Recent reviews by Vlaphor

Overall, I would say this game is ok, but has many of the same issues as the first one (though these do lesson later on in the game). Primarily, multiple items, exits, and interactables that are virtually indistinguishable from the background. This makes it difficult to see what you can and can't use, and this is exacerbated by multiple screens with red herrings. Still, if you are willing to use a walk-through for some of the opening areas, this is an interesting enough experience, as long as you are looking for a low budget adventure game with a really unusual premise. It is better gamewise than the first one for sure. Just know that it can be a bit of a bumpy ride sometimes, but is still decent.

It's like Yakuza, with an RPG mechanic similar to Paper Mario in some aspects. This is a good thing.

This game is both great and terrible, and it all depends on how much affinity you have for the Disaster Report franchise. The simple truth is that this is a Disaster Report game, but it's the worst one. If you still want to play a Disaster Report game, then this one will suffice. For the people who have no affinity for the DR series, you have no real reason to pick this up right now. Go play Disaster Report and Raw Danger, and if you still need more, then pick this up.

in terms of how this is a DR game you do still wander around wrecked environments and interact with people, sometimes in zany ways. There are some variations as to how the story can unfold, though not that much. While the basic DR dressing is there, it's been simplified to a point of near irrelevance in many cases. You have food/thirst/bathroom meters, but no penalty for ignoring them. You have moral/immoral points, but those never come into play. You have a crafting system, that only gets used twice all game. There are no big action set pieces (other than running away from a crumbling platform at one point) which makes the basic gameplay loop just go to an area, wander around till you trigger enough scenes and make enough choices to move the next area, then repeat. There is some of that wackiness thrown in that DR and RD had, but nowhere near enough, though the game has a sad scene or two that kind of surprised me.

I know it sounds like I dislike this game, but I'm someone who massively loves the first 2 games, so a new game that feels somewhat like those is a treat for me, and I did enjoy my 13 hrs spent with it. I recommend this game to people who love the DR series...but nobody else, at least not till you play those first two games (the third game is a Japan exclusive PSP game with no fan patch yet).

Did you like 999 and the Zero Escape series and all the twists and turns and the unique ways those games used the standard mechanics of a visual novel mixed with a puzzle game to be unlike anything else?

If so, then you will love the hell out of this game. I know I am.

I have to be honest here, I enjoyed this game, but whether or not I can recommend it is reliant on a fair number of caveats.

First off is the content: This game was designed to be fairly graphic in it's content. Blood, gore, nazi death camps, different types of sexual activites, piles of naked dead bodies, it's all here. I like over the top graphic stuff in my games, but if you don't then I would recommend you stay far away.

Second is the gameplay itself: It's a point and click adventure game, and the gameplay is a bit rough, though the developer (one man team) is open with his community and seems willing to listen to ideas on how to improve future games. That being said, you will still run into cases of not realizing an item is available to pick up because of how well it blends into the environment, or clicking on the wrong part of the screen and something not working (a lamp you can only interact with at a certain camera angle, a nightstand that you have to click the correct part of it to solve a puzzle, having to use a key on a lock instead of the door itself), or issues where the game simply isn't descriptive enough (the items have no descriptions, and you aren't told why something doesn't work, even if in the real world, it probably would). Still, these issues don't crop up too much, and if they slow you down, the forums are here to help you.

One more small thing is that there are a fair amount of typos as well, but nothing that'll interefere with the game, though it is something you will notice (and it can easily be fixed with a patch).

So, that being said, I do still recommend this game to people looking for an intriguing and over the top adventure game. I dig the storyline, and am curious to see where it goes from here (this is part 1 of potentially 6). While there is some jank that can occasionally come with an adventure game, it's nowhere near the genre at it's worst (no pixel hunting, can't screw yourself over by missing an item, dieing sends you back directly before you died instead to a previous save/checkpoint). So yeah, so if want an adventure game with an intrigiung storline and intense content, pick this one up.

A fun character to play with, somewhat easy, but that's fine. The good ending is well worth the price of admission.

This is an excellent example of small, well-done DLC. It's $3.99, takes about 90 minutes to beat, and comes on the back of a new patch that makes the game feel even better. It includes a new level that you'll be going through a couple of times, a new weapon that feels indistinguishable from the weapon I had previously, a couple of new bosses, a new vehicle section, the best "A Very Bad Night" yet, and a few new achievements.

Basically, it's more Age of Barbarian EX, and if that's what you want, then I can easily recommend this.

Age of Barbarian is a game I've wanted to like for a long time, and thanks to the extended cut version and the speedy patching from the developers, I'm now fully able to enjoy it and I wish to tell you why, as well as invite you to try it out yourself.

