Yoshijammer
29 reviews liked by Yoshijammer
Hylics
2015
The cutscene that plays when using the dynamite on a battle is the single best thing ever implemented in any videogame in all of human history and I’m only mildly exaggerating.
A macabre festival where the dance never ends, a fever dream made out of bones and clay; Hylics manages to perfectly capture the feeling of a nightmare that seems to be completely absurd, yet it manages to craft meaning within the spiral of chaos. Places with random names located in islands that make no sense; mazes and entire worlds inside machines down ladders that somehow connect, and half of the odd weirdos you come across seem to speak in riddles and the other half take the insanity of this realm as another Tuesday, but all share the incredibly exaggerated animations, that range from the smoothest hand and clay movement you could think of in battles to just three frames for each walk cycle, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
If Hylics delivers something in spades, it’s definitively a sense of style, of harsh clay figurines and contrasting colors, of poems and jokes, with mountaintops populated by cone-shaped cultists and an afterlife full of fishes and a couch. I could list every single area and enemy in this game and say, ‘’WoAH! That was pretty weird and cool!’’, but I think the fact the game is just that, an avalanche of nonsense and weird shapes—and somehow finds a way to make an actually pretty simple tale and a world that has some sort of meaning and makes sense—is far more impressive than the weird moments themselves.
The harsh and quiet melodies, the special moves you get by watching the TVs, the pals you meet along the way; it’s really hard to talk about individual aspects of Hylics because everything seems intrinsically connected with each other and totally unique at the same time, which ironically makes it so some of the moments that stand out like a sore thumb are those in which it feels like the game doesn’t go nuts enough with its ideas.
The combat system, as crazy as some of the attacks get, is still pretty light; there are some cool things about it, like how it connects to the afterlife, some item interactions, and how the game’s own openness makes meeting allies and gaining abilities completely up to you. But I think that’s where the interest peaks, in how the combat is pretty determined by what you do outside of it, and when it comes to battles themselves, while there are some interesting bosses, it soon became pretty clear others are just damage sponges and that you can become pretty powerful very easily, and that plus how the areas are designed often makes combat seem more like a chore you sometimes do to get past a certain point or gain meat and money, and that otherwise evading conflict is often the faster, less annoying option.
And again, it’s in these battles where some of the more abstract and impressive animations can be found, and if anything, the final area and boss fight will ask of you to have gotten many special secret moves and quite the amount of bucks, so it isn’t completely valueless to engage in combat, but in a game with such a crazy atmosphere and universe, I was hoping for something far more engaging.
I was hoping to see more of the party members, who seem to lose their mouths the moment they join you. I was hoping for some of the puzzles to be more out there. I was hoping for more of its insane style to slip into other areas, like the menus or the secrets… Hylics presents an impossibly creative world, and even if it doesn’t last longer than it needs to and it's full of amazing stuff, it feels as if its full potential has yet to be achieved.
But what was accomplished is unforgettable; despite wishing I got to see more of their personalities, the yellow devil and his three friends singing and playing in a bar in the middle of nowhere and plowing through the forces of the moon before facing the final fiend are some amazing moments that made me laugh despite no words being said. Wade is a menace, but not one that has to be locked up; in fact, it should be let out even more wild. Godspeed, you crazy bastard…
Also, big fan of Somsnosa, it’s always nice to see another hat with horns appreciator…
A macabre festival where the dance never ends, a fever dream made out of bones and clay; Hylics manages to perfectly capture the feeling of a nightmare that seems to be completely absurd, yet it manages to craft meaning within the spiral of chaos. Places with random names located in islands that make no sense; mazes and entire worlds inside machines down ladders that somehow connect, and half of the odd weirdos you come across seem to speak in riddles and the other half take the insanity of this realm as another Tuesday, but all share the incredibly exaggerated animations, that range from the smoothest hand and clay movement you could think of in battles to just three frames for each walk cycle, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
If Hylics delivers something in spades, it’s definitively a sense of style, of harsh clay figurines and contrasting colors, of poems and jokes, with mountaintops populated by cone-shaped cultists and an afterlife full of fishes and a couch. I could list every single area and enemy in this game and say, ‘’WoAH! That was pretty weird and cool!’’, but I think the fact the game is just that, an avalanche of nonsense and weird shapes—and somehow finds a way to make an actually pretty simple tale and a world that has some sort of meaning and makes sense—is far more impressive than the weird moments themselves.
The harsh and quiet melodies, the special moves you get by watching the TVs, the pals you meet along the way; it’s really hard to talk about individual aspects of Hylics because everything seems intrinsically connected with each other and totally unique at the same time, which ironically makes it so some of the moments that stand out like a sore thumb are those in which it feels like the game doesn’t go nuts enough with its ideas.
The combat system, as crazy as some of the attacks get, is still pretty light; there are some cool things about it, like how it connects to the afterlife, some item interactions, and how the game’s own openness makes meeting allies and gaining abilities completely up to you. But I think that’s where the interest peaks, in how the combat is pretty determined by what you do outside of it, and when it comes to battles themselves, while there are some interesting bosses, it soon became pretty clear others are just damage sponges and that you can become pretty powerful very easily, and that plus how the areas are designed often makes combat seem more like a chore you sometimes do to get past a certain point or gain meat and money, and that otherwise evading conflict is often the faster, less annoying option.
