zeehond
2022
Nice Vampire Survivors clone. Great music, some characters are different enough that they feel like a completely different experience. Good aesthetics. Evolutions are cool and so are the chest upgrades which add a bit of randomness.
2000
Game has a lot of charm. Fun characters, good music really adds to the atmosphere, the paper style is nice. Nice to see lots of character and variety within species like goombas, koopas etc. Beginning is a bit slow, especially on replays, until you finally get the Action Commands.
Most chapters are great but I am not a big fan of chapter 6.
Most chapters are great but I am not a big fan of chapter 6.
2011
This review contains spoilers
The game is alright and I like that there's a lot to do and explore. I also liked finding all the items and combining them to make the endgame super weapons and accessories, even though it was tedious. But I have a lot of problems with this game which pretty much ruin the game for me.
-First off, the inventory/chest management is super annoying and is a lot of work
-I also hated the fact that you have to make arenas for every single boss.
-Furthermore, the NPC happiness mechanic or NPC housing in general is a chore
-Potion ingredient farming is the lamest shit ever but almost mandatory on expert difficulty and higher
-Fishing sucks
-Early pre-HM is a boring slog especially for summoners and mages
-Early HM is brutal with the crazy increase in enemy difficulty relative to your weapons/armor at the end of pre-HM
-Corruption/crimson spread in early HM also screws up everything like NPC homes and biomes if you didn't spend hours in pre-HM making hellevators etc. to contain it
-Also the ore progression in early HM is dumb. Pre-HM does that way better.
-Melee class is trash until they get access to weapons that allow them to attack at range which basically turns them into a ranged/magic class
-OST is terrible
Even with those problems I did have a great time when I first played this game on Classic mode. However, almost every time I tried to replay this game I would get frustrated with it and quit before finishing it, usually somewhere in the beginning of Hard Mode. Nevertheless, I did beat Expert Mode at one point.
-First off, the inventory/chest management is super annoying and is a lot of work
-I also hated the fact that you have to make arenas for every single boss.
-Furthermore, the NPC happiness mechanic or NPC housing in general is a chore
-Potion ingredient farming is the lamest shit ever but almost mandatory on expert difficulty and higher
-Fishing sucks
-Early pre-HM is a boring slog especially for summoners and mages
-Early HM is brutal with the crazy increase in enemy difficulty relative to your weapons/armor at the end of pre-HM
-Corruption/crimson spread in early HM also screws up everything like NPC homes and biomes if you didn't spend hours in pre-HM making hellevators etc. to contain it
-Also the ore progression in early HM is dumb. Pre-HM does that way better.
-Melee class is trash until they get access to weapons that allow them to attack at range which basically turns them into a ranged/magic class
-OST is terrible
Even with those problems I did have a great time when I first played this game on Classic mode. However, almost every time I tried to replay this game I would get frustrated with it and quit before finishing it, usually somewhere in the beginning of Hard Mode. Nevertheless, I did beat Expert Mode at one point.
Only two buttons to map items to got old quickly. Apart from that I did like the game. It has a lot of charm and it's the OG Zelda experience.
Started a linked game on this game and I liked it a lot. More so than Seasons. I did miss Roc's Cape a lot though...
Started this game first and then started a linked game in Ages. I liked this game but I preferred Ages a little more. I liked how what you do in one game influences the other game.
Not as magical as the first game since it felt like I had already experienced it before. Still very good though and I probably would have felt differently if I played this game first.
2019
Cute little game about renovating houses very similar to Overcooked in style and gameplay. Only fun with two players (or more). The game can get very frustrating at times (just like real house renovating) because of the controls and clunkiness.
2022
The one that started it all. Nice castlevania aesthetic. Music and sound effects are good. Weapon evolutions are cool. Lots of different ways to play with many ways to tweak the gameplay. Characters aren't really that distinct from each other and most characters can just all use the same strategy. Gets a bit old because the gameplay is of course very basic but I enjoyed it way longer than some of the Vampire Survivor clones that are out there.
2023
Now that I have played and completed the 1.0 version I have to say I like it quite a bit better than the beta version. Story mode is fun even though the village building aspect is pretty bare-bones. Unlocking new stuff and finding items in the dungeon that have a use in the village was enjoyable. It gives you an incentive to try out the challenges as well which I thought were pretty well made.
