Recent reviews by rex

My recommendation is conditional on your affinity for:

(1) point and click adventure games,
(2) the horror genre,
(3) mature themes, as I believe the MPAA puts it.

If you don't like any of the above, you probably won't like this game.

My initial attraction to this game stemmed from my enjoyment of the old school point and click classics (Kings Quest, 7th Guest, Myst, Grim Fandango, etc). This game differentiates itself from the genre, generally, by placing you in a horrifying environment, whereas most such games are more whimsical.

The horror aspect of the game is compelling, and truly, truly dark. The very environments feel threatening, and the use of sound adds tremendously to the experience. Adding to that, the story is supremely twisted. I'm not even going to go into the lifeforms you'll encounter.

As a point and click game, I found it to be a bit lacking. Solving a puzzle of course allows the player to progress to a new area or overcome an obstacle. The puzzles, though, consist of trying to find all of the objects you can interact with, then finding and picking up all of the objects that can be picked up, then utilizing trial and error by using the things you've picked up on the objects you can interact with, sometimes accompanied by attempting to combine whatever you've picked up with other things you've picked up. Sure, some of the puzzles can be intuited, but most of the time I found myself just using trial and error. For example, how would I have known to (1) put a slab of flesh on a prep table, (2) smash the flesh with the butt of a gun, and then (3) insert the personal data tag? And why would the surgery machine need a hunk of human flesh to operate properly, and more importantly, how could I have known that in the game? And how could I have known that blowing up a sentry gun would create a hole in the floor that proceeds to an area I had no idea existed? I eventually just got fed up with playing virtual scavenger hunt and followed walkthroughs when it wasn't obvious what needed to be done. That was pretty disappointing. And yes, I did read every single PDA entry carefully, sometimes more than once.

The story is quite strong, even if the crux of it (finding your lost wife and daughter) is a standard and unsophisticated video game trope. Your character's well-paced peregrination through the ship slowly unveils the full picture of what happened and why, culminating in chilling revelations and gruesome, morbid events. The grimness of it all provides an interesting backdrop for the central theme of the game: the risks of private research organizations acting unethically. This is a "mature theme" I mentioned at the start as much as the gore and violence in this game.

Buttressing the game's atmosphere was the excellent integration and use of sound, superb voice acting (maybe with one exception), and an undistracting UI. I did find the inset character graphics (what appears when a character is speaking) to be a bit crude, especially that of the main character, unfortunately. Also, the character's pathfinding was unnatural at times and distracted from the immersion. Lastly, at a few points I was forced to listen to the same long, scripted dialogue sequences over and over again as I failed to perform exactly the right action--there was no "skip" function.

All in all, the game provides an immersive and enjoyable experience for fans of point and click games and the horror genre, though not without a few drawbacks, the biggest of which is the abstruseness of many of the puzzles. Despite those, I do recommend this game to those of you who enjoy this type of game, as it provides a compelling horror experience with good writing and a developed theme.

Better than Fry Cry 3. Better than marshmallows. Better than finding a twenty in your jeans pocket after doing laundry. I knew I would enjoy this game from the very start of it. Aside from just being an enjoyable experience, this game showcases what a game can be if it strips out the typical open-world busywork, condenses meandering main quests, and limits the map size.

Here's my blow-by-blow:

The good:
- I had a ton of fun playing through this game. I actually laughed, out loud, multiple times throughout this game, and even smiled. And I hate feeling good about myself, so that's quite an accomplishment. The designers not only satirize the 80's, but the entire open-world RPG genre. For example, after finding one of many scattered collectibles (VHS tapes), the main character says "Great, found another one!" And then, in self-disgust, "What the ♥♥♥♥ am I doing?"
- The retro-futuristic 80's aesthetic, complete with bad one-liners, hits the bullseye.
- The mechanics, animations, graphics, and enemy AI are all excellent, same as Far Cry 3.
- The neon dystopian world the designers built here has more life and aesthetic appeal than any open world game I've played.
- The Blood Dragons themselves are pretty terrifying until you're leveled.
- The crafting system from FC3 was ditched and the skill-tree simplified. Makes for a better experience overall.
- The music is killer.
- The story is straightforward and entertaining. The missions are great fun.
- The voice acting is excellent.
- The map is just the right size.

