Nilichi
Thoroughly mediocre flight combat. Sluggish and unsatisfying handling. The PC port barely functions on modern hardware. Annoying escort missions. Battle Above Taloraan has a random chance of just crashing to desktop upon completion due to some longstanding script bugs in the mission. Downing AT-ATs is j a n k. Draw distance?
The only reason this ever received any praise is because it let you fly an X-Wing without fucking around in DOS. Brb, I'm going to go fuck around in DOS.
Just skip to the second entry. The OG is a historical curiosity.
The only reason this ever received any praise is because it let you fly an X-Wing without fucking around in DOS. Brb, I'm going to go fuck around in DOS.
Just skip to the second entry. The OG is a historical curiosity.
2022
I held off on playing Tinykin for an unduly long time because I think the protagonist has a stupid haircut. As it turns out, even the in-game NPCs tend to express similar sentiments. Amusing.
The enviro art looks great, and calls to mind many hours spent traversing the world of Chibi-Robo. While Tinykin is clearly Pikmin inspired, it lacks any of the task-management of the series, and instead plays as a very conventional collectathon. Just rummage over every inch of level geo and pick up all the glowing edible looking collectibles on autopilot and the game will complete itself. Tinykin coasts by on delightful style and amusing NPC dialog to create a pleasantly memorable experience.
I gave up on trying to 100% my save, and am dearly wishing for a pollen radar. This is why I really don't like collectathons, they tend to resort to tedium rather than challenge. At least the time trials actually put your management of soap-board and bubble-hover schmoovement to the test. Showing that Tinykin can provide satisfying platforming sequences.
The enviro art looks great, and calls to mind many hours spent traversing the world of Chibi-Robo. While Tinykin is clearly Pikmin inspired, it lacks any of the task-management of the series, and instead plays as a very conventional collectathon. Just rummage over every inch of level geo and pick up all the glowing edible looking collectibles on autopilot and the game will complete itself. Tinykin coasts by on delightful style and amusing NPC dialog to create a pleasantly memorable experience.
I gave up on trying to 100% my save, and am dearly wishing for a pollen radar. This is why I really don't like collectathons, they tend to resort to tedium rather than challenge. At least the time trials actually put your management of soap-board and bubble-hover schmoovement to the test. Showing that Tinykin can provide satisfying platforming sequences.
"As a longtime fan of the Armored Core soundtracks I am tremendously underwhelmed by AC6." "seriously what happened to the driving anthems from the last four games?! Stargazer isn't enough, I need m o r e."
- One Eternity Later -
THE DARKEST STARLESS SKY
BEGGING FOR THE LIGHT TO SHINE
(unintelligible)
Go! We just have to move on, go!
WELL, WE JUST HAVE TO GO
ALL WE WANTED
ALL WE NEEDED
ALL WE WAITED
ALL WE'VE GONE THROUGH
takes me anywhere, I go~
Now see? That's what I'm talking about. PATHOS! Too bad it's not actually in the game though. AC6: 7/10.
- One Eternity Later -
THE DARKEST STARLESS SKY
BEGGING FOR THE LIGHT TO SHINE
(unintelligible)
Go! We just have to move on, go!
WELL, WE JUST HAVE TO GO
ALL WE WANTED
ALL WE NEEDED
ALL WE WAITED
ALL WE'VE GONE THROUGH
takes me anywhere, I go~
Now see? That's what I'm talking about. PATHOS! Too bad it's not actually in the game though. AC6: 7/10.
2008
I'm pretty sure this game directly led to my sister seriously pursuing theatrical singing and landing several leading roles. Too bad it's an eyesore and most of the songs are annoying.
TBD
Your favorite chiptune artist's favorite synth.
2016
I accidentally skipped mission 6 by being intelligent.
It's probably worth noting that I shelved this game for 2 years and 2 months, rather than completing it in two nearly unbroken sittings like its predecessor.
It's probably worth noting that I shelved this game for 2 years and 2 months, rather than completing it in two nearly unbroken sittings like its predecessor.
Forget JoyCon drift in the post Halle-effect era, the GBA's terribad sound hardware after the absolute powerhouse of the Game Boy Color is indisputable proof that Nintendo can't into hardware design.
After you mute the BGM and put on your own tunes, this seems like some decent F-Zero action if you can acclimate to how you need to manage thrust around corners. Bouncing off of walls is extra frustrating in this outing though.
- - -
Climax is so much better it isn't funny.
After you mute the BGM and put on your own tunes, this seems like some decent F-Zero action if you can acclimate to how you need to manage thrust around corners. Bouncing off of walls is extra frustrating in this outing though.
- - -
Climax is so much better it isn't funny.
The Drath are cool now actually, I don't care anymore.
"I for one motion for full deployment of virus bombs against the Terran pestilence before they have a chance to become a problem." Wait no, I'm Dictator for Eternal-life, I don't motion for anything. Fuck it we ball.
