Funksatron

A very short (about 2 hours of gameplay) game which will lure you in with interesting artwork and a mythological plot. Resist the allure. It's not worth it. The gameplay is painfully clunky and just not worth the effort. It's not the worst game you've ever played, but it doesn't stand out in the indie crowd. I would have preferred my money had gone to purchase a "Making Of" or "Artwork Of" PDF booklet about this game to actually playing it.

A surprisingly good effort. Doesn't try to be more than it is by dragging out gameplay. Keeps it short and sweet. A couple puzzles struck me as vastly more difficult than every other puzzle in the game, which was frustrating and interrupted the flow for me and would keep me from recommending it to younger kids.

It's about what you'd expect from playing the first game, but without the charm of being the first game. A solid follow-up, but gets old much faster. Turns out not to be fun enough to justify replay.

A lovingly constructed animated world. The exposition of narrative throughout the game via puppet shows does a good job of dispensing plot. However this game suffers from several faults that could be easily addressed. Boss fights need some fine tuning. Checkpoints are designed in such a way that you usually have to redo a significantly long easy portion to get back to the difficult part that defeated you previously, this doesn't make for fun gameplay. At times I felt the visual cues of what was dangerous didn't line up with the actual areas that would harm you. Difficulty did not follow a smooth curve. My biggest disappointment by far was the lack of an ending (both endings in my opinion are worthless) after being shown that the designer DID know how to tell a story (via the earlier puppet shows). Good foundation, needs significant refinement.

Darkness II gets lost in meaningless breadth. It has interesting design in characters, worlds, weapons, but it's too much and without purpose. Too many missions follow the "collect 3 of..." format. Some are even nested, so you'll find yourself collecting 3 of X in order to get 1 of 3 Y. It just feels like busy work. Combat is over-complicated, uninteresting and made even more frustrating by bad automatic camera placement. Inventory management is a large part of the game and is also quite lackluster. Simply not fun to play.

An amazingly original game. This game is what I imagine would result if GladOS and M.C. Escher had a love child. The puzzle difficulty ranges from easy to nearly impossible to solve without spoilers, but you almost always have a variety of puzzles to choose from. Minimalistic, it doesn't try to forcibly inject a plot into the gameplay. I only have 3 issues: 1) the graphics I don't mind the minimalism. In fact it was probably the only sensible design. My brain was so busy trying to figure out the space-time defying puzzles that I think any texture interference would have just been a headache. My issue was with the quality of the execution. You can tell that the developers forced the Unreal Engine to do something it was not designed to do out of the box. It's pretty rough around the edges. It doesn't interfere with gameplay, but it reminds you that you're playing an indie title. 2) Instruction Once I figured out how to read the map, I was able to focus my attention on only the unsolved puzzles. In order to understand the map I had to consult the internet. I don't think it would have been unreasonable to put a bit more time into explaining this tool. 3) precision on several occasions I found it difficult to predict how my tools were going to behave. It's very hard to create chains of blocks in the direction you want without looking at a wall dead on. All-in-all, a joy to play.

The visuals in this game are extremely refined. Top of their class. The gameplay is much less refined. It is essentially a stealth shooter and not a very good one. My immersion in the game was never very deep because the stealth mechanic was so unconvincingly executed. All enemies are either sensitive to line of sight or the sound of YOUR foot steps or gunshots. How the enemy would know the difference between the foot steps or gunshots of an ally or an enemy isn't explored, but it is of little consequence as nearly every OTHER sound is ignored. Grunts, stabs, clangs, clinks, your allies talking, whistling or yelling. Hell, the enemies don't even see your allies stumbling at their own feet. Also, enemies have infinite ammo, until they die. Then they rarely drop weapons or ammo, and even more rarely of the type they were using to attack you. The seeing-by-sound system was buggy and sometimes failed to show close enemies or report them in the correct direction. The story could use more development. The focus is on character relationships, but unfortunately I was never convinced to be on the side of the character that I played. I didn't agree with his values or judgement and did not want him to succeed while exhibiting those values. There are NO better looking games from this generation, but there are many better games.

A visually beautiful game. Not really in terms of cutting edge graphics or zillion polygon character models, but in the conception and execution of a floating city. If I were just rating this game on the ambiance would easily earn an 11 out of 10. The gameplay is solid, but brings nothing new to the genre. Perhaps FPS has reached maturity. The replacement of save slots and quicksaves with autosaves is a bit irritating, but not so much it'd turn you off of the game. My major issue with the game is that it's a bit long-winded, and this was only an issue for me because the plot was unsatisfying. I'm not just trying to say I didn't like the ending, I'm saying it doesn't make sense and because of that left me unfulfilled. Early on some plot devices are revealed that throw up red flags. The same brand of flags JJ Abrams uses so liberally in his narratives. If you can enjoy Lost or Alias, you'll probably be blown away by this game.

