Herodotus
2024
As a free demo for a forthcoming game, this is pretty promising. I see reviews on Steam saying this is what FNAF Security Breach should've been, and I get it. This is Security Breach if you stripped out the annoying mechanics, devastating amount of Staff Bots roaming the halls and made it even more dilapidated.
Indigo Park gets a star for atmosphere and design off the bat, with a well-made intro video and a quite convincing take on an abandoned theme park with a dark secret. Mad props for correctly using light sources to indicate the intended path, because far too many titles are drastically overlit nowadays, and I much prefer this method of pathfinding to the ubiquitous yellow paint approach. The detail in the Railroad section and the gift shop outside the park is particularly worth noting. Keyrings and pins on the ground reflect realistically in the light you cast, glimmering properly. However, 3D models are a bit "off" looking, and not really in the "off" looking way you'd expect from a mascot horror game. They don't feel intentionally weird, is what I'm saying.
Second star goes to Rambley himself, who is a mostly self-aware artificial intelligence there to guide you through what's left of the park. Rambley's a cute character, and his interactions with the player and the other remnants of the Park are well-written and not annoying, which is also worth noting as I'm reminded immediately of Tattletail's endless amount of being really sweet and not irritating despite accidentally getting me killed multiple times.
The third star is awarded because you can tell this game is made with love for the project. It ran well, it looked good, it sounded fine, and the Portal-esque credits theme was a really nice touch. It's so important to me that this game feels like the developers really wanted to make it, because parts of Security Breach felt rushed and not particularly well cared for.
There are, of course, issues - the biggest in my mind being that there simply isn't enough to actually "play". This is essentially a walking sim with a spooky theme, a funhouse, which is appropriate for the setting of a theme park. I do love the setting, though, but I'm getting bored of games that boil down to massive areas of nice scenery and plot with no opportunity to explore actual gameplay rather than walking around. You do get a pretty decent chase sequence at the end, and there are collectibles to reward exploration, but this is too short a game to really do anything in.
Anyway, other issues include the aforementioned 3D models looking funky, the very very short length (38 minutes by my count, although my Steam counter is refusing to update past 10), some quite noticeable lighting glitches and the admittedly quite old-fashioned level transitions. Funnily enough, these reminded me of Portal as well - the fade to black and logo appearance is honestly pretty similar to Portal 2's loading screens. But I don't know if that's really an issue: what's better? A loading screen, or a slow corridor section with a bit of stuttering? I'd choose the former anyday.
It shows great promise, and with a bit of polish and extra chapters inbound, this could be a really good addition to a genre that's in sore need of rejuvenation.
Indigo Park gets a star for atmosphere and design off the bat, with a well-made intro video and a quite convincing take on an abandoned theme park with a dark secret. Mad props for correctly using light sources to indicate the intended path, because far too many titles are drastically overlit nowadays, and I much prefer this method of pathfinding to the ubiquitous yellow paint approach. The detail in the Railroad section and the gift shop outside the park is particularly worth noting. Keyrings and pins on the ground reflect realistically in the light you cast, glimmering properly. However, 3D models are a bit "off" looking, and not really in the "off" looking way you'd expect from a mascot horror game. They don't feel intentionally weird, is what I'm saying.
Second star goes to Rambley himself, who is a mostly self-aware artificial intelligence there to guide you through what's left of the park. Rambley's a cute character, and his interactions with the player and the other remnants of the Park are well-written and not annoying, which is also worth noting as I'm reminded immediately of Tattletail's endless amount of being really sweet and not irritating despite accidentally getting me killed multiple times.
The third star is awarded because you can tell this game is made with love for the project. It ran well, it looked good, it sounded fine, and the Portal-esque credits theme was a really nice touch. It's so important to me that this game feels like the developers really wanted to make it, because parts of Security Breach felt rushed and not particularly well cared for.
There are, of course, issues - the biggest in my mind being that there simply isn't enough to actually "play". This is essentially a walking sim with a spooky theme, a funhouse, which is appropriate for the setting of a theme park. I do love the setting, though, but I'm getting bored of games that boil down to massive areas of nice scenery and plot with no opportunity to explore actual gameplay rather than walking around. You do get a pretty decent chase sequence at the end, and there are collectibles to reward exploration, but this is too short a game to really do anything in.
