Ali Hashmi's Reviews
Crime O'Clock is a fun hidden object game with an engaging time-traveling twist. The ability to visit different ticks in a timeline is well-realized, and the attention to detail in each level is quite impressive. It's bogged down by frequent mini-games that feel tacked on, and excessive dialogue that hurt the pacing by inducing boredom.
Trepang2 has some of the best gunplay since the original F.E.A.R, with devastating destruction routinely on display. It often eclipses its inspiration during combat encounters, but almost every other aspect doesn't reach the same heights. With the inclusion of an unnecessary HUB area, cheap horror elements, and a predictable plot, Trepang2 is worth it for its thoroughly enjoyable gunplay, but not much else.
Planet of Lana is a lovely puzzle platformer with a lot of heart. The lead characters, Lana and Mui are meaningfully integrated into each puzzle, and their journey across different regions of a beautiful world is equally touching and compelling. The puzzles lack the creative punch you'd see in similar titles and don't fully leverage the setting, but the strong presentation depicting the resilience of nature rejecting an alien invasion is breathtaking.
Storyteller is a fantastic puzzle game full of charming characters, and excellent humor, presented on a beautiful interface. Its intuitive controls, dynamic gameplay, and open-ended levels make it accessible, exciting, and appropriately challenging. Its absorbing take on classical stories is hilarious, and you develop a personal attachment to each tale as you progress through its multiple thematically designed chapters.
Wo Lang Fallen Dynasty is a challenging action RPG that stands out with its excellent deflection based combat, and tense morale system. It forces you to perfect its core mechanics and offers a rewarding experience with a lot of freedom in traversal and exploration. The uneven presentation and subpar PC port keep it from being perfect, but it's a worthy addition to Team Ninja's action RPG catalog.
Blanc is an exercise in empathy and trust. It's a lovely short experience that uses cooperative play in a meaningful way with its absorbing puzzles where both players feel equally involved. With stellar presentation and animations, Blanc is a wonderful adventure worth playing.
Overall though, I had a fun time with this game, and the additional EX levels will keep me busy for a while. The game has enough content to entertain you for hours, with tons of memorable music in a bunch of different genres. Controls are responsive, though I wish there was more refinement in how the game handles its visual cues. The humor doesn’t always land, but there are enough visual gags here to get a laugh out of you. It’s easy to learn and hard to master, with plenty of challenging bosses to dance with.
All in all, I’m having a great time with Power Chord. I really like the playable characters, their designs, and how I have to account for multiple synergies. The presentation and attention to detail put it way above most other deck builders, and the dedication to heavy metal aesthetics encompassing every part of the game is truly commendable. With some balancing, especially with how it handles difficulty, I think Power Chord can become an even better title with hours of enjoyment and replayability.
A Little to the Left celebrates tidiness and observation with excellent presentation. Its comforting gameplay loop relaxes and engages your mind with a balanced difficulty curve. The generous hint system doesn’t ruin the fun of figuring things out on your own, and despite minor annoyances with a few puzzles, this is a cozy, beautifully crafted experience that’s hard to come by in the genre.
Cultic is a fantastic shooter that encourages experimentation with how you approach combat. Its vast arsenal and movement mechanics allow for various viable options against many enemy types and bosses. With top-notch presentation and horror aesthetics, Cultic does enough to stand out in the heap of excellent retro-style shooters.
Serial Cleaners is a fun stealth action game that pairs varied gameplay with excellent art direction. It doesn’t have the best enemy AI in the world but makes up for it with its smart level design, great pacing, and engaging narrative. It manages to do a lot with its premise and makes cleaning crime scenes a cleansing experience.
Saints Row is a return to form, and some of the most fun I’ve had in an open world in a while. It manages to strike a good balance between the wackiness of previous entries with grounded combat mechanics, and tone. The Boss is hilarious as ever, and a true murder machine completely loyal to their friends through thick and thin. It’s bogged down by a number of bugs that take you out of the experience and uneven presentation with dated elements and plenty of pop-in. Despite these issues, it manages to remain true to its roots with smart additions to the series’ open-world formula.
Hindsight tells a deeply personal story and explores the relationship between a woman, and her mother with brutal honesty. Its strong storytelling is brought down by bland gameplay, and an uneven presentation, but largely feels well executed. It’s certainly worth going through, and the level of self-reflection serves as one of the better narrative-driven games out there.
Neon White is an exceptional shooter brimming with style and substance in equal measure. The core mechanics are extremely polished and encourage you to get better through repetition, and practice. Despite my early reservations, the characters grew on me as the story progressed, and White is a pretty likable protagonist. Expertly designed levels, Machinae Girl's OST, and the slick presentation make Neon White a worthwhile experience that you won't put down easily.
Trek to Yomi is a stunning game, that goes above and beyond to pay homage to one of cinema’s greatest. It doesn’t shy away from depicting the brutality of war and each frame is full of details to create a grounded, and beautiful world. Despite its impeccable presentation, Trek to Yomi’s combat, and uneven boss fights get in the way of true greatness. It’s still worth experiencing for its visuals, and audio alone, with some caveats attached when it comes to gameplay.
Weird West is an excellent immersive sim that treats players with respect to not only make decisions but live with them. It features an unpredictable world full of danger, mystery, and ultimately, salvation. The overarching narrative with multiple characters ends on a satisfying note leaving possibilities for so much more. It’s brought down by bugs, both big and small that break the illusion of the aforementioned choice, and freedom both in gameplay and narrative.
A Memoir Blue is a memorable narrative adventure that takes players on a very personal journey through time. Its combination of 3D models, with hand-drawn animations, creates a fascinating world rich with dense atmosphere and touching moments. The lack of gameplay variety is disappointing, but enough interactivity keeps you engaged through its short runtime. Miriam’s relationship with her child-self, and mother is explored beautifully without any need for dialogue or exposition.
Project Hel is a great addition to the Ghostrunner universe and gives fans an excuse to jump back in. Hel is a killing machine with a new set of abilities and extended traversal. While the story is the weakest link again, there’s nothing better than playing as a ruthless combat android in the beautifully rendered world of Dharma.
Shadow Warrior 3 is a fantastic shooter that shows a great sense of focus. Its creative enemy designs, excellent progression, tight pacing, and satisfying combat continue to keep the series fresh. Lo Wang is better than ever and managed to make me laugh more than once. It’s held back by occasional bugs in both combat and traversal, but nothing that was too detrimental to the experience.
Pants Quest tells a fairly honest story about anxiety, procrastination, and the feeling of being stuck in your life. It suffers when it comes to gameplay due to some tedium, but manages to provide a worthwhile experience without overstaying its welcome. The pixel-art is gorgeous, and there’s a lot to like when it comes to environmental interaction.