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Showing posts with label Melted. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Melted. Show all posts

23/01/2024

Uzzuzzu My Pet: Golf Dash (mini-review) Nintendo Switch 4/10 ⛳️ @RedDeer_Games #GameDev #IndieGame

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Uzzuzzu My Pet: Golf Dash
Based on a popular South Korean franchise, Uzzuzzu My Pet: Golf Dash takes visual, stylistic and gameplay cues from What the Golf?

But it unfortunately fails to capture the charm and replayability that oozes from every pore of the game that it apes. 

31/10/2023

Anthology of Fear Xbox Series X Review 4/10 “Five Minutes on YouTube” ๐Ÿฅ @AnthologyofFear #IndieGame #GameDev

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Anthology of Fear Xbox Series X Review
Walking down corridors and having something shout “boo!” is great, but they do wear thin after a while, and as much as I love horror, I definitely need a break from the horror walking simulator genre. Well, after playing Layers of the Fear a couple of months ago, I booted up Anthology of Fear put on my walking shoes and headed down the creepy corridors.

05/09/2023

Death Becomes You PC Game Review 2/10 "Perhaps I’m just not the right person to be writing about anime magical lesbian teenagers" ๐Ÿ‘ง @pixelhunted @quill_studios #IndieGame #GameDev

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Perhaps I’m just not the right person to be writing about anime magical lesbian teenagers.

As I sat on the London Underground playing Death Becomes Her on my Switch I became intensely aware of the passengers on either side of me. Before this moment I’d never been self-conscious about gaming in public - why the hell should I care what some random strangers think of me? But I realized a glance at my screen would show two canoodling cartoon schoolgirls. Let’s face it, this is a powerfully bad look for a middle-aged man.

14/07/2023

Brain Show PC Review 2/10 "Brain Show may eventually get better..." ๐Ÿง  #IndieGames #GameDev

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Sony’sBuzz! trivia game series was a massive PlayStation hit in the 2000s. Its straight forwardness was key to its success, with the game faithfully replicating a TV quiz with the aid of the Buzz! Buzzer controller that lets you chime in to answer just as on a real-life game show.

Sadly the format didn’t last, presumably, because the internet is swimming with free trivia quizzes. These daysBuzz! games and peripherals are most commonly found clogging up the shelves of charity shops across the nation: casual players don’t need this plastic tat in their house and retro games fans are a little snooty about this powerfully mainstream mini-franchise.


It’s now been thirteen years since the last Buzz! game and the (aptly named) developer Simplicity Games thinks it’s time for a comeback. Enter Brain Show, which waits until the dead of night, grabs a shovel, heads to the graveyard, and tries to bring Buzz! back from the dead.

02/04/2023

Postal 4: No Regerts Review 1/10 "I tried... God help me I tried. " ❌ @RWSstudios #IndieGame #GameDev

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I tried... God help me I tried. 

Look I'm not a fussy gamer. Of course, if I'm spending £70 on a AAA title I'll want a bit of spit and polish but, like anyone, I'll always cut smaller, independent studios some slack. Arizona-based studio Running With Scissor is never going to have the resources or money to put out the next Elden Ring so I went into Postal 4: No Regerts with what I thought were appropriate expectations. 

All you want from a game like this is some silly fun. If it's rough around the edges, even intentionally so, that's just part of the deal, maybe even part of the charm. So with that said... 

Postal 4 is fucking awful.

15/02/2023

Du Lac and Fey: Dance Of Death XSX Review 2/10 "Half-Arsed?" ๐Ÿ”Ž @SalixGames #IndieGames #GameDev

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The Collins English dictionary describes "half-arsed" as:

"ADJECTIVE
slang
incompetent; inept; badly organized"

And that's the main takeaway from this game. Let's get the praise part of this review out of the way. Don't worry, it won't take long. 

Du Lac and Fey: Dance Of Death has some nice writing and some really good voice acting. There. I told you it would be quick.  

04/12/2022

Alfred Hitchcock Vertigo Nintendo Switch Review 4/10 “VertigNo” ๐Ÿ•ต️‍♂️ @pendulostudios #IndieGames #GameDev

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I had a plan when this game was released, I had promised myself this year to watch more Hitchcock movies, and so before I played Vertigo, I would sit down and watch the film version first - and then dive straight into the game. I hoped that by watching the original source material I would enrich my gaming experience by having a fuller picture and understanding how this game embodies the film on which it is based.

I can say that watching the film Vertigo didn’t really help. The game doesn’t follow the plot at all, it takes a couple of aspects but changes them heavily which isn’t a bad thing, per se. The game tries to have a Hitchcockian vibe and incorporate the ‘master of suspense’ style into many aspects of the game. This is a huge undertaking, and the game never gets near hitting the heights of Hitchcock or Vertigo.

