donproject
Coooooooooooool.
Actual steering wheels and pedals! This is what arcade games are all about: weird controllers!! However, the game itself is not super great, I'm afraid. It's a bit R.C. ProAm in the graphics and control and gameplay departments. I remember the wheel controller actually making it pretty tough to play, which is unfortunate, as it's a fine racer for the time, I suppose. Maybe that was just all the janky Chuck 'E' Cheese cabinets I played this game on. I do recall finding the game at a pizza place later on in life and still being bad at the game, though. It is unfortunate that if you don't finish first, you have to pay to continue, but that's capitalism, I guess.
Truuuuucks.
Review from thedonproject.com
Actual steering wheels and pedals! This is what arcade games are all about: weird controllers!! However, the game itself is not super great, I'm afraid. It's a bit R.C. ProAm in the graphics and control and gameplay departments. I remember the wheel controller actually making it pretty tough to play, which is unfortunate, as it's a fine racer for the time, I suppose. Maybe that was just all the janky Chuck 'E' Cheese cabinets I played this game on. I do recall finding the game at a pizza place later on in life and still being bad at the game, though. It is unfortunate that if you don't finish first, you have to pay to continue, but that's capitalism, I guess.
Truuuuucks.
Review from thedonproject.com
1982
Birdies!
I definitely don't remember the sounds of this one, and frankly, they're kind of annoying. I remember playing this in the dark corner of some pizza place and I think the sound was turned off or just the sound of the Tron game next to it was overwhelming. At any rate, the graphics are sweet, and the gameplay is fine. The concept is incredible, however. You're a person riding a bird and jousting with other people that ride birds and if you kill them, they drop an egg, which you can pick up for points or let hatch into another person that a bird picks up so you can kill again. Also, you're in a volcano?
Awesome.
Review from thedonproject.com
I definitely don't remember the sounds of this one, and frankly, they're kind of annoying. I remember playing this in the dark corner of some pizza place and I think the sound was turned off or just the sound of the Tron game next to it was overwhelming. At any rate, the graphics are sweet, and the gameplay is fine. The concept is incredible, however. You're a person riding a bird and jousting with other people that ride birds and if you kill them, they drop an egg, which you can pick up for points or let hatch into another person that a bird picks up so you can kill again. Also, you're in a volcano?
Awesome.
Review from thedonproject.com
1991
They're really aren't enough medieval times button smashing, side-scrolling, fighter games, are there?
Yeah, this is just a Double Dragon-style side-scroller brawler game where you smash that sword button millions of times, but it stuck with me over the years. Perhaps the key location at my local 7-Eleven or the limited play time due to the cost of quarters or maybe just because I read Once and Future King at some point around when this game came out? The graphics are fine, the game play is fine, and the music is fine. The digitized fighting sounds are a bit over the top, but not ridiculous. The translations are sometimes bad, but that doesn't make the game less fun. Not amazing, mind you, but just empty-headed slashing fun.
Sword sword sword sword sword sword sword...
Review from thedonproject.com
Yeah, this is just a Double Dragon-style side-scroller brawler game where you smash that sword button millions of times, but it stuck with me over the years. Perhaps the key location at my local 7-Eleven or the limited play time due to the cost of quarters or maybe just because I read Once and Future King at some point around when this game came out? The graphics are fine, the game play is fine, and the music is fine. The digitized fighting sounds are a bit over the top, but not ridiculous. The translations are sometimes bad, but that doesn't make the game less fun. Not amazing, mind you, but just empty-headed slashing fun.
Sword sword sword sword sword sword sword...
Review from thedonproject.com
1999
Cartoon ultra-violence? What a great way to spend your lunch break!