The original Age of Barbarian game from several years ago was a neat concept, but it was also virtually unplayable due to a myriad of issues and I never got too far in it. If that is the game you are thinking this is, know that this version is much, much better. Control is tightened up and performing attacks, dodges. and blocks all feel much easier now (especially with some patches the dev has released). The platforming works well this time, though I did still have a couple of instances where I would fall through platforms when I tried to grab onto them. Still, the few that I mentioned to the devs were fixed quickly and the couple I didn't mention resulted in less than a minutes loss, so nothing too bad. The world map is now manageable and easy to figure out, instead of a jumbled mess that was difficult to navigate. Basically, every inch of Age of Barbarian has been polished up to make this not just a viable game to beat, but a fun one to play.

So, the question now is, what does the game play like. Well, people say that it plays a lot like the classic Barbarian games on European PC's, but being an American who grew up playing consoles, I have yet to try those games (other than brief dalliances with Amiga emulation). My frame of reference would something more akin to a 2d side scrolling Souls game (Demon Souls, Dark Souls, Bloodbourne, that type). Perhaps not 100% that way, but the traversal still rewards careful negotiation (especially later on when insta-kill traps make their appearance), the combat is based on timing and watching animations and minding your stamina meter, and running up to an enemy while wildly mashing will usually get you nowhere (though once you get powerful enough, you kinda can get away with that for most enemies). The basic gameplay flow is that you go to an area that is usually mildly maze-like, killing enemies in your path, traversing the occasional environmental hazard, and looking for secrets or the exit. The first three levels have hidden maidens that need rescuing, and they are in secret places that are out of the way and lead to different and more difficult boss battles. Find the maidens, defeat the bosses, go to the next level - that is the basic gameplay loop for the early parts of the game, and it works quite well, especially when the game has a fair amount of playability in two selectable characters.

The two selectable characters are Sheyna (the female warrior) and Rahaan (the guy). The levels are the same, but their starting stats are slightly different and they have different stories, though with the same basic goals of rescue maidens and kill bad guy. You can choose who you'll start with...but let's be honest, you'll be starting with Sheyna (as you should), and this is a good idea since the devs have put the most attention into her campaign (as they should). I'll be perfectly frank here...if blood and gore and full-frontal nudity and sex aren't something you want in a game, then this game may not be for you. There is a option to blur out the nudity (enabled by default, be sure to change that in the options), but nudity is just one of the many over the top aspects of this game. People getting their heads chopped open and their brains falling out, dongs getting sliced off, implied (but not shown) tentacle sex, naked women tied up and carried off, traps that kill you in graphic ways; basically, there's a reason you won't be seeing this game on console, and I actually wouldn't be surprised if the devs had to release an external patch for the game to add some of the content the fans (including me) have been asking for that they seem happy to add on (but that Steam might not allow).

I also want to give a shout-out to the dev team for their quick turn around in patching bugs and other issues. The reason I didn't do this review earlier was that I kept having issues beating the game, due to a somewhat buggy state the game launched in. This being said however, the devs were putting out new patches everyday for awhile and were clearly watching the forums to see what issues were most pertinent at the time. To post in a forum about a bug you've found and then to have that specific bug fixed within 48 hours is a positive that shows the devs care about their players, and I wish more devs followed this example (though I understand that most games are a fair amount larger than this one, I still don't see Crion Soft doing something like in Arkham Origins where they publicly stopped fixing bugs so they could sell you DLC). While this game launched moderately buggy, I'll still have no problem buying their next game day one (whether it's Age of Barbarian Arena or AOB 2), because I feel confident that any problems that do pop up will squashed quickly.

To wrap things up, while some aspects of this game may be a bit clunky, it's impressive just how far it has come from its original release years ago, and how it has become a game that isn't just an neat attempt by a small dev studio (the credits list less than ten names, and it looks like one person did the bulk of the work) or as a showcase for graphic content, but a genuinely fun game that I can wholeheartedly recommend. If you want a slower-paced action game, or were a fan of games like Prince of Persia, Out Of This World (Another World), or From Software's Souls games, then this game should be right up your alley. Keep in mind the content if that is something you'll be worrying about and you should have a great time.

Backed it for $15 and I still feel there wasn't enough content here. A story mode you can beat in around two hours, terrible audio design (had to stop playing it for a bit due to constant sharp sounds causing headaches), and a mechanic that starts out really interesting, but left me somewhat bored towards the end. I tried a bit of the challenge mode, but it seems to be all the same levels, but with different enemy placements, so that wouldn't hold my interest for long.

$10 is a good price for this game, but anything more than that is asking too much.

This is a fun little visual novel with heavy emphasis on fanservice and minimal player choice. I do wish it was longer, but for the low price, I don't think it's too bad. Overall, I had a good time with and I'm looking forward to more.