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This user has reviewed 41 games. Awesome! You can edit your reviews directly on game pages.
Janosik

Charming appetizer

Janosik is an adventure platformer featuring a Slovak folklore hero, someone between Robin Hood, Till Eulenspiegel, Roland and so on. He fights the evil Count von Źur who made his companions prisoners. To do so, he must traverse areas filled with perilous platforms, terrifying traps and devious devices. He can roll, swim, jump and at first he only has his sword, but sonn he'll gain a pistol. In each area are scattered keys, switches, companions to rescue, treasures to pilfer and a map to easily spot the secret areas (more treasures!). On his way, he'll encounter an inventor, a witch, a mysterious vagrant who will sell him upgrades and powers to aid in his mission. The graphics are light but not minimalistic. Simple low-pixel-count sprites for the player and monsters. It may seem underwhelming, but not only is it colorful, the animation is smooth, it also allowed the developers to naturally pull the camera back to give a fairly good view of the obstacles and level. The controls are fine both on keyboard and gamepad, but the double-jump timing is a little floaty. Some design choices are confusing: rolling through enemies or projectiles may result in hits for instance and some enemies react before you can anticipate. In addition, randomly enemies can parry the sword for no reason. Some jumps can also be frustrating at first and some bosses may make you scratch your head figuring out the patterns, but so far (I've beaten 3) none are impossible. None of this is a vicious slap in the face though since the game is extremely liberal with save points, which greatly mitigates the challenge and it's a good thing. There is humour but the dialog boxes don't differentiate between dialog and narration and it's strange at first glance. Moreovre, since this is free, there is no reason to give it a pass and I'm happy so far, and awaiting the sequel. Note: the map and the options menu don't pause the game. Also the options menu is a little clunky, but I nitpick,

4 gamers found this review helpful
de Blob 2

A colorful platformer for everyone

I first bought this game used for X360 on a whim and 100% it the same week. Bought it back again for PS3 to gift and I was delighted both games were released here. It's a 3D puzzle/platformer where the titular Blob must repaint a world turned b&w because of an evil dictator and his army. The humour is light and family-friendly, The graphics are cartoony and every level sits comfortably inbetween exploration and time trial. Blob must absorb colors with his body (he can mix them a little too) to paint the designated colors, or just recolor in general. Blob's animation is smooth and slick and the visual package gives great charm to the game. There are some enemies and bosses, but none pose a threat, the charm lies in a fun and colorful journey. There are upgrades available to buy, but you can beat the game without them if you want to. Once a level is beaten you can revisit it for extra secrets. There are also various MP modes to add replayability. The music is really great, a mix of lounge, bossa nova, rumba, it gives that tropical feel of Brazilian pop music that was often played in the 70s and 80s, and it pairs very well with the whimsical atmosphere of the game. If you combine the music and the graphics, the presentation is superb and drawn you in de Blob's cartoony world. If you must pick one, de Blob 2 is a little more refined than the first one, but both games are great and getting the full storyline is a plus. A definite recommend from me, it's great relaxing fun and a great time for everyone.

6 gamers found this review helpful
Pray for Death

Neat Killer Instinct clone

Pray for Death kinda flew under most radars (still I remember getting the demo on a CD, you could play Anubi and Cthulhu), and it's a shame. It's a cool KI clone with 10 playable characters (plus 2 bosses) and a flair of its own. It's your basic 1v1 fighter, with a 4.5-button system (ie. both punches together throw the super punch). Each character has specials and a 3-input special combo (separate special moves to chain), a combo breaker (hence KI clone) and 2 fatalities (kill and gag-kill -except bosses). Moves lists are short and to the point and the controls quite simple to learn. The characters are CG (Killer Instinct style) and the backgrounds are simple sprites, although some stages have are water or scrolling effects. Fighters include Bruce Lee, Anubis, Cthulhu, a fallen angel, a Viking, a military android, a rave DJ turned serial killer (pure '96 cyber-rave edge) and also Death itself. Design, while not groundbreaking, is fine and they looked quite good, especially for a 96 game in 320x200. The game offers 3 VS CPU modes, 3 Vs P2 modes and some Tournament modes (up to 16 players), including tag (survival) matches with 3 or more on each team. Makes some nice variety and replayability. Not all is perfect though:: animations are stiff, collisions a tad off, and the moves input are a little convoluted with a weird timing sometimes (especially on fatalities). The CPU cheats a bit even on easy (counters some moves or blocks each time without miss (like throws), the music is fairly repetitive and the announcer feels amateurish. Still no dealbreaker for me as the game grew easily on me for style and game modes. It also has cheats for bosses, Story freeplay, gag modes and 2 minigames -including Pong!. It may not be perfect, but with OMF:2097 it's one of the few noticeable DOS-borne fighting games that deserve some love. It's also good for a fun nostalgia-fest or as a guilty pleasure. Runs fine in DOSBox, keyboard-friendly, give it a try.

