Recent reviews by AbbydonPrime

This game has been in my library for quite a while, so I can only assume I got it in a bundle. But, at $0.99, I would still buy it.

I love walking simulators after an extremely stressful day. No rushing, no fighting, no mind-bending puzzles. Just walking around and exploring like I used to do when I lived in the woods. The music and atmosphere were nice. The landscape was quite bare, though, and would be greatly improved with a bit more plant variety and coverage. I probably could've just walked around more if it did have more.

The game aspect of it is very straightforward. There's nothing to figure out as the narrator tells you what to do. The work is in fetching and doing what the narrator says. The mushrooms are inconsequential to the story except that it's how it starts. There's an achievement for getting them all, so if you're a hunter like me, it will take a bit more work. There's also another achievement for a hidden item that you will find if you explore far enough.

The only problem aside from the landscape being a bit sparse is that some of the mushrooms are a bit hidden. I was mostly done after 30 minutes, but I didn't want to quit without fully completing it. As there isn't a save option, I couldn't quit unless I wanted to do a second play-through. As I wanted to do it without a guide, I ended up backtracking, circling, and looking around in all directions and from various heights. The last 10 minutes was spent looking for 1 mushroom. It started getting frustrating, especially since I wanted to keep thinking to a minimum, but I stopped for a moment and just listened to the music and sounds before proceeding.

Overall, it was a nice exploration and really low-key. I recommend it for a chill experience.

What a heartwarming short story. It was really cute and sweet. It makes me really miss living in the woods, but I didn't have a sweet neighbor like that. I recommend reading this kinetic (no choices) novel in NVL format since a lot of the dialog is inner monologue.

This was created during a Code Jam, so I'll let all the usual visual novel "negatives" slide that normally shouldn't be present in longer projects. I'll go ahead and name a few in case anyone overlooks that this was created during a very time-limited window.

• The outfits stay the same for every setting -- at home, in town, in the woods...
  
• They stare at you and barely change expressions. This is another reason to use the NVL format.
  
• The background style is consistent, but the crowded festival one ruins it. Even with the watercolor look, it's obvious that the people are all regular humans in regular clothes. The character overlay clashes with it.
  
• The story is fairly cliché with inconsistent pacing.

I'm sure if more time was given to work on this, it could become a really good full-fledged visual novel with a price tag. I would easily pay $5 for a fleshed-out story with better pacing and deeper characters. The character art would greatly benefit from more poses and expressions along with wardrobe changes.

Again, for a free short kinetic novel created during a Code Jam, this was really heartwarming and cute. If you like reading kinetic novels of this sort, give it a go. I completed it in less than an hour. It only took as long as it did because I had to step away a few times and left it running.

This was a charming little game with beautiful hand-painted scenes and atmospheric music and sound effects. The story is very family-friendly and only had a few "danger" moments, but nothing intense. Along with the intended interactions, each scene has additional elements that can be interacted with such as butterflies fluttering and animals scurrying. I spent as much time as I did because I was enjoying the atmosphere and details.

I'm a veteran old-school gamer, so I know the convoluted nature of most point-and-clicks. Although this game is fairly easy to figure out with just trial-and-error, there are a couple of things that I had to look at a guide for. For instance, I had no idea to count the number of barks for each person in the scene to figure out the combination. If you're good with point-and-clicks nowadays, you probably could figure it out.

All of the achievements except the last one are easy to miss. Some are hidden object whereas others require certain actions and are time-sensitive. The game does provide a way to skip back and forth through each chapter, so it is possible to go back just to get the achievement and move forward again.

This was a nice, chill game to play during lunch while working from home.

Alrighty then. This "toy" is really bizarre. It reminds me of music videos and animated shorts from the 90s. It's complete nonsense, and some of the scenes are disgusting and/or disturbing. I recommend it. lol

There are 72 scenes total, most of which you will traverse many times to go down each branch. There's an in-game screen where you can track your progress. The scenes are in a 9x8 grid of icons representing each scene. The completed ones are lit up. 10 of the final scenes give an achievement. Another achievement is given for viewing all scenes. There's an easy-to-miss achievement, "Rusty Lake", that requires interacting with a certain scene to obtain. If you can't find it, check the discussions. The answer's there. You can also find a diagram of the branches.

