idea how thankful I was at the time
that there's no such thing as ‘Smell TV’ or ‘Taste TV’, I had no choice but to eat it and smile about it. But it's not all just empty hallways and questionable food, there are also a few creatures that have been infected by this strange new visitor from space and mutated. Now they are hunting the chilly surroundings for food as well, unlucky for you, you happen to be on the menu. I was positively surprised as I started playing the game again after deciding to give it another ´go that there was now even MORE enemies in it, first time around I played over the hour and only found 2-3 monsters and I was getting a bit bored to be honest. Second time around I had 3 in the matter of 10 to 15 minutes. I clear improvement. Now, I know that many people don’t want them there at all, as it disrupts them from building, the part many consider to be the most fun. Me on the other hand, I like the fights and not the building stuff so much. I liked to welcome the monsters with a nailbord I just made, showing them my
craftsmanship and telling them how much I appreciated them looking in at me at the same time. After this I decided I wanted a cabin of my own and set off to find some trees to cut down and use as planks, and I promptly discovered why I left the game behind in the first place, the cold. It's so cold outside that a minute or so unprotected, will make you want to run inside and hide by the fire for as long as possible. I will add to this if you open the map to see anything while outside you will still freeze. So in other words, you might close the map just in time to see yourself die. I’m pretty sure I’ve frozen to death far more than being killed by the monsters. As a matter of fact, I can't remember if I was EVER killed by a monster at all. Starvation and the numbing cold is by far a worse enemy than the monsters. Anyways, as I was saying, building a cottage or any type of house you need lumber to make planks, and something to make the roof from. Not so bad yes? Well kind of is, lumber weighs a lot so you can't carry that much, so you will need to make your cottage close to a forest so you don’t have to go so far away from it. It does take a lot of timber but it was not as bad as the first time I made it, but it still took too long as far as I'm concerned. Not
only that, it was boring as well. All the monsters I found were on the inside, so maybe they can't go outside or they will freeze to death as well? I don’t know, but it would be nice if you knew that you only had to face the cold and starvation outside. But after I was done with my house there's not a thing to do with it, it’s a house where I can sleep and keep warm but not much else. To me it's far too much work for not much in the way of any benefits. In my honest opinion I do not like this game as it is. It’s far too grey and boring right now and I will advise players to stay away from it until they get more of it completed. Unless you really like the game so far then by all means go for it. I'm not saying it won't be great when it's done, I'm just saying it’s far from there yet. When I play the game I feel like the levels are a stamp and I'm just the fly crawling over it, I don’t feel part of it at all, and it ruins the (If you can excuse me for using such a word) ‘mojo’ of the game. I need a story to make this game work, a goal more than just surviving as long as one can. But for now I will stay away and let the developers work on it and maybe, just maybe, they will be able to get me to come back to it at a later state. And before the final words I would like to remind you it is
an alpha build right now, so don’t hate it just because I'm not a fan of it. That would not be fair, I simply suggest letting it mature a bit longer before plucking and tasting it. That’s it for now, and I hope to see you soon again. Happy Gaming People.
This game is a bit old, but I will still encourage you to play it. Not only is it good, it pushes on all the right buttons when it comes to my preferred game style. Or maybe more my evil side since this game is all about the evil but it does manage to keep a sort of "cute" undertone. When you start the game you are awoken by your minions as there former master was apparently killed by a bunch of heroes, this made me immediately feel like they're second choice but let's go with it. They then proceed to rub acid in my eyes in order to sort of wash away the sleepy still in my eyes. And since I’m the new, I assume I'm a real badass
from the start. How bad though is up to the player.
Characters This is an easy one, it's me my trusty minions and the lady of my tower, that’s pretty much it. Oh no there is one more, the boss minion, he's the kind of creature that takes care of things when there is no overlord to take care of things. Other than this there is not much to tell really, makes me wonder why I put this segment here in the first place. But they will be following you around for a while. The voice acting in the game is meant to be
more funny and cute then good and sincere, and I love it. Minions sound like gremlins, the lady of the tower sounds like a spoiled lady should, and all the villagers sound like they’re one pitchfork short of a full set.
