Worms 2 is a good game, period. 3.5/5 stars OK I'll elaborate - it was excellent at the time of its release, and it was the first Worms game I played, but it has been surpassed by its sequels incl. Worms: Armageddon, and while some tout the weapon customisation in Worms 2 as being greater than in any other title in the series, what I'll remember is that it lacks certain tools and weapons that later became a staple of the franchise (Jet Pack, Earthquake and Armageddon - I'm looking at you), although some little gameplay features were unique to it as well (I still like the booby trapped crates!). I should also point out that customisation options for your team pale in comparison to later titles. The "missions" are barely worthy of the name, by and large they look no different from normal skirmishes on random maps. You won't get much more "story" in later titles but at least you'll get unique mission setups. Anyway, the core Worms gameplay itself is - in case you didn't know already - easily enjoyable and frequently hilarious - especially in multiplayer, which is what Worms is mostly about. Hotseat FTW! What makes Worms 2 special is that, in the process of upgrading the graphics from the previous titles, it introduced the cartoonish art style and animations that would stay with the franchise in future releases. As a side note, I also loved the intro cutscenes which, sadly, are absent of Worms: Armageddon and Worms World Party. So yeah, that's to say the worms became cute with Worms 2. The last notable standout feature of Worms 2 compared to other games in the franchise is the music: where the other titles use ambient music almost exclusively (and to good effect, mind you - I still remember the soundscape from Worms: Armageddon and Worms Reloaded), Worms 2 has a more melodic and upbeat soundtrack - the best music in the whole series, as far as I am concerned (look up "Worms 2 - Swim Like A Brick"). Bjørn Lynne really did a great job on this one. Oh, and did I say this is a good game? If you're new to the series, you might as well get started with Worms: Armageddon, which is more polished and on top of everything else still has an active online community. If you're a Worms fan and have never played Worms 2, then I would recommend you give this a whirl - it's still Worms but it also comes with a subtle yet unique flavour of its own.
I always had a fascination for Latin America: from the Andes to the Amazon Jungle, there are so many exotic regions to explore that it awakens the adventurer in me, not to mention the powerful attraction that pre-Columbian cultures exert on me. Incredipede scratches an itch, then, as its art (in both visual and audio departments) is heavily inspired by the developers' stay in Central America. There's more: indirectly, it also touches upon the history of this region of the world, and while the story is (very) secondary in the context of playing this game, it nonetheless provides a line of thought that goes much deeper than you're likely to realise at first. (For more on the background of this title's development, check out "Born Unequal: The Story of Incredipede", an article featured on the gaming website Polygon.) Incredipede is a puzzle game that puts you in the limbs (yes) of Quozzle: she's an "incredipede", which basically stands for all life as it can change shape to better adapt to the numerous challenges of the environment, and the game's mechanics are a way to explore the different forms that life takes. In effect, there's a normal mode and a hard mode: in the former, Quozzle's design in each level is provided for you, and in the latter you have to design her yourself. New limbs are created by dragging outward from the central eye, and muscles are dropped in by tapping the two attachment points. It's not necessarily intuitive, and both designing a new creature and moving throughout the levels will take some getting used to, but that just increases the satisfaction you earn from beating a puzzle. There's also a level editor, and tons of content made by the community. The textures used in this title are smooth and heavily lined, giving the appearance of a living woodblock print or an oil painting. The art direction is very good and coupled with the music's exotic (if repetitive) tunes, the game's original character is enhanced. 3.5/5 stars - worth a try.