I like most of the playable characters and they all offer their own distinct playstyles. Purse, Satchel and CR-8 are fun but they are pretty overpowered. Pochette is pretty hard to lose with as well. Some items are so good they can carry a run on their own. Tote, on the other hand, is pretty rough. Oftentimes I was barely able to get out of the first zone alive. The game still needs some balancing, especially for Tote. There are also quite a few bugs that really should be fixed. Somehow the 1.0 version is buggier than the early access.
Nevertheless, the game is pretty good and I enjoyed my time with it.
I like most of the playable characters and they all offer their own distinct playstyles. Purse, Satchel and CR-8 are fun but they are pretty overpowered. Pochette is pretty hard to lose with as well. Some items are so good they can carry a run on their own. Tote, on the other hand, is pretty rough. Oftentimes I was barely able to get out of the first zone alive. The game still needs some balancing, especially for Tote. There are also quite a few bugs that really should be fixed. Somehow the 1.0 version is buggier than the early access.
Nevertheless, the game is pretty good and I enjoyed my time with it.
2014
Probably alright with friends but offers nothing else really.
2010
Oh shit I'm sorry
The controls take some getting used to and you really should set a designated reload button in the controls yourself, as there isn't one by default. And definitely turn the giant distracting HUD off as soon as possible.
Some parts of the game were better than others. I thought the later levels were way better than the first 3 or so. Level 3, especially, I hated that floor. And maybe I didn't really enjoy the first two levels that much because I was still figuring out the game back then. I didn't care much for the R floor either.
Cyberspace sections did nothing for me.
I thought the plot was interesting and SHODAN was a good villain. I expected a little more of SHODAN right at the end though but it all ends pretty abruptly.
The soundtrack was pretty hit or miss for me. Some tracks straight up hurt my ears but others were pretty catchy. It also didn't help that the first track you hear in the game, that of Level 1, is one of the worst tracks I have ever listened to in a game.
As for the gameplay, well, the game is almost 30 years old, so the gameplay is going to feel dated. But I was pretty surprised at how 'modern' the game design was. The shooting was alright although fights usually boiled down to either killing enemies so fast with a very strong weapon so that they don't have time to react or positioning yourself in such a way that you can just barely shoot an enemy from around a corner or shooting enemies at maximum distance. If you don't do any of those things then you're going to get hit and you're going to get hit hard.
Another thing is that resources placement wasn't properly balanced. Oftentimes I had to survive for like two full floors without barely receiving any health and battery resources but then for the last two levels, 8 and 9, you get so many full heal items that it's ridiculous.
Overall, a pretty fun game.
Some parts of the game were better than others. I thought the later levels were way better than the first 3 or so. Level 3, especially, I hated that floor. And maybe I didn't really enjoy the first two levels that much because I was still figuring out the game back then. I didn't care much for the R floor either.
Cyberspace sections did nothing for me.
I thought the plot was interesting and SHODAN was a good villain. I expected a little more of SHODAN right at the end though but it all ends pretty abruptly.
The soundtrack was pretty hit or miss for me. Some tracks straight up hurt my ears but others were pretty catchy. It also didn't help that the first track you hear in the game, that of Level 1, is one of the worst tracks I have ever listened to in a game.
As for the gameplay, well, the game is almost 30 years old, so the gameplay is going to feel dated. But I was pretty surprised at how 'modern' the game design was. The shooting was alright although fights usually boiled down to either killing enemies so fast with a very strong weapon so that they don't have time to react or positioning yourself in such a way that you can just barely shoot an enemy from around a corner or shooting enemies at maximum distance. If you don't do any of those things then you're going to get hit and you're going to get hit hard.
Another thing is that resources placement wasn't properly balanced. Oftentimes I had to survive for like two full floors without barely receiving any health and battery resources but then for the last two levels, 8 and 9, you get so many full heal items that it's ridiculous.
Overall, a pretty fun game.
1999
This review contains spoilers
I liked the Cybernetic Module upgrade system. Although I don't think it was properly balanced. Some examples, Repair is basically useless if you maintain your weapons with the Maintenance skill. Modify is probably useless too since you can find quite a few of those one time use upgrade items which will take care of most, if not all, of your weapons.
