caleb
Deeply regret letting friends convince me to sink my life into the mediocre stealth action game wrapped in 30 hours of rock-stupid misery porn that is The Last of Us 2. Wish I’d just played another Life Is Strange for 100% less psychotic lesbian smooch sci-fi story game in 1/3 of the time.
If someone who grew up with a DS doesn’t adore the shit out of this game, odds are good they were a lonely only child.
1992
Just about as delightful a cute-em-up as I’ve played on the SNES. Co-op really seals the deal.
2001
Shitty, chunky Tetris with fart noises for a soundtrack.
1992
Looks great, sounds nice, plays like nothing worth talking about.
2022
A fundamentally perfect Pikmin-esque platformer. There wasn’t one minute of this I didn’t enjoy bouncing around these imaginative worlds poking every nook and cranny.
I can’t fault Tinykin for anything except that (1) it limits you to one save file, which is always stupid, and (2) it ends.
2022
A largely pointless retread of the last game’s themes with more annoying combat and less thoughtful puzzles.
A cute, charming, funny-in-a-smiling-not-laughing-out-loud-way little linear adventure game that will mostly be of interest to young kids and fans of Link’s Awakening curious to see where its engine developed.
Mechanically, there’s nothing particularly interesting or challenging about Kaeru no Tame. Most of it is an exercise in walking from one cutscene trigger to another, punctuated by trivial platforming sections and periodic automated combat. Occasionally an item exchange is involved, presaging to some extent the trading minigame that serves as a minor side attraction in Link’s Awakening. Talking to an NPC with the correct item is inventory is about the extent of problem-solving Kaeru no Tame demands of a player.
Still, the personality and presentation which would make Link’s Awakening an enduring classic are out on full display here, albeit with an even lighter and goofier tone. It’s hard not to find something to like in this frog-themed children’s story even if there’s not much of a game surrounding it.
This is a rating for Llylgamyn Saga’s Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord specifically: a fantastic aesthetic update and QoL port of one of the most foundational RPGs ever put to screen.
Unfortunately, Wizardry 1 still shows its age in a lot of ways ranging from its early randomness and grind, the cruelty and brutality of its trap and enemy designs, and the general lack of ways to engage with its dungeon encounters beyond killing everything in sight or fleeing for dear life.
But when Wizardry shines, it shines bright and pure—the essence of AD&D dungeon-crawling given video game form.
2019
A genuinely delightful 1-hour joke of a game.
2019
Cool vibes, theoretically cool co-op, yet I found the combat completely unengaging.
2019
Extremely cool aesthetic and mechanical framework for a game in desperate need of a stronger rogue loop or a better story.
2009
Stunning aesthetic and expert mechanical execution of what the early Wizardry games at their best could be, said the guy who has only ever completed one Wizardry game.
I’d say Ultima Underworld was wildly ahead of its time, but it’s not like there are dungeon crawlers with half this depth and care flooding the market even thirty years later. Damn near perfect game once you get past—or patch your way past—the byzantine control scheme and hardware-limited UI. Pure exploratory joy with fresh and clever surprises waiting on every level.
1984
Great example of how something truly seminal and historically significant can be hopelessly timebound. Today Druaga plays like dogshit and represents the worst kind of design obscurity on top of being deeply unpleasant just to move around and press buttons in.