LilShpee
2024
Charming music, art, and especially gameplay. You can tell they had a lot of fun making this.
Unfortunately, the writing is the meat of the game. 90% of the jokes (the vast majority of which involve repeating Thing You Know From Internet) fell flat for me and the particularly obstructive ones earned the coveted "sigh" award. I liked the one with trying to fit into the portrait, that was cute.
The danmaku air hockey gameplay was consistently great though. I would definitely want to play something more centered on that where I don't have this kid talking at me for an hour in between segments.
Also this game uses AI voice cloning of some youtubers in a few scenes which I'm guessing they didn't get permission to do since I didn't notice their names mentioned in the credits? Ethics aside, I think shitty impressions would've been a lot funnier.
Unfortunately, the writing is the meat of the game. 90% of the jokes (the vast majority of which involve repeating Thing You Know From Internet) fell flat for me and the particularly obstructive ones earned the coveted "sigh" award. I liked the one with trying to fit into the portrait, that was cute.
The danmaku air hockey gameplay was consistently great though. I would definitely want to play something more centered on that where I don't have this kid talking at me for an hour in between segments.
Also this game uses AI voice cloning of some youtubers in a few scenes which I'm guessing they didn't get permission to do since I didn't notice their names mentioned in the credits? Ethics aside, I think shitty impressions would've been a lot funnier.
2021
2019
2020
2023
the gameplay, art, characters, and music are great but if you travel ever so slightly off the beaten path you are treated to the most dragging writing ever. provided you're not the type who claps when they hear Name Of Media Property, you will be groaning and sighing the whole time you spend exploring a populated area.
again, other than that, the game is good. I certainly got more than my money's worth (5 dollars with two other games, as part of this fanatical bundle)
again, other than that, the game is good. I certainly got more than my money's worth (5 dollars with two other games, as part of this fanatical bundle)
2019
When I was a kid and my brother first showed me the "Museum of Simulation Technology" demo, my thoughts were essentially "wow! this is really impressive! but could this concept actually be taken any further?"
10 or so years later I found out the answer was no!
While the central mechanic remains impressive and unique, the majority of puzzles in the game don't build on it in any meaningful way. It gets to the point that many puzzles have what is essentially the same solution of "make a thing big to jump somewhere high".
Seemingly in an attempt to compensate for this, the developers added more mechanics, but these never interact with the perspective scaling or each other; coming off instead like something that was added for mere gameplay variety instead of making more complex puzzles.
There's also something in the game resembling a story which also feels tacked on. It's it's unclever, unnecessary, it's un-not-on-the-nose.
It still feels like a tech demo, only this time it's stretched out to the length of a short game.
10 or so years later I found out the answer was no!
While the central mechanic remains impressive and unique, the majority of puzzles in the game don't build on it in any meaningful way. It gets to the point that many puzzles have what is essentially the same solution of "make a thing big to jump somewhere high".
Seemingly in an attempt to compensate for this, the developers added more mechanics, but these never interact with the perspective scaling or each other; coming off instead like something that was added for mere gameplay variety instead of making more complex puzzles.
There's also something in the game resembling a story which also feels tacked on. It's it's unclever, unnecessary, it's un-not-on-the-nose.
It still feels like a tech demo, only this time it's stretched out to the length of a short game.
2015
2016
This review contains spoilers
after the first game copped out (pun intended) with a "no one did it" solution where no one learns anything, I was pleasantly surprised to see a realistic moral dilemma presented and discussed. I was fully prepared for the reveal to be "it was windy that night" however Frog Detective 2: The Case of the Invisible Wizard had something important to say and that is GOOD
2024