When I worked for EA as a tester, I got to eat lunch in their fancy cafeteria. When I wasn't hanging out with the colleague that was a fruitarian or freegan or whatever it was, I would play Metal Slug X on the NeoGeo arcade machine while everyone else played Tekken. It's a bit of a bullet hell side scroller, but with a silly amount of secrets, vehicles, and weapons. The whole Metal Slug series is like that and I'm sure that the folks who programmed them had a blast coming up with ridiculous things to do as weapons, enemies, sounds, and ways to die. The graphics are a bit cheesy for the year this came out, but you're not playing this for graphics, you're playing because it is ridiculous.
It definitely is ridiculous!
Review from thedonproject.com
When I worked for EA as a tester, I got to eat lunch in their fancy cafeteria. When I wasn't hanging out with the colleague that was a fruitarian or freegan or whatever it was, I would play Metal Slug X on the NeoGeo arcade machine while everyone else played Tekken. It's a bit of a bullet hell side scroller, but with a silly amount of secrets, vehicles, and weapons. The whole Metal Slug series is like that and I'm sure that the folks who programmed them had a blast coming up with ridiculous things to do as weapons, enemies, sounds, and ways to die. The graphics are a bit cheesy for the year this came out, but you're not playing this for graphics, you're playing because it is ridiculous.
It definitely is ridiculous!
Review from thedonproject.com
1982
You ever spend, like, half of your elementary school roller skating party holed up in the corner trying to blast aliens on the moon from a sweet pink 6-wheel moon rover?
I regret barely any of that time. More than likely I sat nursing a graveyard soda feeding the Moon Patrol machine while my peers cruised counter-clockwise around the padded walls and nature murals. I probably had to tune out the 80's hair metal ballads to fully enjoy the sick soundtrack that Moon Patrol brings, but the Nintendo font and the cool side-scrolling effects were in their full glory. Jumping, shooting, and controlling the speed of the rover was enough to keep me entertained until my fistful of grimy quarters was spent.
Excellent 4th grade times.
Review from thedonproject.com
I regret barely any of that time. More than likely I sat nursing a graveyard soda feeding the Moon Patrol machine while my peers cruised counter-clockwise around the padded walls and nature murals. I probably had to tune out the 80's hair metal ballads to fully enjoy the sick soundtrack that Moon Patrol brings, but the Nintendo font and the cool side-scrolling effects were in their full glory. Jumping, shooting, and controlling the speed of the rover was enough to keep me entertained until my fistful of grimy quarters was spent.
Excellent 4th grade times.
Review from thedonproject.com
1992
MORTAL KOMBAT!
Look, fighting games aren't really my bag. This one, though, a scrappy cabinet at my local 7-Eleven that replaced Street Fighter II, left a mark (pun intended). Being alive for the controversy and the groundbreaking digitization of people and cartoonish ultra-violence was a gift that the universe provided. To see old white ladies get all up in arms about fatalities in games when fatalities in the real world were at a pretty solid high point was either a telling critique of the priorities of our society or a apropos commentary on folks fighting for what they think they can control in their lives. Either way, the fight was sad.
The game gleefully ate up a bunch of our quarters as we tried to learn the sequences and timing that would rip the heart from our enemies as we tried to climb the ladder in the vague Enter The Dragon homage plastered with blood animations and elemental magic. Most of my quarters were lost by being pretty bad at fighting games and not having the patience to find out the secret combos and patterns that would win the matches against my friends and the computer. I always leaned towards the magic-users, particularly Sub-Zero and Raiden. The battles were very quick, so my cash went just as fast. I still appreciated the graphics and hilarious violence and making the olds worry about my violent hooligan future, though. Good times.
FATALITY!
Review from thedonproject.com
Look, fighting games aren't really my bag. This one, though, a scrappy cabinet at my local 7-Eleven that replaced Street Fighter II, left a mark (pun intended). Being alive for the controversy and the groundbreaking digitization of people and cartoonish ultra-violence was a gift that the universe provided. To see old white ladies get all up in arms about fatalities in games when fatalities in the real world were at a pretty solid high point was either a telling critique of the priorities of our society or a apropos commentary on folks fighting for what they think they can control in their lives. Either way, the fight was sad.
