Recent reviews by FinalGamer

Photography games tend to be either very simple or very complex. For most games nowadays, they're a cute feature to show off the graphics and intricacies an entire team of animators and programmers spent months or years slaving over and want you to enjoy all the viscera. But it's rare to find a photography game that stands out so unique, so strongly in its own identity that it marks itself above the crowd.

Umarangi Generation is a mid-apocalypse punk-Maori game with a dinghy-good soundtrack and a satirical tale where the vibes dip deep into dire town and become strangely terrifying. Despite not being especially long and being extremely visual with no narration or story dialogue, its fresh cel-shaded style and cultural identity make it a unique little game for those needing a fresh new snap-em-up.

PROS:
- Gorgeous cel-shaded visuals
- Lots of photo options, all of which are saved to your PC for sharing!
- Strange punky soundtrack that hits the atmos right.

CONS:
- Scoring system is rather simplistic compared to other photography games
- Level geometry is a bit clunky sometimes

When this game first came out 20 years ago, I was drawn into the strange story with its at-the-time clever setup of playing both the suspect and the detectives. But even before David Cage's infamy, I came to despise the game for when its plot went off the rails from being a cool crime thriller, to "The Matrix but with Mayan nonsense scribbled over the top".

Years later, out of a nostalgic whim and a 90% off sale, I bought the game and wondered just how well it actually held up. I can safely say that this is the worst of David Cage's work, even compared to his later ones that at least hold up on their gameplay. Lucas Kane is a pathetic man whose lack of personality makes him a target for possession, as he tries to solve who took control of his body for murder. You also play two detectives, Carla and Tyler, who are chasing Lucas down.

First, let's cover the Pros to give credit where it's due.
- The first two-thirds of the game have a unique idea, where Lucas can cover up his tracks to make the other characters work harder to keep up. Likewise, any mistakes or evidence you leave behind as Lucas, can be found more easily by the detectives.
- The keyboard-and-mouse controls are shockingly good for PC! Using WASD and arrow keys for the Simon Says-adjacent QTE inputs feel quite responsive, whilst A and D to alternate for "strength test" checks feel a lot easier than on controls.
- One of the few surprisingly-decent portrayals of a gay man in an early 2000s game, even if for only one segment.

So, there, that was the two good things I can say about this game. Now here are the Cons:
- The story takes a nosedive the moment you meet Agatha, who introduces a bizarre supernatural element that removes all agency from the characters, and is one of Cage's many problems of "writing three stories at once to then mash them together".
- The immensely racist Asian bookshop owner, a couple of slurs pattered across the game, and the exceptional disrespect towards the mentally ill during the Asylum segment (which also adds very little to the actual story)
- The Lives system which only applies to Lucas' QTE segments, that serve only to be an eventual frustration when you run out of them from failures, then have to redo the entire segment, and finish onwards with even less retries in future engagements.
- The ugly facework, where characters have only two expressions and once they finish talking, revert back to neutral like watching a robot finish its smiling pattern.
- Whether due to Steam or PC-specific build, this version of the game can only load via an Aspyr-specialised window, and it only has two settings of FULLSCREEN, or "1/4th of your PC window", which is a maddening decision.

When I finished this game in my teens, it was one of the first videogames to make me think "damn that's time I'm never getting back with this garbage". The same rings true for today, with its unlikable protagonist, oddly-fractured pacing and gross stereotypes which, regrettably were the style at the time. It's not even good enough to be infamous, and certainly not worth your money even in the sales.

Despite being well-renowned to the point of even receiving an animated series, there has never been a Redwall game officially until now. As someone who read the books many times in my youth, I was overjoyed to see a Redwall game come through and complete its development, with a three-act anthology focusing on two scouts roughing in the wilds of Mossflower, around the same time as the first book of "Redwall" is set.

As either Liam or Sophia, a recently-betrothed couple, one must venture through the rat-infested forest to rescue others, save your significant other, and scupper the pirates' plans to invade the countryside through a stealth-adventure. One unique element of this game is the Scent Mechanic, where enemies can detect your scent depending on the wind's direction, but also can be used to lure them into traps.

However, the game is somewhat rough around the edges, so let's start with the CONS.
- The graphics have a tendency to pop background elements in the distance.
- The jumping is a little clunky against stranger level geometry.
- Checkpoints are oddly sparsed and occasionally an optional mission would not register as complete.
- The worst bug I had was being caught by enemies despawned an NPC that was required to progress, so I had to redo a short level that only took 2 minutes.

*BUT*, with that said, I genuinely love this game. Consider my review with a grain of salt, for as a Redwall fan, I adore the setting and this game does an incredible job retaining all of the things I loved about it.
Whilst the Scout Anthology fumbles slightly in its mechanics, it shines with its love and care to Redwall's lore in its PROS.
- The accents are perfect and the voice acting is stellar to the point of carrying the static cutscenes.
- The clay-fur-looking models are strangely cute in a 2007-Xbox-360 fashion.
- The letters you find and the dozens of food recipes are on-point to the original stories' writing.
- Plus, any collectible you obtain remains collected irregardless of reloading checkpoints, which is a great plus.

