DuChomp
2016
A multiplayer nightmare (in a bad way)
Lobbies full of sweaties who take it WAY too serious, and constant meta balancing that completely ruins characters you spent money on or just changes how the entire game works.
The worst update is the addition of a countdown after someone escapes, forcing all other players to prioritize escaping rather than helping or playing mind-games with your victims. No longer having a standoff with a killer who is blocking the door and having to use Navy Seal tier stealth tactics to maneuver around a map , hoping to find the Hatch before the Killer finds you. Now it's "hurry up, get this game over with, we have more mediocre matches for you to play"
Lobbies full of sweaties who take it WAY too serious, and constant meta balancing that completely ruins characters you spent money on or just changes how the entire game works.
The worst update is the addition of a countdown after someone escapes, forcing all other players to prioritize escaping rather than helping or playing mind-games with your victims. No longer having a standoff with a killer who is blocking the door and having to use Navy Seal tier stealth tactics to maneuver around a map , hoping to find the Hatch before the Killer finds you. Now it's "hurry up, get this game over with, we have more mediocre matches for you to play"
2018
Some of the most unique minigames that take full advantage of the controls
Many of these minigames have wibbly-wobbly controls, but it actual works in this one, and the ones that don't have everyone struggling with it, not just you
Characters have a unique system where they come with a personal dice, making a bit of extra strategy with who you pick. You can even get additional dice midgame to expand your choices, but can lead to just steamrolling/getting steamrolled from the armada that someone has on their team.
The biggest crux of this game is the maps, they are HORRENDOUS, arguably only 1 map is even remotely enjoyable. You are often screwed over by being stuck in RNG hell or begging the game to hand you a Golden Pipe so you can just get a star.
Great party game, definitely one to consider at the family cookout :)
Many of these minigames have wibbly-wobbly controls, but it actual works in this one, and the ones that don't have everyone struggling with it, not just you
Characters have a unique system where they come with a personal dice, making a bit of extra strategy with who you pick. You can even get additional dice midgame to expand your choices, but can lead to just steamrolling/getting steamrolled from the armada that someone has on their team.
The biggest crux of this game is the maps, they are HORRENDOUS, arguably only 1 map is even remotely enjoyable. You are often screwed over by being stuck in RNG hell or begging the game to hand you a Golden Pipe so you can just get a star.
Great party game, definitely one to consider at the family cookout :)
2024
Everything comes together for one of the best multiplayer games you’ll ever play
The campiness from being a parody of wartime propaganda blends perfectly for the video game feels: humorous dialogue, dynamic music that feels orchestrated to your current objective, and the feeling of community among your fellow patriots. I’ve only played with friends and I don’t give a shit about the meta, I just want to shoot some damn bugs for Super Earth!
It’s controls are very smooth, you can feel like a walking fortress and a ballerina at the same time with the maneuverability options given. Adjustable difficulty so that you can play with friends of any skill level. The UI is a bit lacking, a lot of information is crammed on some screens where others feel so barren I don’t know what to do.
The ethics of the studio that makes the game is probably the best thing about this whole game. Patch notes are fun to read, address any issues the community has, it even doesn’t have any FOMO mechanics, just bottlenecked progression but it’s so fun you don’t really care. This shouldn’t technically be a praise, but given the state of most companies ethics at the time of this review, it earns its merits for being exemplary of what every studio should be doing.
The campiness from being a parody of wartime propaganda blends perfectly for the video game feels: humorous dialogue, dynamic music that feels orchestrated to your current objective, and the feeling of community among your fellow patriots. I’ve only played with friends and I don’t give a shit about the meta, I just want to shoot some damn bugs for Super Earth!
It’s controls are very smooth, you can feel like a walking fortress and a ballerina at the same time with the maneuverability options given. Adjustable difficulty so that you can play with friends of any skill level. The UI is a bit lacking, a lot of information is crammed on some screens where others feel so barren I don’t know what to do.
The ethics of the studio that makes the game is probably the best thing about this whole game. Patch notes are fun to read, address any issues the community has, it even doesn’t have any FOMO mechanics, just bottlenecked progression but it’s so fun you don’t really care. This shouldn’t technically be a praise, but given the state of most companies ethics at the time of this review, it earns its merits for being exemplary of what every studio should be doing.
The most 2011 game of all time. A dark, gritty zombie game packed to the brim with dated immersive mechanics to give a sense of “realism.”
The controls are clunky; you get used to them but it’s like saying you mastered walking in shoes 5 sizes too big. You’re constantly bodyblocked by teammates and are forced to fight tons of enemies in close-quarter hallways. Forced aim-assist makes gunplay near impossible, along with no steady source to find bullets until 2/3rds the way through finishing. The neatest thing to the controls was a dodge jump that isn’t really told to you, it’s super useful for dealing with all the special zombies and different than every other game from the era giving you a little bitch push move just for a little wiggle room.
