Graphics: 55% I'm not a fan of Tomorrow corps athletic at all. I can see why some people really like it, but it really only clicked for me in World of Goo. It definitely conveys the themes they are trying to get across so I will give them that, but it's so dreary, depressing, and unsettlingly that I just can't get past it. It is the main reason I can't get into their games anymore. Sound: 35% Very light background music, one main jingle that I honestly couldn't tell apart from any other Tomorrow Corp game. It's a far cry from the World of Goo soundtrack... Gameplay: 75% This game is glorified Assembler challenges with a Tomorrow Corp coat of paint. That's not a bad thing, in fact, this is more fun and accessible then opening a programming book any day. If you've ever wondered about programming (at a very low level) or the limitations of all computers, give this game a whirl and you'll be shocked that we get anything done at all. Control: 75% The core is drag and drop programming, with an animated execution process. It makes it pretty simple so for those who don't want to keep a bunch of commands in their heads. I do like that the comments you can leave and variable names are sloppy and terrible because you have to write them out with the mouse. It's a nice touch. Story: 80% What's there is pretty fun. It's very light but gets its message across as always. If you're technically inclined you probably already know the message and laugh. Overall: 60% I had fun with it, even for a puzzle game I didn't get really that frustrated with it, although I suspect that has to do with my background in the subject matter. It's a very good game if your interestest in really understanding what's going on inside a computer, but the aesthetic just really drowns out most enjoyment I could really get from it.
Graphics: 65% Possibly the weakest aspect of the game in my eyes, Hollow Knight has a cartoonish art style that doesn't look especially bad, but I wish they had done a touch more with. The character design varies pretty wildly too with some characters being really well detailed and evocative and others just kind of... being there. Sound: 80% When I first started the game I was a little worried about the soundtrack. Most of the tracks seemed kind of airy and atmospheric, fitting, but not always my thing. However, I was blown away by some of the later tracks and it really made up for it. The sound effect design was also spot on making interactions feel very solid. Gameplay: 100% Primarily a Metroidvania game, it sees you exploring a deeply interconnected nest of levels unlocking powers to be able to explore radially more of the map as time goes on. One area that Hollow knight shines in is it's non-linear approach to this genre, certainly not the first to allow you to do things in nearly any order, but many Metroidvania's have only one main critical path, and you have to exploit your way off of it if you can at all. However, Hollow Knight has many different paths, with tricks and secrets ensuring that there really isn't a 'right order' to the game. Control: 90% Where most Metroidvania games have very loose floaty controls, Hollow Knight has very tight controls, almost like a precision platformer. Because of this, the bosses and platforming challenges can test a players skill to a much more precise degree without being overly frustrating. Story: 80% The overall story isn't blow me away amazing, although I liked several of the NPC, particularly Hornet. However, the way the story is delivered, through hidden events, bestiary entries, and cryptic dialogue is straight out of Soulsborne. I did find this one a bit easier to piece together since you are directly told certain key events if you find the right thing. Overall: 95% This is the third indie game I've played this year that I consider one of my favorite games of all time, the others being A Hat in Time and Iconoclast. This takes three of my favorite Genres; precision platformers, Metroidvanias, and Soulsborne; and combines them in a wonderful way.
Iconoclast is the latest game from Joakim Sandberg, aka Konjak, and the third full indie game from him. I've played both of his previous two entries, being Chalk and Noitu Love 1 and 2. While I did like Noitu Love 2 quite a bit it never jived with me the way it seemed to with other people I knew. Iconoclast changed that, I have not been so obsessed with a game as to play it multiple times back to back since System Shock 2. This game absolutely absorbed me for about 40 hours in the span of one week, I played this game like it was my full-time job... My first playthrough was on GoG and by the end of it I liked the gameplay and soundtrack but found the story a little weird and a few hiccoughs in GoG Galaxy made me not want to sink too much into it. I found it it was on Play Station and that is where I beat harder mode and than challenge mode. In short, I love this game, it's possibly one of my favorite Indie games to have ever been produced. Graphics: 80% The art direction for the game is pretty impressive, with some very creative designs for the characters, bosses, and environments. One thing that stood out to me was that some of the animations are only used once (I could watch Mina's slow clap all day long). This doesn't seem like much but it speaks to me that Konjak didn't want to cut corners and it really shows. Another positive note is that his creativity with environments really flourished with some of the more nasty looking places oozing off their boundaries and it just added a nice sense of immersion. The only negative I have is that some characters seemed more detailed than others, it might be a stylistic choice, but Robin especially seems to have tons of animation personality, but her sprite is fairly bland in the facial region even compared to Mina or Elro. Sound: 70% The soundtrack was overall pleasant and fitting. Nothing particularly stands out, from the rest which is fine. I would certainly buy the soundtrack, but I just don't see myself listening to it purely for the sake of how good the music is. Gameplay: 80% This game is an action platformer. I am a long time Metroid fan, with the original having been one of the first games I