This was a technical marvel in its time, but the fact that G-MODE released this on modern systems before an actual DOJ release is just legendary.
The game itself is a certified DoDonPocho (Spanish pun where pocho means something close to "withered" in a casual manner). The fact that it manages to be so close to the actual thing is both a big achievement and a curse. It's amazing they even managed to make this a reality for phones of that era, but nowadays what's the point of even playing this when you can play the OG?
The LULZ, of course.
It's a novel and curious way to play DOJ, but most importantly, an inexpensive one, so if you're a Cave fan you might feel like playing this and have a chill time and while you're at it, throw a couple of bucks to the folks at G-MODE for their preservation efforts which are SEVERELY underrated.
The game itself is a certified DoDonPocho (Spanish pun where pocho means something close to "withered" in a casual manner). The fact that it manages to be so close to the actual thing is both a big achievement and a curse. It's amazing they even managed to make this a reality for phones of that era, but nowadays what's the point of even playing this when you can play the OG?
The LULZ, of course.
It's a novel and curious way to play DOJ, but most importantly, an inexpensive one, so if you're a Cave fan you might feel like playing this and have a chill time and while you're at it, throw a couple of bucks to the folks at G-MODE for their preservation efforts which are SEVERELY underrated.
This review contains spoilers
Both gameplay-wise and story-wise this pretty much continues what I thought about The Assignment, so read my review of that if you want.
There's one difference tho and that's the fact that the writting has nosedived and is pretty lame. More precisely Kidman's character. The game tries to give her kind of an arch of independence from Mobius, but it's so weird because:
1. Kidman has no stakes in what's happening outside letting his coworkers live. So the whole "I'm not gonna obey your orders of protecting Leslie" has no motivation other than trusting her instincts, and about that...
2. Kidman knew she was getting into some shady Illuminati shit. Why the surprise of finding out that she's expendable? Is she that dumb?
3. The cosification of Mobius' control of her life is so lame as an enemy design, and the way it's written clashes with the writting of the main game.
You can tell that this was written and directed by someone else, and it is. It's directed and written by John Johanas and I'm sorry to say this but this is weak. I'll give the man props for one thing: the whole "we start as a Clock Tower throwback and it evolves into an action game as Kidman gains trust in herself" is a neat directing idea, but it wasn't executed well and the whole vibe seems like it belongs to a complete different game. This should've been a standalone thing with no ties to the main game, it would've made for a more powerful independence arc than this tied-in mess.
It doesn't help that it heavily rehashes a lot of stuff from the main game and some things that it does new just don't hit. The paintings with the face of Rubik that possess Leslie and you have to burn? Very lackluster. The scary Slenderman-type suit with the corporative themes? Too sterile and vanilla in comparisson to the main game, it doesn't even feel like it exists in the same visual universe. The cool glowstick section? It doesn't build up to anything of importance. The whole structure of "taking separate unconnected scenes to make a Kidman: Abridged Series"? Very disjointed and has a very abrupt sense of pacing.
Nah, very weak stuff. I'll give props for trying to deliver a whole character arc in a two parter DLC but they bit more than you could chew and in the process they ruined some of the cool mystique of the main game for the sake of spoonfeeding info that was already there if you payed attention. And again, in the process of trying to portray this Kidman independance arc, they made her look dumb as hell.
I'm actually furstrated because I had a damn good time with The Evil Within and I had my fill already, but I had to play this in case it had anything of importance to the sequel or had something cool. But no.
There's one difference tho and that's the fact that the writting has nosedived and is pretty lame. More precisely Kidman's character. The game tries to give her kind of an arch of independence from Mobius, but it's so weird because:
1. Kidman has no stakes in what's happening outside letting his coworkers live. So the whole "I'm not gonna obey your orders of protecting Leslie" has no motivation other than trusting her instincts, and about that...
2. Kidman knew she was getting into some shady Illuminati shit. Why the surprise of finding out that she's expendable? Is she that dumb?