Anyway, other issues include the aforementioned 3D models looking funky, the very very short length (38 minutes by my count, although my Steam counter is refusing to update past 10), some quite noticeable lighting glitches and the admittedly quite old-fashioned level transitions. Funnily enough, these reminded me of Portal as well - the fade to black and logo appearance is honestly pretty similar to Portal 2's loading screens. But I don't know if that's really an issue: what's better? A loading screen, or a slow corridor section with a bit of stuttering? I'd choose the former anyday.
It shows great promise, and with a bit of polish and extra chapters inbound, this could be a really good addition to a genre that's in sore need of rejuvenation.
2010
The game that fundamentally changed the way I looked at... casinos (and shops). Dead Rising 2 isn't as good as the first game, and having the time limit has always been my biggest issue with the first two games.
2006
The game that fundamentally changed the way I looked at shops and the items within them. What were once items to consume and pay for suddenly became weapons to defend myself against hordes, if that ever happened.
2004
The franchise's peak, arguably. It has never gotten better than The Sims 2 and each expansion refined the experience to the point that I physically cannot stop reinstalling the game every few months. God, 2004 was an awesome year.
2000
There is something almost otherworldly about The Sims. The insistent use of Comic Sans as the primary font, the 1950s aesthetic that becomes increasingly at odds with the content of the game as more expansions are added, the tense and genuinely unnerving random phone calls. The Sims is an oddity, a one of a kind title that cannot be replicated in the modern era. 24 years later, even Maxis themselves can't nail down what made this series so popular with its first two installments.
Liberation should have been III's expansion, rather than a handheld title. I appreciate finally getting a real portable Assassin's Creed but this has so many good ideas and cool scenes that should have been executed on a console or PC platform with the specs to really make it shine. The HD port is just fine; my favourite aspect of Liberation is Aveline's ability to swap disguises to further blend in, something I think is so so cool.
Whoever came up with this concept should have been fired out of a cannon. Assassin's Creed II and Brotherhood both have fantastic implementations of the wider conspiratorial themes the series used to excel at, but Revelations' is just awful. I did not purchase this at launch, but did play it on PS4 in the Ezio Collection. Dismal.
Much better than the Battle of Forli. Bonfire includes far more missions with slightly more varied designs, a new but woefully underused gameplay mechanic in the springboard, and one of Ezio's best bits of character writing during the finale. I do wonder why these sequences were cut from the game, though; it can't have been for financial reasons surely, because these expansions were relatively cheap when they released. Must have been a timing problem.
Bad news, though: it is nowhere near the quality of the main game. The whole Savonarola arc appears to be mostly filler, and it actively hampers the game's pacing when playing AC2 with the DLCs installed.
Bad news, though: it is nowhere near the quality of the main game. The whole Savonarola arc appears to be mostly filler, and it actively hampers the game's pacing when playing AC2 with the DLCs installed.
Good for further interactions with Machiavelli and Caterina Sforza, but a slog otherwise. Boring mission design set in the game's most visually drab and unappealing area.
As a complete package, this is pretty much perfect. It has become my preferred way to play all three of the Mega Drive games unless I'm specifically on a platform that doesn't have access to emulators.
1985
Congraturation! This review is happy end. Thank you. Being the wise and courageour reviewer that you are you feel strongth welling. In your body. Return to home page. Log Again!
This game is fiendishly difficult, but it never felt particularly unfair to me the way a lot of other NES games could do.
This game is fiendishly difficult, but it never felt particularly unfair to me the way a lot of other NES games could do.
1982
Pitfall is the video game precursor to Uncharted, Tomb Raider, Prince of Persia, Assassin's Creed... any kind of adventure game involving traps, falls and hostile architecture, I think.
It's also not as good as any of the above titles and honestly is now kind of a novelty.
It's also not as good as any of the above titles and honestly is now kind of a novelty.
1982
Sisters are doin' it for themselves, but even faster and with slightly nicer graphics.
1980
The original and the immaculate, Pac-Man is pure arcade goodness. Pac-Man is older than me by seventeen years, but it has aged amazingly well. Controls are good, the gameplay loop is simple but addictive, and the lasting power of this game is noteworthy considering it's turning 45 next year. I hope I age as well as Pac-Man does!
1979
Asteroids is an addictive little arcade penny pincher game in which you break up asteroids. It's sort of like the film Armageddon, but without anything that makes it like the film Armageddon, so I suppose it really isn't anything like the film Armageddon at all.