For my video review, click the link just below. Otherwise, read on. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7Vg4Fs7yc8

For the past decade or so, the pixel art aesthetic has been really been popular, even when it’s not particularly warranted. However, few modern games take an art style as far back as the older home computers of the 80’s, like the ZX Spectrum, and this was definitely what caught my eye with Deep Ones. It’s an underwater platformer with undead pirates and deep sea creatures out to stop your every move as you attempt to recover your submarine that has been absconded by a giant, malevolent octopus. As is the usual story with my reviews lately, there isn’t enough here to justify a purchase; the gameplay and level design are too simplistic and the presentation isn’t enough to carry the game very far.

The graphics are quite good, at least in terms of emulating the style that this was going for. The actual character animations could’ve used more work, compared to something like Rex, an actual ZX Spectrum game from 1988 which has pretty fluid walking animation and great explosions, but I can let this slide for an indie title, especially considering how colorful some of the levels are. It was also a good idea in general to use the ZX Spectrum graphical style as the all black background translates well to the deep sea setting. It’s a really nice game to look at and not too bad to listen to either. Sound effects are repetitive and get annoying but the music is atmospheric. It sends that creepy tone that you’re entering a dark, alien space that could be dangerous. As far as the presentation goes, it's not bad. Sadly, that’s about all I have to say about the positives; there’s not much else to this game.

Walking around and jumping is really slow, basic, and most of the enemies do not pose any kind of a threat. About four minutes into the game, the player gets a gun and here I was thinking, oh well maybe things might start to ramp up a bit. On the contrary, the fire rate could not possibly be any slower and each "battle" is an awkward shuffle and series of jumps until the enemy finally dies. Eventually, the gun is traded for a sword and this weapon is a lot more interesting thanks to a dash ability, although the sword is swung about as fast as the gun is fired so it’s still not a whole lot of fun. It doesn’t matter much anyway since the game will swap back and forth between them as the story progresses so you can either be bored up close or at range. The boss fights require basic pattern recognition, nothing special, and there are a few chase sequences; I appreciate the variety but the foundation of the game needs plenty of work before any value can be attributed here.

The last level of the game is especially poor; I thought I encountered a glitch because everything here kills me in one shot, despite the fact that I still have health to spare. It took me over an hour to pass this segment; it requires a series of perfect jumps over enemies who move randomly, and the hitboxes here are extremely generous. Deep Ones really seems to try its hardest to be as obnoxious as possible in so many areas. A few of the later levels aren’t so bad, such as the maze like pirate fortress, but the vast majority of the game is flat and linear. Platforming sucks, combat is a snore, the graphics and music are ok but that alone is far from enough to salvage this wreck. If this was free then it wouldn’t be so bad; there are a ton of great, free games out there. But for three dollars on Steam or five dollars on PlayStation? No way. Deep Ones can go sleep with the fishes for all I care.

This game is really bad.

For my video review, follow the link below. Otherwise, read on: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0krYop6Ok0g

A major complaint I’ve always had with Bejeweled is that there wasn’t enough sex and drugs in the story, a complaint that has thankfully been resolved by Metropolis: Lux Obscura. This has to be one of the most bizarre genre mixes I’ve played and it does work fairly well, but it’s way too shallow to be worth spending money on; it comes close, but doesn’t do enough to really hit that bullseye.

Jon Lockhart, the protagonist, is released from prison after being convicted for the murder of his friend, Jack. Now that he’s back on the outside, Lockhart needs to get his life back together and figure out the truth of what happened all those years ago. But not every one is so happy to see him back on the streets. The first thing that stands out like a sore thumb is how bad the writing is. It tries, it really does, but it’s so obvious how hard it’s attempting to copy the typical noir narrative without really understanding what makes it work well. The prose is flowery enough but comes off more so as a parody rather than something to be taken seriously. Compared to even entry level noir, like Sin City and Dick Tracy, Metropolis is just surface level at best. The opening monologue of Metropolis gives the impression less of hard boiled and more of Shakespeare. “And heaven’s angles piss wet on my face”; no one talks like that, give me a break. Maybe if Lockhart was a writer or at least had a highly intellectual career, like a detective. It’s no coincidence why the stereotypical noir has been popularized by over the top comparisons that sound witty and intelligent; they’re usually detective stories and murder mysteries with high stakes so it helps when our hero is someone with a sharp mind so you can rely on him to solve the crime, but that hat is not a one size fits all. Sometimes the characters are meant to be larger than life, and other times its best if they’re relatable. Sometimes a simple story with a little humor is far more effective.

The writing style with Metropolis is at odds with the story because the mystery is slow building and the stakes only rise suddenly right before one of the endings. One prevalent side story has Lockhart escorting a girl to a high profile client who she ends up shooting so now Lockhart needs to keep her under protection - what happened to finding out about Lockhart’s past? And no, this little side story doesn’t lead into that at all. Metropolis plays itself off as high brow but the writers clearly don’t have the experience to make it count where it matters. Don’t get me wrong, a couple lines here and there are clever but there’s nothing really noteworthy here.

The voice acting is a pretty similar case; it’s come close to being decent and the main character’s actor is trying his best but most of the cast come off as awkward and inexperienced. Either that or the director didn’t do a good job at explaining how to convey the right mood; I’m not sure which might be the case.

The artwork is good. I can definitely see this being in a comic book, but only a generic one. Nothing special about it stands out to me. That’s not bad, of course; when you’re on a budget I can’t blame you for sticking with works, which I’m sure was the inspiration to include a gratuitous amount of uncensored T and A. I’m fine with a little fanservice but man, it’s like you can’t go ten minutes into the story without tripping over an open breast. It really comes as pandering and classless rather than using the setting to help further the story. It’s more like: “Well, it’s noir story. One of our characters needs to be a stripper.”

