Well this was a game...
Unlike the groundbreaking predecessor, this might be one of the most generic, soulless, boring, empty, forgettable and just nothing FPS games I've played. Sure it looks okay for its time and has an all-star music composer staff, but I really don't get what does it have to do with the Unreal universe in ANY way (beside having Skaarj and the fictive corporations).
The combat is weak and choppy, has none of the trademark Unreal weapons, the cutscenes and dialogues are badly written and pace-braking and oh my god, why do I move soooo slowwwly??? And what the heck is with the atrocious loading times in 2023 on an NVMe SSD? (update: it's because v-sync, WTF?)
It's not offensively bad, and has some moderately cool moments, but it really is no wonder no one remembers this game. You'll lose literally nothing if you skip this game from the Unreal series.
Unlike the groundbreaking predecessor, this might be one of the most generic, soulless, boring, empty, forgettable and just nothing FPS games I've played. Sure it looks okay for its time and has an all-star music composer staff, but I really don't get what does it have to do with the Unreal universe in ANY way (beside having Skaarj and the fictive corporations).
The combat is weak and choppy, has none of the trademark Unreal weapons, the cutscenes and dialogues are badly written and pace-braking and oh my god, why do I move soooo slowwwly??? And what the heck is with the atrocious loading times in 2023 on an NVMe SSD? (update: it's because v-sync, WTF?)
It's not offensively bad, and has some moderately cool moments, but it really is no wonder no one remembers this game. You'll lose literally nothing if you skip this game from the Unreal series.
2000
The OG immersive FPS and the very start of the Unreal engine, often unfairly forgotten and usually overshadowed by Half-Life!
But yeah, Unreal came out earlier in 1998 and is a mind-blowing milestone of the FPS genre with incredible graphics and gameplay for its time. What might seem like a glorified tech-demo for the engine, Unreal is a surprisingly well-designed immersive FPS, keeping you fully in first-person mode without any cutscenes in a 10-12 hour long story in a futuristic setting on an alien planet.
The game popularized many elements which became pretty much staples of later FPS games including secondary fire modes for weapons, switch-puzzles, dark areas, underwater sections, grand landscapes with alternate routes, surprisingly intelligent enemies (dodging out of your non-hitscan projectiles), ally NPCs and mood-dependent dynamic music!
It holds up surprisingly well even today, many of its maps just scream ATMOSPHERE with the beautiful visual style and the fantastic ambient soundtrack by Alex Brandon and co.
It does suffer from some dated concepts and some minor inconveniences such as the forced dark areas with limited flashlight durations, overly long maze-like areas with annoyingly hidden switches, very health-spongy enemies at the later parts and a bit unbalanced weapon arsenal (Flak Cannon FTW!) The main story also becomes a bit dull by the midpoint, though the beginning is extremely strong with legendary scenes like the ambush in Rrajigar mine! Return to Na Pali is much better paced but overall there's not much to remember from the story, it's just simple "Get to the end and survive".
It might not have aged that well and not became that memorable as Half-Life but it's a very important title in PC gaming for both Epic Games and the FPS-genre in general, not to mention that it spawned Unreal Tournament a year later, which is an all-time classic of arena shooters and one of the best PC games of all time!
But yeah, Unreal came out earlier in 1998 and is a mind-blowing milestone of the FPS genre with incredible graphics and gameplay for its time. What might seem like a glorified tech-demo for the engine, Unreal is a surprisingly well-designed immersive FPS, keeping you fully in first-person mode without any cutscenes in a 10-12 hour long story in a futuristic setting on an alien planet.
The game popularized many elements which became pretty much staples of later FPS games including secondary fire modes for weapons, switch-puzzles, dark areas, underwater sections, grand landscapes with alternate routes, surprisingly intelligent enemies (dodging out of your non-hitscan projectiles), ally NPCs and mood-dependent dynamic music!
It holds up surprisingly well even today, many of its maps just scream ATMOSPHERE with the beautiful visual style and the fantastic ambient soundtrack by Alex Brandon and co.
