Chad Johnson's Reviews
At the end of the day Post Void is a budget title that is well deserving of your cash, despite a heavier reliance on luck than true skill. It’s a unique shooter that is addictive as it is frustrating, and with an asking price of less than the cost of a meal at your favorite fast food spot, you could do much worse with your money.
If you are the creative type, you can easily hop into a Minecraft-ish world to quickly make the 90’s era shooter of your dreams, all using legally safe knockoff assets of games such as Turok, Wolfenstein 3D, Quake, Doom, Bioshock, and many others.
Being a point-and-click game developed for a system not really known for this genre, NEScape manages to fit a full-on escape room experience on a cartridge if you still have your old grey beast laying around.
This is the video game equivalent of dipping crackers into milk.
The most terrifying aspect of The Chant is how broken the end result really is. As a freshman release, it’s a strong one, but it definitely needed some additional polish to be something even remotely playable.
The varied set pieces really capture the grimy, gritty nature of the crime that permeated film and TV during the late 90s with a surprising level of detail.
A worthy addition to the growing catalog of Souls-like games on the market, especially if you can find the humor in some of the worst aspects of them.
If you’ve never played the original, Destroy all Humans! 2 Reprobed is the best option available to you, and if you grew up with this as a favorite, you’ll likely find a lot to love here.
I was expecting some smarter jokes, not the same dick jokes I’ve heard since sixth grade.
As a Freshman offering, BLOODIOUS GAMES has delivered what I am sure will be a cult classic that adds them to my short list of favorite horror developers.
By far the game’s greatest strength is the retro-inspired visuals that uses bright neon colors, leaning heavily on shades of green that callback to the Sci-Fi comics and movie covers from the 60s. If this had been released during the NES era, it probably would be known as being the best-looking NES game in existence.
Bright Memory: Infinite is a shooter that I would recommend if you’re okay with it being on the short end and having some mild gameplay issues that will pile up after a few playthroughs.
Source of Madness is a roguelike that has some interesting ideas and a design that mostly works but is bogged down by uninspired combat that isn’t consistent enough to make it stand out among the mountain of options available in this genre.
House of the Dead Remake is a great way to spend an afternoon at home if you’re a fan of the original, even if it has some minor issues.
The game looks and feels like yet another clone of the Blue Bomber, but before you roll your eyes like I did (since this seems to be the blueprint for almost every retro-release post-2020), the developer made the brilliant decision to add in a Metroidvania touch that sends you off exploring a metric ton of levels while taking down eight bosses.
The one thing that the game has going for it is its narrative, despite the main character being intolerable.
35mm is a game that shows promise, but largely feels rushed or unfinished. I can easily see something hidden behind the poor controls, dated visuals, and questionable design choices, but sadly, the cons severely outweigh the positives here.
If you grew up in the days of The Oregon Trail, but want something that’s little bit more Fallout, Ashwalkers is likely for you. It’s not going to be the most engaging game when it comes to mechanics, but it portrays an open-ended story that really does feel like you craft it, even if the road is a fairly straight and narrow one.
Submerged: Hidden Depths is a hard game for me to score, or recommend for that matter. It’s extremely short, clocking in around two hours and change, with little to offer in that time span. If you find combat or platforming to be difficult, this is the title for you. If you like a little more challenge, I would leave this dead in the water.
If you enjoy a solid mystery that dips its toe into the horror realm, and you have a strong stomach and/or a morbid sense of humor, this is something that is worth your time, even if the ending doesn’t live up to the narrative build-up.