Reniachii
Shit got real here
2017
When Claire recommended me this game, I asked if it was a metroidvania and she went "ehh, kind of" and I feel like that's the best way to describe what blaster master zero is.
You get a big levels/areas like a metroidvania and you find multiple "dungeons" within those areas. Those dungeons are a top-down shooter and at the end of it you get a boss and an upgrade. It's a neat little thing that feels.. really great, actually. I enjoyed that mix of genres a lot.
Most of the game can easily be bypassed with the best weapon in the game that is really not that hard to get or lose, but all the other weapons are cool aswell because they interact with a lot of stuff, making it so everything is worth using atleast once.
The bosses are varied and interesting but sadly die too fast if you use the best weapon in the game (which there's no reason not to tbh) so please do your best to not stick with the best option unless you're struggling because the bosses are really fun to dodge and hit but most of those attacks can be easily missed unless you make it fair for the bosses lol
The game's story isn't as deep so there really isn't much to talk there, but the level design is actually quite clever. There's always a way to backtrack from the entrance of an area to the exit without much of a hassle and even without opening the map, it's kind of hard to get lost due to the level design being really good at showing you where to go even when it gives you multiple paths.
The true ending section was really cool and I wish this game had even more puzzles like the ones featured there so I'm looking forward to the next games in the series.
You get a big levels/areas like a metroidvania and you find multiple "dungeons" within those areas. Those dungeons are a top-down shooter and at the end of it you get a boss and an upgrade. It's a neat little thing that feels.. really great, actually. I enjoyed that mix of genres a lot.
Most of the game can easily be bypassed with the best weapon in the game that is really not that hard to get or lose, but all the other weapons are cool aswell because they interact with a lot of stuff, making it so everything is worth using atleast once.
The bosses are varied and interesting but sadly die too fast if you use the best weapon in the game (which there's no reason not to tbh) so please do your best to not stick with the best option unless you're struggling because the bosses are really fun to dodge and hit but most of those attacks can be easily missed unless you make it fair for the bosses lol
The game's story isn't as deep so there really isn't much to talk there, but the level design is actually quite clever. There's always a way to backtrack from the entrance of an area to the exit without much of a hassle and even without opening the map, it's kind of hard to get lost due to the level design being really good at showing you where to go even when it gives you multiple paths.
The true ending section was really cool and I wish this game had even more puzzles like the ones featured there so I'm looking forward to the next games in the series.
I love how this is literally a People Pleaser's wet dream.
This game used to be my JAM as a kid
Recently I beated the entire trilogy and the first game ended up being my favorite out of all of them lmao
Recently I beated the entire trilogy and the first game ended up being my favorite out of all of them lmao
This one has a huge emphasis on the story and features a lot of silly shit that I adore like using chocolate from your rations to negate sulfuric acid for a puzzle. It also introduced pretty much most if not all of the recurring important characters in the series and it is a game I would actually recommend people to experience even if it's with a summary video or something because it was really fun.
2016
It's more of an expansion than a second game. I assume that's why it's called UBERMOSH:BLACK rather than Vol.2 like the format of the other games. It adds more enemies, guns, a class mod and the brainclap feature.
The gameplay is still as fast and hard as before. I would honestly recommend getting this over the original tbh
The gameplay is still as fast and hard as before. I would honestly recommend getting this over the original tbh
2017
This entry adds Manastrike, a new class of enemy and "more agressive enemy spawns".
Manastrike is a really good mechanic as it's basically an extra brainclap but a lot more visual. I love it.
The new enemy and the agressive spanws by themselves are okay but there's this "hazard" that is a lot of bullets coming towards your way that forces you to go to an specific place. I used to really like this one but the new enemy spawn and AI makes it so they're always in your face, making it so you're almost guaranteed to lose a life near the end of the timer.
This isn't really a problem unless you're playing a class like Warlock that has only 2 respawns and manastrike/brainclap requirements really high as it starts with a good weapon (which you can get in like 15 seconds anyways).
I really like UBERMOSH:WRAITH but this is where I started to feel like most of my runs didn't end due to a skill issue but an unfortunate RNG and that never feels good.
Manastrike is a really good mechanic as it's basically an extra brainclap but a lot more visual. I love it.
The new enemy and the agressive spanws by themselves are okay but there's this "hazard" that is a lot of bullets coming towards your way that forces you to go to an specific place. I used to really like this one but the new enemy spawn and AI makes it so they're always in your face, making it so you're almost guaranteed to lose a life near the end of the timer.
