GBG_Jason

If you grew up in a household with more than one kid, you know the struggle. You're sitting down for a nice game of Goldeneye 64 and then in walks your little brother, whom wants to join in on the fun. The next thing you know, you're sitting in a bathroom stall with the only entry point covered in proximity mines while kicking back shoving handfuls of Doritos in your mouth, waiting for the inevitable meltdown. Sure, you could play something cooperative, but how can you torture your younger sibling if you are required to work together? Enter Ratalaika Games' newest release, Twin Robots: Ultimate Edition. The title follows two robots, whom are tasked with completing a number of timed trials or face certain death as all service bots do at the end of their service (sounds like a career in customer service to me). Failure leaves them in the scrap heap, whereas success will set them free. To complete the puzzles, you'll need to work as a team (or solo if a player two isn't available) as each player must carry their own weight to make it to the end of the level. I know, this doesn't sound all that torturous yet, but we'll get there. At the beginning of each level, one of the two bots will be locked behind a gate, with an ever descending ceiling that slowly creeps down on the secondary player. The free bot will have to quickly move forward through the level to seek out the large red button that will release the second character. Once both of the players are free, you'll simply need to book for the exit. While this is extremely basic, the fact that both robots will have to manage their battery life adds the true challenge. Before sitting down to play this with a second player, you'll need to evaluate their skillset. Is this person someone who can sit calmly and wait their turn? If the answer is no, you'll likely want to play solo, since doing any action, be it walking, running, or jumping depletes your battery. There are a few ways to combat this, such as walking on any of the brightly lit tiles on the path to the exit, collecting one of the few battery pick-ups tucked away within the environments, or by simply giving some of your energy to the other player, which can be done wirelessly from any distance. The kicker is the exit will require a fair amount of energy to unlock, putting real weight on decisions and deterring you from making needless actions. Since my young, slightly impatient child was my co-op buddy on this venture, it's needless to say I found the solo mode to be more enjoyable simply due to the fact that he couldn't sit still when it was his turn to be locked away in the tube (Not So Fun Fact: Jumping into the platform that works as a creeping death will also result in an early demise). The game falls on the easier end of the spectrum when it comes to the difficulty, with many levels only having a hazard or two to evade on your way to the exit. The short levels fail to hit their stride until late into the game, which comes all too quickly due to the fact that the game has just over 20 levels which can be completed in a matter of minutes. Once completed, there isn't much to revisit, unless you wish to seek out 100% completion on each level by collecting the batteries or activating each of the floor plates. The completion time for each level is tracked albeit fairly useless, since they serve no purpose outside of a few achievements associated with beating specific levels within a set time. The only weak point in the gameplay is the drag mechanic that comes into play late into the game. Most platformers use this as a tool to allow you to complete puzzles or reach secret areas - that is the same here, with the single exception being that the boxes or cubes are too light and often will move when you try to jump on them, effectively making them useless and requiring too many actions to properly move vertically, resulting in a drained battery more often than it should. The presentation is similar to previous Ratalaika Games releases, with blocky features and characters making up the bulk of the visuals. This suits Twin Robots well, but is nowhere near awe inspiring. Towards the end, I was growing weary of seeing the same color scheme and assets that are repeated throughout the game. The same can be said for the sound effects and music. The one standout feature is the responsive controls which make breezing through the levels enjoyable, even if they are over all too soon. Twin Robots: Ultimate Edition is a decent platformer even though it is on the short side. I would have liked to see more of the later levels come into play earlier in the game, making room for greater challenges, but I think this is a good starting point in what I hope to be a long running series that I can revisit with my son once he learns patience... or gets the opportunity to torture a sibling of his own.

Shotguns, assault rifles, pistols, SMGs, and pretty much any type of artillery you could ask for are present and in huge numbers. With the exception of the range, the guns are an enjoyable means to an end and pack a decent punch at close to mid-range. Unfortunately, even the sniper rifles lack much in terms of their effective distance (shooting too far away made me feel like the guns were loaded with crayons), often requiring the player to get closer than they would like. Knowing this, the assault rifles are likely going to be your default. Meticulous exploration will net you guns regularly (I had upwards of ten before completing the tutorial area), with random drops present, akin to the Borderlands franchise, and you'll likely never receive the same gun twice. Each of the weapons bring something different to the table, but can feel like situational options as the game handles them in a less than thrilling way deterring experimentation. At the onset of the game you'll have to create your character, utilizing a decent amount of customization options while selecting one of a wide range of classes that are more or less adept with certain types of guns. Initially, I went with the Marksman class, assuming that more range would suit my playstyle, allowing me to casually sit back and pick off enemies from a distance. I could not have been more wrong. The enemies you'll face will gladly take a few hits to the head and keep coming at you like a dimwitted school yard bully who's had too many steroid infused chicken nuggets. While you can interchange your arsenal with weapons geared toward the other classes, the game tends to drop items early into the game that are more pertinent to the class you choose. After struggling my way to the first boss encounter, dying plenty of times along the way, I came to the realization that my class may not be the best option and started over with a more rounded class. Much to my chagrin, the game only permits you to have one active character at a time, resulting in any progress should choose to sample one of the other classes to be lost. I found this limitation to be a huge disappointment as it discourages leaving your comfort zone. You'll spend the bulk of your time exploring the game world seeking out obelisks that function much like the campfire's from DS, with some pretty hardcore changes. You'll need to visit the obelisks often to save, change out your loadout (insert sad face), level up, refill your ammo or health potions (only the latter can be found in the game world), and in the event you die, these work as a respawn point. Unlike most games, you can't manipulate the save system to ease your way into the game world, as each and every time you leave a small room or area, the enemies will respawn in the exact same place, whether you die or not. Like the games that inspired it, death is not the end, but merely a small hurdle that you will face time and time again, with little consequence since your inventory and most of your progression is kept intact, sans your scrap. Scrap is used to do pretty much anything to your character within the game world - if you want to upgrade your character or gun, you'll need pretty crazy amounts of it - so much so that you'll often wonder if you are really making any progress at all. In the event you suffer a premature demise, you'll lose all of your scrap and be forced to either forfeit it or carefully backtrack to where you died to reacquire it. Dying en route will cause all of the previously stashed scrap to be lost completely, making the loss that much more disappointing. The static enemy placement makes this a bit more forgiving, albeit at the risk of repetition or boredom setting in, since you can easily change up your tactics on subsequent attempts with the knowledge of what you're up against being available. What doesn't work as well here is the ammo usage, due to the fact if you run out, you're out until you find another obelisk and will often have to backtrack, avoiding the same enemies time and time again just to refill it. Your ammo count is just as important, if not more so than your stamina or health bar. Offering meager amounts that feel more in line with a survival horror game such as The Evil Within or Silent Hill, each and every shot is important. Sadly, the aiming mechanics are a bit clunky and imprecise, essentially requiring the optional aim assist to be turned on to avoid wasting the precious commodity. Because of this, you will have to rely on the not so great melee attacks more than you rightfully should. Outside of the melee attack being sluggish and lacking any true feeling of power, the controls are passable. The reliance on the ranged combat brings something new to the table, while adding some new features that skew the difficulty here and there to make Immortal: Unchained feel new and accessible, yet retain the challenging gameplay the genre is known for.

Admittedly, I've never been too into the Souls series. I understand the appeal of them; I was one of the believers, owning the first print special edition of Demon's Souls before launch day courtesy of Amazon. I know plenty of people that love the games, with my brother getting the platinum trophy in each he has played. But something has always felt off for me in them, and the more difficult 2D games that follow a similar path fail for me in a similar manner. Death's Gambit is a game that may seem like the aforementioned series to someone that doesn’t have a whole lot of experience or time sunken into one of the now extremely popular Japanese games. It's amazing to see how far From Software has gone, inspiring a new subset of genre often referred to as Souls-like. Similar to Metroidvanias, these don't necessarily play by all the same rules, but certainly take inspiration. Technically speaking, this is closer in relation to Salt & Sanctuary, but my experience with that game is even more limited, so I can't speak to that with much authority. So let's jump into the game. Starting out you'll find that you've been resurrected by death incarnate and are to avenge those who have fallen, more or less. I was taken aback that the game had voice acting, and is pretty good to boot (for the more prevalent characters). The art style is the definitive high point of the game, both in character design and environments. Knowing nothing about this game, the attached screenshots would've intrigued me enough to buy this. But art is hardly enough to make the game enjoyable, and for that we need to discuss the gameplay. Death's Gambit is no stranger to the idea of killing you. If you're familiar with the You Died screen, you'll feel very much at home in this. The difference here is that it's not always seemingly your fault. There are plenty of games where people will exclaim the game has cheated, and I don't doubt that this will have people doing the same. Deaths are not always seen as fair, and that frustration will certainly translate to how enjoyable the game is for the player. I don't shy away from difficulty in games, but when the odds are stacked against you without enough reward for the duration of the frustration, it's hard to justify playing it. Something that I've only really seen in the likes of Shadow of Mordor (likely in Shadow of War too, but I couldn't be bothered to play past the tutorial) that makes this unique is the reaction to your character's death. For example, I fought a woman (I believe she's the first "boss" you encounter, if I remember correctly) who got the better of me, and when I ran back into the room after respawning she was confused and accused me of being one of the many undying demons. The game uses this mechanic to almost encourage death to see what will be said, as it fleshes out the world a bit more. But many of the game’s bosses will provide less of a challenge for you than just wandering around the world early on. I played as an assassin class, and the dodge behind and attack method worked without fail on the bosses, often being hard up to provide any challenge whatsoever. Perhaps the other classes that require different strategies would offer a bit more difficulty - for those that want to stick to their class though, the game has a heroic mode of the boss after leaving the room and coming back in. In the past couple of months, we've gotten a wide assortment of 2D Metroidvanias that range from good to great, such as Chasm, Guacamelee 2, and Dead Cells. At a glance, this looks like it'll be joining them, but it ends up being quite a different beast altogether. While aesthetically stylish with a world you'll backtrack through, many of the elements feel unfinished or rushed. The game’s platforming is pretty standard and borderline boring at times. As mentioned previously, the difficulty seems to be falsely implemented for the sake of taking your time opposed to creating a sense of accomplishment. I also ran into a number of technical problems while playing it, but they may have been patched by the time this review goes live as that was closer to launch. In theory, Death's Gambit should be an unrequited success. On paper it sounds wonderful, but the execution is flawed and at times unappealing. There are plenty of things to enjoy in this, especially if you are coming to it for the RPG aspects, but for those that want a solid Metroidvania platformer will find it to be a bit lacking. With future patches this can be something that shines, and White Rabbit's next game may very well send people down the rabbit hole, but this one falls just short of it.

The story takes place in the future, where a biological disease has struck all of the world’s youth including your own child, resulting in them turning into vicious savages. The only known treatment is to essentially turn them into soulless husks of their former selves. While I don’t quite understand why this was an alternative solution, the powers that be send a shuttle named the Pilgrimage to a newly discovered planet in hopes to start over. Unfortunately, your husband Ethan is on the shuttle and it has lost all communication with the known world. Thirteen years later, you find yourself on a rescue operation to find out the where or what caused the team to go missing. The story will take you across multiple locales, some more straightforward than others. The early stages task you with navigating your futuristic home as a pregnant Elea during a pretty wicked storm, while the later segments take place on the ship en route to the last known location of the Pilgrimage, and others taking place in…. well I don’t really know how to explain it, but they’re quite different. Throughout your time with Elea, you’ll wonder if there is an otherworldly force that is causing hallucinations, or if Elea is simply going mad due to the loss of her family. Over the course of the story, you’ll experience glitches, flashbacks, and mysterious visions that are thought provoking yet unnerving. The game rarely ventures beyond the hard sci-fi story into horror, yet I was regularly feeling uneasy, thinking something was just around the corner. This can be attributed to the amazing overall visual and audio presentation. Almost every visual asset looks amazing: bricks show so much detail that they feel as if you could reach out and touch them; metal shines with reflections that look photo realistic; the ocean scene early into the game is downright breath taking. Even the previously mentioned glitches look spectacular, with only mild tearing that doesn’t appear to be part of the visual change rarely breaking immersion. The few exceptions to this are various items that you can pick up and inspect, often looking flat or overly cartoonish, making them stand out much more than they should. The character models could have used a bit more work as well. The human characters all look as if they were taken straight from a wax museum, with overwhelmingly shiny yet flat looking facial features. The ambient sound effects only add to the already immersive experience. Sadly, the writing doesn’t give the voice overs much to work with, leaving yet another weak link in what could have been an amazing chain of events. The first segment in Elea’s home takes place primarily over the phone, or this world’s version of one, with her husband. Around the five minute mark, their constant use of pet names and loving phrases made me want to gag. Don’t get me wrong, I love my wife, but their conversation was never ending and made me want to run as quickly as possible to the objectives. Much to my disappointment, the developers stuck to reality here and decided that letting a pregnant woman sprint was a bad idea. What I don’t quite understand is why the option is only permitted here and there throughout the rest of the journey, which can be a bit of a slog. Through the bulk of the game, you’ll be walking as if you’re a geriatric snail, making what would be a quick jog down a hall into an unbearable slow mess. The remaining controls are even more atrocious, with many of the buttons being unresponsive and the look controls being stiff or lacking precision, making interacting with the world a chore. You will have to regularly interact with control panels or door controls, all of which require you to hit the overly small sweet spot to get the icon to pop, letting you know you can interact with it. Most of these actually require you to remain still and stare at the button while a small circle rotates, almost as if the door has to load. Since this is a walking sim with little gameplay, this is a problem. While Elea looks simply amazing and offers a thought provoking story, the overall experience feels a bit lacking and needs some additional polish before the additional chapters are released. I really wanted to like this game, but by the end of the chapter the feeling was more forced than anything I’ve experienced in recent memory. If you’re into some of the weirder walking sims, such as North or Asemblance, this might be up your alley. I for one hope the next chapter resolves some of the lingering issues so we can see out Elea’s journey to its climax.

The story follows our hero Sigi, the love child of Ghost n’ Goblins’ Arthur and everyone’s favorite Italian plumber Mario, on his quest to save his beloved from the clutches of evil. While the story is not overly original, the writing contains enough fart jokes to keep even the most stoic of gamers laughing. If you were going into this expecting Shakespeare, I hate to burst your bubble, but the name should’ve given that away. On the opposite end of that gastric system, I didn’t hear any of the raunchy sound effects I was hoping for, which will likely be just as much of a disappointment to those looking for a gross Boogerman successor. The game comes across more as a remaster of Ghost n’ Goblins than an original IP. With little introduction, you’ll pick up on the basic (yet responsive) controls, having our hero throwing spears or other upgraded weapons at the undead, all while collecting coins and letters strewn across the game’s 24 levels. The biggest change is that it’s extremely accessible; GnG is one of the most difficult NES era games I’ve ever played (I’ve never beaten the first level). Sure, the difficulty increases as you progress, but even the last level of the game compares in no way to the first encounter in GnG. If you happen to meet death mid mission (likely due to a failed jump, as the enemies pose little to no threat), there are plenty of checkpoints in place, not to mention a crazy amount of extra lives you can acquire. Per the standard set by Super Mario Bros., you’ll earn an extra life every 100 coins you collect and as a bonus, by finding all of the letters making up SIGI in each of the levels. By the time I reached the fifth level, which contains the first boss encounter, I had over ten additional lives stored up. What the game doesn’t tell you is that the standard levels are so easy to allow you to save up lives for the often challenging boss battles. Each of these are varied and offer up unique enemies to battle, with standard patterns that can easily be overcome once you hit your stride, even though you’ll likely progress into the next arena with only a handful of lives. This makes the game much less frustrating to play than its NES inspiration, although the grind associated with going back to earlier levels and earning more lives in preparation for the next boss battle is a bit of a pain due to how basic the levels are in terms of difficulty. The game provides some replayability, tasking the player with achieving 100% completion by locating the complete name on each level. Outside of this and trying to speed run the game, you’ll likely see the end credits in just over an hour (depending on how often you need to go back to earlier areas to grind out lives), and then end up leaving this like a fart in the wind. Sure, most of these old school styled games are meant to be replayed time and time again to make up for the length, but in this case, the visuals left me less than eager to jump back in once I completed the game. The individual levels you play are varied in terms of the platforming sections and enemies you face, but all of the backdrops are repeated much too often, leaving you in what feels like a perpetual first level throughout the game (with a few of the boss encounters being the only exception). I found the art style to be pleasant to look at and not overly distracting from the gameplay, but the repeated backdrops come across as lazy and ruin what would otherwise be a great experience, even if you run through it a single time. Should you take into account the lack of proper gassy sound effects, the presentation is a bit dull, especially when taking into account all of the missed opportunities had they taken the time to run with the material. Why doesn’t Sigi fart when he jumps? Why is there not a gas based NPC? Maybe an AoE attack where he rips one after eating one of the many fatty foods? Maybe I am a bit obsessed with farts, but all of these were expectations the title put forth but never delivered upon. At the end of the day Sigi – A Fart for Melusina is a fun little platformer, even if it does not meet all your gross expectations. If you found Ghosts n’ Goblins to be too difficult for you, this is a great alternative that provides a similar experience without the frustrating difficulty.

The game offers a story mode that follows any two of the game’s fighters as they’ve been taken captive by a mysterious villain (who looks eerily similar to Destiny‘s Xur on a night on the town), and in Terry Bogard’s case, turned into a woman. Even though this mode is only six fights per team, it’s mostly forgettable, but always strange and hilarious. Between fights you’ll find short, poorly animated (we’ll come back to this) cut scenes that consist of your chosen fighters trading some of the worst banter I’ve ever seen, with trendy words such as “bae” (I feel dirty just quoting that) being the norm. In many cases, the secondary character’s reply might as well have been “I like goldfish,” because the conversations just don’t add up. With the exception of the scenes at the midpoint and end of the mode, which are the same regardless of the character, all of these scenes play out in a voyeuristic manner, appearing to be filmed via a CCTV with the operator fixated on the all-female cast’s naughty bits. In addition to the story mode, the token survival, versus, and practice modes are in place for offline play, and a few online options. The game changes up the tried and true tag team fighting mechanics with a few variations, but whether they work for you will depend on the player. The biggest thing that stood out to me is almost every move in any of the character’s move list can be pulled off by simply pressing one button and a directional button for variations, making this the perfect fighter for the participation trophy generation of today. Want to tag out? Yup, just one button (I’ll let this one slide, since tagging is often a chore in other fighters). Oh, you want to do the crazy, super ultra-move? You got it, just hit R2. Even the standard special moves that used to require quarter circle motions in past entries are dumbed down to simply pressing the O button on the PS4. Call me crazy, but I feel like fighting games should present more of a challenge, be it in the actual combat or mastering specific characters. This could be attributed to me making the quarter circle motion in the womb, but who knows. The one button method makes the next change a bit more manageable, as instead of simply reducing the opponent’s life bar, causing the round/match to be over with everyone going on about their day; you have to complete the super move as the final attack to end the match. Failing to land this attack will require you to either tag out or wait it out until your character has enough stamina to bust out the move again. Initially, I took this as a cheap way to make their fighter more accessible, which is still kind of is, but the mechanic works to give the lesser skilled players a chance, when other games would simply see them hit the pavement over and over again. The last “new” mechanic is less drastic, as you’ll find small yellow bubbles pop into the play field regularly, akin to the Infinity Stones used by Capcom in their Marvel Comics based fighters from the past. Hitting one of these will allow you to use one of many items, which are mostly throwaways that often inflict damage on those who activate them. I found myself simply using most of the ones that did not provide a health bump immediately, just to get rid of them hoping for something substantial to come along. The roster of 14 characters are mainly busty (to the point that they all would probably suffer from more back problems due to their chest than the actual combat) women from past SNK games, giving the DOA girls a run for their money in terms of their bouncing “physics.” Of the 14 characters, there are only a few that really stand out as memorable combatants, and even less that feel much “different” in terms of playstyle. When so many other fighters on the market offer twice, if not more fighters out of the box, the roster a bit disappointing to say the least, especially when SNK has a huge roster of characters. Each of the fighters can be outfitted with accessories or costumes (*gasp* not requiring DLC?!?!?! I’m sure there will be plenty), essentially allowing players to play dress up using items they’ve unlocked by using the gold earned across any game mode. The level options don’t fare much better in terms of options, with only seven choices available, all of which are from the same mansion that remind me of an anime inspired version of the Spencer Mansion from Resident Evil. SNK Heroines Tag Team Frenzy looks dated and has some wonky, poorly implemented mechanics, but at its heart is a solid fighter that has a nice middle ground allowing casuals and masters to compete. I highly doubt we’ll see this game on the next EVO lineup, but it’s a fighter that offers some fun, even if it’s from laughing at its many shortcomings.