If you have no interest in the books, then this is a decent stealth game with a few janky segments and more emphasis on the story. But if you've ever stepped through those grand old abbey doors within the series' pages, it's like coming back to an old shaky friend who still has that glint in their eye, and all the stories you loved to hear in your youth. For all Redwall fans out there, there is no better homage currently than The Scout Anthology.

Sonic games have always had a strange love to them, despite its high-paced superspeed platformers giving way to odd fumbles in dashing out of bounds, or worse, being forced to go slow to traverse a treacherous section. Sonic Generations is no different, with odd floaty jump physics and the odd moment of "OH you went too fast at the wrong place, you go into the abyss now!"

But despite that, this is my personal favourite of the Sonic series for being a celebration of all that jank, which compared to other recent Sonic games is less so in this one. Playing as both Modern and Classic Sonic in a time-spanning adventure, you traverse some of the most memorable levels from Sonic 1 to Sonic Colors, with each of them introducing their signature mechanics to keep levels fresh.

The bosses are fun, the levels are exciting, and the music is DRENCHED in pure Sonic goodness with fantastic remixes up and down and all around. There are also dozens of challenge modes for each level, and tons of unlockables for the more ardent Sonic fans to enjoy. Some may find the jump physics a little too strange, but with the upcoming Sonic X Shadow Generations later this year, this game is the best celebration of Sonic's long-storied career in all its strengths and foibles. Embrace the silliness.

Videogames can be an art, if you just have the right direction. Some games however lose themselves in their own flights of fancy, and as a result tend to forget that they should be games first, and Experiences second. As one of several girls in red riding hoods, you are given one rule. To Stay On The Path, and if you do, you get a nice cosy ending that leaves you empty.

But if you venture off The Path, you get an ~Experience~. Not always a good one, but one that changes your character's life forever. That Experience however may be too odd for someone like me to truly understand, and it's that very lack of direction that makes this game fall short. Ironically, giving too much freedom to the player leaves one very confused here with no sense of "How To Play The Game", when all you can do is walk in the woods and hope to stumble into said Experience.

I do not call this a bad game, I enjoyed what it tried to tell me and the music is beautifully sinister, a creeping nail in the back of your brain. Yet I can't really recommend it, unless you specifically enjoy these sort of Experiences which is not a bad thing. This is not a game so much as a picture book of tragedies, and if you just want to see the story unfold, find it on Youtube and save your money.

In the early 2000s, PC games were undergoing a massive change in expanding worlds and rewriting the depths they could muster. Deus Ex was one of those few games that delivered on how vast and flexible the world was. An homage to conspiracy thrillers, the story revolves around a young UN agent who uncovers a vast and terrible network of fiends trying to keep the world under its thumb.

This might sound a generic blurb, but I dare not spoil too much of what is one of my personal favourite games I ever played. The story lies in its characters, and how extremely interactive they are in not only registering your previous actions, but also your tone in conversations. As a UN agent, you have the choice to be as lethal or non-lethal in your missions, to the point you can clear entire bases without firing a single shot, or even killing a single enemy.

And the game will acknowledge this, which in turn affect how others see you. Blast your way in and leave scores of bodies, you'll be praised by the bloodthirsty but shunned by the civil. Infiltrate with a bloodless victory, you'll be scorned as a coward by renegades, but admired by the level-headed. This is the true core of Deus Ex, in that no playthrough ever feels the same when you have so many options, including missions allowed to be failed as the story just keeps on going.

That said, as a 2000s-era game, the combat can be rather stiff and clunky. Expect to use the reticule more often than you want, or just resort to sneak-attacks with a crowbar for almost-certain victory. You also have a wide array of fantastic ~N A N O M A C H I N E S~ before it became the hype new word for magic science fiction, giving powers such as increasing your jump height, stabilising your shots, or just having flashlights in your augmented vision.

But if you wade through the slightly-sluggish combat, you'll find a living, breathing world that shapes itself to your attitude, and offers many routes to the same objective. Repercussions exist, friendships are formed depending on your bloody fists or quiet mercy. You can even skip some boss fights entirely by just knowing the right words, a rare treat even back then! The only real pothole in this game, is the regrettably "BIG OOF" that is Hong Kong, where one must suffer Chinese accents as played by a group of White Texans. It sucks and does not age well.

But despite that one dark spot, this is one of the true masterpieces of gaming. If you enjoy first-person shooters that are more about thinking than blasting through, well you can do one or the other and the game will just keep on rolling as long as you're not dead.