This isn't really a problem unless you're playing a class like Warlock that has only 2 respawns and manastrike/brainclap requirements really high as it starts with a good weapon (which you can get in like 15 seconds anyways).
I really like UBERMOSH:WRAITH but this is where I started to feel like most of my runs didn't end due to a skill issue but an unfortunate RNG and that never feels good.
2016
My girlfriend's favorite girl in this game (Renée) has a similar name and personality to mine and she says "it's the only reason why I keep playing".
I don't believe her, but it still boosts my ego and it's also cute as fuck ♡
I don't believe her, but it still boosts my ego and it's also cute as fuck ♡
Keepers of The Dark was supposed to be a DLC for the first dreadout but it became so big they made it another game or a "standalone expansion". The way it's done is that you have 8 doors and two bosses in each door that you can fight and vanish.
The combat in DreadOut has always been.. clunky. Every attack can put you into a stunlock and whenever you die, you are taking into a "Limbo" section where you need to press sprint + W for like 20 seconds before you can go back to the game to just get stunlocked to death in 3 seconds, making combat incredibly frustrating. The reason why the Limbo exists with that distance that increments each time you die, is because it allows the monster to roam and not spawncamp you.
For their combat dedicated expansion; have they improved or fixed any of the issues in the previous scenario? No.
The first boss is a giant head in the dark with black hair that they use to attack you. You cannot see the hair because it's fucking DARK. To make this worse, each corner has a minion head that you can kill but respawns really quickly. If you get hit to it, you're gonna get stunned (like it happens with every attack) and it will give enough time for the boss to attack you and in that stun the head in the corner.. you know where I'm going with this.
The game main definition of difficulty is just multiple enemies. Everytime a fight is interesting enough, they add two or four more enemies to stunlock you and I get it, it's annoying, it's frustrating, it's difficult, but I feel like this game shines out the most when the difficulty doesn't come from dodging attacks but from doing puzzles or a specific task, and I say this as a dark souls, shmup bullet hell player that bathes and drinks difficult games because I enjoy them, it's just that for DreadOut, that difficulty in combat clashes with the game's entire personality and feeling.
There are some gimmicky/puzzle ghosts that were genuinely fun and enjoyable to do, like a mannequin lady that hides inbetween a lot of other mannequins or another lady that's obsessed with her beauty and uses needles to feel and look prettier. She basically runs all over the place when engaged and stops at a certain point where you need to confront her until she runs again.
These two also follow the "randomly spawn two or four stuff to make it more difficult" rule, but the way they do it is by spawning mannequins that move only when you don't see them or by telekinesis throwing stuff at you. While I didn't enjoy the latter, it certainly wasn't as bad as other ghosts in the game.
The scenarios are recycled from the first game but the ghosts, stories and lore is new. The new story is really vague to the point where I'm not entirely sure what happened and it's shown to you sometimes after a level it's complete, some other times with uh.. jumpscares? for some reason? like there was one where it was just a dinning table with a loud noise and it was so funny to me.
I don't recommend this game simply because it isn't a good game. If you got it with the bundle, by all means feel free to play it but don't buy this alone. It's genuinely not good and it serves more as curiosity or if you're okay with keeping up with BS or downloading a cheat engine table online or whatever. If you want a solid experience that's enjoyable, good and interesting from start to finish; this isn't it.
The combat in DreadOut has always been.. clunky. Every attack can put you into a stunlock and whenever you die, you are taking into a "Limbo" section where you need to press sprint + W for like 20 seconds before you can go back to the game to just get stunlocked to death in 3 seconds, making combat incredibly frustrating. The reason why the Limbo exists with that distance that increments each time you die, is because it allows the monster to roam and not spawncamp you.
For their combat dedicated expansion; have they improved or fixed any of the issues in the previous scenario? No.
The first boss is a giant head in the dark with black hair that they use to attack you. You cannot see the hair because it's fucking DARK. To make this worse, each corner has a minion head that you can kill but respawns really quickly. If you get hit to it, you're gonna get stunned (like it happens with every attack) and it will give enough time for the boss to attack you and in that stun the head in the corner.. you know where I'm going with this.
