EDGE: "there are plenty of glossier, more instantly appealing puzzle games that would struggle to have as many moments of genuine joy as this."
Hardcore Gamer: The bare minimum gets you AI War: Fleet Command and five DLC packs, A Valley Without Wind 1 and 2, and Tidalis - a fun puzzler. Spending $5.80 gets you Shattered Haven and Skyward Collapse and its DLC. Everything in the bundle unlocks on Steam and soundtracks for everything are included too.
Tidalis reminds me of Puzzle League. It’s a “match three” falling block puzzler where said blocks can turn into huge combos if cleared properly. Unlike Puzzle League, though, it’s just not very exciting. The gimmick here is that all of the blocks have an arrow on them that, when clicked, can start a chain reaction with other, like-colored blocks. For a moment, I forgot how to play, and the game was a truly devious challenge during that time.
Chris Park: "Postmortem sounds so grisly, doesn't it? I was tempted to call this a retrospective, but that sounds a bit foofy. So here we are. This isn't even a true retrospective, because AI War is still going strong and looks to remain that way for some time.
The time period this postmortem will examine is May 2009 through the end of May 2013."
