Reviews

Review – Limbo (PC)

I’ve been a bit lax on posts the last few days, with good reason. I’ve been plowing through Limbo in order to do a proper review of it. Here’s the short, this game is phenomenal. It’s so simple in it’s design and gameplay and just all around but I have not been so engaged by a game the way Limbo did for a while. I’ve been devoting my free time to playing through it instead of doing productive things like blogging.

So the plot presented here is very simple, you must travel through the surreal land of Limbo to find your sister. There actually isn’t much plot in the game itself, that description comes from the game’s description. You basically just start out alone in Limbo and must figure out what to do next. The entire game is a complex series of platform based puzzles. There are so many twists that are so cleverly done however that it will keep you on your toes for the entire game. There is also a ridiculous amount of variety to the world which keeps it from ever getting repetitious. As i said, the game is extremely engaging, you just want to push onward, even if there is never any explanation as to WHY you’re pushing onward.

The controls themselves are extremely simple, left and right movement, up to jump, control to activate objects. You can push some objects and pull levers from time to time as well. Everything flows extremely smoothly and the physics behind the world are all extremely good as well. This comes into effect a lot later in the game as the world occasionally rotates or you must swing from ropes and defy gravity.

To make everything even better, the presentation is phenomenal. The entire game is presented in a very dreamy black and white grayscale. This does not detract at all from the extreme details of the environment and the use of focus, or the lack thereof, for background objects is done really well to give the world depth but not be distracting from what is going on in the player’s range. There is no music either, only sound, which is also used effectively for timing or foreboding as needed. The atmosphere all around is really rich and really helps the world come together.

The atmosphere isn’t just pushed by the graphical look either. The world itself is very eerie. There are all sorts of odd machines and ruins of buildings and signs that you pass. Your character also must do everything he can to survive at times such as tearing the legs off of the persistent giant spider or combating the few natives which show up to attack you. The traps themselves, especially later in the game, become increasingly more lethal and the game is actually a bit gruesome and elaborate when it depicts the player’s death. Another good choice was the way death is handled, dying essentially means trying that particular sequence a second time and there are reset points everywhere you’d hope they would be. There isn’t one part where you complete a complex puzzle only to be killed by the next complex puzzle and get forced to re-complete the previous round. This would have only hindered things for the worse as you will die in this game, a lot.

There isn’t much to wrap up that has not already been said. The game is presented amazingly, the gameplay is well designed and it’s generally an amazing game. You probably won’t care for it if you don’t care for games with “artistic flare” or quite a bit of thought required but if it has already peaked your interest you’re probably going to enjoy it, a lot.

Review – Beat Hazard (PC)

Jul 17th, 2018

by Ramen Junkie.

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Somewhere along the way, the “Sh’Mup” or “Shoot Em Up” genre evolved and became the “Bullet Hell” Genre. Play styles and enemy patterns from games like R-Type, or Gradius remail but there is a lot more going on in the playing field than older systems could handle. Hell there’s probably more going on in a single screen of a modern Shoot Em up game than happened in an entire round of Gradius. Since the screen is covered in action and well, bullets, the term Bullet Hell is used.

If you want to go way back, Asteroid is essentially the grand daddy of this genre. They come in two flavors, games like R-Type which scroll along in one direction as enemies attack and the player navigates a stage or Asteroid types where the screen generally stays stationary and the player navigates around the screen defending his or herself.

Beat Hazard falls into the latter type.

It has most of the common elements of this genre, lots of action, everything is glowing and neon colored, power ups, score multipliers and a general dependence on score as a game mechanic. What sets this game apart is it’s musical gimmick.

As you play, your weapon becomes more powerful or weaker to the music playing in the background. If there is a quiet moment, you’ll shoot tiny single bullets. If it’s jamming a guitar riff, the screen will light up and glow as you stream energy all over the screen. This is also augmented by the power ups. You collect Volume and Power emblems. The Volume makes the music get louder and increases the spread and coverage of your weapons. Power pickups increases the music’s power, makes it sound less flat and causes your weapons to do more damage. when you max out both Power and Volume you unlock “Beat Hazard” mode and become a very powerful force.

The game’s built in tracks are pretty good but the real fun comes in playing your own tracks. Beat Hazard is compatible with any MP3 files you want to play. For a $1 DLC fee you can add AAC and MP4 files from iTunes (this is to cover the license to play AAC).

