fartheststar

I liked AER. Flying and exploring as a bird is an interesting mechanic, and the world is visually fun to explore. The game is mostly about the exploration, atmosphere, and uncovering the story - but there are some not-so-hard puzzles that will take a bit of time as you explore structures in the game. World is open and exploration is self-directed. Good game. Ending a bit ambiguous and might disappoint, but still good game. Definitely would recommend. One tip, use the "F" key to use the lantern at some places. Based on reviews several players, including myself, flew around exploring "lost" for a while because didn't know to use the "F" key as well as the "E" key for interacting sometimes to help advance the story.

This game is so good - filled with wonder and charm - but seriousness also. The voicework on the main character is excellent and reinforces the mood. The artwork is beautiful, animation excellent, and the world feels alive. The puzzles have a nice difficulty curve, and never fall into being too hard; the difficulty feels just right for this kind of game. I'm an adult, and I've thoroughly enjoyed most everything about this game. I knocked one point off my score for a bit of glitchiness that required a reload (I'm playing in the first weeks after release, so these are probably in process of being patched.) Anyhow, I've enjoyed the so much and came here to leave this review to spread the word. This is one of those gems that gamers need to play.

Really bad. Random button pusher to see what happens. Maybe I'm not the intended audience, but I just don't get it and see nothing engaging whatsoever in my short amount of time spent on this. I don't think I've ever rated something a 1, but yeah, I got nothing out of this.

Qube 2 is a really good puzzle game. Just the right amount of difficulty imho. Not overly hard puzzles, but enough to make me stop and think without getting too frustrated. Progress through the game was mostly smooth. I didn't need a walk through except for one part of the very last puzzle that had me stumped. Game had about the right length. Just as I was starting to want to reach the end it found it's conclusion. If you like the game, I understand there are a couple DLC that increase the difficulty level if that is your thing. I don't have much to say about the story other than there is one of a sci-fi nature to accompany you along the way. Story will not stick with me, but just enough to make me wonder what's going on. Basic mechanics are variations of using blocks, bouncers, pushers, sliders, oil/fire, buttons, etc in proper series of combinations to complete levels. The design of the puzzle often will quickly tip you to what needs to be done, and other times it takes more observation to realize how all the components of a puzzle might fit together. I enjoyed this.

I thought I'd like a game about releasing joy. I normally like these free explore games, and as a musician a game about unlocking the song should appeal. For whatever reason Ode didn't connect with me at all. I started the game 3 times and never even finished the first level. I always ended up exiting before getting to a save point or completing the level. I admit I must be pathetically bad at the platforming elements the game needs me to perform to progress. I got to the same place 3 different times and couldn't figure out how to advance or couldn't execute the jumps needed (I rarely play platformer-type games so maybe that's part of it). Each time I got frustrated and lost interest and said I'll try again later, and each return took me back to start of game. I probably won't try a fourth time though, as it'll probably end the same - and I'm tired of hearing that same song repeat. I guess I'm disappointed as I was looking for something odd and experimental like this to take my mind to a different fun place. I can't recommend it though.

Really nice puzzle game from same developer that made Spacechem. Infinifactory is a 3d puzzler where you manipulate objects in 3d space using conveyers, elevators, rotators, pushers, blockers, welders, lasers, demolishers, counters, etc. Essentially you're making an automated assembly line to construct things. I'm about 70 hours into the and there's still a final set of missions so there's plenty of content. The game's been great, but I'm beginning to run of motivation and am not sure I'll finish. Puzzles are getting to be pretty complex toward the end with build times per mission becoming increasingly longer. Still, fun game, one of the best I've played in a while. Totally recommend.

I can recommend only if you very much like walking sims. You pretty much press "W" and look around as you walk up a mountain. There's some narration, but I couldn't understand it. Visuals are pretty nice, and acoustic guitar music at places is nice. It's short, less than 1 hour, so it doesn't outstay it's welcome. Only recommend if you're into walking sims though.

There's been a problem on a space ship far away. It was on an important mission, but communications have gone silent. You're sent to see what happened, make repairs, and have orders to bring the ship back if possible. Of course a mystery awaits when you arrive. I won't go much farther than that as it's a game best experienced without too much description. I consider Spirits of Xanadu to be an excellent game, with a good mix of first person action, exploration, stealth, mystery, and light puzzles. The story and method of exposition is excellent. There's just enough to clue you into what's happening and keep you moving forward, and the writing and performance (via audiologs) is effective in allowing you to see clearly. (I'm sometimes frustrated by games where the writing tries to trick and confuse the player w/ the unreliable narrator thing, and Xanadu does not do that - it lays out the story for you to discover without the intentional misdirection that some games use.) I got stuck at one point and had to seek out a hint, but it's probably something I should've figured out myself if I'd been more careful w/ my exploration. Another thing I like: the environments have a good degree of interactivity which helps make the world feel real and lived in. I enjoy games that reward exploring, and there are quite a few little "extras" that are not central to the game, but exist to help make the place feel real. So yes, I recommend this game. Quite an achievement for a small team - and I understand there was one developer doing the coding.

