Kahisys

While this game has a lot of potential, most of it is gone to waste. A core gameplay of room escaping with a story at least a bit original, although convoluted and poorly presented, Parascientific Escape is not a game worth your time. Very short (finished in about 4h30 while taking it slow and easy), the puzzles presented aren't too hard and won't ask you much efforts to go through them. Thankfully, hints are still a very helpful option for the rare ones that could require a bit more thinking. However, while never impossible, and somewhat repetitive at times, the puzzles are well thought. The story, while kind of odd, is not paced well-enough and it makes the characters' interactions feel empty sometimes. Another point that's problematic is the point and click gameplay. In every interaction you could have with puzzles or environment, menus pop up to allow you to select what you wish to do. However, it makes the whole process very tedious as some menus could've very easily been avoided to make the experience feel more interactive. The game looks pretty nice overall, with a nice soundtrack, but fails to use its potential to the fullest. You could always get it if you have a free afternoon and wish for a simple experience, but that's about it.

A game that could have been good, but that has gotten so, oh so wrong. Lucius II starts 6 months after the events of the first game. Robbed of his powers by his father, the 8 year-old son of Satan starts his new journey in a mental hospital where he has been committed. Now, the game itself presents a story that has a huge potential : Lucius is on a race against his brother (from another family, brother as in other son of Satan) to launch the Apocalypse by following the Bible's prophecy (hence the title of the game). However, the game presented it in such a poor manner that it almost seemed like the developers were putting the scenario of the game in the background. Each chapters has a certain amount of levels (which all are hopefully long unless you rush through, despite the game's length being very modest), and between each level we are greeted with a cutscene explaining what's going on. Sadly, the cutscenes are very, very obscure and they barely explain as much as they should. This leads most of the time to do the brainless task of following the objectives conveniently displayed both at the top left corner of the screen, and on the map. No brainer! Who needs explanations when you can kill people and be Satan's son, right? Speaking of killing people, the gameplay is also a bad point of the game. Lucius the first was a game based around problem solving, and being able to carefully plan your murders in a way to never, ever be caught or even suspected by your family. Lucius II is GTA with a broken stealth mood. Anything sounds wrong here? In every level, among the tasks that you have to complete, you're able to kill pretty much everyone that you want. Now of course you're just a little 8 years-old boy, so you can't just go and swing a gun around. The game pretty much works this way : the game gives you around 2 different ways to kill the "important" victims, added a plethora of more "basic" ways to kill (the innocents you'll kill will just have to go through the basic ways of killing only). From poisoning food to give, to electrocute, to launch a high-pressured gas tank or even activating a pulley to smash huge containers in their face, you can really have a kick out of it. Or not. You actually can't. This idea, which was good, is impeded by the major flaws this game has : - The stealth is broken. It is super easy to just go around on your merry killing way as long as you don't stay literally in front of the person as they die. There can be a witness, they will barely care at all. The previous game had a very strict stealth system, this one is just a joke. - The AI is beyond imbecile. You can have in your hands a (poisoned) donut box and, while being in front of the NPC, throw it on the ground, they'll still pick it up and eat it on the spot. They quickly forget about you, barely react when you're in places you shouldn't be (except the "forbidden" areas in which case they literally launch at you like hungry monsters), and they just don't react to almost anything. This is way too easy. - The murders are repetitive and boring. As mentioned before, said "basic ways of killing" remain the same everywhere in the game, making it far too simplistic sometimes to even try to look for an actual good way. And when you have enough experience and levels stacked with the correct skills, it just becomes a healthy walk in the woods at this point. And, to make it even more simple, we can add this last flaw to another : this game is glitched beyond possibility! Poor camera angles, controls are terrible (especially when possessing someone), pulling items such as trolleys is a torture, everything goes into walls, the detection of collisions is a joke and you can even recycle some murder weapons! The first game was already criticized for its important amount of glitches, yet they somewhat did even worse! You can find at some point acid bottles that you can throw on your victims. Instant death. Now, the game says it's "broken", yet you can keep it, and re-use it at the next level. Stack them and you'll have more and more easy murder weapons. Speaking of glitches, the audio of the game often bugs, subtitles don't even show sometimes when they should and, if we forget that, the audio quality is just ridiculous. While the ambiance with the musics is absolutely great, the sound effects have an absolute terrible quality and the voice acting (except the cop helping us) are bad and also very poor in terms of quality! It seems like most were recorded with a poor microphone integrated in a cheap laptop! Long story short, this game is bad. A mess, a botched joke and should not be bought.