The biggest drawback of this game is it’s lack of variety. The levels are more or less randomly generated based somewhat on the music choices but the number of different enemies you encounter are few. There’s some large garbage ball asteroid things, some small and medium ships that simply fly back and fourth, some larger ships that follow you around a small boss which shows up in pairs and a larger boss. That’s it. There’s a new DLC pack slated for release this year which promises to add some more enemies however.

There’s also a bit of a simplicity aspect to the game play. It’s not real hard to beat most levels by dodging things and spinning your aiming target (mouse) win circles shooting everything around you. This doesn’t work on the bosses and often it’s effective to stop and concentrate fire on the landing point of the enemies but when things get busy this simple strategy will most likely pull you through. Also, mostly a minor nitpick, the larger ships that follow you around could stand to be slightly less tough. They tend to snake after you and it’s easy to get trapped in a corner.

The game also features a leveling system that actually does a pretty good job of keeping itself relevant. The early stages and difficulties are easily doable on the lower rankings but the later stages become difficult very quickly without leveling up your a rank. There isn’t a direct “one level means more damage” relationship but you’ll earn helpful abilities like “Start with 20x Multiplier” and “Start with +1 Volume”.

It’s still a blast to play despite it’s flaws. Especially if you are a fan of the genre and fast paced heavy Rock/Techno music. Be warned though, the game itself warns, there is heavy use of strobe style bright effects and anyone prone to seizures caused by such things should really steer clear. the game’s warning isn’t joking.

Beat hazard is available via Steam.

Review – Gish (PC)

Jul 10th, 2018

by Ramen Junkie.

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Chronic Logic | Released: 05.04.2004 | Rated: Teen

The Short: An ambitious and interesting 2D Platform title that is hindered by it’s clumsy, gimmicky control scheme.

The Long:

The phrase “Physics based” is a popular one these days with Indie developers it seems. It’s essentially a buzz term to define a game in which objects are “realistically affected by gravity”. It’s also the entire focus of the character Gish and his gimmick.

Gish is a gelatinous ball of oil, or goo, or… something…. He’ll have to do the best he can to manipulate his structure as he travels across the world in search of his kidnapped girlfriend. This is definitely an old school throwback plot line, 80s game characters were never very good at keeping track of their women. The next best thing a hero can do besides save the world is save his woman.

This little blob, having no arms or legs, has only his own self to assist himself in his travels. This brings in the game’s gimmick, and it’s primary weakness. Through use of controls, Gish can be made fluid, to slide through small cracks and holes, made more solid, to crush enemies and break things, or made sticky, to climb walls. Gish can also make short hops and can jump higher based somewhat on elasticity and the compression of his body when he’s on the ground.

Jumping is one of the more annoying aspects of the game. You can only make small jumps from a stand still though jumping in succession at Gish’s most compress point will cause him to rebound higher. This means that in order to make any jumps you’ll have to repeatedly bounce up and down, which is generally time consuming. More annoyingly, the only real way Gish has to attack enemies is to jump at them and become solid to cause damage. This wouldn’t be so bad except as mentioned before, Gish’s default jump is pathetically weak so even killing basic enemies becomes trickier than it really should be.

The second major annoyance comes from the wall climbing. It doesn’t quite work the way one would expect (see Metroid’s Sticky Ball). If you are attached to the floor and the wall, you’re going to end up stick to the floor unable to climb. This often means timing your jumps to latch onto walls higher up or onto ceilings. Once again, like jumping, it’s not overly difficult to accomplish, it just raises the tedium level of playing considerably over the fun level.

It’s not to say it’s a terrible concept or design, it could just use a bit of polish. As the saying goes, Your Mileage may vary” but i generally find I’m pretty good at “Physics based games” and still found this game too frustrating to get excessively far in. Which is kind of sad because I really wanted to like this game more than I did.

Review – Portal 2 (PC)

Jun 26th, 2018

by Ramen Junkie.

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Probably one of the most anticipated games released this year, it was proceeded by a gimmicky and ultimately disappointing Augmented Reality Gaming blitz, loads of hype, actual television commercials, and generally, a large bit to live up to. People love Portal 1, and they should, it’s an amazing game that did a lot to make us rethink what an FPS game was supposed to be. Specifically the idea that you must run around shooting and killing things. It also gave us the amazing Portal Gun. i remember first hearing about Portal many years ago in a magazine and an explanation of how the Portal Gun would work and it seemed really really intriguing.