I recommend the game if you like walking sim games. It's a bit difficult to describe the game, but it's a fantastical interpretation of ideological battles that have left the world in a post-apocalyptical state, and you are an observer exploring this world, and trying to make sense of the stories that are left behind based on what you see, hear, and read. Pros: - visually this is stunning. - highly detailed and varied environments, that feel "lived in" - game has a feeling that much thought and care went into development. It has heart. - runs on Windows XP! Cons - the philosophy and amount of reading, especially early on is a bit "dense." The game didn't make much sense to me at first, but as the game progressed this became less of an issue. So push forward. - Be aware that the world is not interactive. You will explore and view the world, but you won't be interacting with it much, beyond opening doors. This can be frustrating at first, at least until you understand how things work. So yes, I recommend this one for fans of walking sims, but be aware that it's heavier on reading than you're likely expecting, and it may be difficult to understand at points - especially early on because your motivation might not be sufficient to want to read pages of text without context.

You're a zombie and are trying to infect others, converting them from people into your zombie hoard as you take over a level. I thought I'd enjoy this little puzzle game more than I did. It was surprisingly more frustrating that I expected, with precise timing required more than any particular strategy - often making it trial-and-error to determine when and where a guard will or will not see you and react. I can perhaps see people enjoying this game, but it was just a very meh experience for me on PC, and my backlog was telling me I had something better to play. I played about 7-8 levels and uninstalled as the main challenge often seemed to be jumping a guard at precisely the right time so you're able to wear him down before he puts enough bullets in you to kill you. I can tell there's a good game in there, but it was more frustrating than fun for me.

Let me say upfront that I enjoyed the game, but I also have to say even after finishing my first play through I'm still confused as to what I just experienced. My review will be as spoiler-free as possible. In Verde Station you play the role of someone who is set to spend a year alone maintaining parts of the space station. You can interact via terminals, and there is some communication - but for the most part you are on your own. The experience itself is about more than just maintaining the station, but about how you experience events over time. I won't go into it more than that, but it's open to interpretation as to what exactly is going on. Again, I just finished my first play through, and my first theory as to what was going on was apparently wrong. I expect to play through again to pick up some other things. If you like walking sims, this is worth your time. My first playthrough was about 2 hours, and I play slowly trying to pick up all the clues/hints. It's an interesting environment, with the only drawback to me being the largely ambiguous way you can interpret much of the story/events. In the forums on steam the developer is active, which is cool for reading thoughts after playing.

Home is Where One Starts is a true walking simulator. And it is short. But I give it a 7 because it's good at what it does and it's worth playing if you like this kind of thing (I do). For reference, I've liked similar games like Gone Home, Dear Esther, and perhaps Lifeless Planet. These games excel at letting you explore a world, and learn the story of what happens as you go. In this game, you start off as a young girl who has missed the school bus, and explore around the area of her home to uncover her story. I grew up in the rural US south, and the rural setting and story in the game rings true. The story itself is an optimistic one of growing up, and the endgame mechanics bring through this feeling effectively. The main negative to me is the story length. I played it through2 times so far, and have 2 slightly different endings, but I think I've found most of what is in the game. Expect anywhere from 30minutes to 2 hours depending on how much you like to explore. There's a few things I didn't find (haven't found the dog yet) so there's a little more I haven't seen, but I think I've seen vast majority of what is there. I enjoy a well developed world even if it doesn't have much to do with the story, and just wish there was "more." There are several things in the environment that you'd think you could interact with to help develop the story, but unfortunately they're not taken advantage of. I had an initial issue with black screen, but in the steam forums the developer helped - so +1 there. Anyhow, if this sounds somewhat interesting to you I recommend you give it a try.

Sorry, I just can't recommend this. I wondered around slowly in the forest for a while, picking up objects for no reason that I could discern, found locations triggering events that didn't make much sense. I understand from other reviews that there's likely a story here, but nothing compelled me to keep playing beyond my first couple of tries. Normally I like world exploration, but this was not rewarding. I'm glad I played through it a couple of times in effort to understand what folks were saying about the game, but I just found it slow and unengaging. I liked games like Dear Esther, Gone Home, and Lifeless Planet, so I thought I'd like this. The Path, however, just didn't do much for me.

The Moon Sliver is worth a playthrough just for the narrative experience. You start off alone on an island and you're wondering where your other friends have gone. The story begins to unfold of this small world as you visit places on the island. What started as confusing to me gradually grabbed my curiosity as more pieces of the story were revealed. I can't say that I fully understand the story, as it's written ambiguously to allow you imagination to run with things a bit, but it engaged me and pulled me through the the conclusion. The game is atmospheric and has a few moments of chills, but nothing overly scary. Just atmospheric. It's a short game - probably about an hour - and in my view worth it to experience this form of exploration/storytelling. My recommendation is to give this a play.

I'm not the biggest point and click fan, but what really caused me to stop playing this was the long continously scripted conversations/event at the end of chapter 1 and into chapter 2. It just kept going and going. When it finally stopped and gave me a chance to exit I took it before it had an opportunity to start another long conversation with someone else. I've seen good reviews on this which got me to that point in the game, but I was having difficulty sustaining interest up to that point. I can tell love and care was put into the game, but it just wasn't working for me. If you like point/click adventures and all that comes with them (specifically having to do things a certain way to proceed) then maybe give this a go. The game seems like it's going to have heavy religious undertones and overtones, so be aware of the themes. I really couldn't get into it though, and can't really recommend.

