Akuto

There's not a lot to be said for this game. As far as fishing games go it's not bad, but it fails to bring anything new to the genre. The 3D effect is nice and overall it's fun for a little while, but the simplicity and lack of features keep it from being anything special. Just a fun download game.

I tried this game on Steam's free weekend. Afterwards, I spent the $5 to get it back. A lot of the reviews I'm seeing here, critic or user, focus in on how the game compares to its original incarnation and its various sources of inspiration (Minecraft, a variety of FPS, etc). Sure, I'll admit it: this is not an evolution of anything. It's a mishmash of various elements. But treating it as an unrelated, standalone game, there's definite fun to be had. They've even updated the game to include the apparently sorely missed classic mode with only one class. For $5, this game is well worth it. Full price I'm not so sure, because there are occasional bug issues. All in all, though, this is far from the terrible mess reviews have made it out to be, and if you get the chance to try before you buy you might be pleasantly surprised.

Thrilled as I was with the Xbox version, the need for external speakers connected directly to the system (as in, no using the same TV for both visuals and speakers) prompted me to pick up the PC version on sale from Steam for the convenience of 3.5mm output jacks. Entirely worth the second purchase, there's no doubt in my mind. There's nothing I could say that hasn't already been expressed in the glowing reviews this game has received, and as much as I feel the points deserve reiteration, I'll leave it at that.

Yes, the praise reviews are giving this game is accurate. It's a carefully made, non-linear story played through in disjointed pieces. It's usually all played through in one session. It's clever and charming. Frankly, however, the now free-to-download Gravity Bone was more engaging, and free. Try Gravity Bone, and if you LOVE it, buy this game expecting the same experience with a little more story and a little less game. Otherwise, and I'm on this side, it's not worth the $5 for the 10 minutes it offers, regardless of how funny and creative this game really is. Just watch a let's play and you'll get the exact same experience.

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

American Mensa Academy is a brain training game, similar in many ways to Brain Age and other games of the genre. But like any system, it has it's flaws and it's advantages. We'll start off with the positive. The game starts off fairly simple and increases in difficulty fairly quickly, so while it will be accessible to younger players it will still work up to a moderate challenge for the average adult. The mini games are broken in to 5 sections (Language, Numeracy, Logic, Visual, and Memory) with 20 difficulty levels per section. The first 5 levels feel like a crawl, but as you proceed past that point you actually get to start using your brain. In addition, there's a coaching mode that lets you test yourself in specific mini games for 3 different medals (Bronze, Silver, Gold as usual). The big challenge the game presents for when you really feel like thinking is the Test mode. The system generates variable Mensa-style IQ tests for the user to take. 30 problems are presented with a 15 minute time limit, you can skip questions and come back to them, and you don't need to answer every question to be scored. Now would be a good time to get in to the negatives, so I'll start here. One of the achievements for high test scores is "Mensa Material". Mensa accepts individuals with scores in the top 2%. Currently, 5.6% of the steam players who own the game have this achievement, and that's counting the individuals who haven't been scored at least once. Out of the scored individuals on the leaderboard, about 12% have earned this achievement. This leads me to believe that the "Mensa style tests" they provide are not actually up to Mensa's rigorous standards. While this isn't necessarily bad for people just looking for a brain training game, people who got the game expecting to truly challenge themselves against the standards of the famous high IQ society may be a bit let down. Either that, or the majority of the game's buyers are above average to varying degrees. Another shortcoming is that the game offers no regimented training experience, such as the daily activities in Brain Age. A key to learning is consistency in practice, but the game itself provides no schedule. You have to set your own limits and stick to them. Personally, I don't find this to be an inconvenience, but I think what a lot of people liked about Brain Age is that they kept you doing things in a pattern that really facilitated improvement. Also, while Brain Age keeps track of positive and negative progress using charts, AMA only provides high scores per-mini game-per-level with no information on how these scores are calculated, and leaderboards to compare yourself to other online players in the 3 game modes (and even then, only on total amount of stars/medals earned total across all mini games, or on test scores) All in all, it's worth the 20 dollars. This is a game that will help you keep your brain from going soft in between the real mental work involved in real life, just maybe not the best game it could be.

A few days ago, I bought the game I'd been waiting for all my life. At first, I was a bit put off by the very specific hardware setup required to ensure accuracy. However, after some time alone with this beauty, I've come to love it more than I had ever expected. To be honest, the track list isn't all that impressive, and the game doesn't promote creativity per se, but more than ever I find myself picking up my old Les Paul to really put some time into playing, which is rare since I don't have musician friends to jam with. More than anything, I feel this will help budding guitarists who pluck around a bit as it is to motivate themselves to play full songs by placing them in the position of guitarist with a band around them. Not to mention there's just something truly fun about fighting zombies using a guitar (and not as a melee weapon for once.)

A very fun game with some loose ends that need tying. For the ten dollar activation cost, I'm given nearly 1000 cards, many designed to be used in their pre-made decks. However, the gameplay itself took some adjusting to, since the program isn't exactly intuitive. A quick trip to the new user guide on the Wizards' forum fixes that. Another complaint is the New Player section of casual games, which clearly has a lot of people who are neither new to MTG or MTGO. This makes it a hassle to find balanced games at times. All in all, worth the $10, but a bit demanding if you don't plan on spending more.

This is hardly a free to play game. It's more like a demo with benefits. The first and only free 5 mission chapter took about 30 minutes to complete. Only one of the cards I was awarded for completing the chapter was even compatible with the color I chose. Multiplayer is near impossible to win due to people willing to pay for gold and booster packs to acquire more powerful spells. Because of this, the game very quickly loses its "free to play" replay value. I've also experiences some bugs, such as my deck of 40+ cards being registered as incomplete, and the icons displaying turn order not appearing in their bar. In spite of this, I think this game could have some great potential if it became a little more free-user friendly and a little smoother in the programming.

This is a game that was worth pre-ordering for the added bonus of the first two games in the series. Looking back at those, I personally believe this game is an improvement, as they've finally added a little RPG elements to the hack and slash carnage. However, I don't believe this game is a major enough improvement for today's capabilities. All in all, it's the kind of game that's quite fun to play once through and never touch again.

From Dust for PC is a beautiful sign of the gaming industry apocalypse. Only on the verge of a market collapse could a concept so promising be mangled so horribly. Now, I'm not here reviewing the Xbox version, I wish I were, but this is all about the PC port. The camera is very sensitive, as is the mouse. The mouse controls your movement as well as the camera's movement. Seeing a problem yet? The refresh rate is fixed, making you wonder why it's in the options menu at all. When a disaster such as a volcanic eruption occurs, the screen cuts awkwardly back and forth between the game and a terribly angled shot of the disaster, or in some cases a flat field of color (that's when the camera view is smashed up into the disaster, I assume.) Even movement of the mouse is choppy, which is a massive disadvantage in a game calling for precise placement of elements and abilities. As I see, some reviewers are calling these "isolated incidents." Consider the positive-negative review ratio, both from users and reputable gaming sites, and I'm sure you'll disagree. All in all, this clever, original game would be a keeper if they finished porting it and began work on DLC, but for the time being it's just another crushing mountain of defied expectations.