There is a lot more to Catizens than just cute cats doing cat things. It is a pretty serious town-builder where you need to use strategy and planning in order to advance through the campaign. Bear in mind that the game focuses heavily on cat personalities, and often the cats will do whatever they want, depending on their mood. If they get fleas, stay awake too much, or get in a cat fight, they will be in a crabby mood and won't work as efficiently. They can even get so angry that they leave your town, unless one of their friends can talk them out of it. And yes, your cats can die in combat, but they each have nine lives and your other cats can revieve them, and some can develop a skill to "ressurect" the fallen felines. I played over 50 hours in the campaign mode, and it was a really rewarding, fun experience. Lots of stuff to do, and each "level" presents a different challenge. Construct buildings with your architects, farm and make soup with your farmers, craft weapons for your knights and rangers with a blacksmith, and use magic with your acolytes. You can accessorize your cats with ribbons and flea collars or give them a catnip high. Resource management is a major factor in this game. Food and wood seem to be the top priorities, and you really want to avoid having hungry catizens or else they will get into fights or even leave the town. The game functions well, but you need to get used to the game mechanics and using WASD to control the camera is a bit annoying at first. (I use a mouse that I can program the keyboard strokes so I can play the game essentially one-handed). And there isn't really much instruction to how to play the game, and it took me 40 hours until I found out that I can use shift+right click to que a task. This is just a small part of what Catizens is about. Fun, engaging, and deep, it provides hours of gameplay that will seem like minutes. Highly recommended.
...and it is FREE on GOG. Worth it, for sure! Hard, but fun side-scrolling space shooter with a "credit" feature that allows you to spend on new weapon upgrades, engines, and satelite support drones. You start off with 1500, so spend wisely and my advice is to start with the very first stage. You can select other stages but you'd want to upgrade your ship first. When, your ship blows up, you respawn immediately so try to avoid getting killed until the bosses, which are epic and the highlight of the game for sure. The voice overs, sound effects, music, and graphics are all top notch. But get ready for a real challenge. You have to pick the right weapons or else you won't make it very far. Highly recommended, especially if you like blowing stuff up.
Pulstar is a side-scrolling space shooter that will kick your ass. A notriously addictive quarter muncher, Pulstar features a bunch of power ups to blast nasty looking aliens and space-robot-like things. It's fun, frustrating, and freaking addictive as hell. In the arcades back in the day, get ready to blow $10 in quarters in 15 minutes. They simply don't make 'em like this anymore. The comparisons to R-Type are valid. The gog version works flawlessly. Xbox style controllers work, including the joysticks. This game actually plays better with a traditional arcade-style joystick because you may find it easier to move around and mash the fire button with your forefinger instead of using your thumb. If you hold down the fire button (ala Blazing Star) and release, you will fire a cannon blast. Get good at this, because it is a major part of the game. One thing to be aware of is the terrain will kill you more often than the bad guys. A common complaint over the past 3 decades of playing this game is that the game doesn't really deliniate well between what you can fly through and what you'll crash into. Never the less, it's a fun game, easy to learn, but even after 30 years still hard to master. Luckily, it is frequently on sale for less than $2USD, and the GOG version has a save function. It's well deserved, because I fed this game enough quarters over the years!
I gave this game 4 stars because the gameplay and graphics are phenominal. It plays like a Zelda game but with twin-stick elements, where you fight in "rooms", or screens, as opposed to a large map. This is a "rogue like" (even though, like so many others that claim "rogue" status, it resembles nothing like the original Rogue), so know what to expect. You have one life, no respawns, and you can't keep any of the loot you found or bought. Once you die, that's it; back to the beginning for you! You keep nothing except for the Apostles that you freed, and they seem to have limited use and are purely optional. Your character fights using a bow, and your starting weapon has unlimited arrows, so use it frequently to destroy jars and other structures to release gems or money (like a Zelda game). You use the right thumb stick to aim and the left to move (twin-stick style). The bosses are where you find the "bullet hell" and if you are lucky enough to find and upgrade the right weapons, you can make short work of them. Be aware of a few things before you buy this game: 1) It is a Rogue-like game, meaning it will be more of a pain in the rump than challenging. The game play is easy, but healing is rare, dodging has limitations, and you are at the mercy of random availablity of weapons and power-ups. 2) No checkpoints, no saves, and you can't keep ANY loot if you die. You MUST devote an entire evening, day, or weekend to this game, like an old Nintendo or Genesis game that didn't have a save or password feature. and 3) As is the case with many newer games, there isn't much instruction and the tutorial is like 2 minutes long. You have to figure out the nuances of the game rather blindly. I like games that are hard and test your skills. But there is a difference between a challenging game and one that is more inconvenient than hard. Ira falls into the latter category, and it limits the player in ways that inhibit the enjoyment of the game.
