Trapezohedron
2021
A glorious return to the franchise's 2D roots, Metroid Dread understands fully how to guide a player without making it seem obvious, and also provide means to sequence-break the game if so-desired. It's no Metroid Zero Mission or Super Metroid, but it's definitely up there.
The parry mechanic from Samus Returns... returns here, but with a way more lenient timing window, so trash mobs won't be demanding your attention left and right.
The EMMI rooms are quite a bit of a pain, however, especially the later ones.
The parry mechanic from Samus Returns... returns here, but with a way more lenient timing window, so trash mobs won't be demanding your attention left and right.
The EMMI rooms are quite a bit of a pain, however, especially the later ones.
2020
This review contains spoilers
The story and by extension its ludonarrative (hah, funny word) integration is what carries this game.
You play as the Son of Hades, not as Hades himself, initially trying to earn your father's approval but later on trying to escape because your father's a bureaucratically-buried asshat.
Things improve later on and the context of the game changes, but you're still trying to escape and fight bosses all the same.
The gameplay is well-balanced and Hades has more to offer later on just when bosses get a bit stale, but you're still fighting the same 4 variants of bosses as you go.
What I'll say is that the gameplay is... inoffensive. Some status effects are virtually identical to each other. Drunk vs. Doom for example, with the former being a fast acting variant of the latter, and the combat being the standard catchy fare of Supergiant games.
If this were any other game I'd rate this a 3.5, but the magical Supergiant touch makes this work, because so much thought was given to integrating the story together with the game, that despite seemingly having an excuse plot, it's not an excuse in the sense that it's bad, but rather it continually justifies in a meaningful way why you keep trying to get out of Hades.
You play as the Son of Hades, not as Hades himself, initially trying to earn your father's approval but later on trying to escape because your father's a bureaucratically-buried asshat.
Things improve later on and the context of the game changes, but you're still trying to escape and fight bosses all the same.
The gameplay is well-balanced and Hades has more to offer later on just when bosses get a bit stale, but you're still fighting the same 4 variants of bosses as you go.
What I'll say is that the gameplay is... inoffensive. Some status effects are virtually identical to each other. Drunk vs. Doom for example, with the former being a fast acting variant of the latter, and the combat being the standard catchy fare of Supergiant games.
If this were any other game I'd rate this a 3.5, but the magical Supergiant touch makes this work, because so much thought was given to integrating the story together with the game, that despite seemingly having an excuse plot, it's not an excuse in the sense that it's bad, but rather it continually justifies in a meaningful way why you keep trying to get out of Hades.
It's been a while since I've been meaning to leave a review. If you want bang for your buck, get Etrian Odyssey Nexus. However, if you want quality, you stick to this game.
Unlike the rest of the games, this one features a race selection feature and a set of class skills. The classes branch into specialties instead of you adopting another class as a sub class. What this functionally means is that the game is better designed and better-balanced thanks to the fact that the specialties are actually good for what they do, and each one has special tricks up their sleeve that you should have some sort of tool instead of relying on your main class' skills for attacks and the subclass for passive buffs.
This also marks the series' first time in having an emphasis on events on the map; like an abundance of them. Your characters will be cutely doing things before dying to a fuzzy caterpillar of caerbannog.
The map exploration is simple, and the class choices meaningful, and ergo this game deserves my full rating of 5 stars.
Unlike the rest of the games, this one features a race selection feature and a set of class skills. The classes branch into specialties instead of you adopting another class as a sub class. What this functionally means is that the game is better designed and better-balanced thanks to the fact that the specialties are actually good for what they do, and each one has special tricks up their sleeve that you should have some sort of tool instead of relying on your main class' skills for attacks and the subclass for passive buffs.
This also marks the series' first time in having an emphasis on events on the map; like an abundance of them. Your characters will be cutely doing things before dying to a fuzzy caterpillar of caerbannog.
The map exploration is simple, and the class choices meaningful, and ergo this game deserves my full rating of 5 stars.
2015
The thing with UNDERTALE is that it's a masterfully crafted story with a wonderful soundtrack composed by indie musician and romhacker Toby Fox.
What it kind of falls short with is the gameplay itself; it's no stretch to say that the game kind of falls short with the gameplay thanks to being a linear sequence.
But it bypasses that by virtue of being a commentary of JRPGs and completionists, while also offering genuine agency about how you deal with things.
Nobody has to die, and it makes good on that, given that the game's three routes involve either excessively going towards a given extreme (sparing instead of killing, killing instead of sparing), or sitting in the middle and maybe killing, and then sparing some.
The message it has comes off very heartfelt, and it's no big wonder why the game is as popular as it is.
What it kind of falls short with is the gameplay itself; it's no stretch to say that the game kind of falls short with the gameplay thanks to being a linear sequence.