You’ll begin your journey as an unnamed spaceman that I will refer to as Jim, who early into the game is set loose to explore a strange world. How did he get here? What/Where is here? Did he leave the coffee pot on? Most of these are questions that, to be quite honest, you’ll have to draw your own conclusions for. The game does not hold your hand, mechanically or in reference to the narrative, requiring you to fill in the blanks. A brief tutorial will give you some minor hints as to the fact that Jim can control time – not in the Prince of Persia: Sands of Time kind of way, but more like just changing the time from day to night and vice versa. I know, this sounds like a lame power, right? Well, Jim uses this ability to essentially control or manipulate the otherworldly flora and fauna to his advantage. Can’t find a way forward? You’ll probably need to change the time of day, forcing freakishly large mushrooms to form a pathway, or psychedelic flowers to bloom giving Jim super speed for a short period of time, allowing him to gain momentum for a long jump. This ability is really easy to use and is explained quite early into the game, but is used so infrequently during the first half of the game that I actually forgot it was even a thing and that it was limited to pressure pads. The first half of the game is primarily focused on stealth and platforming with some light puzzle solving, while the second half makes use of the time alteration. You’ll spend the early hours evading robots that are also visiting the planet, but seem to be dead set on destroying each and every last living creature. There are also plenty of animals and in some cases plants that think Jim looks like a tasty snack, so be weary of those as well. The enemy forces are quite varied, requiring you to often think outside of the box to either evade, distract, or destroy the well-designed bad guys who come equipped with a better than most AI presence. There is a single weak link in this area, and that is the gigantic hornet who looks like he ate the meth, meth lab, cook, and RV in one swoop. While meth-hornet normally sleeps all day, as meth addicts tend to do, they will often ignore their own instincts (or game mechanics), requiring you to either run head first into death just to respawn, or sit there patiently changing the time from day to night, hoping they break free of whatever trance they are in. In addition to this, their sting can’t seem to decide if it wants to be lethal or not, often allowing you to be stung three or more times and still make a clean getaway, whereas others a single **** is the end. I know, I know, “the suspension of disbelief” and “it’s just a game;” I am all for imagination time, but if you’re going to make the game’s rules, I need you to stick by them. The sneaking and platforming mechanics work extremely well, with the jumps often feeling overly forgiving when compared to similar games. The controls are precise yet accessible and the puzzles are intuitive, using simple common sense or physics in most cases, with the only point of frustration stemming from a few segments later into the game that require you to use momentum to make some extremely long jumps, requiring extremely careful planning before you can even see them coming. I found myself dying repeatedly in these areas, requiring me to take notes or even memorize the pattern to progress. Death is merely an afterthought in the world of Planet Alpha, with frequent checkpoints being the norm. The checkpoints come so often (it feels like you receive one every time your feet hit the ground) I found myself jumping off into the nothingness below in an effort to find secrets tucked away within the beautiful levels. The stealth gameplay functions beautifully, with most of the enemies providing visual or audible tells that they are searching for you, patrolling the grounds as a normal guard would. High grass is plentiful, allowing Jim regular points to hide in. Functionally, sneaking is well executed, but a **** glitch I encountered saw this tall grass randomly jerking and twisting about as I moved between cover, not flowing as it normally would (or does during most of the game) and breaking what would otherwise be a very immersive experience. Planet Alpha, Team17’s 100th release since inception, is an amazing visual treat, offering outstanding gameplay that is just shy of perfection due to its underwhelming conclusion. When I started playing the game, my initial thoughts were that this is just a prettier version of Limbo. After taking in the entire picture, this is the game that Playdead should be taking note of when making their next release. Meanwhile, I will sit back in anticipation for what Planet Alpha ApS brings us next.

This opens with a few old school styled cut scenes that are my biggest, yet insignificant complaint. The text is downright ugly; I’m not sure if it’s just too big for the area they allotted for it or merely a poor font choice, but I found it hard to read and simply quit trying to after just a few frames. Additionally, when starting a new game you’ll sit through this each and every time, and much like the impatient me at seven years old, I sat there mashing the button trying to jump into the game as quickly as possible. Our young heroes have a rather deep toy box when it comes to their movesets, more so than any other NES game that I can recall. There’s the standard attack, a number of specials, rolls, and jump attacks, among others (with each hero having their own specific moves, which feel the same yet are different enough to add some variety) that can be used to deal with the undead menace plaguing the town. These attacks are pulled off with relative ease and most offer up satisfying results, with the specials only requiring a short series of directional moves prior to the attack button. The weakest link is the standard attack, which lacks any real umpf in the power department. My initial playthroughs had me crouching just out of reach and punching the zombies in their decrepit junk, which is a tactic that takes forever. Much like any zombie game in the history of zombie games, you’ll want to aim for the head for success. Over time you’ll quickly learn which attack works best against which type of enemy, as some are completely immune to specific attacks. The amount of options available to you early into the game will be decided by the difficulty you choose, with easy, normal, and hard being the options available to you off the rip; the easy setting is the same as normal except that it offers all of the moves from the get go. Having sampled each of the settings, this appears to be the primary difference outside of the number of enemies thrown at you at any given time. Remember that handy HUD option that 99% of games offer as a tool to let the player know where they land with their current health, score, and lives? This game replaces this completely with the character’s skin tone reflecting their current health, with a few shades of green in place prior to death. Each character has their own respective health, which is retained between levels. To add longevity to each of your limited lives, you can swap between characters on the fly. While I found the mechanic useful, once you learn to make the most of it, death becomes a bit of a joke, taking at least seven enemy attacks to kill your duo. Once you get your bearings straight, most of the standard enemies will be nothing but mild distractions, most of which are easily evaded if combat isn’t your thing. The exception is the boss encounters, which are varied and task the player with breaking down their patterns and determining which attack(s) will work prior to dying. Death is fairly forgiving in this title, with a higher than average life count given on each run and checkpoints being activated upon each level transition. I was a bit disappointed there are no continues, leaving the password option as your only method available to skip past the opening chapters. Sadly, the game fails to provide any of these passwords during normal gameplay, so I am unsure how they are unlocked/earned. Since we are talking about a game that can be played on the original system, I am not scoring off for this, but feel like a save feature would have been a nice touch. The overall presentation is amazing when comparing the game to similar offerings from the NES era, even going as far to include one of the solid blue screens that would often be the first thing you’d see when loading a dusty cartridge into the old school system. The same love and care was clearly used on the remainder of the package, with each and every tiny detail working in tandem to deliver an experience that is both familiar and new. Sure, you’ve worked your way left to right using mild platforming mechanics time and time again, but the shot of adrenaline you get when you make a flawless run through a never ending stream of zombies, all while uppercutting each of their heads off without missing a beat was often missing from most NES games. The music, while forgettable, does help paint a stunning picture fueled by nostalgia that truly made me forget on multiple occasions that I was playing a new release, opposed to something from my childhood. HAUNTED: Halloween ’86: (The Curse of Possum Hollow) succeeds at not just being an amazing example of how a throwback game should be made, but works on all fronts to deliver a strange feeling of nostalgia while being brand new, redefining what a retro title should be. Don’t let the primitive visuals fool you, this is a game that isn’t to be missed, whether you’re a retro fan or otherwise.

The story follows an alternate version of Europe where America did not intervene during the Second World War and much of the country is in shambles. To combat depression, the powers that be fed the masses a drug called Joy. Joy makes you happy whether you are or not, and in a unique way, changes how you view the game world and takes away any negative thoughts that plague you, essentially erasing them from your memory. If you decide to take the drug at some point, the world will appear clean and orderly. Off of the drug, you see the truth - everything is in disarray and the population has completely lost their minds and treats others that they discover not on the drug as criminals, calling them "downers." If you're discovered as one of the dreaded unhappy people, you'll be bludgeoned into submission and left to die. The story follows three protagonists in an intertwined tale of loss and how each of the characters is trying to piece together their own mysteries. The story is well crafted and drives the player to want to explore the world, but sadly, everything else **** the joy out of the experience. The game blends scripted events with randomized sandbox/survival mechanics. The scripted areas, such as the opening that was included in the original demo, are great; it's everything in between that is awful. The majority of the open world gameplay will involve trying to locate specific items within a randomized game world, which wouldn't be that bad if the world didn't have a habit of changing mid game, also resulting in one of the longest loading screens I've ever encountered. On more than one occasion, I thought the game locked up during this only to have a sliver of the bar fill up a second before rebooting the software. This will occasionally work in your favor, moving one of the items closer to your current position, but often results in meandering around one of the most frustrating open worlds in recent history. On top of the survival mechanics, you'll have to manage your inventory in a careful manner, as crafting is a huge part of the game and many districts within will attack you simply for wearing the wrong clothes. In other situations they'll attack you because, well... I honestly have no idea, but when they do, the enemies come in huge swarms and are relentless in their pursuit. Sure, you can fight back (good luck if you're dealing with more than a couple of them) or hide in various containers, but all of the **** Joy users seem to have acquired X-ray vision as a side effect of the drug. You can try to sneak around the enemies, but the randomized areas make trying to experiment or find alternate paths fruitless, as failure results in a new area being loaded. Once frustration set in, I simply found myself running from point A to point B, hoping for the best with a trail of enemies following me. If you've played the demo or Early access version, very little has changed in terms of presentation. The abstract character and level design works well and succeeds at making We Happy Few feel like a spiritual successor to Bioshock or Dishonore;, however, the comparisons end there, with the game feeling like an utter failure on every other front. The fetch quests are boring, the crafting is never-ending, and the overall mechanics fail to impress, with combat being the weakest link. As I mentioned previously, our protagonists are barely able to defend themselves against the hordes of enemies, even when armed and going up against enemies who are using their bare fists - this is due to your attacks feeling as if they lack any power and are often heavily delayed. With this being said, the game would've been better off taking the route Outlast and countless other titles have done, which is simply removing combat entirely and requiring you to hide. While the scripted elements and story are worth taking note of, We Happy Few is anything but a joyous romp through an alternate reality that could have rivaled the games it clearly drew inspirations from. The game still feels unfinished, despite the Early Access phase having ended, leaving an empty, joyless shell in the place of a title that many, including myself, were looking forward to as "the next Bioshock." Even at a deep discount, I would strongly recommend leaving this game in the gutter with all of the other downers on the market.

Upon booting up the game you’ll have to provide your email address, which is cool, whatever; send me emails that’ll likely sit in my spam folder to die until I change providers every so many years. This requires you to activate your account, and failing to do so will prevent you from logging back into the game. I actually tried to do this, even having the email sent additional times and clicking the link, getting a message that I was good to go, and then yet again, receiving the same error message upon logging in. Having the email resent gives me another error that I have already registered the account. This is the loop I have been stuck in and have honestly spent almost as much time trying to get into the game as I did playing it. If the title didn’t give it away, this is based upon the popular table top board game Warhammer 40,000, which I honestly have very little experience with outside of a few past games from the franchise. If you’re like me, this probably isn’t the best jumping off point into the world story-wise, as I was lost before the initial cut scene was completed and the mid mission information provided only made things worse, as it is presented in an awkward manner. You’ll receive updates regularly from commanding officers, who apparently are only able to send emails, since there was no voice over present (I’m unsure if this was a glitch or how the game was intended, but it was uniform throughout the missions I was able to complete), yet they can hear your character’s verbal responses. Don’t get me wrong, I am not affected by adult illiteracy, I simply came here to kick butt and take names, not read long winded love letters. The game is akin to a Diablo clone more than a twin stick shooter, but includes the option of taking cover at any time within the game world. This was a strange combination of past games in the franchise. I struggled to wrap my brain around this having played Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine, which was a legit Gears of War clone, as well as Kill Team, which was a twin stick shooter that I simply loved during the days of the Xbox 360. The cover mechanic works as it should, but is unnecessary as I would’ve preferred the freedom to use the second stick to free aim as I mowed through enemy waves. The developers seemed to think that walking head first into the direction you wish to shoot was a better use of resources, but I found this change to be extremely hard to adapt to. On the plus side, the characters are fairly bullet spongey and have decent auto aim abilities, making the cover mechanic almost pointless. Even during more challenging encounters such as boss battles, I rarely found myself in danger of dying on the standard difficulty, even when ignoring the mechanic altogether. The missions themselves are fairly short, each running between five and fifteen minutes, and require somewhat lengthy load screens from the main menu, as the title skipped the open world train. These missions are uninspired but passable, featuring the standard tropes for the genre, such as killing X number of enemies, protecting specific NPCs, flipping a switch, or destroying something. Much like any Diablo inspired game, there are a few different classes to choose from when selecting a character, but outside of the class and sub class, the customization options are limited to renaming the character. Regardless of the sub class you pick, you can interchange items seemingly without issues having selected a shotgun/sniper rifle proficient class from the get go. While I stuck with the vanilla build for a few levels, I quickly found that the automatic and laser rifles were more my speed. Following the typical formula of dungeon crawling games, you will also have a skill tree to throw your earned XP towards, unlocking class specific abilities. While there are plenty of options to be found, none of the ones I acquired felt overly original. The visual presentation is a mixed bag, with highly detailed environments ripe for exploration and mediocre character models, so much so that I often felt they were ripped from a PS3 era game (at best) and incorporated into the much prettier backdrops. This doesn’t stand out much during actual gameplay due to the panned out view that makes the lack of detail the character models offer to be slightly less ugly, but the game looks atrocious in any of the cut scenes rendered using in game assets. While the actual models are passable, when compared to the small details that other games get right, this fails miserably. The biggest callout was my character’s ponytail (again, I didn’t pick the look, just the abilities). It looked like a broken compass pointing any which way it wanted opposed to locks of flowing hair, rivaling the hair physics from the original Tomb Raider. If you want to take the plunge, I say you should wait for a sale and be sure you resolve the email registration issue early on to avoid losing progress.

Polygod allows you to select from a number of gods (with only one available out of the gate), which will then be transported to a basic hub world filled with other gods or beings. These entities will offer some vague, often insane sounding banter in the form of word bubbles, with the only obvious direction of stepping forward into the portal at the top of a large staircase. Once you walk through the gate, you'll instantly find yourself fighting against gravity and land on a randomized island. The game wastes no time putting you into the thick of it, with enemies often attacking you before you are able to orient yourself within the game world. Your goal is simply to collect as many souls as possible, which if you ask me, the jerk robots that make up the enemies in the levels are asking for it. I mean, I was just trying to see what was going on and all of a sudden they just start shooting. Each god is equipped with a basic killing tool o' death, which can be upgraded by exchanging souls for random perks that will appear above chests regularly throughout the levels. The offered perks are not limited to the weapon upgrades, as others are present and allow you to upgrade your health or modify the character’s movement. In addition to these, some will offer a trade-off, such as providing a sizable damage buff at the expense of a large chunk of your health. Much like everything else in the game, these are randomly offered but seem to be overly pricey in early stages, often requiring you to seek out additional enemies prior to moving forward to acquire the right upgrade. Much like a game of chess, you will have to select your upgrades wisely: do you throw all of your souls in for just an alright upgrade, or do you wait for a meatier perk later on? The choice is yours, but more often than not, either decision will still result in an untimely death. Polygod is absurdly difficult. I won't bother comparing this to Dark Souls, because that is getting kind of old and in all honesty, this game is light years ahead in terms of difficulty - I could at least beat the first few areas in each of the Souls games. The enemies you'll face in this are relentless and as I mentioned previously, have no issue taking pot shots at you long before they rightfully should be able to. Much like a glass figurine of your chosen real world idol, the in game god is fragile, only being able to take a number of well-placed shots and even fewer attacks at close range. To evade the enemies, you'll need to move constantly or use the environment to your advantage, as the malicious R2-D2 wannabes will pursue you relentlessly. The only thing that will stop them is death or using the high ground, which can be attained by jumping or using one of the large red bumper pedestals for additional height. The visuals are very low poly, with most of the assets appearing as if they were on the higher end of the user created content from ****. The trees really stood out in this regard, looking as if they were cut and pasted from Super Mario 64. The enemies are presented in a slightly better light, but lack variety, as all of the ones I encountered had robotic features and the same attack patterns, which amounted to shooting at you until you die or running into you head first while shooting. Coupled with the fact that all of the enemies are very bullet spongey, combat is difficult, yet a worthy challenge if this is your type of game. As I mentioned before, the game runs at breakneck speed and feels very much like a Doom clone, with the addition of a jump button. Gunplay functions as expected; however, aiming is not nearly as smooth as it should be. The game is well suited for those who like to bunny hop (jumping repeatedly to make for a harder target) which proved to be a bit more successful in terms of survival. This is due to the addition of the jump button being assigned to the left trigger, which took me a bit to get used to, but felt like second nature around my third run. While the overall layouts of the levels are varied, the small areas that comprise the dungeons are not. Having tried unsuccessfully to complete over twenty runs, I've seen the same turrets or enemies sitting on the same pedestals or ledges enough to almost memorize entire sections. While I felt that I was doing better the more I played, the frustration vs. fun factor was not leaning in a positive direction. Seeds are the one thing the game does well, and hopefully future games in the genre take note of, much like the recently released Chasm. You can save your seed or even replay the same one if you fail. I can't tell you how many times I've played The Binding of Isaac wishing I didn't have to write down the code to replay the same run. Polygod is a game that will likely be a hit with its target audience, which is clearly those that think Dark Souls or Doom on the most brutal difficulty is the equivalent of Sesame Street.

The game follows Tyler, a small robot that after years of being dormant is awoken during a storm, only to find his creator’s house in disarray and having little to no memory of the events prior to powering down. The story follows Tyler as he pieces together his fractured memory and seeks out his missing master by exploring his creepy home. This is easier said than done, as the robot is only a few inches tall, making the exploration of the home quite a challenge. Luckily, Tyler is fairly agile, being able to climb, jump, and occasionally (if the controls permit it) wall run akin to Ezio or whoever is in the most recent Assassins' Creed game. He can hold his own in a fist fight (as well as use a makeshift weapon from time to time), but he’s certain to take huge amounts of fall damage, which is actually good because the platforming in this title is one of the worst, if not the worst example, in recent history. The game’s coup de grace is that Tyler runs on batteries that have the lifespan of a fly who has been fed massive amounts of premium grade crystal meth and they can only be recharged by a light source. Having thrown a few upgrades into the battery life, I can't tell you what the out of box lifespan is, but a few levels in I had 27 seconds of power before keeling over and dying, with the last ten seconds or so including an annoying alarm buzzing in addition to Tyler moving like a sloth on melatonin. I noticed on a few occasions, once properly respawning into the game, the battery gauge was already partially depleted, giving me exactly enough time to utter an expletive prior to being greeted with yet another loading screen. This means that from the get go, your top priority is finding each and every light source in the area and turning it on, which again is no easy task, due to the complete and utter failure that is traversal. Invisible ceilings, getting caught on assets that shouldn't be an issue, and even falling inside of immovable objects are the norm, making exploration a bit of a chore, which is truly a shame because the visuals and atmosphere are stunning. Sure, there are some glitches that occur from time to time, but overall I found the detailed environments to be pleasant on the eye holes. The dilapidated house reminded me more and more of a 3D version of Little Nightmares as I progressed. With its highly detailed wood grains, amazing lighting and shadows, interactive objects, and a number of collectibles tucked away, the world is ripe for exploration. Sadly, once the lights come on, aside from seeking out the customization items (we'll circle back around to this later), there isn't much to do as the basic quests are broken down into simple tasks such as finding X item and inserting it into X location, rinse and repeat. The only challenges in this are due to the ever-failing battery and lackluster controls. You use a single button to jump, climb, and pretty much do anything that isn't picking up an item, fighting, or dragging items in the game world. While this works in more polished games, the frustration sets in early (about half way through the tutorial) and only ceases once the individual rooms are lit up like a Christmas tree. The combat is a bit more fluid, although rather bland with Tyler only having basic attacks that boil down to mashing the trigger buttons repeatedly, bashing enemies with bare knuckles or a melee weapon. The only other tools at your disposal are cherry bombs, which work as grenades, and the aforementioned ability to drag certain assets around the game world, which work as makeshift bridges. I really wanted to enjoy Tyler: Model 005, but due to the horrible platforming experience in addition to the terribly implemented battery mechanic, which drains quicker than the loading screen that follows it, it's a more frustrating experience than it should be. Steam reviews seem to imply the PC port is in a much better state, but I would strongly recommend sending the Xbox One version to the dumpster along with your old Duracells.

