Recent reviews by RapturePanic

The beautiful child of The Binding of Isaac and Viva Pinata. Somewhat familiar while also creating something completely new.

It was fun to play around with the different knights and their abilities and working towards some of the win conditions felt interesting. However, much of the ui felt dated, the relationships with other rulers felt flat, and long or subsequent campaigns, especially for world domination, felt like a complete slog.

3 out of 5 golden crowns.

The highest goal of any superhero game is to make the player feel like the actual superhero, which this game accomplishes.

Splice is a puzzle game about manipulating genes; puzzles consist of moving individual cells into a predetermined pattern within a set number of moves. When first launched, the cells seem troublesome, erratic, and difficult to handle, but after a few sequences their patterns become obvious, allowing advanced assumptions and predictions to be made. While the puzzles start easy enough, the introduction of utility cells which can extend, duplicate, or destroy other cells slowly ramp up the difficulty. Later puzzles can be difficult, yet remain fair and can be overcome with enough thought and tenacity; this allows Splice to blissfully incorporate a nice balance of increasing difficulty without moving into the realm of the absurd or impossible.

Visually and audibly, Splice truly shines. Minimal graphics and a haunting soundtrack add a surreal quality to the puzzles. Even on the more difficult levels there is something soothing and beckoning about the looks and sounds being offered to the senses. For a puzzle game, it is difficult to imagine a style more inviting or enticing.

The only deterrents are those common to the genre; if you are not immediately struck by the puzzle type there will not be a sudden change in the gameplay. The puzzles are diverse and interesting, but never leave the general concept presented from the start. Length has also been mentioned as a negative, but with the epilogue, Splice totals just under 100 puzzles which seems more than reasonable. Other puzzle games have offered nearly limitless levels, but often those levels seem to sprout from random generation and not through individually, well thought out puzzles such as those found in Splice.

Much like the other offerings from Edmund McMillen, The Binding of Isaac is not for the faint of heart or those who are easily discouraged, frustrated, or require a constant, guiding hand to have a good time. The Binding of Isaac will kill you, a lot, over and over, without mercy. However, the genius of its game design beckons to a bygone era where reward and punishment come purely from reflexes, understanding the game mechanics, how enemies move and fight, and a proper utilization of the tools at hand. Because of this design philosophy, Isaac will demand that you play again and again, slowly honing your skill and understanding until you no longer feel small and defenseless. The game can seem impossibly difficult upon first sitting, yet once the wisdom of time accumulates those impossible bosses will suddenly seem like easy prey compared to the horrors you now contend with on the deeper levels.

Mechanically, Isaac suffers slightly from its roots as a Flash based game, denying us some of the features and options we have come to expect even from an indie game. However, the gameplay is still brilliant enough to warrant attention and the gameplay is often spot on. Isaac catches and keeps attention with a reliance on perma-death and random pick-ups which can drastically alter how the game is played. One moment you are shooting ineffective tears at enemies, the next you are firing screen extending lasers, the next you are soaring over pits and obstructions with angelic wings. There is enough constant variety available in every play through to keep the game refreshing even on the three-hundredth run, compounded by the introduction of new bosses, deeper levels, new playable characters, and more powerful and interesting bonuses unlocked upon your continued successes.

Beyond the addictive gameplay, McMillen has crafted an art style which is often both beautiful and disturbing. The cartoony characterizations mask the devious implications of many of the enemies and items as well as softening the harsh blows presented by the sheer constant brutality of your actions. There is something about Isaac that gets into your head, a fact not discounted by the catchy, haunting music constantly calling you ever further into the abyss. It is not unreasonable to say that Isaac is not a game you can pick up over a weekend, beat, and then forget; on the contrary it will call to you in the waking world, offering one more game, one more chance to redeem all your failed attempts, one more opportunity to immerse yourself in its twisted, witty, and beautiful world.