ever played. I'll get this out of the way right away, this game is pretty bad Metroidvania. There isn't a whole lot of discovery, with your adventure being fairly linear forward. There is a pretty limited toolset meaning that most of the items are hidden away behind similar puzzles. What threw me over the edge was the incredibly inconsistent signposting for one of the later game upgrades. Everything thing not tied to the Metroidvania aspects is nearly perfect though, even the exploration and routing is still amazing. As always for a Konjak game, the boss fights are a delight and a spectacle, my favorite being Fitzroy. Control: 80% The controls for most actions you do are very responsive, and Robin has a nice clean jump. The animations for swinging your wrench or firing your guns are nice and snappy and have a nice punch to them. My major complained in this area is that the game tutorizes some things, well other, fairly important, things it doesn't give you a clue about and you just are left to waffle. The two things that stood out to me are that you can use your gun's recoil to gain hight which is a foreign concept at least for me and that you can fire every gun except your first gun diagonally. Story: 75% The game actually does have a pretty fleshed out story, with character growth, deep lore, all the trappings. However, I'll be impressed if anyone understands what is going on their first playthrough. The story is pretty disjointed and quite a few moments were the cause and effect of something are separated by a good number of cutscenes combined with some people talking very vaguely about the problem. You basically have to have an amazing memory to remember the abstract way something played out to understand what they are talking about. Unless you already played it and now know where the story is going so you can tell much easier. Additionally, there is, unsurprisingly with a name like Iconoclast, a story you could easily apply to real-world issues, and well I'm normally not a huge fan of dating something so heavily these are things that have been around for a long time. Where I do have issues is that most of the game is presenting the negatives of every side of the argument without showing any positives or solutions. I get that might not be easy, but it just seems like if you want to take pot shots than you might want to also take the high road and at least present an argument for how to fix things, or at the very least recognize that there are benefits to almost every viewpoint. Overall: 95% This game is a gestalt. Taking each of those parts individually I don't think the game would be as much of a standout as it was for me, but as a whole this became a game that I think might be one of my new altime favorites. I certainly didn't feel that way on my initial playthrough, but as I understood it more the more briliant it became. I honestly give this game the strongest recomendation I can for anyone interested.
I grew up playing the early n64 games that Hat in Time, and a few others, have been trying to pay homage to. This was also the first Kickstarter to really catch my eye, and though I didn't end up backing it, I am so happy it got made. One thing I was not expecting was just how well Hat Kid controls. Using an arsenal of options from a double jump to a scooter, you can navigate the world very smoothly and I rarely had trouble getting her to go where I wanted. This also combined with smooth animations just ends up making the movement feel very right and I had a ton of fun just exploring and moving around the world in general. The aesthetics and design of everything are super cute and very appealing. They managed to make several distinct worlds all using a similar aesthetic that all felt very different but still cohesive. This is to say nothing of the soundtrack, which I didn't find a single track I didn't love. There are a few issues I found, however, but they mostly relate to the quality of life and a few minor bugs. The first set of problems is that I feel there is a missing lay of user experience elements. Things like a total for all the yarn and coins you have found, or any sort of way to tell when you have found everything in a given level really. Additionally, several features, like swapping out stage music for remixed versions, feel a little hollow without an additional feature like a sound test. The final set of issues is there are a few minor bugs. Most of the ones I found were camera glitches, but I did have one boss teleport under the floor and just kind of hanging out there for a while before he decided to fight me again... At the end of the day, this is a gold standard for 3d platformers, it's charming and fun to play and I'm definitely going to be playing it again and again.
I just finished the main campaign in what amounts to one sitting. If nothing else the challenge of the game keeps me wanting to keep trying just one more time, which is something I don't have too often with run and gun type games. The biggest draw of Cup Head is by far its aesthetics, and from what I've been told they are all hand drawn and that is impressive enough. The animations of all the bosses are so fluid and impressive, and they are all quite imaginative as well. The gameplay is no slouch either because at heart it's a run and gun stripped down to the boss fights. The controls were all very responsive making it feel like most of my deaths were my own fault. This is certainly not a game to pass up if you're on the fence about it.
I love platformers, especially of the 2D variety. They are honestly one of the things that I enjoy most in life, and these games are one of, if not thee most influential games of in my childhood. Thinking back on all the great times I've enjoyed with video games I would often just drift back to recalling the first time I managed to get through stage two of Earth Worm Jim, how incredibly enthralled and confused I was as a small child. Thanks in no small part to Good Old Games I can finally relive (and beat) these games that I thought had been lost to the cobwebs of my SNES. If you have never tried these two and enjoy good platforming, you should definitely get these games. They are both amazing.