The game main definition of difficulty is just multiple enemies. Everytime a fight is interesting enough, they add two or four more enemies to stunlock you and I get it, it's annoying, it's frustrating, it's difficult, but I feel like this game shines out the most when the difficulty doesn't come from dodging attacks but from doing puzzles or a specific task, and I say this as a dark souls, shmup bullet hell player that bathes and drinks difficult games because I enjoy them, it's just that for DreadOut, that difficulty in combat clashes with the game's entire personality and feeling.
There are some gimmicky/puzzle ghosts that were genuinely fun and enjoyable to do, like a mannequin lady that hides inbetween a lot of other mannequins or another lady that's obsessed with her beauty and uses needles to feel and look prettier. She basically runs all over the place when engaged and stops at a certain point where you need to confront her until she runs again.
These two also follow the "randomly spawn two or four stuff to make it more difficult" rule, but the way they do it is by spawning mannequins that move only when you don't see them or by telekinesis throwing stuff at you. While I didn't enjoy the latter, it certainly wasn't as bad as other ghosts in the game.
The scenarios are recycled from the first game but the ghosts, stories and lore is new. The new story is really vague to the point where I'm not entirely sure what happened and it's shown to you sometimes after a level it's complete, some other times with uh.. jumpscares? for some reason? like there was one where it was just a dinning table with a loud noise and it was so funny to me.
I don't recommend this game simply because it isn't a good game. If you got it with the bundle, by all means feel free to play it but don't buy this alone. It's genuinely not good and it serves more as curiosity or if you're okay with keeping up with BS or downloading a cheat engine table online or whatever. If you want a solid experience that's enjoyable, good and interesting from start to finish; this isn't it.
BELLY SLIDER
I'm not going to lie, this game looks and sound so incredibly generic due to the lack of personality it has but the more you play the more you realize just how unique it is.
More often than not, the reaction to every new thing/mechanic we discover that this game has to offer is "wait what? holy shit that's genuinely so cool". Like for example there's this item that's a grappling hook that's primarily function is to help you grapple certain points, but you can use it to steal shields from enemies.
The overworld is full of secrets and shit to discover and doing it with friends is just really fun.
It kinda makes me sad that a game like this has a name and personality so [i]forgettable[/i] and [i]uninteresting[/i]. The quests are generic, the characters, story and lore are just forgettable, but the actual content and gameplay side of things is where this game truly shines and when it shines, it really does.
It is definitely one of those games that require a little bit of patience to fully enjoy, but an experience definitely worth playing for the gameplay alone.
More often than not, the reaction to every new thing/mechanic we discover that this game has to offer is "wait what? holy shit that's genuinely so cool". Like for example there's this item that's a grappling hook that's primarily function is to help you grapple certain points, but you can use it to steal shields from enemies.
The overworld is full of secrets and shit to discover and doing it with friends is just really fun.
It kinda makes me sad that a game like this has a name and personality so [i]forgettable[/i] and [i]uninteresting[/i]. The quests are generic, the characters, story and lore are just forgettable, but the actual content and gameplay side of things is where this game truly shines and when it shines, it really does.
It is definitely one of those games that require a little bit of patience to fully enjoy, but an experience definitely worth playing for the gameplay alone.
2022
My family never had a lot of money so when I was a kid I would see games like yu-gi-oh and club penguin's card jitsu and I remember wanting to play them so badly that I ended up making a ripoff that combined both games rules. The cards were done on a paper sheet with different drawings, effects and crazy unbalanced stuff.
I played with those with my friends at school and we would make up new rules each session and have card ideas and stuff like that.
Sketch Crawler kind of gave me that feeling and nostalgia again of designing my own cards, even if here I'm just doing the drawing.
It has a lot of things to polish, and the gameplay can be a bit confusing at times on what's the best thing to do, but the game is just so charming I'm just looking forwards to the future and how it evolves.
I played with those with my friends at school and we would make up new rules each session and have card ideas and stuff like that.
Sketch Crawler kind of gave me that feeling and nostalgia again of designing my own cards, even if here I'm just doing the drawing.
It has a lot of things to polish, and the gameplay can be a bit confusing at times on what's the best thing to do, but the game is just so charming I'm just looking forwards to the future and how it evolves.
The gameplay and cutscenes are too slow, the writing is really bad and full of grammar issues. I couldn't find myself finishing it.
This review contains spoilers
Personally the rhythm minigame is my least favorite part of this game. The given songs have this very calm style but at the same time they give you a lot of notes, which makes it feel badly mapped, simply because they are songs that don't work for a rhythm minigame, however I recommend this DLC because I recognize that *I* am not a big fan of rhythm games and when I play them, they are not usually songs like this. I don't feel it's a bad DLC, but somewhat completely unnecessary if you're not interested in playing a 2key, as this dlc has no achievements.