The bad:
- The game requires installation and execution of UPlay, Ubisoft's content delivery/DRM/social application, over top of Steam in order to play it. I don't like having to use, or even have, a secondary applications over Steam. It's always clunky and always unneccesary. Come on, Ubisoft, your PC consumer base knows better (sorry for the subtle console hate). Additionally, UPlay can get frustrating when it's offline, as the game keeps trying to check for stupid online ♥♥♥♥ whenever you pause the game and it just cycles until it figures out it can't, which can take awhile.
- Since it runs through UPlay, the game would run fine in full screen until I alt-tabbed and returned, at which time it began bordered like any other window application. No, I didn't feel like trying to figure out how to fix this. Again, I shouldn't have to run it through UPlay.

Other comments:
- I guess eventually the game gets really easy, but unlike in FC3, I think it's actually fitting given that your character is supposed to be an 80's action hero badass.

Even if you generally don't like open world games, or have trouble finishing them, you might still really enjoy this game. As I've tried to elucidate above, FC3:BD brings a condensed, focused gaming experience that I think FPS fans can enjoy. I really can't recommend this game enough. I had so much fun playing and I want others to experience it too.

A hectic and vibrant twin-stick arena-based shooter that delivers.

The Good:
- Includes several different unique game modes, which each provide their own challenges, and each are even entertaining in their own right.
- The graphics are lively and vibrant, and add to the feeling of the overwhelming odds stacked against you.
- The bomb mechanic is excellent. I get chills thinking about times I cleared the arena with 3 consecutive bombs strikes just as i was getting overrun.
- Has a good variety of distinguishable enemies, and the slowly-growing "virus" is a wonderful touch that allows you to turn an encroaching foe into an arena-clearing weapon.
- I think the music is good. Honestly I can't remember it.
- The game has the derisive sense of humor of an older brother.
- It's made by a studio called Squid in a Box, which might be the best studio name ever.
- The game menus are succinct, fast, and well-designed.

The Bad:
- With everything going on around you and the colorful graphical effects it's easy to lose track of what's going on.
- The leaderboards seem hacked. Everyone in the top 10 or whatever has the exact same astronomical score.
- Some people might be turned off by the pace of this game.

Overall I recommend this game, especially if you like fast-paced arcade-style shooters where you die a lot but occasionally have those epic runs you want to tell you friends about.

I can't put my finger on why I didn't like this game. Oh wait, yes I can [puts finger on it]---it's repetitive and dull.

The Good:
- Decently fun weapon selection. Infinite ammo on basic weapons.
- Decent graphics.
- Big explosions. Big booms.
- It has a partially destructible environment, which gives you a sense of your firepower.

The Bad:
- Bad music.
- Enemies are repetitive and there's little enemy variety.
- If you took out the cutscenes you'd have no idea you're on a different mission. They're all the same and look the same.
- The plot was... Wait, was there a plot? I think I was trying to save someone from something.
- To get weapon upgrades you have to collect money. The only way to get enough money is to break open the crates and boxes strewn everywhere. That's just boring. It's also why I stopped playing Hammerwatch.
- The variations in difficulty from one area to another can be immense, and inexplicably so.

I wanted to like this game, I miss the old school run and gun games, since I am of The Old School. But this didn't scratch the itch at all, it only made it itch worse. I don't recommend this game. It's fine for an hour or so, but doesn't deliver longer than that.

This is a must-play for any fan of retro platformers. If you've played and liked VVVVVV, you will like this. You might even think Terry Cavanagh designed this game. He didn't.