Story You are the overlord, and you’re a major badass. That’s basically all you need to know... well ok maybe a bit more. As you wake up you are told that the old overlord was killed by some heroes and now it's your job to get your evil tower and the armies back up and running again. As you go, you will gain power in the form of more minions, more and stronger spells and better equipment. But you will also be tasked with finding maidens (Because no evil tower is complete without some scantily clad maidens right?), repairing your tower and finding the hives for all of your different minions. You also need to find a lady for your tower, as couple of maidens are not sufficient apparently... The rest of the story is a bit back and forth as you have to back track so much and the lack of a proper map (more about that
later) makes it a proper drag. The game is fun but because of all the ‘back and forthing’ after a while I kind of forgot the story so you go back do some touch ups and then move on again. But to be fair you don’t play it for the story, yes it's not bad but you play it for all the funny s**t the game throws at you on the way. Not to mention you have to be nice to the villagers….or do you? You can if you want to but I usually take what I want, and then I come to a place where I need their help…..s**t! And have to do some special missions in order to get what I needed. But it's all fun. And I enjoy the game for what it is.
Gameplay I play the game with a controller on Steam, and since it was originally a console game (as far as I know) this works really well. And they have had plenty of time to fix any and all bugs in it. It runs really well. You play in third person and control yourself with the left stick and when you need to, your minions with the right one. There's a few different commands for them as well….well there's two, but they do different things depending on what you’re pointing at, but the command remain the same. They will
attack, carry or plunder for you as you command them to, but they can also stay put in order to guard any given area as well. You can, yourself, join in the fight with a series of weapons you forge by sacrificing your minions. This game is not only about the killing though, you have to have a bit of patience as it involves a lot of back tracking and puzzle solving as well. You have four different types of minions; Browns, the most common type, these are your standard fighters; Reds, these ones can throw fireballs and can put out other fires allowing for safe passage; Greens, these are immune to poisons and can be good in combat as well if you guide them on top of someone’s back, and finally the Blues, they are healers and can therefore bring a few other minions back to life should you lose them. They are also the only minion that does not die in water. Not only do you keep track of how many minions you need (it might not always be a good idea to max them out) you also need to think what type of minion you need with you as well. And if that was not hard enough, you can't just summon them either. You need some soul power
from the appropriate colour in order to summon them, so using them without thinking will force you to leave your current quest and go find some more. This might cause you to walk a long way and it adds probably many hours to the gameplay of this game but it's fun to kill anyway so I don’t really mind. Besides I can kill stuff as I go forward. Remember though that it is a game that resolves around your minions, you can kill and be a badass on your own, but you need their help in order to go forward. Not only in combat are they valuable but in other areas as well. Like carrying parts for your Evil Tower, kidnapping maidens (yes again really) and you also use them at the forge that I mentioned earlier. When you get access to it (for that you have to find the fire minions first) you can start to augment your current weapons and armour, as well as making new ones. For this you need some gold and you also need to sacrifice minions, the more minions the better. Different minion types also give different effects on the weapon, but don’t go overboard. If you use too many you won't have any left for fighting later, and that can be a problem for you. It’s a bit of a
pros and cons thing. You have to think before doing. You can get more soul summons more minions later no problem, but can you do it now when you need them?, that’s the hard part. And sometimes maybe you need a brown soul in order to get a blue depending on how the area looks like. It's like a brain teaser for children but with grown up humour in the mix. It does have one huge drawback though... the lack of a proper map. There is so much going back and forth you forget what is where and if you take like a week's break from the game your’re screwed. The levels are fairly big and there's no real map to use to tell you where you are and where your objectives are. This adds a lot of game time to it but it does get a bit tedious in the end. In order to overcome my boredom though I kill everything in sight and laugh maniacally as I do so! All in all it’s a fun little game, but some patience is required. I recommend it and after this I feel like I should take on the second one as well, aptly named Overlord 2. Its evil, fun…and...and...well that’s it, you’re evil and the game is fun, that’s it. If you have some time to ‘kill’ (LOL, Like what I did there?) look it up and be as evil as you like. Happy Gaming People.
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