The game gleefully ate up a bunch of our quarters as we tried to learn the sequences and timing that would rip the heart from our enemies as we tried to climb the ladder in the vague Enter The Dragon homage plastered with blood animations and elemental magic. Most of my quarters were lost by being pretty bad at fighting games and not having the patience to find out the secret combos and patterns that would win the matches against my friends and the computer. I always leaned towards the magic-users, particularly Sub-Zero and Raiden. The battles were very quick, so my cash went just as fast. I still appreciated the graphics and hilarious violence and making the olds worry about my violent hooligan future, though. Good times.
FATALITY!
Review from thedonproject.com
1982
This is the best Pac-Man.
No joke, if I were to buy an arcade cabinet for my house, like a big man-child, it would probably be Ms. Pac-Man. If there's a cabinet at whatever dive bar I'm at, I will always put a quarter or five in. It's the perfect balance of action and aesthetics. It is a rare sequel that is better than the original. It is no wonder that it is one of the most popular games of all time.
There are a number of features that make this game awesome. The changing mazes is the easiest to spot. The addition of the moving fruit gives another target to aim for and increases the feeling of chaos of the game. The wrap-around side tunnels gave the maps a literal extra dimension. However, the best feature for me is the cutscenes. A little bit of story added to the hectic chasing gives you a little treat every couple levels. A jaunty tune and a clever, comedic respite from trying to survive. The Ms. Pac-Man scenes are just a step better than the original. I particularly like the second cutscene and can get there pretty reliably. So good.
The chase!
Review from thedonproject.com
No joke, if I were to buy an arcade cabinet for my house, like a big man-child, it would probably be Ms. Pac-Man. If there's a cabinet at whatever dive bar I'm at, I will always put a quarter or five in. It's the perfect balance of action and aesthetics. It is a rare sequel that is better than the original. It is no wonder that it is one of the most popular games of all time.
There are a number of features that make this game awesome. The changing mazes is the easiest to spot. The addition of the moving fruit gives another target to aim for and increases the feeling of chaos of the game. The wrap-around side tunnels gave the maps a literal extra dimension. However, the best feature for me is the cutscenes. A little bit of story added to the hectic chasing gives you a little treat every couple levels. A jaunty tune and a clever, comedic respite from trying to survive. The Ms. Pac-Man scenes are just a step better than the original. I particularly like the second cutscene and can get there pretty reliably. So good.
The chase!
Review from thedonproject.com
1997
Break time!
I used to play this cabinet during my breaks at Nintendo for some reason. Well, when others weren't playing it, that is. It was quite popular with the few bro's there. Actually, even if you hate American football like I do and have no idea what you're doing, it's a solidly fun game.
It's fun because it is ridiculous. There's some announcer dude yelling random things all the time. The players make bonkers plays every time, jump around incessantly, and do more violence than Mortal Kombat. The graphics are pretty great for the time and the only thing that really annoys me about it is the play selection sound (and that I don't know what plays do, really). It's a fast-paced and exciting version of a pretty boring and commercialized sport and you get a solid amount of play for your quarters. I can see why the bro's played it!
"That was uncalled for, but a lot of fun to watch."
Review from thedonproject.com
I used to play this cabinet during my breaks at Nintendo for some reason. Well, when others weren't playing it, that is. It was quite popular with the few bro's there. Actually, even if you hate American football like I do and have no idea what you're doing, it's a solidly fun game.
It's fun because it is ridiculous. There's some announcer dude yelling random things all the time. The players make bonkers plays every time, jump around incessantly, and do more violence than Mortal Kombat. The graphics are pretty great for the time and the only thing that really annoys me about it is the play selection sound (and that I don't know what plays do, really). It's a fast-paced and exciting version of a pretty boring and commercialized sport and you get a solid amount of play for your quarters. I can see why the bro's played it!
