WAIA
2016
Thumper is...a missed opportunity.
An absolute droning game. I stopped enjoying it around level 5, but I pushed onwards. Now I drop the game right at the end boss of level 9.
It's an on the rail action music game, with visuals that remind me of the Metalheart aesthetic. It gives Thumper a very surreal and distinct look from other games.
The most positive part of thumper is some of its little gimmicks to make levels more interesting. In particular, the one unlocked in level 8.
Thumper is cohesive, but because of this, it is also incredibly boring. A lot of level patches end up being repeated. Feeling the same. It doesn't help that the same hitsounds are being used throughout the entire game, which honestly ends up boring the living hell out of you by the end of it. You could tell me certain levels from 7 were in 6 and I would believe you. It really isn't much of a difference.
This will of "holding together a cohesive style" ends up damaging every corner of the game. Whether in sound effects, level compositions or visual style.
The biggest crime Thumper has is making it more difficult by just speeding the gameplay up. I feel that is incredibly cheap for a "rhythm game". It would have been much better to tone down on the speed but make more complicated levels. (in general, some actual good music would be nice.)
I think Thumper is a very disappointing game where the original thrill of the first levels never comes back after they are completed.
Thumper lacks better levels, better music and better visual design. You have such a cool aesthetic to work with yet most of the levels end up feeling too similar. When the gameplay feels boring, you atleast want some dynamic visuals to enjoy. But alas.
In conclusion, the game and its gameplay mechanics have potential. But it falls very short of even reaching that potential.
Maybe this game is more fun on VR. I have no clue.
An absolute droning game. I stopped enjoying it around level 5, but I pushed onwards. Now I drop the game right at the end boss of level 9.
It's an on the rail action music game, with visuals that remind me of the Metalheart aesthetic. It gives Thumper a very surreal and distinct look from other games.
The most positive part of thumper is some of its little gimmicks to make levels more interesting. In particular, the one unlocked in level 8.
Thumper is cohesive, but because of this, it is also incredibly boring. A lot of level patches end up being repeated. Feeling the same. It doesn't help that the same hitsounds are being used throughout the entire game, which honestly ends up boring the living hell out of you by the end of it. You could tell me certain levels from 7 were in 6 and I would believe you. It really isn't much of a difference.
This will of "holding together a cohesive style" ends up damaging every corner of the game. Whether in sound effects, level compositions or visual style.
The biggest crime Thumper has is making it more difficult by just speeding the gameplay up. I feel that is incredibly cheap for a "rhythm game". It would have been much better to tone down on the speed but make more complicated levels. (in general, some actual good music would be nice.)
I think Thumper is a very disappointing game where the original thrill of the first levels never comes back after they are completed.
Thumper lacks better levels, better music and better visual design. You have such a cool aesthetic to work with yet most of the levels end up feeling too similar. When the gameplay feels boring, you atleast want some dynamic visuals to enjoy. But alas.
In conclusion, the game and its gameplay mechanics have potential. But it falls very short of even reaching that potential.
Maybe this game is more fun on VR. I have no clue.
2015
It is actually not hard to describe what Hylics is but it is hard to describe what it is exactly. Only interpretation of the facets of the game. To me Hylics was all about changing shapes. Morphing. Twisting, Distorting, Changing. The whole game feels like a post-world. Humans don't exist anymore only the objects and that which is human-esque but is not human. Hylics creates a kind of melancholic and solitude with its world and art and music. You have little sparks with the other characters of the game but it all feels a little estranged. By design. The gameplay is pretty average at best for an RPG but I think it's actually alright because I believe the main part of this game was its exploration facet rather than its fighting mechanics. The fights in themselves are set pieces too to be viewed and played with. Though I can't help but wonder if it would have been fun to be able to interract in the fights to a deeper extent rather than what is provided in the game. Maybe a kind of morphing mechanic where you use your mouse to fuse different parts of clay to create a spell or something. The whole world is a-move, twisting and turning. Little creatures explode when you touch them, some share esoteric words. The feeling of being there is so excellent in this sense that I still feel really positive over the fighting.