The game follows baristas Nick and Ashley as they battle it out with an alien force hell-bent on stealing Earth's most precious resource - metal (the music, not the element). The thought alone sends chills down my spine, as a life without metal is hardly a life worth living (feel free to debate me, you'll lose). The adventure sends the heroes down a familiar course of events that any beat ‘em up fan will recognize from the genre’s past. From a boss battle taking place on a crowded dug out, akin to the one found in Streets of Rage 2, to rooftop or back alley brawls that are staples of the genre. Every token element is included with the developer’s loving touch, rarely making the game feel like a straight up tribute or knockoff, resulting in an experience that is both familiar and new. The biggest change to the tried and true level design is the length of each level, as many of the stages are either a lot shorter or longer than the normal five to six minute range; some can take fifteen minutes or more to complete, and the longer levels almost overstay their welcome, especially if you have to restart them. If you include the fact that a few of the levels are duplicated after the mid-point of the game, a few stages are a bit of a slog by the time the credits roll. Don't get your hopes up too high with this though, as it is another game that incorporates rogue lite elements - some work well while others fall flat. Coffee Crisis plays out like a standard brawler, with our heroes working their way from the left to the right across the wonderfully rendered levels that would've won countless awards had it been released during the 16 bit era. The big change is the enemy rotation is randomized, which is fine and adds to the replay factor, but each encounter includes random modifiers that will make the game more or less difficult, and the way the information is provided to the player is by far the worst part - it scrolls quickly across the middle of the screen while the enemies are attacking you. I found the modifiers and lack of an option to turn them off to be a bit of a hindrance to what would be an otherwise stellar experience. The biggest reason behind this is not the challenge they add to the actual combat, but the way a number of the mods effect the visuals - many of them make it damn near impossible to play the game, as one essentially makes you play as if you were viewing it from a kaleidoscope, making the often times overwhelming number of enemies on screen a complete mess. If you happen to have this come into play during a boss battle with only a single life remaining, just rage quit and start over, because luck is not on your side and you will just be wasting your time. The game’s difficulty is a bit on the steep side, with my impression of the normal difficulty to be more in line with the hard difficulty in similar games. Having dropped the difficulty down to the easy setting when playing co-op with my young son, I found some battles to still be quite challenging. The enemy designs are fairly eclectic, ranging from the elderly (yes, I do mean old people, walker and all), aliens in a few forms (my favorite being the Professor X looking mofo in a wheelchair who shoots lasers out of his brain), and your standard punk fodder. They are a fun group of rogues to duke it out with, although many of the waves are so obscenely large they create a jumbled mess, making it difficult to see exactly what is going on and where the hell you are, even when none of the visual mods are in play. Our protagonists are fairly well equipped to deal with the alien menace (even though they are a bit slow paced, especially for people who you'd assume drink coffee all day), with a standard attack (which can be charged as a nice start or finish to a combo), a grab attack, and their unique special abilities which are limited by the health the player has, as each use takes away a sliver of health. Each character has their own combos and move set, with Ashley being a bit quicker but also weaker, and both characters lack in range. The only resolution to the range issue is picking up the random weapons or pickups that will drop from time to time. With the exception of using an alien arm that lets you not only attack enemies close melee style, but shoots projectiles, all of the weaponry is standard fare. The same can be said about the power-ups, which include additional lives, health pick-ups, damage buffs, or invincibility (Pro Tip: Just spam the special when you get this, since it won't affect your health), complete with Super Mario Bros visual changes to your character. Taking it a step further as a tribute to the beat ‘em ups of generations past, the game uses a password system which I'm not very fond of, which also includes cheats which you can find at Garage Band Gamers. Even with a few shortcomings, Coffee Crisis is a great addition for any fans of the genre.

Much like the games that were used as inspiration, there are a number of power ups that can be used, which can be acquired in ways that set it apart from other racers. There are the standard random pick-ups, such as those found in Mario Kart, which give you a random perk immediately. But there are other pick-ups that are designed around specific fruits allowing the player to slowly build up a stronger version of the associated ability over time, providing enough of the fruits are collected. With the ability to keep up to 4 different perks if the player chooses to hoard the items, they can be used to turn the tide of a losing race rather quickly. The issue with this is, with so many pick-ups being active at the same time, the AI can hit you with so many attacks in succession you go from first to last in the blink of an eye. The game has a few different modes from the start; however, you will be limited on your track options until you’ve completed the career mode, which can only be completed solo. This mode takes place across a number of cups, each consisting of four races of varying lengths. The AI is not overly challenging aside from when you get over-encumbered by the enemy attacks, which happens enough to make it mildly frustrating. The game is by no means bad and is presented in a cute, well designed package, but it’s too difficult for younger racers and too basic for most adult gamers. The races are fairly short, with the cups taking around 30 minutes to complete. Should you leave the game mid-cup, you have to start the entire ordeal over. Once each cup is completed, you will unlock additional characters, customization options, and tracks. I am happy to see the unlockable items are in place and not hidden behind a paywall. The limited number of tracks from the start is a bit of a hindrance if you wish to create your own championship, which would double as the local multiplayer option. There is also an option for a random championship to be generated, if you simply want to jump into the action. Online multiplayer is offered, although during my early access no games could be found. The controls are simple to get accustomed to, with the face buttons strictly being used to change between acquired power ups, the triggers used for the gas and brake/drifting/reverse, and the D-pad offering viewing options, such as first person mode, which is lacking from most kart games and sets this apart from the pack. The only complaint I have with the controls is the reverse, as it often takes two or more seconds to actually register you need to back up due to being stuck on one of the many jagged edges protruding from the environment, which is enough time to lose a significant lead. The roster of avatars is respectable, although there are no pros or cons to the racers or their respective carts, as they are merely cosmetic. This is nice as it allows you to use any avatar with your customized vehicle by default. While I did enjoy customizing my own cart (complete with the General Lee horn from the Dukes of Hazard), I found the lack of the option to use my Xbox avatar to be a missed opportunity. Additionally, my young son was not a fan of being required to be a girl, as the cast is exclusively female and we had to lie to him letting him know that one of the short haired girls was a dude. For the record, I have nothing against being progressive or inclusive, but most five year olds do not understand this concept. When playing couch co-op, I found the screen size with three players to be a bit lackluster, since the title opts to keep all of the screens the same size and block off a large portion of the screen with black boxes. This reduced my wife’s time joining in the festivities to a few races due to not being able to see. I noticed this mode causes performance to suffer, with a few minor bugs popping up such as my car hovering above the track, opposed to driving on it. Additionally, the Paw Patrol theme on repeat soundtrack would often stop or start randomly when playing with more than one player. I found this to be a blessing, since the music was the least thrilling part of the presentation. The visuals are well rendered and are reminiscent of many of the Rare titles or Glitch’s home world from the film Wreck-It Ralph. If you’re like me (Chad) and have no access to a Nintendo system to play their standout racer, All Star Fruit Racing is a respectable replacement, offering similar gameplay with slightly less polish. If you do have regular access to the granddaddy of the genre, you’ll likely find yourself yearning for more.

Starting up the game you're warned that there are some scenes that can be hard to watch and may trigger some players. You're given three options: play the game the whole way through, play it with the option of skipping these scenes, or skipping them outright. Should you wish to view it, Anamorphine even offers a detailed explanation of what you'll see before starting, although this is obviously filled with spoilers for the game. I jumped in without the choice of skipping, as one of the reasons I wanted to play this was it sounded like something I'd be able to relate to, having gone through quite a bit emotionally, physically, and psychologically in years past. I went into this hoping to connect with what it had to offer. Having played it front to back, I can say that from a technical aspect, this is not a good game. There is an option to play this in VR, but I played in standard view with a TV and ran into framerate drops so low I was wondering if the game was going to break my PS4 – if the VR alternative runs in this manner, I can only assume there will be a lot of motion sickness. This would be somewhat understandable if the environments were huge and lavish with detail, but they aren't. Some areas are rather big, but the detail in those sections borders PS2 games at times, and early ones at that. So the fact that the load screens can take minutes (I think about 30% of my time with the game was load screens - some last longer than the scenes you play through) leaves me wondering about the optimization of the game for console. For those unaware, this is very much a walking simulator, as the extent of what you can do is look around and move. There is no interaction required in this outside of looking at objects within the environment that are shiny. So if you are not a fan of the genre, I would not recommend this, even with its change of scenery mechanic that I love so much in games such as Layers of Fear. However, if you enjoy this form of storytelling, there's something dark here that most games will not touch on, although it could definitely stand to go a bit deeper into it. For fear of going into spoiler territory, I won't be speaking about the game in too much depth, but I can say that for anyone that has never understood what depression is or feels like, this can be a little window of perspective. By no means will this lead you to an epiphany, nor will you be able to relate to those that suffer it, but you can catch a glimpse of it. The way the world crashes around you; the everyday things that become abstract; the worlds created by the serenity of music; everything is built up and then destroyed in a fantastic manner, with the use of the same environments over and over. Anamorphine showcases the relationship between Elena and Tyler (you), a musician and a photographer that sees the world through her eyes and must cope with what she's dealing with. The symbolic imagery provided in this ranges from subtle to something a five year old could understand. And despite all its problems, those I've noted and others such as the invert-y changing whenever you get on a bike which lasts for the rest of the segment, or getting stuck in the environment to the point of needing to quit out, I can't help but think about the game after my time with it. It's not that it has some profound message, and I honestly am not sure which scenes would even be cut from it had I chosen the filtered version of the game. Everything felt necessary, and having experienced all of it first hand in reality, none of it came off as offensive, shallow, or upsetting. Like I said, I had a feeling I knew where this was going based on a very early portion of the game, and it continued to give clues as you progress. Anyone that finds this to be unexpected probably hasn’t lived this, and for that reason I think people should give it a go. Anamorphine is more of an experience than a game. And regrettably, at the moment it's not a very good one if you factor in the technical aspects of it. The good news is that you can play from start to finish now within about an hour, and you'll likely leave the game thinking about different parts of it for several days after - it may even change your outlook on people that struggle with depression. Experiences like this are only possible with media such as games, and developers should really take advantage of it to connect with others. Should future patches get this running smoothly (the gifs used in this all run much faster and smoother than my experience), I'd absolutely recommend this more, but in its current state it's hard to do so. I've heard the PC version is better though, so if you're curious, grab it on Steam.

This is a puzzle game, requiring you to roll your way through a series of traps that become more and more difficult as you go. Many of the dangers are so obvious that it’ll hurt like sitting on your marbles at the wrong time – some of these include glowing red segments of flooring or lasers. However, others are much more subtle, such as alternating colored blocks that follow you like the ghosts from Pac-Man. By far the most substantial challenge comes from the invisible pathways that are introduced early in the game, requiring you to find and memorize huge segments of blank areas, with little more than a few collectible orbs (we’ll get to this later) to guide you. I racked up a staggering death count in the 30’s on one challenge alone. The only thing that whizzes by faster than the death toll is the constant flow of insults, puns, and tongue in cheek bad jokes that are equal parts insulting and hilarious. I found it extremely hard to avoid reading the on screen prompts using an internal monologue voiced by the legendary GLaDOS. You won’t have many tools at your disposal, aside from a boost mechanic that is as deadly as it is helpful, due to the fact that any damage taken during its use will be 100% fatal. With this being said, you should only use it in the event it is absolutely necessary, which is extremely rare. In order to progress you will need to take your time and carefully assess the situations laid out before you and learn the necessary patterns, as almost everything aside from you runs on one, which works in sync with the game’s music. The music by Emmy-nominated composer Nicholas Singer is a focal point of the game; however, it wasn’t really the normal style I roll with, leaning heavily on the eletronica genre. It’s not a bad soundtrack, but Hotline Miami it is not. I feel that Limp Bizkit’s Rollin’ would’ve been a better fit, or at the least an optional track (before you jump on the comments to troll me, because let’s be honest, the game’s done plenty of that already, this is a joke. No one listens to Limp Bizkit anymore). As you progress through the levels you will have to collect small orbs, some of which work as a collectible that you are graded by on each level while the others work as checkpoints. The well placed checkpoints are your best friends, allowing you to manipulate the save system if you wish to collect each and every orb in the levels due to the fact they can be reused to save the current progress, as well as refill your health. Upon completion of the level, you will be graded on your performance earning up to eight marks, which takes into account your deaths, as well as how many of the orbs you collected. These marks will unlock additional areas and modes, as well as cosmetic items that allow you to customize your ball. This requirement caused me to hit a roadblock upon completing the second of three chapters the game offers, as I was forced to revisit past areas to try to improve my standings. As I get older and my free time becomes less common, I find this mechanic or requirement to be more and more frustrating as it’s nothing more than a cheap way to inject longevity into games. Don’t get me wrong, I love being able to replay games to get as close to a 100% completion as possible, but I would prefer it to be optional, not a requirement to see the entire package. The game’s presentation works extremely well, with a basic HUD providing the information you need with nothing else included. The level design is just short of being perfect, with very little filler (aside from the occasional “tip,” be it a red herring or a dad joke) taking up any of the visual space within the world – the majority of the tracks sit atop a solid black background. Eagle eyed gamers will find many hidden paths, often with no clear way of reaching them. With some of these being legit hidden areas that you’ll have to use trial and error problem solving to reach and others being completely unreachable, I rarely felt like the path I was taking was actually safe. On more than one occasion I found an invisible path that would’ve appeared to be the proper way forward, only to make it a few spaces outside of the unknown area to find a dead end. Coming from a console background, it’s a bit of a kick to the orbs to say this, but this would work much better on a keyboard than a standard controller. While the controls are fairly precise, my movement was not, causing me to lean too far over the edge of a narrow passage only to fall off at the last minute. The Road to Ballhalla is an uneven highway, and while I can’t say it is necessarily a fun one to explore, it offers a journey that is equal parts challenging and frustrating, that amounts to a strange sense of accomplishment, even in the face of adversity. If dad jokes, being trolled, and punishing challenges are your thing, look no further.

Have you ever stopped mid game and thought, "do you know what (insert whatever you're playing here) needs more of? TETRIS!" No? Me either. But the fine folks at ABX Games Studio thought it would be awesome to mix up the platforming genre with some good ol' block placement with TETRA's Escape. What's a Tetra you ask? No clue, but I am assuming it's one of those little cube fellows that you make meander back and forth across the screen (editor’s note: likely short for tetromino). What are they escaping? Again, I don't have the slightest idea. There isn't much of a story, but I don't think this game would've gained much by including one. You'll start the game off with an extremely simplistic level, requiring you to make the little square guy collect a star and walk through a portal. Yes, it's that simple - the first few levels of this game are the participation trophy of gaming. After a few more levels, the ability to transform your Tetras will come into play - this allows certain colored cubes to transform (or sacrifice themselves if you will), and change shape (always modeling the Tetris style shapes) allowing one of the remaining Tetras to climb over its corpse and reach the goal. Each level is fairly basic and follows the same formula of collecting the stars and the additional trophy that appears upon acquiring all of the stars, then booking it for the exit. So, if you’re wondering why I mentioned block corpses, it’s because when you transform one of them and sacrifice them to whatever quad sided God they are worshiping, they are planted there until the end of time. Unless you screw up and box yourself in, whichever comes first. Many games that run on this formula have a nifty feature that let you restart the level quick and easy, with the press of a single button. Sadly, someone missed the memo that this was a thing, as it requires you to go into the menu, restart the level, and sit through (an often overwhelmingly long) load screen. I know this is a first world complaint. Death by any other means (usually failing with gravity) will result in a rather quick respawn at the start of your level. Much like when playing Tetris, the levels are broken up into grids that your Tetras can move along, one space at a time. Outside of the ability to change their shape, their tool box is rather lacking, with a single jump that can be used. While the cubed beings have mastered the art of jumping one block forward vertically, they cannot jump in place straight into the air, which means you'll have to use the other blocks to create stairs toward your goal. TETRA’s Escape gets a bit more challenging during the second world once it hits its stride, although the puzzles are far from difficult and never reach the levels of frustration brought on by the recent Road to Ballhalla. Around the point that I was about to chalk the title up to being a simple puzzler aimed at the elementary school crowd, out of nowhere, the game decided it was going to require me to think out all of my moves prior to laying down the first piece, often requiring me to start the level over a few times due to boxing myself in. Despite my morbid jokes making this much more gory or horrifying than it truly is, TETRA's Escape is a fun adventure that is fit for the entire family, providing they have the metal fortitude to complete the many challenges thrown your way. This would have been even more prevalent had the devs opted to include a co-op mode, which could have worked in the vein of Overcooked requiring everyone to work in tandem to complete their goal. Without this option, we took turns passing the controller back and forth, working as a team to complete the small challenges. The game performs well in almost every aspect with the exception of the load times. The initial load time rivals that of Skyrim in terms of taking far too long to get going, with mid game loads taking almost as long. It's quite random, and in comparison to other indie games of this size and scope, it’s borderline unacceptable. While it's nothing to write home about, the overall presentation works as it should, with its basic, brightly colored visuals, accessible controls, and token polyphonic music. TETRA's Escape is hard game to score. It’s a fun, simplistic game that is perfect for gamers on the go, featuring short, bite sized challenges that could easily be completed during some down time; as a console game, it feels a bit lacking unless you're looking for something to play with younger children. I would only recommend the game if you fall into one of these groups, as the challenge presented will likely bore you within minutes.