My biggest issue with this game has always been the RPG-elements, specifically with the weapons. Any time I tried to optimize my loadout, I would get frustrated from investing all my money and resources into my cool baseball bat, only to find the shop just rotated and there’s a new baseball bat that’s way stronger and sinking my money into that, but then 10 minutes of walking outside I found a new baseball bat even stronger. I had to basically put on a blindfold any time I looked at my weapons and throw all my money into a fire pit just to hope I do enough damage to the next zombie I encounter. I’ve always been told “just ignore it” and if that’s really the best response for a game about getting weapons to kill zombies with, then I think there’s a problem. 99% of quests are “go here, grab this, but zombies are in the way” and if finding the way to most optimally kill zombies should be “ignored” then what do you even have left? A mediocre looter-shooter? After a while, our group did missions by running past the zombies and I just thought to myself what’s the point of doing them if the reward is just more resources to kill the zombies that we are skipping? I didn’t complain out loud though, it got the game over with quicker 😎
I feel like most people have fond memories of this game because they could kick the shit out of a zombie with friends; it’s really this games biggest blessing because playing alone will just bore the hell out of you since your only friend is the baseball bat that you’re gonna replace in the next 10 minutes.
The controls are clunky; you get used to them but it’s like saying you mastered walking in shoes 5 sizes too big. You’re constantly bodyblocked by teammates and are forced to fight tons of enemies in close-quarter hallways. Forced aim-assist makes gunplay near impossible, along with no steady source to find bullets until 2/3rds the way through finishing. The neatest thing to the controls was a dodge jump that isn’t really told to you, it’s super useful for dealing with all the special zombies and different than every other game from the era giving you a little bitch push move just for a little wiggle room.
My biggest issue with this game has always been the RPG-elements, specifically with the weapons. Any time I tried to optimize my loadout, I would get frustrated from investing all my money and resources into my cool baseball bat, only to find the shop just rotated and there’s a new baseball bat that’s way stronger and sinking my money into that, but then 10 minutes of walking outside I found a new baseball bat even stronger. I had to basically put on a blindfold any time I looked at my weapons and throw all my money into a fire pit just to hope I do enough damage to the next zombie I encounter. I’ve always been told “just ignore it” and if that’s really the best response for a game about getting weapons to kill zombies with, then I think there’s a problem. 99% of quests are “go here, grab this, but zombies are in the way” and if finding the way to most optimally kill zombies should be “ignored” then what do you even have left? A mediocre looter-shooter? After a while, our group did missions by running past the zombies and I just thought to myself what’s the point of doing them if the reward is just more resources to kill the zombies that we are skipping? I didn’t complain out loud though, it got the game over with quicker 😎
I feel like most people have fond memories of this game because they could kick the shit out of a zombie with friends; it’s really this games biggest blessing because playing alone will just bore the hell out of you since your only friend is the baseball bat that you’re gonna replace in the next 10 minutes.
It’s a decent game to have in your pocket when out doing things and you get stuck waiting, but very repetitive and not something you would play in leisure time. One of the best game modes ever for the entire series is stuck on this version exclusively and that’s this company’s biggest crime.
So much polish, but not a lot to do
It improves on the gameplay in almost every way from its prequels, but with an extra gimmicky roster and annoying maps, I found myself only wanting to used about 1/4th of the game’s content. The solo and multiplayer content is very barren, leading you just to play standard matches over and over until you just get worn out. I often suggested to play older games in the series while playing this one.
It improves on the gameplay in almost every way from its prequels, but with an extra gimmicky roster and annoying maps, I found myself only wanting to used about 1/4th of the game’s content. The solo and multiplayer content is very barren, leading you just to play standard matches over and over until you just get worn out. I often suggested to play older games in the series while playing this one.
A bundle of quirky minigames, strung together by a story mode that scratches an itch of collecting things. Bomb Bowling should be a sport at the Olympics
The original "Getting Over It with Bennett Foddy"
A charming love letter to a niche genre while standing on it’s own
This game pays homage to the Phillips CDi Zelda games, using alot of the original talent that worked on them and mimicking it’s design so well that it feels like it could have been made for the original console at the time. The love and soul that went into making this game can be felt and it makes the experience a joy on that alone. It’s a simple enough game to play in a single sitting and honestly recommended since there’s a lot to memorize with its metroidvania style of progression. You’ll be backtracking a lot thorough levels, combing every wall and surface to get any secrets; it’s a fairly easy game to 100% without a guide, just a keen eye.
My only gripe with the game is that the cutscenes did not match to the humor of its inspiration, animations/characters didn’t leave as much of an impact except for a small handful of scenes. Some scenes felt like attempts to be parodied of the CDi games but they just made me go “I wish I was watching the original cutscenes instead.” The animation quality wasn’t consistent between each other, but that did add another layer of charm that the game gave off.
This game pays homage to the Phillips CDi Zelda games, using alot of the original talent that worked on them and mimicking it’s design so well that it feels like it could have been made for the original console at the time. The love and soul that went into making this game can be felt and it makes the experience a joy on that alone. It’s a simple enough game to play in a single sitting and honestly recommended since there’s a lot to memorize with its metroidvania style of progression. You’ll be backtracking a lot thorough levels, combing every wall and surface to get any secrets; it’s a fairly easy game to 100% without a guide, just a keen eye.
