At first glance, this minimalistic golf game might look polished but a bit uninspired. However, it has that fine gameplay tuning that keeps you coming back to get that perfect score by finding shortcuts on the map, and to hunt all the collectibles and hidden passages the way you would in a Mario game. The difficulty is set just to keep you not too frustrated, and extremely satisfied when the ball falls in the hole after a few miraculous bounces. It's perfect to be played in short sessions during a break, and this way will last for months. I really recommend it.
Hyperspeed was the update of this game, and contains the two campaigns of Lightspeed plus two more. It's also available on GOG, (and cheaper when I write this review). Otherwise the game was really good for its time, and it didn't age too badly.
This is a first person narrative game inbetween a walking simulator and an adventure game, with a part of Fallout 3 style scavenging in ruins filled with trash and non repetitive, well integrated mini games. The art and musical score are nice and their coherence quite immersive. You play as a succession of unnamed teenagers trying to migrate out of their totalitarian country. Some of your attempts will be successful, others won't, and through each step of your trips you'll meet recurring characters who will be influenced by your actions and dialogue choices. While being entirely scripted, the clever modular scenes system hides well the cogs of the game mechanics, at least during your first playthrough which will be fantastic : you'll be fully immersed and at no point you'll feel you're following the usual scenaristic tree of the genre, waiting to be surprised by the next step as if it was an open world game. The illusion will shatter on your second playthrough, where you'll explore the scenes that didn't appear in the first, and try different choices, revealing the game as much smaller as it seemed, but you'll still feel rejoiced by the experience. The characters are quite caricatural, but it fits the cartoonish style, and some scenes are indeed reminiscent of the cinematographic references. The depiction of the fascist state is manichaean and a bit shallow, but, hey, you'll be incarnating rebelling teenagers, after all.
This feels like a Flash browser game from the late 2000's that would have been made by someone who played those winter olympics games from the 80's and early 90's and was frustrated that each event, including the ski jump, only had one level. It will entertain you for a couple of hours with simple and enjoyable gameplay, or even more if you want to keep improving your score. It's worth it, especially if you buy it on discount.
This game was previously on GOG, before being removed, and is back. (though in a different entry, those who had the game now have it under "Schein Base" in their library. it probably switched editors or owners) It all takes place in a swamp, so the scenery isn't much varied, but it doesn't really matter. The principle of the game is that there are three invisible worlds, each with its own platforms, obstacles and traps, that you can reveal with red, green and blue light. Switching between each allows to navigate and solve the puzzles to progress (a bit of platforming skill is required). Overall, the game is well rounded, the controls are fine, and the puzzles are well made and not boring. I enjoyed the game, it's worth its price, especially while discounted.
Head over Heels is a classic isometric game from the 8 bit computer era (released in 1987), by the video game pioneer Jon Ritman, that had a huge and deserved success back then. Retrospec released this remake in 2003 as a freeware. (I think the developer started it to show that you didn't need complex z buffer sorcery to make an isometric engine). Another developer, Jorge Rodríguez Santos, also started is own project in 2001 and released his own remake in 2010 (you can still find it on the web). His remake sounds more like the original, though I prefered this one for its more polished graphics. Piko Interactive then acquired the rights over the original licence, and somehow bought the game from Retrospec to re-publish it. (They didn't acquire the original Retrospec music, so it's a new soundtrack. I prefered the original, though). As it was a nice 32 bit pixel art remake of an 8 bit game, this version aged perfectly and is largely worth its price today.
Ghost of a Tale is quite classical, (with a lot quests consisting of going back and forth to fetch collect objects), but the design of the characters, the world, the writing, and the well rounded gameplay make it exceptional. The difficulty is aimed at casual gamers, but the experienced ones will also enjoy it. The game is magnificent, but, like many indie games made with off the shelf 3D engines, poorly optimized. While it's not a problem on a high end PC, lowering the details to make it work on older machines won't help much, (because the graphic chip probably spends 90% of its time drawing the entire level hidden behind the wall in front of you). But hey, games like these make it worth buying overkill hardware ;)
