Lapbunny
1991
bwah clap bwah clap bwah clap clap clap boom clap boom clap boom clap clap clap
The sci-fi references are neat but don't do much to drive the story or themes (themes? were there?) from my recollection. Even the ending is pretty lifted off a particular source, and when I saw it was left more thinking if they knew that than anything 13 Sentinels was raising. The gameplay was also fairly easy even on the hardest difficulty. Sentries are good! Real good, people!
That said, it's still a fantastic kitchen sink of a story with a great setting for a mostly-wonderful cast of characters. Fun ride with some fantastic ideas, if nothing particularly wildly innovative or mind-shattering, and plenty worth the admission for at least the wonderful aesthetics and surprisingly fun RTS angle.
That said, it's still a fantastic kitchen sink of a story with a great setting for a mostly-wonderful cast of characters. Fun ride with some fantastic ideas, if nothing particularly wildly innovative or mind-shattering, and plenty worth the admission for at least the wonderful aesthetics and surprisingly fun RTS angle.
2012
This review contains spoilers
I think back and there were a lot of cracks that shine through The Walking Dead. The characters were fantastic, but the "gameplay" felt more like a personality test to compare with people than anything - the lead-up and selection was neat, but it didn't really affect much of anything going forward.
There is one choice, though, that always sticks with me. When Katjaa shoots herself and Duck dies of a bite, I told Kenny he should finish Duck before he turns. He points the gun, and you get two options on the countdown: shout DO IT! to scare him into shooting, or tell him it'll be OK and he shoots. I let the countdown run out, though. It wasn't an option, but if you don't take action, Kenny says he just can't do it. You both leave Duck there, where he presumably turns in the middle of nowhere.
I'm a dad now, and coming back to that whole sequence is rough, man. I can't help but sit with that.
There is one choice, though, that always sticks with me. When Katjaa shoots herself and Duck dies of a bite, I told Kenny he should finish Duck before he turns. He points the gun, and you get two options on the countdown: shout DO IT! to scare him into shooting, or tell him it'll be OK and he shoots. I let the countdown run out, though. It wasn't an option, but if you don't take action, Kenny says he just can't do it. You both leave Duck there, where he presumably turns in the middle of nowhere.
I'm a dad now, and coming back to that whole sequence is rough, man. I can't help but sit with that.
In multiworld applications like Archipelago it turns into a slog at endgame when you're equipped with everything and go through early dungeons with overkill. But if you're keeping up with the pack, it's great fun piecing together what you can or can't do at any time. The discovery section is such a joy to route.
2023
I don't know who created Pokémon Sleep, but I want to figure out how to get them to have Pokémon Sleep to the polls
2009
you are now thinking about how sticky those buttons are on the one at your local arcade. mmmm sticky sticky schlick
2017
something something NEUROSHOCK
I get the hype, anyone coming 8 years removed from Super Metroid must've been fucking floored at this game in the 2000s. But I played Super Metroid at the same time, and the overall map design felt so tedious at times; dark shout-outs to that one ghost room that made you clear them out every time. It's also way too easy by design. Still beautiful, though.
1994
I abandoned this game twice when I was younger, something between the controls and lack of direction. After playing Hollow Knight and Metroid Prime at the same time, this game just clicked. Fantastic Metroidvania map direction.
2021
HARDCORE PARKOUR
Its penchant for making you look at scenes at clips of exactly 30 seconds or whatever - either past my interest in the scene, or before I was done looking at it - then taking you out to write in the journal, and then going back to the scene, was one of the most jarring and irritating things I've ran into in a video game. Threw off my pace completely, and when I'm trying to piece together myself it felt extremely uncomfortable.
I do love this aesthetic! Outside games where I'm trying to look at a scene in detail to figure out what's going on. Hate it here, horribly mismatched. Whole game is a cool idea, and I despise the execution.
I do love this aesthetic! Outside games where I'm trying to look at a scene in detail to figure out what's going on. Hate it here, horribly mismatched. Whole game is a cool idea, and I despise the execution.
2016
cheaper than couples therapy
2016
Oneshot may have covertly assured me I'll be an OK parent?
EDIT: A quippy one-liner is better than a longer-winded review in my prose for most circumstances, but I need to gush: Niko is the sweetest kid character I've ever seen, definitely in any video game but maybe in any story I've consumed due to the nature of the medium. He just wants to be home, he asks all the wrong questions out of pure curiosity and trepidation, and the game takes everything from you but that urgency to get the poor thing home.
Everything else in its world is wonderful and sparse, in that early indie-styled window dressing similar to Cave Story or OFF; just as well, it's there merely to act on Niko. The game knows to leave it exactly where it is. All the meta elements are great, but like Undertale it takes serious heart in the writing to make those moments stick past shock and gimmick. OneShot lands it because Niko is that cupcake muffin frosting center. Sweet baby
EDIT: A quippy one-liner is better than a longer-winded review in my prose for most circumstances, but I need to gush: Niko is the sweetest kid character I've ever seen, definitely in any video game but maybe in any story I've consumed due to the nature of the medium. He just wants to be home, he asks all the wrong questions out of pure curiosity and trepidation, and the game takes everything from you but that urgency to get the poor thing home.
Everything else in its world is wonderful and sparse, in that early indie-styled window dressing similar to Cave Story or OFF; just as well, it's there merely to act on Niko. The game knows to leave it exactly where it is. All the meta elements are great, but like Undertale it takes serious heart in the writing to make those moments stick past shock and gimmick. OneShot lands it because Niko is that cupcake muffin frosting center. Sweet baby
2020
Genuinely don't understand why I don't like this game more.