IMPORTANT: If you are just achievement farming, look at the Store page sidebar. "Profile Features Limited" means they won't count. They are only there for your personal completion tracking.

I have not written a review in a long time, but I've gotta do this one while it's still fresh in my mind.

First, did anyone else read the entire credits? Anyone? Raise your hand! Anyways. Back to the blog. I'm calling this a blog now....

This is quite a sequel. The UI is slick and the art is well done. The stories are quite funny. The FAQ says "Isolation in 2020 has been interesting to say the least." Well, that is definitely obvious in the writing. The game had me laughing, especially "The lucid dream". I will be a pony!

The only thing I didn't like was most of the mini-games. I don't like Flappy Bird games, and the constant stuttering caused by it saving every few seconds made me not able to read all of the Problems. It would be going smooth, grind to a crawl, then speed back up. Rinse and repeat. At least starting over doesn't reset the count, so it's still possible to complete the objectives.

I'm definitely going to get the finale of the trilogy.

Mayonnaise is life!

I really hate leaving negative reviews. A game has to be really flawed for that to happen. This is my first negative.

Why? Because it's Match-3. Forget the topic it supposedly covers (which it does extremely poorly). The basics of modern Match-3 aren't even present. You cannot swap tiles except by clicking on one and then clicking on another. Considering the timer involved, this is time wasted. Virtually every money-grab Match-3 has managed to at least get the drag-and-drop tile swapping correct.

On top of this fatal flaw, I was able to complete the entire game in less than an hour. There's a reason Steam has chosen to label this one with "Profile Features Limited". Nothing about this game is redeeming enough to make it worth anything. It should be Free.

I play almost all casual games with the sound off, so I'm not even going to bother with that. This thing is $8 full price -- which I didn't pay. The standard tends to be $1/hr. This is so far off base that the "developers" should re-think their purpose in life.

The gameplay itself would be better at a faster pace, but that is the only thing I can really find at fault. I used a Xbox 360 controller and didn't have any problems.

This game may as well be "based on a true story". Up until the absolute end, I could relate to both Chris (just happens to be my name) and his dad. In various ways, I have experienced what they have. Near the end after he woke up his dad, I was almost brought to tears.

If you come from a long line of substance abuse, death, poverty, and you had the need to be creative and invent your own worlds to escape, this game may hit you hard. For everyone else, don't just take it as a story about some kid's imagination. Take it in as a whole. I don't know how far LiS2 will stray, but this intro to it was quite real for me.

On a different note: Why did they have to put the credits to every SE unit and their full staff? That was insane. Yes, I watch the credits to everything, and these were quite excessive. I think there were more SE units and divisions credited than I even knew existed, and they even included ones like the website one. Sheesh.

It appears from most of the reviews that the story is unclear and it's all about the nudity. In reality, if you pay attention to the film, you can tell what the story is. Also, the description of the video on the store page just about gives it all away.

To be fair, this indie Italian film did a decent job conveying the story without the use of any dialog. The only sound the people make is yelling and screaming. Even that is minimal. The reason I say "decent" instead of "good" is due to a few things. Mostly, the acting is a bit weird. Since there isn't any dialog, the woman is trying to convey thoughts and emotion strictly through expression. She ends up looking like a stiff psycho most of the time. She does not completely convince me that she is well-versed enough to pull off black magic like she does. The guy also has some... odd... acting at times. I can't say bad because I wasn't completely clear on what the actor was trying to portray sometimes.