A glowing, open door. An invitation? A necessity, perhaps... Across conceptually abstract locales, Young's adventure is quite surreal indeed, with a subtle touch of malevolence – the 'something seems a bit off here' factor. The visuals and soundscape effectively contribute to building up an atmosphere which will comprise many hues and flavours, from lighthearted humour to seriously dark moods. Anodyne's abstract narrative is in stark contrast to the game's straightforward gameplay, which is your typical action-adventure adhering to the retro formula - which sees exploration, combat and puzzles all taking place from an overhead perspective, with most actions revolving around the use of two primary items, a broom (your weapon!) and shoes for jumping. Oh, and there will be a lot of keys to find, but the main collectables are the game's cards which will unlock various gates to other dimensions. The platforming elements can be a pain when playing with a keyboard, and I admit this has led me to installing the game on my Android mobile device, which allowed me to handle the jumping as if using a gamepad. However, to say that this is Link's Awakening 2.0 would be a bit of a stretch, for while the game's mechanics are certainly old school Zelda-like, Anodyne would fit better in a category of titles that would include The Stanley Parable, first because of its experimental narrative steeped in metaphor, but also because of its rather unexpected post-game gimmick, which I won't spoil for you but suffice to say that I thought it was quite fascinating and it kept me playing for a while longer. Speaking of playtime, this game kept me busy for roughly 10 hours, which felt about right. That's 3.5/5 stars for me. The world of Anodyne may just be a variegated collection of thoughts, feelings and memories, but if delving into and exploring a somewhat tortuous psyche doesn't sound unpalatable to you, then I would invite you to give this game a try... it may well resonate with you.
This would be 3.5/5 stars from me, if I had more control over the rating system. The obvious stuff is that, as a controversial horror game, you'll find tons of gore and some truly disturbing scenes. The good news is that, in spite of what some conservative critics said back at the time of the game's release (sometimes without having even touched the game), Harvester actually has some interesting message(s) to convey, the main point being the examination of the controversy about whether violence in media creates, or is created by, violence in society. Hence, there's quite a bit of thought-provoking material; at the same time, there's a lot of silliness here, but most of the time it seems to be done on purpose, and the dark humour works. Now, the game does have its share of problems: the combat is clunky, occasionally the gore seems cheap and some of the silliness pulls you out of the game's world. In fact, one of the main problems would be the lack of fear experienced while playing the game (a problem for any work of horror fiction): there was really only just about one moment that made me have a fright, although there were several other instances that successfully managed to make me cringe. The relative freedom the player enjoys when exploring Harvest is a good thing, which can lead to some interesting experimentation (a plus on the gameplay side), but it also shows its limits very quickly, breaking immersion (as an example *SPOILER* you can kill the barber during the day, then steal the barber's pole and you'll be arrested for theft because the "barber" apparently calls the police... WTF, and the game will only register the theft, not the murder, although after your arrest you can still go back to the barber shop and see the dead body - along with the pole back in its place!). If anything, this is certainly the strangest game I've ever played. Not great by any means, but it is a good video game which, importantly, manages to be memorable in spite of its issues.
I had heard of this video game years ago, and yet only got around to playing it in 2015. Simply put, if what you're primarily looking for is a good tale in another reality, then this game is made for you. If good atmosphere is something you value in particular, then again, this game is made for you. I could say the same about the graphics but those have obviously aged to a certain extent, so I'll just say that it is the art direction that shines. And frankly, while gameplay could have been better, it still manages to be good overall: while the game belongs to a genre which was often labelled as "Myst-like" (especially back then), it can reasonably be said that Atlantis: The Lost Tales made the classic formula evolve somewhat, specifically by introducing action sequences which require the player to act quickly in order to progress. And while trial and error is part of the mix, make no mistake (heh): some of the timed events can be overcome with intelligent guessing, and besides that, there are plenty of logical puzzles to keep you busy. Oh, and it goes without saying that the presence of life or death situations does manage to create some genuine moments of tension! In my humble opinion, it is this combination of brain-racking sections, moments of contemplation, and action sequences that makes Atlantis: The Lost Tales a more interesting adventure game to play than a lot of point-and-click adventure games of the 1990s (including the original Myst - not talking about any of the sequels). I might as well restate what everyone knows already: the atmosphere is really good, thanks to the presence of wondrous scenes, beautiful music, and the actual story (it becomes gradually more complex and engaging as you go along). The graphics, as such, inevitably suffer from being low res by today's standards, but they were truly fantastic at the time of the game's release, and hence they have aged well, and will look somewhere between good and very good. In short: a very good game.
