Recent reviews by Jimangi

A welcome addition to the game. Just like the original protagonists, every character in this pack is full of personality, and the unique pictures you get for them in each of their visits to different locations helps you to form a quick attachment to your personal monster.
The only downside is that, because they're new, they're not represented in the awesome credits sequence like the regular protagonists. Maybe we'll see them take center-stage in one of the many sequels that Beautiful Glitch have planned. I hope so, because Abdu and Susanne are new contenders to be my favourite Monster Prom characters.
Noodles the octopus is horrible, but I am glad he exists.

Monster Camp is everything you'd want from a sequel to Monster Prom. There are more characters to go on fun hi-jinks with, including some returning favourites and bit-parts elevated to main event status. My personal favourite is Joy, a world-saving witch who played an occasional role in the first game, and now returns to go on dates with you and get distracted by saving the world from her evil exes. Dahlia, a hench demon queen who strives to be the best at everything, especially conquering her enemies, is another highlight.
The art remains a high point of the game, and every run now culminates in a lovely animated sequence set to a cracking piece of music that further cemented my attachment to this group of weirdos.
Once again, the game is great to play with friends, or just by yourself, as you seek out the many, many secret endings. My only advice would be that the suggested timings for game lengths are very short, so allow yourself at least two hours if playing a long game with 2 people, and probably more to be safe.

Though it has its charming moments and is complemented by some often gorgeous watercolour-esque art I can't recommend Asphyxia to everyone. Some will like it and many might love it but many will be bored or frustrated by it . That said, this is the kind of story that I'm always happy to see more of in games, one with progressive themes that aspires to be something literary, even if it is ultimately bland and the the crudely obvious references to English Literature are grating. It contains the characters 'Alexandra Taylor Coleridge' and 'Lillian Wordsworth', which are much more than gentle nods.

The story is grounded in reality, telling a tale of teenage depression and angst, but its characters and their conversations are not (perhaps fitting the literature it is, by the author's admission, inspired by). The characters do not speak like real people. Most of the time they sound as if they have been plucked from an A Level essay. You get used to it, but it is often jarring and gets in the way of telling a convincing story about love and friendship. Conversations also tend to carry on far too long, with characters repeating themselves or stating quite plainly how they feel about their relationships.

Despite all this though, by the end of a playthrough I was not left feeling bitter towards the game as I was when I was halfway through. It has its humerous moments and at least some of the cast of at first immensely unlikable characters eventually endear themselves to you which I will assume, to be kind to the game, was the intent. This is a classic example of a game that teeters between a thumbs up and a thumbs down. I enjoyed it just enough to recommend it (and perhaps that's simply because I played it a day after visiting the Lake District myself) though I know many would regret their time with it. It is by no means a must play but I am glad that it exists.

A note on interactivity:
There are few points at which you can make choices to diverge the story and the protagonist is very much their own character, and quite a frustrating character at that. You have no real means of shaping who they are. This is very much a story about them, not you. If you want a visual novel that lets you adopt a role like that I would recommend something by the wonderful Hanako Games, like Magical Diary. In fact, the most important diverging point in Asphyxia, the one that pretty much defines how the story ends, doesn't even present itself as a decision of any significance.

As much as there is to like and love about Always Sometimes Monsters there's also plenty to hate. If you're willing to put up with frequent, forced, awful minigames and occasionally being judged by the narrative for actions that you (at least as far as I could tell) had no choice but to carry out then there's something great in here, though I can't possibly tell you that you SHOULD play it.

It also has the least sexy obligatory strip club I've seen in a video game, and that's saying a lot.

I feared that the high praise I frequently heard for this title was too good to be true, as I found it to be with the disappointing Thirty Flights of Loving. This, I’m very pleased to say, was definitely not the case. Gone Home raises the bar for environmental storytelling, to give a back of the box style quote. You can’t change the events of the story, but you can explore it at your own pace, drawing your own conclusions and being as inquisitive and determined to see everything as you wish. The house is frequently eery, depressing, believable and yet full of charm. The game contains many a great moment, the most notable involving a certain bathtub. The narrative is all the better for its subtlety. Very little feels heavy-handed.
I believe that the game could be used for ‘enlightening’ lost souls. You can use it to remind your parents that games aren’t just about dull killing. Or you could use it to remind fans of dull killing that games can be and are so much more
Other games, especially the first person ones (*Cough* Bioshock *Cough*), could learn a lot from Gone Home. It tells a predetermined story without too much bombast and the mechanics actively enhance the narrative. It even manages to be a bit scary.
Good game, Fulbright. Well played.

If I were referring to the game itself rather than the cutscenes this game could win the reverse of this award. The combat is some of the top in its field. By the end of the game I found myself feeling awesome in battle every 30 seconds. It’s over all too fast. The cutscenes however opt for a different kind of cool, the cool that a 13 year old thinks is cool. Occasionally a character might say something funny or there’ll be a humorous sequence as the camera tries to obscure Dante’s inferno* from view, but mostly it’s a lot of lazy eff-bombs. This tedium isn’t mirrored in the level or enemy design however. I should also stress that this is not some attack on the series’ new direction with its slim and boyish but not also white-haired protagonist that so angered the internet. The other games were stupid too, just in a different way.

*Was that euphemism obvious enough?

Most Satisfyingly Depressing Game of 2013
It’s a great strength of Papers Please that it makes the work you do feel dull and monotonous (just like a real border patrol guard) whilst also appealing to a particular part of your puzzle solving brain. It also makes you paranoid like little else. Dare I risk keeping my son’s drawing on the wall with that inspector around? The game has some irritating issues that I don’t often see addressed, but I won’t list them here. It's more than ready to screw you over at a moment’s notice. Set in a world of hypocritical, xenophobic authority figures, desperate, terrified citizens and refugees, rebels perhaps no better than those they seek to depose and a troubled family just hoping to eat for another day, Papers Please is a harrowing yet brilliant experience, made all the better by its thinly veiled roots in real history.
Praise Arstotzka!

Grappling hooks are the finest form of movement in games, and thus in life (followed closely by jetpacks). The developers of Speedrunners recognise this and have thus created a masterpiece in pick up and play design with a meaty core. Few things embody the old adage of 'easy to learn, difficult to master' quite so well as this fine game. Admittedly, one's enjoyment is increased by many orders of magnitude when playing with friends.
Unlike many games under the Early Access banner this is no lazy alpha. All the important elements are here and the developers frequently add to the experience, responding quickly to bug reports and player feedback.

What may at first appear to be a simplistic kart racer (and admittedly the weapons you use aren't too inspired) quickly becomes something much deeper as the intricacies of the mechanics become apparent. You may need to look up a basic guide, however, as important features like stunt boosts aren't really taught in the game.

While 'Mass Effect with spies' may not be entirely accurate, it does contain similar elements to that wondrous game. The basic combat is a tad simple but if you play the game for the plot, character relations and decisions you should have yourself a good time. Just don't expect anything revelatory from the ending, especially since this will sadly never be getting a sequel.