11
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2232
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Recent reviews by emuholic

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Showing 1-10 of 11 entries
No one has rated this review as helpful yet
4.9 hrs on record
Good fun! I spent the most amount of time out of my VR games playing this game.
Posted November 21, 2023.
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No one has rated this review as helpful yet
12.1 hrs on record (6.1 hrs at review time)
I haven't played Halo since ODST and coming back after all this time felt like going back to a comfy pair of shoes :)
Posted November 24, 2021.
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No one has rated this review as helpful yet
1,325.9 hrs on record (588.9 hrs at review time)
And nearly 1000 hours later, and I am still playing! Still a great game after all these years. Constantly updated with new content to keep you coming back.
Posted November 28, 2019. Last edited November 26, 2020.
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No one has rated this review as helpful yet
17.5 hrs on record (16.6 hrs at review time)
After all these years it is still an enjoyable and fun game to play either on or offline!
Posted November 23, 2016.
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6 people found this review helpful
2 people found this review funny
432.7 hrs on record (399.5 hrs at review time)
Big fan of Elite since the 80's. Great game! 2020 UPDATE: A few years later and still great!
Posted June 29, 2016. Last edited November 26, 2020.
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8 people found this review helpful
1 person found this review funny
1.7 hrs on record
The music was good.
Posted November 16, 2014.
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17 people found this review helpful
7.3 hrs on record (6.2 hrs at review time)
Vertical Drop Heroes HD is a platform action game with RPG and rogue-like features. The story explains that a great hero will enter the portal at the Temple of Knowledge and fight their way through strange lands in search of the Holy Sanctuary that holds a great secret. There are many attempts by heroes to complete this challenge and you play as them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Osu9OwdSiCM
With each restart of the game, you will be given a choice from three random heroes to play as. The heroes stats are randomly generated from what has been unlocked. If you are not happy with the choice you can regenerate another three for a small amount of coin. The main stats generated at random are health, damage (dmg) and what traits, abilities and powers the heroes have.

There are 20 traits, 15 abilities, 15 powers and 16 weapons to unlock, mainly from merchants found in game and paid for with coins that you collect. These unlocks are persistent and are used in further replays. Your character has two traits and these include extra health, double jump and automatic coin collecting. Abilities include casting fireballs and lightning, to calling heroes to assist and creating traps. The powers include Dwarf Turrets and Sandstorms through to health regeneration for your character. The variety gives you a great degree of randomness when the characters are generated. This initially starts of with similar characters as nothing has been unlocked but as you progress and unlock more, the variety increases.

The game is split over ten stages of varying themes such as forests, caves, and lava filled volcanoes. The aim is to reach the bottom of the procedurally generated stage by making your way downwards via platforms, enemies and other obstacles. You have two options to complete a level; all out attack or pacifist. Pacifist is enabled by default, you must not kill any enemies. This may sound strange as you level up by killing enemies, instead you collect hearts which reward you with XP and gold. If you kill an enemy then the pacifist mode is disabled and it is business as usual; killing enemies for XP and gold.

As you make your way down each stage you come across hazards such as water, lava, spikes and guard posts which spawn more enemies if touched. There are a good variety of enemies, usually designed around the stage theme. They can also have different abilities and traits which can change with each playthrough such as the ability for all enemies to fly. This also extends to the bosses at the bottom of each stage, including a devastating gun toting boss who destroys everything on screen! You will also come across Shrines which are often helpful giving you a chance for attacks such as lightning strikes or rewards such as coins or keys in return for a small payment or spawning some enemies. There are also chests which are unlocked with keys and reward you with health and coins. Finally, there are cages which when unlocked, release a hero who will help you in your journey.

Vertical Drop Heroes HD manages to get the gameplay spot on in my opinion. Personally, I like to play a stage as a pacifist for as long as possible and if/when it goes wrong, start attacking. The stage design usually allow you to do this and it is great fun spending a little time working out the best routes to avoid enemies as much as possible. As you progress through the game, the new unlocks play an important role and greatly improve your chances to complete the levels as you intend to.