And again, it’s in these battles where some of the more abstract and impressive animations can be found, and if anything, the final area and boss fight will ask of you to have gotten many special secret moves and quite the amount of bucks, so it isn’t completely valueless to engage in combat, but in a game with such a crazy atmosphere and universe, I was hoping for something far more engaging.
I was hoping to see more of the party members, who seem to lose their mouths the moment they join you. I was hoping for some of the puzzles to be more out there. I was hoping for more of its insane style to slip into other areas, like the menus or the secrets… Hylics presents an impossibly creative world, and even if it doesn’t last longer than it needs to and it's full of amazing stuff, it feels as if its full potential has yet to be achieved.
But what was accomplished is unforgettable; despite wishing I got to see more of their personalities, the yellow devil and his three friends singing and playing in a bar in the middle of nowhere and plowing through the forces of the moon before facing the final fiend are some amazing moments that made me laugh despite no words being said. Wade is a menace, but not one that has to be locked up; in fact, it should be let out even more wild. Godspeed, you crazy bastard…
Also, big fan of Somsnosa, it’s always nice to see another hat with horns appreciator…
Minecraft Minigames NEED to make a return. Peak multiplayer experience.
The town I'm in has this in close proximity to a bar, so I can finally drink and drive as god intended
(9-year-old's review, typed by his dad)
I'm very good at it, and I like spamming stickers. Mostly the "MISSED" sticker, it's a evil Bowser, and it's HECKLING
I'm very good at it, and I like spamming stickers. Mostly the "MISSED" sticker, it's a evil Bowser, and it's HECKLING
Secret Agent Clank
2008
If you play this on a backwards compatible PS3 when you are in the Ratchet prison shower scene you can pause the game and the towel around his waist disappears and as a kid I thought it was the funniest shit ever.
Pokémon Chess
2023
Pokémon Chess is an unbalanced mess... it really feels like a true official competitive experience, only instead of Landorus Therian and Urshifus, you get ice Queens!
I really do enjoy some of its ideas: I'm always up to a more chaotic reinterpretation of a game like chess, and changes like the type effectiveness and the complete erasure of the concept of check do transform it into a far more aggressive game in a good way. In here is doing or you don't, except that even if you do it, the game may say ''y'know? fuck you in particular!''.
If you ask, I'm not really saying it from experience, 'cause for some reason this game adores me. It has helped me to every single opportunity and saved me from every single fuck up, and you know, I appreciate the help, but you gotta let go, Pokémon Chess, it's not you, it's... no wait it really is you.
I know that Pokémon and RNG are intrinsically related, but the way the newly introduced luck messes with the base balance of chess completely ruins it. Sure, it's fun to get a critical hit and blast through your opponent the first time, but after a while it really sets in how fishing for those moments ruins the strategizing potential of the game and how the possibility of missing seems specifically added to either create an incredibly annoying mechanic or make le funny internet moments. Pokémon is, even at its most questionable, entirely designed around RNG, chess isn’t. And not enough changes have been made to accommodate such an inclusion.
It’s a gimmick that gets old fast but can be fun with friends, which is about what I expected it to be, but that doesn’t change the fact that this is a little novelty and very little else, it really is what says on the packaging.
Having said that tho, the fact the low HP music from B&W plays when you are in ‘’check’’ is a damn good detail, that caught me off guard and was pretty cool, +5 points for that alone!
I really do enjoy some of its ideas: I'm always up to a more chaotic reinterpretation of a game like chess, and changes like the type effectiveness and the complete erasure of the concept of check do transform it into a far more aggressive game in a good way. In here is doing or you don't, except that even if you do it, the game may say ''y'know? fuck you in particular!''.
If you ask, I'm not really saying it from experience, 'cause for some reason this game adores me. It has helped me to every single opportunity and saved me from every single fuck up, and you know, I appreciate the help, but you gotta let go, Pokémon Chess, it's not you, it's... no wait it really is you.
I know that Pokémon and RNG are intrinsically related, but the way the newly introduced luck messes with the base balance of chess completely ruins it. Sure, it's fun to get a critical hit and blast through your opponent the first time, but after a while it really sets in how fishing for those moments ruins the strategizing potential of the game and how the possibility of missing seems specifically added to either create an incredibly annoying mechanic or make le funny internet moments. Pokémon is, even at its most questionable, entirely designed around RNG, chess isn’t. And not enough changes have been made to accommodate such an inclusion.
It’s a gimmick that gets old fast but can be fun with friends, which is about what I expected it to be, but that doesn’t change the fact that this is a little novelty and very little else, it really is what says on the packaging.
Having said that tho, the fact the low HP music from B&W plays when you are in ‘’check’’ is a damn good detail, that caught me off guard and was pretty cool, +5 points for that alone!
JACBOZZB
THE TRIAL OF DEEMON
The accused is charged with multiple crimes, such as leaving and detonating random weapon-shaped explosives in the middle of public spaces, defamation of Mr. Jimmy ‘’Jimmy T’’ Thang in a court of law, and latest of all, being the main suspect behind the Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog™. How does the defendant plead?
-… I believe that it’s in my best interest to speak with my lawyers first…
=================================================
So… if you’ve read any of my Sonic related reviews, you may have noticed that I share a strange relation with the blue mammal, and by strange I mean that despite claiming I’m familiar with the character and the series, before this year I had beaten like… 2 of his games. And hey, it’s not my fault that I happen to suck balls at the speedy simulators… well maybe it is but I digress; my point is that yeah, only now I am finally really getting into the Sonic franchise as a whole an learning more of its philosophy and design decisions, but much, MUCH before that, I became a fan more-so because of its world and characters… I’m gonna point to Sonic X as the main culprit for that because I have no fucking clue how I learnt of these guys personalities otherwise.
