Buying games in bulk might not appeal to those without Sam's Club memberships, but Canadian indie developer Frima Studio proposes an enticing deal with its "AWESOME [their caps, not mine] Summer Minis Bundle," which includes five games for five dollars. Bundles this cheap are more in line with Steam sales than the PlayStation Mini store, and that allure might be what Frima is after -- the deal-savvy among us jumping at the chance to save money. At the risk of tipping my hand too early, though, I'll say that in this case, you're getting what you pay for.
After spending some time with all five games in the bundle, it began to feel as though I was profiling Frima Studio as much as I was reviewing a product, because quite a few consistent themes crop up throughout all five games in the bundle. That's to be expected when playing multiple games from a single developer, especially a smaller one with fewer resources to work with per game. Still, the common themes stand out.
Aside from the metal plate bearing Frima's logo dropping before each game, the most noticeable gameplay hook is repetition. Young Thor forces you to go through the same four levels multiple times to grind through and unlock the final stage; both Widgets Odyssey games have you running back and forth across levels to solve their puzzles; each of Zombie Tycoon's levels has you running a similar course around a neighborhood, destroying buildings along the way. Doing things over and over again is a staple of game design (heck, it might be game design), but here it's egregious and boring.
In that regard, it's worth pointing out that the Widgets Odyssey franchise does try for some variety; between the aforementioned adventuring sequences, you play some kind of mini-game, including a rhythm game, a space shooter, and a more action-oriented platforming section. None of these concepts are executed particularly well, but the "variety show" feel of these games is at the very least novel.
Also worth pointing out is that, with the exception of A Space Shooter for Two Bucks! (the standout title among the group), fighting enemies is a thing to look forward to in any of these games. You'd think that, as a God of War clone, Young Thor might be the exception, but even it can't manage to make killing monsters anything other than a chore. And for all of their attempts at variety, the one thing the Widgets Odyssey games should not have done is mix combat with old-school adventuring.
Only one of Frima's consistencies is a positive one: color. The stories of each of these games are generally intrusive, but the character portraits used to tell them at least convey some sort of personality, if a little hamstrung. The exchanges in A Space Shooter in particular are funny in the cheesiest sense, and the fully animated cutscenes in the Widgets Odysseys look like they used up most of those games' budgets.
That's the keyword here: budget. When used poorly, it confines these games to their poor execution, and to their middling offerings in both content and value. The one game worth buying -- A Space Shooter -- is available for cheaper than the bundle (and soon to be free on the iOS App Store), and even then, games like Super Stardust and Gravity Crash outclass it as long as you're willing to spend a little more or wait for a deal. It's a low blow to a value-centric developer, but unlike the bulk products you get at Sam's Club, this bundle proves that games aren't a commodity, and shouldn't be treated as such, bundled or not.
PROS: Lots of content for cheap; A Space Shooter For Two Bucks! provides quite a few hours of fun; well-animated and produced.
CONS: The only game worth buying is available by itself for cheaper; combat is bland almost universally; boring and repetitive.
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