"That was uncalled for, but a lot of fun to watch."
Review from thedonproject.com
1980
Let's just get this out of the way at the start, Ms. Pac Man is better.
Regular ol' Pac Man is fine and if it's in the arcade I'm pounding sodas in, I'll definitely put a quarter or three in, but it's just not as fun as the changing mazes and cutscenes of the lady version. I mean, don't get me wrong, the sounds are iconic, the gameplay is smooth and fast, and as the game gets harder it will eventually give you a stress heart attack and you'll die in real life.
I do have a fun story about Pac Man, though. As a child we spent a week or two at a central Washington lakeside campground/"resort". They had a little concrete shack that held the laundry machines and about three arcade cabinets. One glorious year, we figured out how to cram our tiny hands behind the coin slot door to activate the credit switch. For those two weeks we were tiny royalty doling out free credits to ourselves and leave the machine ready to play for the next kids. We never really got good at Pac Man, but we got good at life.
Still, Ms. Pac Man is better.
Review from thedonproject.com
Regular ol' Pac Man is fine and if it's in the arcade I'm pounding sodas in, I'll definitely put a quarter or three in, but it's just not as fun as the changing mazes and cutscenes of the lady version. I mean, don't get me wrong, the sounds are iconic, the gameplay is smooth and fast, and as the game gets harder it will eventually give you a stress heart attack and you'll die in real life.
I do have a fun story about Pac Man, though. As a child we spent a week or two at a central Washington lakeside campground/"resort". They had a little concrete shack that held the laundry machines and about three arcade cabinets. One glorious year, we figured out how to cram our tiny hands behind the coin slot door to activate the credit switch. For those two weeks we were tiny royalty doling out free credits to ourselves and leave the machine ready to play for the next kids. We never really got good at Pac Man, but we got good at life.
Still, Ms. Pac Man is better.
Review from thedonproject.com
1984
Air combat is so simple!
Everybody knows that all you need to win an air war is one pilot who can shoot, move, and, above all, do a loop. Well, an air war that happens in two dimensions that is. With opposing pilots who can't really shoot. Or turn. But the other side has bigger planes!
Okay, despite the simplistic nature and basic graphics of 1942, it's still a good bit of entertainment. There are moments of terror when you almost get hit by a tiny round projectile or a plane punctuated by the necessary frantic movement to attempt to shoot down all of the many attacking planes. Later games in this bullet hell scrolling shooter genre just added more bullets and colors, but really didn't change the formula much, because that wasn't necessary. The fun is in the chaos!
However, this is a game you must play on mute. The audio is basically just static with morse code over the top until the end of the "level" when you get about three seconds to pause when you land on the carrier and a jaunty little tune plays. Trust me, hit that mute button while you just enjoy attempting to avoid exploding.
Hey, wait a second. In this racist country, it makes sense that Americans would love blowing up Japanese fighters, but why was this game popular IN JAPAN? I can't think of a game where Americans would be stoked to relive one of our military losses by playing the other side... Hmm.
Beep beep beep beep beep beepbeepbeeeepeeepeeep.
Review from thedonproject.com
Everybody knows that all you need to win an air war is one pilot who can shoot, move, and, above all, do a loop. Well, an air war that happens in two dimensions that is. With opposing pilots who can't really shoot. Or turn. But the other side has bigger planes!
Okay, despite the simplistic nature and basic graphics of 1942, it's still a good bit of entertainment. There are moments of terror when you almost get hit by a tiny round projectile or a plane punctuated by the necessary frantic movement to attempt to shoot down all of the many attacking planes. Later games in this bullet hell scrolling shooter genre just added more bullets and colors, but really didn't change the formula much, because that wasn't necessary. The fun is in the chaos!
