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Recent reviews by fuller556

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21 people found this review helpful
30 people found this review funny
7.1 hrs on record
Okay, I have read some of the reviews posted about the game so far, and I feel like most of them are just meant to be mean-spirited and not actually reflect a fair critique of the game. So I am going to try to do that here.

Revolution 60 is, to me, more of an interactive sci-fi adventure than a game in the traditional sense of the word. Like story-heavy games such as Analogue: A Hate Story or Hate Plus, your interaction with the game world is relatively limited. The bulk of the game is quick-time events, but they are structured a bit differently than you may be used to. Instead of just hitting buttons at the right time or aiming a targeting cursor, you either need to hit arrows on the keyboard or actually use the mouse to reconstruct a pattern on the screen. This takes a decent amount of coordination, though the game is fairly flexible in how imperfect you can be and still win the event. This applies both to story elements and combat, which we'll discuss in a moment.

As far as the game world itself, it's linear. By clicking on green circles, you can advance the story; clicking on yellow ones, however, allows you to explore different areas in search of items such as Medical Kits and data files. Your overall path through the narrative, however, doesn't really deviate at all except for these brief detours. On one hand, this allows you to see what's next pretty quickly; on the other, you may be disappointed that you can't explore more freely.

Combat is somewhat similar to both an RPG and an RTS in that you can level up Holiday and her attacks, but you move and attack in real time. The combat system can be a little quirky, but it mostly works once you get used to it. To move, you click on squares you want to step to. Attacking requires clicking a button off to the right of the battlefield, and, depending on your range, you will either fire your weapon or execute a melee strike. Hitting the enemy enough times fills a special combo meter at the bottom of the screen; when it reaches Level 1, 2, or 3, stunning the opponent will allow you to launch into a flurry of attacks to inflict more significant damage. These combos are controlled, however, by a series of quick-time events, so you need to be accurate if you don't want to be repelled by the enemy and sent back to the battlefield. It takes some getting used to, but the game literally tells you how to win the first battle so that you can begin learning the system. This will help when you confront more powerful enemies late in the game who can launch AOE attacks.

Graphically, most of the game looks good. I especially loved the detail put into the space station. The colors are extremely vibrant, and there are a lot of nuances to make it look like a fully-functioning piece of space tech. I don't particularly care for the character models, though. They look a little too doll-like to me; I think something in more of an anime style might have worked better here, but this is probably more of a personal preference on my part. They are detailed pretty well and don't look bad per se, but they aren't really my style artistically for video game characters.

The game is pretty good for the most part, but it does have its quirks. One of my only true gripes is that the QTE animations tend to appear all over the place on the screen. This is more suited to the portable devices from which the game was ported, but in 1080p on a large monitor, you can practically lose the QTE before you find the marker. There were several times, particularly on the events with short timers, where I couldn't even start it before it was almost over, because I had to locate the graphic and move the mouse pointer to it, eating valuable time. For me, this wasn't a frequent enough occurrence to truly impede my progress, but it was annoying in certain situations. I feel that most of the QTE interfaces should be positioned in roughly the same region of the screen throughout the game to make them easier with using the mouse.

Additionally, there are a few QTEs which have such short timers as to essentially be impossible to complete with the mouse. Again, these are probably easier on a smaller, portable screen, but attempting to complete them with the mouse on a larger screen was pointless in my playthrough. I feel that a bit more testing of these with a mouse and adjusting their duration somewhat would resolve this problem. The precision required for these events might also make the game much more difficult to play on a laptop without an external mouse.

However, the game is very stable; it did not crash once on my during my run. I did have some brief moments where trying to proceed through the story caused it to pause for several seconds. This may be in part due to the Unreal Engine--my computers have always had some degree of performance issues with most Unreal-crafted games--but it was a little concerning until the game resumed. It's not a major issue but is worth mentioning. There were also a couple of instances where dialogue and voice acting were out of sync, and several sections where captions did not appear at all. I also found a few minor typos in the captions. In all, these are pretty minor issues and don't detract too much from the overall experience, but do keep them in mind.

You also unlock skills as you progress. Defeating enemies fills your XP bar, and when it fills, you gain a level and can choose a skill bonus. Bonuses include extra health, extra damage boosts, and a double-shot which effectively doubles your long-range damage output. As the game is fairly short, though, you can only reach Level 9 before you max out, so be careful with what you choose.

The game also sports multiple endings, which I intend at some point to explore. The ending you reach seems to depend on who you personally trust the most in your decisions during the story, as well as your overall success at navigating all the QTEs; an in-game loading screen tips says that some dialogues options only appear once your proficiency reaches a certain point.