Starting out you’ll see a little pile of goo head to a corpse and reanimate it – this is you. From here you set off to gather your bearings and will likely die before doing anything too grandiose. I managed to make it to the first boss and didn’t stand a chance having no idea what to expect. Eventually you’ll respawn to a room filled with hanging jars that are filled by the runes you unlock by giving your Cells to the Collector (no, not the one from Marvel). As the game makes use of the permadeath mechanic so often found in rogue-lites, these serve as the progression you’ll make in the game. The game is pretty brutal in difficulty, and the ever changing layout of the map only adds to that as you are never able to memorize how to traverse it. This means there are plenty of secrets to be found, although there are some factors that are pretty standard throughout. In the second area you enter you can safely assume that a timed door can be found by going down the first elevator you encounter. If you happened to make it there quickly enough, there’s a fair amount of rewards to be found, including a trophy/achievement. I actually didn’t manage to do this until I went to the third area with about a minute to spare. The game is full of little things like this catering to all sorts of play styles and encourages trying something new. Starting from the beginning you’ll have a sword and the option to choose either a shield or a bow and arrow. Each weapon is tied to a different class which is color coded by red, violet, and green. As you explore you’ll undoubtedly find scrolls that allow you to increase the skills of one of the classes of your choice, which will also upgrade your health. The boosts for each of these will change each time you find them, so perhaps you don’t have any of the survival (green, shield) items, but you really need a health boost – I’ve found myself collecting the 60% health boost over the 31% with a 15% boost to damage of my sword. Each combination of weapons also means a completely different form of playing the game. Whether you end up defending/parrying attacks with green or attacking from a range with purple changes the experience entirely, and I wholeheartedly advise you give both a fair chance. Without a shield you’ll want to get familiar with the dodge mechanic and the proper timing for it, as each enemy has their own tells and abilities. In addition to the three main styles of weaponry, you’ll find tertiary equipment with cooldowns, such as AOE grenades, turrets, traps, among others. These also tie in with the classes, so your choices are pertinent for progression as the enemies grow stronger. If you’re not finding what you want just laying around, you always have the option of buying items from the local merchant. The enemies at first glance may look pretty standard, but it doesn’t take long for their designs to become rather intimidating, as well as exceedingly dangerous. Whether they’re teleporting after you until you give in or they drop an assortment of explosives upon death, everything wants to kill you, and they’ll do everything they can to do so. Even the minuscule enemies can be a threat if you’re not paying attention and end up surrounded. Each area has new strategies you have to employ, so be leery when entering the unknown. You are going to die quite often, and that’s okay. It may be frustrating, but the randomness keeps things fresh, and eventually you’ll find some wall chicken and other assorted goods hidden throughout the game to keep you going, along with the upgrades. Honestly, I keep finding things I had no idea about by accident, and it makes me wonder just how much this game has hidden and whether or not everything will be found. There’s plenty of lore to be found in your exploration, and there’s a fair amount of humor which was unexpected, albeit pretty dark. On top of the runes you unlock from the Collector, you’ll be granted various abilities from besting the elite enemies which will help you not only traverse different areas and find secrets, but help you progress to new levels. If you find parts of the world that you can interact with but nothing happens, chances are you’ll need to beat one of the bosses or elite enemies first. To be quite honest, I’m not sure I ran across anything in the game that I’d say would fault it – even backtracking is a non-issue with so many teleportation devices. The game is about as good as it gets for the genre, and this is a prime example of how you stand out from everything else being released – indie or otherwise. If you’re looking for something that is both challenging and feels good (side note: you can either open doors regularly or bust them open and stun enemies doing so – I’ve never felt so satisfied with a door as having it explode open in this), Dead Cells checks all the boxes.

I will say it right now – if you liked the first entry, you should buy Overcooked 2. No need to read the rest of this. However, if you never had the opportunity to play the first, let me tell you what you can expect from this. It’s one of the most stressful co-op games you’ll ever play, should you choose to play with others. And while the entire story mode is definitely able to be completed in single player, you lose a lot of the majesty that makes the game so fun. You’ll find yourself yelling things out like “I’m grinding the meat, give some flour,” and in a household that barely makes something more substantial than ramen, it’s comical. If you thought Mario Party was the game to play to ruin your marriage or friendships, clearly you haven’t played this. The game comes with a huge assortment of characters to play as, with a number of them being unlockable. None of these have any sort of advantage over the others that I’m aware of, and every time you boot the game it’ll randomly select a new one for you, although you can certainly choose whoever you want. The characters you may already be familiar with are back, but this time you are facing hordes of zombie bread thanks to a pretty famous book with a slant for food – you won’t find a boomstick here though. Instead, you’ll be appealing the masses with your cooking skills, and those skills will be put to the test in the most dynamic kitchens of rather precarious natures. The majority of this game will be spent cooking food and keeping up with customer orders, whether you tackle it alone or with up to three others. If you’re playing alone, you will control more than one character, as this is essential for levels that split up the characters. Earlier on this will help with productivity when one is cutting up food as the other washes dishes, for example. There’s always something to be done in this, and wasted time is wasted money, which is essential for progression. The introductions of how the mechanics work are much more polished this time around, as is everything else. It’s almost as if this was the game the original wanted to be, and now that the team had the money they could actually create what they set out to make originally. If you thought the levels were a bit out there in the first one, you haven’t seen anything yet. The first stage to really get me was 1-6, which has you cooking in a hot air balloon. Soon the winds pick up, moving the setup of the kitchen, which is pretty ordinary for the game. Then the thunder and lightning sets in, and soon you’re going down and in a completely different kitchen with an entirely different course being served. It’s really something to experience; it’s like an Uncharted moment within a silly game about cooking. I expected the craziness to be amplified, but my imagination completely undershot what the team came up with. Outside of the levels proper, the game brings back the world map that you’ll drive around. This time there’s a bit more to it, with switches to find in order to progress through the minor labyrinths the game offers, especially with the secret levels. That’s right, there are secret levels to be unlocked if you meet certain conditions, and these are the hardest challenges you’ll face in the game. While I got three stars on 1-1 through 1-6 without issue, I **** by with one on the hidden level. Granted, all these levels I only played once, but still, that trend continued as the game got progressively more difficult – and that spike happens real quick. If you found the music from the first game to be charming, prepare your ears for more of that, as it’s an absolute joy to listen to while cooking and exploring the beautiful world map. If I had to pick one downfall for Overcooked 2, it’s that it doesn’t cater to people with poor coordination. This is a game that demands you have an intimate knowledge of the controls and can either swap between two characters yourself with the utmost precision or have decent communication skills. Of course, that negative can be turned positive by this game improving them. In addition to the local multiplayer (you can split one controller if need be), the game offers online functionality, which I barely got to test with the limited player base at the moment. However, the match I played was a bit laggy, but that was likely from a poor internet connection. Adequate communication online seemed to be lacking though, which is a big hit to the success of this mode. If you’re looking for a multiplayer game that’s family friendly and sure to raise the heart rate of anyone that plays it, I can’t think of a better title. Overcooked 2 improves on every aspect of the first, and is truly a wonderful experience. Although I can say that after a very stressful day of work, it’s not exactly ideal for winding down.

Billiards has intrigued me since my dad first showed my brother and I a mini table with a swinging cue ball. I loved the sound of the break and watching the pockets be filled with the different colors. While I've never been especially great at the game, I have always understood the way to play it, as it's very mathematical. Digitally is where I typically find myself playing the game, but it's never been more captivating than it is here. Pool Panic starts out teaching you how to play on a standard pool table, making sure you drop each ball before the 8. You will be able to lock on to targets, hit hard or soft, and walk around. That's about all you need to know when playing, and despite this sounding boring if strictly on a standard table, you'll be pleased to know the experience couldn’t be any further from normal. And beyond the crazy levels, you'll have to learn about the different balls you're up against, as every color has a different personality. Giving sentience to a group of differently colored balls never crossed my mind before, but it's kind of genius. Why wouldn't the different hues have unique personalities and feelings toward the cue ball, who is basically a bully beating them up? Why wouldn't some be fearful, mean, or just simply be out to troll you? Pool Panic takes a great game and makes it absolutely ridiculous in the best possible way. Chances are that while you're exploring the different levels, you'll encounter some that don't have holes for you to knock the balls into. The first level I hopped into there wasn't a whole lot available, so I just started knocking stuff around. The thing about this is that nothing is as it seems; the environment was filling up places for the different balls to drop into, so I had to free them before being able to continue. Other levels will have you using mouths as the goals. Yeah, you read that right. Despite the game being made up of the same basic controls and various personalities, no two levels feel the same as there is so much character put into each, and Rekim's creativity seemingly knows no bounds. At times I was wondering if the dev had worked with Nintendo for the likes of WarioWare. I mean, who expects these living spheres to be brought in on buses as if they're going to camp, and to have the bus driver be super gassy? I couldn't help but chuckle at the amount of crazy situations this game presented, and it was pretty much always a joy to figure out how to approach each level. As much as the chaotic nature of the game pleases, it certainly brings with it hints of frustration, and can become annoying when you can't see the goal, or the camera angle doesn't allow you to see exactly what is going on. You'll no doubt be on the verge of going bald when attempting to finish off a level only to find yourself struggling with a character that sidesteps each of your shots - if you're not worried about the number of attempts you take, you have a few seconds after a hit where they are a normal ball and won't act out, so use this to your advantage. For lovers of puzzles, you'll likely find yourself spending time perfecting each level, but with the somewhat random nature of them, it's likely you'll give up on this goal before finishing the game. In fact, because of the ever-changing aspect, being able to finish any given level with all the challenges (which includes the likes of speed and number of hits) complete will be quite the feat. Perhaps the biggest draw to the game is its multiplayer shenanigans, which will undoubtedly steal the show at many future parties. Pool Panic is a game that absolutely deserves the Adult Swim Games seal of approval. The craziness in level design and characters are something you'd expect from the likes of a Rick and Morty universe. With a fairly robust single player campaign and hilariously fun multiplayer, the frustrations you'll encounter are often outweighed once you walk away from the game for a bit. If you need a laugh after work, or you want to play something with your friends and family, this will do the trick.

The first thing you’ll notice about the game is the distinct minimalist visual style. Every asset and character appears like they were ripped from the doodles of an angst ridden teenager, with most items being a single color and many depicted in a black and white style. Some might call this lazy, as the background is almost entirely white on a good chunk of the levels, but I feel like this was a conscious design choice. It makes the pickups and the enemies you’ve already dispatched easier to decipher, since the game rains enemies down on you like you’re the best looking dancer at a rural strip club in the middle of the week. The one questionable choice in regards to aesthetics is that many of the items shoot bullets the size of a single pixel, making it extremely difficult to avoid a barrage of bullets at times. The game plays as a strange hybrid of an open world game in the vein of the original GTA with wave based top-down shooter mechanics. You can take as much or as little time as you want, progressing from point A to point B through the game’s 48 levels, but the longer you stay in a single area, the more enemies the game throws at you. Each level is going to include one or more objectives or it will pit you against a boss. These are repeated throughout the game’s length, which makes the game suffer from getting repetitive fairly early on. You’ll either be making your way through an increasingly destroyed city, attacking a boss character in a bank, chasing down a rogue UFO, taking down a bigger UFO that is summoned after the first is defeated, attacking the aliens on a strange otherworldly planet, or battling it out in space while piloting a spaceship and then repeating the same sequence of events over and over until reaching the game’s final boss. Along the way, you will unlock new abilities and guns as well as face new enemy types, but the majority of the changes are minor and rarely impacts the game in any meaningful way. Starting out you’ll have a slow firing pistol as your only method of defense. As the game progresses, you’ll unlock the ability to go into a rage mode, dealing major damage with an increased fire rate for a short period of time, as well as a secondary firing option. Both the primary and secondary weapons will be swapped out regularly after defeating one of the many bank room baddies. Most of the weapons are pretty effective, but in the event you find one that is kind of lackluster (such as anything with “blades” in the name, which there are a few), you’re stuck with it until the next upgrade comes along as you cannot change your equipped items at any point. Killing enemies will result in XP and cash, which is necessary to upgrade your guns and character. I’m not sure if I simply got ahead of the curve, but often it felt that I was over-leveled for many of the game’s challenges, even after bumping up the difficulty to hard. The game runs extremely well, even in the face of the massive hordes of enemies on the screen at the same time. Mechanically, the biggest issue I have with the game is the constant freezing during the load screens, which happened to me each and every time I would pull up the Xbox One menu mid-game, requiring the software to be rebooted. Making matters worse, I have encountered a few situations where my progress was not saved, requiring me to complete a few chunks of the already repetitive game multiple times. If you can get past the repetitiveness of the game, it is a decent shooter that controls extremely well, with its vehicular controls being the only area that could use some improvement. In the city based areas, you can and will need to borrow cars that were left carelessly in the streets to make it to your destinations quickly. Not only are the cars bullet proof, they can run over large waves of enemies and allow you to clear large groups in seconds. This is not a skill that is learned easily, since the vehicular controls are tank like and very reminiscent of the original GTA that I mentioned previously. As proof that more is not always better, the game tends to drag around the midpoint. Once finished, you’ll be able to revisit the levels with your current level and upgrades intact (unless the game forgets to save) or play again in New Game+, with the only replay value being grinding out the additional levels or upgrades. With no co-op option being in place, there is little to no reason to revisit this once you’ve completed it. While far from being perfect, State of Anarchy: Master of Mayhem is a fun title that offers hours of enjoyment, even if a few of them will be retreading the same ground over and over again.

Over the years we've seen countless mods and imitations of the original Doom. With mods ranging from Barney the Dinosaur being an NPC enemy to the face of John Carmack being imposed over every asset, the title has seen a lot of love. The one thing that is really missing from the experience is a version fit for the entire family, as the genre is typically pretty violent in general. Enter One More Dungeon. The game is a new rogue lite (since every title needs a random aspect nowadays) that puts the player in randomized dungeons that play out like a first person version of Gauntlet. You will make your way through randomized dungeons, loot chests, collect potions and weaponry, as well as dispatch various enemies with a complete lack of gore or blood. Each of the game’s levels come with at least one enemy that must be dealt with in order to receive a relic that works as a key, opening the door to the next world. With no real story, narrative, or motivation in place, I found it hard to engross myself into world presented. The game looks and plays much like Doom, with its hyper fast movement and overall design. While you won't see many gateways into Hell, there are plenty of brick walls with mossy foliage replacing the blood and make up the mazelike structure of id's powerhouse franchise. Many items look like they are carbon copies of the tables and treasures found in the original Wolfenstein. Adding to the subtle nods for the granddaddies of the FPS genre, there is a small pixelated face in the lower portion of the screen, which I thought was a nice touch, even though it looks nothing like BJ or Doom-guy. The majority of the game’s assets look original if you’re concerned about it being a complete ripoff, although extremely basic. While I was able to make out the pixelated image that serves as rats, I found the mess that looks to be giant bugs to be a bit lacking and overly busy despite their vague details. Regardless of the enemy you are looking at, they all appear to be flat even though they are in a 3D environment. Don't let their basic visuals fool you though, as the enemies will make a bee line straight for you if seen and will take huge chunks of your limited life away in single hits. This would be far more manageable if any of the enemies let out any sort of sound alerting you to their presence, such as the trademark grunt let out by the pinkie monster in Doom, but sadly, the game is void of any true sound effects, making the basic enemies way more deadly than they have any right to be. The biggest thing that stood out to me was the incorporation of a large strip at the top of the screen that shows your inventory. Items will display there as you acquire them and allow you to cycle weapons or use potions on the fly. Sadly, outside of small text prompts that pop up when you pick up one of the items, you won't really know what you are using or how exactly it will affect you until it's used, with poison being one of the pick-ups - if you don't pay attention, you'll find yourself drinking this in error and taking a huge hit to your health. It keeps you on your toes, but makes for a painful life lesson early into the game. One More Dungeon offers a fairly robust set of modifiers that can be unlocked by using your acquired gold, which carries across runs. These range from player buffs, reducing the size of the levels, or making the already difficult game that much more punishing. With the option to select two per run, they add some replay value and can make the game more manageable. I will admit I had to unlock both the buff to my own health as well as the option to reduce the size of the levels to make it past the second floor. Through determination and massive amounts of grinding, I was able to unlock some of the other easier mods, allowing me to make it to the fifth of ten floors as my current personal best. The levels are randomly pulled from a pool of floors, not completely randomized rooms like other rogue lites, resulting in the already repetitious game getting stale that much quicker. The one bonus to this is that it is easy to remember where some of the secret rooms can be found, although their contents are still random. If you have a youngster around that you feel the likes of Doom or Wolfenstein may be a bit too much, this would be a great Sesame Street alternative to the FPS genre, whereas more seasoned gamers will find One More Dungeon to be lacking overall.

Long before the likes of Cheech and Chong, Jay and Silent Bob, or Amy Schumer and a forced laugh track, there was Bud Spencer and Terence Hill. Never heard of them? They were a duo of actors featured in a number of films between the 1950s and 1980s. Long after their fame has come and gone, the folks at Trinity Team srls have brought us Bud Spencer & Terence Hill - Slaps and Beans, a beat ‘em up based on a number of their films. The game features a story that incorporates a number of characters and plot points from their film career, taking the player across a number of locales such as the Wild West and Miami, all in a style that is a throwback to old school coin op brawlers. The presentation captures the experience of standing in an old school arcade well, with the insert coin text appearing regularly. You'll visit beautifully captured pixel based environments, which will often begin with some mildly laughable dialogue, as tongue in cheek humor is notably present. While I never experienced any gut busting laughter from this, it warrants a few chuckles and is worth reading through your first go round. The game is primarily a brawler, with accessible combat that is broken down into light and heavy attacks, with a block or parry option. The heavy attacks require a chunk of stamina that is replenished by eating beans or drinking beer. Various pick-ups that work as weapons are peppered in heavily and add some variety to the bland combat, although I would have preferred less pick-ups that last a bit longer, as the majority of the items are single use. Both of the characters control essentially the same, with Bud offering heavier attacks and the ability to pick up and throw enemies. Terrance is much more nimble and is more of a quick defensive character that has a devastating jump kick attack. You can change characters on the fly, with the other character being controlled by the AI or via couch co-op. The combat is fun, but becomes stale early on due to the dated combat systems. Had this game been released in the 90's, it would've been a sure fire hit, probably taking down Streets of Rage as many middle aged gamer's genre favorite. There are a number of mini games that help break up the monotony of the combat, which are all hit or miss. Early into the game there is a segment where you must chase an enemy on horseback to reach his speeding train, all while evading debris thrown at regular intervals. This wouldn't be overly difficult if you didn't get hung up on the AI or your partner in the event you try to move in the same direction they are currently residing, often resulting in both characters being pushed back a good distance, ending in failure. I rather enjoyed the QTE-ish gun duels that pop up from time to time though. Honestly, this is a bit long for the genre, clocking in around three hours if you read each and every text box, with about 45 minutes to an hour shaved off if you skip them. The levels change up the environment often enough that none of the levels really outstay their welcome, although the lack of a proper save feature left me having to complete a few of the levels multiple times due to exiting at the wrong time. With a varied and decently sized achievement list, there is a lot to do if you're looking to pad your gamerscore or trophy level, but outside of this there is little reason to revisit the game unless you want to embark on the journey with a friend locally. The game falls on the easy side outside of some of the mini games that more often than not provide no tutorial on how to proceed. While not overly taxing, I failed most of these on the first attempt, with few deaths resulting from the actual combat, even on the hardest difficulty. This makes the title standout as a great co-op experience for younger players, with the mini games being the only areas I had to take over for my young child. Bud Spencer & Terence Hill - Slaps and Beans offers some great co-op brawling fun, albeit a dated experience. While it doesn't bring any of the new mechanics other recent brawlers like the amazing Raging Justice, it succeeds as being a great throwback to a simpler time in gaming.