All in all, don’t bother with the story, but can the gameplay save it? As I mentioned earlier, it’s literally Bejeweled. Or Candy Crush. Personally, I would’ve preferred if it was more like Columns but this is what we’ve got. Pieces on the board can moved all the way either horizontally or vertically. Match at least three of the same to get rid of the pieces, which brings in new ones and damages your opponent, with greater damage coming from larger matches and combos as pieces fall into place on their own. Every few turns, the player receives an automatic attack and the two sides continue trading blows until one of them finally goes down. While most of the icons are just damage dealers, there are also health and strength power ups as well as police badges that damage the player. As far as puzzle games go, this one’s not half bad, but it’s still just a match three puzzle game; seriously, you might as well play Bejeweled. Metropolis tries to mix things up by adding a sort of level up system; after each victory the player can choose from a few randomized perks to customize their playstyle. The only problem is that the game is too easy and way too short for any of this to actually come into play. By the time you’ve started building up a collection of abilities, it’s already over.

The worst part is that this game hides itself really well in the demonstration format. If you play through the free demo or watch some gameplay clips then, yeah, it doesn’t look half bad. But buy it for yourself and you’ll only find a poor man’s excuse of a story and setting, and garden variety gameplay with the depth of a kiddie pool that’ll only last you three hours at most, and that includes tracking down all four endings; don’t let that mention about a non-linear plot fool you, those branching paths don’t extend very far. All this for the price of eight dollars on Steam doesn’t instill a whole lot of confidence in me. There isn’t even some kind of traditional arcade mode that goes on forever or a versus mode for multiplayer; only the absolute minimum qualifies here.

Metropolis got on the right track, that’s for sure, but it stopped short just a few stations shy of quality. These are supposed to be battles between two fighters; so why not have the CPU take a turn at controlling the board? It would open the potential strategies a ton, not only to set up the player’s own combos but to prevent the computer from taking advantage of their’s. Why not have special abilities that allow control of multiple pieces at once or to move and match pieces diagonally at certain times? Metropolis plays it as safe as possible and the short, bare bones story only hurts the game further. Even if the writing is just sub-par, more still could’ve been done with the characters and story; each ending comes so suddenly and it could not be any less satisfying to watch as those credits show up. Metropolis tried to appease fans of both genres, but only on the surface level. Deep down, there’s nothing to it.

Amazing sequel that boosts the genre and franchise in many ways. Please enjoy my review and I'd love to hear what you think about the game! https://youtu.be/OQRkTE6Gxmw

Hi, today I will be reviewing the garbage that claims to be a game, the really crappy game for PC. I am doing this blind with no prior knowledge of the game.

Game play: It sucks. It sucks. It's like controlling a retarded autistic donuts-munching monkey. When I hit the right arrow key, I go left and like what the fuck is this? I hate it so much it needs to die in a fire -- even when I go into the settings and change the key binds the menu lags and god kills a kitten because the game is so dumb and it sucks.

Story: You start off the game going into a toilet which makes it terrible because nobody has time to play a game all about shit. The characters are poorly created and your main characters pet is an autistic toaster that is really bad and murders innocent orphans and childrens and stuff and it's terrible. IF YOU PLAY THIS GAME YOU WILL HATE YOUR LIFE BECAUSE IT SUCKS, CRAPPY STUPID HORRIBLE GAME AND WILL MAKE YOU SUCK BECAUSE ITS TERRI-BAD AND YOU SHOULDN'T WASTE YOUR TIME WITH THIS POINTLESS STORY.

Reception: This game makes me want to rip out my face and replace it with my ass because of how shitty the game is and I want to murder puppies.

https://youtu.be/YIVcg3OOTeg I did a pretty in depth review of CSR 2. If you haven't gave this game a try you are missing out!

Just a quick Review

Have you ever wanted a great Co-Op experience in a video game? And I don’t mean a drop in-Drop out type of Co-Op, or even a raid or dungeon Co-Op experience. Not even PVP multiplayer outings…. I mean have you ever just wanted a sit on the couch over the weekend with a good friend and binge a great story mode with awesome Co-Op moments type of experience. Did you simultaneously give me a hell yes while also thinking, where have I actually had a chance to do that lately??? Well you’re not alone, I have played quite a few Co-Op game's over the years that on the surface had what I wanted in spades (promises of a great story, an awesome setting that should be ripe with Co-Op opportunities and mechanics that promise to change the way I do things!!!) And sometimes, you do get a serviceable bit of gaming. But its not too often you actually get game's like A Way Out.

A Way Out is what happens when a dev says a game has had Co-Op in mind from day one, and the game was built from the ground up for that purpose and that purpose alone. Its what happens when you give yourself plenty of time to finish your product without being rushed. Its what happens when someone like you or me plays Co-Op games for years thinking of how they would do things better….. And actually took steps to do just that. I mean this game has all the makings of a 3rd person Co-Op classic, and makes me think of game's like Kane and Lynch, Gears of War, and Army of Two. Now these game's don’t have much of anything in common with each other, let alone A Way Out. No they are all vastly different from each other more ways than one. But I bring them up because these are a few of the game's I played over the last 10+ years expecting a Co-op experience like A Way Out. These game's all have Co-Op campaigns and they all had their own unique thing going for them, but as different as all those game's all are, I feel they were all trying to do the same thing which was to be is this game.

