About Todd Schlickbernd

There are a myriad of reasons — some massive, others minuscule — for wars throughout history. Wars ranging from the disagreement you had with your mother to World War II to the intergalactic alien space combat we’re likely to experience in the near future. No wars have been particularly fun until video games came along, removing the consequences and the guilt of war. Yet still wars are brutal, sad, scary sort of affairs, no matter what your role is in them — and then there’s Happy Wars.

Happy Wars’ pseudo cell-shaded art style (mixed with a bit of watercolor, perhaps) hearkens back to the days of Cel Damage and Jet Set Radio. The zany visuals and overall lighthearted presentation prove war isn’t always depressing and vile. White is pit against black in this 15 vs. 15 multiplayer action game in an effort to capture towers and destroy the enemy team’s castle. Players can pick from a warrior, mage or cleric class and acquire new skills as they level up and attempt to out-maneuver the enemy team.

Our demo was cut into thirds, with a tutorial and gameplay rundown to start, an explanation of the deeper features of the game following that, and lastly a match played to completion on the game’s desert themed level. Read More

The Lord of the Rings franchise is no stranger to video game adaptations. Of the many we’ve seen over the years, most of them are translated directly from the fiction into a playable form. We’ve guided Frodo on his journey to Mordor and fought to defend Minas Tirith as Aragorn. Guardians of Middle-Earth is not an adventure but instead a war waged by good and evil in a massive arena.

Guardians of Middle-Earth is a Multiplayer Online Battle Arena (MOBA) game with many of the genre staples. Unlike other MOBA forays on XBLA (Awesomenauts, Monday Night Combat), Guardians of Middle-Earth is the classic isometric experience complete with three lanes (in the main map), creeps, towers, the whole shabang!

Well. Mostly. There’s no hiding the core MOBA-ness of this game, but the developers at Monolith also want to bring new mechanics to the table and tailor the experience to the console. For instance, you can upgrade your minions and towers, but there’s no shop and there are shrines to fight over which grant buffs. How’s that for new mechanics? Read More

Few things are more impenetrable than the mighty castle. Around the 10th century or so, major countries defended their population from sieges with these massive stone structures. Typically castles were constructed several miles apart in strategically superior locations. In CastleStorm, they’re right next door to each other.

Perhaps the real estate was good at the time or maybe the world of CastleStorm is just ridiculously crowded but things get cozy in this 2D tower defense. Your castle has a massive ballista on the front of it, which you use to mow down waves of ground forces and lay siege to the enemy castle. If the one-size-fits-all weapon weren’t enough, you can also dispatch your own forces and use magical abilities to affect the battlefield. Destroy the enemy castle or capture their flag to secure victory.

Real time strategy and the second dimension have blended before with games like Grim Grimoire and Swords & Soldiers, but it’s not the most common of sub-genres. That said, CastleStorm blends the RTS with even smaller genres including artillery shooters (Worms) and tower defense. The resulting smoothie is not only delicious, it offers a unique flavor. Read More

Walking home from school these days is getting more and more hazardous. In the past, all you had to worry about were shady characters with lollipops, but it seems that now we have to worry about being teleported to mysterious planets. What is the world coming to?

In the 2D platform-puzzler Pid — the first title from ex-Bionic Commander: Rearmed developers Might and Delight — a schoolboy finds himself marooned on a mysterious planet inhabited by all manner of robotic creatures. You’ll encounter anything from giant missile-firing robots to small droids repeating simple tasks. Knowing nothing of this planet or its programmed population, making friends might be a bit difficult for Pid.

Couple these hostile automatons with hazards like massive spike traps and you’ve got yourself a dangerous situation. Thankfully you find the ability to summon light elevators (yes, light elevators) from your very finger tips.

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We’ve been clamoring for it, you’ve been clamoring for it, Ronimo Games has been clamoring for it and now it’s here: the Awesomenauts soundtrack! Every action packed moment of …
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Your one stop shop for Awesomenauts know-how both for new comers and seasoned players alike!
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Remember that new DLC character Ronimo Games just announced for Awesomenauts earlier today? GameFAQs member MirorB claims he’s discovered just about every element of the two DLC characters he claims are named Coco Nebulon (the girl recently announced) and Derpl Zork. He claims to have explored the .DDS files and found an unrefined picture of the characters’ sprites (below). Since then he’s posted the description, (some) base stats, move sets and an entire upgrade list of both characters. Since the first post wherein he posted a screen capture of the files he was viewing, no further evidence has been provided. However, having reviewed all of the upgrades, we believe the format is in-line with Ronimo’s build development methods.

Months ago a minor leak was captured by members on the Awesomenauts forums noting two characters, a slug and a girl with goggle, when Ronimo Games posted a screen grab to their Facebook with the DLC characters on it. We now know the girl with goggles is real, so the slug probably is as well.

Here’s the description of both characters: Read More

A new challenger is approaching! This new Awesomenaut, for whom we have no name yet, is the first of the characters planned to help sustain the Awesomenauts’ community. Looks like she may have some sort of hoverboard, a bot she can summon, and what appears to be a ball of electricity, but we’re not sure yet.

Awesomenauts has been out just over a week now and the leaderboards are steadily populating. In fact, in our review we gave Awesomenauts a Buy It!, so if you haven’t checked it out already you should. If you have no idea what MOBA is, check out our explanation of it! For those of you who have played it, we have some fantastic news for you.

Ronimo Games has issued a community address, shedding some light on their tribulations of Awesomenauts’ release, as well as what’s coming down the pipe. Read More

Awesomenauts was developed by Ronimo Games and published by DTP Entertainment. It was released May 2, 2012 for 800 MSP. A copy was provided for review purposes.

In the year 2012, the Multiplayer Online Battle Arena genre began to proliferate, and gamers the world over wondered how it would evolve. From the pitch black void of space came Awesomenauts, a game which dared to bring MOBA to the 2D realm. Six mercenary heroes, ranging from an ex-rapper frog to a jetpack-laden monkey, are hired to work for red or blue (sometimes appearing on both teams at once, somehow) and destroy the enemy team’s solar drill. Solar is the form of currency in the future, so having a device which literally mines money is kind of a big deal.

Awesomenauts is a 2D MOBA and it makes no effort to hide that fact. Each player in this three versus three game picks one of the six heroes, each complete with unique abilities and play styles. Both teams have droids that run at the enemy base and attack each other in an effort to destroy the towers and solar drill. Kill them for cash, use your money to buy character upgrades and side-grades, push the enemy base and secure victory for your team.

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Just a few days ago we were all sent spiraling away from our computer screens, cringing at the news of DTP’s insolvency announcement. Luckily, one way or another, Awesomenauts has pulled …
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