Now, many of the reviews are mentioning gratutious nudity and fapping. The nudity in this isn't gratutious in the typical sense. She's always topless, but it doesn't come off as sexual. If you look at the first screenshot in the lineup, you'll see it plain as day. She's not well-endowed, so they aren't "out there". It's just a topless person. I think it's the writer's mixup with what a Wiccan is (which she is not) and how they act. I'll take it as she just doesn't like shirts as I don't know of any other film where black magic pratictioners are known to go topless the whole time. There is also full-frontal male nudity, but it doesn't last that long. If you have a problem with it, it won't hurt to avert your eyes, but you probably would've seen it all by the time you'd know to do that.

The biggest problem I have with this film is the write-up. Honestly. The whole thing is a spoiler along with some incorrect information. I can't think of a way to elaborate without nitpicking it, so that's what I'm going to do. If you don't care, skip down. Otherwise, read on. I have broken apart the description into points.

• A couple of misfits living in harmony with nature - It's not possible to live in harmony with nature while inside of a tin can squalor. Even the outside is not in harmony.
  
• that surrounds them in a trailer - Again, you're not in harmony if it is outside and you are inside a tin can on the side of the road.
  
• located along a country road leading to a popular country club for wealthy bourgeois. - This point is made very clear in each act. It ties into the ending.
  
• She, a dedicated wicca witchcraft, - I think there is some translation problems here as a person isn't a witchcraft. At any rate, she's not Wiccan. This is a misconception that goes back into the old days of Paganism (which Wicca basically is) and it being called Witchcraft with a negative connotation. In order to keep this from being a lecture, I suggest you to look up the Wiccan Rede if you want clarity.
  
• spends his days studying manuals of black magic, - Someone needs to proofread. It's her, not his. I would also like to point out that black magic technically goes against the harmony of nature.
  
• while he, his man, a hunter silent and unsociable, gives her the game to be sacrificed. - Again, it should be "While he, her man, [...]". This is also not harmonious. They eat dandelion leaves, yet they also sacrifice animals as part of the dark arts.
  
• Seeking wealth through spells and curses, - The intent/story/plot is pretty much right here.
  
• the harmony of the couple will be cracked by a series of wrongs, - This is a bit melodramatic. They never really appeared to be in harmony. Honestly, I don't see how a hunter of sacrificial animals can live in harmony with a topless dark arts witch that uses a really nasty version of the Necronomicon. By the way, you can get a decent look at that thing in the screenshots. It's the bloody flesh eye.
  
• until the situation degenerates. - I don't consider the ending a degeneration. I don't know why the group running over his cat was the last straw for the guy and made him plan their deaths. Also, if the couple knew sacrificing a rich person would bring the desired wealth, I don't see why they wouldn't have just done it to begin with. So, it must've been something they discovered later; therefore, this was an escalation, not a degeneration.

Since there isn't a Neutral option, I'm going to give this a hesitant recommendation. This is a very esoteric film on a few levels. If you are interested in watching it, try to drop the whole description out of your mind and watch it as though you knew nothing in advance. If you are slightly interested or unsure about purchasing it, you can wait for a sale. I got it for $0.49.

Edit: If for some odd reason you're here for cheap nudity, just go to the Community Hub for this film. People have posted screenshots from it.
---

For more... My Reviews || My casual gaming... Group | Curator Page

I don't even know how this was funded and published. It's just an extended advertisement for the movie. The whole thing can be completed in a single hour. I have 3 hours in the game because I played it on each difficulty level. Considering I'm nowhere near a FPS expert, the fact that I could complete it on Hard is very telling of how easy this thing is.

It’s up and your team to draw a line in the sand and take on an enemy unlike any we’ve ever encountered before.

This makes it sound like it's going to be an awesome experience. It's not. Halo and Mass Effect have better alien enemies and combat. This game consists of three things: shooting aliens, shooting aliens manning the walkers, and shooting down drones. All of this is done with 3 weapons. I mostly used the sniper rifle when I could just because that's how I play FPS. But, it's so easy to headshot all of them. For the drones, it's just a matter of counting three barrages, peek out of cover to fire a rocket, then take cover to do it all over again. A couple of times a parked Humvee turret is used to gun down aliens and drones. Ho hum.


