I have a TV connected to my PC as a second monitor where I play platformers like this. Unfortunately this game has some pretty crappy display settings. First it doesn't support normal windowed mode (only borderless), doesn't support 4k or wide screen and, won't allow itself to be fullscreen on a second monitor, switching itself back to my main monitor when fullscreen is turned on. Most games have no issue with this
SPAZ2 is an OK game that's hurt by the existence of it's predecessor. If this had been the only entry it'd probably be 3 star game but it's too hard to ignore the regression from the original. Taken by itself the game-play is OK, while the game is 3d combat is only 2d (like Rebel Galaxy - which is a better game) and not the most interesting. You'll spend a lot of time piloting around an icon on the galaxy map just going from place to place. combat is "encounters" that drop you into some space to fight. While you can pilot any of your wingmen really you want to stick to your mothership because that's the ship that matters. Your mothership is "modular" and horrible to work with. I came to this game off of "Reassembly" which has a top notch builder letting out make awesome ships. The UI for managing your ship in SPAZ2 is god-awful. your ship parts float around in physical space and you use a tractor beam to try to guide them into place. or detach them. You can swap parts but only outer parts. If you want to change a core in the middle of your ship you have to explode the whole ship and tediously reassemble it. Parts are hard to recognize by sight and can get lost easily in the clutter. I literally have no idea what they were thinking. Graphically the game is dated, most ships look pretty boring, low quality textures. This game would fit in 20 years ago. and compared to the unique designs and detailed 2d graphics of SPAZ1 it's a big step back. Reminds me of how N64 games have aged worse (and now look worse) than SNES games. Building and customizing your fleet is also more boring. the craft are similar but souless and far less interesting to modify, you also get a lot less of them and since you almost always want to pilot your Mothership have less interest to you than in SPAZ1. The UI has also somehow gotten worse. Spaz1 had such a nice little UI for managing your fleet and designing different loadouts for your ships.
While Grim Dawn doesn't offer anything really unique it is a well tuned Diablo-Like ARPG with a long campaign and tons of class building options. I played the "complete" version and highly recommend getting it with the DLC for a more complete experience. The Good: Builds and Classes: Probably where Grim dawn shines the most. there's 9 classes (masteries) and you can choose 2 of them and mix and match skills between. There's tons of viable builds and the game is very forgiving about letting you undo skill points to either pivot your build or just try something different. There's also a "Devotion" mechanic which has points in constellations that unlock abilities and extra skills. Proper Devotion allocation can vastly change a build. Oh and you get 2-3 skill points per level so you can actually dig into your skills before level 50. QoL: good number of QoL features from town portals just being built in, to loot filters, good amount of storage, nice maps, fast health regen when out of battle, training dummies, GD feels more modern than most. Content Length: The game is long, With all the DLC I reached level 72 on normal before beating the game. it also uses level scaling, The Meh: Loot: The game is pretty forgiving about uniques and rares but there's so many combos that you'll just sell oceans of high tier eq that just doesn't help your build. nearing the end of Normal I was pretty tired of wading through the loot to try and find the right stuff. it can be fairly difficult to tell if a piece of eq actually is better. There's a good number of complex interactions with damage types and skills. The Bad: Story: it's convoluted and with the DLC can even happen out of order and overall pretty lackluster and unsatisfying. I beat DLC and wasn't even sure I finished the game, the fight was so0so and there was so little fanfare to the final boss' death I thought there was more main quests.
Overall TFT is average for it's genre, the story and voice acting are well written and emotional enough if mildly banal. The aesthetic is a bit too "my first unity game", there's some janky platforming and the environment is a bit lacking. Most of the run time is padded by "exploring" which is pretty dull. The world is strewn with various detritus, some of which enhances the story others just there to break up the monotony. It would have been nice if some of the more important pieces were a bit more interactive. For the pittance I paid for it on sale it was a decent couple hour jaunt. If you like this kind of game and just feel like chilling and listening to a story it might be worth it. Pro tip, don't fret too much about the collectibles, they don't do much.