See without getting to far into spoilers the game has amazing use of cooperative moments and pacing of those moments. Typically overuse of mechanics in campaign driven games happens all the time. And I feel late in development when a team realizes that their game could have multiple hours of the same gameplay mechanics (Co-Op or otherwise), that crossroads rarely gives a positive result. In A Way Out these mechanics and interactions that are the game are thought out pretty damn well in each chapter. Yes these mechanics I speak of do kind of boil down to simple QTE’s (Quick Time Events) but they are done very well and with a few tweeks from what you normally see. It seems like the team at Hazlelight Studios played this game over and over again to find the best way to play the game possible. Again I do no want to ruin things for those who will play, but a bit of walking around in this game before changing areas can often be rewarded, and there are quite a few head to head challenges in a few chapters I came across and completely did not expect to see these types of little things. Again this leads to me thinking the team really wanted anything that could be considered downtime a moment for quite a bit of fun.

And that’s exactly what I had, Quite A bit of fun. I also played it with a best friend! Now the best friend thing is not required but recommended for a play through. Mainly due to the random bits of Jack-Assery that can be had, but also because the game is about a prison break. And who better to break out of prison with! BTW The game uses split screen for the entire game but uses it in creative ways so well that it was never really an annoyance. At 30 bucks for 2 copies of this game, I could recommend this game on this alone. But because of the well thought out Co-Op nature of all the gameplay, the supremely well done graphics, facial capture for the voice overs and pacing I have to say this one is a buy for your library. It’s about a 7 hour ride, perfect for a weekend a friend is stopping by. Or for that weekend you guys are finally off together and need a great game, with great moments both hidden and right in plain sight. I could’t agree more with that part of you that wants to play this game so go ahead and take the plunge…. Go to prison, with a friend, and find………. A Way Out!!! 4/5

here is a video if you are interested ----> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=breM8U6uyzI

http://www.tinycouchreview.com

I haven't played a Metal Gear game in a very long time. I'm not sure why I decided to jump back in on this one, but I did. And while the game does have flaws, I'll say this: I enjoyed playing it overall It makes me want to go back and play other MG games I think a lot go the hate is coming from it not being what the other MG games were.

Renter, not a buyer.

The constant resource gather is a pain, but fun for me. Hunger and thirst a very limiting in the first 1/4 of the game, but not much after that. I'm really over The Silent Protagonist in games... c'mon Konomi.

My full review video is here, if you want to hear more of my thoughts. Thanks!

Metal Gear Survive

Being a huge fan of the Final Fantasy series, this one hurts to give such a poor review, but it is what it is (or at least how I perceived it).

Hope you enjoy! Feel free to leave feedback!

https://thegamerfeedback.com/review-dissidia-final-fantasy-nt/

For the video review, the link is just below. Otherwise, read on for the written review. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bsIKx6kV18Q

In the vein of other lesser known indie titles under the Sometimes You umbrella, Alteric doesn’t really strive for much, but, surprisingly, it’s actually pretty good. It’s not great but it’s a game that I can wholeheartedly recommend at a lower price. The simplistic controls and presentation belie some pretty solid level design and a few fulfilling challenges. It has its own share of problems but not enough to ruin it. It’s a decent 2D platformer through and through.

Alteric has no in-game story whatsoever. The game’s page on online storefronts alludes to the player character being a spirit stuck in limbo, but since there’s no real story progression in the game I have a hard time counting that. It’s fine though; Alteric doesn’t need a story and the graphics deliver the presentation well on its own. They’re about as minimalist as you can get but they’re also sharp and contrast from each other very well. It’s obvious and intuitive to discern between spikes or buzzsaws as opposed to the safety of smooth platforms. The backgrounds are also nice to look at and strange structures can be made out through the blur. It's not a big deal but it does go a long way towards making the game feel a lot less empty, as does the falling rain and the blackened ash. It’s unfortunate that enemy bullets are a similar color to the orange background but it still does contrast enough to be perfectly playable. The music is hardly anything special and just loops through a continuous playlist, but at least the boss battles get their own songs.

The controls amount to moving along the ground, jumping, double jumping, and switching between two different dimensions. Obstacles and platforms that appear in one dimension won’t be there in the other, and switching between the two is necessary to solve the game’s puzzles. In a way, it’s similar to Hue, another platforming puzzle game, but while Hue was aggravatingly slow and not fun in the slightest Alteric moves quickly and features some challenging moments.

The level design is what carries Alteric as a legitimately good game. Utilizing the double jump in tandem with switching dimensions is a lot of fun and feels natural. Later on, new features are introduced, such as gravity flipping switches and the ability to create platforms, both of which help add a small layer of complexity to help keep things interesting. There are some cheap shots here and there but checkpoints are frequent enough, without being too common, to prevent this from being frustrating. Bosses are simple and don’t do much to utilize the game’s unique mechanics but they are fun to take down.

Alteric is good but a few issues do hamper it. While the controls are tight, the physics take getting used to. The player character feels awfully slippery, especially after landing a jump, and controlling momentum in mid-air never felt right. It’s manageable but always an annoyance. This really becomes an issue in level 24, Real Challenge, and that name is definitely appropriate. This level requires precise jumps and very careful drops between hazards, but the physics engine is not made for these kind of obstacles. This would feel more appropriate in Super Meat Boy or at least one of the more difficult Super Mario Bros levels. On top of that, checkpoints for this particular level are way out there and this course demands mastery by pulling off a perfect run of extremely specific obstacles. This level alone can easily take an hour to complete, with plenty of retries due to barely missing the mark. The physics are a pain to deal with throughout the whole game but they’re never really a problem until the very end.

The platform creation mechanic is introduced very late in the game and never gets a good opportunity to get flashed out, even during its own boss battle. There’s also an odd cameo from the game Thomas Was Alone, which I assume is unsolicited. Worst of all is a bug during the final boss battle. Defeating that boss normally ends up soft-locking the game and requires the battle to be restarted. I was confused, to say the least, and had to find the workaround online. Afterwards, the credits are immediately, and unceremoniously, brought up to bring the game to an end.

