Netbookist: Netbook Games, Tweaks, Challenges » Adventure

Super Meat Boy on a netbook

Corporal — Fri, 05 Jul 2013 00:55:58 +0000

This sure is a cute platformer with lots of gore.

Super Meat Boy is a platformer where all you do is run, bounce and repeat. The controls are simple – left, right, run, jump. The goal is to avoid traps and stay alive – and in order to do this, you’ll have to run to a wall, do a perfectly timed combo of run-jump keypresses so that you actually bounce off the wall, then land squarely into a spot where there isn’t a deathtrap.

Where do people find so many creative ways to impede me?

There are many stages in this game, but the eventual goal is to reach Bandage Girl, who basically is a more fanciful finish flag with a kidnapping story behind her. In order to reach her, you’ll eventually mess up and repeat is what you’ll do a lot, because if you mistime your steps, you restart completely at the beginning.

The game does offer some respite from the same old routine. There are some Bandages which you can collect, at the cost of making things tougher for yourself, which will allow you to unlock more characters with their own special ability, as there are special areas which will make the level easier for you.

The Steam version of this game runs good on a netbook.

Like

Runs good on a netbook

Good fun…

Dislike

… until you get pissed off.

Verdict

It sure is fun, but it gets wearisome.

Gameplay: Not Sure If Gusta

Graphics smoothness: Excellent

Work needed to get game to play: None (Steam)

FREE: Mari0 – Mario with a Portal Gun

Corporal — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 15:01:39 +0000

Every now and then, indie game makers bring something new to us gamers sick and tired of the commercial industry’s logic of safety. Everything seems to be become a first-person shooter – even classics like Syndicate, Fallout and Jagged Alliance have gone that way, despite their successes as isometric games. This time, stick it to StabYourself to come out with a game that is a mish-mash between Portal and Mario. This platformer is a unique game, and by default, it comes with both Super Mario Bros levels as well as Portal levels, so you can play a Mario-with-a-Portal-gun game or Portal-with-Mario. There’s also the ability to create your own levels if you’re willing, and despite the really retro interface, this game does have the means to connect to a server where you can find all the DLCs, as well as connect to other players so you can play Portal with others.

Now, a 2D version of Portal isn’t a new thing. A while ago, I reviewed a Flash version of Portal, which is basically similar to this, except it was higher res and less cute. This, however, is a lower-res, cute-to-the-max, 8-bit screecher that is meant to tingle your senses with nostalgia, and the platformer does have some dynamism – as mentioned, you can play this as a full-blown Mario game who has a portal gun, or you can play it in a more serious Portal-only fashion.

Beginners beware: the lack of a save game function will force you to see this at the most unfortunate of times!

The game does have a few issues. Chief of which is aiming your Portal. The biggest issue lies in the fact that this game is windowed, so if you accidentally over-scroll, you will find yourself clicking on the desktop, which minimizes the game and makes you search for it. This is especially common when you’re trying to shoot portals. The programmers would do well making a scroll-limit, so you can actually shoot your portals without accidentally clicking outside of the game.

For a game that is less than 10mb, Mari0 has much to offer. It is absolutely compatible with Windows 7 and XP, and doesn’t require much of your computer for it to run smoothly. It’s a great time-waster, and you’ll thoroughly enjoy the time you spent on this game. Of course, a pet peeve would be having to restart the game all over again just because you lost your last life. That is truly ouch. I wasn’t too good with Mario, and didn’t know that turtle shells are skeeting battering rams – that took a few lives from me. Also,

Portal-with-Mario, instead of vice versa. A second mode of play.

I didn’t know that red lasers meant death and that blue lasers functioned the same way as platforms. Sounds absolutely noobed out, but that can happen Which leads me to highlight the next issue: the fact that you have only three lives to work with, which can make things tough on beginners who aren’t familiar with Portal or Mario. You’ll find that without a save game function, you’ll be losing lives really quickly as you find out how to tackle monsters/lasers/traps.

You can download the latest version here, for Linux, OSX and Windows.

Skyrim on a netbook

Corporal — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 23:17:04 +0000

Dragons need to take an arrow to the knee, too.

NB: Tested on an ION2 netbook.

