Another flipping day at the Sugar Cube: Bittersweet Factory

I fell down another bundle hole some days back, buying in to the Evolved Bundle from Indie Royale–which is no longer available, replaced by the current Valentines Bundle, a collection of games that really don’t interest me at all. The Evolved Bundle consisted of six games. Here, let me list them for you:

• Unmechanical
• The Path
• Krater
• Sugar Cube: Bittersweet Factory
• OIO
• St. Chicken

Right. Some puzzle platformers, a puzzle-swimmer-platformer, an RPG, and whatever The Path cares to call itself. An experience? Anyways, I remember watching a Quick Look over at Giant Bomb for Krater and thinking it looked pretty neat (and Swedish), and that was enough to get me in for this bundle, with the other games considered as mere tag-alongs. Though Krater looks like it needs some time to get into and see how its systems work, which is not something I have oodles of these days. Instead, I was just randomly clicking around on Steam over the weekend for something quick to play, and I decided to see what Sugar Cube: Bittersweet Factory was all about besides looking adorable.

Believe it or not, there’s a story. Granted, it can be told in a single sentence, but it’s more than other 2D indie platformers give off sometimes. Yeah, I’m looking at you. In short, a cube of sugar escapes from a bunch of themed factories to avoid the fate of becoming a cookie. You play as that cube. Safe travels, sugary soldier. May you never turn into a cookie and crumble. Okay, I need to move on, because, if you truly know me, I could play with food-based puns all day long. And besides, I can do much batter than that.

Basically, you are trying to get your little sugar cube from point A to the closed door somewhere else on the map, which will take you to the next level. There are five worlds with…um, well, a bunch of levels in there; I didn’t count ’em. But it’s not a simple walk over from the starting point to the portal-like doorway. See, the background tiles of the game have two sides: a front and a back. These tiles can be flipped. Sometimes they turn into ledges and sometimes ledges with spikes or icy floors. It’s up to you, little sugar cube guider, to figure out what tiles to flip and then how to get to the door. You can also hold down a button to prevent tiles from flipping. And thus, you now know everything there is to know about both elements to this puzzle platformer.

So far, I’ve gotten through all of the first factory and about halfway through the second one, which is based around…chocolate. I’ve found that the difficulty in Sugar Cube: Bittersweet Factory varies greatly, with me breezing through two to three levels with ease and then coming to a complete halt with the next level. That’s actually okay as it gives reason to pause and evaluate your skills, as well as the level’s design itself. Still, it does everything an indie puzzle platformer should. And the game keeps hinting that if I pick up all the collectibles, the true ending will be revealed. Ooooh. Will our adorable little sugar cube escape the nefarious factories, but later return with a pitchfork-wielding mob to burn it all down and then erect a recreational park? Maybe. Who knows what sugar cubes think. I don’t, but now I must.

George Banks is saying no to indie videogame bundles

To be honest, I’m pretty proud of myself. Over the course of two days, I said “no” to two entirely different videogame-based bundles. Packages that are light on price and heavy on material. Deals that truly should not be missed out on, some might even say. But I just can’t anymore. I have barely touched games for bundles I bought last year. So, no more…for now. But let’s take a look at what I am not adding to my backlog, and whether that’s a good or bad thing.

First, there was the Spring Bundle from Indie Royale. In this package, you can get the following: Unstoppable Gorg, Depths of Peril, Tobe’s Vertical Adventure, Inferno+, Slydris, and Ballistic. If you beat the minimal price, you also get some chiptune soundtracks. Upon initially reviewing what was being offered, I only recognized one game–Unstoppable Gorg–and that’s because Giant Bomb did a Quick Look of it. The majority looked uninteresting to me, with only Depths of Peril seeming appealing with its single player RPG elements. And that basically meant I’d be paying whatever price I chose for one game, as I might never touch anything else in this pocket. Not a complete waste of money, but a complete waste of my headspace and computer space, and so I am passing. No big loss. If, ultimately, I really do want to try out Depths of Peril, it’s available on Steam.

Then, the very next day, Humble Indie Bundle busts out a new collection for whatever you want to pay: the Humble Botanicula Debut. It’s tagline is “Pay what you want for Botanicula and save the rainforest,” which makes this extra hard to turn down. Way to heap on the guilt there. I actually fear that I’m going to go against myself before the weekend is over and snag a cheap copy, but for now, for the moment, I am saying no. I generally rush to buy these bundles, and Botanicula looks absolutely fantastic. The hurdle? This bundle holds four games (and a movie), and I already own Machinarium and Samorost 2, and am not interested at all in Windosill as there are enough puzzles in my life currently. So again, I’d be paying whatever I want for one game–granted, Botanicula is looking good, and I do like my unique adventure games as of late. But still, it just doesn’t seem necessary to do so right now.

Also, coming soon…Bundle in a Box. Which has just been confirmed as an “adventure game” bundle. And depending on who is involved and what the games look like, I might struggle with saying no. Though I am definitely saying it now, when it’s easy to do so.

I’m working on a big blog post. It’s a work in progress, truly. I am gathering up all the videogames currently in my collection that I’ve not yet played. It’s pretty scary, seeing the amount. I guess, at some point in the last few years, I became more of a collector than a player. That does make sense when you realize that I’m no longer carefree and 17. I am 28, married, with a job and a comics-related dream. I play when I can, but it’s never enough. Especially when it’s a session of Skyrim and three hours have gone by and all I’ve done is cleared a cave or two and sold some loot. Hopefully I’ll get that post wrapped up soon before I accidentally (or masochistically) acquire further titles.

But right now, I really don’t need more games. I have plenty still to do in the games I already got. I have assassinations and vehicles to acquire in Saints Row: The Third. I need to get married and put an end to the Civil War in Skyrim. I still need to link all the connections in episode two of Hector: Badge of Carnage. I need five or six more cubes to open that “32 cubes only” door in Fez. I have a laundry list of fetch quests for Professor Layton’s London Life. I have to, uh, stop the bandits and mutants in Rage. I have work, and I really do need to work at whittling this voluminous list down. Wish me luck and give me strength as I say “no” to more and “yes” to what I already got under my wings.