This section of the About is really what is supposed to sell it, right? Well don't believe what you read.

• Immersive first person shooter experience. - This one really makes me want to laugh.
  
  • Call of Duty campaign is more immersive than this.
    
  • Only part of it may be considered "AAA boxed product visuals". The comic book cutscenes are cringe-worthy. They have a 3D engine, the models, and the animations, yet they use comic book -- including Comic Sans MS. Considering the cutscenes provide quite a bit of the "story", it's sick.
    
  • I'm not even sure what "devastatingly deep" is supposed to mean. At no point did it feel like end of days or that I'd die at any moment.
• Defend Los Angeles. - Okay? That's a key feature? Whatever you say...
  
• Relive the thrill of the movie. - No. Just no. How can you relive the thrill in a repetitive 1-hour commercial? If you want to relive it, just watch it again. In fact, just spend the money to buy the movie instead of this. Also, those "characters" are very simplistic and repeat lines quite a lot during battle. They like to complain about being shot and hurt.

There really isn't one. Just repeat some objectives until it ends and you get the "Thanks for playing!" message. That right there is something I don't even see in short indie games. When I first encountered it, all I could think of was "wait. what?"

The only reward out of this whole thing is the Unlockables. Each difficulty level will unlock a subset of each category. There are concept Videos and Images, as well as "Mods". The latter includes Hollywood Mode (big alien heads), Double Physics, and Tough Guy. The mods try to add an element of replayability, but they just don't deliver anything special.


I didn't need to read the negative reviews to know what I was getting into. I owned this "game" on Xbox 360. I know I didn't pay the ridiculous retail price, but I don't know if I paid for it at all. So why did I get it again on Steam? Because it was in a bundle. Why did I play it knowing what it was? Even though there isn't any type of Steam reward (cards, achievements), I still played through it. I could've spent those 3 hours on something better, but I'm just weird like that.


If you get this for $1 or in a bundle, go ahead and give it a go just so you can experience the cheese. If you're a FPS connoisseur, you might want to stay away because it would not suit your sophisticated palate.

---

For more... My Reviews || My casual gaming... Group | Curator Page

This is a different take on Match 3 genre. The story isn't anything spectacular (just read the About), but the games themselves are pretty good. Overall, the game isn't really difficult. Some of the later levels may require multiple tries to figure out the best strategy to make your way through.

The gems do not require swapping. Instead, you draw a line through them to make a chain. The longer the chain, the bigger the explosion to wipe out surrounding gems, rocks, and other obstacles. The levels themselves are comprised of a long path that weaves its way to the destination. You must reach the destination before time runs out (the green bar on the right side). Sometimes, you must use power-ups to make your way through. The power-ups are charged when long chains are made. The longer the chain, the faster the power-up charges. The camera will stay still until you clear a path to allow the magic to flow further through the level.

The game is divided into 4 parts (books), of which the following happens: A hidden object game preceeds a book in order to unlock it. Not only must you find the parts to objects, but then you must use the object to interact with something on the scene. Eventually the key is found to unlock the book. Once it is unlocked, there are 4 sets of 4 levels, each followed by a spot-the-difference game. In the higher levels, more differences must be found. Once the 4 sets are completed, it moves to the next book.

The biggest problem with the game is the low resolution graphics. Even though it says it was made in 2008, they still could've used better graphics or at least provide a HD remaster. On 1920x1080, the grainy images for the hidden object and spot-the-differences mini-games made it somewhat difficult to complete. Putting it in windowed mode didn't help because then the images are just too small. A minor annoyance I had was the counter in the top-right corner of the screen. I couldn't figure out how to turn it off.

Overall, the game is worth the cost for Match 3 type casual game fans. The level design makes it a bit different from the common single screen ones.

---

For more... My Reviews || My casual gaming... Group | Curator Page