MonsterVine
HomepageMonsterVine's Reviews
While Type-Noise: Shonen Shojo could have executed some of its concepts a little better, it tells a solid story about trauma and moving on. These characters' stories aren't revolutionary, but they're emotional and heartfelt, and I found myself rooting for each one as I learned more about them. As an adventure game, it also provides a wide variety of puzzles that are both challenging and satisfying.
Creepy Redneck Dinosaur Mansion 1 Re-Raptored features a fun story and match-3 gameplay, but that’s all there is to it.
If you’re into weird art projects and vibing to some cool fake cable programming and recapturing that vibe of trying to find something to watch on a weekday afternoon, there’s nothing like Blippo+. But if you’re weirded out by, like, the entire preceding description, you’re probably not going to have a good time. I suggest: drugs.
Silent Hill f delivers a compelling and creepy horror experience, with unique enemies and environments that feel smartly focused on telling Hinako's story. The focus on societal expectations of women and the competition forced upon them, even between friends and sisters, gives the horror elements a more pointed focus. It delivers on themes throughout, and while the combat is only just fine, some of the more compelling ideas, like the economy of Silent Hill f create a compelling and spooky experience. Obtuse puzzles and a lack of variety in combat hold Silent Hill f back from reaching the peak of the survival horror genre.
Overall, Tiny Bookshop was absolute perfection, and everything I could have hoped for as someone who loves books as much as I do. It had such a gentle atmosphere and was very stress-free to play. I’d love to see some DLC released for this title or a follow-up.
Donkey Kong Bananza’s DK Island and Emerald Rush DLC have the potential to be a lot of fun, but the bundle ends up being a little bit underwhelming. I wish DK Island were more robust and rewarding to explore, and the price point is a bit steep for a fairly straightforward and repetitive mode like Emerald Rush. If you’re desperately looking for more Donkey Kong Bananza to play, this is alright, but I wish it were either cheaper or more extensive in its new content.
Bubsy in: The Purrfect Collection is an odd case. As a collection and as a piece of digital preservation, it’s brilliant. There are lots of interesting bits of bonus content, tight emulation, and pleasant visuals. It’s just that the Bubsy games themselves aren’t very good to begin with.
Little Problems: A Cozy Detective Game is cute, and its puzzles really put your comprehension skills to the test. Beyond that, however, it doesn't have too much else to offer. It's an interesting experience, but one that ultimately ends up feeling rather bland.
Lost Soul Aside has ultimately left me feeling empty. Its most frustrating aspects are ones that don’t necessarily impact the actual gameplay, but the gameplay itself, while good in its best moments, isn’t enough to save this game. The end result is a forgettable and frustrating action game that I can’t recommend to even the most ravenous stylish-action fans.
Echoes of the End really struggles to provide a satisfying experience. Between the combat and the puzzle-solving, Echoes of the End is not a very satisfying game. I believe the developer realizes this, and I hope they’re able to realize their vision to great success, but, for now, I can’t recommend Echoes of the End.
Cronos: The New Dawn is a great survival horror game, utilizing its tough and grueling combat to complement the grueling and unforgiving atmosphere of Eastern Europe in the 1980s. It pushes the staples of the genre, like inventory management, to their extremes, without feeling overly difficult or unfair. The narrative won't blow you away, and it doesn't answer some of the more compelling questions its sci-fi story sets up, but you always want to learn more and find the next piece of information. It's not quite transcendent in the way some recent survival horror games have been, but it's a great time and absolutely worth diving into.
Everybody’s Golf Hot Shots features plenty of golfing goodness that will please anybody who likes to take to the green. It likely won’t make golf more appealing to anyone who doesn’t already enjoy it, but the variety of modes and playable characters and caddies make it into a title that will devour the time of any enthusiasts.
All in all, Helldivers 2 is a fantastic game. The way it blends its live-service aspects with the overall narrative is a breath of fresh air. Helldivers 2 is filled with plenty of cinematic moments that'll often leave you on the edge of your seat. It's great to see Sony and Xbox get along because consumers like you and I can now enjoy more games on our platform of choice.
Daemon X Machina Titanic Scion makes a big change compared to the first game, and it paid off. The game proudly displays its own ideas and molds the gameplay to be something between the usual mecha style and an action RPG that stands out among the pack. There are a few questionable design decisions, and maybe some lost potential with the lack of endgame, but I loved my time with my Arsenal and hope they are planning for more.
Metal Eden is a fantastic, high-octane FPS that, even in its short campaign run time, occasionally strays too far from its core combat loop. A lack of any additional game modes, not even a new game plus option, does make this package feel a bit lacking, as I wanted to do more when credits rolled, but didn't have any options besides running through it again. The narrative takes up far too much time, and the dialogue during missions is overly dramatic in a way that is quite grating, but the core combat is more than enough to make me happy with my time playing.
There really isn’t much more to say about Tamagotchi Plaza. It feels like a throwback to the cheap cash-grab minigame collections of the Wii era—a game trying to skate by on name recognition and little else. Who needs fun when you have a Tamagotchi, right?
Dividing a game into five separate genres could be a recipe for disaster, but Shuten Order turns it into something brilliant instead. While some routes are stronger than others, each is enjoyable in its own way, with different gameplay mechanics and structures. Despite some flaws and typos, everything came together in a satisfying way that made Shuten Order a great experience overall.
Varlet feels like a turn-based RPG that is simultaneously doing far too much and far too little. The story is overly complex and long for the game's 16 hour run time, which also takes away from the development of its cast of characters. On the other hand, the dungeons lack personality and variety, and the combat is truly one note, leaving a ton to be desired. I cannot recommend Varlet for anyone, as it doesn't have anything it truly excels at, and far too much that it utterly fails in.
Catto’s Post Office is an adorable, pun-filled, heartwarming, and sincere game, aware of how aspects that might seem small or microscopic in the grand scheme of things can still be extremely important to certain individuals, especially to a sensitive Postcat like Catto. The game made me feel as if I was watching an animated show on TVOKids, Treehouse TV, or Teletoon–sometimes your soul just needs that sort of nourishing game experience.
Time Flies is a profoundly poignant game, allows you to look within yourself and especially with factors that are at play for each person, to hammer down that sonder, if you still have yet to obtain that sense of clarity, or if that sliver of reflection needs to continue growing. Being able to mix gameplay hilarity with the looming death that is ever approaching in this stylistically hand-drawn black and white world fascinates me. Just because you are as tiny as a fly in this game, does not mean your impact on its world is also tiny.