wojtek
21 reviews liked by wojtek
Twelve Minutes
2021
Started the game on Game Pass, finished on YouTube. It's a fun idea, the story is somewhat compelling I guess, but most gameplay solutions are very weird and hard to overcome.
Tunic
2022
I don't know who came up with the idea of these f*g turrets, but congratulations - you've successfully made me ragequit, uninstall and most likely never come back to this game again.
Comparing this game to A Link Between Worlds, which I absolutely love, it’s very unwelcoming. You appear on some island literally out of nowhere, you have zero sense of what your goal is, everything (even your inventory) is in some unknown language, and one kind of collectables are pieces of a manual, containing info on how to do something you've learned by yourself by now (they are also mostly in a weird language).
What I hate about the gameplay is that I generally found myself just walking around the map looking for a space in a wall I overlooked somewhere. What's funny is that some of the areas crucial to progress are hidden the same way as those where you can only find some collectables. There was a moment where I found a key to some house, and only after I went there for the second time, I realised that there was a whole in the wall, through which I could go. I also hate how enemies always respawn after you return to an area, but it's pretty much standard nowadays, so I guess it's just a me problem. The basis for combat are alright, but they don't work me when you fight a group of enemies (which is about 80% of the time). Basically you can only target one enemy at a time, and to target another one you have to leave that target mode and get to it again, which does not guarantee targeting the enemy you want either way. And it's especially annoying when there are two or more turrets present.
When I went into this game I expected Link Between Worlds type of game, but what I got was shitty Dark Souls with just similar aesthetics. No interesting puzzles or dungeons, just boring combat and exploration based on walking to every wall and possible space between rocks, trees, etc.
Also I don't know if it's just my monitor, but I can't see shit when there is any kind of a shadow or a dark area.
Comparing this game to A Link Between Worlds, which I absolutely love, it’s very unwelcoming. You appear on some island literally out of nowhere, you have zero sense of what your goal is, everything (even your inventory) is in some unknown language, and one kind of collectables are pieces of a manual, containing info on how to do something you've learned by yourself by now (they are also mostly in a weird language).
What I hate about the gameplay is that I generally found myself just walking around the map looking for a space in a wall I overlooked somewhere. What's funny is that some of the areas crucial to progress are hidden the same way as those where you can only find some collectables. There was a moment where I found a key to some house, and only after I went there for the second time, I realised that there was a whole in the wall, through which I could go. I also hate how enemies always respawn after you return to an area, but it's pretty much standard nowadays, so I guess it's just a me problem. The basis for combat are alright, but they don't work me when you fight a group of enemies (which is about 80% of the time). Basically you can only target one enemy at a time, and to target another one you have to leave that target mode and get to it again, which does not guarantee targeting the enemy you want either way. And it's especially annoying when there are two or more turrets present.
When I went into this game I expected Link Between Worlds type of game, but what I got was shitty Dark Souls with just similar aesthetics. No interesting puzzles or dungeons, just boring combat and exploration based on walking to every wall and possible space between rocks, trees, etc.
Also I don't know if it's just my monitor, but I can't see shit when there is any kind of a shadow or a dark area.
Gone Home
2013
Basic gameplay, basic story, basic soundtrack, basic voice acting. It's not a bad game, but there is absolutely nothing here that would make it an above-average walking simulator. I think got it from a bundle, so it was worth it I guess. Bonus points for the songs from tapes.
League of Legends
2009
I could've finished dozens of games from my backlog, watched hundreds of movies or TV show episodes, but instead I got talked into downloading this game by a friend and drowned thousands of hours in it.
Don't do this to yourself. Just don't. There will be moments when you'll enjoy it, but it's simply not worth it considering the unfairness of the game, Riot's anti-consumer practices, the overloaded kits of new champions, creative downfall of their designs and skins, the total of two maps and three game modes (one of which is a rotation of another three), uninteresting events, smurfs, as well as toxicity and idiotism of other players you have no choice but to put up with.
