Recent reviews by tomiathon

Spelunky HD is, in my opinion, a nearly perfect video game. Spelunky 2 doesn't quite rise to that level, but its pretty dang close, and does a remarkable job holding its own while trying to follow up perfection (or near-perfection). I think there are two main reasons that it doesn't quite live up to its predecessor for me: One, in HD, you'd often meet your demise in crazy, unanticipated ways, but it never felt unfair; in 2, it does, very occasionally, feel unfair (and then I'll be awed by the platforming skills and quick reactions of streamers or youtubers, so "unfair" could admittedly be subjective). Two, while the sequel adds a lot of depth in some areas with new zones, new items and enemies, branching paths, etc, some of that depth sometimes feels somewhat shallow, if that makes sense. A lot of the new gear will hardly ever see use, especially for veterans of HD like me, stuck in their ways (the significant nerf to the jetpack goes some way toward making some of those items interesting enough to consider, though many of them share the jetpack's new flaws, so it really only ends up bringing the capes up to par). The back layers are an interesting addition, especially in the implementation of the black market and wet fur zones, but often just feel kind of tacked on and inconsequential. New mechanics like curse and poison are just one way the difficulty is ramped up, but new ways to gain health like royal jelly from Kali altars and turkeys make things significantly easier in others. All of this goes to make for some unevenness in terms of both difficulty and pacing. But I don't want to overstate it, and i can't overstate this: Spelunky 2 is still a really, REALLY good game, worth the hundreds of hours I have and will spend within its shifting walls, and more than worth every penny spent on it, at full or sale price.

As a classicist I may be a little biased, but I really enjoyed this game. The black-figure art style is what initially attracted me and made Apotheon an instant buy. Both the art and the music are beautiful, and the inclusion of quotations from the Homeric hymns and other source materials was a nice touch, and much appreciated.

About the only (relatively minor) negative thing I could say about the game is that I felt that despite the huge variety in weapons and items, it didn't really seem to matter much what I used. I just picked something and only really switched when it broke or if it just wasn't getting the job done. Usually this just meant a switch from melee to ranged on a few bosses that seemed to call for it, and the occasional enemy like peltasts or mechanical sentries that were difficult to get in melee range of, rather than any specific weapon choice within those classifications. Given the realtive speed with which equipment breaks though, I did get a chance to use pretty much everything the game had to offer, however.

Despite my slight ambivalence toward the combat in general, the variety in boss fights and trials, from brawling with Ares and hunting Artemis, to traversing Athena's shifting labyrinth, to the time trials such as Dionysus' drinking contest and crossing the river Phlegethon in Hades, kept things fresh and entertaining. The encounters and puzzles were well done and provided an adequate level of challenge, but nothing proved particularly difficult. So, I might have liked to have the option to play on Olympian difficulty from the beginning, rather than have to unlock it by beating the game. There is a decent amount of content in the way of optional/side-quests to satisfy the completionist as well.

All in all, Apotheon was a very enjoyable experience and highly recommended! Well done to Alientrap for this gem.

The original Thief (The Dark Project/Gold) is without question one of my five favorite games of all time, possibly my favorite. So it was that when I first heard they were working on a new Thief, I was very excited. I've been waiting for this game for a very long time. But I'd also heard the criticisms of the game during development, and was nervous. Having played through a few chapters and side missions now, I can say I'm pleasantly surprised with this reboot.

While in some ways it is lacking in the original Thief mythos (no Hammers/Mechanists/Pagans/Keepers that I've run across yet), it still feels like home, playing on Master difficulty and having the Focus powers turned off. Eidos is to be commended for the customization they have allowed the player to make the experience as much like the original as possible (personally, I'd prefer that that original experience was the only experience, but as long as I can experience the real game myself, I guess I don't really care if other people choose to cheat themselves out of it). That was one of my biggest fears as development progressed, and I'm happy to say that for the most part Eidos has done a good job in making the true Thief shine through (again, at least optionally. On easier difficulties, and with other option settings, I can't say. But then I only ever played the original Thief games on the hardest difficulties so that's the only point of comparison I can make anyway).

Some of the other complaints I'd heard, and I'll lump several somewhat related things together here a little, was a lack of freedom - that the game had an "on rails" feeling, that the levels were small, etc. These criticisms do have some merit; however, I don't think its quite so bad as that. The levels do have a little bit of a linear feel and they might be a bit shorter than those in the original game on average, but I don't think too much so, and the open world of The City helps compensate for that a bit. The side missions are definitely much smaller, and it doesn't seem that there are as many main story missions as the average 15 or so from the previous games (going by the Steam achievements, it looks like there may only be 8), so there is that. The one area where I do really feel the lack of freedom rearing its ugly head is the inability to jump whenever you want and to lean forward or to the sides unless you're right at a specified corner (and even then, the actual lean doesn't seem to add much to your field of view at all from just the basic "peek", and its a little - though not too much, so this is a very minor complaint - harder to duck back around a corner compared to the old games where you could just let go of the lean button and be moving at the same time). There were a lot of places in the old games that jumping wouldn't help you reach any further anyway, so I don't know that the real effect of this change is that monumental, but it still does create a definite constrained or chafing feeling. One instance where I've found the lack of jumping to be a great hindrance is not being able to jump over pressure plates.

One other thing to say is that the game is gorgeous. Its absolutely every bit as beautiful as playing through a dark, gloomy, plague-infested, crime-ridden city could possibly be. Overall, though I'm still fairly early into the game, from someone who loves and cherishes the old games, this new Thief gets my stamp of approval.