I love this game.
The original GalCiv II Dread Lords was my first PC Game, (ignoring MNOLG and some dimly recalled edutainment). The first time I went for a genocide playthrough, after getting bored of easily winning via "diplomacy" wherein you puppeteer everyone else to fight each other and then congratulate your allies about how you've brought peace to the galaxy by eradicating everyone else not in the alliance in the name of "freedom and democracy", the Terrans almost immediately called me out after testing my new Virus Armada against an unsuspecting minor-race that insulted my custom Barbarian Starhorde upon our first contact. The Terrans promptly lost their shit and formed an alliance of Allies and we engaged in an epic struggle that lasted until the end of that campaign. I love how every once in a while the game spits out a Space Opera with actual drama and pacing. The AI in GalCiv II is definitely above average, and doesn't even start cheating until you select one of the very high AI difficulty options.
It's not perfect mind you, there's a goofy "moral" system that often offers a bunch of uninteresting choices for either good-boy-points or chaotic-stupid-points. Meanwhile the only correct choice is Neutral to achieve Technological Supremacy via the Temple of Neutrality.
I'd say the game is unintentionally comical, but a lot of the events are tongue-in-cheek and occasionally eye-rollingly so, or just downright kinda dumb. More pressingly I feel that too many of the Evil options simply don't provide enough of a strategic benefit to be valuable. There's a clear intent for them to provide short-term gains but I've always looked at them as insignificant.
I think there's also a handful of bugs, as I once encountered a minor-race with a soldiering bonus of over 4 billion percent. Not sure how that happened. I've never encountered anything run destroying though. On max size maps there's also a chance of random crashes, as the game is only 32-bit.
The game is easily moddable, and has plenty of customization options for bringing new races and factions into the game. I like to roll with a pool of Master of Orion and Twilight Imperium custom races available to the CPUs.
You can lose weeks of your life to this game, stay away.
(Fuck the Drath. Scheming lizard bastards. If people are declaring war on you for no reason, it's always because you're playing against Drath. Every. single. time.) It's okay when I make the same kind of backroom deals tho
I love this game.
The original GalCiv II Dread Lords was my first PC Game, (ignoring MNOLG and some dimly recalled edutainment). The first time I went for a genocide playthrough, after getting bored of easily winning via "diplomacy" wherein you puppeteer everyone else to fight each other and then congratulate your allies about how you've brought peace to the galaxy by eradicating everyone else not in the alliance in the name of "freedom and democracy", the Terrans almost immediately called me out after testing my new Virus Armada against an unsuspecting minor-race that insulted my custom Barbarian Starhorde upon our first contact. The Terrans promptly lost their shit and formed an alliance of Allies and we engaged in an epic struggle that lasted until the end of that campaign. I love how every once in a while the game spits out a Space Opera with actual drama and pacing. The AI in GalCiv II is definitely above average, and doesn't even start cheating until you select one of the very high AI difficulty options.
It's not perfect mind you, there's a goofy "moral" system that often offers a bunch of uninteresting choices for either good-boy-points or chaotic-stupid-points. Meanwhile the only correct choice is Neutral to achieve Technological Supremacy via the Temple of Neutrality.
I'd say the game is unintentionally comical, but a lot of the events are tongue-in-cheek and occasionally eye-rollingly so, or just downright kinda dumb. More pressingly I feel that too many of the Evil options simply don't provide enough of a strategic benefit to be valuable. There's a clear intent for them to provide short-term gains but I've always looked at them as insignificant.
I think there's also a handful of bugs, as I once encountered a minor-race with a soldiering bonus of over 4 billion percent. Not sure how that happened. I've never encountered anything run destroying though. On max size maps there's also a chance of random crashes, as the game is only 32-bit.
The game is easily moddable, and has plenty of customization options for bringing new races and factions into the game. I like to roll with a pool of Master of Orion and Twilight Imperium custom races available to the CPUs.
You can lose weeks of your life to this game, stay away.
(Fuck the Drath. Scheming lizard bastards. If people are declaring war on you for no reason, it's always because you're playing against Drath. Every. single. time.) It's okay when I make the same kind of backroom deals tho
2018
Hardcore Anti-Gravity Racing. Possibly the best one out there right now.
Ship balance and AI tuning irks me somewhat though. I feel like only a small sliver of the roster is worth using.
NX2000, my beloved...
It has custom BGM support. Load up a folder with your favorite adrenal infused tunes and prepare to rocket off at speeds that will test the very limits of human reaction time.
Ship balance and AI tuning irks me somewhat though. I feel like only a small sliver of the roster is worth using.
NX2000, my beloved...
It has custom BGM support. Load up a folder with your favorite adrenal infused tunes and prepare to rocket off at speeds that will test the very limits of human reaction time.
