Recent reviews by blake++

Soundtrack is phenomenal, but it deserves to be lossless files, not lossy mp3s.

Every time I've tried to play this game, I will eventually enter a crash loop or a softlock. No matter my mod setup (with or without mods), no matter what bugfixes, the ♥♥♥♥ just crashes. It's a cool game while you're able to play it, but I've never been able to finish this game due to the bugginess.

I'm torn. On the one hand, I love the character designs. On the other, I hate haremshit. What to do...

I reset progress at 175hrs to go through the campaign again.

• Phenomenal skill ceiling with a controller; there is a very active "Ninja" scene that prides itself on completing extremely difficult custom tracks focused on throttle control and balance
  
• In-game custom track sharing and building
  
• The game itself pushes you to do great and become great
  
• Controls are extremely fluid and responsive
  
• Most of the bike options are excellent and add unique twists on gameplay
  
• Variety of cosmetics isn't bad
  
• You can earn the paid currency at a decent rate by playing tournaments weekly but you have to be on the tournament screen when they end which is really dumb. You have to schedule calendar events to boot up Trials. Paid currency only goes towards cosmetics though.

• Ubisoft requires you to be online to play
  
• Ubisoft requires you to login every time you want to play because it's a "Legacy Product" (??????)
  
• Ubisoft launcher sucks ♥♥♥♥ and is basically malware
  
• FMX system is awful
  
• The Awesome MAX DLC is really terrible and is super unfun
  
• Sound options aren't as granular as they should be; Hearing the throttle is incredibly important at a high level of play, but you can't only hear the throttle; you also have to hear all other track SFX.
  
• Menu design isn't bad but it could be better
  
• Some content just isn't available any more (there is a crossover with the mobile game Trials Frontier where you can earn a couple of cosmetics but Frontier was taken off the app stores so you can't play it)
  
• Way less female cosmetics than male

Trials Fusion is a phenomenal game, but Ubisoft's soul-sucking capitalist greed damages what could be a series that's still ongoing today. Instead, the series is basically on life support, and appears to be slowly dying. The Trials games were great, but Ubisoft was always in the way to make sure that these games didn't do as well as they could've. ♥♥♥♥ Ubisoft.

• Solid platformer; decent physics that manage to be floaty but tight
  
• Extensive options for a game of its time
  
• Interesting and deep characters
  
• Excellent story and premise
  
• Strong themes of mental health as well as growing up; the Asylum area is really good at dealing with intense trauma and mental illness
  
• Diverse cast of different nationalities, backgrounds, and stories
  
• Characters live outside of just your narrow view; they develop relationships and change with time
  
• Sidequests (however few they may be) are usually fun
  
• Semi-open world is really nice to explore and manages to have enough variety to feel fresh despite being all in the same location
  
• Dowsing rod minigame is sorta fun and encourages you to pay attention
  
• Varied bosses testing your abilities in interesting ways
  
• Plenty of variety in setting via different missions
  
• Great sense of humor (the city section is a good one)
  
• All abilities are really cool; the ball one is the best

• Bit too easy to use the dowsing rod and get a ton of money early game; plus the minigame is just mashing which sucks
  
• Getting all collectibles (especially figments) is absurdly obtuse and difficult
  
• Fish boss forced perspective is a bit annoying

Psychonauts is totally amazing. I used to play it back on the Original XBOX and I'm glad to say it still holds up today extremely well. If you love 3D platformers, you do NOT wanna miss out on this one!

You should download the community patch[audiosurf2.info] to restore a lot of the game's features and add more to it.
Also note I haven't played like half the modes.

• It's a procedurally generated music "rider" that allows you to play your music. There is nothing else like it (that actually seems decent), so yeah. It's a lot of fun and I get to play my niche music that isn't charted on any rhythm game otherwise.

• Songs played through YouTube still have a slight delay on the community patch
  
• Game still shows its age with simplistic options and graphics
  
• They really could've upped their visualizer game here but the skins and visuals are still kinda lacking
  
• Songs just sometimes aren't as well charted as they could be; climaxes in a song aren't given the weight they should. Perhaps better algorithms to generate tracks could solve this problem but it's unknown
  
• Audioshmup (as someone who hasn't played shmups) feels extremely unpredictable and unintuitive; projectiles move in almost random patterns

If you have recommendations for other titles that allow you to "play" your music that isn't Crypt of the Necrodancer or Beat Hazard, post them in the comments!!

