James Cunningham


217 games reviewed
78.0 average score
80 median score
69.3% of games recommended
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May 3, 2015

While not exactly a top-tier shooter/RPG hybrid, The Weaponographist is still enjoyable.  The humor running throughout its dungeons made it fun to see what the next monster would be, and while it would have been nice to see more than the twenty regular enemy types and eight magical ones, that's because of the inventiveness in their abilities.

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3.5 / 5.0 - JumpJet Rex
May 11, 2015

JumpJet Rex should be a resounding success.  It's got all the elements there but they don't quite fit together right.

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4 / 5.0 - Action Henk
May 12, 2015

Action Henk is easily one of the best speed-runners in years.

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4 / 5.0 - Not a Hero
May 16, 2015

I have to admit that I wasn't easily sold on Not A Hero.  It was difficult to figure out how it wanted me to play at first, and even the easiest levels saw a lot of dead BunnyLord minions due to arguing with the combination dash/cover button and forgetting to keep an eye on my ammo count.

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4 / 5.0 - NEON STRUCT
Jun 29, 2015

Neon Struct isn't a perfect game, and technically its main gameplay focus of stealth is fairly simplistic.  Enemies aren't that smart, darkness is overpowered and once you've learned its rhythms it's very easy to remain undiscovered, or at least not get caught if you're seen.

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Jul 16, 2015

Spectra is a fantastic little track-racer with a killer beat and instantly accessible gameplay.  Each song is long enough to provide a good challenge as the track gets more cluttered the longer you play, and the percentage bar showing how much song is left means you're never left wondering if it's ever going to end.

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While The Road to Gehenna may not be as expansive as its parent game, it provides exactly the kind of devious challenges its fans are wanting more of.  The difficulty starts at the same level The Talos Principle had in the latter half of the game and doesn't let up, although it doesn't get much harder either.

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4.5 / 5.0 - Zenzizenzic
Jul 24, 2015

Zenzizenzic is a massive dose of twin-stick action, demanding a learning period to master its systems, but rewarding players with a finely tuned machine of destruction for their effort.  The various weapons and tools fit together perfectly, but the game never becomes a pushover even with the knowledge of how to use all that power, or even anything less than major challenge on the higher difficulty levels.

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3.5 / 5.0 - The Swindle
Aug 12, 2015

It's hard to fully recommend a game with inconsistent controls, but The Swindle is awfully close to being excellent.  There are a huge number of enemies with different behaviors and the randomized level generator is more than happy to put multiple kinds together in ways that require different strategies to handle.

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Aug 26, 2015

Planet of the Eyes is a short but memorable trip through a weird-worlds sci-fi alien landscape.  The strange creatures and fantastic environments create a nicely bizarre landscape to platform through, and the audio logs give a concise, well-acted story of a ship worker whose only friend is the AI he created.

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Sep 9, 2015

While the PC port of One Piece Pirate Warriors 3 is weak in technical terms, the game itself is very playable.  The Dynasty Warriors formula has been honed over endless iterations to be great fun, and if it's a bit on the easy side that's not necessarily a bad thing.

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Sep 23, 2015

Assault Android Cactus is a big, bright, blast of twin-stick shooting action, filled with personality and clever design.

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4 / 5.0 - Eschatos
Sep 26, 2015

Eschatos merges the classic vertical shooter with a modern style of action while avoiding bullet hell, making for a fast, accessible and incredibly fun dose of pure arcade goodness

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Sep 28, 2015

Death Ray Manta is pure '80s arcade, but the way we'd like to remember it rather than how it actually was.  Quick, accessible gameplay with not an ounce of fat on its bones is backed up by an art style that's more about design than intricacy.

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3.5 / 5.0 - Pixel Galaxy
Oct 6, 2015

Pixel Galaxy is a clever little non-shooter where your only ability is to move and convert enemies into helpers, and as simple as the endless squares that make up its art are, they look great in motion.  There are a lot of creative weapons and bullet patterns to dodge through, and constant tug-of-war with the enemy swarms is a lot of fun until it becomes a constant beatdown.

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Oct 6, 2015

The Talos Principle: Deluxe Edition is a fantastic package of two great first-person puzzlers.  It's basically identical to the PC version, so if you've got those already there's not much need to double-dip, but otherwise it's a must-own.

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4 / 5.0 - Mushroom 11
Oct 15, 2015

Whether it's figuring out how to land on a platform so that, when it starts swinging, you don't get dumped into the acid below, or guiding a rocket up an angled shaft so it carries you to the plants above, or sacrificing a chunk of mass so that it can get fried carrying electricity from generator to door, Mushroom 11 demands each area be looked at with the lessons learned from previous sections. The wasteland of the corpse of civilization is not a forgiving place, but with a little care and a huge amount of perseverance, the fungus' journey may let it see what lies at the conclusion of the unforgettable journey of Mushroom 11.

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4.5 / 5.0 - Downwell
Oct 21, 2015

Downwell is a fantastic arcade game from the '80s transplanted into a modern-day computer. The pixely art style and minimal color palette reinforce its influences but the animation and number of different moving parts on screen at once are nothing 80s hardware would have been able to keep up with. The interlocking gameplay elements are far smarter than they look at first glance, teaching you how to play and get better while also not being shy about killing you dead.

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4.5 / 5.0 - Mushihimesama
Nov 3, 2015

The sheer volume of content is fantastic, making it as easy to replay a mode over and over again for practice as it is to bounce from one game type to another for the shooter version of Short Attention Span Theater. Mushihimesama is a phenomenal arcade game and an indispensable addition to any shooter fan's library.

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3.5 / 5.0 - Last Horizon
Nov 21, 2015

Last Horizon is a beautifully minimalist game of exploration and survival amidst the planets. It's simple enough to be easily pick-up-and-play, but with enough challenge that a brief run still feels satisfying. The drifting universe and ambient soundtrack are properly relaxing, while trying to land on a planet for desperately-needed fuel while it slowly rotates beneath you and you try not to drift into the ocean or a mountain makes for a nicely tense moment of piloting. Unfortunately, bugs hold it back from its full potential at point in time. The void is filled with asteroids and other cosmic hazards, aliens wander between planets, the sun is not only burning hot, but in possession of a worryingly strong gravity well, and stray comets briefly light up the sky. The quest to find and create a new homeworld has plenty of room for disaster to strike, but it's also a lovely journey through a vibrant night sky.

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