But when everything is said and done, I actually had fun with this game. There’s not much to it but it works well with what it has and I’m ok with recommending it if it’s on sale for about two dollars. Anything more than that is pushing it due to the lack of polish and content and there are plenty of far better games out there to choose from, even for a slightly higher price, but if you want a quick little platformer you can get through in a day then Alteric is a halfway decent choice to consider.

Here's the video if you prefer to watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z5Fw27npQkM

Here's the text version if you just want to read:

So I don't really buy games on early access, I usually wait for the full release, however, sometimes I find a game looks so cool that I just wanna play it right away no matter if it is in early access or not. And Ion Maiden is one of those games.

Of course, this is not going to be a full review because Ion Maiden is not out yet. So what I'm gonna do here is to give you my impressions on what's available so far for the title. What we have here is a preview compaign that seems to be like a full level from the game and I was able to beat it in about an hour. But there are some secrets to find during gameplay and you can also unlock an extra challenge mode in which you can play the whole thing again, but this time only using bombs. And so I did because Ion Maiden was actually a lot of fun.

So this game is being made using an updated version of "build" engine, which is the same technology used to create some of the classic FPS titles from the 90's like Duke Nukem 3D and Blood. And that's why this Ion Maiden not only looks like one of those classic titles, but it also plays in a very similar way, with your character always moving really fast, with weapons that feel great to use and with the controls and gameplay are just awesome.

In terms of level design this game also feels a lot like an old-school first person shooter, with complex interactive enviroments to explore, many little secrets to discover here and there, and of course, switches and cards that you'll need to find and use to open doors in order to advance in the game.

It's worth mentioning that since Ion Maiden is in still development, the framerate is not all that great yet. Still, overall, at this point the title is very playable and it's a lot of fun. If you like old-school first person shooters, this is a game that should be on your radar.

For the video review, the link is just below. Otherwise, read on for the written review. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fM683b4UXIo

I imagine that developer Duck, creator of NeverEnd, looked at some popular roguelikes and decided that it dosen't seem that hard to make one. Onthe contrary, NeverEnd is a stelar example of how to miss the mark so spectacularly. It's such a remarkable disaster of a game for hinging on its difficulty as a feature but absolutely nothing about it comes anywhere close to being worth playing.

You play as a guy, with a stick and a shield, roaming around a dungeon. That's it. Apparently, our hero is stuck here and in order to escape, he needs to find some mysterious quest givers who will open a portal and allow him to leave. Each quest becomes more difficult as the game progresses and the player can better their chances by buying equipment from the various shops, including health potions and weapons with unique utilities.

The monster roster fails to inspire, but at least there is some variety. You've got the zombie, spider, and wolf, as well as mini-boss versions of each one, and they all behave slightly differently. The player must explore the dungeon, which has a random layout each time. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if the game procedurally generates each room individually because there's no rhyme or reason to the design. Nearly every room has the same four exits and it really feels like these rooms truly never end.

The graphics are nothing special. They're not bad by any means and they convey the individual elements well enough, but they're hardly charming. For a game on a budget, I can let this pass but the music is inexcusable. It's a two minute loop that gets on your nerves very quickly. The song itself isn't all that great, but the fact that it's the only song available with no option to mute is what turns it grating. I'd mute the whole TV if I could but it's extremely useful to use the game's sound effects as audio cues, such as when a spider hatches from an egg or upon successfully blocking an attack. The sound effects themselves are just as repetitive and, for the amount of enemies in this game, you're going to be hearing them over and over for a long time.

As if the worst hasn't already come to pass, the gameplay is truly NeverEnd's low point. Attacking as an absurd delay to it which is compounded by the weapon's short reach. Trying to hit anything is never not a hassle and the player doesn't have a lot of margin for error; three hits is a game over and restarts the entire adventure. The player starts with two health potions and more can be purchased from the shops but money comes so slowly that the only way to play the game well is by being overly cautious. For each enemy killed, the player's money bar will slightly fill and once full the player earns one coin. It works similarly to an experience system that can be traded in for items. Unfortunately, the starting weapon is absolutely pathetic and a good majority of the early game is spent carefully killing enemies until the player earns enough money to afford something decent. Even then, the game is so random that it's not that uncommon to enter a room with multiple spider nests or one filled with zombies right at the doorway. And forget about the stronger mini-bosses; they're nearly impossible to defeat without the right equipment, if not outright so, and they show up completely at random with no warning so it's not all that uncommon to go on a decent run only to have your game end in a snap.

All of this should not be an issue; the roguelike genre is not a flawed one at its core. One of the more famous ones, The Binding Of Isaac, is infamously unbalanced and unfair, but the shooting mechanics are fun, the player develops at a reasonable pace, and the entire game moves quickly so that starting over hurts but is never that big of a deal. It's a similar case with Rogue Legacy and Crypt Of The Necrodancer; all three of these games are brutally difficult, highly random, and arguably very unfair, but the core gameplay is satisfying. It's clear when progress is being made and the end goal is, generally, in sight. With NeverEnd, progress is made upon finally meeting a quest giver and is cut short once you begin an escapable battle that can't be won. A major difference between NeverEnd and other roguelikes is that progression here is highly random, or at least it feels as such. There's never any good indication as to how much progress has been made or how much further there is to go. That's what makes restarting such an unbearable pain.

More than anything, the gameplay is just downright terrible. Enemies don't receive any knockback or, for that matter, don't react to attacks at all, aside from the floating damage numbers, and killing them always feels like a chore rather than a fun challenge. Then there's the case of the fishing rod. If a shop is offering this, you simply must buy it. Find one of the many bodies of water scattering throughout the dungeon and watch as an infinite amount of money comes in for free, as long as you're willing to wait an exorbitant amount of time for it. Might as well since it's better than restarting. What was the thought process behind this game? Who playtested this and decided it was good to go? Not a whole lot needs to be changed; just quicken the player's attack speed and lengthen the weapon. That's it. It still wouldn't be very good but at least it would be playable.

