Never having played the game when it first came out, I get to actually review the game without nostalgia goggles. Grim Fandango is everything a 90s game was; imaginative story with frustrating gameplay. The remastered graphics make GF pleasant to look at, the world design is great, and the voice-acting as well as the overall sound design is very good, complementing the already engaging story that contains some memorable characters If you really think about it, the game is very short except when you play it for the first time without any walkthrough guides. You could technically finish it within a couple of hours but that first time will be torturous. The puzzles are awful, straight up. Half the time you wouldn't know where to go or what to do as the game rarely if ever gives you any clues. This is however, par for the course for most of point-and-click adventures from the 90s, and because of this, a lot of patience is required for hours upon hours of trial and error. In retrospect, most of us just didn't think any of it because we were kids with too much time on our hands but for today, this kind of puzzle mechanic is very very annoying. And you WILL be annoyed if you attempt to play this game first time without a guide. Was it fun for me though? Yeah~ kind of~ Though, I think it's fair to say that games such as these have become dated and really, does not stand the test of time very well.
If you've never played Point and Click games, I suggest not starting with Deponia as the puzzles are much more elaborated and complex. The graphics, sound, and voice acting are very good though, even though the pacing of the story is terrible and the ending will annoy you. Be sure to buy Deponia 2 as well if you're planning to buy Deponia 1.
While Point-&-Click games might not be everyone's cup of tea, I would recommend giving Fran Bow a try for those willing to give this genre a chance. Fran Bow has excellent narrative and stylized graphics and atmosphere, even though the pacing is a little slow at first. You'll find that the story is very well told and the characters and settings introduced in the story are all fascinating. The sound is also commendable but like all P&C adventures, it's a very relaxed and laid-back game so temper your expectations and simply play it for the story, because the reward at the end is quite good.
It's a pretty looking platformer that is 30 years backward in terms of gameplay. This is the kind of annoying style of platform that was prevalent during the 80s and early 90s, in the veins of early Castlevania and Ghost n' Goblins. It's basically a game that doesn't want you to have fun, by designing the controls and levels to put you at the most disadvantaged position. To be fair, the controls aren't as bad as Castlevania 1 or Ghost n' Goblins i.e. they are responsive but they aren't intuitive; it does what you want it to do, but you can't do much with it. And to be fair, this game is a ton less frustrating than Castlevania 1 or Ghost and Goblins. Even so, we are in an era where platforms have evolved into something genuinely clever and interesting (such as Braid and Blackhole) and not resort to limit the amount of control a player has in the game. The way this game is made, it feels insulting to a gamer for example, if I wanted to play an annoying platform like Castlevania 1 or Ghost n' Goblins, I would play Castlevania 1 and Ghost n' Goblins instead of this. GoNNER could've been something pretty, special and interesting, but instead, the torrid gameplay cheapens the experience. Despite my misgivings, GoNNER isn't a bad game, but it's no fun playing it.
Well, I won't spoil the game for you. Suffice to say that I did enjoy the story-driven gameplay, but it could've been much more. I finished it in something like 2.5 hours. One criticism that I can make is that, in Classic mode, the choices you made weighed so heavy because you had to choose between choices that lead to different but equally dire outcomes, while in A Father's Promise, you don't really have that choice; so the impact of your decisions doesn't weigh as much. And the scenario I believe, could've benefited with Amelia having dialogue and interaction with Adam, hooking the player into connecting deeper and investing more emotionally. However, considering that it was worth $2, I'd say A Father's Promised is still worth it
It's been so, so long since I've enjoyed a good 2D platformer and Blackhole certainly lives up to it's hype. The graphics are great, the theme is spectacularly appropriate and well done, the soundtrack is quite good, the dialogue is witty with the computer being the right amount of bitchiness without being overly annoying. And the puzzles; they are brain-achingly difficult, but mind-mindbogglingly clever. You are going to need a whole lot of spatial awareness and 3D cognition to solve them, as early as level 6 (and they are..oh... I think 130 levels in total?). Yeah, you're going to need to tackle one level per day at a time. Certainly a worthwhile purchase, and probably should be in any Linux user's game catalog.
It's difficult to label This War of Mine as "fun." It's the kind of fun if you think climbing Mount Everest is fun, while losing your toes and fingers along the way. There is a steep learning curve, and the game can be unforgiving, especially when little mistakes accumulate day by day. But, once you get the hang of it, then the game starts to be fun; and it is. The soundtrack is beautiful, the graphics are great, controls are meh and the reward for playing is gratifying. I don't recommend this game for the impatient, nor for beginners. This game requires commitment and investment.