It does suffer from some dated concepts and some minor inconveniences such as the forced dark areas with limited flashlight durations, overly long maze-like areas with annoyingly hidden switches, very health-spongy enemies at the later parts and a bit unbalanced weapon arsenal (Flak Cannon FTW!) The main story also becomes a bit dull by the midpoint, though the beginning is extremely strong with legendary scenes like the ambush in Rrajigar mine! Return to Na Pali is much better paced but overall there's not much to remember from the story, it's just simple "Get to the end and survive".
It might not have aged that well and not became that memorable as Half-Life but it's a very important title in PC gaming for both Epic Games and the FPS-genre in general, not to mention that it spawned Unreal Tournament a year later, which is an all-time classic of arena shooters and one of the best PC games of all time!
Wow... just WOW!
It's so baffling I've only known about this game after the announcement of its remake. A 2010 DS game written by Shu Takumi, the Ace Attorney writer?
Oh yeah, this game is 1000% uninhibited Shu Takumi at its finest! A very twisted and over-the-top ghost story wrapped into timing-sensitive environmental puzzle-solving. Everything from the style and presentation, through the characters and their designs to the music and story progression is simply fantastic! And it has one of the best twist endings I've ever experienced in video games with some truly emotional moments. And almost every aspect of the story quirks is explained well and smartly with only very few and minor plotholes I could discover.
This remake is also very nicely done with cleaned-up textures and animations and a great arranged soundtrack!
My only minor gripes which prevent it from a 10/10 are the somewhat inconsistent pacing between puzzle solving and lore-dumps (it's heavily back-loaded), and also the very trial-n-error heavy puzzles in general. I feel the puzzle concept is pulled back a bit by the second half and is not fully realized into its full potential (there are so many more complex things it could've done).
I had a blast with this game all the way, would 100% recommend to everyone, especially if you loved the twisty writing and the hilarious over-the-top animation of Ace Attorney!
Can't wait to see a "spiritual" successor or a movie/serial adaptation of this!
It's so baffling I've only known about this game after the announcement of its remake. A 2010 DS game written by Shu Takumi, the Ace Attorney writer?
Oh yeah, this game is 1000% uninhibited Shu Takumi at its finest! A very twisted and over-the-top ghost story wrapped into timing-sensitive environmental puzzle-solving. Everything from the style and presentation, through the characters and their designs to the music and story progression is simply fantastic! And it has one of the best twist endings I've ever experienced in video games with some truly emotional moments. And almost every aspect of the story quirks is explained well and smartly with only very few and minor plotholes I could discover.
This remake is also very nicely done with cleaned-up textures and animations and a great arranged soundtrack!
My only minor gripes which prevent it from a 10/10 are the somewhat inconsistent pacing between puzzle solving and lore-dumps (it's heavily back-loaded), and also the very trial-n-error heavy puzzles in general. I feel the puzzle concept is pulled back a bit by the second half and is not fully realized into its full potential (there are so many more complex things it could've done).
I had a blast with this game all the way, would 100% recommend to everyone, especially if you loved the twisty writing and the hilarious over-the-top animation of Ace Attorney!
Can't wait to see a "spiritual" successor or a movie/serial adaptation of this!
2023
This review contains spoilers
NOTE: post-launch review, might improve later with patches!
The Sonic 4 we never got in 2010, but nothing more.
Superstars is a solid 2D experience with nice and vibrant graphics, really good controls (almost 1-1 classic controls) and pretty good level design. The main story is really enjoyable, its silent storytelling between stages is reminiscent of Sonic 3 with great character animations. We got seperate emerald powers to use which are fun. So we are ALMOST there, right?
Well... not really. It's really boring to repeat the same things with every Sonic game since Generations, but I must say: it's good BUUUUT it's held down by abysmal design choices, blatantly stupid additions and Sega's greed!
The biggest stinker in this game is that like 1/3 of the gameplay time is simply stalling to justify its $60 price tag. The bosses are outright terrible, almost all of them takes an eternity to defeat with sluggish attack patterns, very short attack windows and lots and lots of idle time. If you played Sonic 4 ep 2 it's exactly the same, if not worse here. And it becomes the worst ever for the final boss, which is insultingly bad and just wastes your time. Other minor issues include the weak spindash and the very mixed music: it has some great highs but also very low lows (looking at you Jun) and it just feels not cohesive. Special stages are also boring and stupid but at least all emeralds you collected will be kept in the save file.
