Pocky and Rocky is an underrated, difficult twin-stick shooter in the veins of Commando, a 16-bit inspired sequel Pocky & Rocky Reshrined is in the work by Natsume as we speak and should release within the week. It's neither a remaster nor a remake, rather a "follow-up" that borrows similar levels.

As for the original Pocky & Rocky, it's just an all-around unbelievably polished title from Natsume; who worked on Medabots, Wild Guns, Harvest Moon, and Ninja Warrior. They just have that portfolio without any stinkers, which made them some of the best developers of the Super Nintendo era. Unfortunately, their games weren't targetted to a Western audience, with a rather Japanese design philosophy.

This game has 6 levels which don't seem like a lot, but all of them are extremely complex and varied; they're all quite difficult. Playing on your own isn't recommended at all, as you can bring a friend to the fight, just be careful not to bounce into them, as there is friendly fire to balance.

Pocky and Rocky is quintessentially Japanese, our main character is a temple maiden and a tanuki, and our enemies are various "goblins" from the Japanese folklore legends. How Pocky & Rocky turns these chilling, creepy yokai monsters into cutesy characters is beyond stellar, and certainly gives the game a unique feel. Pocky and Rocky remain to this day one of my favorite shooters of all time and one of my favorite games of all time.

Now I've never like Electronic Arts much. Very few of their games have had much appeal to my taste so when I heard about Dead Space I was pleasantly surprised that they were dipping a toe into a genre I like so much and the end result is one of my all time favorite games.

The story to Dead Space is a fairly simple one, in the future, giant planet cracker ships have been designed to pop the core of planets and take valuable minerals from them and take them back to earth, a modern deep space mining industry. Having lost contact with the USG Ishimura, the biggest ship in her class, a small shuttle with a comms repair crew is sent to find it and repair what ever is wrong, you play the role of a technician called Issac and what you discover.....isn't so easily fixed.

One of the best features of Dead Space's design is that it doesn't use a heads up display. Issac is controlled in 3rd person as he explores around the USG Ishimura and everything is shown though something in the game world. Your health bar is set in sections down the spine of Issac's rig (spacesuit) his ammo for the current gun is shown on a holographic display when aiming. Even his inventory and video / audio files found on the ship come up on a holographic display in front of him as if he is looking at it, giving a much deeper game experience as it takes away a lot of the signs you would subconsciously associate with making it a game.

When in combat Issac aims in an over the shoulder view and R1 fires whichever weapon he has equipped, with some weapon quick change on the fly set to the D-pad. There are about 8 weapons in total found though out the game, most of which are pretty original in themselves as the Ishimura is a mining ship so sci-fi buzz saws, flamethrowers and plasma cutters are standard as opposed to Assault Rifles or traditional guns. Each weapon also has a duel function when pressing R2 while aiming, my favorite being the plasma cutter which was 3 shots in a line that can fire either vertically or horizontally depending on which mode it's in. I found this handy for one of the selling points of the title, dismemberment. The easiest way to kill, or even just slow down the mutated crew of the Ishimura is by shooting off legs, arms and tails. Head and body shots do nothing, and the various weapon functions allow you do do this with pretty gruesome and brutal results.

Aside from that Issac also has some other benefits of it being a sci-fi and has a couple of modules he can equip into the glove of his suit that allow him to make an enemy move in slow motion with stasis or pick up an item like say...an explosive canister and launch it at a group of enemies for utter carnage as well as saving ammo. These abilities are also used in some basic puzzles outside of combat to allow movement around some of the more damaged parts of the ship and have their own little arc power bar on the shoulder of Issacs rig, this has filling up points on walls as well as items that can refill it.

As mentioned above, some of the ship is damaged and to survive Issac has to fix it (He is a technician after all). This often means going out on the side of the ship, or into areas with zero gravity. I have to mention that these parts are really a perfect example of the atmosphere that Dead Space is about. In a vacuum there are only two things that can be heard, Issac's feet walking and even they come through muffled, muted from him feeling it through impact rather then the actual sound and his heart beat, that's it. It's like really being there, amazingly well done and completely absorbing.

Visually Dead Space hits the nail on the head with some amazing atmospheric design and lighting effects leading to a near traumatic playing experience. This game blew me away in 2008. The enemy designs are pretty good as well with the obvious signs of them once being human with torn uniforms and human arms sticking out of an otherwise horrible looking creature. As good as Dead Space looks however, what makes this game really stand out as a horror title is the sound, or in a lot of places lack of it. Maybe some machinery working here and there, or the sound of his footsteps walking on the steel grating all add up to a very suspenseful atmosphere. The balance is really just right, the sound design is really excellent.