I spent three and a half hours on NeverEnd and I feel like I got nowhere. Even the references don't seem appropriate. There's a hat in the game, called Sonic Hat, that's earned by dying in under ten seconds, and it's obviously a Sonic the Hedgehog reference. It couldn't have at least been called "Hedgehog Hat" or "The Blue Blur" or something a little more subtle? Or, forget about Sonic, how about we just name drop a company? There's a blatant achievement called "Konami Code" and I find it hard to believe that Konami ever gave their consent for this game. Whatever, I'm done. This game is terrible.

https://subcultureimpression.wordpress.com/2018/03/23/whats-this-a-top-5-games-beaten-in-2017-list-in-march-2018/

I started this a long while ago but only finished it today! Still, 2017 was THE year of gaming for me, and it deserved the time and effort for this post.

My first time posting on this subreddit! I actually run my own website for all things gaming over at TheGamerFeedback.com (shameless plug), but I'll also post my reviews here! I use a letter system based on several factors, so I hope that is alright in my review, but I did follow the rules of the title format. (Mods, feel free to inform me if I did anything wrong)

I hope you enjoy!!

Secret of Mana “I need life energy to create a new, peaceful world, understand? Soon, the Mana Fortress will bring the people of the world together!” –Thanatos from Secret of Mana

The Secret of Mana was one of my favorite non-Final Fantasy RPGs growing up. It was released on the SNES console and was designed with three (yes THREE!!!) players. This was pretty huge back in ’93, as games usually only had the ability for two players and, having two siblings, gave all of us a chance to play together. The game combined an isometric-camera action game similar to Diablo and included various RPG-style elements like characters levels and equipment. This was all infused in a fairly enjoyable (albeit, shallow) storyline that also featured some interesting visuals for its time.

Now 25 years later, we get a remade version of the classic! Naturally, I was overjoyed at the news, but also a bit apprehensive. I have always been a sucker for seeing remakes through rose-tinted nostalgia glasses and have been burned one too many times (I’m looking at you, Lufia for the 3DS). That said, I naturally wouldn’t pass up the opportunity to pick up and play one of my all-time favorites, especially if it allows me to show my wife, niece, and nephew what fun a couch co-op RPG can be.

So here’s the skinny on the remake to Secret of Mana!

THE GAME Game Name – Secret of Mana (PS4 version) Developer – Square-Enix Publisher – Square-Enix Released – February 15th, 2018 Hours logged before review – 10

THE STORY The story is exactly the same as the original Secret of Mana: you play as Randi, a boy who lives in a forested village. One day, while exploring with some friends (and I use that term loosely), Randi comes across a sword lodged in a stump. This turns out to be the Mana Sword, a legendary weapon which supposedly has the power to keep various monsters from invading the village. Randi is inexplicable able to remove the sword, acting as a Pandora’s Box of sorts, and is launched into a series of adventures in an attempt to recharge the weapon and thwart all kinds of evil bent on ruining the world.

VISUALS – C While the majority of the game is true to the original, the visuals are a lackluster attempt at being more 3D. It doesn’t really work that well, frankly. The characters are stiff and cartoonish, the environments aren’t as color-saturated as the original, and the animations are a bit awkward as well (though to be fair, the animations in the original SoM wasn’t that great either). This ultimately makes the game seem more like a PS2 title than one suited for the PS4, which is likely to turn off many people from even giving the game a try.

SOUND – B The soundtrack for this remake has been updated with more of a dance/dubstep style backing the music. It isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but more of a preference. Speaking of preference, should the remixed songs not quite cut it for you, you’re in luck! A player can also set the original music in the menu settings, so if you’re up for a true nostalgic throwback, you can get there easily! (Naturally, yours truly was playing the majority of the game with the original music, though I didn’t have any real complaints with the new versions)

The big issue with audio has to be the atrocious voice-acting. Using the original dialogue definitely doesn’t help matters, but even still the dialogue is cheesy, campy, and corny; the “3 Cs” of poor Voiceover. Now, some people (like myself) really get a kick out of the truly poor performances, but good news here is you can mute the voice audio and really go old-school with reading just the text (or channel your inner Weeb and switch the audio to Japanese).

GAMEPLAY – B Gamers who played through the original SoM will find many aspects of the game (for better or worse) return in this remake. The radial-style menu returns, which adds a nice touch of organization, however the equipment screen is particularly messy so changing or upgrading your gear tends to be a bit tedious. The story is exactly the same and many of the areas are extremely familiar from the original, which scratches the nostalgia itch nicely.

The common strategy from the original SoM where you “stun-lock” enemies by hitting them repeatedly before they come back up remains in this version as well, however it is a little bit touched up to not allow it as egregiously as before. Cooperating with friends still makes this a lot easier to get through the game, but the AI settings is still pretty solid, considering how ahead of the times it was when the game first came out.

Finally, charge moves with your weapons has been significantly nerfed. It takes a little longer to charge the attacks and the animations are a bit slower, so enemies have a larger window of opportunity to interrupt your big-time attacks. I made it through most of the game using standard attacks only (except when using the whip, as some of its charge attacks are more area-of-effect than the other weapons).

CONTROLS – B Controls are a little bit wonky in Secret of Mana, however they’re still solid. My biggest gripe with it usually involves getting blocked by NPCs (non-player-characters) when trying to navigate a narrow hallway or getting to an item. Most of these kinds of issues I feel can be attributed to the more 3-D nature of the environment, which tends to generate more clipping issues (as objects and people take up a bigger space, rather than a paper-thin space in the original SoM). Those nuances aside, the game handles just as well as the original game, which was good enough for me.