I just finished playing this cool little game, that's sortof a platform/adventure. The game has charm and lots of extra nice touches throughout that serve to make you feel like you're in a real place, as opposed to just solving puzzles and overcoming obstacles. For the plot: an alien takes your brother, and you (the player) are on a mission to find him as you progress through a space station/asteroid filled with funny robots and some other slightly dangerous creatures. As the player you discover you have some abilities, including some clearly influenced by the Jedi and Star Wars. I guess since I'm the only review of the game on here I'll do a pro/con list: Pros: creative environment humor / light-hearted spirit of the game artwork neat parts of levels just there to make it seem more functional/real casual platforming fit the game well cons I found the special power controls a bit difficult to use Encountered a gamebreaking bug that required me to restart (couldn't acquire telekenesis) when I got to that part. The movie references were apparently a bit before my time (I'm a child of the 80s) but the game is soaked in a bit of magical vibe reminiscent of something like Explorers or ET. Overall, fun experience. I score it a 7 which for me is a good "recommended" score. The game is worth a playthrough.

This game is memorable and I do recommend it. The game consists of the player learning the story in a fragmented, disjointed, and non-linear way because the story is chopped up into video fragments ranging from a few seconds to up to a minute or two, and you only see fragments of the story that contain the words in your search. The videos themselves are of interviews in a murder investigation. I personally found this a fun way to see the story develop, and the technique lets you feel as if you are picking up a "cold case" and looking into inverviews from a long-ago crime to try to find out what happened. I won't go into detail of the story itself, but I'll just say the acting was excellent, and the story was "rich". Very well done. In my view, the game leaves room for multiple interpretations - and I don't see that as a negative - although a part of me wishes things were tied up a bit tighter because I still had questions. But the videos are all you have to go on, so it'll keep you thinking until the end. Anyhow, good game. Recommended. I honestly don't understand negative reviews. It was an entertaining 3-4 hours for me. Way better than watching a TV crime show. Just approach it honestly and logically, like you're trying to understand what happened, and I think you'll enjoy how the story is revealed to you.

Nice atmosphere, setting, exploration, sound effects. Good narration, albeit maybe a little blase given the dire circumstances - but still pretty good for a point and click adventure. The help system is good w/ suggestions from the captain over the radio headset. The puzzles were good without being too hard, although toward the end I did have to consult a walkthrough. Still, pretty fun game despite the confusion. The story flies off the rails towards the end as it creates a couple big questions and then leaves them hanging and I lower score from a 7 to a 6 for this and stretching credibility. The motion action at the start and end of the game are excellent and have weight - good for setting the mood initially, and concluding the game with a bang. A good, better than average imho, point and click game; just wished story was tighter at the end. And yes, it was fun.

This is more like watching a narrative than playing a game. I tend to enjoy walking simulators (Dear Esther, Lifeless Planet) that let you explore a world and uncover a story as you go, but the extreme lack of interactivity from the player in A Bird Story made this game difficult to enjoy. I enjoyed To The Moon greatly, and that's what led me to this, but I mostly found myself just watching this waiting for my "turn" to press an arrow key to move to the next automated sequence. It's not bad and evokes the warm fuzzies, but it simply didn't engage very much beyond empathizing w/ the lonely-kid-finding-a-friend theme. The shape of the story is apparent very early in the game, and while the game has its moments, I found myself more often waiting on the story to move to where I knew it was going - sometimes wishing the game would just hurry up. (Jumping in the rain puddles was probably the high point of the game that evoked a simple type of fun that made me smile - but even that amount of limited freedom to the player seemed constrained as I was looking for a big puddle to make a big satisfying splash, or a pond to do a cannonball, but had to settle for tiny little splats...) I guess I really can't recommend it, but if it sounds interesting you might give it a go. Playtime for me was about 1 hr 25 min. It's not bad, but it's nothing outstanding like it's predecessor. I think the overall passivity of the experience hurts A Bird Story.

Pretty good point and click adventure game. Probably the most interesting aspect of the game is the time jump mechanic that allows you to explore the same locations at different points in time, and jumping back and forth is required to solve some of the puzzles. As with any adventure game there are odd hoops that you just have to jump through a certain way, but that comes with the territory, and I didn't find it overly detracting from the game. The story is interesting, but I did feel like I was being dragged along for the ride at times - doing things for uncertain reason just because I had to do something to advance the story (lots of "I found a key, lets see what I can do with it") - but again, that's simply the nature of story progression in these type games, so no qualms besides a few confusing moments. The story, without giving too much away, centers around a janitor who is put in the position of saving the world from a future contagion. The artwork, atmosphere, and sound effects were good. There's quite a bit of quality narration, supplemented by text. Game has a good humor about itself. Overall good game worth a playthrough. Total playtime for me was about 5 hours. If this sounds interesting give it a shot.