But it bypasses that by virtue of being a commentary of JRPGs and completionists, while also offering genuine agency about how you deal with things.
Nobody has to die, and it makes good on that, given that the game's three routes involve either excessively going towards a given extreme (sparing instead of killing, killing instead of sparing), or sitting in the middle and maybe killing, and then sparing some.
The message it has comes off very heartfelt, and it's no big wonder why the game is as popular as it is.
Vampire Survivors, but free and the characters distinct. A later update added Holo House, a game mode I don't much care for.
Thanks to the fact that unlike in Vampire Survivors who start out with a predefined loadout you can randomly chance on as a character, in Holocure, each character has their own weapon which you can invest in and each weapon operates differently. You have Mumei and her homing feathers when they hit a target. You have Kronii who uses her clock swords to stab at the nearest enemy (and another one to stab at a random enemy).
The game falls apart at high level play, because the game is much easier when you ditch all the other weapon slots to limit rng and just invest in your starter weapon, plus a few combos which provide you heals or enemy slowdown.
Some combos are actively detrimental versus their base weapons too.
Then again, for the price of free, the game is incredibly polished. You won't lose anything but your time if you play this game.
Thanks to the fact that unlike in Vampire Survivors who start out with a predefined loadout you can randomly chance on as a character, in Holocure, each character has their own weapon which you can invest in and each weapon operates differently. You have Mumei and her homing feathers when they hit a target. You have Kronii who uses her clock swords to stab at the nearest enemy (and another one to stab at a random enemy).
The game falls apart at high level play, because the game is much easier when you ditch all the other weapon slots to limit rng and just invest in your starter weapon, plus a few combos which provide you heals or enemy slowdown.
Some combos are actively detrimental versus their base weapons too.
Then again, for the price of free, the game is incredibly polished. You won't lose anything but your time if you play this game.
This game is to Metroid like how Project Wingman is to Ace Combat.
For those unfamiliar with the comparison, basically, this fangame is about as close as you can get to an official original formula Metroid game that isn't Metroid Dread (back then, Dread didn't exist so this basically was the only thing you could play that would scratch the itch, barring replaying Super Metroid again and again).
It takes the considerably linear Metroid 2 and turns it into a Metroid Fusion and Metroid Zero Mission-esque experience with its own twists and inspirations from Super.
Interestingly, the actual official Metroid 2 Remake: Metroid Samus Returns was developed in parallel to this fangame. Both games have some conceptual overlap, including the part where there are story logs of a recent expedition in the setting, and the prominence of Chozo ruins properly tying the game to the series' mythology.
While Samus Returns is... considerably experimental, including an emphasis on melee counters which I found rather droll to deal with, AM2R capitalizes on the things that made side-scrolling Metroid games work: the run and gunplay and the secrets/puzzles.
Seriously, the quality of said puzzles including the mandatory Shinespark Gauntlet is something you would find in an official Metroid game.
Finding the game given the fact that Nintendo DMCA'd it is a bit of a trouble, but it's still out there if you know the right keywords to put in.
This is a game I highly recommend Metroid fans to take, but then again if you're reading this review, you likely already know and played this game to begin with.
For those unfamiliar with the comparison, basically, this fangame is about as close as you can get to an official original formula Metroid game that isn't Metroid Dread (back then, Dread didn't exist so this basically was the only thing you could play that would scratch the itch, barring replaying Super Metroid again and again).
It takes the considerably linear Metroid 2 and turns it into a Metroid Fusion and Metroid Zero Mission-esque experience with its own twists and inspirations from Super.
Interestingly, the actual official Metroid 2 Remake: Metroid Samus Returns was developed in parallel to this fangame. Both games have some conceptual overlap, including the part where there are story logs of a recent expedition in the setting, and the prominence of Chozo ruins properly tying the game to the series' mythology.
While Samus Returns is... considerably experimental, including an emphasis on melee counters which I found rather droll to deal with, AM2R capitalizes on the things that made side-scrolling Metroid games work: the run and gunplay and the secrets/puzzles.
Seriously, the quality of said puzzles including the mandatory Shinespark Gauntlet is something you would find in an official Metroid game.
Finding the game given the fact that Nintendo DMCA'd it is a bit of a trouble, but it's still out there if you know the right keywords to put in.
This is a game I highly recommend Metroid fans to take, but then again if you're reading this review, you likely already know and played this game to begin with.
TBD
This VN released February 20 on Steam.
A kinetic novel of the Nukige (lewd-focused) Slice of Life genre, it tries to present multiple themes and the first few lines start out really strong in trying to establish its characters, but eventually falls rather flat after immediately contradicting the very thing both characters hate doing: doing the nasty deed.
E-5, the latest prototype from Erect Electronics' lineup of glorified mechanized blow-up dolls escapes from the lab she belongs as she absolutely disliked her intended purpose.