Another Mario character getting his own spin-off, and on a brand-new kind of gameplay, Captain Toad is that poor comedy-relief character that finally gets his chance under the spotlight. And it's a success. Featured in Super Mario 3D World in a few stages of the same type, the game revolves around a few 70 levels of challenging puzzles revolving around perspective and collection. Flipping the camera around your level, your mission is to collect the star at the end. There also are 3 gems per level to collect, as well as a little extra-challenge to complete for each level. Now, the game is very relaxing : it's not a game you're gonna have to rush in (except one or two levels), so you'll always more or less lay back while playing, and the game helps in this sense : charming graphics and cuteness, and charming music with simple-to-difficult puzzles, you can just kick back and enjoy yourself. Two minor complaints would still appear : first, the puzzles' scenery can sometimes be too present and it gets difficult to see what's going on or where you are. Secondly, while this was mostly created from Super Mario 3D World, there has been way too much copied content from one game to another, and it's a bit of a turn-off (mostly the musics, I'm speaking here, as well as the cutscenes and stories within the game). The game's difficulty isn't too crazy so you should be able to fly through it rather quickly. Overall a game that deserves to be bought and tried.

Mario & Luigi is a great RPG series that I've been following for a while now. But this new installment really is worrying me on the series' future. On the go to save Pi'illo island (a place revolved around sleep, as the name suggests) and as usual the Princess Peach (we don't change a winning formula), Mario and Luigi gain the access to the dream world after saving the Prince of a supposedly extinct population, trapped inside the dream world. The island has its own villain, Antasma, a bat fed with nightmares (?), that teams up with Bowser to take over the world. The plot is here very briefly summed up, it has a lot more to it, and yes it's still just as...boring. The game has good points : the graphics (3D environment with 2D NPCs and characters) look rather nice, the music is pretty nice as well, and the fights. Oh golly, the fights. They are awesome. While the bestiary of the game isn't too amazing, the fights got a way larger range of possibilities : going in the background or foreground, sometimes even moving around to dodge attacks, and a plethora of special moves, make the fights very enjoyable. But the most important part of it is the separation between the real world and the dream world : in the real world you get a casual Mario & Luigi-style fighting system. Still enhanced, but classic. However, in the dream world, it's very different: Mario goes into Luigi's dreams, so the Luigi in the dreams in not the real one. As such, he can deploy tremendously satisfying (and unrealistic of course) moves, like the Luigi Katamary ball shown in the trailer. That, and the giant fights, also very original and madly fun. However, the game suffers from a lot of flaws. First, the graphics cause a serious problem of perspective in the game : it's often hard to understand where you are compared to some items or enemies during fights and it will cause you trouble. Secondly, the areas of the game are very large and each region has 1 main theme, which means you'll be hearing those for a long, long time, and it can get a little annoying. Another issue is that the game is very repetitive : each region has a gimmick that you'll have to follow every time, and it'll be repeated over and over. It quickly gets boring. Mostly it goes to the range of : enter region > meet comedy-relief character > follow said character > enter the dream world for reason X > get what you wanted in the first place. The whole game. And trust me, when I say it's repetitive, it makes the game longer for no valid reason. And finally, my biggest complain is the total lack of "Mario & Luigi spirit" to it. Everyone who played any other game of the series knows it has its own crazy, wonky humor that made the charm of the series. Here? There's almost none. It does not have the good, enjoyable Mario & Luigi vibe you'd expect. The plot takes itself very seriously despite keeping everything else from the Mario & Luigi universe. Can really a serious plot fit in such a wonky world? Yes, Mario and Luigi Brothers in Time taught us that. But I can assure you it doesn't, here. There are very little moments in the game that'll come anywhere close to bring you a smile, and it's a true shame, as it absolutely lacks of the genuine (dare I say, childish) ambiance you'd want in this series. You can always try the game by yourself, but it's definitely not one that'd make the system sell.