I enjoyed this game quite a bit. I'm a tower defense fan, and this is an interesting "take" on it with you equipping your big critter and marching through the bad guys to take back towns. You have long range and short range weapons, and weapons of different emphasis (some weapons are better against specific enemies). Some weapons are automated, and some are controlled by the user. The user controlled weapons are far superior to the automated weapons, but you can only control one weapon at a time - so optimal combination is needed. (The manual weapons won't go into auto mode and fire on their own even if you're controlling a different manual weapon.) I tended to enjoy the builds best where I'd load up my beast with a couple catapults and aim for dangerous things just coming onto the screen, and I'd let the automated weapons handle everything else - but you're free to build out your creature however you like. Cons: There's an element of memorizing the level to the game that helps, but to a degree that's true of most tower defense games where you have to see what the level throws at you in order to understand what the best buildout is to counter. The game can also be quite "clicky." This might not be a problem if you like that, but I did wish my automated weapons worked a bit better - they fire more slowly - causing me to to sometimes create builds with two manual weapons requiring quick switches between them at times - but then that feels like a wasted weapon slot because you can't control two manual weapons at once. (It also reinforces the memorization of levels so you know when to switch between weapons). Ultimately I got to a level that I couldn't beat with what I think was called a minor gorehorn - a red guy running around with cannons strapped to his back. I couldn't figure out proper tactics or buildout (or maybe I just couldn't shoot straight!) to finish that level so it pretty much ended the game for me - but I enjoyed the game a whole lot up until that point. Unfortunately, the kingdom will not be saved if it's up to me. ;-)

I played 32 minutes and uninstalled. Dull. Difficult controls. Weird camera sometimes. Little strategy. No charm. No connection to your troops. Just run around and shoot while your squad follows like a centipede. I enjoyed the old Cannon Fodder years ago, and that's why I took a chance on this, but this game is just not very engaging for me.

I really enjoyed the Stanley Parable. Clever game, with excellent narration and rewards exploration. If you like walking sims and just exploring the worlds to see what will happen there's plenty to find in this game - and again the narration is excellent. If you've worked in an office environment there's a lot of jokes to identify with also - but there's also some thoughtful philosophical observations built into the game. I've played about 5 1/2 hours so far trying to find different hidden elements of the game and have found alot of them, but there are still more. If this even sounds halfway interesting to you play it. I haven't played anything quite like it, and found it totally worth the exploration.

I enjoyed Qora. About 3 hours of play time for one time through, but I didn't complete all the achievements so there are some things I didn't see. Qora is not a challenging game - it's a game of simply enjoying the pixel-art world (I like the look) and story that the developer crafted. The music/atmosphere is smooth. I enjoy games where I just experience a world/story, so this type of game worked for me. It's a game that at times makes you "feel good" as you play it. It has a off-balance sense of humor which made me smile several times as I progressed. The only negative was there were a few times where I wished traversing some screens might happen a little bit quicker (very minor platforming elements), but at the same time I understand the pacing of the game helps create the overall effect that the game is going for. It's not a game you want to race through, because the game uses a more laid back pacing to help creating a little bit of wonder and overall game mood that gives your mind time to mull over the story as it develops and take in the scenery. Good game. Glad I played it.

The Blue Flamingo is a cool looking vertical scrolling shooter with relaxed vibe. Pros: Has a cool look - real physical models are used. I like the music. Relaxing shooter. Day night missions are used. Cons: You can't repair your ship, so you'll be restarting from zero alot. There's no real progression of story - so each time you play you'll play the same levels attempting to improve scores and reach new level. That gets old pretty quick imho. Only upgrades are offensive guns or bombs - and I really can't tell what the gun upgrade does. Enemies are not very varied. From what I can tell from some reviews, even the players that say they like the game alot often don't have high playtime - the repeated levels and repeated restarts give the game limited lifespan unless you love that kind of thing. Overall, I got it cheap and enjoyed it for what it is (the artistic flair is very nice and is recommended just for that), but enjoy it for what it is and don't expect it to be more than it is.

Kindof cool puzzle game with effective themes of substance abuse and how it impacts kids - yes it may affect you when the monster turns on you and tosses you around the screen - but I got frustrated on one of the levels (build a bridge or something like that) trying to keep monster away from the frogs, and just decided to quit and uninstall after failing so many times. Maybe it's not fair to the game, but frustration at knowing what to do but being unable to catch the frogs fast enough makes me rage a bit, and that's just not fun. It bugs me that I won't see the end, but, oh well. I don't know why I can't grab the frogs fast enough here - they just take off and run straight for monster at breakneck speed before I can orient myself after the animation. It seems like most other people think this game is too easy, but I'm just frustrated at it at the moment. Prior to this the game had lost my interest half-way through and I was just now coming back to try to finish it after many months away. I guess it's kindof one of those games that I'd call "decent" up to that point, but it didn't grab me and keep me coming back based on the long break before coming back. I feel like production values are pretty good. Visuals and world are intriguing, and sound is nice. I like games that let you explore, and this game has elements of that.

Valiant Hearts is a narrative driven game that's effective in letting you understand from the character's point of view some of the horrors and dilemmas faced in war. The brutality of trench warfare in World War I is highlighted, along with gas warfare. Despite the ugly setting, the game is charming as well. Gameplay is primarily puzzle based, although it mixes in some timing and action mini-game elements. The artwork is very nice, it is narrated well, and the narrative/story is engaging. It's a well polished game. If this game even sounds remotely interesting to you I suggest you give it a play. It's certainly not one of those games you'll play and just forget. It is memorable.

