CurlyRose
playthrough started: march 2020
unlike the string of messy 2D action games i've just played, this one is messy in a way that makes it really quite difficult to write about
the centre of COGEN: Sword of Rewind is a metered time reversal mechanic that i loved when it was in prince of persia, and it's this game's greatest strength. it's also the game's greatest weakness but, not so commonly: the game gives you direct control over when it swaps from one to the other.
because this team had a lot of Big Ideas for what you could use a time-bending meter for, and they're very compelling! spending a time-reversal gauge to make a platform appear feels natural, and it's even cooler when you do it mid-combat to create cover or a new tactical opportunity. but because the game still needs you to actually want to use the rewinds, you always die in one hit. and since you always have to create these platforms or spawn these blocks, the game will very regularly funnel you into high-stress scenarios where one mistake is instant death because your meter is all tied up making the level work.
whenever i was able to dynamically adapt an action plan to a room that changed every time i rewound from a sudden death, it felt amazing. if that had happened more than three times, this would be a truly excellent action game. unfortunately what's here is pulled in just slightly too many directions to really shine. feels like a fundamental conflict between skill-testing action balanced for one-hit kills and variable access to the mechanic that balances them
but god i love this game's corny-ass music and even if the plot's total bobbins the dialogue is actually very charming. i'd almost forgotten what that was like
the centre of COGEN: Sword of Rewind is a metered time reversal mechanic that i loved when it was in prince of persia, and it's this game's greatest strength. it's also the game's greatest weakness but, not so commonly: the game gives you direct control over when it swaps from one to the other.
because this team had a lot of Big Ideas for what you could use a time-bending meter for, and they're very compelling! spending a time-reversal gauge to make a platform appear feels natural, and it's even cooler when you do it mid-combat to create cover or a new tactical opportunity. but because the game still needs you to actually want to use the rewinds, you always die in one hit. and since you always have to create these platforms or spawn these blocks, the game will very regularly funnel you into high-stress scenarios where one mistake is instant death because your meter is all tied up making the level work.
whenever i was able to dynamically adapt an action plan to a room that changed every time i rewound from a sudden death, it felt amazing. if that had happened more than three times, this would be a truly excellent action game. unfortunately what's here is pulled in just slightly too many directions to really shine. feels like a fundamental conflict between skill-testing action balanced for one-hit kills and variable access to the mechanic that balances them
but god i love this game's corny-ass music and even if the plot's total bobbins the dialogue is actually very charming. i'd almost forgotten what that was like
This review contains spoilers
what a weird game! i think it might rule though?
like everything inti have ever made this is a huge crash of ideas, and a lot of them even work! taking copen's kit down to one airdash per jump is an alien brain choice after how good he felt in LAix (and how good the levels and bosses felt around him!) but i appreciate what they've gone for here. i can see the angle to having the level gradually build to overdrive, and making overdrive count mechanically does make some sense! but how you get those initial combos feels so much more restrictive than previously, and the melee combo is just fiddly enough that you spend the whole time wishing you could just go back to flying
which is a huge shame! because i think large parts of this game are firing on all cylinders. the boss work is among the best inti have ever done - and these games are not exactly boss light
i can't help but wonder if we didn't end up here by trying to solve some of the unsolvable problems these games have. making kudos unlock your kit but hits don't take them away is not really where the party is, i don't think. i like you, i see you, but unfortunately LAix was already a perfect videogame
easy best final boss in this series too, marking out over here for that remix of igniter
like everything inti have ever made this is a huge crash of ideas, and a lot of them even work! taking copen's kit down to one airdash per jump is an alien brain choice after how good he felt in LAix (and how good the levels and bosses felt around him!) but i appreciate what they've gone for here. i can see the angle to having the level gradually build to overdrive, and making overdrive count mechanically does make some sense! but how you get those initial combos feels so much more restrictive than previously, and the melee combo is just fiddly enough that you spend the whole time wishing you could just go back to flying
which is a huge shame! because i think large parts of this game are firing on all cylinders. the boss work is among the best inti have ever done - and these games are not exactly boss light
i can't help but wonder if we didn't end up here by trying to solve some of the unsolvable problems these games have. making kudos unlock your kit but hits don't take them away is not really where the party is, i don't think. i like you, i see you, but unfortunately LAix was already a perfect videogame
easy best final boss in this series too, marking out over here for that remix of igniter
a good sequel that fixes a lot of stuff, doesn't fix a lot of other stuff, and in which you can really feel the fact that you're playing levels and boss fights that were more designed for one character than the other
neat to play through having already played luminous avenger so you can see inti teasing out what they can of copen's kit
they fixed the biggest problem with GV1 which is when the jpop starts playing, in this one the muse actually emerges from within to sing it
neat to play through having already played luminous avenger so you can see inti teasing out what they can of copen's kit
they fixed the biggest problem with GV1 which is when the jpop starts playing, in this one the muse actually emerges from within to sing it
this game goes down like two full letter grades for gating the airdash behind a bad crafting system
replaying this reaffirms my belief that for a long time these games were trading entirely on my MMZ nostalgia, the original gunvolt is good but holy wow it is a Total Mess
the thing is, though, that inticreates needed to remind the world that in all the time since MMZXA they had still been Drawing and Level Designing shit just like they used to and you know what? they had. thank god for that.