Still, it’s not like I was ever a big fan, even in my youngest years I probably would have said I was more of a Mario guy just after finishing eating crayons, but that didn’t change the fact that I actually quite enjoyed the personalities of Sonic’s cast; I really loved the main trio of Sonic, Tails and Knuckles, Robotnik is to this day one of my favorite videogame villains thanks to its personality and the fact its still a sort of meme among me and my friends, and Vector was always the coolest fucking guy to ever walk a 2D or 3D space so of course he would become my favorite character in the franchise. These and all of the Mobius inhabitants have an unequivocal charm that’s easy to like, even when the games and stories they tackle pull off some weird ass shit, you are bound to find at least one of the characters pretty charismatic. I myself tend to prefer when Sonic its at its more cartoony, its more goofy and laid-back, cause even then it manages to make some interesting narratives and seeing these Looney Toon motherfuckers interact and evolve even with its incredibly define quirks and traits it’s a joy (and you thought I was pedantic already, watch me when I pull my full blown analysis on Sonic’s narrative and characterization…)
The series knew how to be charming with its protagonist and it captivated me through that, but it wasn’t enough to grab me completely and convince me to sit through the games till their ending, and a big reason that I didn’t fall off completely from the franchise is in big part thanks to my girlfriend, who is much bigger fan of Sonic than I, despite having a kind of love-hate relationship with the series. But aside from the likes of Mania and Generations, I still reluctant to getting more into the games, of finally seeing more of Sonic and their buddies aside from random cinematics on youtube and clips from SatAM, but in the back of my mind, I was always secretly waiting for a perhaps more narrative focused Sonic game, one that kept the simplicity and goofiness that I love, but was more about the characters and interactions, something that finally gave the chance for this fellas to shine once again, to captivate me once again…
It's honestly fucking hilarious that the way they did it was by killing the son of a bitch.
=================================================
Mr.Deemon, you seem to be doing a mockery out of this court room, I’m gonna ask you once again to speak the truth and nothing by the truth, stop avoiding the question and telling us, did you Murder Sonic the Hedgehog™?
-Well first of all that feels like too direct and personal of a question, but I’ll say that that this all very funny to put the blame on me considering that porcupine’s obsession with dying; like, have you see him falling to his death time and time again? Have you seen his obsession with drowning clearly visible in its first game? Have you seen his reluctance to make a normal-ass jump like a basic platformer mascot? Have you tried controlling him through a fucking touch screen? Have you tried getting the fucKING CHAOS EMERALDS WITHOUT LOSING YOUR SANIITY?! I DID, AND YEAH, I ADMIDT IT, I KILLED THE BLUE BASTARD, THE POINTY MOTHERFUCKER WAS PRACTICALLY ASKING FOR IT, AND YOU KNOW WHAT? I’D DO IT AGAIN, ‘CAUSE I LIKE IT, I-
=================================================
Funny thing is, I already saw everything this game and to offer back when I watched my girlfriend play it, but decided to hold on writing a review for it until I tried it for myself… let’s just say it took a while for that to happen.
Still, even after my replay and trying for myself the little active gameplay it has to offer, that first experience of seeing it it’s what I think of first when ponding about it, and I mean, obviously it was a ton of more fun, but even beyond that, I think that playing it that way, with someone else by your side, was by far the best way anyone could experience The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog .
To be surprised just as it released on Steam to the surprise of all and the excitement of many (my girlfriend one of them), to jump together into whatever this was about to be, to be enamored by the amazing drawn art-style, to laugh and enjoy at the actually pretty funny jokes, to give voices to each of the characters and trying that they somewhat fit but then failing miserably (something I seem to be an expert of when it comes to voice-acting) and just… enjoying this wonderful, out of nowhere surprise.
Looking at the dates, it’s clear that they wanted this to be some kind of free April fools spoof, but it’s so much, much more than that. The passion and effort put into is clear as day, it’s nothing crazy of course, but it didn’t have to be that, hell, it didn’t even have to exist in the first place, but it does! And I’m so glad it’s thing if only for that wonderful random heist scene, for the snarky-ass dialogue that got a chuckle out of me several times, for sharing that fun moment with someone else that enjoys these characters as much as I and even more, to feel that warmth of a cozy, cartoony adventure… and most of all to see Vector once againLET’S GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO VECTOR THE GOAT BABY BUY TEAM CHAOTIX LET’S GOOOOOOOOO-
Sure, some jokes do not land, the overall murder mystery ends in a super strange and kind of confusing way, it really seemed like they were preparing for the goofiest ending imaginable, which in a way they did, but still, I feel like the way they handled the ending of the investigation felt a bit weird and kind of anticlimactic… and that’s about everything strictly negative I can say, really, it’s just super hard to be grumpy about this.
A small, clearly full of passion project that clearly knows what it wants to aspire to be; a gift to the fans, of people that enjoy this cast of cahracters, and beyond that, just a really fun time. It’s not amazing, it’s not exceptional, it’s far from perfect (I remember back when it released my girlfriend encountered some bugs which… I don’t know how you manage to create bugs in a VN but hey, its certainly on the spirit of the franchise), but it sure is… nice, it’s extremely nice.
