The third installment of the BiA series tries to go a little bit mainstream and tries to attract newer players. The game difficulty is definitely not as demanding as the two previous titles, only the graphics seem to be a vast improvement. I can’t shake the feeling that they were pandering to the MoH / CoD audience by ramping up the gore and violence. And there are some boring scripted stealth missions which is definitely taken out from the tired playbook from CoD. Same goes for the story, while the previous titles had a creeping darkness that slowly reveals itself, they still had a balance and felt grounded in reality (they were after all modeled after the great HBO show Band of Brothers). This time we're dealing with full on hallucinations/ghosts etc which feels again like trying to rip off other games ( F.E.A.R. & Bioshock) which is a shame since the BiA series had it's own identity that made it stand out from the vast amount of (tactical) FPS shooters. It's still a good game, regardless of these flaws, because the core mechanic of this game are still intact. Although most missions feel definitely more linear than the old games, which has something to do that the old game's maps were much more open and therefore there was more room for movement and different approaches. It’s definitely worth checking out.
The Swindle is one of the better Rogue-like games out there. It has a very simple premise and can easily become addictive after a while. There's a lot of replay-ability since the game is short and a lot of tools and gadgets invite the player to alter the strategy of playing. I enjoyed it, although I wish there was the possibility to select five different types of thieves who have different abilities than the others. The game is simple in it's design, but very effective. What I find funny is the more I play the game the more I enjoy the first levels where you almost have no skills and you have to acquire the basics. The only big negative aspect is that there are serious bugs with the controls sometimes which is one of the reasons why I have given up to do a perfect run, since it's basically a gamble. Bugs include: invisible spikes, jumping often doesn't work if you're on sloping ground or on steps, characters uncontrollably sinking when standing on a ledge, character freezes sometimes after hacking a door etc It's little stuff that could be fixed with a patch but can get really annoying the more you become a pro. Another obstacle can be the visual style, although it's beautifully drawn, there are several occasions when the screen is just too busy that you overlook little enemies that can give you an insta-kill. The reason for that is that a lot of stuff is going on, on the screen. Even in the background, and the colors of some enemies are very similar to the BG and they blend in sometimes. I don't know if that was intended to make the game more difficult, but it could be fun if there is an 'easy version' where the visuals are slightly more cut'n dry, for beginners. I recommended it to several friends, but it's a bit hard to get into in the beginning, those who did persisted absolutely loved it in the end. It's one of the few games that I keep coming back every year or two. It has a very neat core concept, and it's a shame that they never made a sequel.
Cuphead ImageIt's a fine enough game. I was hoping the developers would have put more emphasis on actual platforming. This game is more related to a shooter like Contra rather than a jump'n'run game. It consists mainly of Boss Fights, and the emphasis is on memorization of enemy patterns and basically trial & error. It's very old school, and by that I don't mean by design but how unforgiving and how little lives you have. I don't know if it's really for casual players, maybe for those who will find the art style entertaining enough to sustain them till the end. But if you strip the game down to it's bones, it's just a mediocre shooter with amazing visuals.
A nice little rogue game, that I would describe as a mix of Spelunky, Rogue Legacy and Zelda. A scavenger at night and a merchant by day, the game is not an an RPG, but more of an action adventure with combined with a mini shop game. You kind of scavenge certain dungeons (within a limited time frame) to get parts = money and in effect upgrade either your armour, weapons, magic or your own shop. The combat seems a bit difficult at first but it's very fair. Every time you enter a dungeon it's maze-like architecture is randomly generated. But there are still rules, which you can uncover by taking hints of other scavengers who didn't make it. There's a ticking clock element, where are a dungeon guardian is starting to pursue you after you spent too much time in the dungeon. Honorable mention: nice pixel art and some neat animations. The music is nice too. Unfortunately it's a bit short, the village is way too small and therefore the game lacks a bit of scope. The shop system adds some additional hours, but overall it's a pretty short affair. It's not possible to give half stars, but I would give it 3,5 out of 5 stars. I would definitely recommend it if it's on sale for everyone who likes rogue games.
I get the idea behind the game. It's one of those little games where it's not about exciting adventures but the mundane things that can be fascinating. I think there might be a good game in here. But the controls and the grind-like elemnts didn't catch my interest. I reached one city, stayed overnight and kinda gave up halfway through the way to the other town, because it was just a glorified fetchquest with a retro bonus. Full disclosure, one thing that definitely spoiled the fun was that the game was constantly lagging on the road, and I have no idea how or why, because the last game I played on my system was Metal Gear 5 and that game ran smooth as butter.
It's not a big game, like expected from an Indie Game, but the trouble is that there isn't much replayability value once you're done. Which is usually a big asset of rogue-like games. Visually the game looks quite beautiful and the animations are pretty awesome. One of my gripes are, since this village is so small, they should have given you more to do. Like maybe get sidequests from the villagers and not always from your shop. The village feels like a facade because of the lack of interaction with animals, other buildings, wells, just something... sure there are merchants but they also lack certain perosnality. The difficulty level is pretty good I would say, but there is a lot of grind in this game to get to the more interesting weapon abilities. It depends how much fun you have to hack'n'slay through the enemies and dungeons. Overall I enjoyed it, but because of it's short shelf-life I would pick it up only on Sale.
