Cognition: The Oracle - Shedding a Light on the Mystery

I am a fan of Cognition. After playing the second episode there were a lot more questions than answers as Erica Reed's main case was left in limbo. In the third episode though things start to slowly come together, piece by piece, pulling together parts from the previous episodes and intertwining them into a believable story.

This case picks up the same place we were left off at the end of Episode 2 and brings Erica to The Enthon Towers. In fact, pretty much the entire case takes place here. Once you enter you'll never leave. That is the makings of any ominous thriller. But that's alright because even though the entire story takes place here it not the only time it takes place. In this episode we finally get something that was sorely lacking in the first two episodes, character development.

When this series began I was a bit disappointed that Erica was pretty much the only character with any substance. This is remedied by the developers introducing a new power but also an enigmatic cast of characters. Making a more prominent return is Cordelia, a mysterious woman Erica befriended in the first episode, as well as Agent McCoy and McAdams but also some new faces are introduced through past events. This story isn't only about Erica anymore as Cordelia plays a prominent role as well.

Like the previous episodes you have a number of puzzles to figure out that are challenging enough to be very rewarding when you uncover them. Rose replaces Erica's dad as the hint system but for a psychic she was hardly any help and gave incredibly vague responses like "Keep going and you'll figure it out." Kudos though to the developers for making puzzles that made sense.

While we finally find out who the Cain killer is in this episode there were a few things that didn't make sense. Hopefully things that will be rectified in the last episode. But for someone who could see the past and partially the future, the way things came to a conclusion you have to wonder that if Erica was such a good cop she should have seen some things coming. If the player realizes who's the killer three steps ahead of the main character and the character sorta just does the actions the same anyway it's a bit defeating the whole purpose of being able to see the future when you can't change it.

Cognition maintains the high quality of adventure we've grown to love and definitely keeps the suspense up when they need it most.

Story: (^__^) - Like all great mysteries this one builds up a lot of suspense and never lets you down. Great until the end. Not to mention the characters that are introduced fit even this late into the game.

Graphics: (>__<) - Overall the same as the first two games but for some reason this episode had some strange lighting in certain areas that were just too bright, and no it wasn't my computer. Also some floating elements that clearly were out of place.

Gameplay: (@__@) - Smart puzzles that actually fit with the story. Some were a bit of a challenge and I swear just refused to work properly until I tried the same thing 4 times. Frustrating as hell, especially with a hint system that didn't give hints. However, that made it all the more rewarding.

Overall: ^__^ - Solid adventure game delivers. And even though you're left with a few questions at least this episode tidies up a couple of answers by the end.

You can find Cognition: An Erica Reed Thriller on Desura, Phoenix Online Studios website and vote for it on Steam Greenlight.

Ratings System

I've decided to start using a ratings system. Most people seem to put a lot of stock in arbitrary numbers but since I think numbers are a silly way to quantify an experience I'll make up an equally arbitrary rating system of my own. I call it the Smilie System. After every review I'll list my thoughts on a couple of gaming elements such as music, graphics, gameplay and story. Not all will be mentioned every time. But it'll give you general idea of my thoughts, if words weren't enough.

(^__^) - Excellent
^__^ - Good
(>__<) - What the hell happened
(@__@) - Mind Melting
(T__T) - What a Waste of Time
(-__-) - What a Waste of Money

Spy Leaks

I admit I didn't know I owned Spyleaks. I got it as a bonus to the game Doom & Destiny, I bought during one of the promotions on Indie Game Stand. And I proceed to forget all about it until I noticed it in a promotion on Amazon's new Indie Games section. Despite it's rough appearance Spy Leaks is a nice little top down puzzle action game. Reminds me of MacGuffins' Curse only with lower graphics and not as good a story.


 Mainly you'll play the character Spy as he goes on missions infiltrating top secret bases to uncover a terrorist plot. You'll get vague glimpses of the plot in between missions as it slowly unfolds but it's largely forgettable. This mostly involves stealthy evasion of robots and guards, all of which will kill you on sight and force you to start over again and again. The funny thing about gameplay is that guards don't have peripheral vision. So you can effectively be smack in the middle of a bunch of guards but as long as you aren't in their direct line of sight they won't even notice you, but of course you can push crates and the like to help keep you hidden.  The puzzles start out fairly simple and gradually increases in difficulty. This is one of those games where you learn by dying, a lot.

 Jacques is the other piece of this dynamic duo. He's the brains of the operation and generally you'll see his face on every level in the UI as you go through Spy's mission. Sometimes he'll direct Spy to a new obstacle in a level or something you can use to get past guards. He also briefs you on the primary mission objective. When you've reached the end of a set of missions usually you'll get to hack a computer. This involves Spy's partner and boss Jacques and you get to play a level in which you do a Space Invader type scrolling shooter. These are fun and generally help to break up the monotony between missions.