As far as difficulty, some of the enemies are quite tough, but as you progress, Holiday can definitely take some punishment. In fact, I never failed a single battle during the run, and I never even had to use a Medical Kit. The game is fairly well balanced in that regard. One gripe, though, is that it's not clear how to use a Medical Kit, though another in-game hint suggests that they may be automatic should you lose all your energy during a battle. As I never died in battle, I cannot be 100% sure, however.

What it all comes down to is that Revolution 60 may not be the right game for certain types of players. Think of it as somewhat like a sci-fi visual novel with quick-time events and minor exploration; if you like story-driven games, then you're probably going to like it. If you are more of a pure action buff, you probably won't. But for what it is, it's a solid effort. It's not perfect and has some flaws as far as its conversion to the PC, but I do recommend it if you're the type of gamer who likes stories and don't mind coming along for the ride. There's enough interaction to keep you engaged, and the story is fun and interesting. Don't write it off just because of the Steam reviews that have been posted so far; play it and judge for yourself.

7.0 out of 10
Posted August 13, 2017. Last edited August 13, 2017.
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1.9 hrs on record
This is a pretty simple game to just pick up and play, and it will probably only eat up about an hour or so of your time. Your job is simply to heal everyone in the kingdom who has various illnesses and physical ailments. The chests that you find will increase your hearts (your life force), shooting strength, number of shots fired at once, or the number of flasks you can throw during a single battle. You'll also earn hearts after each battle. Your battles consist of dodging enemies and their attacks while you auto-fire at them. Press your lone action button to throw a flask; it takes some time to adjust to the distance they are thrown, but they are good in some encounters for clearing out multiple enemies. Gates on the world map block your progress if you either haven't collected a certain key or enough life hearts. Search everywhere for treasure chests!

For me, the game had sound and slowdown issues. I received errors with DirectSound initialization, and music rarely ever played. Also, the game would slow down dramatically during more intense battles, causing my inputs to be eaten and moves or flasks I was trying to execute simply not coming out. This is my primary gripe; things like this shouldn't happen on a system with a 3.9 GHz hex-core processor with 12 GB of system RAM and a 2 GB video card (Windows 10, by the way). Still, I was able to play through the entire game and beat it. The final boss battle is very interesting and a nice test of your skills to that point. I won't spoil anything, but to me, it's reminiscent of Kefka in Final Fantasy VI.

Aside from the issues I personally experienced, there's not much to keep me from recommending this game. If you don't have the issues I encountered on your own system, then add another point to this score.

6.5 out of 10
Posted June 26, 2016.
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0.5 hrs on record
As a freebie, I would recommend giving this game an honest try. I like the concept: Skipping the typical RPG grind and going straight to the endgame with all of your items and powers in tow. The game gives enough of a narrative prior to the battle to at least become interested in the overall story.

Where I find fault with the game is with the presentation. I have two main gripes. First, the UI elements at the bottom which represent your party are far too small to suit me. I found it a little hard to tell exactly what my party's status was at times as it was also hard to determine what, if any, status effects they were suffering. This didn't become an issue until later in the fight because I found a protection spell and cast it early, but it made managing party health a little more troublesome than it should have been. Likewise, I couldn't tell if status effects I tried to cast on Lamia were working; I'm not sure if the text/graphics were too small or if they may have been covered by her health bar. I kind of just had to go with it.

Control schemes are the other big issue. The game seems to demand that you play with the keyboard. I may have just not known how to find the option, but I was unable to either view or reconfigure the controller inputs for my game pad (this is another game where keyboard-to-controller profiling software may come in handy). While you can play with a controller, the inputs for additional spell effects cannot be effectively completed since the game displays the keyboard input it expects without translating it to a controller. This meant that I could not complete these sequences, costing me additional damage and artificially extending the battle.

None of this necessarily means the game isn't fun to play, but it shows a lack of polish. The concept itself is sound, and the actual battle is interesting. A nice touch is that you can choose from either a standard JRPG turn-based battle system, or a form of Active-Time Battle like you might see in a Final Fantasy title. You also get a respectably long ending sequence after the battle is won. It took me just under half an hour for a complete, first-time playthrough, and I managed a completely deathless playthrough as well (meaning that I not only didn't lose my party, I never lost a fighter in battle). RPG veterans shouldn't have trouble navigating the battle; if you're a newcomer, it's not unreasonable to fail a few times, but this is actually a good beginner's RPG to get used to the ideas of resource management, status protection, and healing.

So the answer is yes, I recommend this game, moreso because it is a free game. Despite issues with the presentation and controls, it's still relatively fun for the half hour it lasts. I believe that a future update can eliminate the issues it still has. I hope that the developers learn from this and put together something similar that's a little more refined in the future, because I think this type of concept has legs. I think it's a respectable first attempt for what it is trying to accomplish.