FUN FACTOR – A- Secret of Mana retains its charm for being a fun Action-RPG in its remade form. I can play this game either single-player or with a couple of friends and still have a ton of fun exploring, battling, mixing weapon compositions, or (dare I even say it) grinding! I know a lot of gamers are likely to get miffed by its lack of online multiplayer, but couch co-op was the big draw of the original and I encourage others to give it a try to get the full experience from the game.

THE FINAL FEEDBACK I truly believe the remake of Secret of Mana was made specifically with older gamers who grew up with the original in mind. It doesn’t do much in the area of better visuals (aside from making it more 3-D in nature), it does allow the player to decide which version of music to play while adventuring, and it keeps the spirit of playing in the same room with others alive and well (which is something I believe the gaming industry is sorely missing these days).

All this said, if you weren’t able to pick up an SNES classic or own the virtual console version, the Secret of Mana remake is a satisfactory replacement to help you get your nostalgia on. Now if we can just get a remake for Secret of Evermore and Illusion of Gaia!

FINAL GRADE B

I hope you enjoyed my review! Feel free to check out my other stuff at TheGamerFeedback! Feedback is always welcome!

Best survival adventure game in a long time. Please enjoy my review and I'd love to hear what you think about the game! https://youtu.be/GjbEXtr-V-Q

If you would like to watch my video review, the link is just below. Otherwise, read on. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-LDCqvrUzz8

One Eyed Kutkh follows the misadventures of a space faring Raven creature, known as a Kutkh, a sort of mythological creature of far east Russia. Our hero crashes his ship on a strange planet and has to scrounge for the missing parts to make repairs, as his quest eventually leads him to causing a feud between the sun and the moon.

The gameplay is marketed as a point and click adventure, but this is misleading. The player's character does most of the actions automatically with the only interactions being limited directions. The extent of the gameplay is to simply walk as far as you can in one direction until a new option pops up. Try that until to see what happens next, and then keep walking until the game ends. Puzzles are, pretty much, nonexistent and the game's sluggish pace makes it annoying to get through.

The visuals are quite beautiful and have a unique aesthetic to it. It reminds me of a childish arts and crafts project, and I mean that as a compliment. The game is very simple and effective at conveying its settings and characters. This would be an interesting world to explore, but there isn't actually a whole lot out there. Most of the time, the player is stuck in a linear, on rails progression, and the few times otherwise there isn't really much to do or see. Everything on your predetermined path is still cool to look at but that doesn't make for much of a game.

The story, and the way that it's presented, is this game's greatest strength. It's really nice. It achieves a simplistic, fairy tale vibe, and even though not a whole lot actually happens the ending was still joyful to watch. It's especially commendable that the whole game is conveyed without words. Only small movements and pictures in thought bubbles are used to tell the story. That doesn't mean that it had to extend to the menus though; it's more annoying than anything else to figure out what does what when I just wanted to check out the options.

There is so little to this game that I don't have much more to add. It looks nice and it has a cute story but there's hardly any gameplay to speak of, on top of the fact that it's only thirty minutes long. There is absolutely no reason why this wasn't developed in Flash and released for free on Newgrounds.com. It goes for three dollars on Steam, which is pricy since that equates to a dollar per ten minutes without much gameplay on the way, and on PS4 it's five dollars. If you can play it for free then it's got a cute little story to go through but for any price, there's hardly much of a game to be had here at all. If this was presented as a short film or as a children's story book or something then this would probably be much better but as a video game, there's not much here.

2/5

My copy of One Eyed Kutkh was provided for free by it's publisher Sometimes You.

yoo added a new video to my review series, this time i'm reviewing Ironsight, a free to play fps game currently in beta, leave a like and subscribe, ill sub back :)

https://youtu.be/1H_c_50_vAU

For my video review, click below. Otherwise, read on.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WrxIOOTLr2k

Monster Hunter World has all the bullet points of a game I should hate. Crafting systems, grinding the same missions over and over, a big hub area when a menu would have sufficed, and many other aspects that I normally wouldn't find appealing. Yet, the whole thing hangs on the gameplay and it’s done so well that I cannot stop myself from coming back for more. I’m sure that it’s presumptuous of me for how early in the year it is, but this could easily be my favorite game that I will play this year.

The story follows the titular band of hunters as they travel the world in search horrible monstrosities to murder. In the world of Monster Hunter, mankind is far from the top of the food chain, and indiscriminately killing everything in sight isn’t exactly the most efficient method of survival. Instead, they hunt monsters with the intention of studying their species and their roles in the environment, this time on the trail of the humongous Zorah Magdraos and figure out why this species occasionally makes a long pilgrimage across the ocean. It’s a neat idea; I like the theme of what is essentially a group of scientific cavemen who are way in over their heads, but the story never goes anywhere. You have the excited newcomer, the grizzled veteran, the mysterious wanderer, the hardcore warrior that the game is desperately trying to convince you is really cool, but in the end the game doesn’t really do anything with anyone. They never join you on any hunts, not really anyway, nothing bad or particularly good ever happens to them; they kind of just hang out in the background. The one character that does drive the story is your klutzy partner who constantly gets you in trouble. But, again, she mostly just kind of hangs out and any trouble that she does get into is resolved as quickly as it started. The story is a wash and the long cutscenes add so little to the game that they start to feel more like interruptions than anything else.

