73/52
1-17
18. Dysfunctional Systems: Episode One: Learning to Manage Chaos (PC): 1:59, Apr. 1st.
Learning to Manage Chaos is the first, and currently the only episode released, in a series of visual novels. The main POV character is a young girl named Winter, a 'mediator' that's been sent along with her current mentor, Cyrus, to save another planet in an alternate universe from chaos. It's an interesting concept, though there are problems mainly due to the episodic nature of the VN along with the fact that there probably wasn't a whole lot of funding to be drawn from. The first thing that stands out is the artwork. Dysfunctional Systems has a really great art style. The second thing that stands out is the music, which comes bundled along with the game on Steam via the local content. The game's OST is really catchy at points, and is just all around excellent. The third thing is of course the writing. It's a well written story with interesting characters and an intriguing plot. But this leads to the game's major flaw: it's only two hours. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but in this case, it leaves the narrative feeling rushed, as if there's a major portion of the plot that was scrapped due to constraints. There's an introductory segment/exposition, lore, conflict, a single series of multiple choices to make (this is only one section of the game and it determines which ending you get), and then resolution in the span of about 90 minutes or so, then the epilogue. It's just really short. The characters introduced in the epilogue are interesting enough, and I'm definitely waiting to see how they're developed in the later episodes, but as a standalone VN for $5, I can't really recommend. Unless it goes on sale or is bundled, like it was recently. 6/10
19. The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords: Anniversary Edition (DS): 3:34, Apr. 5th.
I like the Zelda franchise a lot, and I played the original Four Swords with friends when I was younger; most of my enjoyment with this version is derived from nostalgia. Being only able to play the single player mode, I can't fully judge the game as a whole, but based only on the single player mode itself. And it's pretty okay. It's nothing really special. Probably one of my least favorite Zelda experiences, FS:AE just doesn't really scratch the Zelda itch, for me at least. It's much more of a puzzle game than an adventure game. That's not a bad thing, but the single player mode just felt average to me, like there wasn't anything truly great about it. I assume it gets more hectic and chaotic with multiple players, but playing alone just doesn't feel that great. It's rather short, with the main campaign taking only about two and a half hours, though the best part of the game is it's post game content: the Realm of Memory. This is where nostalgia truly shines as you go back to three different games with each having three levels to go through. It's a great concept that I would love to see revisited in the future, but with all of the games in the series and not just three of them. All in all, it feels pretty mediocre to me. 5.5/10
20. VVVVVV (3DS)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nCf0fOe-Nj4: 2:08, Apr. 7th.
VVVVVV reminded me why I intensely dislike scrolling platformer levels. I'm not the best at platformers, but I really liked VVVVVV. There was just enough variety in the level design to remain interesting while not outstaying it's welcome. There were a few frustrating levels and sometimes the controls felt just
slightly too sensitive, but mostly it was a difficult yet fair platformer, something that difficult platforming games lack. The inverting gravity mechanic is unique and a new take on the genre for me, which made me enjoy the game even more. It's also got a pretty good soundtrack, which is always a plus. There's some bonus content, like fan made levels, that I didn't touch, but it's nice knowing that I might return to this title later. 7.5/10