6.0 out of 10
Posted January 10, 2016. Last edited January 10, 2016.
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114.8 hrs on record (43.2 hrs at review time)
Before I get into the review proper, I want to quickly explain the context. You may know that I recently posted an open letter over the poor state of Batman: Arkham Knight. One user questioned this since I had no first-hand experience. So with the option of an essentially no-questions-asked refund through the end of 2015, I decided to buy it to see how it performs. You can see the letter here:

http://steamcommunity.com/app/208650/discussions/0/490124466470868241/

After it installed, I spent a couple of hours adjusting settings and testing through the in-game benchmark. My system's GPU is officially BELOW the minimum requirements; I already need to upgrade for games like The Witcher 3. What I discovered during testing, though, surprised me: The game was playable. The full analysis is here:

http://steamcommunity.com/app/208650/discussions/0/490125103618061656/

To date, I have played about 41 hours through the campaign and sidequests, achieving 88% completion. I did not buy or install any separate DLC; only costume packs now bundled in were also installed. I have finished the campaign and enough sidequests to view a secondary ending; I am NOT trying to 100% it yet. I can say that for the most part, the benchmark represented my in-game experience. There are exceptions; I will talk more about this near the end.

If you have never played a game in the series, Batman: Arkham Knight is the end of a storyline which started with Batman: Arkham Origins. Chronologically in terms of storyline, the games would be played in this order: Arkham Origins, Arkham Asylum, Arkham City, and Arkham Knight. All of the games follow roughly the same motif: You work as Batman in trying to stop some cataclysmic threat to Gotham City, all the while learning about side stories and additional tasks you can work through in order to earn combat and gadget upgrades and see additional, connected story. You start with a decent amount of combat and gadget tricks anyway, but as you earn Wayne Tech Points, you'll earn upgrades to each.

Graphically,Arkham Knight looks GREAT. I haven't posted them to Steam yet but did take screenshots of some of the early scenes. Everything is well detailed, and standing on a rooftop and gazing at the Gotham City skyline is one of the better scenes you will find in a video game. Even at lower settings during my testing, I admittedly couldn't tell THAT much of an improvement with the additional filtering. Also, as my card doesn't have enough VRAM for higher texture resolution, I couldn't test this for myself, but even at lower resolution, everything appeared highly detailed.

The storyline is also incredibly detailed. I won't spoil anything major, but we're dealing with Scarecrow, who wants to spread his fear toxin throughout Gotham and take control of the city through sheer madness, and the mysterious Arkham Knight, who has a grudge against Batman and has set out to kill him. Your job, of course, is to prevent all of that from happening. I like the overall setup, but I did find that deep into the campaign, it became somewhat non-sensical. You'll have to discover this for yourself, but a few ending sections really didn't make sense to me, and I felt they somewhat detracted from the narrative instead of enhancing it.

From a gameplay standpoint, the biggest addition is the honest-to-goodness Batmobile. This is where some of the problems come in. Controlling the Batmobile is one of the hardest things I have ever done in gaming, and I very much developed a love-hate relationship. I love the design and the concept, and it is fun driving around Gotham at high-speed, especially considering that so much of the environment is destructible; you can take down pillars, street signs, and at one point, I actually DROVE THROUGH a building with glass doors and windows in pursuit of a suspect. But actually getting the Batmobile to steer can sometimes be a nightmare, and I frequently missed turns because, even though I was definitely pushing the controller in the direction I wanted it to steer, it kept driving straight ahead. I lost many pursuits this way. Even reversing is finicky; on a controller, pressing X both stops and shifts into reverse, but once you're IN reverse, you actually have to accelerate to stop. This again caused me lots of trouble. Additionally, the slow-motion effect of taking out an enemy vehicle automatically shifts your camera perspective, which can make it extremely difficult to get back to what you were doing--especially if that's chasing the next vehicle in the convoy. Also, it feels like some Batmobile sequences are just filler to extend the story somewhat, and others are just INCREDIBLY difficult and frustrating!

Combat is a much harder affair than in the previous games, as well, and being able to execute certain quick-launch gadgets proficiently is an almost unavoidable skill in later fights. This is something I have always struggled with, and it made these battles extremely difficult for me to win. I have never felt that the controls for the quick-launch gadgets were very intuitive and thus couldn't memorize them. The overall battle mechanics are still solid, and beating down a group of thugs is still loads of fun once you get the hang of everything. But the types of enemies thrown at you in this game are sometimes much more difficult to defeat and can truly take a lot of effort. "Predator" encounters--stealth encounters against firearm-toting enemies--also return but with a twist. In later encounters, you'll have to learn how to deal with robotic gun turrets and flying drones. This all makes for a much more complicated affair; while experience with previous entries in the series is certainly not mandatory, having some experience and knowledge of how all of this works can certainly be a benefit to progression in Arkham Knight just because of the more complicated scenarios thrown at you.

