Like all Amanita Design games, it’s wonderfully weird in its setting with great animations full of character and odd little details. It’s an intriguing concept and well executed with some good puzzles, but it’s quite slow and light on the game play front, although it did grow on me the more I played of it. Their signature sounds / soundtrack and the interactive paintings are superb in their ingenuity and style, but it’s not as humorous or charming as their other titles.
An epic story on a grand scale full of religious and political intrigue whilst interweaving different characters through a setting and period of history not normally used in videogames. Being based on a novel adds lots of depth and details to the story, setting and characters (and one that I’m getting engrossed in), but does mean it is pretty slow going. The graphics are a bit cartoony but suit the setting and are well animated. The voice acting is mostly good, but the background noises don’t work right and can become a bit of a distraction, as do the long load times and bugs which get worse as the game progresses. It’s quite light on game mechanics, mostly limited to conversation choices, fetch quests and quick time events, but the choices do offer some replay value and overall, it’s an interesting point and click adventure in more ways than one.
A good squad based tactical game which never really gets better than good. It’s got an attractive and solid gameplay loop, but the unbalanced combat encounters, limited number of squad members and enemy types and high difficulty makes each encounter very similar. Stealth and scavenging everything is essential to making progress, but once an area is clear, there’s no risk in it and being able to teleport back to town any time you want is immersion breaking. Encounters are extremely one sided - you either win with barely a scratch or get slaughtered against overwhelming odds with the enemy using reinforcement and overpowered healing enemies. Only did the final battle require any tactics, and even then, luck played a significant factor. The graphics, levels, characters and setting all look great and the whole game has its own charm to it, but the plot and even the terminology used is very cliché. Music adds some atmosphere, but not much, and the attempts at humour are referential at best. The game doesn’t feel finished in some areas – the economy is one sided, being only able to buy but not sell items, having to return to town to make simple loadout changes is annoying and although the initial cut scenes were stunning, later ones are static pictures. The controls are simple but a bit clunky, not every option is explained and the game also infrequently stutters and crashes. Still, it was an enjoyable and engrossing experience with a good length and a good story.
It’s a cool concept, but completely flawed due to the overly high difficulty due to the 1 hit death mechanic. The game is far too complicated to have this, made even worse by the speed and precision of the enemies and the fact the character doesn’t move or aim properly, getting stuck on little things all the time. Stealth is also tough and overall, it’s far too frustrating to be any kind of fun – you rarely get to appreciate the carnage as you’re too busy dying from off-screen enemies or because your timing was slightly off. Which is a shame, as the overall presentation, setting and style are good and the ever expanding choice of powers could make for some fun times, if you ever had a chance to use them effectively. The plot is poor (and gets worse as it goes along), the bosses manage to be both boring and annoying and the levels become shorter as the game progresses (which does make them a bit easier). In general, I didn’t really enjoy it and when I started encountering bugs, I had to call it a day.
With a wonderfully bizarre and interestingly weird setting and style, the concept is a masterpiece of game design. The inclusion of live action videos within the game along with the otherworldly soundtrack, occult ideas and odd characters make an atmospheric experience which reels you in, building anticipation to see what will happen next. It’s very heavy on the lore side and there’s a fair bit of backtracking involved, although this just adds of the experience. Unfortunately, it’s more frustrating than fun to play as the combat isn’t anywhere near as good as the world building. The difficulty is very unbalanced, either being too easy or too hard, and it becomes stale after a while, even with the additional powers and number of enemy types. A few poor design choices, like putting the first shop and first defensible power after the first boss, long load times after death, amassing money with nothing meaningful to spend it on, random timed and end game missions popping up with little context or explanation and the overall higher than normal difficulty makes it annoying. It’s also a long game that drags in the middle, mainly due to the above weaknesses. Graphically the colours are a bit washed out and the characters faces don’t look quite right, but everything else looks pretty good. The menus are crisp, the characters and acting are ok and apart from too many effects obscuring the combat, the optical illusions and style of the special effects are brilliant. Foundation is more of the same but in a different setting and because you have better gear, combat becomes a lot more enjoyable. It’s still lore heavy with good amounts of exploration and combat, but some deaths still feel a bit unfair. AWE feels lazily put together with repetitive sections and nothing really new about it, but it is a good way of linking to the next game in the series. The new enemies, mods and tools add to the overall value, but it all feels a bit too little, too late.
Simple plot, but has lots of enjoyable tongue in cheek comedy, although it does get a bit too silly towards the end and in the DLC. The game seems a bit slow, simple, short and easy, but eventually opens up into a really smart, time travelling platformer which some fiendish challenges. Apart from the difficulty, which is on the easier side, it feels just like a platformer from the arcade era, although the double jump /glide balance is hard to get right at times. Great music and colourful graphics, but it is lacking in variety of enemies and the open world isn’t very well designed, with far too much backtracking and unclear objectives. Difficulty is also pretty unbalanced with some bosses / sections a real challenge and others a cakewalk.
Interesting concept, but poorly executed as aiming accurately whilst always moving is difficult and having to charge your shots before release is an unnecessary step. It’s mostly relatively easy and short with very simple puzzles, annoying combat and timed challenges, but switches from frustrating to dull to frantic to repetitive very quickly. The later bosses are much more difficult, and with minimal upgrades with unclear functions, they can block progress completely. The art style and mysterious setting is great and creates intrigue, but the story is weak and it’s just not that fun to play. Mindlessly hitting the balls works far better than skill and timing, and with a lack of overall variety in its challenges, no replay value and silly little oversights such as a poor map, it’s a big disappointment after the opening scene finishes.
A relatively simple puzzle game which is all about timing. Unfortunately, as the window of opportunity is extremely short in some levels (and even shorter if going for the relics or in the extra levels), they become quite challenging and frustrating with lots of trial and error. The graphics are good as is the minimalist soundtrack, but the ambiguous metaphorical plot and similar mechanics made it boring more than anything else. The ending was emotive, the cat is cute and the later levels show more complexity, but it’s not that long or fun to play.
Wonderfully weird and bizarre with a spooky and morbid style very reminiscent of the Addams Family. The twisted settings are fantastic and the puzzles are cleverly implemented with some cool mechanics, but some story or context would have been nice. It’s a shame the game is as short as it is, as I really enjoyed every moment of it. Some of the segments are a bit trial and error, some of the DLC puzzles are a right pain and the stealth / escape sequences aren’t as fun or interesting, but it was challenging and rewarding.
A beautiful game in its overall concept and presentation, but rather basic and bland in the detail. The world is a joy to explore – flying has never been so graceful and the use of colour and music is superb, seamlessly changing as you move from one area to another, but the polygon artwork makes the detail very basic to look at, especially in the interiors. The story is functional and nothing special, but the tones of melancholy and hope create a good contrast and work well within the discovery style of game play. It’s quite short and very easy to complete, but completely stress free and enjoyable.