6 gamers found this review helpful
LEGO® Batman™: The Videogame

Fun, kid-friendly adventure

This game is part of the "old-school Lego series (before thay had voiced lines), so their plots were very simplified (see Lego Star Wars I-III or Lego Indy). The plot is simple, an ensemble cast of Arkham inmantes have broken out and wreak havoc, it's up to the Caped Crusader and the Boy Wonder (also Nightwing and Batgirl) to help Gotham. The levels feature a mix of simple brawling, platforming and co-op puzzles, with many secrets to find towards cheats, extra stuff, characters and a gallery. There is almost no challenge in that you have infinite lives and only lose some studs (currency) when dying. The only real challenge is some puzzles, one frustrating boss (Mr. Freeze) sometimes slippery controls and the sometimes dumb AI during certain puzzles (its script is rudimentary). The game mostly recycles a few tunes from the first two Batman movies, which get a little repetitive. However there are some cool shmup levels aboard the Batmobile, Batwing and Bat-Boat, and after beating Batman's side, you play the villains' side for a different take on the level (as the buildup to the Batman stage). There are also two bonus levels (Wayne Manor and Arkham Asylum) for extra replay. After beating a level, you can use any unlocked character in freeplay and some are mandatory for puzzles (clearly indicated within the level), so there is reason to replay a cleared stage and the cheats are fun to mess with. Getting 100% is only a matter of patience and a little memorization (and fighting the sometimes slippery controls). The game contains a lot of nods to the Batman universe and is suited for all ages. It's a very simple game that delivers very simple fun, with a sandbox feel because of how you rebuild the Lego world to solve the puzzles. In many ways, it's a toy more than game but it's fine by me, as long as it's good, and LEGO Batman is a light ride I'd recommend to anyone who enjoys Batman. Full price might be a lot today, but to me it's a no-brainer on sale.

5 gamers found this review helpful
AngerForce: Reloaded

A grind at first, nice afterwards

Angerforce's visual style reminded me of Gunbird and Shikigami no Shiro, so I was interested, what I got is a nice game behind a steep hurdle. The game is a vertical shmup with an upgrade system. By beating bosses, you earn tokens to buy bonuses inbetween levels or permanent upgrades after a game over. Those increase your damage, quicken your charges and enhance your 4 playable characters' skills. You can speed up or slow down, and slow mode automatically charges the energy. This is important because it allows for more precise dodging and a more liberal use of both of each character's skills. They consumle energy and tharge the bomb gauge for a free bomb. Thing is, there are a few hurdles: 1. This game is better played with a controller due to how many buttons (up to 4, like slow, autofire, skill1 and skill2) you could be pressing at once. Keyboards beware. 2. At first, your characters are pathetically weak and only Asimo (the big robot) has good survival chances). You're supposed to grind the game and the Campaign mode to upgrade (the abilities are not random, at least the base is fixed), if not you're in for a world of pain. 3. However, for a whiler you'll only be getting small amounts of tokens because you'll be dying often during the first 2 Campaign levels. 4. Add to this badly-designed menus (adjusting sound and music sliders with a controller is painful due to how sensitive it is, buttons of keys are indiscriminately displayed), a game unoptimized for >60Hz monitors and the mandatory Galaxy launch (unless you use the shortcut in the install dir -I can't even fathom why, and I bet Galaxy killed my old save I had manually transferred, with all my upgrades and gallery lost). Behind all this lies a good shmup with an interesting story, but it seems unfinished and unlikely to be optimized/patched. Still I like it, but it's hard to recommend full price due to all the quirks that hinder a solid base for a nice game. Hence the 3 stars. Also because (local) co-op.

6 gamers found this review helpful
Gex

OK if you stomach the 90s style.