My one, and only complaint about Dead Space is that Issac is a silent protagonist. Every other character you meet, and some even that you don't is voice acted brilliantly but Issac's lack of interaction with them really took away some of the realism of the title and took away some of the atmosphere.

The game lasts for about 12 hours with plenty of trophies and a harder setting unlocked to encourage extra play throughs, and with how fun the game is, it's well worth it. If you like horror games or sci-fi then this is a game you should play. I really hope the announced remake captures the essence of what made this game so great.

+ Amazing atmosphere.
+ Unique Weapons.
+ Great use of sound design in places.
+ Genuinely tense at times.
+ Great HUD free design.

- Issac as a silent protagonist breaks immersion.

When I was growing up we didn't have much money. By the time I got a Sega Megadrive (replacing my ZX Spectrum) Sonic 2 was already out and the original game was a free pack in title with most consoles. For a long time Sonic the Hedgehog was the only game I had for the platform so inevitably, I played it a lot. It plays more like a proper platformer than later titles which focus more on the speedier sections that are only present here in small bursts. Having played it so much I appreciate a lot of the design that went into each stage. However I can also understand that people only trying it now and possibly after playing other games in the series may have a more negative impression of it.

There are seven zones to play through which are broken into different acts, the final act of each zone has a boss:

Green Hill Zone - The most famous Sonic zone? A lot of Sonic games had essentially a clone version of this as it's first zone going forward. It's a fun starter zone that's fairly easy and has a few faster moments with loops to run round that became an iconic part of the series.

Marble Zone - I think this is where peoples expectations of what they think this game will be as opposed to what it is. It's slower levels with moving platforms, lava pits and spike traps really put people off. I hated this zone myself at the time as a wee lad but having played it so much I have a new found respect for it's slower pace and more cautious gameplay.

Spring Yard Zone - This I'm less keen on. It's similar to Marble Zone in that it's a slower paced level with some precise movement and jumps needed but it's where the lack of the spin dash introduced in Sonic 2 highlights it's flaws in some sections when you lose momentum.

Labyrinth Zone - So, I must be the only person on earth that likes this zone. It really stands out with slower floating underwater sections in which you need to get air from bubbles that release as you travel. I appreciate the different mechanics here that break up the rest of the game.

Star Light Zone - This is a bit of a mix of Green Hill Zone's loops and faster sections but mixed with Marble Zone's difficulty with some loops leading straight to bombs or instant death pits. It easily has the best music in the game though.

Scrap Brain Zone - This is the only zone I actively don't like. It's just constant pit traps, flames, disappearing platforms etc. It isn't a fun zone to play no matter what path you take.

Final Zone - This is basically just the Final boss and Scrap Brain boss mixed. I actually like this fight quite a lot. More than the final boss of later games interestingly. It is hard but weirdly less frustrating. The bosses in the game are pretty good generally with a nice mix, Labyrinth Zone's is more of a platform challenge to once again be a bit different etc.

There are also special zones to get Chaos Emeralds which I don't really enjoy. That said I've played them enough it wasn't too much of a challenge to get all six on this playthrough. You play a top down spinning section you have to guide Sonic without hitting dead end exits. It's more annoying than skill based and simply knowing where to go.

Overall I honestly do like this game but it is the worst of the original trilogy easily. The lack of a spin dash introduced in the sequel, the meh special stage zones and Scrap Brain Zone generally do bring it down. That said I appreciate the more platform based gameplay, great visual design, animations and fantastic music. If you haven't played this I do recommend giving it a try just temper your expectations. It's a genuinely good game and sets the formula going forward that Sonic 2 and 3 actively improve on but it's still a fun game in it's own right. It's also available on almost everything now if you don't own the original hardware.

+ Great visual design for the time.
+ Love the music, especially Star Light Zone.
+ Labyrinth Zone. (Yes, I said it)

- Losing momentum without the spin dash at times is annoying.
- Scrap Brain Zone is just no fun.
- Special stages aren't very fun either.

There are few games I've finished and just sat back and stared at the screen processing what I'd just experienced. Soma however, at the time of writing this is the first game that comes to mind that simply left that kind of incredible impact on me. It's been six years since I played this and I still occasionally think about it.

Equally though thanks to that, Soma is also an incredibly hard game to write about as it's honestly a game best going into blind. It plays like a walking simulator in a science fiction story is the barest of descriptions I am willing to give. The premise to this game as well as the cast of characters you run into are absolutely brilliant and I would say it's implementation is near perfect. The atmosphere of the locales you explore using elements of forms of horror and science fiction intermixed are incredibly detailed and just add to the feeling of dread the game imposes in ways more chilling than a simple jump scare some horror games rely on a little too liberally.