A good concept, but so poorly executed that it's not worth playing. Physics based puzzles with inconsistent physics and interrupted by unusable controls. Seems to be aimed toward children, but I imagine they'd find it too frustrating to stick with. Poor graphics. Almost no appeal. Worth avoiding even for free.

A puzzle game that keeps it light. Casual and short (about 2 hours of gameplay). Frustration level stays pretty low although I could have used a little more guidance (closing off areas you're done with, indicating what has changed because of your last action). The physics are well executed and the masses 'feel' correct. Graphics are well done, but could have used more color.

I played this game in 2013, after playing Bioshock 1 & 2 and in anticipation of buying Bioshock Infinite. The game almost lost me in the beginning. It took a couple hours to adapt to the dated graphics, but after that the plot helped my imagination add in as many polygons as I wanted. This game holds up remarkably well for its age. I feel like its only major flaw is extremely steep learning curve of the first deck. I could have used more hand holding or more restricted options. I quickly discovered that I had chosen poorly in regards to my specializations. After a couple hours of frustration and a restart with new selections, I found my pace and was enjoying myself. I had minor issues with the map and menu systems. With a minor facelift this game could pass as a 2012 release.

The game's mechanic is simple and well executed. For what it is, it's built well. The visuals can be confusing at times and the difficulty arc is sprinkled with a few aberrations. What this game lacks is substance. There is no incentive play at all.

Imagine that you're deaf and a complete stranger is trying to tell you about a series of dreams they had. Also, they'll only continue telling you about the dreams as long as you're jogging backwards on a treadmill in snow-shoes. That's about as confusing, frustrating, unfulfilling, unimpressive and cohesive as the experience known as "The Path" is. All that being said, it does give it a modicum of novelty and I suppose that's worth something.

I was excited to play this game. I had watched the Forward Until Dawn series and several of the other CG webisodes that had to do with special ops. It looked like they really wanted to take Halo to the next level and advance the plot. All of the marketing for this game was top notch, however the game was not. I was amazed at how little the game felt like it had evolved from the very first incarnation of Halo. The in game plot did not live up to the standard set by all the marketing. As far as I could tell there were only 3 cutscenes that were rendered at cinema quality, the rest seemed to be rendered with the in-game engine. I played the campaign co-op, and repeatedly had to deal with being respawned over empty space or in front of walls on vehicle levels. The AI was unimpressive for the current generation of FPS games. This is the Halo game that will make me stop playing Halo.

The game started out a bit rough around the edges. The introductory stages weren't very interesting and it wasn't clear that you'd have to revisit these areas to access all areas. Once you get most of the critical mobility abilities, though, the gameplay really seats itself and reveals how enjoyable it was intended to be. The plot is on par with any Uncharted game. The facial detail on the characters during cutscenes leaves much room for improvement, but it's not so bad as to be off-putting. Close quarters combat could use a bit of refinement. Personally I'd like to see more puzzle solving and less combat, but I was having fun doing both. I will certainly play the next installment in this rebooted franchise.

I played this game as a fan of Ninja Theory, not as a fan of the Devil May Cry franchise. While I was disappointed in how much they reached back to their Heavenly Sword roots with the combat mechanic, I believe they executed it moderately better in this game. The facial animation/acting is a step down from what I came to expect by playing Enslaved, but still better than the vast majority of games. Despite the popular sentiment, I found this game to be extremely difficult and would think that the 'easy' setting would be even easier to give access to a wider audience. My biggest problem, as with Heavenly Sword, was with the combat system. It is incredibly complex, but I can understand how after mastering it, the game might be too easy. I simply never mastered it. Even in the final boss fight I was hitting the wrong buttons frequently in a panic. The plot was middle of the road. It should have been better. I wanted to see more lore about the angel side of things. Almost all exposition lies in with the demon mythology. What really blew me away about this game was the level design. It is so dynamic and interesting that it made my brain tired. There is so much moving, changing and hidden for later. I was impressed at how complex it looked, while it was able to still give me guidance. I'm still looking forward to more from Ninja Theory, but could easily ditch the DmC intellectual property.