While most of my experience was smooth, I began encountering major technical issues starting at about 2/3 of the way into the story. I began experiencing a large number of crashes, mainly dring fast-paced Batmobile chases but occasionally when gliding through Gotham. As no error message was generated, it's impossible to say what may have caused them. In all cases, I was able to restart the game and go on, and checkpoints are frequent enough that it caused little progress to be lost, but it was highly annoying. These sequences also caused the most issues with stuttering and overall frame rate, though the Batmobile sequences were FAR worse. This could simply be the result of my older hardware, but everyone should approach with caution, even at this late date since its initial removal from Steam. Turning down the graphics settings a bit more might have helped a little bit, but I don't think it would have completely resolved this.

I also had two instances of falling through the world--one during a boss fight! Oddly, I didn't have to restart the game; they resolved themselves into a recovery of sorts that let me continue, but they were jarring, to say the least. I was in the Batmobile for each. But maybe such clipping has been dealt with in a way that doesn't completely halt the game, at least in these experiences.

So is it worth purchasing? I can't answer that; the scope and severity of technical issues plaguing the actual software is so broad that you really have no choice but to try it for yourself and hope for the best. If it works, you likely will love it if you're a Batman fan; as a game, I LOVE Arkham Knight. But I can't give a full recommendation, either. Take advantage of the unlimited refunds and try it if you're interested; you probably won't ever get another chance like this with ANY game on Steam.

6.5 out of 10 (7.5 if technical issues are fixed later)
Posted November 8, 2015.
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1 person found this review helpful
1.5 hrs on record
MINOR SPOILERS FOLLOW

This game isn't long, but that doesn't matter, because it is a well-constructed game. Initially, you begin with a side-scrolling space-shooter sequence that takes you through an army of rival space ships. After the initial boss fight (which you are supposed to lose), you begin exploring a planet armed initially with only a portal gun. You'll find an actual weapon later on to fight enemies with and to help with solving puzzles.

The game is basically an action-platformer in the vein of games like Metroid with its exploration for various items, including extenders to your life meter and components which can power-up your repaired ship at the end of the game. There aren't a whole lot of mechanics to the game, which is fitting for its short length. This also makes the game easy to pick up and play. There is a good challenge to the later sections, but there is nothing that truly feels overwhelming or unfair, which is a testament to the overall game design. The price is fair as there is replayability to earn achievements. For such a short title, there is a fairly large number to attain, and I can see people earning all of them with lots of practice.

I can find very little to criticize about this game. You do have to be careful of scene switches because you can walk and/or jump into a hazard without fully realizing it, similar to Castle in the Darkness, though not nearly as unfair as in the latter title. Also, in some of the vertical sections, I had to stop and search for my character, who was just about as far down the screen as possible, usually in a corner! A brief, flashing arrow pointing to your character would help here, but this is not a big criticism. It's possible to solve every room on the first try if you're observant and careful; I can even see a few people maybe having a deathless run on the first playthrough.

Out There Somewhere has just the right length for casual gamers while being robust enough for those looking for a challenge, especially those seeking to 100% the game through both winning and through completing the achievements. I highly recommend this game. It is both well-crafted and extremely well balanced. Buy it!

9.0 / 10
Posted October 28, 2015.
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3 people found this review helpful
11.4 hrs on record
Huntsman: The Orphanage is a game about an orphanage whose children have apparently been murdered and their souls trapped in a dark sort of purgatory for the amusement of a demon known only as the Huntsman. You're investigating the events surrounding the massacre and both attempting to put the pieces together, as well as find a way to save the 12 orphans' souls.

This is what I get out of the plot, anyway. The game is an exploratory horror game, similar to Amnesia: The Dark Descent. You first have to make your way to the orphanage, then you're tasked with finding the way insde. Your job is to explore both the orphanage itself and the surrounding areas, learn about the staff and the children by playing back the recordings within their portraits, and find the items necessary to free the doomed children's souls. On paper, this is a great idea; however, there are some major problems with its execution.

Roaming around is fairly straightforward, but instead of walking, jumping, an ducking, you walk, duck, and lie down altogether. There is no jump mechanic whatsoever, though you can also run when necessary. Lying down seems to have little use, though it helped me find a single item. For much of the game, there isn't even anything to run from; at least in my playthrough, the Huntsman didn't appear until quite late, though this probably has something to do with my approach. The problem is that it's sometimes very difficult to identify a specific item you need. Unlike in Amnesia, there is no visual indicator whatsoever as to whether you need an item until you point the crosshair over it. If you can use the item, you click to pick it up and carry it--literally.

And this is one of the biggest problems with the game. You hold your cell phone (used as a flashlight and a one-way communication device) in your right hand (as well as the key, once you find it) but can only carry one item at a time in your left. There is no inventory system of any kind; whatever item you pick up has to be carried until you either figure out what to do with it or decide to set it down somewhere.