21. I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream (PC): 4:11, Apr. 15th.
I've seen this game played thrice, and now I've finally played it on my own, thanks to jshackles' giveaway. This is a game plagued by the downfalls of the point and click adventure genre, including the usual obtuse puzzles and occasionally bug, but if you can overlook those, I Have No Mouth is a twisted disturbing ride that you should experience. The game expands on the short story's plot, giving back stories to the five main cast and largely not following the original plot, though there are a few references to it throughout the game. Each of the five characters has their own development over the course of their scenarios, which can be positive or negative depending on your moral choices in the game. Each of them has some flaw that, during each of their scenarios, they're pitted against and may or may not overcome in a chance for redemption; Ellen, for example, is deathly terrified of the color yellow, and the main point of her scenario is confronting her fear in addition to escaping AM. In my opinion, three of the scenarios are excellent, one is less great but still good nonetheless, and one is mediocre/average border-lining on bad (mainly because the puzzles become exceedingly obtuse), as well as a bonus final scenario that is overly complex yet interesting and rich in psychological themes. The gameplay is typical for a point and click, and is sometimes hampered by bugs, including instances where your character walks backwards. The animation isn't really the best and is dated. The art direction, on the other hand, is excellent, and much like the developer's other game Darkseed, is very much in the style of H.R. Giger. The backing soundtrack is good. The voice acting is spot on, especially AM's, voiced by Harlan Ellison himself. The narrative is dark and disturbing, filled with events that should make the player squeamish, including themes, that are at least alluded to if you've read the short story, of genocide, lust, homosexuality, rape (probably what made me the most uncomfortable), and clinical insanity; some were even too dark to include in the game, such as
eating a baby. It's a narrative that is interesting on multiple levels, and everyone should experience through one form or another. 8.5/10
22. Anodyne (PC): 5:41, Apr. 18th.
The one thing I've heard a lot when this game is discussed is that it's a Zelda clone; it really doesn't
feel like a Zelda clone to me. When it comes to Zelda clones, one of their main defining features is that they feature multiple items needed for progression. Anodyne really only has one, the Jump Boots, which if you want to compare it to Zelda is the equivalent of Roc's Feather. The game's dungeons definitely have varying elements like Zelda dungeons, but the lack of progression items just makes the comparison seem less than apt. With that out of the way, Anodyne's 16 bit graphical style works charmingly well, looking beautiful in some areas and creepy and surreal in others. The surreal aspect is one of my favorite parts of the game; Anodyne's oddities seem to suggest a surrealist, perhaps escapist, back story revolving around themes of fear and loneliness, and in this aspect I can understand why Link's Awakening is brought up so often. There are a few major characters that you interact with throughout the course of the game, if you can call them major, and really three that truly matter to the narrative; this isn't a very "in your face" style narrative. There are multiple settings and areas, almost all of them presenting the player with a feeling of unease, that something is very decidedly off, from killing a fishermen to progress to a new area, to encountering mysterious people walking about a dungeon that all look the same accompanied by strange background sounds as if they were crowding you, to a black and white town that features a definite creepy atmosphere when you attack its residents. The gameplay itself does get repetitive at times, yet the surreal dark atmosphere kept me moving forward to explore the game's odd setting. One thing I will say about the bosses is that the final boss was a complete let down gameplay wise, but not so much narrative wise. There's also a ton of bonus post-game material that you can discover, though I didn't bother with it as I felt it would sour my experience with the game after reading about it; locating the secrets is very tedious and in some cases requires glitching the game. Anodyne is more of a game you should play for the surrealist feel rather than the gameplay itself, so it's definitely not for everyone; I liked it though. 7/10
23. Shin Megami Tensei (iOS): 31:28, May 1st.
I really can't say much about SMT I that doubtlessly hasn't already been said. It's a great mixture of scifi, religious, and moral themes that doesn't really hold your hand, though honestly it's rather easy to break the game with stuff like Marin Karin, Zio related skills, and charm bullets. Some of the dungeons can get a bit confusing at times, but you should be able to hold your own thanks to the map. There's a ton of depth to the stuff you have to manage. The alignment system is one of the best in any series, since it's more of a grey and grey morality than good and evil. Since most of the game is a port of the GBA port, the colors are a bit washed out compared to, say, the original version of the game. The music, however, is straight from the PS1 port, so the
OST is of pretty high quality. There are two different control schemes for the iOS port, and neither were really to my liking; portrait mode left the game screen a bit smaller than I would have liked it while landscape mode left the screen covered by the buttons. I eventually just went with portrait mode, though there were a few times I accidentally activated the other mode. I originally had doubts with how well the game would actually control, but when I actually played it, everything controlled perfectly fine. The newly translated script is all around great, and the scripting is fairly consistent with the translation of IV, which shares a few similarities with I. The game's narrative is far better than I remember when I played the fan translation, and is one of the better narratives in the SMT franchise, in my opinion. I'd have to play an officially translated II and if... to make the opinion certain, though, wink wink nudge nudge. As one last observation, the game comes with an electronic manual that's really well put together, and you should definitely check it out. SMT 1 is a classic game that you should play if you have access to it, and aren't afraid of a slightly challenging game. 8/10