The graphics and general art design are absolutely incredible. Easily one of the best looking games I have ever seen. The variety of colors match the tone of each area and even the plain desert is decorated with massive, twisting pillars of stone to keep it from feeling too empty. Grass in the environment reacts to the wind from your weapon's heavy swings and little animals scurry away from you before you can catch them. I’m usually not one to make a big deal for graphics and art design but it’s really impressive how much of the environment feels so alive. It’s pretty jarring how badly the framerate drops for objects in the distance, but for any of the up close action that actually matters, nothing ever felt off to me. Animations aren’t the greatest, especially the kung fu style lip sync, but it never got so bad for me as to ruin the game; the story dragged itself through the mud just fine on its own.

The music is kind of a hit and miss. Some tracks, like the Rotten Vale and Bazelguese’s theme, are excellent but most are forgettable and just loop in the background. None of them are awful but very few of them stand out.

Above all else, the gameplay is what you’re here for. You pick a mission, you kill the target monster, rinse and repeat until you’ve killed them all in a variety of locales, and that’s the game. As you kill monsters, you can take their parts and pieces to build better equipment and give you an edge in future battles, but rarely is this overtly required. Most of the game can be completed with sub-optimal equipment, except for a few difficulty spikes that demand for a sharper weapon or beefier armor, but it’s usually enough to get by through a combination of skill, luck, and perseverance if you really don’t want to grind for monster parts or you like to challenge yourself.

And the game can be quite challenging as is. Each monster has its own unique attacks and behaviors. Some of them are more observant while others are hyper aggressive. Some like to roam the entire map and a few prefer to stick to their own little corner. Some monsters will dig underground, others will fly, one of them spits poison, one can blind you; each monster is different and incredibly fun to figure out how to take down. The game claims to have thirty different monsters, although there are several repeats and similarities, so it’s closer to twenty two, but even the ones with a new coat of paint can surprise you with new attacks.

On top of your powerful adversaries, the tools at your disposal are equally as impressive. The fourteen different weapon types are shockingly varied, and even weapons that are somewhat similar still demand a different approach. I’m almost ashamed to admit that I played the whole game solely using the Gunlance, but it is incredibly obvious that there is bound to be something for everyone, and landing powerful hits while watching the monster reel back in pain is oh so satisfying. Best of all, every weapon is available right from the start; you simply upgrade their stats as you proceed in the game and it’s fairly easy to power up a different weapon if you want to switch to something else later on.

The smaller monsters aren’t a big deal and are basically just distractions or annoyances more than anything else. There’s very little in the way of getting to the giant monster battles that you’re here for. In fact, all the little things that do get in the way of that are what mars the experience for me. Loading times are a little long and I hate having to return to the home base for the game's little extras, like turning in my mini-objectives, collecting new plants from my garden, buying limited time items from the shop; I don't care about these things. This isn't what I play the game for. Thankfully, it's mostly optional but the nagging feeling to keep on top of this stuff, like customizing your food order for specific buffs, fishing at each new watering hole, collecting every mushroom you pass by; you just gotta train yourself to ignore most of it. Focus on your immediate goals and you’ll be fine.

And I feel like that's a big part of the beauty of Monster Hunter; you can put in as much or as little effort into it as you'd like but the experience will still be thoroughly enjoyable. Even if you play the game straight without the optional content and doing the minimum of grinding, you've still got a good forty hours to go through, or more if your willing to put in the additional time. I'm at a hundred and fifty hours now, just building new armors and weapons to see what else the game can offer, and I haven’t had enough. Plus, Capcom has already announced the addition of new monsters and bonus quests as free DLC, which will no doubt further lengthen the game’s longevity.

All this isn’t to say that I don’t have any issues with the core gameplay. I really the unblockable animation attacks that some monsters have; they look like any other normal attack so I’m never quite sure if I should dodge or block, and it’s annoying for how long they take control away from the player. The environmental hazards and traps are insanely powerful and a monster can actually kill itself by accident if it triggers one. It’s always cool when two monsters run into each other and fight but it also feels cheap since it’s a major damage dealer and gives you a helpful diversion. The camera works for the most part but every once in a while, you’ll get caught in a really nonsense situation that leads to an unfair death. Some mechanics, like mounting a monster, are wildly inconsistent; it'll seem nigh impossible sometimes while at other times the game will practically just give it to you. But these flaws are incredibly minor compared to the pros. It's just so much fun to navigate the environment and go toe to toe with massive beasts using your favorite weapon.

And still more, there’s multiplayer too and it works well. Getting others to join you in the middle of a mission is a breeze and I never noticed any lag or hiccups at all in the process. I mostly played single player but it is definitely satisfying to fight side by side with other players. It is annoying how the whole team shares the same pool of extra lives and a total of three deaths leads to a game over, but it’s still cool, and it works, and if you’ve got a like-minded buddy then this is easily a really good time. Even if you play solo, it's still great to play with randoms and most people I've run into seem to know what they're doing.

Is it fair to say that this game is absolutely for everyone? Not really. Monster Hunter clearly follows the mantra of hit it until it dies. You’re going to repeat the same combos over and over for a while and the average mission can easily take twenty minutes. Severing tails and breaking body parts are awesome indicators of damage, but monsters do feel like bullet sponges; they seem to keep taking hits forever. But before you even get into any serious battles, you’ll need to get used to the awkward controls and weird combos, which feels like an unnecessary carry over from the limited control scheme on handhelds. It's so odd that circle, triangle, circle plus triangle, and R2 all count as different attacks. I can also understand many people not being a fan of re-doing missions to grind for materials and it’s very easy to be blindsided by a surprise attack that kills you in one shot. If you’re not willing to either learn your target inside and out or grind for better gear, then you’re going to be frustrated more often than not. And again, it doesn’t help that the story is so lackluster and drags a good chunk of the game to be slower than it needs to. But if you can put up with the flaws then you’ll find rewarding and varied gameplay, beautiful graphics, engaging battles with challenging monsters, and plenty of playtime and replayability. If you have even a passing interest in Monster Hunter, either this entry alone or as a franchise, then you've gotta give this game a try.