Gameplay wise Soma has your character Simon exploring different areas in a fairly linear fashion solving the odd very basic puzzle as it progresses. Where Soma's downfall that stops it being perfect is the enemy encounters. Whilst some are genuinely scary or tense in a lot of ways, some are more annoying to progress through their design and simply feel like an impediment of what makes Soma such a fantastic experience. This is only amplified by the developers themselves who released a no enemy mode as a free patch after the games release.

These encounters are not why you play Soma though, they aren't what makes the game scary, it's not what makes the game great. The story, characters and atmosphere together are what make Soma such an unforgettable experience and I urge anyone who likes science fiction or horror to give this game a try, preferably knowing as little before hand before going in.

+ Amazing story premise.
+ Fantastic atmosphere.
+ Detailed environments.
+ Great characters and voice acting.

- Enemy encounters are...not great at times.

there are so many things brilliant about this game.

for one its a sci-fi horror that takes place underwater rather than space, but uses the darkness of the depths to make the two near indistinguishable at times -- either way, you're alone and nobody can hear you. the game is incredibly depressing and existential with powerful themes. the storyline is made up with genuinely intriguing philosophical topics that will make you question what it means to be human. the visual effects and sound design are immaculate and make for an incredibly immersive experience.

if I had to pick something to groan about, it would probably be how often I got lost in this game, but I don't think that's something they could have fixed without compromising on the design. it's also quite difficult to keep up with all the characters in the story and their exact actions/nature of their deaths, but thankfully you don't need to in order to keep up with the plot.

beautiful game. really glad I went back and played this instead of letting cryaotic's (<-- fuck this guy) playthrough of it be my last memory of SOMA.

I don't necessarily know that I agree with this anymore, so I've removed the rating I originally gave it. Thank you for the recognition, though; this review in particular is why I've stuck around on this website.

Alpha Protocol is one of the worst Stealth games I've played in recent memory. I'll say that it's not the absolute bottom of the barrel when it comes to stealth games; you can tell that they tried their hardest with what they had. There are a ton of fun options to work around with, including gadgets like a sound emitter and tranquilizer darts for your pistol. But four fundamental pillars always set it back: one, bodies disappear. I'm not of the school of thought that you need to be able to drag bodies in a stealth game, but I've always thought that it's necessary to make sure they don't despawn. Part of the reason I love stealth games so much is that they're tense in a way few games are; small missteps will absolutely set you back. Taking the consequence away from having to take someone out feels cheap and cuts that tension in half. Two, it's overly reliant on checkpoints. Another staple of the stealth genre for me is the ability to quicksave. I know not every game has this, and some games are generally better without it. But when checkpoints are your only option, things get frustrating quickly. What ends up happening is that you get spotted, and because you either aren't well-equipped for combat or just don't want to deal with that noise, you try to reload a save. Only, your last checkpoint was 30 minutes ago, and you have to backtrack aaaaaaaall the way back for a minor misstep. In a game where the main goal is to shoot all of the bad guys, going back 30 minutes isn't too much of an issue. But when you can consistently set yourself back, it gets tiring to deal with. You can technically save your progress from a checkpoint in case you want to pull any of the punches this game asks you to make. But if you're wondering if that actually comes in handy while you're playing the game, its purpose is null. Three, the AI is erratic. Sometimes it will spot you on a dime or even through a wall, while other times, you can take three to four guys out in front of another guy, and he won't flinch. It's both unpredictable and infuriating to deal with. Finally, and most egregious of all, this game is NOT graceful when you get caught. Other games might make the transition from stealth to combat easy on their players, so it's not too much of a hassle to deal with. But in Alpha Protocol, I associated this lack of a transition with that of a jump scare. I might have screamed on multiple occasions; I didn't count. But I screamed a lot.
So then why on earth did I give this four stars?

Here's the thing: in The Walking Dead, the choice of Doug or Carly only affects your experience in a minor way. The game isn't asking you if you want the story to change significantly, but rather which character you want to hang around and how you want to alter one tiny scene later in the game. The way The Walking Dead presents its choices isn't through a sense of fascination, though, but through urgency. Whether or not you go with Doug or Carly, Doug or Carly will die. There's something to be said about how choice in video games is an illusion; the game might tell you telling Lee Everett to be more aggressive will make others more cautious in his presence, but without the game explicitly saying that that's the case, you'd be hard-pressed to notice a change in behavior. The Walking Dead, and those in its stead, are an inconsistent mix of show and tell. They're willing to show you some things, but the only thing they have to offer is lots of telling. In some instances, Alpha Protocol is guilty of the same thing. But what sets Alpha Protocol apart from its contemporaries with one thing: its pacing. There are plenty of Doug or Carly instances in this game, but instead of waiting half the game for that choice to have any meaningful impact, Alpha Protocol is blunt about your choices' outcomes. In a way, it has to be. The most significant factor in how you handle reactivity to player choice in video games comes down to setting. If your game is set within a slowly dying world, where the loss of life might as well turn the sun brown, it almost makes sense for your choices not to have consequences right away. In the case of Alpha Protocol's espionage setting, there isn't a single character in here that's in the right or wrong. If you want to make a case for some of the most despicable members of its cast, you can. Everything is varying shades of grey. If I had to wait half the game to find out that sparing the boss who played loud 80s hair-metal made someone angry, I'm no longer making a case for having saved that character. The illusion of choice is pushed to its absolute limit in Alpha Protocol, and I don't think I've seen another game take its approach in the ten-plus years since its release.

