I've had such a splendid time with Rime, so deeply enjoyed its expansive and sumptuous world, and found myself not missing the attack button at all. Not when there's a sing/shout button that does so many more interesting things.
... a really interesting-sounding game, but one that steps on its own toes, its desire to be avant-garde thwarted not only by the over-familiarity of the devices used, but also the clumsiness of their implementation.
At a certain point, after a certain incredibly tiresome sequence, a game-ending bug meant I'd have to go through the whole thing again, and I realised that as much as I loved the emotions of Edgelands, I wasn't invested enough in what might happen next to want to persist. Perhaps in a month's time, with more bugs fixed and just the option to tweak the speed a little faster, this could be well worth a look.
This is stunning. It's just so utterly beautiful, its bucolic scenes hiding extraordinarily lavish and enticing buildings. It's smart but so modest about that, bulging with brilliant ideas. Movement is amazing and refreshing. And despite the guff, the place itself is fascinating to wander. What a treat. Just a slightly expensive treat.
I adore this. I am so frustrated that it's very hard to convince people to pick up an RPGMaker game, so I'm also very relieved it has the To The Moon alumni tag that will hopefully convince people to grab it. Grab it you absolutely should. Yes, it's maudlin in places, and yes, it's undeniably a bit twee, but it earns the right to be by being just so good.
Prey is a game that's smart about almost every aspect of itself, and yet with that, so crucially modest. It doesn't yank the camera from you, doesn't force you to sit through cutscenes, doesn't demand you sit still and listen to its backstory. It's content to be itself and let you find it, which is a damned rare treat in this hobby. Even more amazingly, for all its array of abilities and powers, you can finish the game without touching them, perhaps even find a narrative rationale for doing so.
Horrible to control, horrible to listen to, really surprisingly ugly to look at, and and all-round mess, I've no desire to put myself through this. So, I shall state for the record: Maybe it's amazing! I mean, it obviously isn't, because it seems unlikely they'll fire the voice cast and implement a new control system some hours into the game, but I can't assure you they haven't. What I can assure you is I've been here too often, seen this too many times, to put myself through it again.
Under Leaves either needed a lot more to do in a level, or a lot more levels, to feel substantial. As it is this plays out like a demo, over just in time for you to be ready to get to the meat of it. However, that's somewhat counterbalanced by the low price tag.
In the end, this is Full Throttle made playable once again, and that's something to be celebrated. It's a really fantastic game, with a lovely story, and brilliant performances. And out of its original timeline it's free to just be itself, not compared to the last or the next LucasArts adventure to hit the shelves. If you loved the original, this is worth buying for the improved sound alone. If you never played it, then oh my goodness, hurry up!
It calls itself "The Next Generation Science Game", but the reality is this feels like something very last generation. Not just the somewhat clunky graphics (they're nice enough, but look a good few years old), but the whole approach feels like something that misunderstands how games can really be applied to education.
As it is, it's very hard to recommend spending £12 on – already a tough call for such a short game. It's not fit for purpose, even if it could still stretch over its unacceptable flaws and reach me. I will keep an eye out, and enthusiastically let you know should such a thing come about.
Bulletstorm is lots of silly fun, and deserved to do better in 2011. It's still lots of silly fun, but it's hard to quite get as behind the desire for it to do well when it's being released at full price with very little new put in.
I heartily encourage you to grab this if you've got a kid trying to learn it at school. Heck, if you're a physics teacher you really should buy a bunch of copies, as this'll be a surefire way to gain the attention of some of your students. Or if you just fancy reminding yourself about logic gates, pulse generators and capacitors, this is a neat little thing.
I've played it for so damned long, and have just run out of patience with it, and absolutely do not care any more about the arc story. It's taken so long to go anywhere, crawling along every few days of play, and just isn't compelling at all.
It's tremendous at creating its distinct atmosphere and then drawing you deeper in. It's witty, spooky, and achieves an ideal sense of urgency. Weird, clamant and intriguing, this is well worth a look.
As a follow-up to the previous trilogy, it's a timid and tepid tale too heavily reliant on what came before, too unambitious for what could have been, trapped in a gargantuan playground of bits and pieces to do.
It all works really rather well, and is accompanied by a very pleasing ambient soundtrack, along with nature noises chirping and squawking over the Eno-esque keyboardy tones. And it gets rewardingly difficult, without feeling unfair, or relying on ninja reflexes.
It delivers on what it delivers. The movement is fast but sturdy, the combat nifty, and the artwork is really lovely. Its choice of greys and muted greens and blues doesn't do it enormous favours, and each area is pretty monotone. Animations are great, and the world is pleasingly detailed, but it also feels flat and dulled.
Stories Untold is bleak and disturbing, novel and experimental, and most importantly when doing all that, very clever. It's smarter than you'll realise, in fact. And why it's smart is all in the experience of playing, not to be given away in the process of reviewing. A pain in the arse for me, but worth it for you.
I started off really not liking it, I grew to completely love it, and I walk away from it with so much love but a wobble of doubt. It's by far the most elaborately graphical piece of interactive fiction, but in being so it suggests it's going to be other things too, and it's hard (certainly at first) to let go of all that, just let it be what it is.