Recent reviews by *Quiet

It's a great skateboarding game. It's about the flow, the drifting, setting your steering angle and pinning the throttle into a turn even though you're not sure the tires can handle it and maybe you'll do a barrel roll into a tree but maybe you'll hit the perfect line and fly out of that corner ready (or not) to repeat the whole process over because there is no codriver; it's just you and the road.

Also it's pretty and sounds good and you can just tell how much the developers love rally. I love this game.

I have never made it past the title screen, but I can say that, in the 15,000 hours I've spent playing this game, it has brought me and others great joy. Therefore I recommend it.

The junk food of video games.

A pretty intuitive puzzle game, with new concepts introduced at a reasonable pace in an organic manner. Not a bad way to spend an hour.

I idle in most games for the trading cards. It's just a fact. I've started trying to play the games for a bit to get some first impressions, and thus started my First-Impression Review series—just a quick look at the first hour/few hours of a game. If you're looking for something more in-depth, look elsewhere.

Canabalt is, quite obviously, an infinite-running game. From what I've gathered, it was one of the frontrunners of the genre. It is a port from mobile devices to the PC and includes new 3D graphics. 2D graphics are enabled by default, but it's easy to switch back and forth. I found the 2D version easier to play because the boxes have no shadowing, making it easier to determine exactly where they are located and when to jump.

The colour scheme is rather dreary: variations of grey and black and white, all rather monochrome. It is very clean, however. The controls, or rather, control, is as simple as could be, and the game is responsive. This is crucial because it is the core aspect of the game. There is enough variation and randomness in the game/level design to make things interesting. You have windows at varying heights you must jump through, buildings that crumble and start to drop as you land on them, and, of course, boxes to jump over. I was pleased to see that the boxes do not mean instant death but rather slow you down. Although going too slow means you will be unable to jump high enough or far enough to reach the next building, the boxes can be useful if used correctly to slow down slightly.

There are about 7–9 levels, which feature different themes. On one, the buildings are invisible, and one must use the birds perched on the roofs to determine where to run and land. There are no boxes in this mode, thankfully (at least, none that I've encountered). Another level features aliens randomly drilling into buildings, making it so that you have to (very quickly) alter your course to land on the drill bit, in the middle of the building. Another level features a plethora of boxes. The one I found most interesting played with the windows mechanic, requiring more estimation based on your speed to determine when to jump so that you fall enough to break through a window below you.

The randomized elements obviously make it so that no two runs are the same, but, because of this, some runs will be much easier than others. In the end, the ever-increasing speed means that the difference will still be based mostly on skill; however, it could have some effect on the leaderboard, if that's something you're aiming for.

In the end, this remains a port of a mobile game. The devs did well to price it under $5. This is something I'd purchase on a mobile device for $1, were I interested in such games. Although I don't doubt that fans of this genre would enjoy Cannabalt, I grew tired of it very quickly. I'll note that I did not venture into the multiplayer aspect of this game.

I received this game as part of a bundle, and I wouldn't recommend it at full price. My short time spent with it gave me an impression of a game done well for its genre but simply not featuring enough content to keep me entertained.

Based on the price I paid, I would recommend this game at $1.00 or less.

I idle in most games for the trading cards. It's just a fact. I've started trying to play the games for a bit to get some first impressions, and thus started my "First Impression Review" - just a quick look at the first hour/few hours of a game. If you're looking for something more in-depth, look elsewhere.

In short, this a 3D top-down shooter with maps - typically urban environments with grid-like streets - and objectives for each level/map. As far as arcade action goes, it is pretty entertaining. You have your infinte-fire machine gun, and then gain the ability to add other secondary weapons as you progress - such as rockets or a beam. Mission objectives vary from map-to-map/mission-to-mission - generally destroying certain targets (such as boss enemies or crates), clearing the stage of enemies, or simply reaching the exit. The latter generally requires deactiving force fields by roaming the streets looking for red lights to run over. There are items to find on the map to increase your score, and of course you're free to kill as many enemies as you like, even if that isn't the objective. You'll probably find yourself doing so anyway, given their aggressiveness.

The controls are pretty tight, and aiming feels very natural. I do wish the player's ship was a bit more agile, making it easier to dodge bullets. All in all, it seems like a good distraction, but more structured than other twin-stick shooters like Beat Hazard. I don't know how long it would take to wear out its welcome, but given the amount of weapon upgrades, and the ability to easily play in short 15-30 minute bursts, I'd give it at least 4-5 hours.