Overall this game is probably a solid 3, maybe 3+ I took off a star because while I never had any crashes it's very hard to get the game to start to the point that I was not able to finish the game because the game just CTD on startup. That said (assuming you have better luck running the game) the puzzles and world are fairly unique, the game uses panoramic point and click (like myst 3/4) and still looks pretty good. The voice acting works well and overall has some definite positives. It does have a few big negatives though: - The game starts with a harsh time limit, just as you want to look around basically you're about to die. fortunately that goes away after the the intro. - There's some "Action" based operations which are pretty clunky - Tons of inventory items, so-so UI. Wish that multiples stacked and there were better sorting options. - Sound based puzzles. If you're "tone deaf" so-to-speak you will have a very hard time and need to brute force some puzzles. - Inventory based: as with many inventory based puzzle games sometimes you know the answer you're just wandering around looking for the thing you know you need.
Overall this game is so so but for the sale price has been entertaining enough. Overall it's a pretty straightforward entry in it's genre and might scratch that itch for running around putting bullets in peoples heads. While the overall product is a bit lackluster it suffers from a lot of little annoyances or inconsistencies. things like "loot body" and "swap gun" being the same keybind are just annoying . "all enemies drop their weapons except the super soldiers whose guns mysteriously vanish when you kill them" are just lazy. The story is pretty run of the mill. the game is also pretty janky. There's points of interest I can't complete since the item I think fell through the floor, and one won't trigger the complete condition. I've fallen through the ground, been stuck in the terrain over a dozen times. had missions skip portions and functions stop working. Enemies despawning or respawning oddly at a distance (not good for a sniping game where you're encouraged to be at a distance). Also I keep mysteriously loosing healing items despite never using them. that said it's not all bad. I like the drone mechanic for surveying and it's pretty fun sneaking up to a ridge and popping people, grab it on sale and don't expect AAA out of it and you'll get your money's worth.
I don't have any nostalgia for this game. it's a Star Fox like rail shooter. part of the gimmick is you can look left right and behind you but that gimmick also contributes to some of the annoyance. You can't really dodge when looking other directions and enemies sometimes swarm around making the action hectic. as for the general play, there's no powerups or anything. dodging in general feels bad. the game likes to get you right up close lots of times and your hitbox is huge. Combined with the way aiming and moving are combined often I felt like it was nearly impossible to dodge effectively. Story: what story? some cool set pieces but i have not idea what I was doing, who I was fighting for or why I was doing it. game is also pretty short. couple hours maybe. not really inclined to eek out every last enemy for 100% kill rate. Least it was only $2.50 on sale
I really wanted to like this game. it has great art and atmosphere, tricky survival and crafting. But it's not for me. Basically if you're the type of person who plays Minecraft\Terraria\Diablo on hardcore/permadeth you'll love it. If you shrink at the idea of putting a ton of work into something only to slip up and lose it all then take a hard pass. If the game had been designed with a lesser curve, reduced randomness and a save feature it would be pretty solid. Lots to do, lots to explore. But it's designed as a roguelike so you will frequently die to randomness and it has a high difficulty cuve to keep you dying. This is a problem since the game loop is looooong. A good RL should take less than an hour to beat. this game blows way past that with slow and methodical play that often is unfruitful. To boot it's not "progressive" some RLs like Rogue Legacy even if you die you move the overall game forward by being able to buy permanent uprgrades and things that help you on subsequent play-throughs. Other than new characters spending 4 hours only to get snookered by an enemy nets you nothing. game over, try again. better luck next time.
not very difficult but a clever puzzle game that twists perspective. Nice art, relaxing ambient music. But very short (< 1 hour) so not a lot of bang for your buck there.
I never played the original so I don't have any nostalgia for whatever it was. Graphically the game looks wonderful, a lot of work went into the sprites. Game-play however is lacking, it definitely feels like an old NES game and not in a good way. Your character is painfully slow, jumping is slow, entering doors is slow. your jumps are weighty and there's a lot of inertia. takes time to get going , takes time to stop. even playing at 60fps it *feels* like you're playing at 15 fps, like your character is always in molasses. It's a keen reminder that the good ol days weren't always good and a nice graphical overhaul isn't a substitution for good fundamentals. In an age where amazing indie platformers can be found in abundance this game falls flat.
