thatdiesel
I’m Oh, So Busy‘s execution is sloppy and some choices made may not have panned out in The Berry Guild’s favor, but it’s a lot like Yoshimi’s journey to Boston and to her new independent future: rough around the edges, obnoxious to a fault, but ultimately worth the effort to see what the future has to offer.
2021
It sucks seeing a game I was genuinely excited to play take such a sharp turn into the mud, but The Medium feels like a tech demo for their dual-reality format that forgot everything else needed to make the game worth your time. And it sucks because the dual-realities is such a neat concept and Bloober Team does a lot of great things with it, but it is absolutely wasted on an unbearably bland protagonist, a sluggish and lethargic plot, and a crash landing of an ending that does not respect the journey the player took to get there.
2020
The rhythm genre lives and dies on the music it bestows upon its playerbase and for that I can give Double Kick Heroes a pass on the things I did not like, most notably the forgettable Story Mode and the misfires on its extra modes. But the top-tier soundtrack and the elation of hitting your line on a ludicrous note track is just so rapturous and addicting, and that feeling is enough to give Double Kick Heroes its just desserts.
2021
My real moral struggle with Everhood is whether or not to recommend it. The gameplay is silky smooth and the battle stages are wildly varied and entertaining. But everything surrounding it is Shōnen Jump quality filler: it probably means a whole lot to the creators and the vision in which they have for their product, but it will be readily skipped for what we are all really here for.
I personally am happy to see old Sega Saturn titles see the shiny new light of day, especially such a prolific title in the console’s catalog. But the amount of content needed to have a game be worth its weight in gold has increased as the decades have moved forward, and the smooth combat and appealing graphics can’t mask that the meat on Panzer Dragoon: Remake’s bones is lacking.
2017
For around 30 minutes of game time, I Make Saints efficiently crams your senses with perturbed “what-ifs” that sent you here: How was this object used? Why was this area specifically shown? What did you try to fix yourself? What did you do to make sure you weren’t needing to fix? The answers are never laid out cut and dry, but in the mind of the truly disturbed, when are the answers ever easy?
2021
While Say No! More doesn’t have much else after speaking its peace through its story, the journey through is such a visual and auditory treat that it’s absolutely worth running through multiple times to yell “No” ad-nauseum, and then maybe one or two more times down the road to relieve some real-world stress.
2021
While Emily is Away ❤ does provide multiple endings the first playthrough’s inevitable finish feels like a step back from what has been shown possible in this medium, and while the improvements are plentiful in the series’ third entry it’s hard to ask for multiple plays to see the true experience when the first doesn’t value your time as well as it should.
2019
There’s some polish that could really smooth out the bumps that are endured on the road, and button mapping would be a godsend, but if you don’t take your time too seriously and go with the lo-fi, easy-to-play flow that permeates through Skate City’s pores you’ll have a couple hours of entertainment that is worth the ride.
2021
Man, Knockout City is solid. The amount of competitive depth and deep customization is staggering, and it’s user-friendly roadmap for unlocks and gameplay is pitch perfect to bring in curious players and make them seasoned veterans. They’ve got a fucking winner here, and it stands as the best multiplayer game of 2021.
2021
No time is wasted in delivering one of the weirdest plots of any game in 2021, yet I couldn’t believe how well-made and tightly packed in these outlandish ideas were brought to fruition. It has the charm that only indie games can bring, and that if brought to a AAA studio would be told to do half a backflip. And to make a multi-timeline sci-fi comedy horror CYOA that doesn’t miss is something only Sonoshee could do.
2021
It’s not only disappointing that Tails Noir ran out of gas during the course of its rather short campaign, but the car also exploded and slapped your mom at the end. If anything at all, Tails Noir ranks among the top of what I’ve played in 2021 in terms of graphics and world building. But the lack of focus on its plot to stay on course and the lack of meat to really immerse yourself in this beautifully crafted world hurt this title beyond repair.
2021
Tribes of Midgard mashes together a cavalcade of genres into an unforgiving, time constraining, smorgasbord of quick action and checkboxing that when fully understood can be a fun time waster with friends. But Tribes demands a stranglehold on your full undivided attention, which bleeds outside of its game time and into a gacha mobile game-like state where a daily log in is necessary to unlock the full title. And no amount of a good time is going to smear away the crudeness behind the game’s decisions and intentions.
2021
Finishing 12 Minutes really disappointed me, because I was all-in on the mystery of the who, why, and when of the time loop and why this couple was put into the treacherous territory they were so desperate to escape from. But completing this game had me scratching my head and shrugging at people saying what a tour de force this game is. 12 Minutes needed more polish, better tools, and maybe a different medium to better tell its tale.
With the COVID years being a somber reminder of how fragile the world can be, it begs the mind to recollect, reflect, and rejoice the memories of good times that were had and the better times that could lay ahead. Behind the Frame takes these emotions and paints a commandingly emotional yet poignantly human tale of what was, what now is, and what we do with what could be.