The ten stages may sound short, but after the first couple they increase in difficulty. You can choose to start from the first stage or if you have unlocked a later stage you can skip straight to that. A New Game+ mode is available after you complete the game and offers a harder challenge. It is very addictive, your characters death is usually welcome as it means you get to experience new characters with new stats to learn and play with. I have played the game for several hours over the past few days and it is perfect for quick ten to fifteen pick up and play or longer sessions. Priced at only $5.00 (homepage price), Vertical Drop Heroes HD is great value for money and comes highly recommended!

Gameplay - 9/10 - Addictive gameplay that keeps you coming back for one more go. Procedural generation and upgrades to keep the game feeling fresh every playthrough.
Graphics - 8.5/10 - Nice cartoon style graphics and designs. Slightly annoying tooltips get in the way of the action occasionally.
Sounds - 8/10 - A good selection of music which changes across the levels and work well with the themes.
Final Score - 8.5/10

Originally posted on gamergeddon.com.
Posted July 26, 2014. Last edited July 26, 2014.
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190 people found this review helpful
5.6 hrs on record (5.5 hrs at review time)
Xbox Live Indie Game fans may remember Little Racers STREET from a year or two ago. The popular XBLIG title has now made its way to Steam with a few additions along the way. Little Racers STREET is a top down view arcade style racing game with a single player career mode and online multiplayer for up to twelve players.

The racing action takes place over two ‘cities’ in which the tracks are created by blocking off road junctions to create a route. Think of it like the routes in games such as Need for Speed. This allows around 60 different tracks to race on, double that if you mirror them. The tracks range from short loop style routes to long ‘tour of half the map’ races. The cities are an urban area with scenery such as buildings and train tracks and the second a more open area with mountains and canyons providing the backdrop. To add some variety there are night and dusk lighting as well as rain and snow weather conditions which affect the vehicles handling. The two cities combined with the number of route permutations (around 200) means you won’t get bored of the tracks too soon.

There are 41 vehicles to choose from, split into classes from E, the slowest, to A being the fastest. The classes are decided by four attributes; Power, Turning, Grip and Nitro. These can be upgraded in the garage, and if you upgrade enough you can even have the vehicle go up a class. The range of vehicles is good, from nimble mini’s and cumbersome buses up to super charged beasts, all of which can be painted and decaled. Depending on the type of race, speed is not always the best, as tracks can be very twisty so choosing a vehicle with lower speed and higher grip can make a massive difference.

The career mode starts you with a small amount of money to buy a low class vehicle and get straight into the race. Depending on the race, you can be up against three to eleven other drivers. Credits are earned depending on the outcome and if you find your opponents too easy you can increase the difficulty to earn a larger reward. The AI is very competitive on the harder difficulties and one or two minor mistakes on the track will punish you. As you complete races your leaderboard ranking changes accordingly, it can be a bit of a grind working your way up the leaderboard and vehicle classes, but there is plenty to do.

The multiplayer mode allows you to host, join or search for a race. A number of options are available if you are hosting a game including a choice of public or private games, number of vehicles and the race length. If you wish to, you can host a game and fill it with AI racers and play until some humans join the start of the next race. Surprisingly, you are unable to choose which track or conditions to race on. I haven’t spent any time playing multiplayer against other humans on the PC as the game had not yet been released on Steam, but I spent a lot of hours playing on the XBLIG version and I can assure you it is immense fun.

The career mode will keep you busy for several hours as you progress through the classes. The multiplayer mode is where the lifespan is, get a few friends involved you can easily spend an evening racing against each other and inventing game modes such as ‘cops and robbers’ with differently painted vehicles and decals. If you enjoy racing games and simply want that arcade fun experience then this is a must buy.

Gameplay: 8.5
A lengthy career mode with challenging AI if you increase the difficulty. Vehicle handling is spot on. The multiplayer mode provides many hours of enjoyment.

