A short opening cutscene with kickass music, a brief tutorial, and then the gloves are off. Tight gunplay against intelligent enemies that ambush, double-back, and flank. Level design that enables basic exploration and enables the enemy to enter organically and take new offensive directions. Generous bullet time that makes lining up shots easier, and lets you appreciate the physics and lighting engine as bullets tear apart flesh and explosions send dust flying. The plot is functional and largely inoffensive, which is all you can ask for. Gameplay is limited to gunplay/melee with little movement variety, but the game provides just enough variation to gunfight scenarios to shake things up. And the atmosphere, while not always scary, is immersive and unbroken. Not the biggest fan of the late game enemies, but otherwise, you're looking at an excellent shooter.
Escape Goat is a pleasant little clockwork machine. Puzzles, artstyle, soundtrack and character all benefit from the auter vision of a skilled game designer. I received this as part of a bundle, but it sticks with me as a game made with vision.
Having put over 500 hours in Invisible Inc (easy to play in the background), Spirited Thief is a spiritual successor that elaborates on its basic mechanics, while building on the atmosphere and setting of Thief. This functions more as a puzzle game than a more free-form stealth experience, but you're given enough tools and abilities that it's never an insurmountable challenge. I give the experience a 5/5 because of its clear mastery of its mechanics, its warm atmosphere, and the more-than-competent writing. Don't let my comparison to other titles weigh down your assessment of this game. This is clearly a developer who saw mechanics and built on them masterfully. Give this game a shot!
ST: BotS doesn't just embody the best of a particular genre of stealth tactics: it IS the best. Lifting elements from Desperados (a franchise Mimimi Games would take on in their next project) and Commandos, BotS is trimmed of any superfluous mechanics. Set in a beautiful rendition of Edo Japan, the artstyle resembles a watercolor painting, The five protagonists play well off of one another, dialogue is well-written, cutscenes are short but sweet, and the tone is both playful and becomes more serious as the story progresses. This studio's successive titles, Desperados 3 and Shadow Gambit, were a little overindulgent in motion-captured cutscenes and overlong hub missions, and they lacked the beautiful efficiency of BotS. This, and Aiko's choice, is Mimimi's greatest production. The absolute best of stealth tactics, one of the greatest stealth games of all time.
Sprawl justifies its relatively short length with immediate access to generous bullet-time powers, a large roster of unique enemies, and a wide variety of fun weapons. No aspect of this game, from platforming to key hunting to gunplay, is so difficult as to be frustrating. The game starts with a bang, and finishes with hundreds of meaty headshots. This game takes the best influences from older shooters (Quake and Doom classics) and newer titles (Mirror's Edge, Titanfall, Doom 2016). My only complaints would be an over-reliance on monster closets, some weapons are a little too slow to fire, and environments look same-y towards the end. But if you're looking for a no-fluff, all action shooter that cuts straight to the punch with no stat-grinding or exposition hallways, Sprawl is your game.
