WitchCian
2017
Really great love letter to classic run and guns like Gunstar Heroes or Contra Hard Corps.
I have one minor quarrel with this game, which is that accessory that gives you i-frames on dodging feels like just, objectively the best one, too good to pass up on, but the actual visual of your character disappearing and reappearing on dodging is difficult to parse and follow in the hectic nature of the fights. Even if this was an intentional trade-off, I don't think making the game harder to follow visually is a fun decision to be making.
Ms. Chalice's kit honestly makes up for this by giving an equally fleshed out kit without the issues of not being able to see your dodge or having to consider what accessory you use, but there are definitely a few attacks in the main game that were not considered with how her parry works. (The card attack in the Bunny fight during the King Dice boss rush is basically unavoidable.)
Still, a visual treat that's a lot of fun to play and I hope it encourages others to seek out more classic Boss Rush Shooters.
I have one minor quarrel with this game, which is that accessory that gives you i-frames on dodging feels like just, objectively the best one, too good to pass up on, but the actual visual of your character disappearing and reappearing on dodging is difficult to parse and follow in the hectic nature of the fights. Even if this was an intentional trade-off, I don't think making the game harder to follow visually is a fun decision to be making.
Ms. Chalice's kit honestly makes up for this by giving an equally fleshed out kit without the issues of not being able to see your dodge or having to consider what accessory you use, but there are definitely a few attacks in the main game that were not considered with how her parry works. (The card attack in the Bunny fight during the King Dice boss rush is basically unavoidable.)
Still, a visual treat that's a lot of fun to play and I hope it encourages others to seek out more classic Boss Rush Shooters.
TBD
Petscop, the supposed Playstation 1 game developed by Garalina that only exists in the form of a youtube Let's Play, is not a video game. However, Petscop, the 24 episode Youtube Series that weaves together an expansive horror mystery narrative through gameplay and commentary, is a video game. To watch the videos, to interpret why Paul is doing the things he is doing, both in and out of the game, to try and work out the mysterious nature of Petscop as a piece of software, peeling back the layers of symbolism, working out solutions to puzzles alongside Paul, That Is Playing Petscop.
2008
2019
2017
2014
2019
An intriguing giallo inspired atmosphere let down by a truly abysmal implementation of Tank Controls that when adjusted either leaves you unable to turn while running or unwieldly spin about in place making aiming a nightmare, coupled with an autosave system that means losing 45 minutes worth of progress should you die. Frustrating as I wanted to see it through but was just too exhausting by the end.
2013
It's so ambitious and full of vision and obviously a technical marvel for getting all this on the Goldsrc engine, and I loved this so much back in the day, but man. A lot of this really doesn't hold up, especially the designers tendency to just spam tons of enemies at you in all scenarios.
The co-op campaign in particular, is hilariously against the tone of the whole thing to the point where it wraps around to being absurd. All the weaknesses of the main game exacerbated into a linear series of combat challenge maps with questionable ammo drops (the scenario of which gets only more ridiculous as you will find plenty of "Donator Only" TMPs placed throughout the campaign).
I played it with a friend in what I thought was a private server but then a random stranger named <rotate=180>amogus joined through bizarre means, who clearly had played the campaign many many times and was just waiting for someone to start it up again, and all of a sudden the vintage Goldsrc experience of playing with a mysterious stranger re-emerged for us, and while those 2 hours weren't necessarily good, it felt like revisiting an old hometown. God bless you, <rotate=180>amogus.
The co-op campaign in particular, is hilariously against the tone of the whole thing to the point where it wraps around to being absurd. All the weaknesses of the main game exacerbated into a linear series of combat challenge maps with questionable ammo drops (the scenario of which gets only more ridiculous as you will find plenty of "Donator Only" TMPs placed throughout the campaign).
I played it with a friend in what I thought was a private server but then a random stranger named <rotate=180>amogus joined through bizarre means, who clearly had played the campaign many many times and was just waiting for someone to start it up again, and all of a sudden the vintage Goldsrc experience of playing with a mysterious stranger re-emerged for us, and while those 2 hours weren't necessarily good, it felt like revisiting an old hometown. God bless you, <rotate=180>amogus.
2022
2012
2023
I couldn't exactly tell you what it is about Side Arms that I like so much. I had never heard of it before it appeared in the virtual arcade of Street Fighter 6's Battle Hub, but immediately upon playing it I clocked it as something of a pseudo sequel to Section Z, a more fondly remembered Capcom shooter from the era.
Side Arms starts incredibly strongly, taking the two button directional shooting from Section Z and combining it with a Gradius style weapon system and really excellent graphics and sound. Side Arms revels in spectacle, and this is exemplified no better than when you find the secret AlphaBeta power up which has both Player 1 and Player 2 to combine into a super robot with a devastating 8 way attack. There's an adorable little transforming animation where the two ships combine and you then gain an extra hit point.
I love the environment design, which manages to stay nice and varied for its entire runtime, but unfortunately the same can't be said to the bosses, which there are only two for the whole game.
Aesthetically a lot was clearly taken from popular robot anime of the time (stage 4 has little Zakus jumping around as enemies and its very cute.) but honestly there's a lot of charm here. The protagonist Mobichan would go on to appear as an easter egg in many other Capcom games, notably on the title screen of Street Fighter 2, and I just don't know, the whole thing is so endearing to me. It's not a perfect game and there are many better shooters out there, but I've got a lot of love in my heart for it.
Side Arms starts incredibly strongly, taking the two button directional shooting from Section Z and combining it with a Gradius style weapon system and really excellent graphics and sound. Side Arms revels in spectacle, and this is exemplified no better than when you find the secret AlphaBeta power up which has both Player 1 and Player 2 to combine into a super robot with a devastating 8 way attack. There's an adorable little transforming animation where the two ships combine and you then gain an extra hit point.
I love the environment design, which manages to stay nice and varied for its entire runtime, but unfortunately the same can't be said to the bosses, which there are only two for the whole game.
Aesthetically a lot was clearly taken from popular robot anime of the time (stage 4 has little Zakus jumping around as enemies and its very cute.) but honestly there's a lot of charm here. The protagonist Mobichan would go on to appear as an easter egg in many other Capcom games, notably on the title screen of Street Fighter 2, and I just don't know, the whole thing is so endearing to me. It's not a perfect game and there are many better shooters out there, but I've got a lot of love in my heart for it.