I enjoyed Morphopolis. It's a casual game, where you solve puzzles and find hidden items within the vibrant magnified insect world (kindof like "A Bug's Life") . The music is very good - soothing. (My wife wanted the sountrack - so we looked up the composer online). I enjoyed the artwork also - visually the game is pleasing to look at. It's not a particularly hard game - maybe 1 or 2 puzzles that might cause you to think a bit, but overall it's more of an engaging but pleasant and relaxing experience. The controls caused me to get stuck once or twice (there's a puzzle on level 4 where alot of players, like myself, seem to get to and think the game isn't responding because feedback is lacking - but it's a jumping game like checkers). Overall, the game is engaging and doesn't overstay it's welcome. I enjoyed it!

Metacritic critic reviews give this an 83. I don't understand that. I didn't put a ton of time into this game, but I quickly lost interest trying to learn what was going on, and didn't understand what I was trying to do despite quite a bit of trial and error. Some people like games that are ambiguous and frustrating - making you feel like if you suffer through the start of the game for long enough you might eventually be rewarded with some understanding. If so, this game may be for you. My backlog has too many other options.

This is an engaging game. Being alone with our own thoughts in a quiet place is often a foreign concept in the modern world - but this game taps into the mystery of an old Scandinavian practice known as "year walking" where people might isolate themselves, not eat, and wonder the forest at night. An analogy might be something like a vision quest in native American culture. I'm not someone who likes scary games, and there are a couple of places that might make you jump just a little bit, it's just a minor little part of the game that is mostly just an uneasy vibe with exploring and thinking - much like a year walk might be. You'll be introduced to creatures in Scandinavian folklore along the way. You solve puzzles to progress the story. You'll do a bit of reading in the encyclopedia and journals for hints/clues along the way. It has a nice art style and effective sound tracks. I had to consult a walk through a couple times, but that's to be expected when I play puzzle type games. I'm never as perceptive as others who can play through un-aided. The puzzles are mostly logical. It's difficult to go into much of the story without introducing spoilers - but if this sounds interesting to you I recommend it. I enjoyed it and am glad I "year walked". The game is short, so if that bothers you be aware. Otherwise, it's a memorable, cohesive, and thoughtful game.

I enjoyed the game alot. If you like just exploring a world, and letting the world tell its story, then you should like this game. There's also more going on than the main storyline if you let yourself soak in the story. It's a story about family and family history. There's a lot been written, but I found myself engaged the entire way through, and felt the pacing and development were spot on. It's not a scary game. I don't like scary/tense games. This is not like that. Don't let concerns like that bother you. It's atmospheric - stormy night, big empty old unfamiliar house... but nothing there is gonna eat you! Other games that might have similar gameplay experience. Dear Esther (I liked Gone Home better than Dear Esther) and perhaps Lifeless Planet (which I really enjoyed). To The Moon is probably a similar experience (but different art aesthetic.) If this sounds the least bit interesting, I suggest you give it a try. I'm glad I played

The visuals are beautiful, great sound, and it's atmospheric. Some neat puzzle ideas in the levels I finished. There's alot really good here and I wanted to like it, but after a few hours in I was increasingly struggling to make myself play and continue onward. I got to where I was forcing myself to plod (you walk slowly) along over hills and valleys, lost, not knowing what to do looking for an idea or inspiration, and sometimes wondering if I just haven't found something necessary yet. I don't know. I sortof wanted to see more of the story and ideas, but I got stumped, couldn't divine what to do next, and couldn't bring myself to care enough as it sortof became a grind to continue without much of an idea what to do next. It's very possible the game is just too smart for me. I enjoyed games like The Swapper, Lifeless Planet, Dear Esther, Kairo - so it seemed like this would be in the vein of what I like - but it just didn't work for me. If you really like puzzle games give it a shot, otherwise be aware you might experience some frustration. I uninstalled it just to save myself the future frustration I knew I'd have if I kept trying to solve puzzles. After playing it left me with the empty feeling of "why am I playing this?" For this reason I give a "mixed" score of 5.

I enjoyed this game a lot and don't understand the negative reviews. The strongest points of Lifeless Planet for me were a) atmospheric b) exploration, and c) creative environment and visuals. I loved the feeling of exploring this world and uncovering the story. It was better than I was expecting based on some of the reviews here. I'm a player who likes taking my time playing the game, enjoying the little details - and there's a lot of nice touches in this game. Atmospheric is the word that keeps popping into my head - I felt like an explorer and I can tell that alot of love and care went into the game. None of the puzzles are very complicated, but for me that was OK. This game wasn't about the puzzles - it was about exploring and the wonder of experiencing this strange world. There were many places where I just climbed to a certain vantage point to survey the view. It's a beautiful game. Also - I wanted to mention the music is well done - and responsive to events in the story. There were several places where it felt like the music was playing to urge me forward - like in a movie. One thing of note: There is a lot of walking and open space - there are some huge areas - but this serves a purpose of creating scale if you take time to breath it all in. I try to imagine the game in a smaller world and I think the effect would not be as strong. This is a super-size world - somewhat reminds me **** called Kairo. Now there were some negatives - sometimes the jumping puzzles were a bit much sometimes ideas were stretched out a bit too long - but the pace was overall good. The progression of the world had a nice pace so there were interesting things to draw you forward. The controls were a bit frustrating, especially when precise landing on jumps is required in tight places, but not gamebreaking in any way - just a bit fiddly. But bottom line: THIS IS A QUALITY GAME. I don't give many 8s and this game deserves all of it. I got frustrated at one point w/ the jumps in the middle, but I found once I got past that toward the latter half of the game I enjoyed it quite a bit and found that it finished strong (unlike some others have said). don't let the negatives overshadow all the coolness here - this is an atmospheric game that pulled me into the world and encouraged me to actively explore it. If this type of game interests you, give it a shot. I'm glad I played it.