3. The cosification of Mobius' control of her life is so lame as an enemy design, and the way it's written clashes with the writting of the main game.
You can tell that this was written and directed by someone else, and it is. It's directed and written by John Johanas and I'm sorry to say this but this is weak. I'll give the man props for one thing: the whole "we start as a Clock Tower throwback and it evolves into an action game as Kidman gains trust in herself" is a neat directing idea, but it wasn't executed well and the whole vibe seems like it belongs to a complete different game. This should've been a standalone thing with no ties to the main game, it would've made for a more powerful independence arc than this tied-in mess.
It doesn't help that it heavily rehashes a lot of stuff from the main game and some things that it does new just don't hit. The paintings with the face of Rubik that possess Leslie and you have to burn? Very lackluster. The scary Slenderman-type suit with the corporative themes? Too sterile and vanilla in comparisson to the main game, it doesn't even feel like it exists in the same visual universe. The cool glowstick section? It doesn't build up to anything of importance. The whole structure of "taking separate unconnected scenes to make a Kidman: Abridged Series"? Very disjointed and has a very abrupt sense of pacing.
Nah, very weak stuff. I'll give props for trying to deliver a whole character arc in a two parter DLC but they bit more than you could chew and in the process they ruined some of the cool mystique of the main game for the sake of spoonfeeding info that was already there if you payed attention. And again, in the process of trying to portray this Kidman independance arc, they made her look dumb as hell.
I'm actually furstrated because I had a damn good time with The Evil Within and I had my fill already, but I had to play this in case it had anything of importance to the sequel or had something cool. But no.
2017
I think the Tutorial section of the game is pretty wonderous and manages to be an interesting hybrid of walking simulator with philosophy wrapped with a little bit of a Katamari flair. After that I think the game has already made its point and it just decides to speedrun the tools it can give you to just be a pseudosandbox thing with only the occasional audio recordings to break the monotony. I think they were onto something special but they barely cooked it.
2019
Taking the competitive puzzle genre ten steps ahead by incorporating fighting game philosophy and rhythm game specials with a lot of originality in a one-of-a-kind experience.
Damn.
Some games you can describe in a few words, but very few you can describe in a few letters:
PTSD
PTSD
2012
It's kinda like if MicroMachines V4 and Motorstorm Apocalypse had a child and it was developed by Tamsoft. If you're into that type of low budget chaos, this delivers like few.
It's also constantly pushing above its weight, so even with the budget limitations it manages to create a spectacle and it's unironically very interesting mechanically.
It doesn't quite work as it should, so most often than not it's a complete clusterfuck, but it's a fun type of clusterfuck.
It's also constantly pushing above its weight, so even with the budget limitations it manages to create a spectacle and it's unironically very interesting mechanically.
It doesn't quite work as it should, so most often than not it's a complete clusterfuck, but it's a fun type of clusterfuck.
Currently the best possible introduction to the series thanks to the official translation, presentation and (gasps) an actual tutorial!
However, it has one big problem, and that's the fact that it has only controller support and that's a big drawback. Makes battles longer than they already are, so, despite recommending it just for the tutorial alone, it's not quite ideal either.
However, it has one big problem, and that's the fact that it has only controller support and that's a big drawback. Makes battles longer than they already are, so, despite recommending it just for the tutorial alone, it's not quite ideal either.
2018
This review contains spoilers
Very interesting exploratory demo. Yes, according to the author's twitter account this seems to be a demo, or at least part of a bigger game that was put on hold. I'm not gonna give this a rating because of it, but it's definitely interesting and I want to see more outside of this segment and the Chapel thing they also released.
2019
It ain't bad at all! The core gameplay is pretty fun, blowing up one objective after another is super smooth and engaging once it finds its groove... the shame is that it doesn't really build up to much (much like the original Crackdown in that regard) and the difficulty is super wack (sometimes even on Legendary is too easy, but sometimes it cranks the difficulty up way too much) but I guess that's what happens when the developer that was supposed to make the game houdini'd mid development and instead you get a (talented) B-Tier studio to build something out of scraps and polish things up in record time just to release something.