And then we get to Trip's story... while I love Trip and she's probably the best new character since Blaze, they went waaaay over the top in her story: you just simply go through all levels again, it's the "hard" mode of the game but for all the wrong reasons. Take all the BS Dimps-design elements from all 3 Advance games combined (screen crunch, bottomless pits, spikes, enemy placements, unfair deaths), add longer and more annoying bosses and the worst final boss EVER in a Sonic game -> you got Trip's story.
Then you unlock the last story which is also horribly designed, completely backwards compared to other Super Sonic fights and as everything in this game drags on forever.
I haven't played any co-op or battle mode, but it's easy to see the co-op is totally broken, and all the collectibles you can get are only for multiplayer cosmetics... what, you thought you can unlock skins or anything? nah, of course it's paywalled...
If you like classic Sonic, you'll enjoy the base story levels (bosses notwithstanding) but Sega managed to commit the same sins as they did with Frontiers update 3: locking the true ending behind BS-hard and stupid "extra" content without any considerable playtesting just to dilute 4 hours worth of gameplay into 10 hours.
Worth getting it for about $30, def NOT a full-priced game at all, hopefully they (or the modders) patch things up (there are many glitches in the game too). Oh, and the Steam version has Denuvo, and requires Epic account for multiplayer... of course Sega was scummy enough not to mention this on the store page before release...
The Sonic 4 we never got in 2010, but nothing more.
Superstars is a solid 2D experience with nice and vibrant graphics, really good controls (almost 1-1 classic controls) and pretty good level design. The main story is really enjoyable, its silent storytelling between stages is reminiscent of Sonic 3 with great character animations. We got seperate emerald powers to use which are fun. So we are ALMOST there, right?
Well... not really. It's really boring to repeat the same things with every Sonic game since Generations, but I must say: it's good BUUUUT it's held down by abysmal design choices, blatantly stupid additions and Sega's greed!
The biggest stinker in this game is that like 1/3 of the gameplay time is simply stalling to justify its $60 price tag. The bosses are outright terrible, almost all of them takes an eternity to defeat with sluggish attack patterns, very short attack windows and lots and lots of idle time. If you played Sonic 4 ep 2 it's exactly the same, if not worse here. And it becomes the worst ever for the final boss, which is insultingly bad and just wastes your time. Other minor issues include the weak spindash and the very mixed music: it has some great highs but also very low lows (looking at you Jun) and it just feels not cohesive. Special stages are also boring and stupid but at least all emeralds you collected will be kept in the save file.
And then we get to Trip's story... while I love Trip and she's probably the best new character since Blaze, they went waaaay over the top in her story: you just simply go through all levels again, it's the "hard" mode of the game but for all the wrong reasons. Take all the BS Dimps-design elements from all 3 Advance games combined (screen crunch, bottomless pits, spikes, enemy placements, unfair deaths), add longer and more annoying bosses and the worst final boss EVER in a Sonic game -> you got Trip's story.
Then you unlock the last story which is also horribly designed, completely backwards compared to other Super Sonic fights and as everything in this game drags on forever.
I haven't played any co-op or battle mode, but it's easy to see the co-op is totally broken, and all the collectibles you can get are only for multiplayer cosmetics... what, you thought you can unlock skins or anything? nah, of course it's paywalled...
If you like classic Sonic, you'll enjoy the base story levels (bosses notwithstanding) but Sega managed to commit the same sins as they did with Frontiers update 3: locking the true ending behind BS-hard and stupid "extra" content without any considerable playtesting just to dilute 4 hours worth of gameplay into 10 hours.
Worth getting it for about $30, def NOT a full-priced game at all, hopefully they (or the modders) patch things up (there are many glitches in the game too). Oh, and the Steam version has Denuvo, and requires Epic account for multiplayer... of course Sega was scummy enough not to mention this on the store page before release...
I was already confident after the first part, but after beating part 2 I was reassured that so far THIS is the best Ace Attorney game (that is duology) in the whole series.