Foreword
I know the white-haired girl and I were in a relationship, but she's already dead. I also know that this game is incredibly tragic.

Settings
VSync OFF
Brightness slider doesn't seem to work? I can still see the first emblem but I'm unable to go any lower and going lower seems too dark; the text is too hard to read

• Constant excellent tests of skill and decision making all throughout the game; eg should you attempt a pass beyond enemies and potentially block off your exit later (since they idle around doors if you exit near them and they notice you) or should you attempt to take them out, or stun them? Certain options require more skill to accomplish than others, and all of them require thoughtful gameplay.
  
• Combat is engaging
  
• UI is pleasant and intuitive; mechanics are also intuitive
  
• Soundtrack is very fitting and also really pleasant at times
  
• Very enjoyable to piece together stories and info
  
• Extremely strong intro with compelling visuals and interesting perspective shifts for various actions
  
• Cool visuals and perspective with how characters are 3D
  
• Puzzles are present but they are relatively simple while still being engaging. If you can't figure out a puzzle (I could not figure out the pump room puzzle lmfao), there was a solution nearby that allowed me to give up on the puzzle and continue on with the rest of the game. Additionally, there is an in-game screenshot mechanic so you can take pictures of clues. This is really thoughtful design.
  
• The game is good at keeping you going; maps are extremely clear at showing what still needs to be done, so you will always eventually figure out the way to go forward.
  
• You will cry your eyes out.

• The first bossfight is unintuitive; I didn't really understand how to navigate it or how to properly defeat the boss. Also, there's no tell that the next area is a bossfight and you can't go back, so you're likely going to go down the hole with a light loadout meant for exploration and picking up items, when you really need to bring a loadout focused on raw combat.
  
• At some point for a particular section, the game removes your map. There is no alternative for this like there is with the in-game screenshot mechanic; I can only assume that you are meant to mentally map out the entire LARGE area in your head, which feels genuinely insane. I ended up creating a map in Photoshop as I played[i.imgur.com]. I find this incredibly annoying and awful. The problem with removing a map like this is that it causes me to view many of the OTHER game systems in a much more mechanical way. You've inconvenienced me so much that now I'm willing to throw away my life repeatedly to see what certain things lie ahead and metagame it. So the Hole drop down boss in Nothing loses all impact for me.
  
• You can't finish off enemies if they're next to locked doors. The "enter door" input and "finish off enemy" input are the same, so the game prioritizes "enter door" instead of the enemy. There should be a dedicated melee button to resolve this issue.
  
• I didn't realize until pretty late in the game that if you keep on clicking on NPCs you can talk to, they have more to say until they run out of dialogue. There's nothing that really indicates that. Lost out on some dialogue in the early game. Thankfully it wasn't anything too important, but it did prevent me from seeing some side stories.
  
• The stopgaps for the fakeout ending should be clearer
  
• The secret ending is the true ending (imo), but there's no achievement for it when there really should be

I ended up barely using weapons besides the shotgun (rarely) and the pistol (mostly). I chose to use items very sparingly and only when I needed to. Towards late game, I started using the revolver over the pistol until I ran low on ammo for that, then I switched back to pistol. I only healed when I was close to death and played to mostly avoid fights when possible. I used the lowest tier of healing items when I could; I never used an autoinjector until the final boss (only because I knew it was the final boss).

Afterword
Regarding interpretations of the story, this video on the subject did a really good deep dive on the story and possible interpretations that I mostly agree with plus it gives more context. Must watch if you've finished the game.
I got the PROMISE ending.
See full results and extras in comments.

Signalis is my first experience playing a Resident-Evil-like, and it's the best horror survival game I've ever played. Personal annoyances aside, it's a game I'll remember for a long time. It will stomp all over your heart and then Run That ♥♥♥♥ Back and stomp all over it again. Even thinking about this game makes me want to sob violently, and despite its incredibly engaging systems, thoughtful game design, and gorgeous stylistic visuals and sound, I hope I never play it again. Elster x Ariane 4Eva.

Notes
I am not a professional tactician and do not play strategy games.