Three fourths home is a story based game. It's storming, and you are driving your car through the Nebraska landscape on the way home while having a conversation on the cell phone w/ your parents and brother (conversation in text on the screen). As you drive through the storm you get to know the family's problems and perhaps identify w/ a young adult who's trying to strike out in life for the first time. Note, this is not a game as much as it is a multimedia presentation w/ a few user interface controls. It's a good story, the art design is nice, and the visuals and sounds create a nice atmosphere, but there's not a lot beyond that. If this story appeals to you go for it, but understand there's not really gameplay as much as reading the story and watching how the visuals interact w/ the story that's happening. It's targeted to a specific audience. I was curious about the title, and thought it was well done, but at the same time it won't leave me thinking about it after I've seen it. Overall a mixed review, but again if you're curious about it it's a good experience for what it is.

I don't play many platformers, so I normally wouldn't try a game like this, but the art and presentation looked interesting to me so I tried it. Overall I found it very playable for someone like myself who's not used to platformers. It had a few frustrating moments, but not many. You play as a a colon (2 dots), and you traverse levels made up of different themes and fonts inspired by the era they became popularized. One of my favorites was the western themed level with one of the western fonts, but the there are other good levels also and they're generally interesting to play through. The colon shape is interesting for the game mechanics as it allows you to grab corners and spin as you play. I think this game might appeal more to a gamer who's not really into platformers like myself. If you're experienced at platformers the game might not present much challenge. I play slowly, and got about 4 hours of play finishing everything except the secret level which is quite a bit harder than the rest of the game. Overall, I had fun with with the game, and enjoyed the artwork, music and concept. Probably won't play again though. If it sounds interesting, give it a try.

The Fall is an engaging thoughtful game. It plays like part point/click adventure and part 2D shooter. The game has a heavy atmospheric element and interesting visual style in it's apocalyptic setting, and has some keenly insightful moments around artificial intelligence, choice, human interaction with AI, and even insight into how AI might cognitively interact w/ humans. I give the game a solid 7.5 and rounded up to 8 as this is a fun game worth playing and stands out vs. some others I've played. The only negatives I encountered were a) that the controls were a little difficult for me to work with - nothing bad, but a tad awkward - b) a small gameplay bug (devs were making patches as I was playing and fixed this), and c) a couple of the point/click solutions were a little odd. Nothing to detract from the game too much, but like in many adventure games there's a couple times where you have to do some odd things to make the story progress. But overall this was a thoughtful game w/ strong story and some good moments where you will wish there was another way.... Many times I wouldn't do what the game was wanting me to do because I was trying to find another way to proceed, but there simply is no other way. This forced action perspective helped highlight the difference between real choice, and constraint based artificial intelligence. I knew what my character had to do, even though I didn't want it to happen in some cases. In summary: Engaging game, with strong atmosphere and artistic approach, with a thoughtful story. If you have interest give this a try.

I just finished playing the game, and I enjoyed it quite a bit. I'm not a hardcore gamer, definitely not a platformer-type , and I found the forgiving controls welcoming, and enjoyed the story. Visually the game is attractive and compelling w/ attention to detail. Spate is not a difficult game, but an enjoyable game for experiencing the story and environments. Voice work is quality. Story was a little dark, but not overly so. Playing time was about 2 hours for me. Main components of gameplay are light platforming elements (jumping, dodging) and very small amount of puzzles. The game's strengths are the atmosphere, visuals, and story imho. Overall, I'd say if the artwork appeals to you and you don't mind a story about alcohol addiction, give it a go. Again - good game. Glad I played it.

I just finished my first playthrough. Imagine you woke up in a strange place and unfamiliar natural environment - that's the setting. I gotta say I really enjoyed exploring the environment, and how the music changed with the environment around you. My advice: Take time to stop and just look around - in a way the game seems philosophical in that aspect. I won't give any spoilers, but there were several sensory variations that kept me interested in exploring, and at the same time it kept me thinking, somewhat immersed in what was going on. I find it likely that I'll play it through again - just to see other variations. I enjoyed this - kudos to the developers.

The concept is more appealing to me than actually playing. It's not a bad game, but nothing really to recommend it over much else either, so a score of 5. As someone else posted, there's an element of frustration involved with some of the levels, because you have limited control of your little incredipede animal. Some may enjoy learning making this creature with limited mobility wobble across the screen and achieve the solution for the level, but be prepared for some frustration, because it is difficult to make him do what you want sometimes. Experience is maybe kind of like an American trying to learn to eat with chop sticks. So I'd recommend it for a curious diversion, but don't be surprised if it doesn't hold your attention for long, and you want to go back to using a fork.

