Recent reviews by IX

"Dubbed on its store page as a 'microshooter', and advertised as completable in 30 minutes – my first playthrough, at an exploratory pace, took 60 minutes neat – this is the sort of low-fat snack that any AAA, or even AA outfit would balk at. Unfairly so, because short as it is, Chop Goblins, like the titular goblins themselves, is lean and mean." Short, but sugary sweet.

Read the full review on Escape This Planet![escapethisplanet.wordpress.com]

My long-form review of INFRA is finished and can be read here![escapethisplanet.wordpress.com]

ORIGINAL PLACEHOLDER
I'll write something more "proper" and long-form another time; for now I'll say that the characters are wooden, the movement is clunky, the puzzles are obtuse to the point of borderline hostility*, and I'm still giving it a 10/10 anyway, because the levels, environment, and world - as pretentious as it sounds - all spoke to me in a way I haven't felt from a first-time playthrough of a game in over a decade. It almost feels like it was plucked directly from my dreams.

* unless you read a walkthrough, which some will recommend; you know what you're in for when people are actually recommending that

Defintely more of a treatise.

For some reason despite the same thing happening every year (e.g. ♥♥♥♥ reviews), Steam still asks you to review a game you nominated for the Steam Awards to get the top tier badge for it.

My review of Quake is: it's Quake, what do you think?

It's good

I'll write something more substantial another time but for now I'll just say it's Blood and that's reason enough to buy it

the dark souls of cooking tutorial games

I can't think of a game that epitomizes the words "WAIT UNTIL IT'S ON SALE" more than Hatred.

It's like...a lukewarm glass of water. Yeah, okay, you can still drink it. It's not gonna do you any harm. But something's just not right about it, you know? You'd much rather have a nice cold one. But if it's all there is, you could do worse. You could do better, but you could do worse.

Don't get me wrong, it's not a bad game by any means. But it's not exactly what most people would call great either. It's incredibly enjoyable at times, but those times, unfortunately are spread out a little too thin, for my tastes, anyway. There's just way too many issues with the game for me to recommend it strongly, but, at the same time, it's too fun for me to say you should avoid it.

At the end of the day, it's a fun little isometric shooter. Don't expect to sink a lot of time into it (unless you're an achievement hunter sorta guy). But it can keep you occupied when you need it to. It's always on the cusp of greatness, and sometimes you can see it just over the hill, but it's always JUST out of reach. But it's still fun and you'll still want to keep playing anyway, even though it'll always feel like something's missing.

Basically, wait 10, 15, 20 or so years for Hatred Redux, and THEN we'll have a proper 9/10 on our hands.

Hey, if you're gonna follow Postal's lead on all the other stuff, may as well follow it here too.

nyeeeeeoooooooooooooooow

Improves on everything the original Postal in '97 had to offer. All the bonus Postal Plus '01 and region-locked Japan levels are included as well. The additional VA work is incredible, and it doesn't take away from the experience at all. All the additions are top notch, really. Only complaint is that the ending level was altered from the Dude going crazy after failing to shoot up a school to the Dude finding his own funeral and going crazy after that, but I can understand it at the very least. All in all an excellent remaster and one I would recommend anyway at the full price (£4.99), but if you catch it on sale, ESPECIALLY a sale like it is now (79p - WEW) I can't recommend it more.