Maybe it’s because I revisited it after finishing Sigil II, but it’s hard to not look at this as another gift to its respective community, one that tries to have small surprises, but at its core being a piece of what many wanted, something to enjoy as a whole, and seeing so many people and groups of friends coming together to play this alongside each other and make voice-overs and the such is a wonderful proof of that.
And it’s hard to, being here, finally reviewing this, not to look back on this year, to the memories mad, the wonderful experienced had, and how in a way, this game was one of the things that made me jump into the Sonic series as much as I did this year, and even with its lows and highs, I’m beyond welcomed for it, I’m so happened to have experienced all of this, and I’m not only referring to the Sonic games. Times passes and with it, the year ends, but I know that many more wonderful memories will be made next year, and I cannot wait to make more that surround Sonic and its games, ‘cause even when I seem to be getting mad or disliking it… I can never erase the smile from my face.
… and hey, maybe this change of heart and end of year realization will spare me from court… right?
=================================================
With what I can only refer to as resounding evidence, I close the trial of Deemon v Literally Everyone Else In The Planet by declaring the accused guilty of all charges, his sentence is to be punished by not having roasted chicken in New Year’s Eve
-… FUCK.
=================================================
Happy New Year, everyone!
The accused is charged with multiple crimes, such as leaving and detonating random weapon-shaped explosives in the middle of public spaces, defamation of Mr. Jimmy ‘’Jimmy T’’ Thang in a court of law, and latest of all, being the main suspect behind the Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog™. How does the defendant plead?
-… I believe that it’s in my best interest to speak with my lawyers first…
=================================================
So… if you’ve read any of my Sonic related reviews, you may have noticed that I share a strange relation with the blue mammal, and by strange I mean that despite claiming I’m familiar with the character and the series, before this year I had beaten like… 2 of his games. And hey, it’s not my fault that I happen to suck balls at the speedy simulators… well maybe it is but I digress; my point is that yeah, only now I am finally really getting into the Sonic franchise as a whole an learning more of its philosophy and design decisions, but much, MUCH before that, I became a fan more-so because of its world and characters… I’m gonna point to Sonic X as the main culprit for that because I have no fucking clue how I learnt of these guys personalities otherwise.
Still, it’s not like I was ever a big fan, even in my youngest years I probably would have said I was more of a Mario guy just after finishing eating crayons, but that didn’t change the fact that I actually quite enjoyed the personalities of Sonic’s cast; I really loved the main trio of Sonic, Tails and Knuckles, Robotnik is to this day one of my favorite videogame villains thanks to its personality and the fact its still a sort of meme among me and my friends, and Vector was always the coolest fucking guy to ever walk a 2D or 3D space so of course he would become my favorite character in the franchise. These and all of the Mobius inhabitants have an unequivocal charm that’s easy to like, even when the games and stories they tackle pull off some weird ass shit, you are bound to find at least one of the characters pretty charismatic. I myself tend to prefer when Sonic its at its more cartoony, its more goofy and laid-back, cause even then it manages to make some interesting narratives and seeing these Looney Toon motherfuckers interact and evolve even with its incredibly define quirks and traits it’s a joy (and you thought I was pedantic already, watch me when I pull my full blown analysis on Sonic’s narrative and characterization…)
The series knew how to be charming with its protagonist and it captivated me through that, but it wasn’t enough to grab me completely and convince me to sit through the games till their ending, and a big reason that I didn’t fall off completely from the franchise is in big part thanks to my girlfriend, who is much bigger fan of Sonic than I, despite having a kind of love-hate relationship with the series. But aside from the likes of Mania and Generations, I still reluctant to getting more into the games, of finally seeing more of Sonic and their buddies aside from random cinematics on youtube and clips from SatAM, but in the back of my mind, I was always secretly waiting for a perhaps more narrative focused Sonic game, one that kept the simplicity and goofiness that I love, but was more about the characters and interactions, something that finally gave the chance for this fellas to shine once again, to captivate me once again…
It's honestly fucking hilarious that the way they did it was by killing the son of a bitch.
=================================================
Mr.Deemon, you seem to be doing a mockery out of this court room, I’m gonna ask you once again to speak the truth and nothing by the truth, stop avoiding the question and telling us, did you Murder Sonic the Hedgehog™?
-Well first of all that feels like too direct and personal of a question, but I’ll say that that this all very funny to put the blame on me considering that porcupine’s obsession with dying; like, have you see him falling to his death time and time again? Have you seen his obsession with drowning clearly visible in its first game? Have you seen his reluctance to make a normal-ass jump like a basic platformer mascot? Have you tried controlling him through a fucking touch screen? Have you tried getting the fucKING CHAOS EMERALDS WITHOUT LOSING YOUR SANIITY?! I DID, AND YEAH, I ADMIDT IT, I KILLED THE BLUE BASTARD, THE POINTY MOTHERFUCKER WAS PRACTICALLY ASKING FOR IT, AND YOU KNOW WHAT? I’D DO IT AGAIN, ‘CAUSE I LIKE IT, I-
=================================================
Funny thing is, I already saw everything this game and to offer back when I watched my girlfriend play it, but decided to hold on writing a review for it until I tried it for myself… let’s just say it took a while for that to happen.
Still, even after my replay and trying for myself the little active gameplay it has to offer, that first experience of seeing it it’s what I think of first when ponding about it, and I mean, obviously it was a ton of more fun, but even beyond that, I think that playing it that way, with someone else by your side, was by far the best way anyone could experience The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog .
To be surprised just as it released on Steam to the surprise of all and the excitement of many (my girlfriend one of them), to jump together into whatever this was about to be, to be enamored by the amazing drawn art-style, to laugh and enjoy at the actually pretty funny jokes, to give voices to each of the characters and trying that they somewhat fit but then failing miserably (something I seem to be an expert of when it comes to voice-acting) and just… enjoying this wonderful, out of nowhere surprise.
Looking at the dates, it’s clear that they wanted this to be some kind of free April fools spoof, but it’s so much, much more than that. The passion and effort put into is clear as day, it’s nothing crazy of course, but it didn’t have to be that, hell, it didn’t even have to exist in the first place, but it does! And I’m so glad it’s thing if only for that wonderful random heist scene, for the snarky-ass dialogue that got a chuckle out of me several times, for sharing that fun moment with someone else that enjoys these characters as much as I and even more, to feel that warmth of a cozy, cartoony adventure… and most of all to see Vector once againLET’S GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO VECTOR THE GOAT BABY BUY TEAM CHAOTIX LET’S GOOOOOOOOO-
Sure, some jokes do not land, the overall murder mystery ends in a super strange and kind of confusing way, it really seemed like they were preparing for the goofiest ending imaginable, which in a way they did, but still, I feel like the way they handled the ending of the investigation felt a bit weird and kind of anticlimactic… and that’s about everything strictly negative I can say, really, it’s just super hard to be grumpy about this.
A small, clearly full of passion project that clearly knows what it wants to aspire to be; a gift to the fans, of people that enjoy this cast of cahracters, and beyond that, just a really fun time. It’s not amazing, it’s not exceptional, it’s far from perfect (I remember back when it released my girlfriend encountered some bugs which… I don’t know how you manage to create bugs in a VN but hey, its certainly on the spirit of the franchise), but it sure is… nice, it’s extremely nice.
Maybe it’s because I revisited it after finishing Sigil II, but it’s hard to not look at this as another gift to its respective community, one that tries to have small surprises, but at its core being a piece of what many wanted, something to enjoy as a whole, and seeing so many people and groups of friends coming together to play this alongside each other and make voice-overs and the such is a wonderful proof of that.
And it’s hard to, being here, finally reviewing this, not to look back on this year, to the memories mad, the wonderful experienced had, and how in a way, this game was one of the things that made me jump into the Sonic series as much as I did this year, and even with its lows and highs, I’m beyond welcomed for it, I’m so happened to have experienced all of this, and I’m not only referring to the Sonic games. Times passes and with it, the year ends, but I know that many more wonderful memories will be made next year, and I cannot wait to make more that surround Sonic and its games, ‘cause even when I seem to be getting mad or disliking it… I can never erase the smile from my face.
… and hey, maybe this change of heart and end of year realization will spare me from court… right?
=================================================
With what I can only refer to as resounding evidence, I close the trial of Deemon v Literally Everyone Else In The Planet by declaring the accused guilty of all charges, his sentence is to be punished by not having roasted chicken in New Year’s Eve
-… FUCK.
=================================================
Happy New Year, everyone!
Halfway through this I realized how much Mr. Coo reminded me of the Little Ceasars guy and now I can't unsee it; I've been cursed with this realization, and now everyone else shall be too.
In the multiple reviews I’ve written, in only a few of them I’ve tackled how the conditions or outside factors affected directly to the development of the game in question; I’ve always loved talking about the design processes and ideas that take place within the minds of developers during the making of a work and how this impacted the game or in some cases the whole industry as a whole, but when it comes to talking about what actually happened behind the curtain, the only times I’ve really done that were in my Journey, Sticker Star and Sonic Adventure reviews. And it's not that these kinds of tales are uncommon, I don’t think I have to tell you how sadly this pattern of difficult conditions is something that is as common as the sunset, time and time again it happens and time and time again it fucking sucks, and the only reason I haven’t talked about it as much it’s either because it luckily didn’t happen in many of the games I’ve written about or I didn’t see fit to mention it (or in some other it may be the case that developers haven’t even spoken about it). Games are still a form of art and they will always be that, and it just happens that in the way I review art I try to focus on the final product and the impact it has or may have had, and the reason I’m saying all of this it’s because for me to talk about The Many Pieces of Mr.Coo in any meaningful way, it’s imperative that I mention everything that happened before and after its release, ‘cause it’s one of those cases were both the game itself.
When looking at Mr. Coo’s little adventure purely on its own, without knowing anything else, talking about is pretty straightforward: It’s a visual delight in every single way possible; the work put to create the animations that give life to the characters and backgrounds that make up the scenery of this funny and dark surrealist world is beyond commendable. I’m kinda liking this accidental tradition of playing one surrealist adventure game per year, because the result is always so special; The Many Pieces of Mr.Coo has charm and creativity oozing from every possible angle, it’s a nonstop barrage of absurdism that works incredibly well, and not only it does serve to produce jaw-dropping visuals and a blend of styles that doesn’t feel jarring in the slightest, it also creates an amazing collection of puzzles that are as crazy as the game itself. Some of this are perhaps a little too weird and fall in that same Same & Max paradox in which it becomes sometimes impossible to really figure out what you need to do next, tho in this case the hint system helps a ton, and it incentivizes trying to think of the solution before using it, and sometimes some hints still require some stuff to figure out that are much more manageable. During two thirds of the total chapters, it’s a joy to play, a little fun adventure that’s displays some insanely good visuals and fun challenges…. But then the last batch of sections happens. It’s not that it gets worse, as in these final moments we still see some really cool ideas in both visuals and puzzling, rather, it’s like witnessing a plane crashing down as it tries to land in the airport because suddenly every machine possible decided to break down.