Many GOG users rely on accurate, unbiasesd reviews for making a decision on whether or not to buy a game. At the time of this review, there are almost 600 games in my library and I used the reviews to make a decision on what games to add. Many times, however, I have found that the reviews, especially the negative ones, were so off and so wronmg that I often wondered if they played the same game as I. Hero of the Kingdom 3 is ones of those games where the reviews were, way, way off base. This is a fun, engaging, and fast-paced addition to the series that adds some interesting RPG-style elements such as skills and skill points. There is a ton of crafting and more of a focus on "hunting and gathering" maybe than the previous versions. The story is cool and worthy of the series name, and I really enjoyed the smooth and easy game play. It is not a particularly hard game, nor is it mindless, but it is very easy-going and suitable for kids and families. I don't know if the version I played is different than the versions reviewed here, but I found none of the issues reported. Yes, stuff will break, but everything is easy to replace, and later in the game you can craft weapons to your heart's content. The stuff you find will "respawn" after a time, so there is a lot of incentive to return you previous areas to check out what you may find. The game is set up so that you won't ever be in a position where you will get stuck. You do have to think some things through for a minute, but anyone should be able to finish the game. The story is just as good as the previous games, and I played them all. This one may be the best in the series as far as game play, and if you liked the first two parts and the "lost" chapters, you'll love this one. No bugs, glitches, or graphical issues found.
I've been playing Gauntlet games since the 80s. I've played the original arcade, Tengen NES (and had a notebook full of passwords), Genesis, and Dreamcast versions and this one is unquestionably the best version of them all. I tend to get really pumped up playing Gauntlet, but this one had me in all sorts of excitement. The graphics are phenomenal, the gameplay is smooth and addictive, and the levels in the campaign are extremely interesting. There is not a bland or boring moment here. I put off buying this game for several years because of the reviews, and as it turns out, they are dead wrong about this game. I tend to use the Valkyrie, who is well balanced overall. But in this version, she totally rocks. Her weapon upgrades can be devastating but you have to pick and choose the right ones for the right levels. You can also use her shield and it protects from just about every attack, including bosses. There are puzzles in some floors, while others are arena-like in that you have to kill everything to get a bunch of gold. I just finished the campaign on normal and single player. The first boss is insane while the second is much easier with the right weapons, and the last boss will give you fits because it is a non-stop flow of monsters and stuff flying around like crazy. This is a great game. I found no flaws or anything that would make me not recommend it. If you like action, this game is for you. You have to think quickly and be on your toes, so if games like that don't appeal to you, then this isn't the game for you. Vastly underrated, for sure. No real bugs to report, other than some slight rubber banding here and there and sometimes the game wouldn't launch, but that may be due to Galaxy 2.0 and all its issues. Highly recommended for any fans of the original, hack-n-slash, or action games.
This is a very well made, well designed game with a very unique premise. It is short and there aren't a ton of enemies but the combat is intense. While not a hard game, veteran platform gamers will find some familiar mechanics and newcomers will likely need a few minutes to get used to the game. The graphics and visuals are impressive and create an engrossing atmosphere. The checkpoints are very close to each other so the game can be played in short increments. The game requires the player to keep torches lit to maintain "fire" power and to keep the "mist" at bay, and your character has a limited amount of time before the fire power runs out. It can be maintained or regained by slashing lit torches. Fire power gives your character special, powerful abilities like combos, projectiles, and healing. There is a cool little skill tree that is not overly complex and you can gain skills by gathering "points" from slashing jars, statues, or killing monsters. A fun addition is that much of the background is destructible when you have fire power. Find hidden areas by burning random stuff! The platorming is straightforward but still requires some skill. Boss battles are intense and challenging, just make sure you keep slashing torches to keep your fire power! It is a short, 3+ hour game but the developers valued quality over quantity. This is a must play for anyone who likes action games but would like something a little different. The story slowly develops but really keeps the player interested. There aren't really any instructions on how to play the game, but the game has tips that can be disabled at any time. Ther gameplay is easy to figure out, though, and this also adds to the mystery of the game. Highly recommended and hopefully, we get a sequel or expansion some day.
I have to agree with the reviewer from March of '23. This game has bad Xbox-style controller support. It is impossible to even get through the tutorial using a controller. I can confirm everything SenatorIvy wrote. No need to repeat it here. Please see that review for more information. If you are skilled using a keyboard and mouse for action/platformers, then give this a go. If you prefer platformers with a controller, then this game doesn't look like a good choice. No chance the developer fixes this with a patch, either. Looks and sounds great, though...
Pretty cool puzzle game. Not "explicit" by any stretch, just nice artwork. Cool music and voice acting. There are lots of customizable features that allows the player to make the game as hard or as easy as they want. Recommended especially if on sale. No bugs, flaws, or issues with launching on Windows 10.
The SNK Anniversary collection has a lot of cool features, but the reason to get this is to add Crystalis to your GOG collection. Crystalis is an RPG/Action game sort of like Zelda but has its own personality and game play. When I was a kid, this was one of the most surprising and enthralling video games at the time, and it turns out SNK's only RPG style game. They got everything right, and it remains one of my top games to this day. Fast paced, action packed but with a deep storyline, it appeals to modern gamers and nostalgia-seekers. Play it without a guide and have fun discovering new areas. Monsters are trickier than they look. The new save feature is convenient. The rest of the games are adapted from the original arcade games and if you like quarter-munchers, then you will love them. Ikari Warriors will keep you busy for a while. This is a very strong release with some great pictures and artwork that displays the early history of SNK games, and if you are into the old-school, buy this collection and have some fun. For Crystalis alone, it is worth the price as a "collector's item". No bugs, runs great on W10. My Xbox controller goes a little haywire every now and then. Save often!