But none of that would be entertaining if the writing sucked. Thankfully, they pulled this one off with flying colors. The first thing that I have to point is that they reuse the same rape joke twice, and it isn't funny either time. But in contrast with the rest of the game, that's the exception. I laughed my ass off multiple times, and it was never at this game's expense. If you have the option to play a conversation straight-faced, you also have the option to do it shit-faced. I'm almost considering doing a playthrough where I'm an asshole to everyone because some of this dialog is genuinely that funny. But I don't know how easy that would be for me, considering how much I adore these characters. Mina, Scarlett, Steven, and Albatross are some of the best this game offers. But even the smaller side characters are entertaining and odd in their own ways. I'm sure that I missed out on one or two of them, which just gives me more incentive to revisit this when I get the sound of that stupid alarm going off out of my head. And I look forward to that day.

If Alpha Protocol had a less troubled development and wasn't rushed to market off the back of a bleeding budget, I think that this could have the potential to be in my top five of all time. But as it stands, it's still really fucking good, even if that hacking mini-game can go knit eggs. With all of the sixth to seventh-generation console games getting remade lately, I'm praying that Alpha Protocol gets the reevaluation it deserves.

The two words I associate with my playthrough of 12 Minutes are what and why. Everything about this game invokes the response, "What? Why would you do that?" The most obvious aspect of the game to receive this response is the spoiler narrative plot twist. The second most obvious aspect to me is the casting of James McAvoy and Daisy Ridley as the leads. Why hire a Scottish actor and English actress for voice performances for Americans? It makes no sense.

Gameplay wise, the game is mostly a puzzle game, where the player has to figure out the right combination of items and interactions to advance the story. Most of the puzzles are easy to solve, and the ones that are not can be brute forced.

I love the time loop concept and some of the odd things the player can do. Considering how restrictive the game is, there is also a bit of player freedom to do weird and crazy things. However, if you want to experience the story, you have to proceed how the game wants you to even if it's not the most rational way to do it.

The narrative is decisive to say the least. It did not click with me, but I know others who like it. I will not spoil it, so the only way to experience it is to play the game (or watch YouTube). Your reaction to the narrative will ultimately be how you judge this game. I did not enjoy it. It made me go, "What? Why would you do that?"

Eastward feels like a natural, smooth step up from Mother 3, (although a small step down in a slightly more simplified story and focused, uh, focus,) a perfect blend of more mature references and modern gameplay applying. It hits a number of similar beats, having a very familiar Chapter structure, and deals with its themes and characters both seriously and humorously, switching/blending easily.

Combat is simple while still having room for variation in playstyle, ammo rarely being a problem. The inspirations are clear and references hit nicely, feeling well-integrated and never taking you out of it. Puzzles and exploration are smart and exciting, secret passages and stray chests abound! Lighting and sound design are of special note, 3D rumble does some really subtle things with heartbeats pumping and train tracks clacking along...

It isn't perfect, a few little loose ends stay that way, a couple beats can be confusing, the combat stays simple and clean, but has no room for much personality or improvisation. But pretty much all of these things are negligible, barely affecting the strength of the experience.

The depth, feel, character and score create an incredible world teetering on the brink, a real place with people I learned to care about...
Well done PixPil, what a fantastic experience, and only your first game as well! An excellent addition to the Motherlike genre!

This is the third of the Rusty Lake games I've played and my favourite so far.

We're back to the eerie little stories, this time with a sort of twisted fairytale theme which I liked. I also really liked the art style, music, and the small amount of voice acting.

Here, your character arrives at the hotel, spends time with each of the guests, collects items, and solves puzzles. The puzzles generally made more sense to me than those of either Samsara Room or The White Door, although I would say that "making sense" is not always the same as "being easily solved." The beetle puzzle in particular took me longer than I'm proud of.

End result: Renewed enthusiasm for playing through the rest of the Rusty Lake games.