GEX was supposed to be the 3DO mascot and Crystal Dynamics's vehicle, he then got ported over to PC and PSX. the PSX version is nice, with a proper save system, while this only relies on the passwords, that you have to get from a special level in each section (you can get them multiple times to save at different spots). I got this game as a shop gift in 98 and loved it, I got it on sale here for the nostalgia. First things first, it's all sprites and renders, it looks quite good even today and the animation is crisp and rich. While the followups were 3D this is a 2D platformer. Plotwise, Gex is a lazy channel surfer millionaire who got sucked into TV world by the Tyrant Rez who wants to turn him into a statue for his collection. So Gex needs to escape. This a typical 90's 'tude game (see Gex's face). Gex seems amused and spends his time cracking references like this is a theme park ride. He can whack with his tail, run, use his tongue to eat power-ups and (if powered up) spit projectiles. Each of the 5 maps (each with a main theme and enemy look) contains various stages and a secret level (with a secret map to unlock) and the levels are long with many secrets and bonus rounds to find. Gex can also climb walls to explore and progress. Sometimes too long, it feels repetitive and tiresome (especially when you need to redo the VCR levels to get a password). The controls on the keyboard are a little stiff and Gex feels soapy, add to this weird hitboxes and you'll get into some frustration here and there. Controllers feel much better. Another annoyance is the camera, it's quite close and it snaps when you turn which can allow for cheap hits. Extra lives are quite generously given, which muddles the difficulty a little. This game is a testament to 90s design. On sale it's worth checking out, though it's no Mario or Sonic... I give it 4/5 because it runs fine and supports controllers, -1 for passwords only and it's nothing amazing. Still interesting.

15 gamers found this review helpful
Screamer

Simple and fun arcade racer

Screamer is, "simply" a clone of SEGA driving games, notably Sega Rally and Daytona USA. The goal is simple, choose a car (AT/MT -with MT being overall stronger but more technical) and drive to place first. You have to watch both your opponents and the clock (checkpoints extend it) and learn the circuit to navigate the turns efficiently. The controls are very simple, but the physics, being very unrealistic, demand some getting used to. Drifting has huge inertia and grazing other vehicles make you bounce a lot, so it can be a pain to learn. On the other hand, everything from the music to the announcer screams "SEGA DRIVING ARCADE GAME" so much it's hard not to see the inspiration, and on this regard, Screamer delivers. Everything feels fast, smooth, dynamic, you can drive during day or night, planes, copters and balloons adorn the sky and fly by, LED billboards "scream" at you, it really feels like you have an arcade cabinet on your desktop. The game offers many modes, single race, championship, challenge mode, time attack and you can unlock a super car as well as the reverse tracks. Or if you're lazy, use the cheats and also stop the clock. I haven't tried online MP (although I doubt it'll go well with DOSBox and it being a 1995 game), but there is local VS. Even if the content seems light and the difficulty can be high (AI cars rubberband a little, but they mostly are scripted to do a smooth race, so your battle is very uphill from the word "GO"), I just love to fire the game and unlock all tracks just for time attack and challenge mode, or a simple arcade race. This is the kind of game I see as an thrill ride, I just play a race or two for fun and that's it. The graphics were great for a 1995 DOS CD game and the arcade feel was quite smooth (especially for a full 3D game). It's still my favourite Screamer and it's a great time. It might feel obsolete, but nowadays it'd run on a potato, so that makes it a great game for your laptop. However 10bux is steep.