Even almost three months after its initial release, these final sections are plagued with bugs and glitches that completely break the game. This is no simple minor issue which I’d usually ignore, this are glaring problems that either break your immersion (like Coo’s legs just casually walking below the background or the click register sometimes being completely broken) or straight-up break the entire game, forcing you to quit and restart from the beginning of the section, and keep in mind that we have that luxury only now, when it first released there was no saving system, so if it the game made it impossible to progress because it decided to.. have fun starting from the very beginning! These problems come together in the final challenge, one that on paper was very interesting and fun, but in practice feels sloppy, unfairly hard and has the risk or completely breaking in a certain point, all culminating in that ending… oh god the ending… One thing is to have such an cliffhanger after a finale that was seemingly crumbling down, and another thing is to tell you to replay the game to get 100 sloppily put and hard to get collectables to get a secret ending that amounts to nothing, it really takes some cojones to make people feel like they completely lost their time. And the worst part about all of this, the single part about the whole game and the whole third act, it’s that it wasn’t gonna be this way, but it was forced to be released broken beyond repair.
Creative director Nacho Rodríguez hasn’t been shy about the sheer incompetence and unprofessionalism of Gammera Nest, studio that was helping both developing ang publishing the game. They were pretty much rushing the game out the door, fully knowing just how unfinished it was, and Nacho as well as well as the rest of team of animators tried by all means to communicate with Gammera Nest to try to give the game more time to polish, but it’s not that the company shut down those request, they didn’t even bother to acknowledge them. The game was basically kidnapped into stores, forced to released even tho it need more time, more work, more polish, and Gammera knew this, Nacho knew this and tried everything to make it right, but in the end it happened, and now we have a game that could have been so much more from the get go and a legal battle that it’s creator never wanted. And the saddest part about this is that it shouldn’t surprise us: Gammera Nest has a long history of poor communication, complete and insulting unprofessionalism and even intimidation; they are the team behing Spain’s PlayStation Talents, a complete joke and embarrassment of an initiative that treated indie developers like an used tissue and that made many scared to speak up about what was happening in there, and many others to outright leave the industry as a whole. It’s CEO, Daniel Sánchez, has made clear multiple times that he doesn’t see art in this industry, he sees an opportunity to make some bucks at the cost of others, and he has made sure to build the company based around the idea and as well as to spit out some completely meaningless and dumb things over the years. They had struck gold like so many times before, but refused to see anything beyond the many they could make out of this ‘’product’’, and that’s what makes me sad, what makes me mad, what makes me lament Mr. Coo’s fate…
And yet, despite this, despite the finale to this story, despite releasing broken, what Nacho and the rest of the team pulled off despite it all is worth standing up and clapping. They built the most visually crazy and interesting game I’ve seen the entire year with some really cool puzzles and made this shine despite the conditions and despite its unfair fate. They deserve all the possible respect and appreciation for their work they can receive, there really is something special under the bugs and glitches, something that shines at full force and made me both smile and laugh. The Many Pices of Mr. Coo didn’t deserve to go through all this, none in the team did, but even in the worst circumstances, is worth appreciating the good, and in this surrealist, colorful little world, there’s a ton to love.
In the multiple reviews I’ve written, in only a few of them I’ve tackled how the conditions or outside factors affected directly to the development of the game in question; I’ve always loved talking about the design processes and ideas that take place within the minds of developers during the making of a work and how this impacted the game or in some cases the whole industry as a whole, but when it comes to talking about what actually happened behind the curtain, the only times I’ve really done that were in my Journey, Sticker Star and Sonic Adventure reviews. And it's not that these kinds of tales are uncommon, I don’t think I have to tell you how sadly this pattern of difficult conditions is something that is as common as the sunset, time and time again it happens and time and time again it fucking sucks, and the only reason I haven’t talked about it as much it’s either because it luckily didn’t happen in many of the games I’ve written about or I didn’t see fit to mention it (or in some other it may be the case that developers haven’t even spoken about it). Games are still a form of art and they will always be that, and it just happens that in the way I review art I try to focus on the final product and the impact it has or may have had, and the reason I’m saying all of this it’s because for me to talk about The Many Pieces of Mr.Coo in any meaningful way, it’s imperative that I mention everything that happened before and after its release, ‘cause it’s one of those cases were both the game itself.
When looking at Mr. Coo’s little adventure purely on its own, without knowing anything else, talking about is pretty straightforward: It’s a visual delight in every single way possible; the work put to create the animations that give life to the characters and backgrounds that make up the scenery of this funny and dark surrealist world is beyond commendable. I’m kinda liking this accidental tradition of playing one surrealist adventure game per year, because the result is always so special; The Many Pieces of Mr.Coo has charm and creativity oozing from every possible angle, it’s a nonstop barrage of absurdism that works incredibly well, and not only it does serve to produce jaw-dropping visuals and a blend of styles that doesn’t feel jarring in the slightest, it also creates an amazing collection of puzzles that are as crazy as the game itself. Some of this are perhaps a little too weird and fall in that same Same & Max paradox in which it becomes sometimes impossible to really figure out what you need to do next, tho in this case the hint system helps a ton, and it incentivizes trying to think of the solution before using it, and sometimes some hints still require some stuff to figure out that are much more manageable. During two thirds of the total chapters, it’s a joy to play, a little fun adventure that’s displays some insanely good visuals and fun challenges…. But then the last batch of sections happens. It’s not that it gets worse, as in these final moments we still see some really cool ideas in both visuals and puzzling, rather, it’s like witnessing a plane crashing down as it tries to land in the airport because suddenly every machine possible decided to break down.