Long before the likes of Cheech and Chong, Jay and Silent Bob, or Amy Schumer and a forced laugh track, there was Bud Spencer and Terence Hill. Never heard of them? They were a duo of actors featured in a number of films between the 1950s and 1980s. Long after their fame has come and gone, the folks at Trinity Team srls have brought us Bud Spencer & Terence Hill - Slaps and Beans, a beat ‘em up based on a number of their films. The game features a story that incorporates a number of characters and plot points from their film career, taking the player across a number of locales such as the Wild West and Miami, all in a style that is a throwback to old school coin op brawlers. The presentation captures the experience of standing in an old school arcade well, with the insert coin text appearing regularly. You'll visit beautifully captured pixel based environments, which will often begin with some mildly laughable dialogue, as tongue in cheek humor is notably present. While I never experienced any gut busting laughter from this, it warrants a few chuckles and is worth reading through your first go round. The game is primarily a brawler, with accessible combat that is broken down into light and heavy attacks, with a block or parry option. The heavy attacks require a chunk of stamina that is replenished by eating beans or drinking beer. Various pick-ups that work as weapons are peppered in heavily and add some variety to the bland combat, although I would have preferred less pick-ups that last a bit longer, as the majority of the items are single use. Both of the characters control essentially the same, with Bud offering heavier attacks and the ability to pick up and throw enemies. Terrance is much more nimble and is more of a quick defensive character that has a devastating jump kick attack. You can change characters on the fly, with the other character being controlled by the AI or via couch co-op. The combat is fun, but becomes stale early on due to the dated combat systems. Had this game been released in the 90's, it would've been a sure fire hit, probably taking down Streets of Rage as many middle aged gamer's genre favorite. There are a number of mini games that help break up the monotony of the combat, which are all hit or miss. Early into the game there is a segment where you must chase an enemy on horseback to reach his speeding train, all while evading debris thrown at regular intervals. This wouldn't be overly difficult if you didn't get hung up on the AI or your partner in the event you try to move in the same direction they are currently residing, often resulting in both characters being pushed back a good distance, ending in failure. I rather enjoyed the QTE-ish gun duels that pop up from time to time though. Honestly, this is a bit long for the genre, clocking in around three hours if you read each and every text box, with about 45 minutes to an hour shaved off if you skip them. The levels change up the environment often enough that none of the levels really outstay their welcome, although the lack of a proper save feature left me having to complete a few of the levels multiple times due to exiting at the wrong time. With a varied and decently sized achievement list, there is a lot to do if you're looking to pad your gamerscore or trophy level, but outside of this there is little reason to revisit the game unless you want to embark on the journey with a friend locally. The game falls on the easy side outside of some of the mini games that more often than not provide no tutorial on how to proceed. While not overly taxing, I failed most of these on the first attempt, with few deaths resulting from the actual combat, even on the hardest difficulty. This makes the title standout as a great co-op experience for younger players, with the mini games being the only areas I had to take over for my young child. Bud Spencer & Terence Hill - Slaps and Beans offers some great co-op brawling fun, albeit a dated experience. While it doesn't bring any of the new mechanics other recent brawlers like the amazing Raging Justice, it succeeds as being a great throwback to a simpler time in gaming.

My first experience with permadeath (outside of classic side-scrollers with no save feature) was a game called Steel Battalion, which was released with one of the largest peripherals to date for the OG Xbox. I came home late from work and sat down as my roommate was heading to bed. I booted up his game, figuring I would see if it was in fact worth the $150 cost of admission. Within minutes, I was dead and his save was deleted, as this was protocol in the event you didn't eject from the mech upon death. Until this day, I told no one this dark secret. The permadeath mechanic is essential to certain games, especially those in the roguelite genre, which relies on randomized events to stimulate longevity into otherwise basic games that wouldn't have much staying power. Titles such as The Binding of Isaac use this mechanic in a smart fashion, where each failed run has the potential to inject new items or challenges regularly. This keeps things fresh and makes the player feel that even in a loss, they made it just a little bit further. Others, such as AIRHEART- Tales of Broken Wings, opt to completely disregard the player’s time and efforts making them start from scratch each and every time they perish, resulting in a completely disheartening experience. You are put in the shoes of Amelia, a resident in the floating city of Granaria, serving as a sky fisherman. The young pilot is restless, living out her life making just enough to get by while dreaming of catching the elusive Sky Whale, which resides at the highest level of the floating city. I wish I could say that the story is captivating, but that is essentially it, due to the narrative becoming an afterthought after a brief tutorial and a few cut scenes shown each and every time you load the game. This plays out like a standard twin stick shooter, tasking the player with collecting skyfish and evading space pirates in search of your precious booty. Collecting the fish and destroying enemy fighters will net you resources needed to craft upgrades for your plane, which can only be done via your workshop on Granaria. Your vanilla plane takes a pretty decent amount of damage from enemy gunfire, but running into the floating assets or enemy fighters will result in devastating hits to your health. While the title gives you frequent warnings that you need to repair your craft, it doesn't really provide clear cut methods in doing so; take too much damage and you'll be taking a nose dive. This is where the dreaded permadeath comes into play - should you crash land on Granaria, you can regroup and set back out on your journey on the flipside. However, if you miss your target, you'll hit the desert wasteland below and see nothing more than a Game Over screen, losing all progress. The games controls are very lackluster, making the entire experience a bit of a slog. I found aiming to be fairly easy, but the way you must navigate your ever moving plane is not. Most twin stick shooters opt for an accessible control method, where you push the stick left and move towards the left; this title goes with the tank control method, requiring you to steer left or right within the 3D space, making navigation and evasion of enemy crafts to be quite difficult. The base plane does not allow for turning on a dime and requires very wide turns, resulting in me ping ponging my way along the levels on most attempts. The sequence that occurs when you are taking a nose dive is no different, with the controls fighting you along the way. While this does add a true sense of dread as you are speeding towards your demise and simulate what I would imagine to be a terrifying experience, it's far from being fun. In the event you are successful at taking down some of the enemy pilots, you can acquire blueprints that allow you to easily craft upgrades if you have the materials available. This is yet another disappointment, potentially more so than the control scheme. As I stated earlier, everything is lost in the event you die, meaning any materials you squirreled away are gone if you die. Upgrades require a great deal of resources to craft, resulting in me simply trying to progress through the various levels without collecting much and reaching the Sky Whale. Needless to say, this method didn't work out as planned, but it did allow me to see a bit more of the game than the grinding method. The setting is a refreshing change, opting for the wide open skies opposed to dungeons or generic landscapes that most rougelites opt for. The execution is acceptable, with well rendered enemies and environments, although the standout visuals are during the animation you see while falling to your death. The true sense of speed and smoke spewing from your plane look splendid, even if the end result is a letdown more often than not. The game adds some refreshing changes to the genre, but with all of its current flaws, it is a bit of a broken experience and in need of its wings being clipped.

Regardless of which medium you choose to follow, you're bound to come across something that is similar in various degrees to something that came before it. Many fans of Deadpool have no idea a similar character was already in place in DC universe, or that Saint's Row was around long before in the form of the GTA franchise. The same will likely be said for Super Destronaut DX, which at its core is extremely similar to the past hits Space Invaders and Galaga. Naturally, it's also the latest in a long running series. This plays much like the games that inspired it, with a small space ship facing off against waves of enemy ships. While you can freely move left to right, the opposing forces will also move back and forth, but the longer you take to dispatch them, the closer they become to your ship. Killing the enemies will net you points to go towards your overall score, with chained kills awarding a bonus and the occasional weapon upgrade. Completion of each wave will result in yet another wave stepping forward awaiting your gunfire. You'll continue this until you either complete the objective (in standard play, survival is the objective) or run out of lives. If this doesn't sound that appealing to you, there are a few new additions to the proven yet basic formula. Once certain ships are dealt with, they fall instead of simply blowing up into random pixels, which block you're ability to shoot other ships still in play and allows you to shoot their corpse to receive additional points, which is by far the most metal thing I have read or written today. As you progress through the game’s waves there will also be additional grey objects, which I assume are meant to be random debris or dead ships, which fly at you from the background requiring you to evade them. I would not necessarily call these additions innovative by any means, but they help to make for a challenging battle once you proceed beyond the first few waves. There are a few versions of the game included in the package, which break up the objectives into smaller, more manageable pieces and work well to get you acclimated to the title. You can play challenges, which involves surviving X number of waves, killing X number of enemies, or completing waves in a set time. These get a tad bit repetitive but offer additional play time for those who wish to get the most from the game. It also features time attack, cooperative modes, and the standard survival mode for those looking for something extra. The game looks, sounds, and controls much like you'd expect a rehash of the Galaga franchise would (editor's note: Galaga Legions DX is a bit more wild than this), with a single tone soundtrack and bright neon color scheme. Aside from the scrolling, hair thin lines that fill in the background and stylized assets at the bottom of the screen, there isn't much of a difference visually. I set this up as well as one of the more recent Galaga re-releases on our dual setup at home and my wife was unable to tell the difference between the two games. Regardless of the fact that this is a carbon copy of older games, there is essentially endless replayability due to the nature of the genre. If you are a trophy or achievement hunter, you'll be pleased to know this title can be completed in under an hour. If you've never played any other pixel based top down shooter (chances are pretty), this is a great jumping off point. If you're a veteran player of these games, this will likely change up the formula a bit and give you some new challenges, even if they are minor. At the end of the day, this is a fun arcade style shooter that is well worth your time, even if it's a bit too similar to the past games that paved the way for Super Destronaut DX.

In case you didn't know, I freaking love my wife. I don't mean that in the cookie cutter, Hallmark greeting card definition of the word, I truly live for her - she's my single reason for not being a piece of human garbage and waking up each and every morning being thankful I'm alive. With this being said, the story that Stifled immerses the player in really struck a chord with me. You play as David, a character that is slowly losing his mind due to a traumatic event that you will explore through a series of memories; let's face it, no relationship, marriage or otherwise, is perfect all of the time. The game places you in the home of the protagonist as you follow his wife downstairs into the kitchen, only to have her disappear right in front of you. This alone sent shivers down my spine, as this is literally my nightmare painted on a virtual canvas and it gives me goosebumps just thinking about it. The loss of a loved one has been a common theme in storytelling for decades, with many games sharing a similar tone, but I haven't felt this invested in finding the missing spouse since Silent Hill 2. The journey you embark on to seek out your missing wife is the main selling point of Stifled, which is highly immersive and well worth the cost of admission, so I won't touch on it anymore to avoid spoilers. The game is a VR title but can be played on a standard TV, which was the sole method this was played for review. Our protagonist is visually challenged, and much like the recent title Perception, you will use sound to create an echo effect to view the world, which will slowly disappear as time progresses. I preferred the black and contrasting colors featured in this opposed to Perception’s take. The kicker is that creating sound will not only paint the picture of the game world for you, but will make you visible to the enemies that wander about the environments. If one additional peripheral option wasn't enough for you, you can use a microphone to use your voice or ambient sound to generate noise as needed, with a controller being an alternative if you prefer to not scream at your TV like a madman. This is something we've seen before in titles such as Alien: Isolation or Manhunt, but works splendidly to create a true sense of dread, and works much better in this title than in previous attempts at the mechanic. As far as horror titles go, most rely on jump scares, exclusively or otherwise. No matter how well placed or animated, they are getting to the point that they are stale and nothing but a cheap scare. Stifled uses absolutely none of these, outside of the occasions that you happen to stumble upon one of the adversaries that inhabit the game world at the wrong time, which I only experienced once during my playthrough. The true terror comes from what you don't see and instead hear, which is pretty much everything. The sound design is spot on, even when using the standard speakers from my mid-grade TV. There are a total of three enemy beings you will encounter on your journey, with the second, a set of twins, being the most troublesome. Sadly, the game suffers with misplaced checkpoints, leaving this portion of the game to be a bit of a slog, ruining what would otherwise be an amazing horror game rivaled only by the genre heavyweights like Resident Evil 7 or Outlast. I found myself terrified of making too much noise and ebbing my way through the encounter as slowly as possible, only to fail even when being completely silent. Honestly, had I not been so invested in the story, I would've given up at this point. At its heart, this is yet another walking simulator, with most of the gameplay requiring you to explore the game world, interact with specific items, and evade the enemies I previously mentioned. It can be completed in just a few short hours, and I don't foresee myself wanting to jump back into it unless I acquire a VR headset. If you have a VR headset (I can only imagine this being one of the more engaging titles on the market) or are a fan of horror titles in general, you have no excuse to not purchase Stifled immediately.

The game follows a team of Allied dog fighters as they battle the **** forces that are in the process of attacking the US on their home turf. I say **** because the title opted to replace the historical swastika with a basic cross (or X, I'm not sure and it varies depending on the viewpoint), keeping all of the **** other standard garb and design in place. The story plays out via still images between chapters as well as banter that is present before, during, and after each mission. Most of these conversations feel out of place, partially due to the presentation, and break up the momentum of the game, causing some progression based issues that we'll get to later. The characters’ cartoonish appearances (these reminded me of one of the many tween cartoons aimed at girls that my nieces have tortured me with) with the campy writing and ultra-serious voice over tones make it very difficult to determine if the developers we're going for a comedic or serious take on the story. Ultimately, I wanted to skip each and every one of these after completing the first level. The game plays as a typical top down shooter, taking down enemy fighters while collecting XP and upgrades (permanent or temporary) with some new twists that are equal parts refreshing and frustrating. You will primarily control a single fighter, with a team of up to three additional planes flying in formation around you making up your squadron. The additional planes will typically follow you around the level, shooting when you do, and are generally a welcome addition; however, you will have to keep in mind that the additional planes can and will likely perish if they collide with enemy ships. This requires the player to manage a much larger section of the screen than your typical shooter. Losing the additional planes does not immediately result in death, since you're primary character is the only one you absolutely have to keep alive, but their buffs will be removed and the loss of their added firepower can make some scenarios a bit difficult. You can make up your team from a total of ten characters, each with their own buff (damage increases, repairing planes, etc) as well as a hindrance (losing control of their plane, requiring you to cover them) that will pop up regularly. This mechanic in particular is a great innovation but is executed poorly, since the issues often occur at the worst possible times. You will earn XP and upgrade tokens over the course of your journey and will have to carefully choose what to upgrade and when. Putting all of the tokens into the primary plane was my initial decision, which limited the buff effects that I received from the other planes early into the campaign. You can respec your characters at any time, but it’s like a game of chess when it comes to choosing the right upgrade at the right time. Each of the game’s 25 levels split over five chapters offer a side mission in addition to the primary objective. The side missions are optional, but completing them nets you a pretty hefty bonus to your medals, which work as XP and can also be earned by killing standard enemies. The optional missions are standard for the genre, requiring you to hover over a specific area to rescue people or drop off supplies to ground forces, as well as avoiding damage or taking out specific targets. They add a nice element to the game and promote replaying the levels, however, the in game story that I mentioned previously will often cut off your time that is allotted to complete some of the more tedious objectives, namely the ones you have to hover over, often resulting in the event being missed before it even hits the screen’s mid-point of the ever scrolling level. Outside of the story, the presentation is unique and stands out among the competition, due to the tight controls and the slightly blurred backgrounds overlaid above the crisp enemy and player visuals. This creates a 3D illusion, making the most important aspects of the graphics pop in a way few 2D games manage. I found the variety in the enemy units to be a bit bland, partially due to the lack of plane animations, sans the larger boss characters. The bosses are standout encounters, with unique visuals and abilities. These will prove to be the most difficult encounters in the game so it’s a bit disappoint that only a handful are present. The difficulty can be adjusted between any missions, with two options available at the start and a third unlocked upon completion of the story. Due to the gracious amount of lives you receive, the normal and hard difficulties are more in line with the easy and normal from similar games, with the final being reserved for purists that wish to one credit clear the levels. With the exception of the boss battles, I easily breezed through the hard mode with little resistance. Adding additional players via local co-op only makes the game easier, lacking any noticeable increase of enemies due to the added players.

This puzzle game can be completed via local co-op or single player; however, each mode has their own benefits and downfalls. The fact that both characters look completely identical is a huge point of frustration, which often caused my partner and me to be lost as to who was doing what. By default, the game offers an extremely panned out viewpoint, making large sections of the small islands you visit to be visible at all times. This works well in the single player portion of the title, but in co-op it zooms out even further, making a game that is already difficult to navigate at times even harder to view. The premise of the game follows your nameless, featureless, quite frankly boring protagonist(s) as they set forth to free their people from the clutches of their equally bland villains. You'll start the game in a decently sized hub world that houses the level select, as well as some areas fit for exploring, or racing through which we will discuss in a bit. You'll start the game with a few areas available, while others will be added as you progress. Each level is a small area comprised of an island or group of islands, each with three objectives: destroy specific objects, save your captive friends, and collect shimmering green crystals. Completing these will open the option to run through the level in a time trial that omits all of the previous objectives and feels like it was tacked on for no reason other than to extend the longevity of the title. To complete your objectives, you'll need to use items found within the game world to progress through barriers and walls, such as switches, pressure plates, and the standard puzzle tropes including vehicles and the all too familiar red barrels that explode if you hit them too hard. Mugsters offers no direction whatsoever, so you will have to rely on your own wits to progress. Progression in itself is not overly difficult if you use common sense, with the collectible hunting being the largest challenge. The levels are designed in a way that you don't always see the obvious path needed to make it to areas just out of reach, and standing a van or a bus is not an option, although the characters appear to be able to reach them and simply just slide off. The same can be said for ledges that appear to be within reach, meaning you have to complete the game in the manner it was designed to be, despite it seemingly offering the freedom to complete the tasks any way you choose. The biggest frustration is the lemming quality that the NPCs you will have to rescue on your journey, where they will randomly walk head first into danger or ignore the fact that a car or barrel right next to them is about to explode. Stray too far from them or walk to close to an in game asset and you'll likely lose them or forget they are even there. The one time they seem to exhibit any type of intelligence is when you get into one of the many cars spread out around the level, but you must keep in mind they won't remove themselves hastily in the event you want to use the vehicle as a high powered explosive to take down a wall or run over a barrel, which typically makes the smaller methods of transport explode immediately. Regardless of how you play the title, be it solo or with friends, the campaign is exactly the same. While I found that playing with my wife managed to speed up the time it took to complete the objectives, the issues I mentioned previously did not really make the experience something I would want to play again and again. Playing with my young son was equally frustrating, primarily due to the driving mechanics. The controls work, albeit feel a bit sluggish, but the driving mechanics are quite taxing, forcing the player to steer left or right while moving within a 3D space. Since each level requires you to escape via a plane that can be found at the end of the level, this is something that can end in epic failure, often after you've completed all of the objectives that the level requires. Sure, you're not out much time due to the failure, but some of the puzzles require constant backtracking on foot to complete and no mid-level checkpoints are present. Much like the overall package, the presentation is hit or miss. I've already called out the fact the enemies and protagonists are bland and quite boring, but when the individual levels are so well designed visually, it makes this stand out as a fault even more. The cel-shaded environments are aesthetically pleasing and well rounded, despite getting fairly repetitive early on with repeated designs lasting a lot longer than I would've liked to see. The music and sound effects found within the game are forgettable – having just beat the game a few hours prior to writing this, nothing stands out as memorable. Mugsters is not a bad game by any means, with the steering controls being the standout performance issue; the overall package is simply mediocre and lacks any unique factors to make it standout in any meaningful way.

In the years since the Atari glory days, few genres have survived the test of time as the market has shifted more and more into 3D environments. With this being said, most younger gamers will never truly know the joy of speeding around a track in the top down view that was their parents’ answer to Forza Horizon. This is probably for the best, as most of the racers in this genre are mediocre at best. The newest release from Iceflake Games, Race Arcade, is no different as it is a failure on almost every level, even when compared to games of past console generations. The game tasks players with competing in a number of grand prix style race events, consisting of over 100 small courses that can be viewed almost in their entirety on screen at one time. The tracks are varied and feature a surprising amount of detail, despite being so basic. Each level has small touches that show a great deal of effort was put into the level design, such as cones that can be run over or the small leaves that fall in the event a player runs into a tree. The downfall to this is that the tracks are often very busy aesthetically, which makes it extremely easy to lose your vehicle among the on screen chaos. This proves to be extremely common in single player and only gets worse if you add additional human racers on the same screen, and this supports up to six players (who has this many controllers?!?!?!). Doing so results in the map zooming out so far the game is unplayable, straining not only my eyes but my five year old's near perfect vision. The same level of detail was not implemented when it came to designing the various cars or means of transport. Aside from changing the color of the vehicles, there is little in the form of customization and the models themselves look ripped straight from the original GTA. The saving grace is the number of number of vehicular options that can be unlocked, ranging from standard cars to F1 style racers and even UFOs. Regardless of which steed you choose, they all control like they are being driven by a coked up, drunken Uber driver. Each option controls a bit differently than the others, with the UFO being by far the worst. It is extremely difficult to tell which direction is forward, and the control scheme does nothing to try to alleviate this issue. The gas works as it should, but steering could use a bit of work. Making matters worse, the power slide does not function half of the time. More often than not, using the mechanic ended up with me running off of the track. Fun fact: the title does not like the racers leaving the track, even for a second. I learned this the hard way when I broke ahead of the pack, but the game failed to tell me I missed some magical invisible checkpoint and I was actually in last place, opposed to first. In most games, you'd simply be able to back up and try to catch up with the rest of the pack if you make a mistake or have a poor start - in Race Arcade, any mistake will surely result in a loss or having to restart right then and there. This is partially due to the fact the reverse takes a solid two or more seconds to even respond, if it does at all. Adding to the frustration, the AI racers rarely make a single error and seem to have a bunch of hidden horsepower under their hoods, even in early races. Completing the events in single player will unlock additional challenges and earn you money to purchase other vehicles for the campaign, although this requirement is removed for same screen play, allowing you to choose any vehicle you want. I found this to be a positive, since the campaign is overly grindy when it comes to dishing out your winnings, and it allowed me to sample each mode of transport. Having seen most of what the Race Arcade has to offer, I can wholeheartedly say that this is one of the worst racers in history, this console generation or otherwise. Unless you are someone who enjoys putting yourself and those you love in pain via visual strain, there is nothing here to enjoy, even for free.