Our protagonist, Hajime 'Daigoro' Honda, meanwhile was a former ace host who wooed many women thanks to his good looks which he isn't afraid to flaunt, or rather, was, until a good turn had gone bad and he could barely afford his living expenses.
Thanks to a few contrivances, both characters meet on horrible terms and enter a contract, where it seems outlined both will simply have to live with each other platonically. But the contract requires a kiss, and given the genre of the VN, it doesn't take too long for things to escalate.
The themes it attempts to tackle are ultimately very weak. You'd think that a story with the name Ego's Spark would discuss how they arrived at that anomalous self-identity. In this case however, the Ego was already budding at that point which in turn caused the heroine to escape the lab in the first place, and instead grows as she goes onwards with her cohabitation with the protagonist.
The good thing about the story is that the heroine has an acerbic wit. The art is also not bad, and Kiba Satoshi once again delivers (and is my reason for grabbing this game ngl). Everything else is unfortunately middling, and there isn't much to glean from the story except some feels, and perhaps some pointers on how to write an understanding heroine protagonist while trying to also simultaneously make them almost sadistically abusive with their language.
Basically, the story can't make up its mind on whether it wants to be fluffy slice of life, nukige, or nakige.
It's not something I would recommend other people not already familiar with visual novels to play.
A kinetic novel of the Nukige (lewd-focused) Slice of Life genre, it tries to present multiple themes and the first few lines start out really strong in trying to establish its characters, but eventually falls rather flat after immediately contradicting the very thing both characters hate doing: doing the nasty deed.
E-5, the latest prototype from Erect Electronics' lineup of glorified mechanized blow-up dolls escapes from the lab she belongs as she absolutely disliked her intended purpose.
Our protagonist, Hajime 'Daigoro' Honda, meanwhile was a former ace host who wooed many women thanks to his good looks which he isn't afraid to flaunt, or rather, was, until a good turn had gone bad and he could barely afford his living expenses.
Thanks to a few contrivances, both characters meet on horrible terms and enter a contract, where it seems outlined both will simply have to live with each other platonically. But the contract requires a kiss, and given the genre of the VN, it doesn't take too long for things to escalate.
The themes it attempts to tackle are ultimately very weak. You'd think that a story with the name Ego's Spark would discuss how they arrived at that anomalous self-identity. In this case however, the Ego was already budding at that point which in turn caused the heroine to escape the lab in the first place, and instead grows as she goes onwards with her cohabitation with the protagonist.
The good thing about the story is that the heroine has an acerbic wit. The art is also not bad, and Kiba Satoshi once again delivers (and is my reason for grabbing this game ngl). Everything else is unfortunately middling, and there isn't much to glean from the story except some feels, and perhaps some pointers on how to write an understanding heroine protagonist while trying to also simultaneously make them almost sadistically abusive with their language.
Basically, the story can't make up its mind on whether it wants to be fluffy slice of life, nukige, or nakige.
It's not something I would recommend other people not already familiar with visual novels to play.
2010
PC port of this game can be found here: https://archive.org/details/infinity-blade-pc
Yes, I copied the most-recent description from the most-recent review here, but it needs to be said enough that subsequent reviews for this game, if played on the PC, should indicate this.
Amazing just how much secrets this game actually had that I wasn't able to discover until this came by as a fan's stealth PC release. Didn't know about the negative bloodlines back then and how it could actually speed up your grinding by a few weeks ahead of time.
Still, despite being the premier game that defined the iPhone's appeal and power at the time, it is certainly aging a little bit poorly. Game's much easier to play when you're not fat-fingering it on the phone, but all the same beyond upgrading your stats, the gameplay loop doesn't change.
One part sniping away coin bags and health potions, one part swiping the screen looking for alternate paths on the longest road to the God King, and the last one being a punch-out game fighting against 3 enemy types beside the God King and his Dark Knight, that's all the gameplay you'll get. The numbers and difficulty may change but the core is always static. Well, the PC version's free, so why not play it anyway? It's a meditative experience that you can just plop anywhere and stop at any time.
Yes, I copied the most-recent description from the most-recent review here, but it needs to be said enough that subsequent reviews for this game, if played on the PC, should indicate this.
Amazing just how much secrets this game actually had that I wasn't able to discover until this came by as a fan's stealth PC release. Didn't know about the negative bloodlines back then and how it could actually speed up your grinding by a few weeks ahead of time.
Still, despite being the premier game that defined the iPhone's appeal and power at the time, it is certainly aging a little bit poorly. Game's much easier to play when you're not fat-fingering it on the phone, but all the same beyond upgrading your stats, the gameplay loop doesn't change.
