Drax
BACKER
The camera makes some of the boss fights somewhat annoying to deal with (though most of the boss fights are hilariously easy), and sometimes Buzz just doesn't want to grab the ledge when platforming. Otherwise, it still holds up pretty well, with solid platforming/controls and just enough collectibles to not overstay its welcome.
1992
A really well thought out and entertaining title. There's just enough gunplay to add more action to the solid point and click on a console system, there's tons of detail and lore instilled in the world around you (which oozes atmosphere thanks to colorful visuals and a fantastic soundtrack), and the voice acting (despite being somewhat out of sync on the English version) is spot on. And there are tons of ways to fool around in the game when you can figure out the excess options. This has to be one of my favorite old games and is a real gem if you like sarcastic yet thrilling story-based games.
1996
One of the more whimsical point and click adventure games I've played. It reminds me a lot of Conker's Bad Fur Day but much more surrealistic, which is a good thing. Puzzles weren't too annoying save for one memory puzzle near the end, and everything is voice acted and animated well. Really enjoyed my time with it.
1994
Nothing bad at all to say about Super Metroid, the movement, exploration, and combat are all fantastic and the soundtrack and graphics have aged extremely well. Still one of the best (and toughest) games to play if you want an ideal game for speedrunning.
1998
Some of the regular enemy fights and boss fights are not fun because the camera angles are positioned in a way where the enemies are all off screen and you have to try and aim/fight them while doing so. This makes some of these fights unnecessarily difficult. I applaud a lot of the improvements over the original though, and the story + replayable content nevertheless make this worthwhile.
2001
Conker's does a good job at making all of the boss fights fairly enjoyable and the humor is still pretty on point. Some parts of the zombie + WW2 worlds are slogs to get through, but overall, I really enjoyed the variety of gameplay and spot on parodies presented throughout. I would be quite pleased if this got rereleased on PC with better controls.
1998
A pretty absurd but entertaining story combined with solid RPG/combat mechanics (dodging attacks on the field + recharge meter attacks), and an amazing soundtrack. It's a somewhat overlooked game that deserves a lot more attention, and it's not too long so it doesn't overstay its welcome at all. Boss fights at the end can get a bit challenging, but the game is for the most part quite fair and remains engaging all the way through. One of my favorite oldie games.
Also, the mitochrondria is the powerhouse of the cell.
Also, the mitochrondria is the powerhouse of the cell.
1994
Somehow much longer and a fair bit more convoluted than Snatcher, but it retains that great world building and characterization from Snatcher. The game could really use a new PC port with mouse and keyboard controls though; some of the shooting sections can get a bit dicey with controller aiming. Still worth your time for sure if you're looking for a more out there narrative driven title that really influenced the MGS series.
2008
It's hard to say exactly why I don't like Chaos;Head as much as Robotics;Notes but I'll try.
1. Excessively gruesome. I get that this is probably the intention in order to make the player feel squeamish (in which case, well done), but the extent to which the game harps on this really detracted from my experience.
2. It is quite difficult to relate to the main character, and most of the main side characters as well, due to how one-dimensional a lot of them feel. I won't elaborate too much on this, but to me it felt like the main protagonist was a loser and spent 95% of the game wallowing in how much of a loser he was. The 5% where he decides to get something accomplished is quite satisfying, but to have to get through 95% of everything else first is a struggle.
3. Super downer game that feels like the authors spent too much time meandering about. The "good ending" (AA) is your classic "struggle for success" ending but Chaos;Head doesn't leave you with much feeling of fulfillment since it cuts the ending quite early once the main protagonist succeeds. The other ending (B) is fantastically scripted but you have to get through a lot of horrendously drawn out detail to finish this ending, so while the ending itself is pretty well executed, the payoff felt minimized because I was just exhausted by then.