Close your eyes and think about the opening screens of your favorite game of all time. Chances are you can remember almost every small detail and sequence of events. For me, it's Street Fighter II. Even after spending countless hours playing other games or absorbing other pieces of information, my brain can pop up the image of the generic guys getting ready to duke it out with the blood pumping music like it was right in front of me without fail. This is how Super Blackjack Battle 2 Turbo Edition - The Card Warriors opens, and doing so, gets a few brownie points on this review. While the title is advertised as a fighting card game hybrid, the Street Fighter references are essentially for aesthetic purposes only. Everything from the character select to the loading screens borrows from Capcom's classic series. While these give you something fun to look at while you play what is arguably one of the least interesting games of chance (beaten only by BINGO and lottery scratch offs), it does not add anything to the experience unless you are a fan of the franchise that the assets are inspired from. You'll pick your avatar from a rounded cast of characters; sadly, these do not callback or mimic any noteworthy characters from Street Fighter or any other franchise for that matter. While they do boast a wide variety of nationalities and genders, they don't really stand out in any meaningful way. I feel like making slight nods would've improved the already stellar fan service that the rest of the presentation showcases. If you grew up with questionable influences like I did, you probably learned how to play Blackjack at a young age. Unlike poker, the rules are pretty basic and can be picked up within minutes. If you didn't grow up with a grandmother that had a pretty ridiculous gambling addiction or ever visited your local casino, Blackjack requires the player to acquire a hand of cards as close to a score of 21, without going over. This doesn't offer much in the form of a tutorial, so you will need to have a basic knowledge of the game to be successful. The trick to the game is that one of your two cards that are dealt at the beginning of the hand is always face down, so the other players never know what you have unless you clearly go over the magic number. Once the two cards are dealt you can place a bet, and then ask for additional cards to get as close to 21 as possible. While there are a few variations of the game, this video game requires only that you beat the hand of the dealer, not every player at the table. Each match will take place over the course of ten hands, requiring you to not only beat the dealer in as many hands as possible, but bet enough to beat the other players’ pot of winnings. The AI tends to play it safe making the challenge fairly simple, often resulting in me going all in (betting all of my available money) early into the game to get a commanding lead. At times, this is still fruitless as the AI will get back to back blackjacks, or reach 21 from their first 2 cards. Once the first fighter is defeated, you will make your way via a short on screen plane ride that looks shot for shot like its inspiration. You'll rinse and repeat this as you work your way up the ladder, working your way to each fighter’s ending. With 12 characters being offered, you will have your hands full if you wish to unlock each ending. The game is fairly short on modes; the story is the meat of the package, with a single fight option and party mode being the only additional content. While the mobile versions offered an online mode, this has since been replaced with the option to play with up to four players on a single console. With everyone being able to see what the other players are holding and essentially betting with, this mode perplexes me as to why it was even included as an option. If you look at this for what it is, a decent blackjack game, it works well and is one of the more entertaining card games on console, second to Telltale's Poker Night at the Inventory, even without the inclusion of the popular fan favorite characters. That said, I would recommend purchasing Super Blackjack Battle 2 Turbo Edition - The Card Warriors if your collection is in need of some variety, even if the "fighting" mechanics are a bit of a letdown.

Imagine you're sitting down playing Super Mario Brothers and instead of simply progressing left to right as a down on his luck plumber who is tripping on magic mushrooms, hopping over turtles, and collecting spare change, you had to jump on the turtles, carry the shell to the end of the level and throw it at the flag, only to have to backtrack and complete this task with each and every turtle before moving forward with your life. That is essentially what you get when you boot up Super Skull Smash GO! 2 Turbo. The story puts us in the shoes of a nameless pink being that we will call Bob, and is tasked with ridding the local village of the Evil King's undead minions. Along the way you will encounter other villagers that will provide you with some overly obvious tutorial like tidbits, which are rarely needed. The game gives Bob little means of offense, leaving him with ability to jump on enemy heads, much like everyone's favorite pudgy Italian. While the enemies are not limited to the skeletons that make up the bulk of the enemies you'll encounter, you will have to pick up, kick, or throw their heads and carry them to a specific area in the game and launch them at it to be rid of them (sadly, chucking the head does nothing in the form of an attack, with its only secondary purpose being to collect coins, which we'll get to later). This proves to be one of the greatest challenges the game offers, as you must throw the skulls, since dropping or carrying them doesn't work. As if making one difficult throw isn't painful enough, you'll often have to do this three or more times since you have to clear the level of the skeletons to progress, often backtracking through the level multiple times to complete it. Why the game tasks you with only "removing" the skeletons when there are clearly other enemies that were spawned by the tyrannical king is beyond me. Are the skeletons the source of the villain's power? Are the other enemies just misunderstood? I wish I could say, but sadly I was unable to complete the entire game, since it is painfully difficult. Retro inspired games are a dime a dozen, and while few modern games in this venture capture the difficulty that 90% of the NES games offered to us 80's kids, this game is a prime example of a retro game done right, even if the rest of the game doesn't stand out. The enemy AI is extremely basic, with most of the enemies simply walking back and forth; however, the traps and often pinpoint accuracy the jumps require are far from easy. Many levels have platforms that disappear quickly and will come in waves, meaning if you are just one second off, you're dead. With no checkpoints in place, you'll have to start the level over multiple times. In addition to the skulls that you are required to purge from the game world, each level includes a number of shimmering coins and a single gem hidden (often in plain sight) to find. What these are used or needed for is still beyond me, but it does give you something to work towards while you complete the small levels. The game world is broken up into small segments, which throw bonus levels at you regularly, all of which offer permanent upgrades for Bob. These small rooms are comprised of basic puzzles that break up the monotony of the never ending fetch quest that makes up the bulk of the game. Each world features unique backgrounds, puzzles, and mechanics, all of which are reminiscent of assets and textures used in NES titles from long ago. None of these appear to be outright rip offs, but coupled with the polyphonic music and sound effects, you can't help but feel a sense of nostalgia when playing the title. The additional buttons being used to pick up or throw the skulls are really the only thing that would have made this title out of place on the original Nintendo system. Sure, this game will never be the most popular streamed game and your kids will likely make fun of you for playing it with its basic presentation, but there is a respectable challenge with this title. If you're looking for something to evoke that sense of nostalgia that most retro inspired games fail to meet, look no further than Super Skull Smash GO! 2 Turbo.

I'm going to start this review off being completely honest - from a technical standpoint, Guts and Glory is by far one of the worst games I have ever played. But I love it. Sure, some games strive to be the prettiest, or have the biggest and best mechanics in order to drive players in droves to their local GameStop, but not this title; Guts and Glory aims much higher. The best thing about this game is that it will likely having you and your friends laughing to the point of pissing yourselves. This is a physics based racing game, but most of the joy that it evokes comes from the death and destruction that you will cause with your racer of choice, not actually completing the game's challenges. The game starts off small, requiring you to make it through a series of checkpoints, evading traps and hazards in the game world. Each level will get more and more challenging as you progress, with many culminating in the racer or random spectators being chopped to bits or exploding in a vicious explosion of gore and viscera. Death comes quickly and quite often, with racers being dismembered, blown up, impaled, run over, and pretty much any other **** means to an end you can think up. The racers and their means of transportation are fairly robust, ranging from the standard fare such as bikes or cars to crazy contraptions like a hobo outfitted with a lawn chair that’s been converted into a jetpack, or a young kid with a Back to the Future inspired hover board. Each character has their own strengths and weaknesses which are not disclosed at the character select screen, and more often than not you'll need to select the right one to complete the specific challenge you face. Why these levels do not simply require you to use the player in question is a bit of a missed opportunity, since I found myself struggling at many points just to make progress using the trial and error method, especially when all of the racers are offered as a choice at the character select screen. Each character has three set tools in their bag - the first is a boost ability which does what it says. The second is a slowdown ability that makes some of the more difficult groups of traps much more manageable. Both of these can be refilled by completing midair stunts or tricks, simply by moving the character around with the directional sticks. The third ability allows you to eject your character from the vehicle, as they are the only part of the character that needs to meet the checkpoint or finish line. The rag doll physics work well on a large scale, but I found outliers here and there that didn't quite add up, one of which is what looks like a giant version of corn hole, with the player representing the bean bag. No matter which direction the player was facing or moving, they always seemed to go in the same direction once catapulted from the car or bike. The tracks are just as varied and insane as the racers themselves, with theme parks, wilderness, and city settings covered. While some challenges require more dexterity and thought than others, much of your progress will be chalked up to dumb luck, with a few of my wins coming from cheating the game’s systems, often creating hilarious results. I kid you not, you haven't lived until you've completed a race while your avatar has his head cut off, bleeding profusely from the neck all while still having full control of their bike. Another instance allowed me to avoid a cluster of traps the level included by simply flying over them with the boost feature on the hover board, when this isn't a part of his skill set on any other course. The bugs don't always work out in your favor, and this game has plenty of them. On many occasions, I died upon respawning for no reason, having to sit through the loading screen multiple times. When similar games include instant respawns, this stands out more than it should, even when the load times are only ten seconds or so. The checkpoints will also cause some frustration if you're actually trying to complete the game as you should. There are two types of checkpoints, which took me awhile to get my head around. There are yellow markers that simply designate the current goal and save no progress, as well as an orange alternative which works as a legit checkpoint in the event you die or fail miserably. On many occasions, the orange markers, which are typically placed too far apart for my liking, do not register as a legit checkpoint, resulting in some of the more tiresome challenges to be even more difficult. A few instances of this resulted in me losing progress and actually put me at a start point as far as two checkpoints behind where I had last perished. Guts and Glory is destined to be a hit at a party as a great alternative for the Cards Against Humanity crowd due the dark yet downright hilarious results that come regularly. While there is no true multiplayer element (sequel?), the short levels are great for trading off the controller.

You’ll awaken in the hotel with an upbeat android at your door informing you that your breakfast is served in the hotel’s restaurant. If the fact that the hotel is suspiciously vacant didn’t raise a red flag for you sooner, a few ominous phone calls and creepy text messages will allude to the fact that not everything at the Spectrum Retreat is what it seems. You’ll soon be navigating through the hotel’s restricted areas, attempting to bypass a number of security features in an effort to escape with the mysterious caller on the other end of the phone being your only aide. Is she trying to trap you or free you? You’ll have to venture deeper into the strange resort to find out. The gameplay leans heavily on the walking sim genre, with the game split between two segments: open areas of the hotel which will expand organically, and the restricted areas which work similar to the trials from the Portal franchise. In the hotel, you will need to explore and interact with objects to locate the key code needed to proceed through the many locked areas, which will transport you into the second phase, which uses your phone to absorb colors and place them in white areas, akin to the portal gun from the previously mentioned franchise. Completing these actions is essentially adding or removing power to specific barriers or floors that block the path forward. These make up the majority of the puzzles and are challenging just enough to keep you immersed in the game world, are rarely taxing, and leave the story to be the main draw to push forward. Finding the codes needed to access these hidden areas is actually a bit more involved and difficult than the puzzles themselves, with the answers often being hidden in plain sight. Finding the first door code actually took me longer to complete than the five rooms that followed in the restricted area, and it was plainly written on a do not disturb door hanger on the next door down the hall. Death isn’t much of a thing at the Spectrum, since failure results in you starting the area over almost immediately. While most of the puzzles can be completed in a minute or so, some of the more tedious brain busters require you to backtrack to and fro within the puzzle, which makes starting over a bit of a chore due to the slow walking speed our character exhibits, lacking a proper sprint or run option. There are some light horror elements tucked away, with a few of the automated servants popping in when discovered in an area you are not supposed to be in causing the occasional jump scare. Their smooth featureless faces with the perky automated voices resulted in me never feeling as if I was alone within the hotel, despite not displaying much of a visible threat. Throughout the journey, the game world or your phone would stutter as if there was a glitch in the matrix. The visuals are a mixed bag, with the hotel areas looking astounding, with detailed textures on the tile floor or carpet and small details throughout that make the desolate hotel feel as if someone was just there, leaving their empty bottle or cup for the staff to pick up. I spent a great deal of time just exploring the layout of the area taking in the sights, looking for the small number of collectible glowing cubes that add to the mystery of who or what is running the hotel. The restricted areas are far less interesting to look at, with dark metallic looking walls that make up the entirety of the world aside from the assets the player is meant to interact with. This resulted in me rushing through these areas simply to get back into the hotel to unravel the mysteries that it held. The controls work as they should and are extremely accessible, with most actions being assigned to the trigger button, with the sticks being used to look and move. I found the look option to be a bit clunky, but passable as pin point accuracy is rarely required. Clocking in at a little less than three hours, there isn’t much to see here once you’ve completed the game, unless you wish to search out the additional cubes that I mentioned previously. Being a budget priced game, it is worth the cost of admission. With only a total of nine collectibles, most players will find these within the initial playthrough, as most are included in linear areas that are required to be explored and emit a blue glow, requiring little effort to locate. With Portal seeming to be a dead franchise, players who need a rogue AI to complicate their life will enjoy checking in to The Spectrum Retreat.

In the past few years, we’ve seen a surge of developers take to various mythologies as inspirations for their games. While some are beaten to the ground, such as Norse mythology (sorry God of War), some take on more obscure references, like The Mooseman which is based upon the Perm Chud folklore. Never heard of it? Me either, but it has some gigantic spiders involved, so I am all for it. You take on the guise of a shaman by the name of the Mooseman, who can see into other realms that others cannot. You’ll use this ability to solve the game’s puzzles, which make up the bulk of gameplay. The game is extremely basic, as you’ll essentially be walking left to right, switching between the realms to avoid obstacles which will appear in one or the other realms. It is easy to determine which realm you are within, as the spirit realm will feature a number of contrasting white symbols and areas as well as the unique headdress that adorns the traveler in these areas. The story will be the main selling point of this title, as it’s more of a short experience than a game, more so than even the most basic of walking sims. This game clocks in at less than two hours with a small group of collectible relics being the only reason to revisit it. Since the game is extremely linear, almost all of the collectibles can be attained in a single run, with little to no effort in locating them. As the title progresses, the puzzles become much more obscure and require some trial and error to solve, requiring the player to interact with the game’s worlds in a specific way such as nudging wildlife in the correct direction to provide paths around said barriers. Later into the game, an additional mechanic comes into play, allowing the player to absorb attacks and is incorporated into a single puzzle out of the blue. The game will occasionally switch up the mechanics for single levels, such as one where the player will be required to shoot enemies as they appear, or a later level that involves flying around on a giant creature Neverending Story style. These break up the monotony of the game essentially being a 2D walking sim due to the game requiring you to walk left to right for the duration of the game (Pro Tip: You can double tap the right direction to continuously walk forward, rarely needing to take control). I found the basic puzzles to be a bit of a bore, with the “boss” fights offered being the high points of the game, particularly the previously mentioned ginormous spider battle. Since there is very little direction in the form of a tutorial, I spent a fair amount of time figuring out how to fight the enemies with no offensive attacks available outside of the short hunting segment. With frequent checkpoints and decent loading times, death doesn’t set you back much, thus limiting frustration. The overall presentation is well done, with light ambient music and highly stylized visuals to set the tone. Much like Limbo or Deadlight, this uses dark silhouettes and muted backgrounds, with the occasional fixtures being added to the foreground to establish depth to add a sense of mystery to the stages as you proceed forward. I rarely encountered issues where I was unsure if it was safe to walk forward or not; however, the thought was always in the back of my mind that there was something out there, just outside of view while venturing into the unknown. The Mooseman has a nice mix of clear, crisp outlines, in addition to more stylized, cave painting style visuals. My time spent was relatively bug free, with the single exception being the language defaulting to Russian anytime I returned after shutting down my console. At first, I thought this was intended and did not pick up on the fact that it was something within the options that I never visited prior to getting lost in the story. While I was still able to get the gist of the game’s message, I missed some key monologues that left a few gaps in the otherwise stellar narrative. If you’re a fan of mythology or story heavy games that require little effort from the player, you’ll find a lot to love here. The artsy design and overall outstanding presentation make this an experience not to be missed; just be warned, The Mooseman is not nearly as action oriented as the games that inspired its unique visual style.

The game offers a basic cardboard cutout of a story that often feels like a caricature of the modern gaming scene. You’ll be tasked with taking down the impending alien threat, one ship at a time, working your way to the Mothergunship. Each ship makes up a level, broken down into small rogue-lite sized rooms of death that culminate in a boss battle. Between the levels, there will be some not so witty banter that will provide insights into new mechanics or the general story. These are all long winded, reminiscent of the codec conversations from Metal Gear Solid, and feature half of the effort on the part of the voice actors; it is so bad I could not wait for the Y prompt to come up for me to be done with the mind-numbingly dull banter. Luckily, the gameplay makes up for the lackluster story. You’ll work your way through the levels much like any other game, clearing the enemy forces and collecting gold, which can be used between most rooms to purchase upgrades that can be applied to your guns, as each hand can be outfitted separately. Want to make a rocket launcher that also has some buck shot barrels? How about a pistol that shoots flaming bullets faster than The Flash on meth? Cool, the game has you covered, giving you the option to make just about anything providing the barrels face forward and they physically fit together. Your only other limitation is the amount of power the weapon takes, which will impact the recharge rates, as all weapons use this in place of ammo. Crafting your tools of destruction is super easy, with a clear depiction of your creation allowing a full 360 degrees and easy points of contact being visible, with three types of components available for use. You’ll have your connectors, which allow you to stack additional rows or pieces; barrels, complete with their own firing types; mods, which allow you to add ricochet, explosives, and other options. The battle segments run extremely well, playing like an old school FPS game at ultra-speed with a triple jump option that allows for easy traversal. While it’s not game breaking nor does it really affect the player, the loading segments between missions present the gut wrenching dialogue run, stutter, and skip as if it was reading a disc that was force fed into a wood chipper, which breaks immersion each and every time there is a transition. Much like Doom and the other old school shooters that inspired it, constant movement is needed to survive, or certain death will come quickly. Sadly, dying in MOTHERGUNSHIP is extremely brutal for multiple reasons: you’ll not only lose any and all progress on the current level (this is also forfeit if you exit the game mid-level), but you will also lose any gun parts that were brought with you or earned on the run. This puts a nice risk vs reward mechanic in place – do you take your biggest and best items and go in blind, or do you express caution and take some mediocre components while you risk getting your face pounded in by one of the bosses, only to lose some of your precious time? With the exception of the boss encounters, the level and enemy designs are uninspired and offer token enemy types that can be found in any FPS game. The boss encounters make up for this, pitting the player against gigantic mechanized creatures with obvious weak points. Often times you have to evade the enemy attacks and wait for just the right time to launch a counter offensive turning the game into a bit of chess. The AI is passable, although I found the majority of the standard enemies to be nothing more than cannon fodder, with most of my deaths coming from hazards or simply not managing my health like I should. The difficulty spikes early, with rooms offering little to no cover, a single group of enemies, and rows upon rows of invincible turrets. The game offers cartoonish characters with little to no gore that would be perfect for the little gamer in your life, but the difficulty would likely result in a tantrum from younger players. You’d think with the option to create your own guns, PvP would have been one of the first modes added to this, but that’s not the case. I’m not normally one to wish that developers would tack on a multiplayer mode for no apparent reason, but I think this would’ve brought something to the table if it was an incorporated option. A saving grace is that co-op has been confirmed and will be added in a future update, which will also include leaderboards, daily challenges, and additional content in the form of new rooms and parts. While it won’t change the FPS game much and has room for some much needed polish, MOTHERGUNSHIP offers hours of fun with its frantic pace that rivals many of the games that inspired it. If you liked Tower of Guns, there’s a lot to love here.