Additionally, some of the clues for locating which items you need are very cryptic, especially with a child named Min-Min. While it's fairly straightforward to determine WHAT she needs, actually FINDING it is extremely difficult. At least for my brain, the riddle you're supposed to solve is far too cryptic. There are even some red herrings in the game, a few items that are essentially useless, yet there's nothing in the game that suggests what they can be used for. Whether these are objects meant to be used in a later revision that simply has never been released is unclear, but they add to the overall frustration that is the endgame.

And what an endgame it is! Once you have identified the items you need and the children they belong to, you have to avoid the Huntsman in a forest maze that is so large as to be virtually impossible to map out with any efficacy. The game's lush graphics actually are a BAD thing here; the forest maze is so highly detailed with overgrowth and underbrush that it makes actually figuring out where you're going almost impossible. The maze is so long and has so many twists and turns that you can wander around aimlessly for half an hour or longer without ever finding what you're looking for. There is no mapping system or even a compass, and clues from the kids over your cell phone come so infrequently and are so vague that they might as well not even be there.

The lack of an inventory system is the most punishing in this segment of the game. Because once you've finally located the correct grave for an item and left it for the child, you have to make your way back out, pick up another item, and do the same thing again. You have to do this TWELVE TIMES. By the time I got to the fourth of fifth item, it became so incessantly maddening that I contemplated just abandoning the game. But I wanted to at least finish it, which I finally did. But in all, it took something like 7 1/2 hours just for me to deposit the items on the correct graves--and that also included having to go back and locate two items I simply could NOT find after discovering the afore-mentioned red herrings. If you could at least carry SOME of the items in an inventory of, say, six slots, it would be more fair. You could try to take six items with you, deposit them, and then collect the rest and do it all in just a few trips--assuming you could at least find your way around.

Even the Huntsman himself is uneven. I had two basement deaths that I didn't even understand. The Huntsman was just THERE, with no warning, and he killed me as soon as I made line-of-sight. There was no chance to escape; he doesn't have to actually touch you to kill you. The second death, by the way, was when I was back inside exploring for items, when he was supposedly still out in the forest maze! My final death was in said maze after simply coming into his view again; I again had no way to escape. However, several other times, I either touched or came very close to touching him, and I was able to turn tail and run before he killed me. A couple of other times when I came upon him, I tried lying down in pitch blackness and turning off the flashlight like I would in Amnesia and was able to escape once he passed by. However, whether this is actually a consistent strategy or just another symptom of the uneven encounters is unclear. Additionally, you can apparently get behind him with the flashlight shining right on him, and he won't even turn around and come after you. There are just so many quirks with his AI and what it takes to survive or to be killed that you don't know really how to deal with him.

All of these flaws add up to a game I just cannot recommend. While the game has nice touches--graphics, sound, and a self-writing chalkboard that gives you hints if you watch it for awhile--they don't lift it up enough to make it a worthwhile experience. Which I think is a shame in a way, because this is a good concept on paper, and if something were done about navigation in the forest maze, more straightforward clues as to what needs to be collected, an actual inventory, and the Huntsman's overall behavior, I think this would be a solid title. As it is, though, I cannot recommend it to the vast majority of gamers.

4.5 out of 10
Posted October 26, 2015.
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50.1 hrs on record (40.3 hrs at review time)
Full disclosure: I have only played the fully-patched version of this game.

When Batman: Arkham Origins was first released, it was criticized for having a lot of bugs, some of which were actually progress-blocking. This persisted even after Warner Bros. Montreal officially announced in a forum that they would no longer be fixing any more glitches, even those that completely ended people's runs of the game. They chose to focus on launching DLC; to my knowledge, no additional updates have been released to this day.

I start this review with that caveat, because it's a major one; there's no guarantee you won't run into some glitch that fully prevents you from completing the game. In my experience with the game, after having played approximately 41 hours on the main campaign and working on all of the side quests, I can honestly say I only encountered one truly major bug in the entire game, and just a couple of minor ones.

The only major bug I encountered was early on, during a battle with Killer Croc. After a takedown, I lost all graphics except for the HUD. Fortunately, reloading my last checkpoint solved this, and the battle resumed without any additional problems. The only other things I encountered were a couple of times when free-flow combo attacks didn't work properly, and some clipping of enemies in the environment after being taken down. Basically everything else went relatively smoothly.

So now, to the actual game. As the title implies, this is somewhat of an origin story about Batman and some of the villains in the mythos. One criticism I have commonly read is that the game uses a less-than-stellar cast. While I wasn't familiar with many of the characters the game includes, I didn't really feel that anything was lacking in that department. I felt that all of the villains that Batman encounters were used to good effect with regard both to story and gameplay.