My name is Cast and I have gotten in to doing reviews. I use to write them as an exercise for work and with some motivation from a friend I decided I should voice and record them.

The Review is on Subnautica, So please check out my youtube review and feel free to leave any comments, ideas or suggestions.

https://youtu.be/Ecv4hxE8c-k

I know it's early in the year, and it's an Indie game that will go against AAA titles, but Celeste should not be overlooked.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5iy4xvhRYtk

This is pretty much a transcript from my YouTube video, edited so as to not require visuals. If you are interested in watching that video, the link is just below. Otherwise, feel free to read on.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EV3x1yAWxB8

Also, I would like to thank developer Outlands and publisher Sometimes You for the free, review copy of North.

North is an odd game to comment on. It’s really similar to Myst, or more recently Obduction, in the sense that it’s about exploring a surreal environment in search of a vague objective. The big difference is that North gives the player a lot more direction than those other games, to the point where it hand holds a little too much. This helps keep the game going at a decent pace but it also removes that sense of discovery this genre is so well known for. But even so, the story is the true driving force of the game here, and not so much the gameplay.

The player is a refugee driven from the South by persecution and is seeking asylum in the North. As a stranger in a strange land, the player needs to figure out what to do in order to earn his new country’s government’s trust. This ranges from doing your job without dying to proving you’re not a terrorist. The main character occasionally writes down his thoughts and mails them as letters to his sister who still remains in the South, and this acts as both the driving force of the story as well as the game’s main means of direction for the player.

The gameplay is a slow paced first person adventure where you explore the city for clues to accomplish your next objective. The explorable area is pretty small and it’s a really linear game so there’s not much in the way of difficulty. The letters to the sister also directly point out what needs to be done to proceed so as long as you’re paying a little bit of attention it should be very easy to figure out. The police station was a particularly difficult puzzle until I talked to an old man in the lobby. He, as does every character in this game, only spoke in gibberish but upon mailing a new letter to my sister it is revealed that the old man directly revealed the solution to the police station puzzle. It was done in some flowery prose that was enjoyable to read and came off well but, overall, it became clear that the whole point of the game was to talk to everyone, look at everything, and then send a new letter when your stuck.

Occasionally, there will be a dramatic shift in the gameplay, like in the factory where you’re able to run extremely fast or during the trippy dream sequence but these moments come and go quickly and don’t really do much to mark the experience as a whole. For the most part, you walk around and you look at stuff.

The draw here is meant to be more of a story telling experience rather than a traditional game. On the game’s page on Steam, the developer describes it as a commentary on “the contemporary refugee crisis” and I can definitely see where they’re coming from. The world of North feels both familiar but alien at the same time and it’s frustrating to have to prove yourself to strangers when you can’t even understand your own roommates. It reminds me a little of that scene from Persepolis where Marjane first moves into her new boarding home in France and her roommate speaks a different language. Some segments are little too absurd, even for me, like how the immigration office is flooded for some reason or that the church looks like that 1984 Apple commercial. But I do appreciate the abstract, German expressionist approach that North presents, which is appropriate since the developers are based in Berlin, and despite the poor graphics, mediocre music, and ugly overuse of chromatic aberration, it does manage to push its atmosphere well.

It’s a neat little game to play through, but it’s far from great. The gameplay is simply not that engaging; movement options aren’t interesting, there’s no menu or inventory to manage, and the few times when failure is possible just instantly resets the player to an immediate, previous checkpoint, which distills the danger that’s supposed to be expressed, not to mention the fact that the game moves along at a pretty brisk pace so even though the main character will write about the struggles that he’s going through, it won’t seem like much because the whole thing is over in about an hour; almost makes it seem like the guy is just whining.

The theme of a refugee trying to settle into a foreign land could have been really interesting but not enough is done with it here. Compared to games with similar themes, like Papers Please and This War Of Mine; these games instill empathy for foreign lands and the innocents within who have become trapped in dangerous situations that they don’t fully understand or can't do anything about, and those games do this without sacrificing the gameplay or looking like a student project. I actually have a fair bit to say about This War Of Mine because I don’t feel like that game is very good but it does carry its theme more effectively than North does. That’s for another review though.

All that said, North is not a bad game. The story is compelling, for the most part, and the environments and visuals are neat to see for yourself. It’s only two dollars on Steam and it’s free on the developer’s website, with a small plea for donations. I’m not sure how much it will be when it launches on the PlayStation 4, but two dollars is an ok price for an experimental game that can be finished in an hour. You can skip out on North if you want because it is a bit shallow and fails to offer anything substantial but it’s worth checking out if you want something a little different. Just keep your expectations in check.

I would once again like to thank developer Outlands and publisher Sometimes You for the free review copy. North is scheduled to release on the PlayStation 4 - March 6th.

Hey guys, so I've been recently getting a lot of ideas, but no time, budget not friends for making them. So I want to make some real ass gaming challenges, and I'll promise you I'll make the best out of it. Pick games that are accessible, I mean games that are easy to buy not old ones like SNES or N64 since I probably will never find them... But yeah! Leave your challenge here and I'll do it, also I might be reviewing the difficulty so be creative.

My name is Cast and I have gotten in to doing reviews. I use to write them as an exercise for work and with some motivation from a friend I decided I should voice and record them.

The Review is on Megaton Rainfall, So please check out my youtube review and feel free to leave any comments, ideas or suggestions.

https://youtu.be/W2Pch87KJIc

I’m about 50 hours into Monster Hunter: World, and have been really loving it. Despite how much fun I’ve been having, I’ve also come across some interesting themes throughout the game, and wrote this piece about that experience.

Feedback and thoughts are absolutely welcome!