Also I've never in my life fought with my friends as much as when playing this. which perfectly shows that the reason for neverending toxicity is for the most part just the game - not necessarily the players.
Don't do this to yourself. Just don't. There will be moments when you'll enjoy it, but it's simply not worth it considering the unfairness of the game, Riot's anti-consumer practices, the overloaded kits of new champions, creative downfall of their designs and skins, the total of two maps and three game modes (one of which is a rotation of another three), uninteresting events, smurfs, as well as toxicity and idiotism of other players you have no choice but to put up with.
Also I've never in my life fought with my friends as much as when playing this. which perfectly shows that the reason for neverending toxicity is for the most part just the game - not necessarily the players.
Umurangi Generation
2020
The enviromental storytelling is pretty cool. Soundtrack and graphics are fine as well. But the gameplay is terrible. For a game focused on taking pictures, reaching different spots to get the most interesting angles the movement is horrible. You can barely get off the ground when you jump and touching pretty much anything generates a large amount of friction. This makes looking for the things you're supposed to shoot extremely unfun, especially since many of the items are not very clear and it can take a while to find out what the devs actually want from you. Clicking escape to access the list is also pretty annoying. I think a better solution for this would be to show the list whenever you press tab or something like that.
Chicken Police
2020
The production value of this game is pretty insane. All the dialogue is dubbed (even monologues), the artstyle is gorgeous, cutscenes are well-animated, and the soundtrack is very climatic. The game has many jokes, most of which I found to be very funny, and the whole premise of "noir but animals" is executed extremely well.
The story however isn't anything to write home about. It's pretty much exactly what you would expect from an average noir detective movie, including all the character types, clichés and dumb plot twists. But again, the animal aspect saves it a little bit.
On the gameplay end it's pretty much an average point and click, except it relies more on dialogue, interrogations and asking questinos, than on puzzles. Pretty much evey character and every piece of information on them or the case are accessible in your notebook, which is very well-thought. The way you gather it is not as good though. Oftentimes I wasn't sure where to go, or who to talk to, because once I stopped talking to somebody nothing happened, and I got lost for a short while. I also had some issue with choosing the right question to ask during interrogations, because many of them sounded pretty much the same.
Overall I would recommend this game if you're looking for something easy to realx to for ~two evenings. It's not bad, but it could've been better, or in other words, it does its job, but not much besides that.
The story however isn't anything to write home about. It's pretty much exactly what you would expect from an average noir detective movie, including all the character types, clichés and dumb plot twists. But again, the animal aspect saves it a little bit.
On the gameplay end it's pretty much an average point and click, except it relies more on dialogue, interrogations and asking questinos, than on puzzles. Pretty much evey character and every piece of information on them or the case are accessible in your notebook, which is very well-thought. The way you gather it is not as good though. Oftentimes I wasn't sure where to go, or who to talk to, because once I stopped talking to somebody nothing happened, and I got lost for a short while. I also had some issue with choosing the right question to ask during interrogations, because many of them sounded pretty much the same.
Overall I would recommend this game if you're looking for something easy to realx to for ~two evenings. It's not bad, but it could've been better, or in other words, it does its job, but not much besides that.
Flower
2009
this game is 13 years old and people still be like "yeah, I wanna live in New York"
This review contains spoilers
999 - 4/5 VLR - 3/5
999 is an inredibly well-written story about madness, obsession, revenge and salvation. It keeps you hooked for its entire duration and leaves you with just enough to both understand the story and think about what actually happened for a long time after finishing the game.
VLR on the other and is an example of two things. 1 - how biggeer is not always better and 2 - how not to make a sequel.
The size of the flow chart is definitiely very impressive. But why the hell do I have to spam left click through events I already witnessed every fking time? I feel like I ended up seeing Sigma think about why he was chosen to parcipiate at least ten times throughout the whole game. This is a port, why did they not bother to improve it in this matter? Of course, 999 had some baktracking as well, but it was very, VERY limited. in VLR it feels like an actual chore, even though you can somtimes spot some neat examples of foreshadowing.
