Spiritfarer is a hackneyed pastel pastiche of tacky phone games threaded to by consecutive fetch quests. If only I could have banish these needy pathetic furry souls to the barren arctic wasteland of northern Saskatchewan to be mauled by polar bears for my trouble. Relief through digital apoptosis is denied to you because your character is already dead. Yeah yeah; the art, the cat, the "FEELS". I know criticism should be put into shit sandwich but I am a tyrannical Burger Lord not a miracle worker/10
If you wished on a monkey paw for a good game, you would get Greak. There is no denying the art and animations in Greak are excellently done. There is a decent foundational lore, story, and dialogue. The musical score is delightful and the sound balance is impeccable. It feels like people gave a damn making this. Knowing that life consists of tradeoffs, you can understand why there isn’t much by the way of game to play. Just as I thought Greak was picking up, the credits start rolling. It kills me to write that the game play itself is a mess. Greak’s gimmick is a real-time three character monty. It comes on gradually: the game starts as a plucky action platformer until Greak starts finding his siblings. Each additional character makes the game play more cumbersome as you are required to switch between them; often, to solve simple bordering on tedious puzzles. The action is nullified as your unplayed characters will automatically kill enemies ahead of you. Additionally, a single character’s death will result in a ‘game over’ which makes fighting bosses needlessly chaotic, ineffectual, and short. Unplayed character’s invulnerability can be toggled on/off which will remedy surprise ‘game over’ but it cannot solve the overall gameplay issues. Looks like a burger, smells like a burger, tastes like farts/ 10
River City Ransom Underground [RCRU] is not perfect. Expect that, it is a feature of the game (...i think). RCRU is a tongue-and-cheek call out to River City Ransom with all the old looks, midi-style music tracks and all the annoyances that were present with the 8-bit version . See Also: >Wonky/ Brutal A.I. > Endlessly Regenerating Bad Guys > Inescapable Kill Loops >Steep Learning Curve >Severe Punishment for Dying I have to hand it to the developers for their efforts to make this game happen. When the game first came out, this game was bugged out. The Dev's could have dropped this game like a bad date. I think they did a great job in addressing the major issues of the game, and throwing in some fun bonuses along the way too. I am a geezer of a gamer and I have been enjoying the hell out of this beat 'em up. I completely understand the non-recommend side. The game is a bit slow, your moves aren't going to land well, there is a lot of pointless fighting and if you get trapped you just have to watch you character die. Again, this game isn't perfect; I don't think it was meant to be, but it still is pretty fun. A Dad grilled burger on a summer day/10 (Review transferred from steam account; 41 hrs of game play)
I have been encouraged to play Bioshock as it has made its way to classic status for many. My playthrough of Bioshock was enjoyable but I am reluctant to recommend it. First and foremost is the game’s performance. This game is riddled with graphics, sound, and stability issues that make this game unplayable off the download. Only with some backend finagling is this game functional. I was able to mod the game to look and sound exquisite. Were the modified version the one that was sold to me, I would be much happier with my purchase. The city of Rapture in its post-apocalyptic state carries with it both a feeling of horror and mystery which wanes in its potency during the play through much like chewing gum. The horror of Bioshock is short lived and I believe this has to do with the limited enemy set. The skins and the actions of the enemies are so similar that Bioshock effectively has 4 enemies for the entirety of the game. There simply isn’t enough in game material to keep the horror of fallen Rapture present throughout the story. Likewise, the mystery of Rapture is methodically broken down into nuisance by a bombardment of numerous lengthy audio files meant to fill-in a story that should have been shown as opposed to narrated. I guess I should have counted myself lucky that I wasn’t met with walls of expositional text. (I am looking at you Mass Effect 2) I keep thinking that the story of Bioshock takes off in the wrong place. I never got to feel the impact of the glory and collapse of Rapture. The story arc and character depth would be much more impactful were I able to play through the transition of the fallen city of Rapture as, Jack developed as a character while he discovered first-hand the horrific price of plasmid augmentation and uncovered the mystery as to his origin. Again, Bioshock needs to show more of its story; an easy thing to say now fifteen years later. It was alright/10
This is an excellent metroidvania and is one of my favorites within the genre. The uniqueness of Blasphemous lies with its story and art style taken from the Catholic tradition; I thought this was an excellent choice in art direction as there is a deep well of breath taking art, music, and lore from which to craft a video game. My Gripes: As is tradition, Blasphemous oozes guilt, sin and suffering at themes in the storyline. It does get a little bit tired as every character is focal point of near pornographic proportions of self-flagellation, and fatalism. Second, the visuals of this game suffer from undue pixilation--a frequent grip of mine. However, Blasphemous has roughly 1300 years/4 periods of visual art styles to emulate and seeing the visuals truncated circa SNES graphics was disappointing. It would have been top shelf to have played Blasphemous as Baroque/Renaissance painting for example. Lastly, the game play is fairly analogous with others of this genre with the exception of the “air impulse” which requires simultaneous button press midair with a timing and angle that is uncharacteristically unforgiving given Blasphemous’ source material. I definitely recommend this game. Overall, it is well and lovingly crafted. There are also free DLC that come with this game which provide additional game play which I enjoyed. 8/10