I dunno, I feel like what's good is VERY good but there's so much mediocrity and disgust that I had to sit through in order to get to the very good parts. I will say that the game does a very good job at messing with your perception (and unfortunately leaves a lot of plotholes because they don't thoroughly explain everything) and grossing you out, for what it's worth. And maybe this game isn't for me, and I can accept that too. I just felt like the execution could have been vastly improved for a lot of the time I spent playing. Maybe I'll have a better experience with NoAH (which I heard does a much better job explaining everything) and feel like the payoff was better after playing that and Chu Chu, who knows. My mind can be changed.
1. Excessively gruesome. I get that this is probably the intention in order to make the player feel squeamish (in which case, well done), but the extent to which the game harps on this really detracted from my experience.
2. It is quite difficult to relate to the main character, and most of the main side characters as well, due to how one-dimensional a lot of them feel. I won't elaborate too much on this, but to me it felt like the main protagonist was a loser and spent 95% of the game wallowing in how much of a loser he was. The 5% where he decides to get something accomplished is quite satisfying, but to have to get through 95% of everything else first is a struggle.
3. Super downer game that feels like the authors spent too much time meandering about. The "good ending" (AA) is your classic "struggle for success" ending but Chaos;Head doesn't leave you with much feeling of fulfillment since it cuts the ending quite early once the main protagonist succeeds. The other ending (B) is fantastically scripted but you have to get through a lot of horrendously drawn out detail to finish this ending, so while the ending itself is pretty well executed, the payoff felt minimized because I was just exhausted by then.
I dunno, I feel like what's good is VERY good but there's so much mediocrity and disgust that I had to sit through in order to get to the very good parts. I will say that the game does a very good job at messing with your perception (and unfortunately leaves a lot of plotholes because they don't thoroughly explain everything) and grossing you out, for what it's worth. And maybe this game isn't for me, and I can accept that too. I just felt like the execution could have been vastly improved for a lot of the time I spent playing. Maybe I'll have a better experience with NoAH (which I heard does a much better job explaining everything) and feel like the payoff was better after playing that and Chu Chu, who knows. My mind can be changed.
2018
What if we put Pokemon into a Telltale game, but everyone was incompetent and Pikachu ingested a ton of sulfur hexafluoride?
2014
The game's a pretty chill time but also there's a lot of care taken to build up a convincing universe and really lovable characters. The gameplay triggers aren't annoying at all and definitely bolster the experience, and though the final fight was cheesy, I still enjoyed every part of it.
Also you get to save the world with your gamer powers. So that's pretty cool too.
Fantastic VN from the Sci;Adv series and I loved this way more than Chaos;Head.
Also you get to save the world with your gamer powers. So that's pretty cool too.
Fantastic VN from the Sci;Adv series and I loved this way more than Chaos;Head.
Pleasantly surprised how much I enjoyed this; some of the puzzles you'll get immediately and you can solve in under a minute while others require a lot more tinkering about. Didn't feel frustrated at any point though, and the sheer amount of hint coins they throw at you without any consequence when using them help a ton. Really solid narrative as well, and I'm very much looking forward to playing the other games in the series.
The game presents you with a very interesting way of linking together information in order to progress and find new links to continue cracking the mystery, and I would gladly play more games in this style. However, the game ends pretty abruptly; just when you think you're about to stumble upon a huge goldmine leading to the big twist, the game ends. Also, exploration mode was advertised as allowing you to view all the documents freely to see what you missed, but to me there was no discernible difference between original game mode and exploration mode to make these documents accessible. Overall, good concept, but really really short and the mechanism to backtrack and see what you missed doesn't seem to be working.
I get to evade taxes AND be a gamer? This game was written for me
2020
Pretty solid stealth puzzle game that's challenging enough to require a lot of accurate timing but it's also very easy to adjust this timing thanks to the convenient and extremely useful parsing bar at the bottom. The game is held back by the mostly linear levels and the lack of a super detailed/engaging story, but otherwise, a fairly enjoyable experience.