Even almost three months after its initial release, these final sections are plagued with bugs and glitches that completely break the game. This is no simple minor issue which I’d usually ignore, this are glaring problems that either break your immersion (like Coo’s legs just casually walking below the background or the click register sometimes being completely broken) or straight-up break the entire game, forcing you to quit and restart from the beginning of the section, and keep in mind that we have that luxury only now, when it first released there was no saving system, so if it the game made it impossible to progress because it decided to.. have fun starting from the very beginning! These problems come together in the final challenge, one that on paper was very interesting and fun, but in practice feels sloppy, unfairly hard and has the risk or completely breaking in a certain point, all culminating in that ending… oh god the ending… One thing is to have such an cliffhanger after a finale that was seemingly crumbling down, and another thing is to tell you to replay the game to get 100 sloppily put and hard to get collectables to get a secret ending that amounts to nothing, it really takes some cojones to make people feel like they completely lost their time. And the worst part about all of this, the single part about the whole game and the whole third act, it’s that it wasn’t gonna be this way, but it was forced to be released broken beyond repair.
Creative director Nacho Rodríguez hasn’t been shy about the sheer incompetence and unprofessionalism of Gammera Nest, studio that was helping both developing ang publishing the game. They were pretty much rushing the game out the door, fully knowing just how unfinished it was, and Nacho as well as well as the rest of team of animators tried by all means to communicate with Gammera Nest to try to give the game more time to polish, but it’s not that the company shut down those request, they didn’t even bother to acknowledge them. The game was basically kidnapped into stores, forced to released even tho it need more time, more work, more polish, and Gammera knew this, Nacho knew this and tried everything to make it right, but in the end it happened, and now we have a game that could have been so much more from the get go and a legal battle that it’s creator never wanted. And the saddest part about this is that it shouldn’t surprise us: Gammera Nest has a long history of poor communication, complete and insulting unprofessionalism and even intimidation; they are the team behing Spain’s PlayStation Talents, a complete joke and embarrassment of an initiative that treated indie developers like an used tissue and that made many scared to speak up about what was happening in there, and many others to outright leave the industry as a whole. It’s CEO, Daniel Sánchez, has made clear multiple times that he doesn’t see art in this industry, he sees an opportunity to make some bucks at the cost of others, and he has made sure to build the company based around the idea and as well as to spit out some completely meaningless and dumb things over the years. They had struck gold like so many times before, but refused to see anything beyond the many they could make out of this ‘’product’’, and that’s what makes me sad, what makes me mad, what makes me lament Mr. Coo’s fate…
And yet, despite this, despite the finale to this story, despite releasing broken, what Nacho and the rest of the team pulled off despite it all is worth standing up and clapping. They built the most visually crazy and interesting game I’ve seen the entire year with some really cool puzzles and made this shine despite the conditions and despite its unfair fate. They deserve all the possible respect and appreciation for their work they can receive, there really is something special under the bugs and glitches, something that shines at full force and made me both smile and laugh. The Many Pices of Mr. Coo didn’t deserve to go through all this, none in the team did, but even in the worst circumstances, is worth appreciating the good, and in this surrealist, colorful little world, there’s a ton to love.
ChocuPixel
2022
What is a Chocu? Good question, my fellows, and well; Chocu is life, Chocu is hope, Chocu is the light in times of death and desolation, Chocu is a friend, and as with every other friend, you don't question them about the children he uses to mine cereal.
I originally planned on writing this review in spanish since Chocu as a concept is something that will mostly only ring a bell to Spaniard twitter users (and also just to keep the funny and absurdity going), but why must be Chocu, Doctor, Hipo Juan and their glorious fantastic excellent incredible fantastic unbelievable magnificent adventures be relegated to be known by only a select few? EVERYONE deserves toshare my suffering know about these funny little absolutely not stolen cereal mascots and their whacky misadventures!
ChocuPixel is the follow up to the absolute industry changer commonly known as ChocuJuego, and right from the get go there are some clear differences and changes brought by the new installment, like the fact that the graphics aren’t an amalgam of stock and stolen images (which includes the likes of photos of former Spanish presidents and popular mascots from food products) or that this one control acceptably, which believe it or not, is a major step up from last time, tho that depends if you are a coward or not.ChocuPixel is a pretty standard platformer, pretty brief, simple, and nothing too special, but that’s ignoring the fact that you can buy a Kirby hat called ‘’La Creatura’’ so you know, not everything has to be a masterpiece for many in depth reasons.
The original ‘’Chocu’’ account is what you would get if a piano fell at full speed on top of a community manager for a known company and they still let them manage the twitter account without giving any kind of medical assistance, and the original ChocuJuego is the equivalent of a small group of people trying to make in one day the shittiest most stupid thing imaginable only for then to put the hard drive it was on in a blender and then trying to salvage was in there while actively trying to make it even more shit; that crappiness, that condensed shit, that defiance in taking very much copyrighted characters from the 2010’s and doing whatever the fuck you want with them, that absurdity, that it’s what I and many others find utterly hilarious about ‘’Chocu’’, the fact that it actively tries to be as poorly done and crude as possible with never being offensive, that it’s what gives me life, that’s what made ChocuJuego so utterly unbelievable as a thing that existed, and that’s what makes ChocuPixel special. The sense of humor and style, the dumb as fuck jokes that shouldn’t be that funny but they just are, that’s what makes going through this remarkable, specially if you are with a friend and can laugh at the sheer stupidity together.
