FTL manages to immerse you in a new story every single time that you fly out in a shiny new ship. As you might have surmised from the other reviews, you will die in a fiery space explosion, your crew will suffocate to death, they'll be eaten by giant mutant space spiders, they'll be beaten to death by giant rock aliens or mantises, you'll fly too close to a sun and burn up, a virus will devastate your crew, etc. etc. etc. more time than you can count. FTL is brutally hard, and that's where it's beauty lies. Your crew members and ship upgrade individually and you'll be heartbroken each time a beloved slugman, human, or android is **** into the cold abyss. In terms of setting, few games manage to create as intricate, random, and volatile a universe as FTL does. The tactical sacrifices you'll be forced to make while playing this game will make you cringe and curse your opponents, giving you all the more reason to persevere and destroy the rebel forces once and for all. The actual fighting of this game is so complex it deserves it's own wikipedia page. The strengths, weaknesses, and intricacies of each weapon, ship upgrade, character trait, and system must be studied carefully (as well as those of your opponents). The need to balance your ship's power between your weapons, shield, and other subsystems is quite possibly the most genius game mechanic of all time. You never know what you'll run into with your next FTL jump so you'll be taking a gamble with every bit of scrap you spend to upgrade your shields instead of fixing your hull or hiring a new crew member or purchasing a new beam drone. The game is intelligent, difficult, and completely engrossing. On top of all of this, the boss is a serious feat and, once finally vanquished, will make you want to write all of your friends and family to tell them of your greatest life achievement. Get this game on PC or iPad (PC is obviously better but it's probably the best iPad game out there) and you're making an investment in your future – I'm convinced my IQ went up by 20 points after figuring this gem out.
Bravo, dudes. Risk of Rain is a game that will bring you a different experience each time you open it up. in terms of random drops/pickups, few games pull this off as successfully as RoR (BoI does well at this, but RoR is the true champion). The characters are diverse and feature difficulties and advantages unique to their skillsets. The sheer volume of unlockables in this game will keep you starting up another run to unlock the next character or weapon. Some of these items and characters are earned by killing certain monsters in a certain way, finding secret areas on the randomly generated maps, defeating secret bosses, collecting mysterious relics, or activating and figuring out hidden puzzles. Risk of Rain is a retro experience with a new-age twist and a belly full of secrets characters and weapons. The controls are tight, though to the uninitiated they may seem clunky at first. This is all part of the journey that is Risk of Rain – once you've unlocked things like double jump (Hoopoo Feather), Rusty Jetpacks, Photon Jetpacks, and Goat Hoofs you'll be telling a different story. The world you are dropped in is convincing, deadly, and awe-inspiring – once you grasp the enormity of this world and its inhabitants you'll begin to realize your smallness on screen is no accident. I absolutely love the aesthetic of this game for the most part, and I can't recommend it enough to someone looking for a game with infinite replay value and a great multiplayer mode. Just don't play on the same computer (the sprites are too tiny for this), so make sure your buddy has a gamepad and $15 bucks to drop if you want to play with a friend. Minor bugs and poor menus are annoying, but they won't prevent you enjoying the game overall (with 60 hours on record, I've seen my fair share of game ruining freezes and yet still find myself booting right back up).
Make no mistake – this is a game intended from two players from start to finish! The term turnbased can be used loosely here as this is really a strategic, time-based combat system that allows you to take your time and make your actions count rather than pressuring your to act quickly. Child of light is strategic, impactful, and satisfying. For those of you looking for a first game to get your significant other into gaming, you've found it. Let your partner control the girl while you take control of the wisp to help turn the tides of battle while allowing him/her more time to decide how to orchestrate what attacks/spells/items to use. The inventory system is possibly a little tedious for the simple nature of the game, and the skill paths are perhaps a little long considering the length of the game, but overall the game comes together in a way that emphasizes playability over skill/inventory management (a common issue for RPGs) or repetition. The bosses are epic, the battles are engaging, and the characters are, for the most part, diverse and useful. While the game is visually pleasing, the art direction isn't incredibly inspired. Despite this, the animation is nonetheless unquestionably unique and memorable. The worst thing about this game hands down is the dialogue... a man can only read through so many nursery rhymes before being forced to blow his own brains out. Pick this game up if you have someone you're close with who is open-minded towards video games – Child of Light may manage to captivate them and teach them the value of gaming.
This game is fast, furious, and full of blood splatter. This game is best played 1v1 with a friend of competing gaming skills – it truly is one of the best duel platforms out there. If you've played Towerfall before and liked it, you'll probably dig Samurai Gunn as well (thought the aesthetics and controllers are quite different). Let's be honest, slashing a bullet out of the air into your buddy's brain is the ultimate in gaming satisfaction. The fun in this game truly comes from finding a worthy opponent; most of the people I've played this against are turned off, but those who prove themselves to be skilled enough to compete will see the light.
Oh. Em. Gee. Here is a game that will leave you and your 3 friends in tears and drenched in sweat after just 20 minutes. Pick your deity, upgrade your minions, and murder your friends. Each game is short, to the point, and usually full of hooting and hollering. The aesthetic of this game is unrivaled and the devs accomplished exactly what they sought out to achieve – short, wild, 2-button battles amongst your mates. The game is easy to pick up, and an absolute pleasure to play.
Awesome. Super fun from start to finish. The game as long as it needs to be without overstaying its welcome and proves to be difficult without becoming frustrating. The Dark Souls-esque gold recovery system is solid and the multitude of special abilities you gain are interesting and diverse. On top of all of this, the graphics and music are straight out of the NES era – many games try to nail this down but only a select few get it right. A charming, hilarious, and challenging adventure worth adding to your library.
The perfect video game – Dota 2 is pure heroin and no two matches will ever feel the same. Only years and years of frustration and pain will harden you to the point where you are truly a competitive player. Nothing is lacking from Dota 2 – the only downfalls will be due to your own misery or the misery of your teammates. Valve does everything within their power to punish players for being awful to play with, but ultimately this single shortcoming is out of their hands. Prepare to be called every profanity ever created on your path to the dark side of video gaming. The lack of people in the middle on this page says it all. Those that get it know it's a 10. Those who've had their feelings hurt and been pwned one too many times have nothing good to say.
One of the best games of all time. Intricate, insanely difficult, charming, and completely addictive. You'll have nightmares about the run where you got a jetpack and a shotgun on at 200m and then that stupid ****ing arrow trap launched you into a piranha plant. BULL****!!! No platform/roguelike game has collected more of my hours (original and modern version combined) and kept me coming back more. No run will ever be the same, and nothing seems to be lacking (other than the loss of the ability to chuck arrows into walls [woe is me]). I absolutely cannot wait to see what Derek Yu comes up with next, as this was an absolute masterpiece. I do wish there were more minibosses or goals to go along with the game (yes, I'm familiar with everything that's available in the game and have been to hell) – would be nice to have a better reason to explore outside of the beaten path. Again, one of the best games of all time. Well done, sir.
Amazing game. Played this first as a 4 player brawler... too much fun. Then learned of the 2 player adventure mode... nailed it. To anyone complaining about online multiplayer: try to understand this is a couch game. You need to convince another human to come over to your house and game with you. Not the developers' problem that you don't have homies. My only complaint is the lack of bosses and the anticlimactic finish to the campaign. Other than that, controls are tight, the game looks great, and everyone I've introduced it to loves it. 9/10! Would buy again :)