If you are at all familiar with the other entries in this series, the overall gameplay is very much the same, with some tweaks to gadgets and upgrades. You still have a pretty much open world game as you can travel to many locations throughout Gotham City. One nice touch is that a fast-travel system has been added. The trick here, though, is that you have to deal with communications jammers set up by The Riddler in order to unlock most of the fast-travel points. Most of these aren't too difficult to deal with, however, and taking out his jamming networks can quickly level you up with the experience rewards you earn.

One criticism that I can kind of agree with is that some of the systems created in the previous entries may not be implemented quite as well. For example, it seems like sometimes you inexplicably cannot use the Grapnel to latch onto railings and ledges you should normally be able to. Other times, I might be trying to go in one direction with the Grapnel only to rocket in the opposite direction, because THAT'S what the game was locking on to. These types of issues are annoying at times, but I found most of the time that I was having too much fun to really let it get to me for very long.

As far as the missions you have to handle, you're still dealing with a mixture of beat-'em-up combat with thugs to predator encounters where you try to stealthily take out a bunch of gunment. One of the new tools, the Remote Claw, introduces some new takedowns. I'll let you discover these on your own, but this was some of the most fun I have had in predator encounters. Additionally, the boss fights the game throws at you are varied and overall challenging and enjoyable.

Even though the game doesn't completely trace Batman's roots, you can compare his behavior in this game to the other games. Batman is much more hard-core in this game; while he still strictly adheres to his desire to never kill anyone, you can tell in a few places that he is incredibly tempted, and he's even quite confrontational with Alfred many times. It's an interesting dichotomy. There's also the beginning of Batman's relationship with the GCPD and James Gordon, and even with Barbara Gordon, mixed into the story. You also see some of how Joker came to be. All in all, I really enjoyed both the story and the presentation.

The question is whether or not the game is enjoyable. For me, the answer was a resounding "yes," but that may in part be because I didn't encounter any truly major issues in my playthrough. Maybe I got lucky; I don't know. But, having played both of the previous games and looking forward to Arkham Knight, this was another great journey to Gotham City for me. Yes, I had my frustrating moments just as I do with any game, and a few times, my objectives and where to go next weren't 100% clear. But that was maybe 15% of my time spent with the game, meaning the vast majority was awesome to me.

That said, I can't give it a perfect rating by any means because I know people are still having issues, and it really does appear that Warner Bros. is completely done releasing any updates. I hate this because it means that some people may never be able to finish the game just due to a lack of polish. This isn't fair for those gamers. That said, I can give the game a more whole-hearted recommendation in part due to Steam's new refund policy. You can at least try it for the first couple of hours and see if you run into any major problems. Points off for the afore-mentioned issues and Warner Bros.' end of update support for the title, but if it works well for you, there's a lot of fun to be had, and I can't overlook all the good qualities I feel the game has, either.

7.0 out of 10
Posted June 9, 2015.
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9.7 hrs on record
So after having completed this game on Normal difficulty, I thought it only fair to leave some feedback on it. Make no mistake: This is one of the hardest games ever.

At its core, Angry Video Game Nerd Adventures (AVGNA for short) is a platform and action game; comparing it to Mega Man is a fair reference. You carry a simple blaster fasioned after the old Zapper light gun peripheral for the original NES. You can occasionally pick up a rocket launcher in the design of the old Super NES peripheral, the SuperScope. The platforming is tougher-than-nails, and very few of the stages are what I might call easy, even after multiple attempts.

The overall atmosphere and level design are very well done. It's easy to see the retro influence in the stages. For example, the sky stage features monsters fashioned after the Air Tikkis in Mega Man II; another features a labyrinthine castle-like section clearly inspired by Zelda II: The Adventure of Link. The enemies in these stages are suitably varied, as well, and much of the game's music is also well done. From an aesthetic point of view, the designers did a great job.

So now we need to discuss the afore-mentioned difficulty. I find the challenge in this game to be completely uneven and outright sadistic at times. The game is clearly meant to be retried over and over and over again; why else would you start out with 30 lives? You're only ever given three units of health (indicated by beer bottles, of all things...); there is no way to earn more. You lose a full unit with each hit and can only ever recover one at a time by finding beer bottles within a particular stage. One-Ups are also extremely scarce.

The old standby of getting hit to become invincible for a couple of seconds works somewhat in this game, as well, though certain hazards ignore your invincibility frames and can still kill you on contact, similar to how spikes ignore invincibility in the original Mega Man. Often, enemies will hit you and knock you into such a hazard; when hit in this game, you do recoil, whether on the ground or in the air, making it very easy to fall into a pit, as well. Additionally, if you have picked up the rocket launcher, a single hit from an enemy takes it away; you don't even get to carry it until you lose a life. Given that it's almost always positioned in a particularly nasty section of a stage, this makes it almost worthless as you are almost guaranteed to lose it as soon as you get it.