Punching nazis is always cool, so any game that allows you to do so is already off to a good start. As one of the OG boomer shooters, there's not much to say on Wolfenstein that others have not already said, and if you don't know about this game yet, then welcome New Gamer, I hope you enjoy it!

Playing as the young and captured BJ Blaskowicz, you traverse several levels of a falsely-3D maze filled with fascists, all of whom know only one language. Violence, which you give out in spades with guns aplenty. Compared to modern games, it can be seen as rather lacking, too simple and repetitive, and with hitboxes strangely too generous. Some folks may find this addicting, others may find it dull, and both of them are correct.

But what Wolfenstein is however, is a landmark game that is simpler and less scary than DooM, which makes it a solid beginner game for those wanting to experience the old boomer shooters. Don't go into this game expecting a masterpiece, but a foundation for future tech.

It's a rare thing for a game to be so exactly like another game, but without being a carbon copy to have its own wacky identity. Once there was a game called Wario Land 4 which, much to the Wario formula, devised levels that you ran through to find secrets, then scurry back to the exit when the timer ticks down. It was an ingenious idea to make you rethink the level while backtracking, and add some extra tension.

Pizza Tower is that very spiritual successor of a marvellous game concept, but with its own fresh style, additional gimmicks, and manically-terrified protagonist. The controls are shockingly simple for how much versatility you get, though mastering them is a test of reflexes. That said, the game is perfectly manageable for those who don't speedrun for a hobby, allowing a brisker pace when needed before the dreaded Pizza Time comes calling.

A few of the level gimmicks do become frustrating, but the game never stays on one mechanic for too long to be bored by it. It's fun, it's bouncy, the music is maddeningly good and does a wonderful job giving each level its own unique identity, along with the Klasky-Csupoesque art style that truly reflects Peppino's desperation. Order up this game, it may be a bit spicy, but the taste is well worth it.

Back in the 2000s, it was a joy to see the Freelance Police return in 3D with the same zip-zappy homicidal glee and off-the-wall sarcasm we came to love from them. Then we lamented when Telltale shut down to render the games no longer available. As a longtime Sam and Max fan, I am happy to say that this remastered port, is just as entertaining as the original was but with a fresh paint of comic-style shading that makes the duo more cutely marketable than before.

For those who haven't played it already, "Sam & Max Save the World" is an anthology of six 2-3 hour episodes where our madcap duo aim to stop a hypnotic mysterious overlord from conquering the media. The point-click controls are easy and smooth, the puzzles a little odd and requiring you to "think like a cartoon", the music is charmingly jazzy but never overwhelming, and the script is exceptional (albeit with one or two minor words that are outdated nowadays).

If you enjoyed the point-click adventures of older PC times, or want to indulge in some silly adventure times with an infamous pair, I highly recommend this remaster in recapturing 98% of the original, with a graphical overhaul that breathes more life to the world. My only complaint truly is that the few vocal songs in the games are oddly quiet and lower in quality than the rest of the soundtrack.

Let's be honest, if you're still reading reviews about Undertale in 2023, it's a novelty by this point. But let's pretend for a moment this game just came out, long before it took the world by storm with its joie de vivre.

What begins as a simplistic RPG with strong Earthbound/Mother roots about a child falling into a world of monsters, devolves into either a wondrous fairytale about how Love and Hope can defeat anything, or a horrifying nightmare that brings the end of existence by your own hand. Undertale is a rare example of a game that is so aware of its mechanics, it encourages you to either succumb to its urge, or defy it entirely.

Through various lands in a charming retro visual style, you encounter various monsters who you can either give Mercy and befriend them to make their lives better, or Kill and erase their voice from a world that gets ever quieter from your crusade. The game breathes on its exceptional writing which, much like the original Mother, can be called "strange, funny and heart-breaking" depending on your interactions with the various beasties.

The amount of recognition the game has of one's efforts or atrocities is surprising, even to the point that it will question you, the person sitting behind the screen, if this is the path you wish to take. Undertale is not afraid to make you feel loved and rewarded for your Mercy, but nor is it afraid to make you feel truly monstrous if all you do is Kill.

If there are any issues with this game, is that the soundtrack, as wonderful as it is, can be rather inconsistent in its tone. Some songs are delightful 8-bit melodies, whilst others take a mini-orchestral vibe of the modern age, giving a strange dissonance to things. That, and you can never play this game again once you finish it, for if you try to after reaching one of the two "True" endings, it tries very much to discourage you from replays for the sake of its creations.

If you are the sort of person who wants to replay this game again and again, you're better off buying it from Toby Fox's own site as a standalone copy, since it's much easier to "move" save files on that version rather than Steam's obtuse cloud-based system. But Undertale is a game you should experience at least once, to understand why it's so beloved, and understand why it became one of the most successful indie games ever made with a wealth of inspiration from Earthbound, Yume Nikki and even OFF, combining into a wondrous stage.