STG's

At a first look,  Defender's Quest: Valley of the Forgotten looks like another Flash TD game. The graphics (VERY retro), sound and the fact that it is written in Flash all contribute to this impression. However, the game has a very nice, well told story and the TD elements have plenty of room for different tactics and strategies. TD is done with fighters you either recruit automatically on the story or for scrap (the game's credits) on towns. That alone is a major element as they are expensive and get more so with each added recruit. Types are berserks (sword fighters), archers, healers, knights (sword fighters with heavy armor and that pierce enemy armor), ice mages and dragons. You place them in the maze, as usual. However, each one has a small cost in Psi (power units that you get on the start, as well as for killing enemies), so you can't just hire lots of them without thinking. Each kind of unit has different powers that are only available at different upgrades...

The Frozen Sky - by Jeff Carlson - is a SF novel that takes place on Europa (the Jupiter moon), during first contact with alien species. I like the "Frozen Sky" metaphor, as well as the later insights on how the aliens think. There is some nice AI tech forays in the beginning, but that has little effect for most of the book. It starts well, but the middle really bogs down. Thankfully it picks up in the end. Overall I'd give it a 7/10.

Fractal is an interesting, somewhat unique puzzle game. It reminds me of match-3 games, but you actually match blooms - a shape that is a center and every adjacent cell on an hexagonal grid. And instead of just moving blocks around, you push them - which also creates extra blocks (in the specific current color) if there aren't any. This is pretty easy with one color - when you add more it starts getting nasty. Personally, either I didn't get something on how to play or it is too hard for me, so I didn't actually enjoy it. There is also an Android and Linux version available.

Awesomenauts is a platform based base attack shooter. It is quite simple. You choose between a bunch of characters - all of which are completely different and get very different extra powers. Some have blasters, other knifes, one has a healing wave. Then you start getting dropped on a rocket (where you weave to get extra coins), which is probably the most annoying mechanic. Next, you can pass by a shop - where you can buy extras specific to your character. For example, one has dynamite and a bull that pushes enemies. Another has a bunch of drones and a healing bot. Each of these powers have a bunch of upgrades, and you choose what you can unlock before each game. Then comes the attack. There are multiple levels (usually) and your objective is to destroy the turrets (mostly to pass them), and then the main drill, at which point you win. One interesting tidbit is that each side generates drones, which are weak but are a major tactical detail as you can hide from turret attacks ...

Bad Bots Challenges demo consists mostly of running around a room shooting bots that pop out of anywhere. I don't really get how this particular design would be fun, much less how it would lead people to buy (if you click on the Campaign item, you just get a link to buy the game). Really not recommended.

The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey covers an alien invasion. The pace and presentation were good, and it was enjoyable, but the excess "teen crush on the apocalypse" bits plus some of the glossing over details, made it seem less than it could be. The twist should also be too obvious when it happens to be surprising. Overall, OK but not great.

Gunpoint is a puzzle/stealth game. I have reviewed a few of those, including Stealth Bastard  and Mark of the Ninja , but Gunpoint feels quite different. You are an spy who can take on different missions, and have a few gadgets. You can jump really high and stick to walls, but the most unusual game mechanic cames after you buy a gadget that allows you to rewire items in the game. For example, a wall switch might control the lights. But you can make it control other lights, doors, turn off cameras... And you can rewire things from afar, so that other people can trigger them unwittingly. You can also jump into guards (OK, that is a common platformer mechanic) and knock them out. It is also possible to jump through glasses. You also have upgrades points and several extra gadgets you can buy. The tutorial is well planned and explains most of what you need. There is also a very well done Load Savegame system, that allows you to go back several sets of seconds or restart th...