30/08/2022

๐Ÿ“ธ๐Ÿ”ช Dreadout 2 Xbox Series X 4/10 “Less is more” ๐Ÿ“ธ๐Ÿ”ช @dreadoutgame #IndieGames #GameDev

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I have spent my last few reviews lamenting over the horror genre, all the games had similar flaws and each of them seemed to languish in generic plots without a hint of originality, so going into Dreadout 2 I was hoping for a big kick up the butt, with a horror game filled with new ideas and an amazing plot.

Nope. within the first twenty minutes, I could see where we were heading, except it now included technical problems. Now, this game is obviously made on a budget, so I do cut it some slack, but it does things that make you think, “if you’re on a budget… just don’t do it, horror is the perfect genre to scale back and subscribe to the motto less is more”.

15/07/2022

๐Ÿšจ๐Ÿ‘ฎ Autobahn Police Simulator 3 Review 4.5/10 "New ideas can’t paper over the issues that carry through the series" ๐Ÿš” @AerosoftGmbH #IndieGames #GameDev

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I reviewed Autobahn Police Simulator 2 back at the end of 2020, and, whilst I enjoyed my time with the game, the unavoidable technical issues really hacked away at what was a solid premise with some great ideas floating around. In my review of the previous entry, I stated:

 “Whilst Autobahn Police Simulator 2 is a tough one to recommend due to the above-mentioned issues, I really hope that a third game comes out and has more time spent on the basics such as camera work, animation, controls and overall smoothness.”

Unfortunately, this is not the case.

06/03/2022

๐Ÿ“ท 35mm | PS4 | Review | 4/10 | "The very last task you’re given is to find three batteries hidden in a city..." ๐Ÿ“ท @PixelHunted

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When the apocalypse arrives it’ll probably be kinda boring. Games like Fallout, The Last of Us, and Days Gone are all razzle-dazzle combat, world-changing drama, and malformed flesh-eating monsters to mulch.

Contrast that with 35mm, in which I spent an hour trudging through an abandoned village trying to find a bucket so I could use a grubby broken-down well. Let’s face it, that’s probably a more realistic scenario for you if civilisation collapsed.

03/03/2022

๐Ÿค– Blackwind | Xbox Series X | Review | 3/10 | "Groundhog Slay" ๐Ÿค– @drakkardev @maxharvey79 #IndieGame #IndieGameDev

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My first impressions of Blackwind were positive. I’m a fan of the mecha anime aesthetic, and the story of a boy having to use a super-powered robot suit (ร  la Titanfall) to battle enemies and rescue his father, was an appealing prospect. The voice acting is a little cheesy, but I felt like it set the scene well, with an AI voice in the suit giving instructions that worked as a tutorial without that being too contrived.

But. 

BUT.

13/02/2022

๐Ÿš️๐Ÿ‘ป Insomnis | PC | Review | 3/10 | "a series of supernatural inconveniences" ๐Ÿš️๐Ÿ‘ป @Path_Games @PixelHunted #IndieGames #GameDev

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For anyone born after 1980 the prospect of inheriting a haunted house doesn’t hold the fear that it did for older generations. Sure, you’re now the custodian of a dilapidated mansion with peeling wallpaper, bloodstained carpets, spooky dolls scattered everywhere, and a minor infestation of ghost kids, but if it’s a choice between that and living under the thumb of a landlord I’ll pick the ghost kids anytime.

31/01/2022

๐Ÿ’ฅ SHINORUBI | PC | Review | 4/10 | "I Am A Basic Bitch When It Comes To Shmups" ๐Ÿ’ฅ #IndieGame #GameDev #SHMUPS @LastBoss88 @PixelHunted

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I am a basic bitch when it comes to shmups. I’ve played Treasure classics Radiant Silvergun and Ikaruga, Jeff Minter’s neon ungulate work, and dabbled in a few Cave shooters. This is like being into music and only having listened to The Beatles, and vast swathes of bullet hell games have passed me by in a blizzard of neon, clashing colours, and J-rock soundtracks.

Consequently, bullet hell is a genre I admire from a distance. Deep in my bones I know I’m never going to be good at it but I can appreciate what works and what doesn’t.

All of which brings me to indie dev Last Boss 88’s SHINORUBI, a new early access title “inspired by classic shooting games”. You know the drill, pick your ship and jump into a vertically scrolling battlefield teeming with enemies, power-ups and thousands of bullets. The developers promise “all the best aspects of Japanese bullet hell games” in super shiny Ultra HD.