Some resources were also a pain the ass to find. I never really had enough bullets for the standard gun and assault rifle. Why was it even possible to upgrade the assault's rifle clip size if it's never even going to make a difference since you're lucky if you have more than 10 bullets of a type.
This lack of ammo issue especially became a problem if you weren't able to instantly know where to go and had to search around for a bit. Enemies barely drop any ammo and that is even more so for the respawns. At the beginning I had to rely on my wrench a lot and let me tell you that wasn't great since melee combat in this game sucks.
The game could also have done with a bit more weapon variety. You are probably not going to spec into every weapon type so you simply aren't able to use quite a few weapons.
I believe there's only three different weapons per type and some of them become obsolete by the time you get the level 6 weapons. Don't get me wrong, the weapons (that I tried) were great. The grenade launcher and the assault rifle were fun to use. I also enjoyed that you were able to select different modes for the weapons. Selecting Death mode on the Fusion Cannon was a blast.
I did not use the Psionic powers at all so I can't say anything about that.
The gameplay and interfacing have been much improved compared to System Shock 1 but the prequel had a better ambiance and a better villain.
Xerxes was ass, the Many was whatever and SHODAN was alright in this game but just not nearly as menacing as the System Shock 1 SHODAN. Moments like finding out that Polito was SHODAN and entering the Medical area from the first game were cool. The boss fights were pretty bad unfortunately. The SHODAN fight was one of the worst boss fight I have seen in a videogame. Having to hack when there is a damaging floor under you and mobs that spawn endlessly. I had a terrible time.
I also did not like the backtracking. Especially when you miss something then good luck trying to find it. Some examples that stick in my mind are finding the codes in the art, the egg hunt (since I missed one, I had to go all the way back to find it), going back to grab the necessary chemicals for a research etc.
The cameras were a dumb system too because it basically meant that if you were spotted that you would have to wait it out somewhere for a full 2 minutes before you could continue. I would have fought them off if it weren't for the serious lack of ammo problem.
And yes, you can hack them but for some reason, oftentimes you would encounter the camera before you even encountered the security systems where you can hack them. So that didn't really make sense.
On the topic of hacking, what a dumb RNG-based mini-"game" that was. And also why do hacking, repairing and modifying all have the exact same RNG get three in a row minigame. Even with a high level in these stats there was still a likely possibility that it would get screwed up. That and the cameras really incentivized save-scumming.
Some resources were also a pain the ass to find. I never really had enough bullets for the standard gun and assault rifle. Why was it even possible to upgrade the assault's rifle clip size if it's never even going to make a difference since you're lucky if you have more than 10 bullets of a type.
This lack of ammo issue especially became a problem if you weren't able to instantly know where to go and had to search around for a bit. Enemies barely drop any ammo and that is even more so for the respawns. At the beginning I had to rely on my wrench a lot and let me tell you that wasn't great since melee combat in this game sucks.
The game could also have done with a bit more weapon variety. You are probably not going to spec into every weapon type so you simply aren't able to use quite a few weapons.
I believe there's only three different weapons per type and some of them become obsolete by the time you get the level 6 weapons. Don't get me wrong, the weapons (that I tried) were great. The grenade launcher and the assault rifle were fun to use. I also enjoyed that you were able to select different modes for the weapons. Selecting Death mode on the Fusion Cannon was a blast.
I did not use the Psionic powers at all so I can't say anything about that.
The gameplay and interfacing have been much improved compared to System Shock 1 but the prequel had a better ambiance and a better villain.
Xerxes was ass, the Many was whatever and SHODAN was alright in this game but just not nearly as menacing as the System Shock 1 SHODAN. Moments like finding out that Polito was SHODAN and entering the Medical area from the first game were cool. The boss fights were pretty bad unfortunately. The SHODAN fight was one of the worst boss fight I have seen in a videogame. Having to hack when there is a damaging floor under you and mobs that spawn endlessly. I had a terrible time.
I also did not like the backtracking. Especially when you miss something then good luck trying to find it. Some examples that stick in my mind are finding the codes in the art, the egg hunt (since I missed one, I had to go all the way back to find it), going back to grab the necessary chemicals for a research etc.