The introductory stage is deceptively easy; in fact, I completed it in one life on the very first try. Once I reached the main part of the game, it took me many tries before I even found a stage I could complete. You luckily can tackle stages in any order you choose, and you only have to restart a level entirely if you lose all lives within it. For the most part, the checkpoints are plentiful enough that you rarely have to repeat lengthy sections, and you always restart at a checkpoint when you die, provided you have lives remaining.

One of the problems I found with the game, however, is with collision detection. Even this is somewhat uneven; sometimes, you can get right up on a hazard, such as the skull blocks, but other times, having even a single pixel touching a hazard is death. I found this to be particularly true with the Rainbow Beams in the final level; many times, I couldn't even TELL I had a pixel within range of one, then suddenly found myself exploding in bloody death. Play control also seemed tepid sometimes. I would try to turn in one direction only to have the game not respond at all. My inconsistent experiences with these aspects of the game only added to the overall frustration.

But the primary reason that I can't recommend this game is simply the final boss. It is almost without question the most unfair boss battle I have ever played in a game (I'll revisit this opinion once I finally complete Dark Souls I'm sure...). Even after I learned his patterns and put myself in the best position possible for the first couple of phases, his brutally strong defense, the trap-filled lair, and the near-impossible climax to the battle forced me to waste literally HUNDREDS of lives before I could finally win. I ultimately felt that after all the time I had put into learning the individual stages and even being able to get to his lair within a reasonable number of lives, the effort was wasted as the final boss just decimated me again and again and again. I feel like a small amount of luck was involved in the run that was ultimately successful. I'm relieved that I never have to fight him again.

Another big issue I had was with random crashes. I experienced more than a few during my playthrough, and all sent me back to the Windows Desktop. This happened several times when I reached the boss of a level, or after I had managed to finally get through a particularly difficult section with many lives left in reserve, forcing me to do everything over again. It even happened in the final stage after a particularly good run through the first few sections. I would say I experienced roughly 10 such crashes. Given that most games I play rarely, if ever, crash, this ended up being another obstacle to completing it.

If it weren't for the random crashes, and if it weren't for the almost impossible final boss, I could give this game at least a cautious recommendation. But when the final challenge of the game makes everything you've done up to then feel pointless, that's when it goes from just a hard-core challenge to something more masochistic in nature. After awhile, it just stopped being fun to try and overcome it. As it is, I can only recommend this to the hardest-core gamers of this genre. Just be prepared to want to break your controller in half.

5.5 / 10
Posted December 26, 2014. Last edited December 26, 2014.
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13 people found this review helpful
1 person found this review funny
109.9 hrs on record (84.1 hrs at review time)
Hexcells could be considered a spiritual successor to the classic game Minesweeper. Your goal is to determine which of the hexagonal cells on each grid should be marked blue, and which should be eliminated from the game, using the various clues given to you for each puzzle.

Unlike that classic, however, there is always a way to logically determine how to solve the puzzles in Hexcells without making a mistake. This sets it apart from games which use trial and error as a mechanic; while there is nothing wrong with trial and error, it's nice to see game that is designed thoughtfully enough to allow each level to be solved the first time without making a mistake for the observant.

Hexcells falls into that category of games which are easy to pick up and play, but difficult to master. Controlling the game could not be simpler; you need only use the mouse to confirm or erase cells and to navigate menus. The overall design aesthetic is pleasing both visually and aurally, with nice ambient music accompanying each section of the game. The music can easily be muted if you prefer, however. There is also no pressure; you can take as long as you need to solve a particular puzzle, and it's easy to back out if you need to take a break. All puzzles can be retried, and you can preview later stages as you unlock them through successful completion of the early stages. The only possible criticism, as I have seen pointed out in reviews on-line, is that you can't determine which puzzles still need to be perfected once you've cleared many of them, unless you write them down or something. Once a stage is cleared, its symbol in the puzzle index is marked blue, without any discerning marks to distinguish those you have perfected from those in which you made a mistake.

Hexcells is not a short game, but it's primary downfall is that once you've played through a few times, the replay value goes down. It's almost like the Portal series; once you have that initial moment of wonder and discovery as you solve each level, it wears off. You can't have those moments of discovery ever again as you have basically figured out everything there is to learn after so long.

But that doesn't mean you shouldn't give this game a try, and the price is right. The puzzle design is very thoughtful; it's clear a lot of work went into each one to make sure that players can perfect them all. This is the type of design that appeals to me. Even if I make a mistake, I know I can come back later and re-examine the puzzle for the correct solution. Unlocking all six achievements is absolutely possible time and practice, adding an additional layer of accomplishment. If you like puzzle games, give Hexcells a try!