Not just the improvements in the gameplay and keeping and combining what worked best with the previous titles, but the overall style, presentation, music and dialogues are near perfection with well-written stories, interesting plot twists, great characters and the usual hilarious over-the-top animations make this a must-have for any AA and/or visual novel fans! My only minor gripe is some questionable logic leaps at some places (which TBH were present in all previous games).
I wouldn't necessarily recommend it as the entry for the series (cause going back to the OG trilogy after this will be a huge step-back), but definitely buy this if you like this series, you won't be disappointed!
I'm REALLY curious now how will they top this game in quality if they decide to ever continue the main AA story, though I would really like to see a continuation of this spin-off story as well!
Not just the improvements in the gameplay and keeping and combining what worked best with the previous titles, but the overall style, presentation, music and dialogues are near perfection with well-written stories, interesting plot twists, great characters and the usual hilarious over-the-top animations make this a must-have for any AA and/or visual novel fans! My only minor gripe is some questionable logic leaps at some places (which TBH were present in all previous games).
I wouldn't necessarily recommend it as the entry for the series (cause going back to the OG trilogy after this will be a huge step-back), but definitely buy this if you like this series, you won't be disappointed!
I'm REALLY curious now how will they top this game in quality if they decide to ever continue the main AA story, though I would really like to see a continuation of this spin-off story as well!
2020
A charming and cute adventure/puzzle/creature-collector hybrid game with nice visuals and small open areas to explore and catch the titular bugsnax, these Pokémon-inspired bug-food critters who like to shout their names in hilarious voice-overs!
The game itself is very chill and easy, sometimes mind-numbingly trivial with minimalistic background music and unfortunately gets a bit stale by the mid-point with repetitive tasks, but still manages to keep you engaged by the creative methods you can utilize to catch those peskier snax.
What really sells the game is the really well-written characters and their dialogues and interactions between each other and the player alike. The story itself is very generic but the presentation elevates it enough to keep me interested doing all the side-quests and discover the lore of the island.
Overall a pleasant and unique experience, 100%-ing it is super-easy and can be done fast in about 20 hours, so it's a perfectly fine $10-15 indie game if you want to see something different and relax in a colorful and LGBTQ-friendly trip.
And don't be fooled by the "psychological-horror" tag people like to give this, it's very lighthearted all the way with some moderately serious parts and topics thrown in. The ending and extra content can be interpreted as a bit creepy but I won't get any sleepless nights from this :)
The game itself is very chill and easy, sometimes mind-numbingly trivial with minimalistic background music and unfortunately gets a bit stale by the mid-point with repetitive tasks, but still manages to keep you engaged by the creative methods you can utilize to catch those peskier snax.
What really sells the game is the really well-written characters and their dialogues and interactions between each other and the player alike. The story itself is very generic but the presentation elevates it enough to keep me interested doing all the side-quests and discover the lore of the island.
Overall a pleasant and unique experience, 100%-ing it is super-easy and can be done fast in about 20 hours, so it's a perfectly fine $10-15 indie game if you want to see something different and relax in a colorful and LGBTQ-friendly trip.
And don't be fooled by the "psychological-horror" tag people like to give this, it's very lighthearted all the way with some moderately serious parts and topics thrown in. The ending and extra content can be interpreted as a bit creepy but I won't get any sleepless nights from this :)
One of my all-time favorite PC-games, and a masterpiece overall. Back when arena shooters were a thing, this is definitely the highest quality game you can ever get, and it holds up well even today.
The fact that its AI is still considered one of the best, and people still play it is truly a testament to its greatness and its long-lasting legacy.
I mean cmon, it has fast-paced action, great weapons, many maps, epic vehicle combat(!), a well-done singleplayer campaign with intelligent bots, extreme moddability and great soundtrack!
The fact that its AI is still considered one of the best, and people still play it is truly a testament to its greatness and its long-lasting legacy.
I mean cmon, it has fast-paced action, great weapons, many maps, epic vehicle combat(!), a well-done singleplayer campaign with intelligent bots, extreme moddability and great soundtrack!