I’m not even joking, it is possible to play Skyrim on a netbook… if you really want to. Recently, my ASUS laptop died a terrible death when the hard drive suddenly started making clicking noises. In a sense, I used to play Skyrim on a real computer, until it took an arrow to the knee.

Playing Skyrim on a netbook is possible, although you really have to be patient and be prepared to not have the quality you’re used to when you play it on a higher end computer. The compromises are basically the same – low-res textures, low draw distance and low resolution. Even with these compromises, you’ll still have to prepare yourself for a low frame rate. At its best, I managed to achieve 20fps, averaging 15fps in most situations. It can get as slow as 5fps in the worst of times.

It’s definitely workable if you manually tweaked your settings as follows,

No arrows here!

Low graphics settings
Windowed mode, 16:9 widescreen and 800x450px resolution

If you’re on an Nvidia-based netbook, such as the ION/ION2 graphics chip, then you might want to try this mod which might help – Skyrim Better Performance - supposedly, this mod helps people who use older Nvidia graphics cards such as the 8000-series. My personal experience has shown that I gained about 2fps. It’s very easy too – you just have to copy it into your Skyrim’s root folder, whether or not you have such a file there.

With these, you will realize that you will get Skyrim up to a playable, although struggling, speed. Obviously, if you have a C-50 or C-60 netbook, things will be much easier for you. Alas, not everyone has the foresight to see that AMD netbooks are probably a better choice than a ION 2 netbook (a.k.a. yours truly).

EDIT: If you want to know the ultimate hack to get max FPS out of the game, click here.

Sam and Max Complete Collection

Corporal — Sun, 03 Jul 2011 14:06:31 +0000

A rabbit campaigns for presidency on TV. This game is bizarre.

The first time I played Sam and Max, I couldn’t describe why it was such a fun game although it went against every fibre of my impatience. The game was unique in a sense that although it was designed in the mid-2000′s, Sam and Max still retains much of what its original 2D predecessor was – a humorous, cartoony, intriguing game involving a dog in a suit and a rabbit with a lethal dose of inappropriateness.

The game requires you to click, click, and click. Which is why you can play this game on your bed with a wireless mouse. Every click on something of significance gives you the chance to interact with it to find out more about it, pick it up, use it with items in your inventory or talk to it – in the case of humans and other characters.

In the Oval Office, after killing the President. Part and parcel of the eccentric Sam and Max world.

Throughout the game, you’ll need to creatively combine different things from the game to successfully lead you to the next stage. So, for example, you want to cause your opponent to not win in an emergency election between Max (the rabbit) and a live, moving and talking version of Abraham Lincoln’s statue, you’ll have to find ways to creatively mess up his cues. In the White House, you’ll find cue cards with lewd messages such as “I did not have sex with that woman”, which you can then use to replace the cue cards that Lincoln reads off.

The game is just that bizarre. A talking dog and rabbit, characters which are insanely stupid and predictable, and other oddities which makes the game one of the most hilarious games that you’ll play. Witty commentary, slick lines and interesting puzzles keep you going in this game, although it is one of the most linear games ever – there is only one way to progress and if you can’t find that way, you’re stuck. And that happens often until you suddenly and magically find the right resolution.

Running Sam and Max

The game runs well on a netbook with no lag whatsoever except for seriously long loading times when transiting from one area to another, and when interacting with characters. It is still highly playable if a bit worrying (has it hung? is it loading?).

The whole series will take you a long time to play, and not every minute will be fun, sometimes it gets frustrating when you have to keep testing out new methods and be stuck for a long time. You could, of course find a walkthrough to get you on your way.

Oh, did I mention, you can only play the game in 4:3 ratio? Remember not to stretch it for the highest sharpness and image fidelity.

You can download an two episodes free from here and here.

The tallest "white" president in the history of... Sam and Max.

Like

Hilarious game with bizarre characters, weird storyline and intriguing conspiracies

Very satisfying when you get the puzzles figured

Dislike

Significant load times when transiting areas

The game tests your patience, especially when the clues are not good enough

No 16:9 support

Verdict

If you want to have fun and have a laugh at it, Sam and Max is a great game for spending your hours away. Perfect for a long haul train ride. However, do try the free episodes out before you buy it, because this game might not be your cup of tea since it’s extremely linear and can be frustrating.

Gameplay: Good

Graphics: Above Average (15fps)

Work needed to get game to play: Minimal (5 minute)