Our heroes will combat aliens in place of hordes of zombies in this game, although they act in a similar fashion to the undead you’ve likely came to know and love. I found their overall design to be enjoyable, with the standard enemies looking similar to the Demogorgon from Stranger Things, with the special forms being peppered in for variety, although most are ripped straight from the other series. You’ll find a bloater-like alien that swells and pulsates with acidic properties that will explode when shot; a creature that resembles a skinned giraffe that grabs the player and runs away, akin to the jockey; a small gremlin-ish being that pounces on the player like the hunter; and the beast, which is visually interesting, but is nothing more than a reskinned version of the tank, albeit with a laser attack that replaces the option to throw rocks as a ranged attack. There are a few unique enemy types, which include the blackout, which is an octopus appearing creature with rotating shields that teleports about, as well as a floating blob that enrages the standard enemies in its range. Even if the enemies were cookie cutter designs taken from other series, it would have been passable had they featured the same level of detail and gore as they were blown piece by bloody piece that the trailer alludes too. While it is possible the trailer was comprised of PC or Xbox One X gameplay, it runs and looks like a 360 game on the standard X1. Sadly, clipping is prevalent, fixtures popping in and out is normal, and a limb mysteriously vanishing is regular, often breaking immersion. The bugs don’t stop there: guns or turrets will often sink or fall within the ground, server issues are plentiful, and crashes occur regularly, especially when too many enemies swarm the group. The one area that stands out is the arsenal at the player’s disposal. Sure, none of the guns are anything that we haven’t seen before, but there’s a decent amount of them. You’ll find some melee options that will take the place of your pistol, which can be used akimbo, an SMG, shotguns, and a plasma rifle, which is only used towards the end of one of the campaigns. With the exception of the akimbo pistols and melee weapons, all of your options allow for ADS aiming, which was something I always felt L4D was missing; unfortunately, the aiming is rather jerky, which makes hip fire a much more accessible way to play. One cool feature that was included was the option to print weapons at select locations using a 3D printer, which will typically allow for a few options to suit your play style. These will be points of interest the player will have to make a mental note of, as weapons and ammo are not exactly plentiful in numbers – you’ll find one or two guns tucked away off the beaten path, but your AI comrades are pretty terrible when it comes to stealing them from you. The title can be played solo with AI companions or in multiplayer with up to four player online co-op, with no split screen option included, and both options having their own downfalls. I found the AI to be fairly adept at dispatching the alien threats and when it came to reviving me when I would be downed playing solo – outside of them being jerks when it comes to pick-ups, there are little complaints there. The game offers the option to select their intelligence, with four options in addition to the difficulty of the overall game to pick from. Playing with another human being is obviously preferential; however, everyone but the host will suffer from a 30 second to one minute delay when entering the game, leaving the host to pick over the best goodies that might be found early on, with rubber banding and lag being a constant issue for anyone connected as an additional player. One of the biggest selling points of Left 4 Dead was the replayability it offered due to the Director, which randomized a number of events, making each game a new experience. Earthfall doesn’t have this, and outside of some minor enemy placements, which is likely due to them meandering away, each and every time you play a level it is almost 100% the same. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed much of my time with Earthfall, but it is highly lacking in the content vs. cost, with the full game being completed in around three hours on the regular difficulty. Aside from trophy or achievement hunting, there really is no reason to return to any of the levels once you’ve beaten them. Had this been released on the past generation of consoles at $29.99, it would have been a hit, even without the PvP option being included. That said, I would highly recommend waiting for a price reduction or sale.

Today people on PC and consoles alike can run, jump, and shoot their hearts out in 20XX, named after the setting for Mega Man in so many of its iterations. It's also the date for Persona 5, but there aren't many references to that. For anyone leery of just how much this wants to be like a little blue armored robot, the opening sequence should make it obvious. I remember talking to a few folks back in 2014 about this, and they seemed to think it was nothing like the series that inspired it. I'm honestly not sure how they could say that - there's so much to love here for fans of both the genre and the format that's long been dormant. For many, this was a shining light where there was only darkness, although Capcom seems to be getting things together for fans of the beloved character. So let's discuss the game itself. If you've played the X series, you know what to expect control wise. You'll have a dash, wall jump/slide, both a charge and regular shot, and a standard jump. Depending on which character you choose, you'll either have a gun or sword for battle. After you defeat bosses you'll have the option of collecting their power, although this isn't required as you can also choose currency for the run or a stat boost. Playing again after so many years I couldn't help but think that parts of the movement didn't feel as good as they do in the Capcom games, but it was a matter of upgrading my speed to get to that point. Once you've gotten enough boosts to your speed, everything is right in the world when progressing through the levels. You can also acquire upgrades like having a shield when you boost, minimal flight, extra charging power, and more. With the heights that roguelite games have reached, it's strange it took so long for a game to take on this genre. It lends itself to it very well, with increasing difficulty for bosses as you progress through the game, with ever changing level layouts. Now it's important to know that levels don't change too much between playthroughs - it's similar to that of Spelunky, where you'll definitely recognize the different sections, just in different orders. It keeps things fresh and makes sure you’re always paying attention for the platforming. This goes without saying, but if you're good at Mega Man, you likely won't have too much issue playing this. I made it to the eighth boss on my first run playing on the normal difficulty. In addition to the standard level, there will be optional offshoots for extra gear/powerups, as well as speed challenges and shops along the way. As this is never the same, it adds a type of strategic gameplay you don’t normally have in these games. For those that have always enjoyed the gameplay loop of killing a boss and then finding the enemy that is weak against that ability, you can do that here. However, if you're like me and spent most of your days just using the pea shooter, the game is very welcoming of that as well. It's why the choice of choosing the power is there opposed to forcing you to take it, and it makes the game much more manageable for those that choose to go with the vanilla method. There are pros and cons to any approach you take, assuming you aren't doing the extra difficult challenges, where the only pro is the satisfaction you feel after completing the run. If you're having a hard time with the game, it may behoove you to bring in a friend to play co-op with you. This will no doubt make the bosses later into your run much more manageable, if that's your main hang-up. As much as I love the replay factor of levels in this, I can't help but miss the hand crafted levels I grew up with. You won't get to intimately know the levels and their secrets, or the placement of enemies. Everything changes, both in the layout and the difficulty depending on where in the run you are. For those that truly struggle with the difficulty, the game offers permanent boosts which you can purchase and turn off and on, should you decide you've gotten good enough. In addition to the these, you can unlock new power-ups to collect in your runs, have stuff ready for your next run, as well as buy coins to gamble away. For anyone that loves daily challenges and the jump/shoot genre, there's a lot to love here. If you're looking for meticulously handcrafted levels, you won't find that here; you never do in procedurally generated games. But the game makes up for it with the replay options, the different challenges the game offers, and a fair amount of content. Yes, you can beat the game in less than half an hour, but you will likely spend much more time with it before you make it to final boss. 20XX is a beautiful mesh of an old school game that defined the genre with new school ideas implemented to keep things fresh for those that want to play the game indefinitely.

The game follows the events of a zombie outbreak hitting an iteration of what I am assuming is Comic-con, with our heroes comprised of cosplayers that are outfitted like protagonists from other popular (or more obscure) gaming franchises who set out on an adventure to stop the attacking forces. Each of the characters has their own pros and cons, and will offer a slightly different experience. Options include a Link inspired swordsman, an overweight tank inspired by Shovel Knight, an Ellen Ripley/Tron Bonne-ish young lady in a mech suit (editor’s note: maybe Terra in Magitek Armor), and a small agile ninja available at the start of the game, with two unlockable combatants that resemble a lovechild of the Contra guys and Ryu and Ken of Street Fighter fame. With the exception of the unlockable characters, both of which feature primarily ranged attacks that have lengthy reload times, the characters are very accessible and can be mastered fairly easily. Each character has a standard attack combo, an evasive dash which can be followed with an attack, and a unique special move that doubles as a finisher once the proper amount of health is taken from an enemy. If you manage to chain three or more finishers together, you will earn a heath drop which is needed often. The mechanics are explained in great detail during the opening chapter, which works as a tutorial. Once completed, the player can select from one of four starting levels. While there are more than just the four options, the remainder of the game’s 10+ levels will be based off of the order you select the chapters as well as your performance during the game. With each path opening up additional levels you may not have seen in past runs, this adds a rouge-lite feel, as a number of the boss battles and enemy placements are randomized as well. To excel at this game, you’ll need to use the finishing move on as many enemies as possible, which will result in large amounts of gold being dropped. You’ll need to acquire the gold for multiple purposes, such as unlocking upgrades at the end of each level, purchasing additional lives in the event of a mid-mission death, and unlocking the final level of the game. The upgrades offered will include both character specific options, such as adding modifiers to the special abilities, as well as general boosts like increasing the characters’ HP. In addition to these, there are some game changing ones too; for example, Pirate will allow you to purchase any future upgrade for free at the expense of half your hit points. While the standard game isn’t overly difficult, permadeath is in place, and in the event you are defeated, you’ll either need to fork out hard earned money for an additional life or restart the game (unless you purchased one of the game saving extra lives or continues as an upgrade). If you opt to buy back into the game mid-mission, the first life will set you back $750, with each subsequent death costing more. As I stated earlier, you will also need to set aside $6,666 in order to pass the tenth stage, opening up the additional two levels to receive the good ending. This requirement puts a real risk vs reward system in place for those who wish to take on the more challenging levels. If you grow tired of the vanilla game, there is a harder difficulty which offers bets at the beginning of any level. These are modifiers that offer great rewards at the cost of upgraded enemies and a higher buy in to return to the game. Additionally, there is a survival mode, which is what you’d expect and nothing more. You can play any of the modes in couch co-op, with the only downfall being the amounts required to buy back into the game as well as earned gold being shared. That said, playing the game in co-op with a less skilled player may actually make the game more difficult, which was the case when playing with my young son. While playing solo, I was able to complete the game with a single life on my third attempt, achieving the better ending. Like most beat ‘em ups, the title can be completed in around an hour; however, the additional characters and paths offer a fair amount of replay value. The lack of an option to keep your upgrades and play again in a New Game + setting is a bit of a letdown, but does encourage you to replay the game, tasking yourself to not purchase any upgrades, or to try out other characters. There are no collectible items to be found, but a number of trophies are there for those wishing to hunt or grind for them. I have completed the game once with each character, and thus far still have a few optional challenges to complete, as well as a few rooms I have yet to locate. While the title does not offer many original ideas to the genre, Streets of Red The Devil’s Dare Deluxe is a beat em up worthy of any gamers collection, whether your a fan of the genre or just fan service. At the bargain price point, you have nothing to lose.

I remember seeing a lot of fuss about Runbow when it was first coming out, and the years following were no different. While the game may not seem spectacular at a glance of the screens, there’s a fair amount happening in the game, but much more so if you invite others to join you. This is a platformer with a competent set of mechanics that are heightened with the addition of multiplayer. The game offers up to 9 people playing together online, 8 players locally on Switch, and 4 players locally on PS4. It may seem like the PS4 version is inferior in that respect, but trust me, 4 is plenty. I probably speak in the minority when I say this, but I prefer limited multiplayer in games. When I played Super Smash Bros on the Wii U with 8 people, I kind of shut down having no idea what was going on. There’s undoubtedly an audience for it, but I was more than content with 4 players, meaning the local multiplayer options on PS4 are ideal for me. In the event you’re having a party and people enjoy getting in on a game with a group of people, there are a few options that you can jump into with this. There’s the basic adventure mode that includes more than 140 level, but the game also offers the modes Run, Arena, and King of the Hill. You can probably ascertain what each of those modes are based on the names, but in case you can’t, Run is basically a race to the finish against everyone. As you progress through the levels you come across different powers and level modifiers that you’ll use to try and throw everyone else off while getting to the trophy first. Some of these include turning the level upside down, switching places with characters, and looking like another character that someone else is controlling. Arena is basically the last person standing – you attempt to knock everyone off the stage or into spikes while not killing yourself in the process – this mode involves power ups as well. King of the Hill tasks you with spending a certain amount of time on a crown while everyone else attempts to do the same as they kill you. Unlike the other modes, death does not mean the end in this mode, as you’ll respawn until someone has spent enough time with the crown. There’s a lot for people that want to play with others, but is the game good for single player modes? Sure, it’s got a decent amount of game for those that would rather spend some time to themselves. In addition to the huge adventure mode, there’s the Bowhemoth which doesn’t save your progress, meaning you’ll likely be spending some time with this if you haven’t played it before (this is also multiplayer if you choose – the idea “but it’s better with friends” was prominent when making this). Once you’re competent with it, you’ll be able to do it in less than 20 minutes, but it’ll likely take some practice to get there. And while many of the levels you’ll come across in the adventure will last less than a minute from start to finish, you’ll probably be replaying levels over and over again – if not to get all the medals, to merely finish the level because you keep dying. For those that enjoy crossovers, you’ll be pleased to see an assortment of indie characters from various franchises here, including Shantae, Shovel Knight, Commander Video, Gunvolt, and many more. You start with a few, but you’ll unlock the rest. None of the characters have any special abilities here and are merely skins. But they’re cool skins. If you’ve played something like Hue, you have an idea of how the changing background colors and colored platforms work in this. The basic idea is that the world you interact with is constantly changing, making you think on the fly about how you’ll approach each jump and dash. It also has you anticipating which the next color will be so you can go toward a barrier just in time for it to disappear. This is a game that knows what it is, and it shows. Something as simple as spotlights become obstacles because they make the very ground underneath you disappear. The adventure breaks up its gameplay by not only having races to the finish line, but also killing a certain amount of enemies, hunting down a monster and killing him, as well as item collection. If there’s one thing that feels weak in this game, it’s the combat itself. Enemies work great as bouncy platforms, but actually attacking the beasts feel unnecessary and forced at times, causing more frustration than fun. Luckily this isn’t a huge part of the game, but it’s in enough of the levels that it hurt my enjoyment of the experience. When the game space has all but abandoned local multiplayer, it’s always a wonder to see something like this thrive. Runbow is a wonderful platformer in its own right, but really shines with its addition of chaos once you hop online or have some friends over. As long as you aren’t looking for a party game that has overly complicated mechanics, you’ll have a lovely time with this.

Figment opens with some voiceover while the credits roll; a little girl is talking about parachuting and telling her dad he isn't brave in his job of real estate since he doesn't parachute. The dad is a bit despondent, seeming like he's either lost in thought or is tired of where he is in life. It's at this point that a fairly large event takes place, and we are thrown into the mind of a character where everything is manifested in a surreal manner. The player takes control of Dusty, the embodiment of courage, although he's been more or less retired for some time having faced all the fears within the mind. However, things are starting to get a bit wonky, and although he has no desire to help, one of the nightmares took his scrapbook and he needs it back, so he reluctantly heads off to collect it. When you think of the music or voice acting in a game, it will typically either stand out because it's bad, or you won't notice it because it's good. Very rarely do you notice it, but also acknowledge it's exemplary. That may very well be the case when you play this. It's strange, honestly, as the bosses will each sing their own songs as you face them. It's almost like a Disney movie, and it's campy while also undeniably fun and amusing. Is it necessary? Not at all, but having experienced it, I can't imagine it being any other way now. The regular voice acting itself is pretty well executed, although admittedly I thought the first nightmare you face was attempting to be from New Orleans like Tommy Wiseau, and the second one you come across was certainly channeling Earl of Lemongrab a bit. One of the coolest parts is that the levels are littered with different instruments in the environment, and the music you hear will reflect this - the sound design for this game is top notch. The game plays in the form of an isometric action adventure game, with its fair share of puzzles. Having such a distinct focus on music, I kept getting vibes of Bastion and Transistor, especially with the beautiful hand drawn world. Gameplay itself is pretty basic, with a roll/dodge, attack, and action button. While combat is present, it's far from the main focus in this. It feels like it was added to say the game is more than an adventure game full of puzzles to solve (remisncent of Hellblade), although it is a welcome change from monotony. Perhaps where it shines most is when the combat itself is not necessary, as the enemies affect the world around you for additional puzzle solving. The puzzles are surprisingly more challenging than I thought they would be, albeit never so difficult that it resulted in looking up solutions. Often times it just meant exploring elsewhere or coming back with a fresh mind. Perhaps the worst part of the game is something that can be avoided once you learn the importance of the game's design early on. If an item can be interacted with, it'll have a little sparkle that shows up. If part of a puzzle is a one-off thing and it's still shining, you want to take the item with you to avoid backtracking. Near the beginning I had to go back and forth a few times, which was a bit grating merely because I was not thinking I'd need to reuse puzzle pieces elsewhere. Also, at a glance, you may think this is a game for kids. The added songs with dancing may reinforce that notion. Rest assured, this is a game for older audiences. That's not to say that kids won't be able to enjoy it, but its rated teen for a reason, and I was honestly taken aback by some of the dialogue - it was very unexpected, but also made me laugh quite a bit. There are a number of games these days that delve into deep emotions that are difficult for many to deal with, and this is another that does so well. Dealing with the likes of depression, it's an eclectic take on the mind a la Inside Out from Pixar, although with a bit more craziness. Figment's themes will resonate with people unexpectedly, and it's that emotional level that will make this memorable for many. Even if it's not something someone has truly experienced, it will give insight into the lives of others and perhaps help with empathy. There's something to be said about a medium that chooses to explore something more than simply killing the bad guys. Going deeper into the struggles of everyday life and exploring those demons in a manifested fantasy world can be extremely powerful. Regardless of the reason for wanting to play Figment, be it the beautiful environments, the promise of wonderful music, or the deeper than normal meaning behind it all, you won't be disappointed.

