Dan Solberg


17 games reviewed
70.4 average score
74 median score
26.7% of games recommended
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Unscored - Resogun
Dec 3, 2013

Resogun does introduce some new things: all that visual razzle dazzle turns into a sort of optical obstacle in places, hinting at what a modern bullet hell game might feel like. But the game's warm reception is ultimately just a testament to how much fun those old arcade games are, even in 2013. That, I am obligated to say at this juncture, is my final answer.

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Nov 27, 2013

The organic "lobby" structure of Rivals' open world is a promising idea, unfortunately mismatched with a low player limit and an imbalanced power relationship between the cop and racer. I suppose you could seek to defy the odds and play as a racer, but eventually the cops will find you, and they will wreck you—probably more than once. Don't be offended though; they're just doing their job.

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Oct 7, 2016

The creators of Pac-Man CE 2 had the difficult task of remixing a game that has already been expanded upon and reworked to the point of refinement, and they chose to pile on the complexity anyway. The result is a Frankenstein’s Pac-Man—a mess of features and modes that, despite all the power pellets and fruit and ghosts, still left me feeling hungry.

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55 / 100 - Glitchspace
May 17, 2016

A couple hours into Glitchspace, I hoped for a break in the progression and the chance to explore my newly acquired skills, but instead the complexity is continuously layered on top of itself until the game ends. And it ends with you literally walking back up to the title screen, ready to clock in for another shift. I think I’ll take my lunch break instead.

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Telltale's Game of Thrones is looking more and more inconsequential.

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Dec 4, 2015

These are their choices more than yours. One could argue that there's inconsistency between the player's ability to mold a protagonist of her own making and the game's propensity for predetermined resolutions, but at the very least the rocky relationship between the two adds an element of uncertainty to the equation that aligns quite nicely with the themes of a television show notorious for shockingly killing off main characters.

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While Telltale's Game of Thrones may not be quite as epic in scope as the HBO show or Martin's books, it comes off as a focused deep dive into what's happening in some of the more minor houses while other self-declared kings and queens battle for the Iron Throne. And to its credit, the game does have at least one good shocking moment to keep you on your toes going into episode two, just don't expect a new "Red Wedding"—at least not yet.

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71 / 100 - NaissanceE
Feb 14, 2014

With NaissanceE, Limasse Five are showing us their finished work, and it's undeniably a unique take on those familiar forms.

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What remains to be seen is whether there is such thing as a redemptive arc in Game of Thrones, or if feebly limping out of a string of unfair compromises is truly as "good" of an ending as Westeros has to offer.

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74 / 100 - FRACT OSC
Apr 21, 2014

FRACT offers a glimpse into what that reality could look like, but presents a new source of magic at the same time. Instead of bobbing your head out in the audience, now you're behind the decks, steering the ship wherever you want it to go, even when you don't know where you'll end up. FRACT proves that it's through your own creative input that you can continue to surprise yourself beyond those initial magical moments. It's true that FRACT isn't the most mind-bending puzzle game out there or the most powerful music production software on the market; its triumph is in forging a middle path.

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Jan 19, 2015

Xrd expounds upon that tendency, eschewing nostalgia in favor of profound iteration that will likely only register to the niche-loyal. And as someone who successfully made it inside the club, even if it feels at times that I did so with a fake ID, the band in here is playing some mind-blowing stuff.

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75 / 100 - Furi
Jul 18, 2016

Furi is undoubtedly repetitive, but that doesn’t need to be a strike against it. I could nod my head to its beat for a good while.

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7.5 / 10.0 - Nidhogg 2
Aug 23, 2017

At its core, Nidhogg 2 is still Nidhogg. And you can turn off the new weapons and still fence your way across a castle stage if you so desire. But unless you're a hardline hater of Nidhogg 2's sludgy aesthetic, the sequel enhances the formula across the board. Don't be put-off by Nidhogg 2's rainbow slop, there's still a silly white-knuckle, slay-your-friends action game underneath the mess.

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May 11, 2017

Still, in a world of HD rehashing and the seemingly obligatory impulse to re-render old games with the latest in photorealistic graphics tech, it warms my heart to witness the stylistic human touch of Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap. It's a splendid homage, a playable history exercise, and an unexpected touchpoint for the expressive potential of hand-drawn animation in 2017.

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81 / 100 - Thumper
Oct 13, 2016

Thumper is a remarkably physical experience despite the fact that you control it with such modest thumb gestures.

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Oct 7, 2015

Yes, The Beginner's Guide occasionally fumbles its narrative, Wreden sometimes overacts, and the writing can be a little ham-fisted—but the game also provokes incisive, critical thought about the way we read and evaluate games, and does so not by laying out a definitive "message" to be delivered to players, but by prompting us, through play, with open-ended questions.

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85 / 100 - The Witness
Feb 12, 2016

The Witness is, above all else, a designed space. And while all videogames are designed spaces in their own right, The Witness does away with the façade that it's anything but a designed space.

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