05/01/2022

๐Ÿ›น๐Ÿฆ Skatebird | Nintendo Switch | Review | 4/10 | "Tony Squawks" ๐Ÿฆ๐Ÿ›น@glassbottommeg #GameDev #IndieGames

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I'm a curmudgeonly old sod. I remember seasons living up to their descriptions, and turning up when they should. I remember having to memorise phone numbers if I wanted to call someone. I remember penny sweets being a penny. And I remember the original Tony Hawk's Pro Skater coming out. 

And there lies the rub. In reviewing Skatebird, I find myself constantly wondering whether Tony ruined me for other men. Birds. Games. OK, it isn't a great analogy but, we are where we are.

04/11/2021

๐Ÿฉธ๐ŸŒณ Blair Witch - VR Edition | PSVR | Review | 2/10 | "In 1999 I spent a summer working as a lumberjack" ๐Ÿฉธ๐ŸŒณ @PixelHunted @BlairWitchGame #IndieGame #IndieGames #GameDev

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In 1999 I spent a summer working as a lumberjack in the mountains outside of Durango, Colorado. Each Saturday night we’d pile into a pickup and head into town to the multiplex. One visit, having exhausted most of what was on offer, we decided to roll the dice on The Blair Witch Project. None of us had heard anything about the movie, but a horror movie about a witch? Rad.

Turns out that The Blair Witch Project is the absolute worst film to watch if you’re camping out in the woods that night. With no evidence to the contrary I thought it was real and - though I still doubted the existence of actual witches - I spent the night sleeping in the backseat of someone’s car. The Blair Witch Project remains the most terrifying experience I’ve had in a cinema and makes me basically the prime target for Blair Witch VR.

22/09/2021

๐Ÿ’ฅ RICO | Nintendo Switch | Review | 3/10 | "I wouldn't call myself an expert in police procedures" ๐Ÿ’ฅ #IndieGames #GameDev

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Although I watch Line of Duty, I wouldn't call myself an expert in police procedures. 

That said, I'm reasonably sure that if, as an officer, you spot some dodgy types toting automatic weapons, you should call for backup. 

What you shouldn't do, I would imagine, is enter the building, pick up the first gun you find and start systematically killing everyone in the building. 

It all seems a bit too, I don't know, murdery...

03/06/2021

๐Ÿ’ญ Don’t Forget Me | Review | PC | 2/10 | "As far as game titles go Don’t Forget Me isn’t half bad" ๐Ÿ’ญ @PixelHunted @TheMoonPirates #GameDev #IndieGames

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As far as game titles go Don’t Forget Me isn’t half bad. 

There’s an air of mystery: who might I forget… and why? 

But after playing the game it feels unhappily ironic as I will never think about Don’t Forget Me ever again once I wrap up this review.

24/05/2021

๐Ÿฉธ Outbreak: Endless Nightmares | Review | 2/10 | “I was completely on board with this game...until I played it.” ๐Ÿฉธ #IndieGames #GameDev

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I always like to start my reviews by explaining my relationship to the game, genre or franchise etc. and I feel in this review it’s especially important as I am very specifically the target audience.

It is a game trying to capture the aesthetics, gameplay and vibe of the late ‘90s horror games. I love those games - Resident Evil 2,4 and Silent Hill 2 are in my top 10 games of all time so I was completely on board with this game.... until I played it.

14/05/2021

๐Ÿ‘Ž Ploid | NES | Review | 4/10 | "It’s not very good " ๐Ÿ‘Ž @PixelHunted @NapeGames #Nes #IndieGames #GameDev

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If you have a spare $400 you can buy a painting made by an elephant. With a brush clutched in its trunk, the elephant makes a couple of marks on a page which the gallery names things like “Banana Surprise” or “My Feather Boa”. It seems like a good racket and apparently, the elephants have fun.

But how do you evaluate an elephant’s painting? 

Can you compare it with a human artist, or is the fact that an elephant has painted something worthy of praise in and of itself?

This is the conundrum presented by Nape Games’ Ploid, a new NES game that runs on original hardware. 

Do I hold it next to other 2021 releases, review it as if it’d come out in 1988, or simply marvel that it exists at all?

11/05/2021

๐Ÿ’ฅ XIII Remastered | Review | PS5 | 3/10 | "A Very Unlucky Number" ๐Ÿ’ฅ

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XIII was a game I had never played but it has always been on my radar. It’s a game I that I could see a screenshot of and instantly identify but never dipped my toes in, so when I saw it recently on sale, I thought - after 18 years, let’s finally give it a try and I picked up the remastered version.

Well, I was hoping for an action-packed, highly stylistic thrill ride… That is not what I got. This remastered version just feels soulless. It has a real emptiness and everything about it feels hollow.