1 gamers found this review helpful
Gato Roboto

Great but short

This game is a Metroid parody starring a cat in a suit, exploring a weird space bio-research facility after its ship crashed. Graphically it looks like an old-school (Game Boy/Spectrum/Commodore/Amstrad) game, with with modern smooth animation and controls. It's simple and monochromatic (black/white) but you can unlock color schemes (15 total) that give it a Spectrum/GB look, and many others. Monsters can be either cute or creepy, but the general visuals are really pleasant. The music is fairly old-school with XM/MOD sensibilities and fits the game like a glove. While exploring, you must fight the various enemies, find save points, new gear for your mech-suit that unlocks new paths and access to secrets. You can exit your suit to crawl vents (and climb walls), swim, or even pilot a mini-attack sub. Exploring will also let you "read" logs which shed light on the overall plot of the game. The boss fights are well-designed and will require use of all your arsenal and skills, and they're a genuinely great experience that helps maintain the dynamic pacing of the game. Controls are mostly great, although sometimes it's a little slippery and aiming a jump can be a little tricky. because there is a lot of lateral acceleration, which makes some points a little frustrating, but never unfair or really hard. A controller is recommended for a comfortable experience, but keyboard is playable. Be warned though, on Easy, if you're a "platform exploration" veteran (I hate the term Metroidvania), you can beat the game under 3 hours with almost 100%, and when fully upgraded the final boss is almost too easy. Also, like Metroid Fusion, the progression is essentially linear, with little reason to backtrack (except for secrets). The short duration is the reason I only give it 4 stars, but on the other hand, it's a perfect introduction to the genre and a fun snack for people used to this type of game. Give it a chance, I bet you'll like it. I know I did.

2 gamers found this review helpful
West of Loathing

Hilarious western gag-RPG

WoL is a game in the "Loathing" universe (the first being the browser RPG Kingdom of Loathing -still hope there'll be an offline version someday). In this universe, meat is currency, logic is optional and a baguette is a propre melee weapon. In this game, you can play either a Cowpuncher (fighter/barbarian), Beanslinger (Mage) or Snake Oiler (rogue/ranger), which means that you'll have different personal options and unique locations in-game, as well as different build options (turn off auto-lvl, manual is more fun). You leave the family farm, meet a pardner and head out west, dealing with various evils in turn-based fights. Each pardner has their own leveling system and specific skills, all useful. Like KoL, WoL uses stick figures and doodles, with simple sight gags on top of the (many) descriptions. Most of the interaction will be text-based, with the game hurling walls of text at you and options to choose. And believe me there is a TON of possible interactions, most puzzles have mays ways of solving (sometimes including, but not limited to, violence) and the game rewards brains, but brawns might get more special items. Dialogs are plentiful and funny, with many clever references. Some of the major side quests can be cryptic and some parts only give you one shot per character, which is a little frustrating, but that's about it, as there is no permadeath, you lose nothing and characters are healed after each fight. You can wander on the map for random stuff and many locations offer farming points for XP and stuff. A smooth ride all in all. The music is excellent and gives a Spaghetti vibe, both herois and ironic. It's a great listen on its own. The amount of stuff is staggering (some well-hidden), the game can be completed in less than 15 hours, the real challenge is in "hard mode". Also you can walk like an idiot if you learn how to. I give it 4 stars because I find it a little short and the ending a bit abrupt, but it's still great.

12 gamers found this review helpful
West of Loathing: Reckonin' at Gun Manor

A fun addition to a good game

Reckonin' at Gun Manor is (so far) the (only) DLC for West of Loathing, maybe they'll add regions to the Desolate Lonesome Coast (get it?), but not right now. It took its sweet time to come over here, over a year tp be precise. Is the wait worth the hype? Well mostly yes. The expansion is a self-contained side chapter where you explore and exorcise a ghost manor with your pardner and a ghost hunter, of course with many puzzles, fights, easter eggs and several gags and puns. Not only that but also new items, some of them beeffing you up like crazy or bestowing new boons. You can tackle it anytime during your quest and it will scale to your level. As always, there are two ways for everything, either brains or brawns, brains being usually the longer but funnier route. As you "help" the ghosts pass on this mortal coil, you'll unravel the mystery of Gun Manor. There's is not that much to say without spoiling the whole experience, frankly. It still employs the usual WoL formula. Worth mentioning is that your temporary pardner, Florence, will unlock some crazy powers by leveling up and can be useful in either stalling, healing of buffing, she brings also a new type of color commentary in each room and after many ghost quests. Also, you can farm-fight bowling balls for items. Yes, it's a thing. All in all I'd say this adventure lasts around 5 hours, give or take and maybe not full price, but at a discount is definitely a fine addition, the new assets and dialogs keeping firmly in tone with the nonsensical "Loathing" universe. The new tunes are pretty cool, kudos to Ryan Ike. Why only 4 stars after all the praise? Well for starters I think 4bux is a little high asking. My second reason is that it's still a little short and the "closure" is a little unsatisfactory... If you enjoyed WoL, get it (maybe on sale), it's a mighty good ride for a mighty good game.

41 gamers found this review helpful