Super Mario 3D World is a must-buy for the system. Working very well on a plethora of very fun, even somewhat challenging levels, the game holds a good standards for the series. You have your usual count of 7 worlds to play in, plus some to unlock, each world having their own theme, which is more or less respected in each stage. The environments are charming, cute, well-rendered and gives a good "Mario vibe" without feeling too copied. The musics fit very well and is pleasant to listen, which is always a plus. The difficulty has been balanced, so running through the game is at least a bit more difficult, which is good considering previous installments being overly easy. One of my favorite feature is the multiplayer system : at absolutely any time, any moment, it just needs two pressings of a button to add a new player, without even stopping or pausing the game! The game reeks originality, from the bosses to the level designs and platforming sequences. The new power-up, although a bit silly, is very fun to use and actually enhances the platforming aspect of the game by allowing to climb on the walls and dive-jump, allowing you to take your own path through the levels (and seek the numerous secrets hidden everywhere). Now of course, the game isn't perfect : it feels a little short if you get into it and tend to end up going through it in a day (like I did at least), and the multiplayer experience does get a little confusing and messy, especially if you're playing with an inexperienced player. It remains, however, an enjoyable game to play alone or with friends and family.

Nintendo Land is simply one of those games that are here to showcase the capacities of the system they are published on, and, as such, it's kinda hard to make a fair review. Yes, the game is fun but minimal. It's really just a bunch of mini-games, but well-orchestrated ones. It's not the kind of game you're going to spend tens of hours on it but it's still good to have if you just ordered the Wii U, until you get more solid games. The gimmick of the gamepad showcase works well in the mini-games, and it's a simple fun.

Now beating a dead horse until his bones are reduced to sand particles, the Sonic team attempted to clone Super Mario Galaxy...without the fun. If we had to quickly mention the good points of the game, it'd be the artistic design of the environment, and some of the power ups that are a bit interesting to use. The bad points? Well, everything else. The controls aren't very intuitive or make much sense sometimes, half the power ups are not fun to use, the level design in the non straight-forward levels is an utter mess, the gameplay just doesn't go accordingly to Sonic (tight platforming with a character who's supposed to run at tremendous speed, anyone else sees the problem?), and overall just not fun at all. In short : Sonic Team once again made a game that was not fit for their mascot and ridiculed him further again. They keep trying too hard on originality, but that just didn't work. I barely recommend to even glance at this game in the game stores.

Nintendo kept a good path and created another Mario Kart that'd remain a must-buy for its system. It holds to the series by making a hectic racing game with gorgeous and/or fun tracks to play through. We get what we ask for : sense of mess, speed and fun. Enhanced with the quicker reload of the item boxes, it is easier to get items to beat others **** to be beat with. The new tracks are damn fun and very well put together, and the remakes of the old ones fit well the new gimmick of this opus, which is the anti-gravity racing. Said gimmick is also worth noticing as it allows a new point of view on racing, making you bump into other racers to get a speed boost instead of avoiding them as usual. The online is a big part of the game, and of course it's well organized, making it easy to join whenever you wish to get some challenge from across the world, either against strangers or your friends. Sadly I can't review on the quality of the connection since mine is naturally very bad. Some would complain about the lack of character diversity, which I could get behind, but it's not dramatic or that much of a bother. Also, the anti-gravity isn't that much noticeable since the camera always adapts to you. Those details are just a bit of nitpicking. 2 DLCs are planned so far, for a price that is very correct seing it adds in total 4 more cups. Nintendo seems to know how to balance their prices on DLCs.

A very well put game. Hyrule Warriors is a great game that made a perfect fusion with the Dynasty Warriors gameplay. The story is surprisingly well placed and fits the lore of the series without denaturing it, the gameplay is enjoyable, the lifespan of the game is very good, especially thanks to the challenges, and the DLCs are rather cheap considering how much more gameplay they add to the game. The only would be that said gameplay can be a little too repetitive, as it may turn off some people. The different fights also can get pretty hectic since you're often required to run pretty much everywhere, at the same time. Some may dislike it (I personally find it stimulating). A must-buy for the Wii U.