However, this is a game you must play on mute. The audio is basically just static with morse code over the top until the end of the "level" when you get about three seconds to pause when you land on the carrier and a jaunty little tune plays. Trust me, hit that mute button while you just enjoy attempting to avoid exploding.
Hey, wait a second. In this racist country, it makes sense that Americans would love blowing up Japanese fighters, but why was this game popular IN JAPAN? I can't think of a game where Americans would be stoked to relive one of our military losses by playing the other side... Hmm.
Beep beep beep beep beep beepbeepbeeeepeeepeeep.
Review from thedonproject.com
2020
A wonderful little puzzle game about just making a lil' guy move around!
Sometimes, when times are tough, you need a pretty game with lots of opportunity for success. The Pedestrian is very pretty. Not only does it look great, the mechanics are just the right mix of simple to grasp and difficult to master. The game adds complexity and charm at the same rate, somehow, as you progress through the levels and explore the world of signs and puzzles. I didn't find the game as challenging as say, The Witness, but it still had just enough challenge to make me feel accomplished after finishing a puzzle and moving the little stick person towards the next sign. It's a short walk through these sign-based lands that goes beyond puzzles and a well-crafted aesthetic, it touches on comfort and reassurance.
A game for tough times, indeed.
Review from thedonproject.com
Sometimes, when times are tough, you need a pretty game with lots of opportunity for success. The Pedestrian is very pretty. Not only does it look great, the mechanics are just the right mix of simple to grasp and difficult to master. The game adds complexity and charm at the same rate, somehow, as you progress through the levels and explore the world of signs and puzzles. I didn't find the game as challenging as say, The Witness, but it still had just enough challenge to make me feel accomplished after finishing a puzzle and moving the little stick person towards the next sign. It's a short walk through these sign-based lands that goes beyond puzzles and a well-crafted aesthetic, it touches on comfort and reassurance.
A game for tough times, indeed.
Review from thedonproject.com
This game brings balance to the... jokes and fun!
The internet was saying that this game is good. So, I used some gift cards and actual money to purchase it. In this case, friends, the internet was not wrong.
There are two types of people in Star Wars fandom, I think. Those that get so fired up about cast or plot decisions that they post on right-wing-enabling social media sites and cause harm to... well, everybody, and those that enjoy the content or say "oh, it's just a movie." As a Star Wars tattoo-having individual, you might think I'd get riled up about how this film or that season of that show is the worst, but it turns out, it is just entertainment, folks. Lego Star Wars absolutely gets that school of thought and is better for it. Tons of in-universe jokes (like Luke's obsession with blue milk, for example) that gently lampoon the franchise while still honoring the joy that exists in the Star Wars universe. As my own thumbing of the nose to the keyboard warriors, I tried to include most of the hated characters in my party as much as possible. A Jar-Jar, Rose Tico, Emperor Clone, Wicket, Topless Kylo Ren, Salacious Crumb team is... well, it isn't great, actually, but screw those guys.
Apart from the jokes and the recognizable universe, this game has plenty of gaming things to like, as well. It is enjoyable for me to play as your favorite characters and is definitely for folks who like collecting. Playing through all nine movies was enjoyable for someone that has seen them all lots of times. There are greatly varied mechanics for characters on the planets, in hijacked capital ships, or in any of numerous other ships that allow a player to find their own style. You can be uncivilized and use a blaster or classy and just headbutt people as an astromech droid, you can also climb, grapple, glide, jetpack, use the force... everything but swim, really. I probably could have upped the difficulty a notch, but solving the platforming puzzles and finding the characters, ships, kyber blocks, and secrets without just looking up the quest online was enough for me. (I did cheat for the two cheat code characters. Also, love that cheat codes are in this game!)