The rewards for doing all the songs and having the maximum score/getting to first place in the leaderboards are nothing more than visual things, not buffs or anything that affect the gameplay (and I say this as a good thing). Going into detail; you get 1 CG of the goddess, a little bit of dialogue (1-2min) with this character that I'll reveal in a separate spoiler and an outfit with glasses and dark clothing. The goddess of music is Okina Matara, from Touhou 16 ~ Hidden Star in Four Seasons. It's nice to be able to see her ingame, but sadly it's for very little time beyond the CG that you can always check out.
Conclusion; DLC 2.5 is more of an "extra" sold on the side. There are no achievements and the only incentive to buy it if you're not interested in the rhythm minigame/songs is just the visual stuff I detailed in the spoiler above.
The rewards for doing all the songs and having the maximum score/getting to first place in the leaderboards are nothing more than visual things, not buffs or anything that affect the gameplay (and I say this as a good thing). Going into detail; you get 1 CG of the goddess, a little bit of dialogue (1-2min) with this character that I'll reveal in a separate spoiler and an outfit with glasses and dark clothing. The goddess of music is Okina Matara, from Touhou 16 ~ Hidden Star in Four Seasons. It's nice to be able to see her ingame, but sadly it's for very little time beyond the CG that you can always check out.
Conclusion; DLC 2.5 is more of an "extra" sold on the side. There are no achievements and the only incentive to buy it if you're not interested in the rhythm minigame/songs is just the visual stuff I detailed in the spoiler above.
2020
I really enjoy the Pikmin games and Pikmin 3 is no exception. The addition of the kopad and the three captains work so well together, making Pikmin 3 a multitasking beast of a game that's really satisfactory to play.
The game adds a lot of QoL such as being able to quickly throw pikmin as well as lock on and a confirmation for the whistle being used on pikmin that are working.
As much as I love this game, it's incredibly hand holdy and its full potential is not reached until after you're pretty much done with the game because of the captains. It's an incredible short game that relies on telling the player "hey, now that you beat the main story you can now access these other parts for a fruit or two" and that's honestly a bit of a shame because I wish the game had more of a reason.
Pikmin 3 is all about collecting fruits doing multiple puzzles or killing enemies and the fruits are also used as the "timer" of the game, kinda like the day limit in pikmin 1 but more manageable.
A 100% run requires you to get all fruits but because they're tied to the time limit, they also respawn, making fruits feel less special and the progress a bit more invisible to see and feel (not to mention you gotta open the map to check if the fruit you're grabbing/going for is one you already grabbed before or not) and that's a shame. The juice mechanic is so generous you barely have to care about it so on top of feeling unnecessary, it also feels like something was lost.
Don't get me wrong, I love this game but it's the one I'm the most conflicted about replaying (solo) due to all the core features being unlocked so late into the game and that's my biggest criticism.
I wasn't a fan of the caves in Pikmin 2 and losing the sweet personality that the series had, so in that regards I did enjoy my time with Pikmin 3.
The game adds a lot of QoL such as being able to quickly throw pikmin as well as lock on and a confirmation for the whistle being used on pikmin that are working.
As much as I love this game, it's incredibly hand holdy and its full potential is not reached until after you're pretty much done with the game because of the captains. It's an incredible short game that relies on telling the player "hey, now that you beat the main story you can now access these other parts for a fruit or two" and that's honestly a bit of a shame because I wish the game had more of a reason.
Pikmin 3 is all about collecting fruits doing multiple puzzles or killing enemies and the fruits are also used as the "timer" of the game, kinda like the day limit in pikmin 1 but more manageable.
A 100% run requires you to get all fruits but because they're tied to the time limit, they also respawn, making fruits feel less special and the progress a bit more invisible to see and feel (not to mention you gotta open the map to check if the fruit you're grabbing/going for is one you already grabbed before or not) and that's a shame. The juice mechanic is so generous you barely have to care about it so on top of feeling unnecessary, it also feels like something was lost.
Don't get me wrong, I love this game but it's the one I'm the most conflicted about replaying (solo) due to all the core features being unlocked so late into the game and that's my biggest criticism.
I wasn't a fan of the caves in Pikmin 2 and losing the sweet personality that the series had, so in that regards I did enjoy my time with Pikmin 3.