Recenzii recente de Speckle

If classic Gears of War and Doom (2016) had a baby it would be this game.

I fear it is peak..

I have never related to a fictional character so much; Siffrin is literally me.

Although they both contain a lot of painful backtracking if you don't know what you're doing, these games hold up incredibly well with a guide. The gameplay isn't the best, but it can be pretty fun and the story (and goofy twists) absolutely make it worth the less fun parts. Even as early as these two games you can see the cinema inspirations and political focus of the franchise- especially with MG2:SS.

The only real problems with this port are the lack of emulator rewind options and a strange save system, which would've alleviated a lot of the silly BS that these games like to pull. Still, the games are plenty of fun without these.

I put off giving this game a shot for a long time after trying Deconstructeam's other title "Gods Will Be Watching" because that game was simply too difficult, and I don't find difficulty in a visual novel / point and click game to be all that fun.

After playing through this, I genuinely wish I had tried it much earlier. I only came back to this one to give it a shot after seeing parallels between it and two of my other favorite games in the genre (2064 Read Only Memories and Va-11 Hall-A). I enjoyed the whole playthrough, but god the ending hit like a truck. One of a very small few games (ironically, the only other that comes to mind is 2064 ROM) where I feel like my choices have actually impacted the narrative in a meaningful way.

I definitely recommend giving this one a chance even if you initially wrote it off like I had. Especially at a sale price of $3, you can't really go wrong.

I understand the mixed reviews- I've been following this game for about 6 years since finishing 2064 and seeing its original teasers. With all that time, it is fairly short (took me close to 5 or 6 hours, really taking my time, compared to the 15-20 that 2064 took me) and hollow in comparison. Narrative choices aren't really important and change only minor aspects of the outcome, puzzles are too easy and follow a weird "association" logic rather than typical point & click item puzzles, recurring characters feel a lot like fan-service (although they worked for me) and the story seems feels rushed for the final chapter- whether that be a failure to properly build up to the ending that we did get, or the failure to use this ending as a plot point that pushes into something bigger/deeper.

With all that said- I still enjoyed it quite a bit. Both while I was playing the game and after finishing it, this game was just a constant dopamine rush for me after such a long wait. The art is an incredible step up from the first game, even though I loved the original's more simplistic style. I loved 2mello's OST for 2064, and the new soundtrack doesn't quite have the motif emphasis that I adored in 2064 (or a credits song with vocals), but it still sounds fantastic. There aren't as many memorable characters, but I think ES88 and Gate definitely stand up... others, like the Neurodiver, probably could've been great with more development. Overall, this feels like a much more episodic thing- a 2064 side story more than a sequel. It doesn't capture the vibes of the original, and yet it hits a much more "saturday morning cartoon" vibe that's great for completely different reasons, but still great nonetheless.

After finishing the game, I think it's still a good game and I can't help but still recommend it. At the very least, it was a good excuse to dive back into the same Read Only Memories world that I adore. Still, this game will always be overshadowed by its predecessor for how derivative it is (every memory dive relies on prior characters from 2064). While the ending will likely disappoint, the rest of the game is absolutely worthwhile, at least for fans of the first game.

Ultimately though, despite enjoying the game, it did not get close to making me feel the emotions that 2064 did. 2064 will always be a special game to me, and this one will simply be remembered as an extension of that, if at all. Still, if you want to think of the game as an extension of 2064, then I'd say it's a damn fine one- it's just not very good at being a sequel.

Great all-in-one emulator once you take some time to figure it out- I would kill for a prettier library layout like the EmulationStation/RetroPi version of this software, though.

So, this is a great FPS game and is getting a positive review for that- but most other reviews have it wrong.
This game does NOT play like Ultrakill. Personally, it reminded me of a faster Sprawl with overall more polish and content. This game isn't super well known, so for the sake of the review I'll say it plays more like a mix between Duke Nukem and Titanfall 2. Doom Eternal is a pretty close comparison, too.

It does have a nice arsenal of guns with purchasable alt-fires, but it also has more typical upgrades- objective improvements that you must fill your upgrade slots with, forcing you to make a build. A lot of people will like this aspect, I did not. It made the game's systems, particularly movement and healing, feel extremely limited compared to what they could have been. Also worth noting that you cannot wall-run off any wall, but instead are limited to specific yellow boards- again not horrible, but extremely limiting.

Another thing that took away from this game and made it feel more like other FPS titles than Ultrakill was the ammo count and save system, making the gameplay fall more in line with more typical boomer shooters. Pretty standard systems and I didn't quite dislike them, but they definitely prevented the game from feeling arcade-y like Ultrakill does.

The visuals are absolutely gorgeous. My only complaint here is that it makes for poor enemy visibility. I think the trade-off is well worth it, at least outside of endless modes- it unfortunately has been a reason for me to avoid these endless modes, unlike Ultrakill's Cybergrind. This visual problem also lead to some confusion with the level design, but this was mostly negligible and only arose a couple of times.

The last flaw I found was the sound design, which was unfortunately pretty bad in some areas. The starting shotgun is the worst feeling I have ever encountered in an FPS, and I think the main reason for this is its weak sound design. Some other weapons definitely could've sounded more impactful, too. Ultimately, this just makes it so that some of the arsenal doesn't feel quite right- their shots don't sound proportional to their actual damage.

I'll finish this reviews once I finish the game- I'm about halfway done right now. Regardless, I don't think this will be one I milk for replay value like I have for Ultrakill. It may seem like I've only talked about flaws but the game is great- I just think these are things I haven't seen most other reviews touch on.

TLDR - Fantastic FPS, but you should know what to expect going in. You'll get a great boomer shooter, but an awful Ultrakill / arcade-y shooter. It's one of the better recent boomer shooters on the market, but it's also not perfect as some other reviews seem to claim.

This game is clearly inspired by Tsukihime- it uses the same engine, it emulates the art style, follows some (not too many) plot points / ideas and makes a handful of references.

I wasn't expecting it to reach the same heights, and I'm happy with how close it got at times. It almost feels like they combined concepts from Tsukihime and Witch on the Holy Night, while putting their own spin on it.

Still, I can't quite recommend the game. There is WAY too much filler and incredible pacing issues because of this. Sometimes it's easy to know what you can skip safely as it's put into separate scenarios, but other times it's baked into important scenarios sporadically and it's not safe to skip. I can enjoy some slice of life, but this game is MOSTLY slice of life. If I have one other complaint about the writing, it's that it feels a little too edgy. Don't get me wrong, Tsukihime is EXTREMELY edgy, but it uses it to nail an aesthetic that I feel this one didn't quite land- possibly because of how derivative it felt at times, in this regard. On top of all of these, it's only the first part of a series which, almost a decade after this game's launch, seems like it'll never see any further translations.

This game definitely has its moments and some great things going for it, but it's pretty tough to recommend because of these issues. If you think you can get past what I've mentioned, then it probably is worth a try!

Edit: Now that I've finished the game, I can confirm these sentiments still hold true. It has good moments, but the pacing is an absolute mess that made it hard for me to enjoy.

I used to play the GBA and Xbox 360 ports of this game all the time as a kid, and I played the hell out of Castle Crashers and Battleblock Theater when they came out. These games have been extremely formative for me... I cannot describe the simple joy I get finally playing it on PC.

I was a pretty dumb kid and never realized it was a flash game all along. But hey, now I get to play the HD version again!