It may just be me, but I really miss the style of older JRPGs. Having grown up on them, they’re a sort of comfort food for me. As much as I enjoy modern RPGs and all the new mechanics they’ve brought about, I love to venture back to the olden days of the genre, typically by replaying games from decades past, but this manages to bring a lot of what those games had while still keeping things a bit up-to-date. The dialogue and characters are very reminiscent of older games, and similarly, the dialogue options selected don’t affect the gameplay, so you don’t have to worry about what you’re selecting. This is obvious should you choose to pause during a section of dialogue and see the option of skipping it. Yes, if you feel like RPGs have too much dialogue and you’d rather just swing your sword, you are more than welcome to do that in this. While a strange feature to include, it was very welcome in the prologue having played through it just recently on PC. Should something happen for you to lose your progress, like the power going out, this will undoubtedly save you time if you were in the middle of a narrative heavy section. Once you get past the fact that this game won’t be winning any visual awards, you can focus on the fact that the game plays wonderfully. Ys has always been great for combat, and the latest game is no exception. Falcom didn’t sacrifice gameplay for graphics in the way that Final Fantasy XIII did. It could be argued they did the opposite in lieu of not only showing a great game is not dependent on its visuals, but also to spend more time with the mechanics they implemented into this. Combat with any of the characters you acquire throughout is fluid, with three of your party members being a button press away at any given moment – in battle or out. This is important not only for the types of eclectic battles you’ll face, but for the skills each one has for exploration. Battles are mainly hack and slash, with dodges, blocks, and skills to use. It’s a fairly simple system, but it can’t be overstated how well it works. You’ll be faced with using weaknesses on enemies, forcing you to strategize with the different cast members you acquire. While certainly not something that’s alien to the series, I can’t think of many RPGs that make use of the Metroidvania level design which taunts you with areas you can’t access until you gain abilities later on. And yet, it’s one of the things that make this so enjoyable. One of the other large portions of the game you’ll be introduced to fairly early on is building your base and recruiting people into it. Having just recently played through Ni no Kuni 2, this was a familiar yet very welcome addition to the rest of the game. Building up your base with differently skilled denizens while defending them from external threats will undoubtedly take up a major portion of your time. One of the more notably weak portions of the game will be dependent on your experience with the genre. If you’re like me, you’ll appreciate the story despite its shortcomings. If you’ve never seen anything like this, it can go either way – it can be seen as shallow or it may serve as an introduction to many tropes. As mentioned previously, should you really hate it, you can always skip it altogether. Did I mention there are dinosaurs in this game? You wash up on an island where boats are known to crash if they come within a certain distance of it for reasons unknown (sort of a Bermuda Triangle deal). Do note that if you’re not familiar with the series at all, that’s not a reason to skip out on this, as very little from the other games will help or hinder your experience with this. The one thing you don’t have to worry about is the localization, as this comes with the newly updated script that came out several months after its initial release. While this review started off rocky with the PC port, I believe the game is playable for most people there now. Should you not have a console, you would probably be safe nabbing it there. However, I definitely recommend the PS4, Vita, or Switch versions for the reassurance of it working properly. The Switch has that wonderful little feature that doesn’t tie you to a TV, and I enjoyed my time in the recliner with the screen a few inches from my face more than on the 4K TV across the room. This is especially true considering the fact that the game appears better on a smaller screen when played on Switch. I can honestly say this is probably the best Ys game I’ve played on all fronts, and am happy to see it make out of the PlayStation ecosystem, as it’s a game and series that deserves much more love than it gets.

Since Super Meat Boy hit the scene, a series of difficult platformers with short levels have been released in the hopes of hitting the same levels of success. While Celeste has certainly reached that level, other games like Octahedron changed things up but didn’t appeal to everyone, even though we enjoyed it. A developer can’t blatantly rip off the base and expect the same kind of success without adding their style to it, and that flare is where a game may live or die. Slime-san: Superslime Edition is what you loved about the original version of the game plus more. It has all the extras that you can unlock, the three campaigns, and several extra levels to bust your thumbs on. Quite honestly, the amount of content in this game is staggering. The levels themselves offer a decent amount of replay value with speed runs, extra challenge items, and secret areas. You can use the items from the secret areas (coins) and levels (apples) to purchase extra content, such as arcades and game filters, respectively. The arcade games are actually mini-games like kart racing, all of which stand out being a completely different look from the game you were just playing. These extras serve as an incentive to collect the apples and coins when you can, or at least gives players a reason to go back to the levels later on in the hopes of getting everything. Just because a game has a lot doesn’t mean that it’s all good. Luckily, it appears that is the case here. Whether you’re traveling through the giant worm, kraken, or facing Sheeple in his new appointed role of villain, everything plays well and is fun to take on. At the end of a series of levels you’ll be faced with a boss, which doesn’t involve too much out of the ordinary on your end, but it is fun to see how they incorporate all the skills you’d normally use to pass through a level against a large foe. As this is a game that focuses heavily on twitch gameplay (not the streaming service, although it would make for a good game on the platform), it’s important that the controls are tight and responsive. Any lag can mean death and unending frustration, and I’m happy to say the main disappointment you’ll face here is your own lack of ability. In addition to the obvious moving around, jumping, and wall jumping, you’ll have the ability to dash and phase through green objects that would otherwise be solid. That all sounds pretty basic, but it’s when you see how the abilities interact with the levels that things really start to get interesting. When you take into account that the phase ability also slows down everything including yourself, it allows for some pinpoint action – or will result in an untimely death. If you think you’ll have the ability to spend time on each level, think again. After a short period the level will begin to fill up with stomach acid. In some levels, this is necessary for progression as it’ll change the make-up of the level. In most it’ll merely serve as a timer forcing you to hurry through the level. The only time this will really cause any issues is for some of the apples you’ll be collecting. While there seems to be a lot of variation in the levels in what you’re asked to do, the tasks can become repetitive. While SMB has distinctive levels one after another, you’ll start to see double while playing Slime-san. One thing that will stand out amongst the repitition is the soundtrack, which is absolutely stellar. Make sure you have the volume up for this one. It’s no wonder that Slime-san is getting a new edition after spending some time with it. There’s so much to love about it, and while it does have a few flaws, the positives far outweigh the negatives it has. If you’re big into platformers and missed this the first time around, I implore you to get slimy with the Super Slime Edition.

The full review for this can be found on Garage Band Gamers - it's far too long to post here, so below is the conclusion. Overall, I’d say that I love Rainbow Skies. The complaints I have about it are not game-breaking and I imagine that enough people will also find them so annoying that SideQuest Studios will eventually be prodded into patching in fixes, which will only increase the playability of this game. This is the ultimate completionist challenge, in terms of things to do, and there is enough variety within the game to keep things fresher for much longer than most other games (I didn’t even talk about the lottery or the fishing). I’m eager to see if the endgame content is as profound as it was in Rainbow Moon, which was one of the things I appreciated most about that first game. Whether you are a tactical RPG veteran or merely interested in learning the genre, Rainbow Skies is worthy of your time. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go find the last hidden treasure in North Borgotonko…

The full review for this can be found on Garage Band Gamers - it's far too long to post here, so below is the conclusion. Overall, I’d say that I love Rainbow Skies. The complaints I have about it are not game-breaking and I imagine that enough people will also find them so annoying that SideQuest Studios will eventually be prodded into patching in fixes, which will only increase the playability of this game. This is the ultimate completionist challenge, in terms of things to do, and there is enough variety within the game to keep things fresher for much longer than most other games (I didn’t even talk about the lottery or the fishing). I’m eager to see if the endgame content is as profound as it was in Rainbow Moon, which was one of the things I appreciated most about that first game. Whether you are a tactical RPG veteran or merely interested in learning the genre, Rainbow Skies is worthy of your time. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go find the last hidden treasure in North Borgotonko…

The full review for this can be found on Garage Band Gamers - it's far too long to post here, so below is the conclusion. Overall, I’d say that I love Rainbow Skies. The complaints I have about it are not game-breaking and I imagine that enough people will also find them so annoying that SideQuest Studios will eventually be prodded into patching in fixes, which will only increase the playability of this game. This is the ultimate completionist challenge, in terms of things to do, and there is enough variety within the game to keep things fresher for much longer than most other games (I didn’t even talk about the lottery or the fishing). I’m eager to see if the endgame content is as profound as it was in Rainbow Moon, which was one of the things I appreciated most about that first game. Whether you are a tactical RPG veteran or merely interested in learning the genre, Rainbow Skies is worthy of your time. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go find the last hidden treasure in North Borgotonko…

People often forget that some of the greatest games released have had little to no story with a simple premise. Pacman, Rootbeer Tapper and even early versions of Super Mario Bros. all had a very basic concept, yet provided countless hours of entertainment. The recently released Grab the Bottle offers a similar experience, with the player guiding a hand through a 2D landscape, interacting with or avoiding obstacles along the way, with the single goal of picking up all of the collectibles along the way to a single bottle in the level. The gameplay is extremely basic, yet gets more and more complex as you go. At first, you’ll simply need to make it from point A to point B, B standing for bottle. As you progress, you will soon have to pick up additional items along the way, and finally, start using objects that can be grabbed or moved to remove barriers within the game world. These range from simple items such as a glass or toy that can be used to break weak barriers and eventually expand to be bombs that can be used to remove huge chunks of the game world, often requiring the player to use their own outstretched arm to provide a bridge for the item to rest prior to exploding. While the premise is extremely simplistic, the execution requires proper planning and pin point accuracy, as the slightest mistake will result in failure and your hand being pushed back a short distance. After three errors, you will have to start the level over. If you back yourself into a corner, you can simply press one of the face buttons to restart the mission, similar to the Trials or Hotline Miami franchises. Restarting the level is fluid, with little to no load times; however, frustration hit early in the game due to the difficulty spiking quickly. Within the first hour I was racking up failures left and right, with one level reaching a staggering 32 deaths prior to completing it. While it’s easy to figure out how you would be able to solve the many puzzles the game throws at you, mastering the controls is the true challenge. When you get down to it, there are two types of games for the Xbox One console: games that can be played with drifting analog sticks and ones that cannot be. This is the latter, resulting in me needing to break out my wife’s newer, less used controller, as the slightest bit of drift will cause this game to be your worst nightmare. It is very accessible at first, but the fact that you can only move the hand left or right, regardless of the direction or angle you are viewing the game at, is extremely difficult to grasp early on. I initially thought that my controller or the game itself was completely broken before realizing that this is the way the game was designed. While I would have preferred the ability to simply press the stick or D-pad in the direction I wish to go, this adds some much needed depth to the title. The comic book inspired art style gives the player something pleasant to look at with the environments being rendered in a style that mimics the old school comic book printing that used tiny dots of ink to color the frames. It even uses enough visible sound effect bubbles to make the late Adam West jump for joy. While far from awe-inspiring, it is refreshing to see the developers use this method when they could have just as easily used a solid fill for the objects. The comic book style extends to the paneled cut scenes that occur from time to time, giving us backstory on the protagonist and his Stretch Armstrong-ish ability to extend his arm to ridiculous proportions. While it’s not really needed to enjoy (or be frustrated) with the title, it’s nice to see the attempt was made. Grab the Bottle doesn’t offer much in replay value outside of replaying the levels in an attempt for perfect completions, but the campaign mode offers plenty of content for the budget price point. If you can get past the awkward control scheme, you will find a rewarding puzzle game that makes the player feel as if each small victory is worthy of celebration.

People often forget that some of the greatest games released have had little to no story with a simple premise. Pacman, Rootbeer Tapper and even early versions of Super Mario Bros. all had a very basic concept, yet provided countless hours of entertainment. The recently released Grab the Bottle offers a similar experience, with the player guiding a hand through a 2D landscape, interacting with or avoiding obstacles along the way, with the single goal of picking up all of the collectibles along the way to a single bottle in the level. The gameplay is extremely basic, yet gets more and more complex as you go. At first, you’ll simply need to make it from point A to point B, B standing for bottle. As you progress, you will soon have to pick up additional items along the way, and finally, start using objects that can be grabbed or moved to remove barriers within the game world. These range from simple items such as a glass or toy that can be used to break weak barriers and eventually expand to be bombs that can be used to remove huge chunks of the game world, often requiring the player to use their own outstretched arm to provide a bridge for the item to rest prior to exploding. While the premise is extremely simplistic, the execution requires proper planning and pin point accuracy, as the slightest mistake will result in failure and your hand being pushed back a short distance. After three errors, you will have to start the level over. If you back yourself into a corner, you can simply press one of the face buttons to restart the mission, similar to the Trials or Hotline Miami franchises. Restarting the level is fluid, with little to no load times; however, frustration hit early in the game due to the difficulty spiking quickly. Within the first hour I was racking up failures left and right, with one level reaching a staggering 32 deaths prior to completing it. While it’s easy to figure out how you would be able to solve the many puzzles the game throws at you, mastering the controls is the true challenge. When you get down to it, there are two types of games for the Xbox One console: games that can be played with drifting analog sticks and ones that cannot be. This is the latter, resulting in me needing to break out my wife’s newer, less used controller, as the slightest bit of drift will cause this game to be your worst nightmare. It is very accessible at first, but the fact that you can only move the hand left or right, regardless of the direction or angle you are viewing the game at, is extremely difficult to grasp early on. I initially thought that my controller or the game itself was completely broken before realizing that this is the way the game was designed. While I would have preferred the ability to simply press the stick or D-pad in the direction I wish to go, this adds some much needed depth to the title. The comic book inspired art style gives the player something pleasant to look at with the environments being rendered in a style that mimics the old school comic book printing that used tiny dots of ink to color the frames. It even uses enough visible sound effect bubbles to make the late Adam West jump for joy. While far from awe-inspiring, it is refreshing to see the developers use this method when they could have just as easily used a solid fill for the objects. The comic book style extends to the paneled cut scenes that occur from time to time, giving us backstory on the protagonist and his Stretch Armstrong-ish ability to extend his arm to ridiculous proportions. While it’s not really needed to enjoy (or be frustrated) with the title, it’s nice to see the attempt was made. Grab the Bottle doesn’t offer much in replay value outside of replaying the levels in an attempt for perfect completions, but the campaign mode offers plenty of content for the budget price point. If you can get past the awkward control scheme, you will find a rewarding puzzle game that makes the player feel as if each small victory is worthy of celebration.

The game starts off quickly, giving you a small island with a few assets already in place to get you started. You’ll be tasked with running a new park, which will span a total of five islands once completed. Your park will include rides, new attractions, breeding dinosaurs, and merchandising booths; the list goes on and on and quite honestly, is a bit overwhelming. The game breaks down the bulk of the work into three categories: science, security and entertainment, and each have their own pros and cons as far as throwing your limited resources into, but work hand in hand. I made the mistake of putting all of my eggs into the science basket, which resulted in my cash flow (which is needed for essentially anything) suffering. Much like in real life, I **** at managing money, and sadly my wife was not there to take care of the finances. While you earn money based on the performance of the park every minute, failing to find a balance can quickly turn your park into utter chaos. In my experience with sim games, the console versions are typically clunky when it comes to the controls. This game makes building fairly easy to grasp, with the exception of running electricity to your many buildings. While some will function without, you will need to set up a complex power system, as well as working roads, prior to making any major building decisions. The game does a decent job of providing the information you need to be successful in most areas, but setting up the electrical systems is more complex than it needs to be and required me to actually Google it, which shouldn’t be the case. While building the physical items in the game world is fairly easy, the actual processes to do pretty much anything are rather cumbersome, as you have to complete a number of small actions to gain any results. An example would be creating a new breed of dinosaur: first off, you’ll need to send a team somewhere around the world to find and harvest fossils, who will return them to your park, where you can then analyze them. The results will depend on the quality of the fossil, but once completed, you can start breeding the new creatures, which may or may not be successful, based off of the quality of the DNA you’ve located. While my explanation of the process may sound easy, it’s quite a project to manage this, as well as the other systems the game has in place. Not only will you have to properly budget your money, but you will have to monitor the park for mechanical failures, escaped dinosaurs, and the overall health of the creatures. While the game provides handy red icons at the top of the screen to let you know when something isn’t right, it’s often difficult to locate exactly what the issue is at any given time, especially when multiple issues occur at one time. The problems start coming up early in the game and will often become more of an annoyance than anything. Sure, it’s thrilling the first time one of the large carnivorous dinosaurs gets loose and starts eating the park goers, but it gets old when the same creatures get out of the pen you just repaired minutes before for the fifth time. While you can dispatch security teams or rangers to complete the tasks needed fairly easily and quickly, everything costs money, which is always on short supply. Every time I thought I was going in the right direction financially, I’d have another sick or dead dinosaur to deal with. I kid you not; this game is the virtual equivalent of unpaid student loans. Luckily, you’ll have some familiar faces to help you out on your journey to becoming a prehistoric park mogul, as a number of noteworthy actors reprise their roles from the movies as guides offering insight or witty comments on your successes (or in my case failures). While most of the actors bring the same energy and depth to their voice over work, the title is missing Chris Pratt, with a less than outstanding stand in who clearly is trying to duplicate Pratt’s slightly hillbilly-ish inflection, but breaks immersion every single time he speaks. Outside of this issue, the presentation is acceptable but rarely awe inspiring. While the dinosaurs and environment look great, some visual glitches and inconsistencies are regular – clipping when large packs of dinos are huddled around a feeding area is the norm. The standout visuals come when the occasional tropical storm hits. While it never reaches the level of detail found in titles such as Forza Horizon, it looks damn good, despite the damage it’ll cause to your creations. I would strongly suggest waiting for the full package to be released at a later date unless you’re preferred genre is resource management simulators.

In a field that was often thankless, it’s nice to see the developers get the attention and credit they deserve, and it’s helpful to have an idea of what you’re getting into based on a person’s previous work. While Takeyasu Sawaki is not a household name, if you played his previous game El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron, chances are you’ll see a lot of similarities in this. Starting The Lost Child, you’ll be treated to an intriguing tale of people committing suicide with a woman in purple always present. After almost being killed, Hayato is gifted with a device (from a woman in purple, what a coincidence) that allows him to collect and power up demons and other elevated beings like fallen angels. If you’re familiar with Sawaki’s aforementioned game, you’ll no doubt recognize some of the titular characters in this. Turns out The Lost Child is a spinoff, although anyone expecting another action based game is in for a surprise when they see this is a first person RPG in the vein of Shin Megami Tensei, Etrian Odyssey, and Wizardry. As visually arresting as El Shaddai is, this may come as a disappointment. The game is presented in the style of a visual novel. That means characters may have a few different portraits for dialogue, but the designs are all pretty standard for this medium – nothing makes it stand out from other offerings on the market, which is what it needs. The one thing that most other games don’t offer is the strong religious themes and characters, and while Christianity appears to be at the forefront of Sawaki’s games, Lovecraft also plays a pretty prominent role here, although it’s really only in name. The game consists of two real portions – Hayato works as an occult journalist and must complete investigations per his boss. These stories are often intertwined with moving the story along with Lua, an angel sent down from Heaven to help Hayato battle the demons, and eventually save all of humankind. As stated previously, the game is presented in a manner similar to a graphic novel. For people that have never played one of those, you’ll be treated to scenes of dialogue and you can make choices that may or may not hold consequence – in this the choice picked determines the type of karma you receive. You’ll follow leads, talk to people in different areas after selecting them from a menu, and learn more about the world around you in this portion of the game. The second portion of the game is the dungeon crawling, which is arguably very basic. The mazes you traverse are hardly detailed and very generic, making it easy to get lost if the game didn’t provide a map for you. It’s possible that the environments don’t have much detail because it was expected you’d just follow the map, which is fine, but it doesn’t make the exploration very memorable. Each time I had to traverse another level before fighting the boss I noticed myself audibly sighing. The battles are all fairly simple, often times only requiring you perform normal attacks, although it’s in your best interest to use your Astral Burst to capture enemies before the gauge overfills and starts over from the beginning, making it impossible to use for a turn. At the end of a battle you’ll earn karma as well as experience for Hayato and Lua, who level up as you’d expect, allowing you to apply their newly acquired stat points. The karma is used to level up and purify the different beasts you capture, which you can eventually “evolve” if you max out their level and take them to a character that is only seen through a television. The game starts off strong; reminding me of Persona with its mystery of suicides on the train tracks, but quickly dips off once it gets into the story proper. There are plenty of tropes here, and while many of the characters originate from different backgrounds compared to similar games, the overall depiction of everyone is still overly familiar. The fact that Hayato is referred to as the Chosen One in almost every scene between angels, fallen angels, and demons doesn’t make things much better. Knowing this was coming from Sawaki, I was expecting something a bit more special. It’s not that the game is bad, but it doesn’t do anything out of the ordinary. If you’ve always wanted to jump into a first person dungeon crawling RPG but haven’t because of the difficulty, The Lost Child is a very welcoming game within the genre. The typically steep learning curve is not found here, although the boss battles can certainly give you a run for your money if you aren’t properly prepared. It also touches on some themes that games tend to shy away from, which is nice, but it’s hardly enough for people that are intimately familiar with the likes of Persona Q or Shin Megami Tensei IV.