Graphics: 8.5
Smooth 60FPS graphics which look nice, but often missed as you are tearing around the track.

Sound: 7
A mix of music tracks which sound decent. Sound effects are sparse as expected in a racing game but they do the job.

Final Score: 8.5

Review originally posted on Gamergeddon[www.gamergeddon.com]
Posted February 6, 2014. Last edited February 7, 2014.
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4 people found this review helpful
3.3 hrs on record
Secrets of Rætikon is a side-scrolling open world exploration game set in the mountains of the Alps. You play as a bird whose aim is to collect parts of an ancient machine and unlock the mysteries surrounding it.

Secrets of Rætikon is currently available on Steam’s Early Access system. This generally means the game is still in development and can be anything from a barely playable early build to a nearly finished game. Secrets of Rætikon fits in somewhere closer to the latter, it is playable until the last chapter which is not complete, but it will be before launch which is expected in a few months time. There are some bugs and unfinished level designs but you should not have any major issues.

The game starts with no story or introduction which immediately gives you that mysterious feeling. The story is told throughout the game via rune stones which need to be deciphered. A simple tutorial gets you underway and introduces you to the mechanics of the game. A game controller is recommended, though you can use a keyboard if you wish. As you are a bird, you fly around the game with some spot on flight controls, they feel very responsive and comfortable to use with a controller. Your bird can glide at a normal speed, flap its wings to give a speed increase and for a fast burst of speed you can dive. Finally, you can interact with the scenery by holding it with your claws, you can pull or push, and even lift if the object is not too heavy.

The graphic style is probably the first aspect of the game that you notice. It is a 2D side-scrolling game with polygon style graphics which is very striking. The background shows the mountainous ranges in the distance through to dense forest, caves and more. The foreground changes style to reflect the game areas, outside in the windy mountains, maze like forests, dark cave systems and mysterious temple like areas. The definition of the areas made up from the polygons are immediately recognisable and wonderful to look at. The audio is more subtle with short pieces of soft tones which work well, sounds effects are sparse and could do with some more work.

The population of Rætikon is quite varied, from cute bunnies and butterflies through to not so friendly foes such as blackbirds and wolves. You have no form of attack, but you can use the surrounding scenery to run and hide, avoid or attack, the choice is cleverly up to you. If you choose the latter you can for example pull up thorny plant roots, fly around with them in tow and use them to defend against enemies. Alternatively, you can wait next to a thorny bush as an enemy flies towards you and dash away at the last second, resulting in a satisfying messy end for the foe. There are more devious ways to avoid death but I will leave them for you to work out.

The game world is open and you are free to explore a good chunk of it from the start. There are some puzzles which need to be solved to progress, usually to access an area containing a machine shard of which there are six. These are unlocked with Slivers which are found throughout the game. Once unlocked, you will often find a fairly simple puzzle such as rebuilding a broken statue with pieces found in the surrounding area. Completion of the puzzle rewards you a shard which you need to take back to the main machine. Beware, the shard is sought after and the local population may chase after you, resulting in a friendly convoy of butterflies or a nerve-racking chase by blackbirds which if they manage to grab the shard will fly around with it until you manage to get it back off them!

Secrets of Rætikon is great fun to play, the pace of the game is for the most part very relaxing and it is enhanced by the open world exploration which allows you to fly around at your leisure and enjoy the scenery if you wish to. The interaction with the scenery and wildlife is enjoyable, just try not to kill those poor innocent bunnies by throwing rocks at them ;) There are a few bugs and unfinished parts of the game but keep in mind this is Early Access and the weekly updates contain a good number of changes and improvements. If you enjoy exploration, solving puzzles and mysteries set in an very atmospheric world this is a game you should not miss out on. Highly recommended!

Review originally posted on http://www.gamergeddon.com/
Posted January 14, 2014.
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165 people found this review helpful
11.2 hrs on record (1.5 hrs at review time)
Early Access Review
“In space no one can hear you scream” goes the famous film quote. They might just hear you scream after playing this intentionally hard roguelike game.

