r0mer0

Reducing frame rate and resolution in a game designed exclusively for a single platform with known hardware is inexcusable.

Can't recommend The First Tree. The colors are nice, the models are not. The fox animations are bad. Some game mechanics are redundant. One can, for example, toggle between run or walk. There is never a need to walk, and no limit to running – why not make running the default? The music is generic and uninspired and loops to often, as do environmental sounds (like rain). Neither can be muted, nor lowered in volume. Turning the sound off is the only way to go. That also stops the narration. That makes the game actually more enjoyable, not the best thing to write about the developers obviously very personal story.

When promised a DEFINITIVE edition, I expected a labour of love from Rockstar Games, a collection celebrating their franchise. Instead, they release versions looking and performing worse than the originals. The games in this collection are among the ugliest games ever made.

The game is extremely repetitive, but has pretty visuals. Music is okay for a free game. Bugs, crashes and frame rate drops are common. Straying from the path to explore can easily result in falling out of the level. Apparently, the very vocal fan base demands these errors to remain unfixed. Almost cult-like, they will defend the game and the developer against valid criticism. Be aware that Sky:Children of the Light is 'free to play' — not free of cost. It is possible to reach an ending and see the credits in the first play-through, but the reward system is designed to force re-playing everything over and over. Finishing the game would require playing for an insane amount of time, or spending a lot of money on in game purchases. The game is expertly fine-tuned to get the player hooked. If you have any sort of OCD or can easily get addicted, stay away from it.

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

To compare this game to any other game is insulting to those other games. The controls are so bad, I had to check if my controllers are faulty (tried with joy-cons and pro controller,) since the game would often register a false input, or no input at all. The in-game logic makes in mandatory to backtrack — a lot! That is a dangerous approach in any visually pleasing game with fun mechanics, in a game as ugly and boring as The Way Remastered, it is unforgivable. I had several system crashes, playing version 1.4.0. If this is the 'remastered' version, how bad was it before!?! The only challenges in this game are the controls and the crashes. The game must have heard me when I said, “if you crash one more time, I'll abandon you,” since it miraculously behaved well till I got to the end.

Wander around in a pretty fantasy, just because you can. Your presence will change your surroundings, and that is the only reason to keep playing. If you need a timer, a high-score, even a story, this is not the game for you.

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

Good story, okay graphics, mostly annoying mechanics. The puzzles are easy, you will guess the solution in a very short time. Unfortunately, you might at some point mistakenly think your approach to solving a puzzle is wrong because of poor game mechanics. This happened to me very early in the game. Once I knew what to expect I enjoyed the rest of the game. There are some instances where items needed to progress can become unreachable, requiring a restart. You won't lose much progress though.

The game won lots of prices, apparently for its theme. Unfortunately, the Switch version is a very bad port. It is near impossible to play because of the text size, which can't be adjusted.

Easy and fun shooter with well designed levels. Can be beat by just holding down the fire-button and jumping around. Score and level time are an incentive to have a closer look at the mechanics — mostly when and what weapon upgrade to pick up, and when to preserve special bullets. Voice acting sounds horrible, the game would have been better without. Can be skipped, so no deal breaker.

This game is ver, very pretty. I often stopped and admired the art. There are many moments in the game when you seamlessly enter a perfectly composed scene with carefully choreographed surroundings performing like an animated movie. The game-play consists mainly of easy platforming, and not very difficult puzzles. The story in this game is intentionally vague, and it leaves enough room for the players imagination. The protagonist is found in an alien environment, and left with only one way to go. A story unfolds while the player progresses, but is never forced on the player and never stops the immersion. Planet Alpha is best compared to Éric Chahi's Another World than to more story heavy games like Inside.

Wonderful experience with beautiful visuals and music. Played it docked on a big TV in the dark, with the sound coming from Hi-Fi speakers. Overall, the game tells a very relaxing and rewarding interactive story. It is quite linear, but you are guided in a way that doesn't lessen the immersion. Until you find the places in the game that tell you if you missed or found every achievement. Since you can’t go back to search again, this only serves as a reminder that you are playing a game, and that you will have to re-play it if you strafe for completion. You can play single chapters to complete the game. I would have preferred to have the list of missed and found achievements at the very end. Abzû still gets a perfect rating from me.

Short, beautiful, best played on the touchscreen. Very intuitive interface, can and should be played without pressing any buttons. The puzzles are very, very easy. I recommend to read the game as an illustrated, animated, interactive story book. Don’t expect a challenge!

Perfect game for me. Retro inspired button mashing fun. Easy to get into, fast game. Fastest level can be beat in under a minute, a full run takes less than 45 minutes. There is a survival mode too, if you have a lot of time to play. This game is way easier than its inspiration Uridium. You can retry as many times as you like without losing your score from previous levels. You will only collide with deck objects in the retro skill setting. Music and FX are Commodore 64 inspired, with lots of pulse-width modulation. Only criticism I have: The surface obstacles in retro setting stop being obstacles once you reach the boss, or play boss mode. But that’s not worth more than 0.1 score points. So, technically I should rate this game 9.9/10, but since I can’t: 10/10 !

Square should be rooted for this game and the blatant attempt to fix the rating with review bombing. Here, have your zero.