I have know n this VN for years, finished it a long time ago. It's nice to see that it finally made it's way to GOG. It can't compete with VNs like BADIK, but I have good memories of it. There are several paths to take and quite a few different endings. The render quality is not quite as good as in more modern games, but good enough. You will probably recognize the Bella character from other games, the same base models was for example used for Madison in House Party.
![Rendering Ranger: R² [Rewind]](https://images.gog-statics.com/3617a9d9b3ff0eadb0cb884a3da73373df597c1d45d0560cf7a86d828c279c42.jpg)
Nice Run'N'Gun shooter, a bit too arcade style for my taste. I prefer what was designed for western marked home computers of the time. Don't expect something like Turrican 2 here or even Gunlord X (btw, we need a PC version for that one), even if some gameplay elements are definitly inspired by the masterpiece. The music of the trailer is not like the ingame music which for arcade or SNES standards is not bad, but also not great. One of the tracks sounds neat, the rest is mediocre. Controls are just what you would expect from a 90s Run N Gun game, no surprises here. I was actually thinking of giving three stars, because over the decades I have played several shooters that were better. But I set for four, because it's really not a bad game and good for a trip down memory lane.
This game is quite different from everything TT did until then, it's obviously inspired by GTA, an open world with lots to do and explore. But it really shines when you know the references to 70s to 90s cop tv shows and movies. You have your yelling police chief, cops liberating the world from donuts, your comic relief, the blonde damsel in distress. Columbo, Dirty Harry, Starsky and Hutch, Chips, you name it. If it was filmed, you find at reference to it in this game. While the music is mostly 70s funk and 80s rock, cut scenes are often done in 90s style, including slow mothon running and waving hair to rock music. The game was designed for the Wii U and has very simple controls. Instead of having one character with multiple skills, you can (and have to) switch between costumes to change the skill you want to use. While this is not a bad idea to keep it simple, later in the game it becomes a bit annoying, having to switch char all the time. Other Lego games do this better, here it is part of the gameplay. The scanner to find hidden object is also useful to find objects in the world. Sadly you can't mark them and it's not always easy to determine how far they are away or where they are located. You basically only see the direction. So you either have en edeic memory or you have to pull it out the scanner over again if they are hidden behind other objects. The game has a large range of vehicles, costumes to collect and there are the so called super builds, large attractions that you can build with the bricks you collect, sometimes unlocked by races or easy riddles. Hint: Build the roller coaster late, it is in the middle of the path for a stunt course and if you build it, it can get in the way, the collision detection at that point is not good and it is quite random if you make it or not. Later in the game you get jetpacks, helicopters and what not to help you reach areas with more items to collect. One of TTs best Lego games for sure.
The game is as good as described in the game reviews. Grab the bundle to get the awesome soundtrack as well.
A murder mystery, an elaborate story seen from different point of views, good dialogs, loveable characters, a great soundtrack and almost spot-on controls ... put that all together and you get Loco Motive, a love letter to the clasic adventures. I had great fun playing this game. Is it perfect? No, it has it's shortcomings, like hints from NPCs for actions already performed, the "can't enter the kitchen yet" sequence being too long and so on, but these are all minor factors. You get an absolutely solid adventure here, not all too hard unless there is that one thing that you missed on the other end of the train and you are sure you searched every pixel.
Awesome game Great characters. great humor. The puzzles sometimes are mostly logical, you don't need to think outside the box all too often. Just the outcome might not always be what you expected. Speaking of puzzles: There are five different endings in the game. But other than in most games that give you a choice on which path to proceed, in this game you decide by how you solve certain problems or act in certain situations. If you take your time to read a certain book for example (and do something more), this will give you an additional option to solve a puzzle later and THAT will decide if the person involved will help you at the end of the game, deciding influencing what end you will see. Sometimes the humor is a little over the top, in a few scenes I couldn't help but think "how did anyone thing this was funny?", in other situations they exagerated a bit. But most of the time however it's spot on. There are some references to modern pop culture memes. I'm kinda biased however when it comes to references to movies that clearly were made AFTER this game takes place. But that's first world problems. I am not sure if Betty's supposed to be a genius or a dullard. Sure, the game implies that she's kinda simple minded, but in many situations her actions and reactions are way too smart. And I for sure wished they followed the trail of the broccoli. Was she right about it or not ... Still ... despite a few shortcomings in writing, this is one of the bestpoint & click adventures that I have seen in several years.