24. Yoshi's New Island (3DS): 7:05, May 2nd.
I kind of want to discuss the origins of Arzest but I won't. This will
mainly be just about New Island. Just know that for all intents and purposes Arzest=Artoon. When I learned they would be developing this game, I had little hope for New Island. But it turned out to be better than I expected, even after reading some of the more negative comments in the OT. It's clearly a game the feeds off of nostalgia, and mirrors, or at least has the equivalent are of, some of the original Yoshi's Island in some areas, but there's definitely original content available in the game. The graphics are, like most 3DS games, not as bad as they look when stretched across a computer screen or presented in a Youtube video. Sure, I would have preferred the original style, but New Island's style isn't as bad as it first looked. Yoshi's movements felt a bit slow at first, but I eventually got used to them, and managed to make the game feel at least a bit faster. The immense depth of hidden collectibles return and are a nice aspect of the game, but can get tedious to collect at times. The new vehicle additions seemed to operate fine for me, and the only one that was difficult to control was the sub; I was expecting the controls to be far worse based on what I had heard. The new giant egg mechanic that seemed to be featured prominently in ads was largely under-utilized, though I'm not sure if that was a good or bad thing. The bosses were pretty easy, easier than the first game's bosses, even. And then there's the matter of the music. I really like music in video games, and I tend to focus on it a lot. The piece of music I linked to in this section's title is well done, and is one of the standout pieces of New Island's OST. Unfortunately, the entire soundtrack isn't quite as good, with
songs like this being included. Yeah, it's not the best. I do think the OST gets more hate than it really deserves, since it doesn't come close to butchering classic franchise songs like some...
things. Yoshi's New Island doesn't feel as good as the original, but it's probably one of the best Yoshi games since the original so far. 7/10
25. Shantae (3DS VC/GBC): 9:18 total, 1:35 in 2013, May 3rd.
So first thing's first. This game is beautiful. Seriously, this is one of the best looking GBC games I've ever played, and the graphics hold up to this day, especially in regards to the animations. Gameplay wise, the game is okay. The different transformations/abilities kept the game unique, as did the dancing segments even if they were mainly just QTEs. The platforming is, well, 2D platforming. I'm not really a fan of the OST, though. I honestly felt that it was largely forgettable and dull, though it was by no means terrible. I don't think that it deserves the high price the physical boxed versions go for, but that's mainly because there weren't enough units made. The price for the digital VC version is fine. I really can't think of much else to talk about with Shantae. It was more of a fun little distraction than anything. 6.5/10.
26. Bastion (PC): 5:38, May 3rd.
Thanks to Raven recommending it in the Steam thread a while ago, I finally got around to playing Bastion. The first thing I want to bring up is the
OST. It's absolutely wonderful, and it's earned its place among my favorite gaming soundtracks. Each song really adds to the tone and direction of the game in a way that really adds to the overall theme of the story; Zia's theme, for example, showcases a theme of the game in a way that really adds to the atmosphere of the portion of Bastion where you meet her for the first time. Aesthetically, the game is really stylish and beautiful, with not a single piece of bad art, in my opinion. Each new area you go to is stylish and creative and it's just so good that I could gush about it for a long time. The narrative is well written and builds up as the story progresses, with information about the game's characters' past slowly revealed over the course of the game very well. There's a bit of the end game that felt slightly rushed, though it was hinted at earlier, but it was still a good idea. Rucks' narration is something that I thought I wouldn't like at first, but found myself enjoying more and more over the course of the game. I can't imagine Bastion without the narration, it just wouldn't have the same impact. As for gameplay, it's okay. I liked how many different playstyles were presented over the course of the game as more weapons, tonics, upgrades, and idols were unlocked, but it felt a bit lacking. Not by much, since it was consistently fun and it's kind of engaging considering all of the different options you're given, but it just felt a little dull at points. Still, Bastion's a really great game that I definitely recommend trying if you haven't played it. 8/10
