mmcal

Cassette Boy isn’t mind-bending in its design. It’s a look back at 35-year-old games and asks, “is there another way to do this?” With the benefit of decades worth of game development, and better hardware and tools, the team has put together a clever puzzle game with a lot of charm despite losing focus on what made these kinds of adventure games magical to us — contextualization, investment in world and character, and depth. Even with its limited scope, though, Cassette Boy pulls in just the right elements to create a new experience that’s both fun and challenging. I’ll likely look back at the boy with headphones and hope we get to revisit his world and puzzles. Read more: ****/theuglymonster/cassette-boy-is-the-moon-there-when-you-can-t-see-it-b413bfa5d354

Cassette Boy isn’t mind-bending in its design. It’s a look back at 35-year-old games and asks, “is there another way to do this?” With the benefit of decades worth of game development, and better hardware and tools, the team has put together a clever puzzle game with a lot of charm despite losing focus on what made these kinds of adventure games magical to us — contextualization, investment in world and character, and depth. Even with its limited scope, though, Cassette Boy pulls in just the right elements to create a new experience that’s both fun and challenging. I’ll likely look back at the boy with headphones and hope we get to revisit his world and puzzles. Read more: ****/theuglymonster/cassette-boy-is-the-moon-there-when-you-can-t-see-it-b413bfa5d354

Im only about 8 hours in but I already feel that this is the Star Wars game I’ve always wanted. The cinematic, the character, the open world nature that focuses in on the main story and not the extra stuff, although I will say even the side story stuff is interesting benefitting prob from the fact that this takes place in the Star Wars universe. This isn’t a perfect game, there’s some bugs here and there and the controls could use some fine tuning, but this is doing everything that I’ve ever wanted which is giving me a compelling story in the Star Wars universe and allowing for some much immersion.

Im only about 8 hours in but I already feel that this is the Star Wars game I’ve always wanted. The cinematic, the character, the open world nature that focuses in on the main story and not the extra stuff, although I will say even the side story stuff is interesting benefitting prob from the fact that this takes place in the Star Wars universe. This isn’t a perfect game, there’s some bugs here and there and the controls could use some fine tuning, but this is doing everything that I’ve ever wanted which is giving me a compelling story in the Star Wars universe and allowing for some much immersion.

Sonic Superstars is exactly what I’ve always wanted from a new 2D sonic game. The focus on cooperative play works wonderfully, keeping all players engaged in a constant flow of action.

As someone who mostly prefers to play games that are cooperative in nature, Redfall delivers for me in a way that other games haven’t in a long while. There really aren’t many games where you take the role of a predefined character and get dedicated narrative beats as you are playing cooperatively with friends who have all taken up different roles. Sure, this game isn’t perfect. Graphical issues flicker on the screen, the game has booted me out to the character selected screen once or twice. Also, it is true that the enemy AI does seem to take too long to respond, or aren’t triggered fast enough. Some of the settings around how this game controls with a gamepass need adjustment, but this is currently doable in the options. All of this however doesn’t necessarily bring down the experience all that much as the game is still challenging (on hard difficulty) and a ton of fun with friends. Moving from mission to mission with friends is seamless. Loading in and fast traveling are very quick. There is so much opportunity for moments of emergent gameplay as you work with your buddies and combine your skills and abilities to take on missions which are designed to be approached in multiple ways. More, Redfall’s atmosphere has pulled me in. I’m interested to continue to unfold what’s happened in this town. And, overall, it’s art style hits a tone of being fun but also scary, mysterious. I think a lot of the discourse around this game stems from outside factors. There is very clearly a bias against MS and Xbox and I think it has mired a very special game. But even in just a matter of a few days it’s clear that public sentiment around this game does not match the critical reaction. I’ve seen people that haven’t played on Xbox in years sign online to try this game and I’ve received multiple messages about how it’s a ton of fun. I would recommend giving this game a try at some point. If the technical issues are a barrier for you, I would say come back later after they’ve been patched. But overall, I see myself finishing this completely in co-op at least once and even coming back to complete multiple times in solo play.

The combat in Tunic isn’t currently perfectly polished, I experienced issues with locking on and hit detection. With that said, this game is one of the most charming I’ve played in years and has lived up to the hype I’ve built up for it over the years. The overall narrative is delightfully presented and I was surprised when my young daughter who watched as I played was able to gather and appreciate the way the story wraps up. Accessibility options a huge plus and a masterful understanding of game design shines through in the way progress works.