Other than that… is a platformer alright! It has very competent design, some neat ideas and collectables, and it is a unironically fun little while from a gameplay standpoint, all with a completely original and good looking pixel art. But… that’s it, it’s competent, it isn’t fantastic, nor is it utterly heinous, rebellious or bad as ChocuJuego was… and as deranged this may sound, this makes ChocuPixel feel lesser in comparison. It lacks the personality, the man-made sloppiness, the being non-sensical at every single second possible, and by that, it loses a bit what makes Chocu, well, Chocu. It has being almost 5 fucking years since I last played the previous game and I still vividly remember, this however, I’ll remember some of the dialogue, but I’ll probably forget about in a couple of months, even weeks. ChocuPixel is competent, but ChocuJuego was at least unforgettable.
Most of this is probably gibberish to you, and when I play ChocuJuego again is not gonna get much better, but what I’m trying to say is not that the fact the previous entry being bad made it better, is the fact it WANTED to be bad while still managing to be hilarious and incredible what made it so stupidly special. ChocuPixel is also stupid and special, and it made me smile and laugh non-stop, but it feels as if it stops itself from fully being what it is; a dumb parody that isn’t scared of being stupid, and the result of it it’s that it is indeed funny, but that’s pretty much all it is. Not deranged, not crazy, just a little bit funny, but Chocu is more than just that.
And I know what you are thinking: ‘’Did you just spend 800 words talking about a game that comes from a parody Twitter account that is as profound as a wet tissue and probably doesn’t deserve this much of a deep look into it?’’, and to that I can only say…
JAJA, SÍ
I originally planned on writing this review in spanish since Chocu as a concept is something that will mostly only ring a bell to Spaniard twitter users (and also just to keep the funny and absurdity going), but why must be Chocu, Doctor, Hipo Juan and their glorious fantastic excellent incredible fantastic unbelievable magnificent adventures be relegated to be known by only a select few? EVERYONE deserves to
ChocuPixel is the follow up to the absolute industry changer commonly known as ChocuJuego, and right from the get go there are some clear differences and changes brought by the new installment, like the fact that the graphics aren’t an amalgam of stock and stolen images (which includes the likes of photos of former Spanish presidents and popular mascots from food products) or that this one control acceptably, which believe it or not, is a major step up from last time, tho that depends if you are a coward or not.ChocuPixel is a pretty standard platformer, pretty brief, simple, and nothing too special, but that’s ignoring the fact that you can buy a Kirby hat called ‘’La Creatura’’ so you know, not everything has to be a masterpiece for many in depth reasons.
The original ‘’Chocu’’ account is what you would get if a piano fell at full speed on top of a community manager for a known company and they still let them manage the twitter account without giving any kind of medical assistance, and the original ChocuJuego is the equivalent of a small group of people trying to make in one day the shittiest most stupid thing imaginable only for then to put the hard drive it was on in a blender and then trying to salvage was in there while actively trying to make it even more shit; that crappiness, that condensed shit, that defiance in taking very much copyrighted characters from the 2010’s and doing whatever the fuck you want with them, that absurdity, that it’s what I and many others find utterly hilarious about ‘’Chocu’’, the fact that it actively tries to be as poorly done and crude as possible with never being offensive, that it’s what gives me life, that’s what made ChocuJuego so utterly unbelievable as a thing that existed, and that’s what makes ChocuPixel special. The sense of humor and style, the dumb as fuck jokes that shouldn’t be that funny but they just are, that’s what makes going through this remarkable, specially if you are with a friend and can laugh at the sheer stupidity together.
Other than that… is a platformer alright! It has very competent design, some neat ideas and collectables, and it is a unironically fun little while from a gameplay standpoint, all with a completely original and good looking pixel art. But… that’s it, it’s competent, it isn’t fantastic, nor is it utterly heinous, rebellious or bad as ChocuJuego was… and as deranged this may sound, this makes ChocuPixel feel lesser in comparison. It lacks the personality, the man-made sloppiness, the being non-sensical at every single second possible, and by that, it loses a bit what makes Chocu, well, Chocu. It has being almost 5 fucking years since I last played the previous game and I still vividly remember, this however, I’ll remember some of the dialogue, but I’ll probably forget about in a couple of months, even weeks. ChocuPixel is competent, but ChocuJuego was at least unforgettable.
Most of this is probably gibberish to you, and when I play ChocuJuego again is not gonna get much better, but what I’m trying to say is not that the fact the previous entry being bad made it better, is the fact it WANTED to be bad while still managing to be hilarious and incredible what made it so stupidly special. ChocuPixel is also stupid and special, and it made me smile and laugh non-stop, but it feels as if it stops itself from fully being what it is; a dumb parody that isn’t scared of being stupid, and the result of it it’s that it is indeed funny, but that’s pretty much all it is. Not deranged, not crazy, just a little bit funny, but Chocu is more than just that.
And I know what you are thinking: ‘’Did you just spend 800 words talking about a game that comes from a parody Twitter account that is as profound as a wet tissue and probably doesn’t deserve this much of a deep look into it?’’, and to that I can only say…
JAJA, SÍ
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