And still, the huge amount of endings and multiple worlds / timelines is the best (or rather most admirable) thing about the game. Unfortunately, pretty much everything that comes with it just sucks. The Dannganronpa-style bullshit (gobal pandmics, end of humanity, colonizing space) was something I expected when approaching 999. But it wasn't there - the game was too good for that. I think it's utimately what caused me to be so disappointed with the story in VLR. 999 had some weird twists as well, but in the end the story came down to someting much more down to earth. Each subsquent plot twist in VLR just made me laugh out loud harder and harder because of how random they were. This also made me wonder if I would actually enjoy danganronpa if I played it now, and not when I was.... 14? Something like that.
Another thing are the characters. In 999 every person felt like they actually had a reason to be chosen for the game. They all felt like they are in the right place in te right time. Like they were simply important. In VLR it felt like they just went with a cast that seemed intersting at first glance, but didn't have much to offer in the end.
Let's take Alice for example. Akane explains that she was chosen because without her they wouldn't be able to disable the bombs. I mean it's true, but... seriously? That's it?
It feels like they just thought "omg, it would be so cool if we had Alice as a character. You know, from that 999 ending? It would be so siiiick." And so they came up with some random backstory about being a secret agent so that she would atually have a reason to paripiate. Or with Quark for example:
"Oh shit.... imagine if a KID was in the game. That would be so rad."
"But why would he be there?"
"Idk, let's just say he had to be there because the old guy we already have takes care of him."
"Wait. It just struck me. What if the old guy was really... old Junpei?
"That's... fucking brilliant! I love you man."
"I love you."
they make out*
It's also kinda weird how this game lowkey makes Ace a hero. Obviously he's still a psycho, but his discovery allows June to have a shot at saving the world. Too bad she also becomes a villain in the process. I mean she basically kills Alice and Clover for the sake of experiment. They have no world to go back to. Well, she claims there is a way to get them back, but that line is such a cheap attempt to make June appear a hero in the players eyes that I just don't buy it.
Also how the hell doesn't Clover recognise June if she last saw her just a year ago? Obviously she's an old lady now, but some similarity should be visible. And why does Sigma not have a VA? Obviously it's beause of the story, but it just feels so... fake. And why aren't other characters' backstories dubbed? And what happened to the weird theories and scientific experiments during escape rooms? Why are they in some bullshit golden files? And why did the puzzles get so much dumber and more random? And why... so many more things?
I changed my mind. 999 is a 4.5/5. It's pretty much a perfect VN, with a perfectly closed story, incredible characters, and an atmospere like in no other game.
VLR tried to be more than that and it failed miserably in pretty much every single aspect. I lower my rating of it to 2.5/5. There is so much more to complain about in this game, but my H button keeps blocking, which is slowly driving me insane, so I have to stop here. If you made it to this point - congratulations and sorry for my bad grammar :)
999 is an inredibly well-written story about madness, obsession, revenge and salvation. It keeps you hooked for its entire duration and leaves you with just enough to both understand the story and think about what actually happened for a long time after finishing the game.
VLR on the other and is an example of two things. 1 - how biggeer is not always better and 2 - how not to make a sequel.
The size of the flow chart is definitiely very impressive. But why the hell do I have to spam left click through events I already witnessed every fking time? I feel like I ended up seeing Sigma think about why he was chosen to parcipiate at least ten times throughout the whole game. This is a port, why did they not bother to improve it in this matter? Of course, 999 had some baktracking as well, but it was very, VERY limited. in VLR it feels like an actual chore, even though you can somtimes spot some neat examples of foreshadowing.
And still, the huge amount of endings and multiple worlds / timelines is the best (or rather most admirable) thing about the game. Unfortunately, pretty much everything that comes with it just sucks. The Dannganronpa-style bullshit (gobal pandmics, end of humanity, colonizing space) was something I expected when approaching 999. But it wasn't there - the game was too good for that. I think it's utimately what caused me to be so disappointed with the story in VLR. 999 had some weird twists as well, but in the end the story came down to someting much more down to earth. Each subsquent plot twist in VLR just made me laugh out loud harder and harder because of how random they were. This also made me wonder if I would actually enjoy danganronpa if I played it now, and not when I was.... 14? Something like that.