Steam Marines is a roguelike set onboard a ship that has been attacked. You control a squad of four soldiers who must reach the elevator on each procedurally generated floor to proceed through the ship and eventually find freedom. It would be fair to say the game takes a good amount of influence from the Space Hulk/Crusade and X-Com game series, with its dark corridors and rooms with ‘fog of war’ and action points to spend on movement and actions. While not an original concept, Steam Marines manages to blend its influences into a neat game.

Your squad can be created from randomised suggestions or built from scratch. There are four classes to choose from, a leader, support, scout and grenadier. As the names suggest, their weaponry fits their names, the leader takes the front with a close range shotgun, scout with a long-range sniper gun and support with a high capacity machine gun. Having one of each is probably a good idea to get a good balance of strategy and combat.

Steam Marines throws you in the deep end with a few words of encouragement to keep you afloat for a minute while you play the tutorial. The tutorial gives you a chance to see how the basics work such as movement and combat. Once completed, you are on your own to work the rest out. The tutorial could go into a little more detail for people who are not familiar with this genre of game. After reading the developers forums I found out a few features I knew nothing about. This is a Steam Early Access game meaning the game is still in development, so this can be excused but it is worth keeping an eye on the forums for this reason alone.

After a floor or two, the enemy number becomes many, and you will likely hit a brick wall as you learn the game the hard way. Death is permanent and once your squad is gone, it is game over. Tactics is important as it is in any strategy combat game, never knowing what is around the next corner or behind a door. You will soon learn that moving a soldier with few remaining Action Points into a new room is a silly mistake as they will likely face a couple of enemy units with no points to take action with. The game is turn based, so killing as many enemy units or getting into cover before you run out of AP is essential, the enemy can be brutal even on the easiest difficulty. Tactics such as flanking enemies that have shields works particularly well and grants bonus damage.

Steam Marines features a simple leveling up system that improves the soldiers stats such as their strength and class attributes. Your soldiers also have talents which are awarded as you progress and include attacks and defense buffs and special attacks which are important to take advantage of.

Much like the X-COM series, you form a bond with your soldiers and you will go to lengths to protect them. One mistake will make you scream as a group of enemy units slaughters half of your squad (if you are lucky). You can explore the ship to find items such as new weapons, health and AP replenishment and boosts. Survivors can join your team to replace any dead soldiers, but they will be weak and need to leveled up.

The graphics are an 8-bit pixel art style that is dark and at times scary. Scary, but not in a make you jump out of your seat way, more in a way that you never know what is in the next room. Your heart will miss a beat or two as you enter a new room to see what is inside. The audio adds to the atmosphere with again dark, slow and eerie effects that remind you of X-COM. It creates an opposing atmosphere and builds the tension very well.

There was little I did not like about Steam Marines. One minor annoyance is the auto-switch to new soldier once the selected soldiers AP has run out. If you manually choose a new soldier it can sometimes auto-switch to another without you realising and you end up moving the wrong soldier. You can switch this off in the options and I definitely recommend doing it!

Steam Machines is a hard game, but it is fairly balanced and death will most likely be player error rather than the game. It is a dark, atmosphere filled strategy roguelike that works very well taking in a lot of inspiration from classic games. If you enjoy roguelike or tactics games this is a perfect game for you. If you are a newcomer, you may find the learning curve a little steep at the start, but it is something that can be reached and enjoyed.

You can buy Steam Marines via the homepage at http://www.steammarines.com/ or via Steam here.

Gameplay - 8/10
Tough but fair combat system. The approach to the levels gets you thinking the best strategy to reach the elevators.
Graphics - 7.5/10
Nice pixel art 8bit style graphics that give a dark, opposing atmosphere.
Sound - 7.5/10
Eerie, slow background effects that builds up the suspense.
Final Score 8/10

Review originally posted on http://www.gamergeddon.com
Posted November 27, 2013.
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Showing 1-10 of 11 entries