Portal 1 also had a great narrative to go along with it. There is only one real character, the demented yet sympathetic GladOS. She starts off encouraging but as time goes along she becomes a bit meaner but she still keeps up her robotic test obsessed demeanor for most of the game while still trying to kill you… in the name of SCIENCE! It’s a great concept, the game itself is a test, even after the twist, you still kind of get the feeling that it’s all part of the same test. In fact even after the game is over, you get the sense that the whole thing was all part of some planned out plot.

Portal 2, picks up essentially where Portal 1 left off. In fact, the plot of Portal 2 pretty much doesn’t work unless you play through Portal 1. At the end of Portal one you get dragged back for more testing, Portal 2 starts off with you locked away in your small Aperture Science apartment. Some time passes due to a malfunction of the equipment, likely caused by the lack of a central controller due tot he actions taken by the player in Portal 1. After being “rescued” by the drone Wheatley, you start off, once again, navigating test chambers.

One of my favorite aspects of this entire game is the ruins of Aperture Science. Early in the game, you revisit almost every area from Portal 1 in a revamped depressed state. In fact you start off early in the very same glass chamber from the first game. Fairly quickly you end up in the same regions from the end of the first game as well. This whole experience is greatly enhanced by familiarity with the first game as it’s very recognizable and you see it and know “GladOS is there…” Or was there. You don’t really know until you make it back inside. It gives a great sense of suspense and creepiness knowing that this is where you were before, last time it was all a test, tests and test and tests, is it still a test?

Of course the game wouldn’t be very much fun if it were just “Portal 1 with more trees”, so after some more plot twists, the player will embark on a whole new adventure through the history of Aperture Science.

This too is handled pretty interestingly. You escape from the ruined modern era Aperture, and find your way to the ruins of the very early Aperture. Guided by the recorded voice of Cave Johnson, founder of Aperture you must traverse some very rough early test chambers. This also introduces another Aperture product, the Propulsion and repulsion gels. One type of gel will cause the player, or other objects, to travel at great speeds, like some sort of super grease. The other will cause the player to be pushed off, useful for jumping higher or bouncing from one location to another.

There are also some new devices to content with called Hard Light Bridges. These can be positioned using the Portals and are essentially clear platforms of light that you use to travel over chasms, stop objects, or protect yourself from Turrets.

Other new devices, in addition to the plasma balls used previously to power equipment there are now also lasers which can be directed using prism style mirror cubes.

All of these new tools are pretty unique and interesting and make for some interesting new twists on the old Portal Gun puzzles. The puzzles are of course the main driver of the gameplay. The interesting story and plot going on in the background i just an excellent bonus that helps solidify the game as a whole. I’m doing my best to avoid any real spoilers here but sufficed to say, the game climaxes out pretty well and you’ll have to use most of the tricks you’ve learned in the end to escape destruction and ‘save the day”, or at least save yourself.

To top things off, the game includes a multiplayer Coop mode. The player and one other companion can play a 2 player mode where each controls a robot instead of the human Chel. These courses are pretty cleverly designed to require both players and it is quite a bit of fun. The real issue seems to be finding people to play with as there isn’t much replay incentive on the multi player Coop.

The game really does live up to it’s hype. I do have two main complaints. Firstly, there is a serious lack of Turrets in this game., Granted, for the most part, the turrets are kind of annoying to deal with sometimes but they do add some difficulty to what is otherwise a “think for a bit and go” style of gameplay. Things shooting at you help keep you on your toes and force you to think more quickly. The lack of turrets is more or less explained by the plot but it’s kind of disappointing, especially when Old Aperture could easily have had “Old Turrets not affected by the plot gimmick.

Secondly is the pricing. The original asking price for portal 2 was $50 bucks, it’s now down to $30. I hate complaining about pricing since I know I am spoiled to death by sales and cheap indie games but $50 is WAY too much. $30 is more reasonable. Generally speaking, the game takes 10-15 hours to complete, max. The original is about a 5 hour game, just for a comparison. $30 is more reasonable though it still seems a little steep.

So here’s the deal, Portal 2, is pretty much everything it’s expected to be. It looks great, the story is fun, the puzzles are interesting, etc etc. It’s essentially, Portal 1, plus a lot more, in a sense, and it continues to carry over the fun of Portal 1. The real problem, like Portal 1, is there isn’t much incentive to replay it at all. Kind of a disappointment there. Even the multiplayer, by design, isn’t really replayable, once you’ve figured everything out. This is the only real drawback I found with the entire game, other than the related secondary problem of game length vs price. there has been promises of some DLC or map editors or something to help extend the value from Valve but as far as I can tell they have not even added anything new to buy to the Portal 2 store, which brings them in bonus money.