• It's a phenomenal idea that does what it needs to
  
• Lots of customization and micro-management possible
  
• Lots of missions and ability to progress
  
• Side-challenges reward persistence and experimentation

• Units will think that they cant have their weapon drawn when they can. This results in a lot of situations where you think you should be able to have your weapon out but you can't (resulting in failure)
  
• It is incredibly hard to get units to swing/pie a doorway without manually controlling them while they swing; it's incredibly unintuitive. Like I know what I want to do but I have no clue how to get that to happen
  
• Navigation isn't phenomenal and doing tight manuevers doesn't always work the way you'd hope them to
  
• Having to unlock more powerful guns by playing more missions is stupid in this case. I'm encountering an issue where my shield operator is significantly behind the rest of the squad because his pistol is really ♥♥♥♥♥♥ and has poor stopping power.
  
• Game is slightly unintuitive; it doesn't feel like stuff is really explained to me directly. I would've appreciated a more direct tutorial that holds your hand through actions rather than just a "How to Play" button
  
• I honestly don't think grading off of time is a fun concept. A lot of whether you win a fight sometimes can feel like total luck and playing safely is playing SLOW. You do better working slowly rather than speeding through a level.

Overall, Door Kickers is a alright game that has been made obsolete since Door Kickers 2 exists. I have not played DK2, but from watching gameplay of it, it seems that all the cons I've listed here are gone in the next game. And since DK2 appears to be just DK1 but Better, there's not much point in buying this game. HOWEVER, since this game goes on deep sales relatively often, it can still be a fun time-waster or a good demo to see if you would like the much more expensive, rarely-and-barely-on-sale DK2. So buy this on sale if you want to get a taste of what Door Kickers is like, but probably buy DK2 if this game really strikes a chord with you.

I've never been a Wipeout fan; the only game I played akin to this was Quantum Redshift on the XBOX. I haven't finished BallisticNG (just moved onto other games tbqh), but I still very much enjoyed my time with it and will continue to revisit it later down the line. The physics are super fun and there's plenty of room for skilled players to be on top, but lower skilled players like me can still have plenty of fun (the game has both multiplayer and singleplayer campaigns aka there's plenty to do). I'm not crazy about the combat but that's still pretty fun. The soundtrack is banging. The developers are extremely passionate and continually update the game well past its release date.

It's a fantastic indie project whether or not you're into Wipeout-style games. If you're just looking to do some futuristic, ultra-fast racing, this is one of the best options you can pick.

Notes

• I have never played any FEAR game, only heard great things about them (s/o Raycevick)
  
• I did not finish the game (see playtime)
  
• I review games as I experience them: in the present from my personal viewpoint weighed up against other games I've played up until this point. No bonus points for being old
  
• Did everything in this guide EXCEPT for enabling EAX without sound card (too much work).

Settings

• Extreme Difficulty
  
• 100 FOV
  
• 120 FPS
  
• Hold to Crouch

• Combat feels incredibly dynamic; AI constantly flank you and I find myself using audio cues to figure out if a combatant is dead. It feels very grounded and realistic
  
• Slow motion is actually extremely useful and feels good to use. It doesn't make the combat too easy (most other games (old and new) with slo-mo I've played tend to make the combat too easy)
  
• Very cool premise; I like the idea of some malicious force taking over a military unit
  
• Cutscenes still look decent; animations can be iffy but it's not bad
  
• Graphics are still very good
  
• Horror and atmosphere itself is pretty good
  
• Though the missions are quite linear, the game makes sure to reward you for paying attention to smaller details
  
• There are options to skip story sequences AND you can disable headbobbing; very nice QoL features

• The core gameplay loop quickly grew quite stale
  
• Medkits are WAY too abundant; there's so many that it feels fourth-wall breaking
  
• Checkpoints can be few and far between. Quicksave every once in a while
  
• Sensitivity slider doesn't go as high or as low as it should
  
• No option to hold ADS instead of toggle
  
• Mouse smoothing is enabled by default

In conclusion, while FEAR has extremely impressive elements, the core gameplay loop wasn't something that I found all that exciting. In today's era of mechanically deep & technically impressive FPSes, I found FEAR's at-the-time impressive VFX and AI technology was not enough to make the core gameplay loop hold up today. I do see why many people love FEAR, and I don't think it's a bad game by any means, but I didn't find it engaging enough for ME. If you're like me, I cannot recommmend FEAR.