The cameras were a dumb system too because it basically meant that if you were spotted that you would have to wait it out somewhere for a full 2 minutes before you could continue. I would have fought them off if it weren't for the serious lack of ammo problem.
And yes, you can hack them but for some reason, oftentimes you would encounter the camera before you even encountered the security systems where you can hack them. So that didn't really make sense.
On the topic of hacking, what a dumb RNG-based mini-"game" that was. And also why do hacking, repairing and modifying all have the exact same RNG get three in a row minigame. Even with a high level in these stats there was still a likely possibility that it would get screwed up. That and the cameras really incentivized save-scumming.
2000
First of all, this game is almost impossible to get to run properly on modern hardware. It took me hours to tweak and fix all the problems before I was finally able to play the game properly without any lag or graphical issues. I will not hold that against the game though obviously but it did frustrate me quite a bit.
JC is a great dude. Loved his interactions and there were some absolutely great lines in this game.
I liked the skill system too although some skills didn't feel worth it to invest in, like swimming and environmental training. Demolitions too if I think about it since I believe explosives are a one-shot kill against anyone anyway even at the Untrained level. I also wasn't impressed by Pistols even though it was the first skill I achieved the "Trained" level in. Rifles seemed far better.
Other than that, the gameplay was great. Having all kinds of different ways to approach the missions is superb. At the beginning of the game I had this compulsion to search every nook and cranny to find every secret and/or different path but I started enjoying the game way more when I stopped doing that and just focused on finding my own way in and sticking to that approach and just experiencing what I would find organically.
Combat was alright but could get kinda annoying. Especially some enemies. All bots were annoying to deal with and those little spiderfuckers were the worst of them all. I also found it pretty ridiculous how many shots enemies could take in their body compared to their heads. And fuck those enemies with Energy weapons. I couldn't see shit when they were shooting.
Augmentations were a cool system as well but I didn't like how you had to activate them and how quickly they drained energy. Some of the augmentations were a blast though, like Speed Enhancement. Regeneration was very strong too. Regeneration combined with Ballistic Protection basically meant that I was invincible as long as I had energy left. Usually, Regeneration on its own was already enough to allow me to easily tank shots without having to worry about my health.
The story was fine although I couldn't really get into it. I also didn't bother reading most mails nor newspapers.
Finding some plot stuff took me way too long too at times, for example, finding Dowd in Hell's Kitchen. And I got lost in Hong Kong more times than I'd like to admit.
Overall, an enjoyable game with some great moments. The combat wasn't the best but the infiltrating was a lot of fun.
JC is a great dude. Loved his interactions and there were some absolutely great lines in this game.
I liked the skill system too although some skills didn't feel worth it to invest in, like swimming and environmental training. Demolitions too if I think about it since I believe explosives are a one-shot kill against anyone anyway even at the Untrained level. I also wasn't impressed by Pistols even though it was the first skill I achieved the "Trained" level in. Rifles seemed far better.
Other than that, the gameplay was great. Having all kinds of different ways to approach the missions is superb. At the beginning of the game I had this compulsion to search every nook and cranny to find every secret and/or different path but I started enjoying the game way more when I stopped doing that and just focused on finding my own way in and sticking to that approach and just experiencing what I would find organically.
Combat was alright but could get kinda annoying. Especially some enemies. All bots were annoying to deal with and those little spiderfuckers were the worst of them all. I also found it pretty ridiculous how many shots enemies could take in their body compared to their heads. And fuck those enemies with Energy weapons. I couldn't see shit when they were shooting.
Augmentations were a cool system as well but I didn't like how you had to activate them and how quickly they drained energy. Some of the augmentations were a blast though, like Speed Enhancement. Regeneration was very strong too. Regeneration combined with Ballistic Protection basically meant that I was invincible as long as I had energy left. Usually, Regeneration on its own was already enough to allow me to easily tank shots without having to worry about my health.
The story was fine although I couldn't really get into it. I also didn't bother reading most mails nor newspapers.
Finding some plot stuff took me way too long too at times, for example, finding Dowd in Hell's Kitchen. And I got lost in Hong Kong more times than I'd like to admit.
Overall, an enjoyable game with some great moments. The combat wasn't the best but the infiltrating was a lot of fun.