replaying this reaffirms my belief that for a long time these games were trading entirely on my MMZ nostalgia, the original gunvolt is good but holy wow it is a Total Mess
the thing is, though, that inticreates needed to remind the world that in all the time since MMZXA they had still been Drawing and Level Designing shit just like they used to and you know what? they had. thank god for that.
so hey! i left even the ocean very positive but wondering if analgesic were leaving behind their strengths in personal writing to wrangle with writing about Systems that i was a little cooler on but! they just synthesised them and it's fantastic
making the freaky little Worlds of anodyne into islands in a bigger 3D world is such a great choice, and lets the team tell an enchanting story about personhood, power and community. i love this game!
making the freaky little Worlds of anodyne into islands in a bigger 3D world is such a great choice, and lets the team tell an enchanting story about personhood, power and community. i love this game!
2019
cute! should probably not have been a metroidvania
managing the temperature on missiles and the wild arc of the spin jump was a lot of fun, and the two or three times those felt actually tested will probably remain the most memorable parts of this game. good effort!
managing the temperature on missiles and the wild arc of the spin jump was a lot of fun, and the two or three times those felt actually tested will probably remain the most memorable parts of this game. good effort!
2021
cool game! even with all the Weird Shit it can't hide having really neat, intricate levels and it definitely can't hide being made by an enormous gun nerd
you'd think the script would get annoying but honestly it never does, it's actually regularly quite funny
you'd think the script would get annoying but honestly it never does, it's actually regularly quite funny
2020
This review contains spoilers
you WILL believe a girl hugging a traffic light can make you cry
i get it, i'm sure a lot of JP indies and VNs have very similar stories but they don't look like this, man
i get it, i'm sure a lot of JP indies and VNs have very similar stories but they don't look like this, man
2021
This review contains spoilers
scarcely has a game i otherwise enjoyed done so much to undo my good faith towards it in so little time before the end
the story of metroid dread is primarily the story of a game that is far better than it had any right to be. movement flow, level design and in particular the EMMI themselves all play fantastically. it's got plenty of flaws, and it's a little narratively desolate, but those segments really manage to stand on their own. jumping, sliding, scooting and hunting for goodies all feels great, great job mercurysteam
real quick what the fuck was up with the last 20 minutes of that game
the story of metroid dread is primarily the story of a game that is far better than it had any right to be. movement flow, level design and in particular the EMMI themselves all play fantastically. it's got plenty of flaws, and it's a little narratively desolate, but those segments really manage to stand on their own. jumping, sliding, scooting and hunting for goodies all feels great, great job mercurysteam
real quick what the fuck was up with the last 20 minutes of that game
how do you talk about this game? it's really good and you should play it. this DLC has even more of my favourite parts of the base game, which i thought was literally impossible! they bloody done it
This review contains spoilers
remember everyone, when writing a prequel to a story motivated by the tragic death of your prequel's protagonist, make sure that death happens off camera during the credits
unrelated: i really enjoyed this game. it binds the main game's combat into a perfectly compelling and satisfying loop of spinning plates, and these characters remain fun to spend time with. and then you beat malos and things get really, really weird
unrelated: i really enjoyed this game. it binds the main game's combat into a perfectly compelling and satisfying loop of spinning plates, and these characters remain fun to spend time with. and then you beat malos and things get really, really weird
2021
finally a game that lets you actually build a whole web as well as swinging on individual strands. and it leaves them there for you to come back to later? splendid
a perfect videogame. why do the aliens look so uncannily like us! because they're giant frog people the game calls "colonists"
2021
awful! relatively serviceable moba with a screaming carousel of different currencies and reward tracks and pretty much every aggressive monetisation strategy you can think of.
i resolved to play two games of this, one on launch day, and a second when gardevoir released. i didn't manage the second one
i resolved to play two games of this, one on launch day, and a second when gardevoir released. i didn't manage the second one