The good:
- Great retro visual aesthetic
- The game's simulated projection from an old CRT monitor is clever and effective.
- There's a overarching puzzle element to the game that isn't intrusive and encourages exploration.
- It's free, apparently, which is awesome.
- The jump mechanics are tight, and well-programmed.
- You get power ups that allow you to access previously inaccessible parts of the map which you probably overlooked before, which gives you nice warm feelings of exploration and freedom.
- It has achievements and collectibles. I like OCD.
- It has 3 game modes. One has save points, the others do not.
- Despite the (intentionally) crude graphics, as the game progresses, a menacing atmosphere develops. It's effective.

The bad:
- No music.
- It's kinda short. But it was free.
- There's a couple cats in it, and I don't like cats. Woof.

Other comments:
- It's not terribly difficult. Even the hardest platforming portions took me a couple minutes maximum to get past. It's nowhere near as challenging as VVVVVV.
- It's a rather short game. I beat it in about 1.5 hours.
- There's no plot as far as I could tell. Just win the game. Some people might be bothered by that. I wasn't. Better for there to be no plot than some languishing backstory that's fed down your throat.

So yeah I'd recommend playing this. I enjoyed it.

I wanted to like this. I tried. But I got bored, fast. I guess it's fine as a pick up and play game, but if you're looking for a game to draw you in and keep your attention fixed then you should look elsewhere.

The good:
Decent graphics
Explosions themselves look alright


The bad:
Repetitive gameplay
Repetitive graphics
Little enemy variation
Little or no damage indications on enemy ships
Explosion animations overlay the enemy ship sprites in a very obvious way
Character artwork is pretty poor
Typos
Music is pretty bad, and repetitive
Only 5 missions, although I didn't even feel like playing them all
Achievements don't register on Steam
Is there a plot?

All in all, this game isn't that fun. However, if you want something super simple and mindless to mop up some spare time with and like this kind of shmup then you might consider buying this. On sale.

I'm torn between recommending this game and recommending against it. Ultimately, I recommend against buying it.

Pros:
- The game has a wonderful and cohesive visual and auditory aesthetic. The levels convey a compelling liveliness and otherworldliness. The obstacles, enemies, and background "creatures" are inventive and cool-looking. I wish I could go explore the background with Commander Video.
- The music is great. I actually bought the album of the band that did the opening credits theme (Anamanaguchi) after hearing it in this game.
- The mechanics are pretty predictable. It's obvious when you need to jump, smash, etc, although sometimes certain elements can get muddled by everything else going on around it.
- It has achievements, and I like achievements, because I'm kinda OCD.
- It has Steam cloud sync, because it's 2014.


Cons:
- It's billed as a rhythmic platformer, but falls short on both counts. As a platformer it's dull and the controls are tight. It requires rote memorization in many places rather than reliance on reflexes. As a rhythmic game it falls short because the beats of the songs actually throw you off and aren't very well-timed to what you're supposed to be doing. Rhythmic platformers must be pretty difficult to design because they require absolute integration in the spatial and time dimensions, but when the designers fail it actually makes the game less intuitive and more frustrating.
- At times it seems like my character didn't actually collide with an object, but it registers a hit, sending me back to the beginning of the level. Seems like there's fudgy hitboxes. A game like this requires skintight hitboxes.
- Just because it's hard doesn't make it fun. The designers deliberately made the game very hard by the exclusion of checkpoints. You could call this "sadistic" or say it's meant to attract only the most diehard platformer fans (of which I am one), but it makes the game inaccessible and artificially extends the playtime. It's a crutch you see used a lot in indie platformers these days. Super Meat Boy was exceptionally hard but had an enormous amount of depth. Bit.Trip Runner is actually a pretty short and shallow experience if you add checkpoints.
- Since this is a rhythmic platformer, a large part of the game experience is enjoying the music. But it's incredibly difficult to even get past the first world (of three total), and you don't really hear different music until then. By the time I got there I was so ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ tired of the music in the first world I never want to play it again. Contrast that to Electronic Super Joy, 140, and Super Meat Boy, where I frequently go back and play levels just to hear the music.
- You have to focus so much on timing your movements that
- Autoscroll on every level kinda sucks in platformers. That's probably a controversial statement, but it's what I think. Oh, and while I'm at it, Metallica's "And Justice for All..." is their best.
- The boss battles are inventive, but by the 100th time I tried to beat the first world boss I was ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ bored out of my mind. I actually had to write down the order of what comes at me in order to beat it. This isn't Calculus. I shouldn't have to take notes.