27. New Super Mario Bros. 2 (3DS): 7:30, May 10th.
Of the three NSMB games I've played (haven't played U), I've enjoyed this one the most. After two games that I found lacking, it seems like the new iteration of side scrolling Mario games have finally started to move in the right direction, though it's still nowhere near as entertaining as the classic games. It also seems like the franchise finally managed to relearn how to partially do secrets. It's still not at the same levels of the new games, but the secrets are still better than in the last two. Gameplay wise, there's not much to talk about. It's a Mario game, it's basically the same thing as always, just now with an added emphasis on coins that doesn't really matter since the reward for getting one million coins is worthless. The level design is okay for the most part; it sometimes feels too easy and never really gets challenging until you get to the secret levels and the final main boss. The music is still ruined by the thematic and irritating "bah bah" sounds, which made me mute most of the game, honestly. Without those horrible noises, I would listen to the soundtrack more, but with them it just gets on my nerves; it's not completely awful, though, it's just I wouldn't listen to it ever again. Other than that, there's not much I can really say. The game is more of the same, but it's still fun and enjoyable. 7/10
28. Breath of Fire (GBA): 38:52, May 13th.
So, it's a classic SNES RPG ported to the GBA. As you would expect, sound takes a bit of a hit, and the graphics are slightly altered, but as usual I wasn't really phased by it. The soundtrack is decent, the graphics still look decent, and that's pretty much the same for the rest of the game; everything is decent, or at the very least serviceable. The game's narrative is fairly basic, with nothing too special, but hey it works. The battle system is straightforward and easy to understand, and the transformation abilities add a little something different to the game, though they are a little overpowered by the end of the game. The writing is decent and nothing special, and it sometimes feels a little heavy-handed, like there's not a whole lot of effort put into it. The characters are pretty forgettable for the most part. It's definitely not a bad game though, it's just fairly mediocre, even if it's a classic. For me, it was one of those games where I don't want to play it for a while, finally pick it up, and then not want to put it down because it's sort of mindless fun. It's nothing really special and doesn't compare to other SNES classics, but it's still a decent RPG. 6.5/10
29. Vanguard Princess (PC): 1:39, May 19th.
There's a lot to dislike about Vanguard Princess and there's some of it to like. I like some of the soundtrack, it's honestly pretty satisfactory, and even has some really good songs. The battle animations are fluid and just have the right
feel to them, and I found a few characters that had battle styles I liked. It's surprisingly easy to play using the keyboard. The sprite work is competent and the stages' backgrounds are nice. And then there's the stuff to dislike. There are two options to play in, which amount to story mode and co-op mode. There's no real free battle mode or anything, it's just fight through the bare bones story line and nothing else for single player. Co-op mode is shared on a keyboard or with two controllers, and it's local only. At this point, there is no online mode in this semi-modern day fighting game. So that kinda sucks. Next up, the character designs. I like anime girls as much as the next guy, but some of the designs are just a
little bit too far. Like almost all of the support characters, for instance. Or some of the fighters. If you don't like
shots of undergarments and jiggly bits gratuitous fan service, you probably won't like this game, and you definitely won't like the free director's cut dlc for reasons. The resolutions are garbage and can't really be fixed by being made larger, and the ui just doesn't really do it for me. But yeah, basically only get this game in a bundle for the anime cards, because those sell like hotcakes. 4.5/10
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