My only gripe with the game is that the cutscenes did not match to the humor of its inspiration, animations/characters didn’t leave as much of an impact except for a small handful of scenes. Some scenes felt like attempts to be parodied of the CDi games but they just made me go “I wish I was watching the original cutscenes instead.” The animation quality wasn’t consistent between each other, but that did add another layer of charm that the game gave off.
2010
Improvement of the first one, but loses its atmosphere without any music
It over-complicates the nearly perfect balance of its previous entry. Too many situational things that can randomly pop up that makes preplanning go out the window, and makes for more reactionary decisions; it's like going from Chess to Go-Fish. Very unfriendly to beginners who have not played the previous game, never my recommended party game.
2024
A mixed bag of things you already played, but with 1 new thing brought to the table
The gameplay is mostly uninspired; the exploration feels like BotW, the survival feels like RUST, the monster taming feel like Pokémon, this game is just a mix of successful things and tries to be all of them at once.
The unique feature that makes this stand out from the games that copy this same recipe is the utility with the creatures you collect, the Pals. Each unique species of Pal can perform certain tasks in combat as well as when put to work at a base, making your party composition change based on what your objective is: help you explore unreachable areas, focus on harvesting a specific resource, even increase your carry load to organize/move base resources. Mixed in is a personality system that adds randomized traits to help or hinder your Pal’s performance, making you constantly analyze who you want to keep and who to throw out.
This added utility of base building to the Pals give a refreshing breath of depth to a creature-collecting game than what we haven’t gotten with many in the genre, but don’t let that sway you into thinking “this is what Pokémon SHOULD be doing!!” It does not emulate that adventurous feeling you get from traveling the world to become a Pokémaster, it’s just a survival game with automation. You won’t fall in love with your Chikpi named Cluckles because you aren’t bonding with them, you are just looking for the most optimal Pal to get the job done. Another note, the Pal designs are very uninspired, feeling like borderline plagiarism to a lot of Pokémon designs. I’m really hoping this is not made with AI and is just uninspired designs; discrediting a lack of imagination as “probably AI” doesn’t help the fight against its use.
The gameplay is mostly uninspired; the exploration feels like BotW, the survival feels like RUST, the monster taming feel like Pokémon, this game is just a mix of successful things and tries to be all of them at once.
The unique feature that makes this stand out from the games that copy this same recipe is the utility with the creatures you collect, the Pals. Each unique species of Pal can perform certain tasks in combat as well as when put to work at a base, making your party composition change based on what your objective is: help you explore unreachable areas, focus on harvesting a specific resource, even increase your carry load to organize/move base resources. Mixed in is a personality system that adds randomized traits to help or hinder your Pal’s performance, making you constantly analyze who you want to keep and who to throw out.
This added utility of base building to the Pals give a refreshing breath of depth to a creature-collecting game than what we haven’t gotten with many in the genre, but don’t let that sway you into thinking “this is what Pokémon SHOULD be doing!!” It does not emulate that adventurous feeling you get from traveling the world to become a Pokémaster, it’s just a survival game with automation. You won’t fall in love with your Chikpi named Cluckles because you aren’t bonding with them, you are just looking for the most optimal Pal to get the job done. Another note, the Pal designs are very uninspired, feeling like borderline plagiarism to a lot of Pokémon designs. I’m really hoping this is not made with AI and is just uninspired designs; discrediting a lack of imagination as “probably AI” doesn’t help the fight against its use.
2009
I already avoid phone calls from my relatives, why did someone create a new place for them to annoy me
2011
I accidentally bought some lifetime membership thing for like $100 and when I called support, they refunded me and forgot to remove my membership, so I basically got to be a super player for free. It was still really boring though, so it goes to show that the real content wasn’t hidden behind a paywall, it just sucked to play at its core
A shift in the Bethesda formula
I started getting into Bethesda games around Oblivion (sorry Morrowind fans) and I absolutely loved all the games I played by the studio. The vastness of the worlds mixed with the amount of microadjustments you could make on almost every tiny bit of your equipment made replaying the game as a whole different build all the more enjoyable. But once Skyrim came out, the crazy complex systems were removed, focusing more on a simpler and more streamlined action experience. I enjoyed my time while playing the game, but I never found myself wanting to revisit it in a new playthrough like I had done before. The campiness I enjoyed when playing Oblivion was lost to a mediocre realism approach that I found to have less memorable encounters.
I started getting into Bethesda games around Oblivion (sorry Morrowind fans) and I absolutely loved all the games I played by the studio. The vastness of the worlds mixed with the amount of microadjustments you could make on almost every tiny bit of your equipment made replaying the game as a whole different build all the more enjoyable. But once Skyrim came out, the crazy complex systems were removed, focusing more on a simpler and more streamlined action experience. I enjoyed my time while playing the game, but I never found myself wanting to revisit it in a new playthrough like I had done before. The campiness I enjoyed when playing Oblivion was lost to a mediocre realism approach that I found to have less memorable encounters.