The real challenge comes after the hack, when Spy has to break out of whatever stronghold he's in and he only has 3 mins to do it. You're now faced with an extra long puzzle and not a lot of time to figure out how to get through it. Way to up the pressure. Usually most of the puzzles will take nearly the entire 3 mins and you'll curse and want to toss your controller if you get near the exit only to not have seen the Tesla coil that you forgot to block and it kills you on sight.

Overall I enjoyed playing Spy Leaks. The story might be lacking but the gameplay is solid and addictive. Music is a upbeat chiptune album that doesn't get stale as you play. There's enough variation for it to not get stale and challenging enough without being disgustingly punishing. Well worth the time and bang for my buck. A good game by Heart Bit Interactive and Benjamin Ficus.

Spy Leaks con be found on: Desura, Amazon, Steam Greenlight

Dust: An Elysian Tail

Dust looks beautiful. If you use the first visuals of this game to determine it's maturity you'd be mistaken. With it's lush, scenic woodland environment, including cute little animals in the background the first idea that comes to mind was Bambi. But Bambi had it's own adult moments and that shouldn't detract from this solid platforming experience. Dust is a someone who wakes up in the middle of a field with a talking sword and seems to have forgotten who he is. With a trusty flying half fox half bat furry sidekick he embarks on a journey to recover his memories.

For only three main characters the voice acting is done extremely well. Dust and Ahrah, the talking sword are usually very serious but it's complimented by Fidget's playful, comic relief personality, who sometimes at points is very aware that this is a video game when she tells Dust to "mash the buttons". The witty dialogue definitely adds a bit to the overall feel of the characters. While some of the voice acting is strange and a bit over the top with different accents in some characters the voice and personality fit perfectly. Things never get to slapstick or feel like something out of the ordinary... whatever is ordinary for talking animals in a made up fictitious setting anyways.

As for the gameplay, you start off with 3 main attacks, your regular melee, a limited whirlwind attack, and energy projectiles that Fidget uses that increase with power when combined with the special attack. At the start of the game you won't have much use for the projectile attack though as a mixture of button mashing and special attacks are usually efficient on their own in dispatching enemies. Further along in the game you'll face enemies that are hard to hit without Fidget's help so don't neglect leveling up her ability. You also discover more abilities allowing you to travel further in your journey like any other Metroidvania type game.

While I consider this largely an action platformer there are RPG elements as well. You can change and craft equipment as you gain materials. Power up attributes after leveling up. There is also no shortage of side quests to keep you occupied between progressing the story. You have your standard fetching quests you'll gain from the town's many eclectic inhabitants but it does mix it up on occasion and give you tasks that have to be completed urgently. There is also a secondary side quest where you have to discover the locations of "friends" who happen be making cameo appearances and provide Dust an HP boost. It would have been cool if they could fight alongside you but a lot of these characters aren't in plain sight and a challenge to find. Though the game does give hints to their whereabouts in cryptic notes you find along your journey.

I played this game on normal and found it fairly easy. But for those who love a challenge there are two harder difficulties. This game is also optimized for gamepad. Although the controls though can't be configured it makes great use of the vibration feature in my wireless Logitech F710 with massive jolts when you get hit or level up for that matter. With it's excellent graphics, solid story and gameplay, with an entertaining and lively cast of characters Dust: An Elysian Tail is a great time killer worthy of the dozen or so hours you'll put into it.

Find Dust: An Elysiain Tail on Steam

Little Inferno is a Firecracker of a Game

I had my reservations but I was curious. Good thing this is one of the games featured in Humble Bundle 8 (going on for another 5 days). The premise of the games is simple. You are in front of a fireplace, you buy various toys from a catalog and light them on fire. When you light things on fire you get more money, rinse and repeat. Really, that is all you do. Can't get any more simple than that. With an objective as concise as that you have to wonder how the developers keep the appeal for this game up. That comes from the wide variety of objects you light up. Everything from food, to a pooping cat, even electronics and bugs. There's no shortage of things you can light on fire. To add an extra layer to the gameplay you can burn things together to create combos that you unlock.

To say the least lighting some of these things on fire gives you hilarious animation sequences. There's no shortage of things to burn and in order to unlock the next shopping catalog you will have to buy everything in the previous one and have unlocked a number of combinations. While you're burning your worldly possessions you will sometimes receive mail from a strange woman named Sugar Plumps, the weather man and even from the CEO of Tomorrow Corporation, Miss Nancy herself.






Also the developers, even though made an excellent game about fire they do their due diligence in constantly reminding you that playing with fire is dangerous. However, that is not the only serious note this game gives. If you happen to continue on to the end, and yes, this game does in fact have an ending. You're treated to a very brilliantly crafted ending that isn't in line with all the silliness that the Little Inferno fireplace brings, bring about deep thought and makes the game that much more compelling.


Little Inferno is a short (only about 3 hours), casual gem. It will make you laugh, think and maybe cry, but mostly laugh. I highly recommend you try it.

Available for PC, Mac, Linux and iOS
Buy it:  Steam, Amazon (DRM Free, Steam Version), iOS, WiiU