Super Sanctum TD is probably not the best Tower Defense game you'll ever play, but this is still a fun little game, and if you're a fan of the genre, like me, you'll probably enjoy it. I'm about halfway through the game so far and have found some of the levels to be challenging, but generally not frustrating. I had some troubles with random crashing, usually on survival mode, and based on forum posts others had similar problems, but I was still able to play the campaign of 10 waves per map without issue. The maps have a mazing component, and you have a nice mix of weapons towers, and a fairly broad array of user enabled effects (like explosions, bombs, energy, freeze, force push, etc) that keep you active if you're not into having your towers do all the work. There's not much tower building that you'll be doing during the middle of waves as you generally don't accumulate enough points during a wave to build more than 1 tower mid-wave (bonus points are awarded at the end of a wave), so most building tends to happen in between waves - so that pretty much leaves you to focus on using effects during the waves which are more integral to the game than a more pure TD. It's not a positive or negative imho, but it's just different. Overall a fun game, but it won't compare to the production qualities of something like Defense Grid, which is the best TD I've played. The price on this game is pretty cheap now, so my rec would be give it a go if it looks interesting to you.

There is fun here, but you kindof have to let the game get out of it's own way to enjoy it. There are sandbox elements, but there's also often a lack of control of the environment around you that's typically expected. In the later levels with lava you're going to be dealing issues that you can't really fix, you're just working around problems, which isn't always fun. For a game w/ sandbox elements this can be frustrating - often I just want the game to leave me alone and let me do what I want. I got to one of the later levels and just got tired of dealing with lava on several successive levels and quit playing because of that. The game started feeling more like a chore than fun for me. Pathfinding: The little people seem to have problems with path finding - or at least I can't figure out why they have so much trouble walking from point A to point B. They have quite a bit of trouble with changes in slope and slight changes in elevation that are hard to see. In all - for a game that keeps asking you to do things and get your people from point A to point B - this is frustrating when you can't tell what their problem is. Part of the issue with this game is probably my expectation - it seemed like it could be this cool little eco-simulator where I could build worlds, but it turns into a jump-through-hoops puzzle type game too often. That's not to say there's not fun - there is fun - but a true sandbox mode with various maps would've been nice - but like other reviews have said - for some reason you can't just start a map and build like Sim City. There's a cool core idea though - it's just frustrating that it doesn't go where as a player you expect it to.

I'm just rating this as a 5 because it's a pretty average game. Not terrible, but not much to recommend it over anything else in your backlog either. I didn't finish the game, but got much of the way through before I just decided I wanted to move on to something else. The good: I thought it had some humorous moments - like when Sam yells at the yelling bombhead guys. Some of the monsters are Huge and it's pretty cool too. The bad: This is a game whose core concept is tripwires that trigger monsters to teleport in around you, often directly behind you. The end result is there's not much point in how you strategically approach an area because even if you clear an area behind you, 3 seconds later you're going to trigger more baddies to teleport in behind you. This is the repeated dynamic of the game. Almost to the point that when you shoot something in front of you your best move is to spin 180 degrees and shoot because something probably coming from your 6 that was clear a moment before. I found this tiresome and not particularly fun. Overall, it's not terrible, but not anything special either. My rec: Consider playing something else in your backlog instead. If you really want some frantic running and shooting with no rhyme or reason to where the monsters are coming from - you might like this more.

I played it 54 minutes before I uninstalled from my system. Seems like it could've been fun, but I'm having trouble finding it. You drive a ball down a hill trying to destroy the opponent's gates. There are obstacles to avoid, things to destroy along the way. You place obstacles to try to thwart the person attacking you. I never could beat the first "real" level after the tutorial and was quickly losing interest in trying. I found it frustrating not understanding what I needed to do, and rolling down the hill repeatedly gets old fast. So bottom line: I found no fun. I was bad at the game and lost patience. Whatever the reason, my backlog is too large to fuss with an uncompelling title. Sorry - just didn't like it.

Ok, I got this on sale on GOG after everybody raved about it being one of their favorites. I probably would've enjoyed this 20 yrs ago (I had friends that liked the Larry series), but imho it's just not worth the time commitment unless you're into these type of games. It had moments that were fun, but I quit about half way through due to lack of interest. Production qualities are good, both voice acting and animation. Puzzles are kindof odd sometimes, but mostly reasonable up to where I quit - but walk-throughs will be required in places as is standard for these types of games. Mostly the humor and getting the girl that's the motivation for playing. I guess it works for what it is, but like I said above, unless you're really in the mood for something like this - don't worry that you're missing anything. I gave it a 4 because despite some laughs, it still seemed like below average entertainment compared to other games to me..

I've not totally completed the game - I'm almost through the hard levels now, but just wanted to leave a review that I'm enjoying this game a lot. While it's a physics simulator for building bridges, It plays like a puzzle with you having to figure out what all the different pieces are capable of and how they interact, and how to utilize them in the context of gravity. You have iron, steel, heavy steel, suspension cables, and cables, along with hydraulics for drawbridges. You build levels for cars, trains, boats to pass under, etc - and the different requirements and stresses direct the type of build you do. IN other cases your construction material are restricted - so for instance you might have to build a long train bridge over a gorge only using the weakest metal (iron). You are constrained both by your materials and by your budget, so totally different strategies might be required depending on these constraints. The learning curve is smooth, so you start with easier builds and work up to harder ones as you're learning how things work. The interface effectively communicates the stresses the different components of the bridge are under, so you can identify the strong and weak points in your build and adjust them. And like they say - sometimes watching a bridge come crashing down, and the crossing train careen into the canyon is part of the fun. Anyhow, this is fun. I recommend it to gamers who like puzzles, and probably anyone into the sciences or engineering.

