Excellent N64-inspired platformer. Satisfying exploration and puzzle-solving, whilst also challening. Loved it!
It is good. Highly detailed environments, broad range of enemies, great rig customisation and excellent world-building. But Christ does this need a mini map system. A world where less abled individuals can be hooked up to exo suits and lift things thrice their own weight, regular rocket launches and nanotechnology and no one thought to insert a map system for the maze that is the CREO facility? Really? It's far too easy to get lost. Even 'hugging the left/right wall' didn't help because your left path might take you to sudden and instant death, or to an entirely new location that you can't get back from (which happened far too many times). Combat is excellent, but too punishing. I wanted to enjoy the mystery of the story and the excitement of the fight, and getting lost half the time and dying the other half, just spoiled my experience. It's not for me and honestly I'm in a love-hate frame of mind with this game. Definitely check it out if you're into dying a lot, or getting lost.
Good points first. It's a great sailing management sim, and the fact you can change your allegiance is an excellent bonus. The plot is a bit loose, and what little I got to experience of it wasn't very engaging. But the aim of this game is to be a captain of a grand ship, so there you go. I couldn't stick with it for long though. The controls are janky and the mechanics of the game totally go against what I'm used to in my style of play. I really want to like this game more but in the end it was just causing me stress. I've uninstalled and will try again another time, I think. I'm so disappointed that I lost patience with it. It does seem like a fun cult classic and I can see its appeal. I'm trying to take down Ropeflank or whatever his name is. During my attempts to take him down, his ship spawn location seems to be random. It either sails off into the distance where I can't catch up, or it holds still long enough for me to shoot it - but when I board, I'm getting one-shot by the pirate captain it just takes all the fun away. If I can take down his ship and board it with relative ease, then why can I not then beat the captain one-to-one? It just doesn't make sense.
Crash + Coco Bandicoot, except Crash is a Jester and Coco is a... Witch I guess? Even Fargus' spin attack has a hint of that iconic Crash spin sound. I noticed some graphical differences between this and the PS1 version - for example, the Wind effects in the later levels appear as arrows rather than as actual wind. But the game still plays fine. It's frustrating at times, especially in the later stages (like how Crash Bandicoot is - yet another similarity). Where this game stands apart is the free switching between 2 playable characters, who have their own unique abilities. These abilities might not serve much (one has an attack, the other has a double jump), but it means that depending who you play as, you can traverse the level in a unique way. The soundtrack is awesome too. I never had a PS1 myself, but I can tell this is one of the better titles on that system. Excellent to have on PC.
...all good games, and this one is no exception. Easily the most deeply philosophical game I've ever played. To explain why would get into spoilers, so take my word for it that this game will leave you thinking... a LOT. Excellent designs, simplistic yet affective gameplay. Good storytelling and lore. And for my felly wusses - there is a 'Safe Mode' so that the monsters don't kill you. One might say this defeats the object of a horror game, but when I play games I'm in it for the gameplay and the story so the horror element is optional for me. Nonetheless, I enjoyed this immensely and seriously recommend it.
I have to say, I do prefer games that require less... thinking. Don't get me wrong, it's got really good puzzles that include aspects of the game world by retracing a lot of your steps... meaning that you get to revisit a lot of places and learn new things about them. I found the optimisation could be a little better... I think my gaming laptop defaulted to high-end settings though, so that may be my own fault. However the deatil is amazing, even down to the handwritten notes you find in each location. All in all, it's a good solid and short game with intricate lore and a unique tone. But it was an even shorter game for me. I had just unlocked the door in the third world, and went back to the Temple... only tog et stuck in a wall. Yes. Stuck. I somehow walked along a very narrow ledge, which lowers as you go along it. This game has no jump mechanic, and no gravity for the player so I couldn't drop down, I couldn't jump off, I couldn't walk back the way I came either. I could not move at all. I reloaded my save... and it put me back on the ledge. Unfortunately this prompted me to uninstall and not try again. This IS a great game, and please give it a chance... but just be more careful than myself (a gamer whose aesthetic is being able to do a cool flip to get out of a sticky glitch!)
