Recent reviews by Vanilla

Cook, Serve, Delicious! is a fun idea that's enjoyable while it lasts, but once you realize its core gameplay consists entirely of performing the same glorified QTEs for hours on end, you'll likely lose the patience to keep playing. There are other cooking games on the market that provide a much more in-depth experience, and thereby last much longer.

Evoland 2 is a celebration of video games over last 30 or so years. Its subsequent genre-shifts and swapping up of game mechanics usually translates to quite a bit of variety, but several of the ideas suffer from lackluster execution (most notably the beat-em-up section, whose controls are awful). That's not to say it can't nail the ideas it gets right. For example, there's an an entire 2-3 hour section that flawlessly emulates a fire emblem campaign, right down to unit construction and multiple paths to reach the final encounter. If that isn't your cup of tea, however, Evoland pretty much covers all the bases. The "default" gameplay is an action RPG (intentionally akin to classic Zelda), but there are homages to sidescrollers, endless runners, platformers, rhythm games, Bomberman, Megaman, Professor Layton, Street Fighter, and the list goes on. My personal favorite was the Hearthstone clone, as it actually requires you to scour the game world to find new challengers and collect better cards.

The story, almost in its entirety, is a spoof of Chrono Trigger. In fact, if you flattened out its library of game mechanics to include only Chrono Trigger's combat system (which it spoofs too at one point), you'd be left with a slightly shorter clone of the big CT. It should be noted, however, that while it's a clone, it's a very GOOD clone; it manages to capture the same sense of adventure, portray similarly lovable characters, and emulate the same fascinating time travel micro-narratives Chrono Trigger was known for. Unfortunately, unlike Chrono Trigger, Evoland 2's story builds up to the reveal of some massive, interwoven, deep backstory, and then ends in a confusing tangle of not answering the questions it asks of the player, and providing scraps of information without any context. If there was some grand, unseen narrative, it needed to be explained explicitly by the end, rather than just hinted at.

Worth mentioning is the humor and surprisingly vast list of references and nods to various game series, as it can be quite hit-or-miss depending on what your tastes are. There were a few times where it was legitimately charming, such as when I slowly realized a certain little girl was dressed like Paula from Earthbound, or when I was forced to work at a burger joint to pay smuggling fees, but it also had a few times where the humor fell flat, like with the sentient "Yoda tree" whose gag is that they talk like Yoda.

Overall, its a fun game, especially if you can appreciate the genre-shifts, but don't expect a very serious experience.

This is what 3D Sonic The Hedgehog should've been.

Just cause 2 is an open world action game with an emphasis on causing chaos and destruction. While that sounds fun on paper, there two major problems that quickly arise. First of all, the destruction model is insultingly simplistic. Most buildings/structures flat out cannot be destroyed, let alone dynamically. Instead, you're limited to wearing down the health meter on a few "approved" structures that are generally red-colored and extremely limited in variety. Among these are: Gas tanks (of all sizes), power conduits, comms relays, water towers, propaganda trailers, SAM batteries, statues, and that's pretty much the lot. It's fun for a while, especially since these structures collapse/explode in a rather dramatic fashion, but after the hundredth gas tank explosion, it quickly gets old.

Which leads me to my second point: there is far too big a game world with far too little variety of activities. At any given point, your gameplay options are as follows: do a race, blow something up, or farm collectibles. Even the missions, which disguise themselves as something new and interesting, are really just a variation on going to location x to destroy y. If you ARE simply looking for something to blow up, there is more than plenty ground to cover. On foot, it would take you practically all day (real time) to reach the far side of the game world, which means there's plenty to destroy, but as I've said before, it all boils down to pointing a gun at the same gas tanks etc. until the health bar hits 0, trying not to get shot. Additionally, the size of the world means that transportation eats significantly into the amount of time you're actually playing, as opposed to holding down the W key. There IS a fast travel system, but it's a hassle to use, and you're forced to watch a series of cutscenes before, during, and after.

All things considered, the game has some redeeming qualities. Rico's grappling hook is probably one of the best gaming gadgets I've ever seen; it allows you to traverse the game's tough terrain and setpieces with considerable ease, and the possibilities it opens for playing around with the physics can lead to some truly enjoyable experiences. If nothing else, it's quite fun to wander around and cause blind destruction, before grappling onto the top of a car and riding it into the next town.