Also, despite being a much more smoother experience (most of the time), it kinda misses the point of what made the original Crackdown special and instead becomes a Just Cause / Red Faction Guerrilla type game. A very decent one, and it does nail a lot when it comes to the core gameplay and expanding some design aspects, but because it's in service of a much more standard sandbox, I don't think it would've have had that much staying power in people's minds even if the game had been received more positively, unlike the original which is still very bold, unique and fondly remembered.
Also, despite being a much more smoother experience (most of the time), it kinda misses the point of what made the original Crackdown special and instead becomes a Just Cause / Red Faction Guerrilla type game. A very decent one, and it does nail a lot when it comes to the core gameplay and expanding some design aspects, but because it's in service of a much more standard sandbox, I don't think it would've have had that much staying power in people's minds even if the game had been received more positively, unlike the original which is still very bold, unique and fondly remembered.
2008
Play this with the Japanese dub.
You're welcome.
You're welcome.
- Do you like Corpse Party?
- Do you like Visual Novels?
- Are you up for a collection of prequel, sequel, and what-if chapters that don't necessarily push the plot forward?
If the answer to all those questions is "yes", then sure, give Book of Shadows a try.
It's better written that Blood Covered, it has better scares (IMO), both main and secondary characters get more fleshed out, better CGs, better voice acting... It's a good package, but to get into it you must be aware that only the last chapter matters when it comes to the series' development, and the rest is complementary material that could've easily been extra chapters in Blood Covered... but with much better quality.
I actually liked it more than Blood Covered, it's just a shame that it doesn't stand as its own individual installment and instead is kinda like the Corpse Party version of the Animatrix. You can't recommend it on its own, and the genre change along with the chapters-as-short-stories formula might put off a significant portion of the core fanbase, but if you're into what's being offered, you might be pleasantly surprised.
- Do you like Visual Novels?
- Are you up for a collection of prequel, sequel, and what-if chapters that don't necessarily push the plot forward?
If the answer to all those questions is "yes", then sure, give Book of Shadows a try.
It's better written that Blood Covered, it has better scares (IMO), both main and secondary characters get more fleshed out, better CGs, better voice acting... It's a good package, but to get into it you must be aware that only the last chapter matters when it comes to the series' development, and the rest is complementary material that could've easily been extra chapters in Blood Covered... but with much better quality.
I actually liked it more than Blood Covered, it's just a shame that it doesn't stand as its own individual installment and instead is kinda like the Corpse Party version of the Animatrix. You can't recommend it on its own, and the genre change along with the chapters-as-short-stories formula might put off a significant portion of the core fanbase, but if you're into what's being offered, you might be pleasantly surprised.
2016
Gartic Phone is way better
I remember liking this one more than the actual AC back in the day. Not bad for a tie-in Java game.
1993
Sometimes its reputation is a bit overblown, but it is a damn good game nonetheless.
That is until the final boss. Jeez. Sigma's dog and Sigma phase 1 are very tedious, and Sigma phase 2 is just a pain in the ass. I did the whole game without subtanks but that last phase basically forces you to get them to have a chance at even learning what to do. But the most aggravating part is that each time you want to try again, you still need to go through Sigma's dog and phase 1 which, I repeat, aren't difficult but they are tedious as hell.
Very dumb way to end the game
That is until the final boss. Jeez. Sigma's dog and Sigma phase 1 are very tedious, and Sigma phase 2 is just a pain in the ass. I did the whole game without subtanks but that last phase basically forces you to get them to have a chance at even learning what to do. But the most aggravating part is that each time you want to try again, you still need to go through Sigma's dog and phase 1 which, I repeat, aren't difficult but they are tedious as hell.
Very dumb way to end the game