One part sniping away coin bags and health potions, one part swiping the screen looking for alternate paths on the longest road to the God King, and the last one being a punch-out game fighting against 3 enemy types beside the God King and his Dark Knight, that's all the gameplay you'll get. The numbers and difficulty may change but the core is always static. Well, the PC version's free, so why not play it anyway? It's a meditative experience that you can just plop anywhere and stop at any time.
I should say that in terms of Remaster quality, this is pretty up there.
It attempts to make it so that the game is compatible with modern devices, without shaking up its identity. This means you get enhanced graphics (or a means to disable all enhancements so you can play it in all of its antiquated glory back in 1995!) and features a lot of bonus in-the-making material, including a special level that was used as a demo back in the day.
This is basically a Nostalgia Nerd's wet dream, because you can pick and choose which and when you want enhancements to play with the game.
However, the game itself is starting to show its rough edges if you're spoiled with the conveniences of the modern era.
The level design is questionable; rooms existing for the sake of having rooms, weapon balance being very easy to deal with since most enemies can be dealt with the basic Bryar pistol or the blaster. Jumping puzzles exist, and are a novel invention of the game, since they never existed for games like these until Quake started turning it into a rocket jump artform.
Later stages don't provide you much to go with, as some rooms are ostensibly locked and it's not until you bother to check your items in your inventory that you realize the keycode is there instead of Doom's intuitive keycard system.
In fact, some stages have walls and pathways that tend not to make sense in terms of progression, leaving you groping around walls to find where you need to go.
The latter point is what made me unfortunately shelve the game.
If you can stomach the arcane limitations of its time and age, then by all means, please go ahead and play this wonderful remaster. If you need something more intuitive, I think you're better off playing Doom 2, Quake or Half Life.
It attempts to make it so that the game is compatible with modern devices, without shaking up its identity. This means you get enhanced graphics (or a means to disable all enhancements so you can play it in all of its antiquated glory back in 1995!) and features a lot of bonus in-the-making material, including a special level that was used as a demo back in the day.
This is basically a Nostalgia Nerd's wet dream, because you can pick and choose which and when you want enhancements to play with the game.
However, the game itself is starting to show its rough edges if you're spoiled with the conveniences of the modern era.
The level design is questionable; rooms existing for the sake of having rooms, weapon balance being very easy to deal with since most enemies can be dealt with the basic Bryar pistol or the blaster. Jumping puzzles exist, and are a novel invention of the game, since they never existed for games like these until Quake started turning it into a rocket jump artform.
Later stages don't provide you much to go with, as some rooms are ostensibly locked and it's not until you bother to check your items in your inventory that you realize the keycode is there instead of Doom's intuitive keycard system.
In fact, some stages have walls and pathways that tend not to make sense in terms of progression, leaving you groping around walls to find where you need to go.
The latter point is what made me unfortunately shelve the game.
If you can stomach the arcane limitations of its time and age, then by all means, please go ahead and play this wonderful remaster. If you need something more intuitive, I think you're better off playing Doom 2, Quake or Half Life.
2021
The presentation is pretty great, but the game is definitely B-Tier Bandai Namco.
With this in mind you may be able to enjoy the game if you didn't expect too much in the first place.
With this in mind you may be able to enjoy the game if you didn't expect too much in the first place.
2021
As a fan of this series, I would actually rate this 2 more stars higher than the indicated rating. So why is it actually low?
The game has a plethora of highly-expensive DLCs, and without it, the game is basically just a slightly-worse R-Type Final, which in itself can't hold a candle up to the older R-Type games save R-Type II.
The gameplay, like all R-Type games, rely less on twitch and more on memorization and trial and error.
I still wouldn't recommend this game if only because of its price point.
The game has a plethora of highly-expensive DLCs, and without it, the game is basically just a slightly-worse R-Type Final, which in itself can't hold a candle up to the older R-Type games save R-Type II.
The gameplay, like all R-Type games, rely less on twitch and more on memorization and trial and error.
I still wouldn't recommend this game if only because of its price point.
1998
BG1 and BG2 with Dragonspear
2021
I'm still a Noa Simp.
2021
Very grindy. I should abandon this, but I end up coming back to it.
Despite the graphics, this is actually a soulslike.
70 hours in, I am still somewhere in the midgame.
Despite the graphics, this is actually a soulslike.
70 hours in, I am still somewhere in the midgame.
2021
Has a LOT of content and is pretty solid. It also attempts to alleviate the 2 attack Robot Wars trend that has been bucking the series as of late.
However, the animations are lackluster and all over the place. Still, I must recognize the game for what it is, and I would have rated this 2 and a half if it were up to me, but it does have enough content to make it a solid recommend.
However, the animations are lackluster and all over the place. Still, I must recognize the game for what it is, and I would have rated this 2 and a half if it were up to me, but it does have enough content to make it a solid recommend.