I think the cons outweigh the pros, so I can't recommend this one. But, if you like really hard platformers with good music and don't mind nearly-endless repetition, you'll probably enjoy it.

During the first 10 minutes or so of this game, while I was wandering (slowly) through the game's initial area, I was bored. Very, very bored. While I was bored there was a pretentious British guy babbling to me in an overwrought poetic manner about something that had happened and for which I had no background information to help me understand what the hell he was talking about. That changed (thankfully): the backstory filled in, the environment and audio changed, and things improved dramatically.

This game has very impressive visual and audio aesthetics. The background sounds and ambient music enhance the experience significantly (you should play with headphones on). The voice acting is also compelling--you can really feel the narrator's internal turmoil as he struggles with what has happened. The world the developers built here has a sense of mystery, purpose and beauty, but also sadness, introspection, and the portent of dread. As I progressed through the "game" I felt more and more anxious about the revelations to come from the narrator. The suspense was palpable, and was reflected in the narrator's increasingly impassioned and upset dialogue. It's quite well done. I would say this is a game targeted toward mature gamers, in the sense that it is pretty sophisticated overall.

There are a few weak points: for a 1-hour experience it's quite a bit pricey at $10 (I got it on sale); the poetic tone was good but I thought it was forced in a few places, and at times obscured the backstory; the guy walks pretty slowly (you can go into console and change that, but that kinda breaks immersion).

In retrospect, I was impatient at the beginning of the game and am very glad I pressed on. This is a very worthwhile experience. I do think $10 is a bit steep, so I'd recommend waiting til it's on sale. If you are really into artistic and experiential games, then this is definitely for you. on sale or not.

I recommend it.

This is a silly, silly point-and-click game where you try to figure out how to stop a bomb from exploding through trial and error. The graphics are intentionally (I think?) super crude, and the interactions between you (McPixel) and world objects are surreal and unpredictable, which gives the game its charm and character. The game wisely advises you to play it in short sittings and take breaks. Indeed, I found if I played more than one set of levels at a time the humor would kind of wear off, and since this game relies entirely on its humor, it stopped being fun very quickly. But then when I played it the next day it'd be fresh again. Some drawbacks: The music is repetitive; the graphics are overly crude, so much so that you can't always tell a clickable object exists; there's no achievements (I'm a little OCD so I like achievements). I think it's a little pricey at $5, but I bought it on sale so I think it was definitely worth whatever it was I paid. All in all, it's a quirky, silly game that changes the entire genre will put a smile on your face.

Once I realized that I could use points I got in-game to upgrade my ship so I didn't die from one shot I started having fun. I'm dumb. This is pretty crazy bullet hell shooter. There's times when there's so much going on on the screen I have no ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ idea what's happening and then my ship materializes from a purple-blue blaze of laser fire still intact with all the enemies gone. It's those moments that make the game. I have to say it's a rather confusing game, but not just because there's a lot going on. Some of the mechanics aren't very intuitive. Same with the boss fights, or what even constitutes a boss. I enjoy the fact that what the game throws at you each time is different; or, at least, the order in which the game throws fixed battles at you is random. The drill-through-planets concept is pretty cool, too. It also has a bunch of game modes, which adds a good amount of replay value.

I think the weakest points are the voice acting (would've been better to have none...sorry) and the occasionally surreal enemies that seem way out of context, like those dinosaur heads that rotate and shoot lasers. Seriously, wtf is that about? That just breaks immersion. The game also seems to be missing that final polish. I can't really put my finger on it, and it's not an unpolished game, but something feels loose.

All in all, if you like bullet hell shooters, you'll probably like this. I did, and still do. It's great fun to jump in and see how long I can last against ridiculous odds. Pick it up.