The story is cheesy, thin, and relatively short. Sandbox games such as this aren't really known for their story elements, but I still thought some of the encounters the mainline story quests introduce are genuinely enjoyable. Don't play this game for the story, basically.


-The voice acting... is pretty bad. Not atrocious, but just painfully mediocre.
-Many enemies have only a few in-game voice lines, which can get pretty brain-wrenching after the first 50 times.
> The music is alright I guess, still pretty repetitive.
+The Graphics are beautiful, and there is quite an impressive variety of locations, such as deserts, snowy mountain peaks, and jungles.


Overall, it's an alright game. It's sort of like if you took Red Faction Guerrila and flattened it out with a rolling pin; it's larger, but of less quality.

Nightsky is an odd mix between a puzzler and a 2D platformer. On paper, it sounds like the two would muddle up, but it's actually quite simple: you're a glass sphere that rolls around, and obstacles and physics ensue. It's a simple concept, but it starts to get naturally more complex and interesting as the levels go on. Timing, precision, focus, and manipulation of the game's physics are all gradually introduced, giving the game a natural progression of complexity. Overall, it's fun to play.

It has its hiccups though. For one thing, the mechanic of holding certain keys to change the ball's traction and speed through various "modes" is never referenced or formally taught to the player, but is nearly essential in many of the game's levels. It has its fair share of frustrating levels as well.


The story was a bit dissapointing. Much of my motivation for playing though the game was from the single sliver of story teased at the beginning, but any hint of a plot is never brought up again. It's not a huge loss, especially since a narrative would demand regulation of the game's fantastical and often unrelated settings.


I was NOT expecting this much atmosphere from a such a simple game. The best way to describe it is pure, unadultered Zen. Ambience such as wind, trees rustling, and the humming of caves provide a constant backdrop for the laid-back soundtrack and the soft "clinks" of the glass ball as it rolls about. The visuals compliment the sounds perfectly, resulting in a game that's extremely relaxing if nothing else.


Difficulty is bizzarely estatic; one level could take ages, whlie the next takes a single attempt. This could be seen as postive in many ways, but nevertheless, it's notably peculiar.

No More Room in Hell is an interesting concept, and for the niche that it fills, it's polished like a kid on school picture day.

But just what IS this niche you might ask? Simple, instead of trying to innovate, it dedicates itself to being the most hardcore, rage inducing, tension-filled zombie survival game I've ever seen. See, what I like so much about NMRIH is that it capitalizes on what should, in my mind, normally be the single greatest threat in any zombie scenario: lack of sustainability. Usually in games, Zombies aren't hard to kill, but that's provided there's always plenty of ammo to stuff your pockets with. This naturally leads to other mechanics needing to be mixed in, as mowing down mindless undead with magazines to spare quickly devolves into a raw power fantasy more than a game. Special zombies in games such as Killing Floor and Left 4 Dead are designed to fill this need, spitting acid, having 20 times more health etc. At some point, one begins to forget what those "regular zombies" were so threatening for in the first place.

This game will remind you, oh boy, will it remind you.

Get ready for half a mag, weaving nimbly in and out of crowds, and being in generally tough-as-nails situations. Make no mistake, the horde is as frightening as ever, and you'd better be prepared to die over and over to learn from your mistakes.

It's not without it's flaws of course, most notably the god-awful voice acting and lack of direct explanation for all the special key bindings and techniques, but the core game is still real fun.

If you've got some friends who're into close squad tactics, and playing it out slow and serious, you'll not regret picking up this game.

Speaking of which, it's free, so... get excited I guess.

Miasmata is a game of exploration. There are no explosions, battles, or even other characters to keep you company. While other games have intense plotlines with exciting gameplay, Miasmata provides a eerie, quiet trek through a truly desserted landscape, and properly captures what it would be like to be stranded on a strange, once inhabited island. Your only worry is the Creature, a monster unlike no other, who is both quick and deadly. You never know when your paths will cross, so you'll always have to stay alert and cautious. Meeting him after 20 minutes of calm, peaceful gameplay will get your blood pumping, and your adrenline flowing. All in all, Miasmata is a wonderful game. It is an aquired taste, requiring both an abundance of patience and a love for exploration, but those that can relate will find a well made game worth celebrating. Recommended.