2011
Well, not counting the legendary JPN OST I was never a fan of CD. Recently replayed it and OMG, 100%-ing this is a horrible, HORRIBLE time, either if you go exploring to find those darn robot generators or just go for the time stones, either way is an awful experience.
Sure it was a novel concept back in 1993 but this has got to be the least-playtested Sonic game ever; level design is abysmal, enemy placement is the most d-ckish ever, managing to time travel to the past is a f-cking chore and omg the special stages... whoever programmed the controls and UFO-hitboxes - you have a special place in hell!
Dimps must have really liked this game as the spike placements are very similar to their BS.
Sure it was a novel concept back in 1993 but this has got to be the least-playtested Sonic game ever; level design is abysmal, enemy placement is the most d-ckish ever, managing to time travel to the past is a f-cking chore and omg the special stages... whoever programmed the controls and UFO-hitboxes - you have a special place in hell!
Dimps must have really liked this game as the spike placements are very similar to their BS.
2022
Doom meets BPM in an interactive metal album.
No, it really is just Doom with added rhythm element, but dang, that OST slaps sooo hard!
The gameplay and level design is pretty simple and there are only a few weapons to utilize, but if you're good at rhythm games, it's very satisfying and visually looks great too!
The biggest problem is that it's very, I mean VERY short, I could 100% it in less than 9 hours, had a great time but if you complete everything all that's left is the leaderboards if you care about that.
I'd recommend if you can get it very cheap, otherwise just listen to the OST! I can't believe it didn't win best soundtrack of 2022...
No, it really is just Doom with added rhythm element, but dang, that OST slaps sooo hard!
The gameplay and level design is pretty simple and there are only a few weapons to utilize, but if you're good at rhythm games, it's very satisfying and visually looks great too!
The biggest problem is that it's very, I mean VERY short, I could 100% it in less than 9 hours, had a great time but if you complete everything all that's left is the leaderboards if you care about that.
I'd recommend if you can get it very cheap, otherwise just listen to the OST! I can't believe it didn't win best soundtrack of 2022...
The first high-profile AVGN fan game.
A really good retro platformer with all your 8-bit frustrations embodied and thrown at you in full force!
The more reason to yell the nerd's phrases at your monitor.
Perfect for masochists and classic Megaman fans!
A really good retro platformer with all your 8-bit frustrations embodied and thrown at you in full force!
The more reason to yell the nerd's phrases at your monitor.
Perfect for masochists and classic Megaman fans!
2008
A very innovative and memorable FPS parkour game for its time, it's fine but pretty short and has many trial and error places where you just don't get what you're supposed to do.
The combat is very clunky, though I understand it was clearly not the intention for you to stop and fight the enemies.
A one and done game for me.
The combat is very clunky, though I understand it was clearly not the intention for you to stop and fight the enemies.
A one and done game for me.
2017
A cute and unconventional puzzle-platformer, but with a control scheme you either learn and master or just give up on and quit the game on the first island.
I'm all up for interesting gameplay and controls, so I liked this game overall, though it's very short and offers not that much after completion. An interesting experience nevertheless.
Also I got it for free.
I'm all up for interesting gameplay and controls, so I liked this game overall, though it's very short and offers not that much after completion. An interesting experience nevertheless.
Also I got it for free.
2008
Played this only in 2021, but I really like it, classic Sega arcade-style game with fantastic music, great visuals and fun gameplay encouraging replays for better scores.
It's pretty short and not that hard to master, but it's a game I can come back to anytime and have fun!
It's pretty short and not that hard to master, but it's a game I can come back to anytime and have fun!
Overall good game, great soundtrack, not so great level design, overly forced combat, bland bosses, terrible menu system and stupid story.
With Spark 3 having all its stages, this game is just obsolete now, unless you want to catch up with the story.
With Spark 3 having all its stages, this game is just obsolete now, unless you want to catch up with the story.
2004
One of the best games of all time, a defining title for a generation, a milestone in the FPS genre and a top achievement in gameplay, physics, visual and sound design.
What more needs to be said? It's an eternal classic which will sadly probably remain the end of the series (along with the episodes), but I hope I'll be wrong...
What more needs to be said? It's an eternal classic which will sadly probably remain the end of the series (along with the episodes), but I hope I'll be wrong...