Tavern Master isn't a bad game, but there's a very obvious feeling of amateur-dev about it - Like it's a notch in the roster of a graduate student unburdened by creativity or inspiration. It's nothing seriously detrimental, but the lack of ambience and general polish, and the shallow, ambling gameplay don't do it any favours. If this is your first business sim game, you'll won't find it unpleasant - It's a clean experience, functioning well with minimal bugs, and the art direction is passable. If you've actually played any number of restaurant/business tycoon games, you could probably come up with some better names without thinking too hard. It's not the elegant kind of simple - It's the basic kind of simple. It's straighforward, uninteresting, unexciting, but it's a low-effort timewaster if that's your thing. Tavern Master doesn't do anything terribly wrong, but it doesn't do anything terribly right. Nothing about it is special, or unique, but there's also nothing jarring or awful. At full price, it's not cheap, and it's not expensive. It's not beautiful, and it's not ugly. It's just a game - Another title in an endless list.
For adults, the narration and narrative might come off obnoxious and self-enthused. The art is exquisite, but any instance of motion drags it down - Jarring, even among tweened animation. The combat might be spectacular, but I'm not about to brave a novel punching lazily upwards to find out - So that's on me. This game knows its audience, and knows just how to play within the quality blinders to build its acclaim. Outside of this bubble, your mileage may vary - Though, if you're here, you've already passed the first and only test.
Unlike the ever-glowing GoG reviews, Rain World's true appeal sits much closer to the more mediated critic reviews. As slick and stunning as it can be, the game's creative ideals have left the actual gameplay disjointed from what it presents. A game about survival, in which survival is meaningless; Where the subtle cues are just too subtle, and there's little logic or consistency to punishment, pleasure, and reward. In many ways, this causes design choices which might otherwise be well-founded (such as the character movement) to become indistinguishable from poor design (such as the platforming obstacles). A supposedly complex ecosystem is invisible, behind constant and unavoidable deaths that re-generate enemies and resources, but not the world. The mechanations of creatures are fun to watch, but bland to contend with. Perhaps that's the worst part. Rain World doesn't feel like an easy game to throw away, but it's disheartening to persist with. It's not punishing, it's just confusing and repellant. It could be an exquisite exploration-based art game, but it's burdened by technical mechanics and has no patience for the curious player. It could be an intriguing platformer-plus, but it's far too fillipant with its sense of challenge and pacing. I'm not sure what tweaks Rain World could've made to successfully marry its concepts together - It's perfectly possible, and what we have feels off-target by only a few degrees - But good intentions and a solid vision, in this case, are just not enough to make it happen.
In some ways, Nox was so ahead of its time that the industry still hasn't caught up. Not only is it a rare (but obvious) thought of genius for an hack-n-slash to use the mouse to direct spells, while the keys control movement; But, Nox has developed it to the point of responsiveness you won't often see outside of first-person shooters. And Nox did it in 2000. There are other things to say, of course. The art is quite lovely, if not astounding. The prevalence of voice acting is a nice touch. The dialogue and story are... Okay, if a bit unskilled in the writing. That's not what Nox is about, though. It's the gameplay. And the gameplay is outright fantastic, 25 years on.
Nobody over 12 should be too thrilled with this game. It's solid and responsive, but it's shallow. Straightforward. It's not one of those "Amazing for kids, also amazing for adults" games, a la Rayman Origins or Psychonauts 2. There's no rule that a simple game can't be great - But there's something about Cat Quest's design that feels purrrfunctor (hurr). There doesn't seem to be much love below the surface, and it's quickly obvious. What's there is polished. and it's pretty fun in the short-term, but there's a vast potential for content that nobody bothered to realize. Get it for your kids. It'll keep them busy.
It's inevitable that such a large mod release is going to be buggy. Most people, especially the sensible ones, expect this. Much of the problem is that FoLon has neither undergone significant testing, nor released as a beta to bugshoot problems until it was ready for a proper release. Most of the reviews around here say the same thing, and are accurate in saying so: The work is truly amazing, but the amount of bugs make unplayable for most people. I should probably give it an extra star, but I've subtracted one to offset all the poorly-written five star reviews that are ignoring this fact. The ironic part is, the stumbling rating of Fallout London on GoG (the only platform it's currently available on) is going to impact the game score for a good while. Hopefully this will underscore for the team (and possibly others) why one might not want to make obvious mistakes that could have a lasting impact. Transparency goes a long way, folks.
In terms of absolute perfection, as well as sheer pleasure, there are two games that I consider to be the "most perfect games ever made". Beyond the flawed but incredible titans like Disco Elysium; VtM: Bloodlines; New Vegas; And so on - These games might not be lifechanging narrative experiences, but are instead examples of gaming pleasure in its purest and most unbotched form. The first is Skate 2 & 3. Skate is uniquely brilliant for being one of the few games that is incredibly, endlessly engaging and fun to play without goals - Sleek, instinctual gameplay, urging you to push the limitations of yourself and the game, for the sheer pleasure of it. The second, of course, is Death Road to Canada. Where can I even begin? The gameplay is unique; Perfectly sectioned between two segments: Multiple-choice, and scoot-and-loot action. The character creation is cute (and moddable). The mechanics are simple, intuitive, flawless, and unravel as you learn them. The humour is goofy, but hits the mark. The tragedy of loss is rewarded by opportunities that follow; Defeat is mitigated by the quickness and opportunity presented by a new run. Mistakes are made fun. The growth of your skill and knowledge is reflected in how much further you get under the same (or more difficult) circumstances. It is a joy to be able to see your growth in how easily you chew through hordes. You'll continually find new secrets and learn new tactics. You will feel good about yourself for your acomplishments. This is the only game I've ever enjoyed clearing game data in, to begin anew - Confident that whatever I gave up could easily be gained again. Beyond those time-gorging adventure games, I have never sunk more time into a title than this. This game is an absolute pillar of well-justified, well-implemented design decisions. There is only ONE issue - And that's how survivor AI can make dangerously stupid decisions. It can be frustrating... But my god, everything else is king. <3
Few games have ever done as much lasting damage to the authenticity and quality of a franchise than Fallout 4 has done to Fallout. While there are a rare few improvements to incarnations directly prior (Gun combat, visual design), and even fewer welcome additions (Settlement building), the game has taken enormous steps down in most of the fundamental parts of what make a game fun and rewarding (Story, writing, replayability, worldbuilding, complexity, tone, player choice, balance, quest intrigue, build variety, character expression, aesthetic originality, memorability, narrative honesty, humour, and so on.) Past its release, there was little effort made to hide the fact that Fallout 4 was not only an immense dumbing-down of the 3D Fallout games; But a complete whitewashing and softening of its content so that it could be sold to a wider, less discerning market (children & casual gamers). This release solidified that there would be no chance the series would return to its roots, nor the depth and intrigue of its predecessors - The very things that had established Fallout as a beloved series in the first place. The only reason I can even half-heartedly recommend paying the very company that ate its fans on this release, is to install the brilliant Fallout: London overhaul - Which still has a long way to go before it's stable. Even then, I recommend you use a pre-existing copy, rather than pay the cynical turds at Bethesda for the pleasure to enjoy somebody elses' work. Or better yet, play New Vegas.