8.0 / 10

If you need some extra help with this game, check out my newly-published guide to Hexcells: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=320523083
Posted November 1, 2014.
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1 person found this review helpful
4 people found this review funny
3.7 hrs on record
It's almost impossible to talk about Depression Quest without mentioning the controversy surrounding both the game and its developer, Zoe Quinn. Unfortunately, she has been the target of incredibly disturbing threats of violence, both against herself and those close to her. The point of mentioning this is not to take a side on the debate, but to allow any readers to try and understand the situation for themselves. To that end, here are a few links to stories surrounding the controversy:

http://www.edge-online.com/news/why-the-co-creator-of-depression-quest-is-fighting-back-against-internet-trolls/

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/technology/digital-culture/dont-believe-the-conspiracy-gaming-has-bigger-problems-than-corruption/article20230850/

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/sep/01/how-to-attack-a-woman-who-works-in-video-games?CMP=twt_gu

There are also mentions of the recent abuse against Anita Sarkeesian within these stories.

Depression Quest was officially launched on Steam very shortly after Robin Williams' tragic death, and that has intensified some of the controversy around the developer. It is certainly a different kind of game; if Christine Love's visual novels, Analogue: A Hate Story and Hate Plus helped stretch the definition of what a game is, then Depression Quest is liable to turn it completely on its head. This is a game that is very honest in declaring that it is not meant to be enjoyed, and certainly not meant to be fun. This is a no-nonsense virtual exploration of the depths of depression.

Starting with the presentation, which is important with any kind of interactive story, the interface is very minimalist: A menu on the left side, leading to minimal options (you can't even adjust the sound volume), with the main story dialogue boxes taking up the center and right side of the screen. The text font is easy to read, and navigation is very straightforward. Additionally, you can play the game with the mouse alone, keyboard, or even a controller if you're so inclined. I played with just the mouse; it was no different than scrolling through a Word document. Ambient music accompanies the entire playthrough, with the addition of subtle but noticeable sound effects added to match the setting of the storyline you're reading, which makes it a little more immersive. For example, if your character is in a session with a therapist, you'll hear what sounds like a human voice speaking, though the words are unintelligible. Whereas Love's visual novels focused primarily on music and interesting sound effects for the navigation interface, this takes a slightly different approach by attempting to simulate the actual environment in which your character is positioned. It's a nice effect and works well with the premise of the game.

Your primary interaction, then, is simply reading through the story as it's presented to you. There's not much "game" to this game; your only interaction is to click on the links presented to advance the story or, at least in the beginning, learn more background about your character. One interesting element is that in many of the decision trees, the first option--sometimes SEVERAL options--are struck out; you can read them, but you cannot select them. I learned as I went along that this was deliberate and meant to go along with the mindset of the protagonist. As you get farther along, this starts to make more sense.

Beneath the story boxes is another series of grayish boxes which reflect three "stats," if you will, for your character's state of mind, as well as any assistance being received. The first one relates specifically to the protagonist's frame of mind and overall well being. The second one is specific to psychological therapy and the impacts of such therapy. The third one is specific to medication and its impact. As the story advances, these will also change to give you a better idea on how your choices are affecting your ability to battle depression.

The story itself is very well written. There is enough description within each piece of the narrative to get a pretty clear idea on just how well your character is doing. I found myself not playing a game per se, but instead, trying to visualize just how I might handle the situations it presented in real life; I had to try to take myself out of a gaming mindset and not play to "win," since you can't really win this type of game, but to be honest in my answers and see where it led me. I was conflicted with some of the choices it presented, though some were pretty obvious that I would either never do, or would do whole-heartedly in real life. By doing this, it helped immerse me deeper into the character and the story, ignoring (at least partially) the fact that I was still playing a game--a simulation of depression, if you will. But this decision rewarded me with an EXPERIENCE, not a game that I played through to completion. While that was my real-life outcome, I came out of it with a real sense of emotion. And if a story like this had such a profound impact on me just in the context of a computer simulation, I can only imagine how someone ACTUALLY dealing with depression might feel. I could see aspects of my own personality in the character I was portraying; in those scenes, the game was real. I suspect the same will be true for many who choose to give it a chance.

Depression Quest is not so much a game as it is an emotional journey through the mind of a very tortured human being. Unless you simply aren't focused, it's almost impossible not to become immersed in this journey. This game has important messages about the disease of depression, and I hope the controversy surrounding its creator does not tarnish the game's potential impact. I believe this is a game that can actually start a conversation about depression, and mental illness in general, and maybe even help somebody who is suffering. I would like to see it somehow adapted into the mental health community as a tool to potentially help patients and maybe remove some of the stigma surrounding mental illnesses. Maybe Depression Quest is not much of an actual "game," but it is an incredibly immersive and deep experience that a lot more should be having. I can't recommend the game highly enough, even if it's just for one playthrough to see what it offers. Please download this game; it's free. You have nothing to lose but a couple of hours of time.

9.5 / 10
Posted September 5, 2014.
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