I've had Thrillville: Off the Rails for Xbox 360 for many years and it's the version I base my judgment on, so I'm not sure of the technical quality of this PC port. This game is really fun and offers a wide variety of things to do, mostly in the form of minigames. It's not so much a game about micromanaging a park for maximum profit like in games such as Roller Coaster Tycoon, but more of a casual, arcadey experience where you can just have a good laid-back time. You can build coasters and place rides (and ride them!) but the overall feel is different to other park games. On a personal note, my brother's favorite part of this game (and the other game in its series) was always the minigolf and the ability to build your own courses, which is always fun. My favorite is the hat/drink/food stalls which let you play a funny Bust-A-Move clone. Other memorable highlights are race tracks, a beat-em-up arcade game where you play as a Chinchilla wearing boxing gloves, and even a janitor minigame that has you sucking up trash with a vacuum. A fun and unique game!
15 Days is a 2009 point and click adventure about a small group of thieves who believe the crimes they commit are justified because they ultimately want to give their ill-gotten gains to charity. It's an interesting take on a modern Robin Hood story that has the player going between the thieves and the cop on the case of a seemingly related crime. Graphically, 15 days looks pretty good for its time. There's a nice variety of detailed environments to navigate, with some eye-pleasing lighting and animated effects. The character models look good in general but seem a little odd when speaking because they don't seem to change facial expression, even in times of distress. The game is easy to navigate, with the player usually clicking (or double-clicking) on hotspots to advance from area to area. There's also a little-used map feature that allows fast travel between major locations. Audio is harder to talk about because it's not mixed very well, especially the dialogue. You'll definitely want to play with subtitles on, as even with the volume turned up, people speaking will often be quieter than the music in the background. Music tracks themselves are pretty good, but nothing particularly memorable. Voice acting is fine, maybe a bit unemotional at times but definitely not bad. The gameplay really lies in the quality of the story and how well it's told, because there are scant few puzzles here. In fact, sometimes it feels like there should be more to a section but the solution for the problem at hand is usually solved automatically. The plot is kept simple and easy to follow but ends just as the player expects things to really pick up, giving me the impression that there was perhaps a sequel planned that unfortunately never came about. Overall, it's a good game with a few kinks, but well worth a playthrough if you're a fan of narrative-driven adventure games.