This game has heart! I enjoyed this game as much or more than any game in years. The visuals are excellent. At certain points I found myself just staring at how good looking this fantasy world was. The world scale is epic - beautiful art reminiscent of LOTR . The story is very good. I found myself engaged and caring for the characters. There are puzzle aspects to the story and some mild platforming elements, but nothing that will probably stump or challenge you. Instead it's more like I enjoyed moving from puzzle to puzzle to see what imaginative world waits next. I played with a keyboard (not gamepad) the entire game and it worked fine once I got the controls down. I have never given a 10 on a game and I considered it for this one, but I'll go with a 9. The only thing really holding me back from a 10 is that I felt the story kindof left me a bit confused at the end. I think I understood what the storyteller was going for around the story, but I felt a couple of events near the end just felt a little outside the chain of cause/effect. I think some may say you'll get to a part in the story near the end when you wonder "how did we get from there to here, and why did the unpredictable series of events drop us at our destination?" Anyhow, I'll be vague, but this element only slightly detracts from an otherwise wonderful game. Play this one when you get a chance.

I enjoyed this game quite a bit. I guess it's kindof like a RTS w/ some tower defense elements except you are attacking. Using military pieces like guns, mortars, bombers and production pieces to hold terrain, create power, etc, you fight a creeping "goo" that comes at you from all sides. It has simple mechanics combined with a fairly deep strategy. It's not overly complex so you can pick it up quickly, but there's enough meat there to make it engaging. Completing the levels was generally not challenging, but the fun is more in how efficiently the levels can be completed. (You can have fun playing leisurely or can go for speed if you want a challeng). I found it was often easy to achieve a stalemate with the enemy, and proceed at my own tactical pace to achieve the objectives. I'm sure the challenge for many will be how quickly they can achieve the objective but for me it was fun just to figure out how to take a board and go about doing it. I did lose a few battles on the first try, but for the most part even the hardest levels in story mode could be completed after a handful of replays. Usually the most difficult levels were ones where something has to happen very quickly at the start of the level or all is lost, and it took several retries on a couple levels to figure the opening moves out properly. Most levels are not like this though. Overall very fun game. I recommend it.

I'm playing on the PC, but metacritic won't let me leave a review there, so am doing so here. This is a fun addictive game for me. You load up your warbeast with weapons and run a gauntlet of enemies as you try to take back the lands that used to be yours. It's an easy game to learn to play, but there really is some cool strategy at work. Some weapons are good at piercing armor, others good at crushing; some have more range than others/fire at different rates. I'm still pretty limited in of weapons I can use (max 4 weapons currently), and I do feel constrained a bit sometimes I often wish I could load out with more than 4 options because first time on a level you're sometimes not sure what you'll need but playing a level gives you an idea what you need to change in your build-out to be successful. Sometimes it does seem that memorizing what comes up in a certain level is necessary (example: I need to make sure I change to a catapult before I get to point A so I can knock down this tower/ or defeat an upcoming dangerous enemy that is difficult to take out except with 1 specific weapon). As the player you can select a combination of automated and user controlled weapons. This aspect can be a bit frustrating at time because some weapons just don't automate very well (or can't be automated), and there are times when the automated weapons just won't shoot at what you want them to shoot at sometimes, but that's the nature of the beast and we have to adjust our buildout accordingly. It's a game where you play a level figure out what you need more of and adjust and play again. Anyhow, I'm enjoying this game quite a bit, and recommend it if this sounds fun to you. I'm not sure how different the PC version is from iOS. If you like games like Defense Grid this should be fun for you.

This is a fun little diversion highlighted primarily by the humor that runs throughout. If you've worked in an office there's lots of funny little cut scenes and corporate-speak. I got this in an indie bundle and didn't even think I'd play it, but it was sortof enjoyable. Don't quit after the first 2 or 3 levels give it a chance. There's more to the game than the first couple levels might indicate. It gets more fun with alot of cool weapons shortly and ability to destroy the office and kill zombies. +1 for the humor is primary reason to play. It's pretty short maybe 3 or 4 hours max which is good as it's the kind of game you don't want to overstay it's welcome.. There's not alot to it, but it's just mindless fun with light-hearted humor. Tough to grade it higher than an "average" score of 5 though.

update edit: Have about 80 hours in Fuel. Enjoyed it very much. Lots of different vehicles that all handle differently, and races across lots of different terrains offroad/onroad. original review 12-20-2011: I am so glad I downloaded this game from Steam and played it. I was interested in some things I read about the huge world, free rides in an open world, and it just sounded cool to me. This has become my favorite game on steam for a while now. I can't explain why, but it keeps pulling me back. I like the races and challenges it's particularly good to help the learning curve for someone like myself who's not a hardcore gamer or hardcore racing fan, but the pacing is great and the free ride aspect in a big open world makes it fun for me just to go ride around and get better driving my different vehicles. I remember riding around in a thunderstorm last night and pulling up under an abandoned barn on a faraway hillside and just watching it rain and watching the thunder and lightning light up the landscape. It really is a beautiful game that gives a lot back if you like to explore. I've only played about 8-10 hours on steam so far, but something about the game makes me want to get better, and driving around the countryside, be it on-road, off-road, make-your-own-road approach is rewarding in-and-of itself. BTW- there a tons of races and challenges for those who are goal oriented, but if you're free-riding it's also fun to try to figure out how to jump that old building on the side of the road also.