However, the joy of collecting and side quests isn't for everyone. There are approximately billions and billions of puzzles, quests, events, and things to find in this game. If you're a completionist, you'll have to put that need aside or spend your whole summer on just this game. There are also some minor control/camera annoyances (riding a Fathier on Canto Bight was my least favorite), the game did crash once on me (to be fair, it was in rest mode or being played for several days), and I wanted a little more info about how characters behaved differently. For example, I think Wicket is faster than Obi-Wan (Ep III, with cape), my favorite duo in my playthrough, but I wasn't really sure.
Overall, I had a good time playing this game, chuckled a bit at the jokes, unlocked all the characters and ships, ended up with 15 billion studs, and maybe I'd even dive back in for some DLC? If it comes around on PS+, that is.
Review from thedonproject.com
The internet was saying that this game is good. So, I used some gift cards and actual money to purchase it. In this case, friends, the internet was not wrong.
There are two types of people in Star Wars fandom, I think. Those that get so fired up about cast or plot decisions that they post on right-wing-enabling social media sites and cause harm to... well, everybody, and those that enjoy the content or say "oh, it's just a movie." As a Star Wars tattoo-having individual, you might think I'd get riled up about how this film or that season of that show is the worst, but it turns out, it is just entertainment, folks. Lego Star Wars absolutely gets that school of thought and is better for it. Tons of in-universe jokes (like Luke's obsession with blue milk, for example) that gently lampoon the franchise while still honoring the joy that exists in the Star Wars universe. As my own thumbing of the nose to the keyboard warriors, I tried to include most of the hated characters in my party as much as possible. A Jar-Jar, Rose Tico, Emperor Clone, Wicket, Topless Kylo Ren, Salacious Crumb team is... well, it isn't great, actually, but screw those guys.
Apart from the jokes and the recognizable universe, this game has plenty of gaming things to like, as well. It is enjoyable for me to play as your favorite characters and is definitely for folks who like collecting. Playing through all nine movies was enjoyable for someone that has seen them all lots of times. There are greatly varied mechanics for characters on the planets, in hijacked capital ships, or in any of numerous other ships that allow a player to find their own style. You can be uncivilized and use a blaster or classy and just headbutt people as an astromech droid, you can also climb, grapple, glide, jetpack, use the force... everything but swim, really. I probably could have upped the difficulty a notch, but solving the platforming puzzles and finding the characters, ships, kyber blocks, and secrets without just looking up the quest online was enough for me. (I did cheat for the two cheat code characters. Also, love that cheat codes are in this game!)
However, the joy of collecting and side quests isn't for everyone. There are approximately billions and billions of puzzles, quests, events, and things to find in this game. If you're a completionist, you'll have to put that need aside or spend your whole summer on just this game. There are also some minor control/camera annoyances (riding a Fathier on Canto Bight was my least favorite), the game did crash once on me (to be fair, it was in rest mode or being played for several days), and I wanted a little more info about how characters behaved differently. For example, I think Wicket is faster than Obi-Wan (Ep III, with cape), my favorite duo in my playthrough, but I wasn't really sure.
Overall, I had a good time playing this game, chuckled a bit at the jokes, unlocked all the characters and ships, ended up with 15 billion studs, and maybe I'd even dive back in for some DLC? If it comes around on PS+, that is.
Review from thedonproject.com
A 1930's Grand Theft Auto gangster movie-themed game.
Let's see, you've got your gravelly-voiced protagonist/anti-hero, gritty cop living off coffee and cigarettes, big round mob bosses smoking cigars and wearing hats, the oscillating lyricism of the Italian-American accent through clenched jaws, old timey vehicles and weapons, and generally all the stereotypes and cliches of the mafia movies that people seem to love. Put this all in a pretty linear story set in a semi-open world and you've got a recipe for a game that is perfectly fine, but not revolutionary (these days, at least).