I dig this game a lot. Realistically though, this game is probably just okay. Desert Child is part walking simulator, part sound track sampler, part racing game. The game takes place in a post earth solar system. You play a lowly hoverbike racer trying to make it to the big race...ON MARS! You work your way up race by race, noodle bowl by McNoodle bowl, and the occasional five finger discount. The races are fun and zippy and I really the look of the hoverbikes. The walking simulator portion of the game was not my bag; however, it allows for you to settle into the ambience of the area you are staying in when you are not racing. (I am a fast walker, pls let me fast walk) My greatest complaint: Desert Child was too short. I want more. I want to explore the filthy under belly of old Earth's hoverbike racing scene. I want to give corporate racing a run for it's money and show them to be just as dirty as the gangsters. I want to race on the remnants of the moon. I wanna get caught by the cops and make a jail break escaping with a cop's hoverbike. I want more bikes, more parts, more cities to explore, more lore, more hoverbike races, more variety of objectives and more God-damn beans! I hope somebody collaborates with the Devs to make a full and more flushed out game out of this. I am into the vibe of this game. I got my fingers crossed. Father Ted is indeed a great show, 6.5/10
In Invisible inc you play as agents of a recently defunct spy agency that is attempting to survive.... Kind of like in Archer but, not employed by hapless degenerates. If you are new to Klei, this company takes an established genre polishes it and adds its own flavour to a game. I would say that: Klei games lack high level complexity, but are entertaining to play. I have got to hand it to Klei for being consistent with their art style and high visual quality of their games. I have played the Shank series and Mark of the Ninja and have not been disappointed in Klei's iterations of beat-em-up and stealth genres. This turn based strategy rewards, stealth, non-lethal take downs and punctuality. Unlike Shadowrun, an agent of Invisible Inc can't light the place up, blow the smoke off his pistol, and call it a day. All guards are equipped with heart monitors that alert a central security system of any deceased personnel -- you can't shoot away all your problems but you can taze them to your satisfaction. It is the fine art of sneakery that will allow you to obtain your goal. Remember, you are on the clock. If you spend too much time on a mission, you will be met with nosey well-armed reinforcements. A few features of this game make it extra entertaining for me. The first is this tone of the game: there is a real sense of urgency and desperation to survive when you play that adds to the excitement of the game play. Second, are the random maps which keep the game from getting too stale. Lastly, is the incremental challenge that is placed in each level; I like how sometimes I win just by the skin of my teeth. 7/10
It may be a neat idea to amalgamate a variety of RPG styles throughout video game history, I don't think Evoland2 [EV] pulls it off. The nature of the game leaves it open to two main flaws which in my opinion are not well handled. 1)Jack of all trades master of none: [EV]'s selling point was an adventure though RPG gaming styles the sheer number of which are to be commended; unfortunately, none of them are done very well. Each era looks and plays like a cheap knock off. It is difficult to do precise movements which makes even basic jumping puzzles loathsome. Characters move at a snails pace. Hit boxes are iffy which make the ARPG elements of EV frustrating. The inventory system is overly simplistic, meaning there is no real equipment optimization at all for yourself or your party members. The natural consequence of the bare bones inventory system is that there is barely an in game economy to speak of. There is gold all over the place, there is just nothing to spend it on. One of the more unfortunate features of the game is that you have limited access to your party members which act more as spells than playable characters. Your party members are unironic unidimensional plot devices; which brings me to the second flaw. 2)Non-immersive story: The game never misses an opportunity discuss its every changing nostalgic RPG game play instead of letting the features stand on their own: EV story suffers from not taking itself seriously. Your own character barely speaks. Some games will reveal the main character's personality through a back story or place emphasis on the meaning of his actions --Not in EV. The story is revealed chiefly by bland in game events and the vapid dialogue of your party members. Surprisingly, EV will attempt to handle topics like meaning of true friendship and the obliteration of a people with an aloof attitude and numerous 4th wall breaks. It is impossible to get into the story when the characters themselves act as if their world is a joke.
Valfaris is a video game. It is not art aping as a video game, it is not an unpublished novel pretending at being a video game, nor is it Pravda wearing the flayed skin of a video game. Valfaris is a video game, as it should be. In this 2D platformer, our laconic protagonist returns to his home to vanquish the evil that has infested it and quest for the truth. This noble mission is accompanied by one the best soundtracks to a video game that I have ever heard. The pixilation excellently done but it falls flat only because this animation style has become ubiquitous with indie games. I find the controls a bit stiff but after acclimatizing, this game plays smoothly and is consistent in its platforming and hitbox detection. I find the difficulty level quite manageable and most importantly this game is fun. I highly recommend you get it. The Steel Mantis and Big Sugar crew nailed this. 10/10
I get it. I do. And maybe that's why I should put it down.