Another thing are the characters. In 999 every person felt like they actually had a reason to be chosen for the game. They all felt like they are in the right place in te right time. Like they were simply important. In VLR it felt like they just went with a cast that seemed intersting at first glance, but didn't have much to offer in the end.
Let's take Alice for example. Akane explains that she was chosen because without her they wouldn't be able to disable the bombs. I mean it's true, but... seriously? That's it?
It feels like they just thought "omg, it would be so cool if we had Alice as a character. You know, from that 999 ending? It would be so siiiick." And so they came up with some random backstory about being a secret agent so that she would atually have a reason to paripiate. Or with Quark for example:
"Oh shit.... imagine if a KID was in the game. That would be so rad."
"But why would he be there?"
"Idk, let's just say he had to be there because the old guy we already have takes care of him."
"Wait. It just struck me. What if the old guy was really... old Junpei?
"That's... fucking brilliant! I love you man."
"I love you."
they make out*
It's also kinda weird how this game lowkey makes Ace a hero. Obviously he's still a psycho, but his discovery allows June to have a shot at saving the world. Too bad she also becomes a villain in the process. I mean she basically kills Alice and Clover for the sake of experiment. They have no world to go back to. Well, she claims there is a way to get them back, but that line is such a cheap attempt to make June appear a hero in the players eyes that I just don't buy it.
Also how the hell doesn't Clover recognise June if she last saw her just a year ago? Obviously she's an old lady now, but some similarity should be visible. And why does Sigma not have a VA? Obviously it's beause of the story, but it just feels so... fake. And why aren't other characters' backstories dubbed? And what happened to the weird theories and scientific experiments during escape rooms? Why are they in some bullshit golden files? And why did the puzzles get so much dumber and more random? And why... so many more things?
I changed my mind. 999 is a 4.5/5. It's pretty much a perfect VN, with a perfectly closed story, incredible characters, and an atmospere like in no other game.
VLR tried to be more than that and it failed miserably in pretty much every single aspect. I lower my rating of it to 2.5/5. There is so much more to complain about in this game, but my H button keeps blocking, which is slowly driving me insane, so I have to stop here. If you made it to this point - congratulations and sorry for my bad grammar :)
Omega Strikers
2022
Pretty fun game, but I don't like a couple of things:
1. Uninspired, overly weeb-appealing character design.
2. God-awful voice acting (which you can thankfully mute in the settings).
3. Slow climbing in ranked - I feel like the "mid" ranks are a bit unnecessary, especially since the game doesn't do placement matches.
4. Not really a game issue, but most goalie players have no idea what they're doing
5. Lack of options for a toxic player. The best one I could find was to walk up to a player you want to flame after somebody scores a goal and spam the thumbs up emote. Unfortunately it doesn't always work - sometimes the player is not in the camera focus, sometimes other players are overly cheerful and spam emotes as well, and the cooldown on using emotes is very annoying. Fortunately this one is still fixable.
1. Uninspired, overly weeb-appealing character design.
2. God-awful voice acting (which you can thankfully mute in the settings).
3. Slow climbing in ranked - I feel like the "mid" ranks are a bit unnecessary, especially since the game doesn't do placement matches.
4. Not really a game issue, but most goalie players have no idea what they're doing
5. Lack of options for a toxic player. The best one I could find was to walk up to a player you want to flame after somebody scores a goal and spam the thumbs up emote. Unfortunately it doesn't always work - sometimes the player is not in the camera focus, sometimes other players are overly cheerful and spam emotes as well, and the cooldown on using emotes is very annoying. Fortunately this one is still fixable.
Paradise Killer
2020
I liked this a lot, but the endgame could have had a bit more finesse, instead of "this guy did this, that guy did that, etc."