It's hard to something positive to say about L.A. Noire. I suppose the detail in the city of LA was fantastic, which, while it was artistically impressive, didn't add much to the enjoyment of the game. I'm giving Rockstar a little credit for the effort. I appreciate what they set out to do, but I don't think it was executed competently. Firstly, the foundation of the gameplay is crime-solving via scrutiny of simulated facial expression and a collection of evidence. This means you are evaluating the veracity of statements based on the performances of actors (of variable talent) who are all essentially lying (since they are acting) as reinterpreted through the facial rendering engine. This technology is another failure. It looks like nothing more than low res video being played over a 3D model of a human head. All the characters looked like dead-eyed, shifty, slime-faced androids. Many were hard to distinguish. Which brings me to the characters. There was a lot of content to this game, about 18 hours for me, but it was vastly more concerned with breadth than depth. I never felt invested in any of the characters because none of them felt human. I still don't understand the motivations of the protagonists. This game could possibly have been something in another studio's hands, I still find the idea intriguing, but in the state it was released it's not worth either the investment of time or money.

The most painful aspect of this game is that there is evidence **** hidden deep inside FTL that I really want to play. The dominant part of the gaming mechanic interferes with my ability to play the game I want to play. There are numerous random elements which have overwhelmingly powerful consequences. This is not a game you can complete with sheer determination. It seems that the developer mourns the absence of games that make us lose more frequently. Desperately wanting to play the game which I saw with my mind's eye, I applied cheats and save game editors. No matter what I tried, I was not able to find a way to have fun playing this game, hence my score. Still, if you can get a free demo, I would encourage you to try it. Evidence suggests some people enjoy this kind of gameplay.

You can get a pretty good idea of whether or not you'll like this game before you play it as long as you know where the focus of its design was and what generalities of game elements you like/don't like. Do you generally like zombie movies, even the bad ones, even the ones that have VERY little focus on zombies? Do you like the attempt of a unique art style more than the success of its execution? Do you like the illusion of choice in games? Can you tolerate an extended quick-time event trying to pass for a game? I didn't care for this game at all, but will give it credit for trying. The engine feels underpowered, constantly loading between rooms, micro freezing (1/8th second delay) between camera angle switches, clunky body animation (almost all the focus was on the faces). The game warns you that the choices you make will affect the outcome of the game. What they don't tell you is that the choices you make won't have logical consequences and frequently the reactions of other characters won't make any sense. The character writing is idiotic. There are a million things wrong with the storytelling i.e. people yelling don't get noticed by zombies, girl locks herself in a motel room by nailing a board to the OUTSIDE of the door when she's locked inside, characters react before events happen. The slop gets tiring. Most of the action is nothing more than repeating an attack 3 times. Boring. The credit I give this game is for trying to transcend gaming, horror, and storytelling. It would have been amazing had it been successful. It just wasn't.

A confusing amalgam of cotton candy fairy tale visuals and "8-bit hard" gameplay. I purchased this game based on the intriguing visuals and interesting mechanic (ability switching) showcased in the trailer. I was surprised to discover that plot had been completely thrown out (magic portal **** sisters into fantasy **** GO!). I had expected something more from a game that seemed to be trying so hard to create a stylistic visual world. At its best, it worked for the first 5 levels. The controls weren't ideal, they felt a bit 'loose'. Hit zones felt off, I had trouble determining exactly how close I could brush against enemies, this issue was compounded by the fact that each enemy has 2 forms. Then level 1-6 happens. You realize that the developers now fancy this game as a tight, die-until-you-get-it-right, ninja-fingers test of controller mastery. The only problems are the controls AREN'T tight, the visuals provide so much interference with the tasks and the completion of segments provide no satisfaction. This game has no "easy" mode. If you can't hack it, you'd better just uninstall it.

A very fluid stealth game. There is a steep learning curve on the controls, but by the time you learn all the character abilities, it feels a bit more natural. The perfect amount of gameplay. Maybe not such an original story, but told well. The animation is well executed and a welcome departure from 3D. Not impossibly challenging, good casual gaming.

A plot based game with no plot. I found the graphics to be well selected for a suspense game. Monsters are always scarier when you leave much to the imagination. But this wasn't utilized at all. There are no thrills to take advantage of the atmosphere. The game-play is extraordinarily simple and yet still quite buggy. Text screens frequently repeated for no reason. This game has no replay value and worse, it has no initial play value.