I never played the original Mafia, so this review isn't tinged with nostalgia or anything. Jumping into this world 20 years after it came out, even with a remake, feels old. The driving definitely felt like the cars were on a carousel, with a pole straight down the middle of them and the world flying by at nearly tens of miles per hour. It was fun to plow into a slow drift of a 1930's sedan but, having played a number of racing games, this one wasn't a good racing game. The third person shooter parts of the game were a bit clunky to me, with pretty wooden character movements, but nice graphics. In fact, maybe this whole remake was designed to look better than it was to feel better. Maybe as an homage to the original, maybe just to save cash during development? Either way, the game looks good fine, plays fine, and has a story with some twists that are suitable for one of those mafia movies.
I never felt like exploring the world for any reason, the story didn't really connect with me, and the gameplay was just adequate. I don't know about you, but it also felt weird to play a game with basically only white male characters in the world we live in now.
In short, I was greedy for more, which is always a problem in this world...
Review from thedonproject.com
Let's see, you've got your gravelly-voiced protagonist/anti-hero, gritty cop living off coffee and cigarettes, big round mob bosses smoking cigars and wearing hats, the oscillating lyricism of the Italian-American accent through clenched jaws, old timey vehicles and weapons, and generally all the stereotypes and cliches of the mafia movies that people seem to love. Put this all in a pretty linear story set in a semi-open world and you've got a recipe for a game that is perfectly fine, but not revolutionary (these days, at least).
I never played the original Mafia, so this review isn't tinged with nostalgia or anything. Jumping into this world 20 years after it came out, even with a remake, feels old. The driving definitely felt like the cars were on a carousel, with a pole straight down the middle of them and the world flying by at nearly tens of miles per hour. It was fun to plow into a slow drift of a 1930's sedan but, having played a number of racing games, this one wasn't a good racing game. The third person shooter parts of the game were a bit clunky to me, with pretty wooden character movements, but nice graphics. In fact, maybe this whole remake was designed to look better than it was to feel better. Maybe as an homage to the original, maybe just to save cash during development? Either way, the game looks good fine, plays fine, and has a story with some twists that are suitable for one of those mafia movies.
I never felt like exploring the world for any reason, the story didn't really connect with me, and the gameplay was just adequate. I don't know about you, but it also felt weird to play a game with basically only white male characters in the world we live in now.
In short, I was greedy for more, which is always a problem in this world...
Review from thedonproject.com
2018
Wonderful little puzzle game with a sad story and interesting mechanics.
These days, I'm into relaxing, sad games and The Gardens Between is an excellent addition to the sad old person genre, I guess. A puzzle-platformer of sorts, the game stars two young folk who live near each other in the same town and have a little treehouse hangout that, on a stormy night, appears to drop out of time and space and enter a watery world of memories of shared experiences. The two characters must be navigated wordlessly through these memories by you, but your only means of getting them to their goal is to change the direction and flow of time (and prompting the kids to grab a thing or put down a thing). Without spoiling the story, it is very touching and sad and I liked it a lot. Some might say the game is a bit short, but I think they included just the right number of puzzles to fit the story without becoming tedious or introducing more complex gameplay just for the sake of making more puzzles.
I loved the simple and interesting controls, the touching story, the ambient music, the pretty graphics, but would I go back and play this game through again? I don't know.
I might rewind time to experience for the first time again, though...
Review from thedonproject.com
These days, I'm into relaxing, sad games and The Gardens Between is an excellent addition to the sad old person genre, I guess. A puzzle-platformer of sorts, the game stars two young folk who live near each other in the same town and have a little treehouse hangout that, on a stormy night, appears to drop out of time and space and enter a watery world of memories of shared experiences. The two characters must be navigated wordlessly through these memories by you, but your only means of getting them to their goal is to change the direction and flow of time (and prompting the kids to grab a thing or put down a thing). Without spoiling the story, it is very touching and sad and I liked it a lot. Some might say the game is a bit short, but I think they included just the right number of puzzles to fit the story without becoming tedious or introducing more complex gameplay just for the sake of making more puzzles.
I loved the simple and interesting controls, the touching story, the ambient music, the pretty graphics, but would I go back and play this game through again? I don't know.