"34BigThings is one of the biggest independent game studios in Italy. Born out of sheer passion and self-sustained throughout..." Then why are simple options for keybinds and intrusive UI toggles too difficult for you to implement? Also any dev that removes multiplayer functionality and refuses to support even LAN in "DRM-Free" releases is objectively holding out on you and deserves to be insulted so long as Quake exists.
Dev failings aside; the game is fast, fun, and gorgeous.
Dev failings aside; the game is fast, fun, and gorgeous.
2021
An immaculately constructed action game with finely tuned escalation of mechanical density. This is an example of a pure video game. I'd have liked to be able to disable the crosshair, but sadly the developers have shutdown after failing to secure funding for the next game. The only other possible way this could be better is with an arena/level editor.
2021
Frustrating stretches of level here and there aside, that was awesome.
2023
Being unable to rebind WASD at all is rookie tier shit.
There's also no way to disable the crosshairs and a longstanding progress destroying save bug is allegedly still in the game despite the devs making a round of celebratory replies informing everyone they had fixed it.
Refunded. I wasn't even able to test out the respawning system to see if it was worth whining about it before I got pissed off enough to drop it. 18 minutes, that's a new record. This hasn't left Early Access in spirit.
It's also on Unreal so I bet it has the trademark shitty occlusion culling errors too.
Wake me up when the game feels finished.
There's also no way to disable the crosshairs and a longstanding progress destroying save bug is allegedly still in the game despite the devs making a round of celebratory replies informing everyone they had fixed it.
Refunded. I wasn't even able to test out the respawning system to see if it was worth whining about it before I got pissed off enough to drop it. 18 minutes, that's a new record. This hasn't left Early Access in spirit.
It's also on Unreal so I bet it has the trademark shitty occlusion culling errors too.
Wake me up when the game feels finished.
2023
I'm really starting to hate how I can just tell "Ah yes, this is a kickstarter game" the moment I encounter minibosses. Also the backer gallery was placed in the most obnoxious possible pace-breaking position.
Yes the pixel art is stunning, but the actual design of the game here is pretty average to sub-standard imo.
The health regen mechanic trivializes the bulk of the game until the very very end. I was at first willing to recommend this as a newbie friendly metroidvania, but the final boss difficulty spike is totally out of place with the rest of the game.
Also the game is badly written. The scene that supposedly explains the motivation behind why "the curse" was put in place? Total non-sequitur. Am I to believe the entire reason any of this shit happened is because some kid was upset by a painting? What am I not getting here? The scenes read like they were supposed to be revelations but they were incredibly flat "nothings". Characters make vague allusions to undisclosed bullshit and tell each other how they suddenly "understand" and then you're once again off to "wander" down the nearly linear pathways of Talos using your powerups in the exact order and locations that the developers have laid out. There's minimal exploration to be had, though thankfully player movement can feel pretty smooth so its not a total slog.
Sadly there's an entire backend to the campaign after you've acquired every ability (kinda) that does basically nothing to iterate upon 9 Years of Shadows' threadbare game design. This part is just needless padding that I suspect only exists because modern players throw a shitfit if games don't waste enough of their time to delude them into thinking they got their money's worth.
I was initially going to rate this 7/10, but the final sliver of the game sufficiently pissed me off to not do so. The game is fine, but I wanted Mahou Shoujo Super Metroid, not what feels like a middling action platformer with spritework that belongs in a better game. I can't be bothered go hunting for my remaining 6% completion.
The music is good though, I'll give'em that.
Yes the pixel art is stunning, but the actual design of the game here is pretty average to sub-standard imo.
The health regen mechanic trivializes the bulk of the game until the very very end. I was at first willing to recommend this as a newbie friendly metroidvania, but the final boss difficulty spike is totally out of place with the rest of the game.
Also the game is badly written. The scene that supposedly explains the motivation behind why "the curse" was put in place? Total non-sequitur. Am I to believe the entire reason any of this shit happened is because some kid was upset by a painting? What am I not getting here? The scenes read like they were supposed to be revelations but they were incredibly flat "nothings". Characters make vague allusions to undisclosed bullshit and tell each other how they suddenly "understand" and then you're once again off to "wander" down the nearly linear pathways of Talos using your powerups in the exact order and locations that the developers have laid out. There's minimal exploration to be had, though thankfully player movement can feel pretty smooth so its not a total slog.
Sadly there's an entire backend to the campaign after you've acquired every ability (kinda) that does basically nothing to iterate upon 9 Years of Shadows' threadbare game design. This part is just needless padding that I suspect only exists because modern players throw a shitfit if games don't waste enough of their time to delude them into thinking they got their money's worth.
I was initially going to rate this 7/10, but the final sliver of the game sufficiently pissed me off to not do so. The game is fine, but I wanted Mahou Shoujo Super Metroid, not what feels like a middling action platformer with spritework that belongs in a better game. I can't be bothered go hunting for my remaining 6% completion.
The music is good though, I'll give'em that.