A very pretty game built on a foundation of simple game-play and campfire-like storytelling. If you're a plot driven player, this is a great game to buy. If you require a little more challenge, the game has built in modifiers that let you customize your difficulty level to your liking. Would have been better if all character animation was hand drawn to match the style of the level design. Looks like 3D animation in a painterly world.

In short: You can avoid this game and your life won't be lacking. The only reason I can see to play this game would be if you REALLY love Gears of War and can't wait for the next installment to be released. Even then, I imagine you'd be happier replaying any of the GoW games. Inversion starts off with an intriguing premise, the idea of gravity affect tools, and then goes almost nowhere with it. Characters are 1 dimensional. Level design is poor. AI partner is a liability. Application of gravity tool fluctuates between superfluous and inconvenient. Cut-scenes ceaselessly interrupt gameplay. Checkpoints are usually inconvenient (i.e. - before a cut-scene, not after). Lack of shoulder aim switching makes combat tedious. Enemy types are very limited and poorly designed boss types are used repeatedly, sometimes in rapid succession. I did not play coop, which may have made the experience more enjoyable, but having played 4/5 of the game single player, I can't ask another person to play this game with a clear conscience.

Nearly a perfect execution for this genre (Superpower FPS like Bioshock or Crysis). Borrows heavily from some of the best games of the past 10 years. Artistic style inspired by Borderlands, superpower system inspired by Bioshock, architecture...think Victorian Half-Life 2. Allows you to play in a way that suits you, but primarily limited to stealth/non-lethal and aggressive/lethal. Aggressive approach can be a bit too easy and one-note. Stealth can get frustrating at times when the availability of take-downs gets nit-picky about exact position relative to adversaries and makes you feel more like an assassin robot than a fluid ninja. It was entertaining enough that after first completion (stealth/good guy) I immediately started my second play-through (aggressive/bad guy). Doesn't bring anything new to the genre, but brings some polish to some old and proven elements.

Very well developed atmosphere, good visual style, derivative/predictable plot and sluggish controls that obstinately sit between you and your enjoyment of the game. Deadlight is one of those games that you find irritating not because it is a complete failure, but because some of its elements were executed so well while others fall flat on their face. The 2.5D scrolling environment works well most of the time, although it's irritating that enemies approach from outside your plane and you can't attack them until they enter into it. The jump mechanic is irritating (straight up, 8 ft leap and maybe 16 foot leap with nothing in-between). Weapon switching is sloppy and slow. Many 'puzzles' will kill you the first time you approach them, rather than presenting intriguing situations that can be solved with skills that have been encouraged to develop. Many sections involve infinitely spawning enemies, but extremely limited ammunition. Checkpoints often precede narration, meaning that if you find a section difficult, you'll be hearing the same monologue several times. No replay value.

There is good reason to compare QC to Portal. Both games are FPS puzzlers that employ physics manipulation. QC is a solid game in its own right. The graphics are friendly, the characteristics of the alternate dimensions are interesting and the premise is adequate. The puzzle difficulty seems to be either too easy or maddeningly reliant on high precision twitchery. If you just want to solve puzzles, this game may not be for you. After thinking your way through a puzzle, you must then execute your plan which is sometimes much easier said than done. The conclusion is unsatisfying, you won't be playing this game for plot. The game is pretty short and encourages replay for various bragging rights (not dying, fast completion, fewest dimensional shifts) if that's your cup of tea. All in all, because of the low cost of this game ($9 on sale), it's worth the investment. Just don't expect it to be Portal 3.

I greatly appreciate that games like this can be made and I was inspired by the vision of Vessel, but after having completed the game I found that I wasn't enjoying it most of the time I was playing. The visuals are handled very well and I can't fault the game there. The physics are very simplified and cumbersome during many scenarios (dials, swinging bridges, aiming streams). The plot was compelling, but did not follow through on completion. The majority of the puzzles weigh in on the easy side, some quite clever, but many times I found myself frustrated that so much of the difficulty came from overcoming the clunky controls (I did use a gamepad as recommended) and finicking the AI Fluros into their positions. The minutes that passed between solving a puzzle conceptually and being able to execute it in the game dampened the joy of each success.

This game suffers from unmet potential. The art style is enjoyable and the variety of weapons seems interesting, but under-utilized. The PC version reeks of a bad port. Display settings are limited to 1280x1024. No Widescreen options. If you change the setting it's not saved for resume. There is no way to set the deadzone on your analogue sticks. The 2D scrolling 3D environment creates visual confusion in some areas that requires ungratifying replay. The difficulty of gameplay is inconsistent and rarely rewarding.