I might rewind time to experience for the first time again, though...
Review from thedonproject.com
2021
Bloopbloopbloopbloopbloopbloopbloopbloopbloopbloopbloopbloopbloopbloop...
I wanted to love this little indie game. A little boy in a hoodie and jean jacket runs away to escape a clearly sad homelife (in the 90s?) with nothing but a peanut butter sandwich and a vacuuming backpack that looks like a proton pack for a weapon. The soundtrack is gorgeous ambient sadness and the graphics are YA indie comic cuteness. As you adventure farther into a magical wood vacuuming up trash and kicking stuff you're introduced to a horde of very twee little helpers and forgetful older folk as well as some other delightful characters. All of this should have added up to a classic in my library.
The main game mechanics are vacuuming, kicking, and throwing your little helpers at things. I think that last bit was the one that broke me out of the world. At one point, I learned to defeat an enemy simply by smashing the throw button a ton of times until my little spritelings knocked it out of the sky and then chomped on its stunned body until it exploded. It took a while to learn this and I thought this was a roguelike at first with how many times I was dying against certain enemies. But as I learned to chuck more tiny beings at things in order to win, I learned that this mechanic was kind of annoying, actually. For one, the strategy became just "throw more of them." Worse, though, the spritelings and the other character you control are stupid. They will not dodge on their own and only follow your exact footsteps. This makes them die pretty often if you're not precise or clever in your movements. I think they have health bars and there's a mechanic for healing them, but it is not in a tutorial. The isometric view made it difficult for this aging player to aim and dodge as well, so I found myself frustrated with controls more often than I should be in a game like this. Additionally annoying was the day/night cycle, since I would get close to solving a puzzle and then night would drop (with a very scary musical warning) and I'd rush back to sleep only to have a bunch of monsters respawn and probably kill me or my adventuring companion.
In general, everything else was very nice, but gameplay choices took me out of the chill, sad-ish magic and into annoyed, button-mashing land. If that's your jam, then maybe this game is for you!
Review from thedonproject.com
I wanted to love this little indie game. A little boy in a hoodie and jean jacket runs away to escape a clearly sad homelife (in the 90s?) with nothing but a peanut butter sandwich and a vacuuming backpack that looks like a proton pack for a weapon. The soundtrack is gorgeous ambient sadness and the graphics are YA indie comic cuteness. As you adventure farther into a magical wood vacuuming up trash and kicking stuff you're introduced to a horde of very twee little helpers and forgetful older folk as well as some other delightful characters. All of this should have added up to a classic in my library.
The main game mechanics are vacuuming, kicking, and throwing your little helpers at things. I think that last bit was the one that broke me out of the world. At one point, I learned to defeat an enemy simply by smashing the throw button a ton of times until my little spritelings knocked it out of the sky and then chomped on its stunned body until it exploded. It took a while to learn this and I thought this was a roguelike at first with how many times I was dying against certain enemies. But as I learned to chuck more tiny beings at things in order to win, I learned that this mechanic was kind of annoying, actually. For one, the strategy became just "throw more of them." Worse, though, the spritelings and the other character you control are stupid. They will not dodge on their own and only follow your exact footsteps. This makes them die pretty often if you're not precise or clever in your movements. I think they have health bars and there's a mechanic for healing them, but it is not in a tutorial. The isometric view made it difficult for this aging player to aim and dodge as well, so I found myself frustrated with controls more often than I should be in a game like this. Additionally annoying was the day/night cycle, since I would get close to solving a puzzle and then night would drop (with a very scary musical warning) and I'd rush back to sleep only to have a bunch of monsters respawn and probably kill me or my adventuring companion.
In general, everything else was very nice, but gameplay choices took me out of the chill, sad-ish magic and into annoyed, button-mashing land. If that's your jam, then maybe this game is for you!
Review from thedonproject.com