Rollerdrome is indeed a game like Tony Hawk but with guns. And that works, for the most past. The gameplay loop feels fresh, fast and cool. But the thing is that there is no change from the first arena to the last. No unique levels of weird events to pull off. Every arena is: enter, shoot everyone, leave. And that is fine at the start, but later levels just add more and more and more enemies. However, push through all that and become a master. Suddenly you don't care how many enemies there are, because you quickly end them all, while doing tricks, evades, and awesome headshots.
This is a game I really want to love: interesting world, really pretty vistas... But that is all this game has: nice pictures. The action is zoomed out so far, that it feels distant as well. As if you are merely looking, not playing. And the combat itself is very lackluster and skills are based on luck (procs). The difficulty is all over the place: sometimes a cakewalk, often very difficult. This is worsened by some really pretty but horrible enemies that are all over the place. It feels like everything was less important than pretty images. Even the skill menu: it looks cool, but it is really, really bad to navigate... I want to love this, but I really cannot.
I love the Amnesia series, but ever since The Dark Descent, Frictional games doesn't seem to get right balance of horror anymore (excluding Soma, which is amazing!). The thing here is, there is too much horror. And yes, that is a bad thing. You die so often, that the monster stops being scary and becomes annoying. And those stupid rats with their headlight eyes totally ruin the atmosphere... I really wanted to love this, but I can't. The game is actively working against itself, undermining itself. There should have been more puzzles and discovery. The game is at it spookiest when the monster isn't seen, but heard growling behind the walls. Another thing that sucks is that the monster cannot be predicted in most instances. There is no scanner like in Alien Isolation that messes with your anxiety. Nope. There it suddenly is, and bam your run in ruined. This game has a great start, and can genuinely scare you at first. But after a while, it become a chore, and the monster a bore. And the weird roguelite kinda gameplay loop just doesn't fit really well. The Dark Descent > Rebirth > A Machine For Pigs > The Bunker
This is the perfect blend of combat and puzzling: you can't succeed without both of them. The story and world is quite interesting, and the levels look really pretty. The gameplay is geat, I have never played anything like it: using your previous attempts to help you in your current one to defeat all foes, while thinking about traps, doors, special enemies... It can be quite challenging, but it is always fun. And if you don't care about beating the time limits, you will be able to get through this game. The one thing (at this moment) that is a shame, is the amount of visual bugs. Nothing to stand in the way of the great puzzles, but purely visual stuff that breaks the immersion. I have no upper body in some levels, tutorial pages show just a black page, etc. Fix that, and this is a gem of a game! It is so much fun to reach the time limits set on each combat puzzle: just one more try! Ok, maybe three more?
This game is just waves and waves of braindead enemies, and you frantically jumping around to avoid certain death, while hoarding weird items. It tries to be like the DOOM reboot, with quick action and lots of movement. But it fails quite badly. Optimization is poor, bugs are plenty, the level design is really confusing, there is little to no guidance on what to actually do... I love DOOM, I love simple Boomer-Shooters, but this ain't it. This can't even stand in it's shadow...
This game isn't the longest. In about six hours you'll see the credits rolling. But the time spent in the world of this adventure/shooter hybrid is awesom. Yes, there is a bit of jank here and there, but there is way more to enjoy. Great guns, simple but fun puzzles, cool enemies with nice mechanics to beat them, cool boss fights, great athmospere... The story and collectible's don't tell the most original of stories, but it kept me going from start to finish. There is a lot to love here!