I received this game as part of a bundle, and wouldn't recommend it at full price. However, my short time spent with it gave me a positive impression. It's hard to put a dollar-per-hour or dollar-per-unit of entertainment number on any game, as the first would be misleading, and the second... is very difficult to measure and describe.

Based on the price I paid, I would recommend this game at $2.00 or less.

The procedurely-generated music game craze brought with it quite a few different games with a similar theme, but different mechanics. One of the later games to be released, Symphony, is essentially a 2D shooter, but unlike Beat Hazard, the interface and style are much cleaner and based more around wire-frames and softer light effects. There is no ability to rotate your ship, however weapons attached to your ship (which I'll get to in a moment) can be rotated to shoot towards any direction.

I compare this game mostly to Beat Hazard, as there is a sense of progression - you play songs, and upon completing a song unlock a weapon you can add to your ship. There are approximately eight weapons, which can be upgraded several levels to increase their power, and also 'super' variants of these weapons which are more rare unlocks and cost significantly more to upgrade. Upgrades are facilitated by spending points earned by playing songs. Playing songs on higher difficulty, with stronger enemies and an overabundance of them, earns more of these points. There are also two 'weapons' that appear as random drops on the play-field, and they can be upgraded as well.

This progression adds some time to the game, which for some can be a plus - compared to the more free-form style of Audiosurf. There is a story mode which isn't optional, however at any time you are free to choose which songs you play. After vanquishing the final 'boss' enemy which randomly appears during one of your songs , you can continue to play without that hinderance. Progressing through the story also unlocks difficulty levels.

I admire the attempt to extend play-time through the use of a progression system, where the weapon unlocked by each song is random, encouraging one to essentially grind through songs to secure desired weapons. The grinding itself should be organic anyway - the point of playing the game is enjoy one's music, is it not?

While some aspects of the game are procedurely-generated, it's inevitable that at some point one will have 'seen it all', so to speak, and after that point it becomes a matter of how much one enjoys the mechanics. There are scoreboards for individual songs, although I don't find them to be as populated as Beat Hazard or Audiosurf. One thing I think would be nice would be a scoreboard for overall points accumulated, similar to the one provided in Beat Hazard.

I can't speak towards the longevity of the game since that's based more around personal preferences; I do feel as though it's a finished project, however some DLC (free or not) that adds more weapons and enemy types would certainly extend its lifespan. As it is, you can see I've played around 80 hours (I believe), and I likely won't be picking it up again any time soon. I do enjoy these games, but find myself consistently coming back to Audiosurf (which is more thrilling and random), and rarely Beat Hazard (for the challenge and overall leaderboard).

I would recommend this game for those who like the genre, and perhaps even fans of the 2D shooter field, however to those people I'd recommend Beat Hazard as a more intense experience. This game gets a thumbs up from me, even if it unfortunately has a limited life cycle.

I was a bit leery of the whole 'visual novel' aspect of the game, but after receiving it as part of an indie bundle, I decided to try it out. While rather short - about five hours - I thoroughly enjoyed it. It gets rather emotional, and even more so if you allow yourself to be immersed into the setting. It took me a while to make sense of everything - probably about half an hour - but once you understand who all of the major players are, and start to grasp the setting, things really get awesome.

Sadly, the emotional impact was diminished quite a bit whilst trying to achieve the alternate endings. Going over documents I had already read just wasn't quite as stimulating as the first time, although ocassionally I'd stumble over new content that would make me laugh (or cry, as it were).

Anyway, if you like the concept of video games as art, I think you'll absolutely love this game. If you expect any sort of action, then look elsewhere. This game is very slow-paced (as it should be).

It would seem kind of weird calling Audiosurf one of the best games ever, but at its most basic level, it does what a lot of games can't: be fun, continuously. It does what it sets out to do, and does so very well, with only a few minor bumps that affect its replayability.

The competitive side could be tuned up a bit (an equation to calculate a score comparable for any song played would be perfect), but as a casual, single-player game, listening to music becomes an even more enjoyable experience. The only limit to how long Audiosurf remains interesting is how long you will care to boot it up when listening to music. It is a bit trite at times, as Quest3D doesn''t seem very optimised for gaming, but it's not a big deal on a mid-range or higher computer.
On its highest graphical setting, the effects are simply brilliant. On the lowest setting - which almost every moderately new comp should be able to run - it's not as nice, but still enjoyable.

So cheap, it's a must-buy.

The game looked kinda hokey and childish, but it's quite a bit of fun and doesn't take itself too seriously. The quality is much higher than I originally expected, and as most Popcap games - it's rather addictive.