Portal 2 is available via Steam.

Review – Pokemon Diamond and Pearl (NDS)

Jun 19th, 2018

by Ramen Junkie.

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Oh Pokémon, how conflicted you make us. On one hand, you’re a lot of fun. Your simple system of battling animals is easy to pick up somewhat difficult to master. On the other hand, you’re such a huge blatant marketing whore that we can’t help but hate you for it.

Pokémon is a franchise designed to sell… stuff. Lots of properties do this but only someone like say, Disney does it bigger than Pokémon. Ironically, both Disney and Pokémon use a mouse as their mascot, coincidence? Probably.

Anyway, Pokémon sells too. Kids eat up all of the toys, the card games, the peripherals, the games, the game systems. I am pretty sure this series didn’t pioneer the dual game version format but it certainly perfected it. This encourages people to own multiple copies of the same game for the sole purpose of being able to capture and control maybe a dozen additional virtual creatures. Well, it also encourages social activity among children so they can trade these creatures around. Unfortunately, no one wants to do an even trade for anything, they all want level 100 rare “Legendary” Pokémon for worthless normal types. That’s greed and a complete lack of how economies work that a million ten year olds will create for you.

And millions of ten year olds are out there to trade with. Pokémon Diamond/Pearl (D/P) is the first of the series to feature the ability to trade via the internet thanks to the Nintendo DS’s WiFi capabilities. See a neat or cute Pokémon used by an in game trainer that you’d like to add to your party. You can look for one on the WiFi network to trade for. Unfortunately you’ll likely not possess or be unwilling to give up the powerful Pokémon being requested. This is where the aforementioned balance issue comes into play here in force. Everyone is looking for Dialga, or Mewtwo, or level 100 Milotics. No one wants your Gyarados for their Murkrow. WiFi trading is not a good alternative to straight out hunting and catching things on your own.

This brings up a point I’d like to push about how broken the WiFi trade system is. It could really use a “Search for what’s wanted” sort of feature. Let’s say I have an extra Psyduck. Being able to see who out there wants a Psyduck then deciding if I want what they are offering would be much more useful than the current system. The current system being that I offer up my Psyduck for a specific Pokémon then hope some person comes along wanting to trade for my Psyduck using that specific Pokémon. Most of the time, I don’t care what I get for it just so long as it’s not something I already own.

WiFi isn’t just used for trading; it’s also used for battling. I think. Once again, the multiplayer options are a bit flawed and confusing in this game. There seems to be dozens of variations of two player battles going on in this game varying from fighting friends over the internet or fighting local players to team based battles. There’s supposed to be a way to fight other player’s champion teams as well though the teams become computer controlled. They all get initiated via different options and in world locations and what does what is not particularly clear due to conflicting in game terminology.

The key word here is friends. You can only battle people whose friend code you’ve entered. Anonymous random battles over WiFi would have been a totally awesome option in this game. Especially if there was some sort of server side algorithm for determining a balanced battle so you don’t have someone fielding a bunch of level 1 Pokémon against a party of level 100 legendaries. I suppose this would have made is possible that the other player had named his Pokémon “Penis” and some kid might get exposed to this but the simple act of not showing names would have fixed that. Besides, there’s no filters on the trading end of things and it’s not possible to rename traded Pokémon.

Anyway, enough about the broken WiFi capabilities of this game. Let’s get to the actual game play. If you’ve played any other game in this series, you’ve played this game. The only Pokémon game I have experience with is the original Blue, and I was amazed at how similar this game was to that game. There are a few new options and extras such as Pokémon breeding and shinny Pokémon and multiple hidden Legendary Pokémon that have been added over the years but the core is still the same.

You start out as a kid with his/her first Pokémon, you battle through 8 themed gyms and against an evil enemy “Team” while building an army of cute fighting critters, then you face the “Elite Four” and the current Champion.

The maps are 3D now but they are stuck in an overhead position and look essentially just like the old ones. The battles use the same cornered menu driven look. The newer games occasionally have 2vs2 battles but for the most part it’s 1vs1.

One of the main new features for the DS is the use of the lower touch screen as a Poketch (short for Pokémon Watch I believe). This takes up the entire screen and looks like an LCD wrist watch that your character would wear in game (it’s all grayscale except for the border watch part). It’s an extremely gimmicky way to present useful information on the fly while helping with the immersion feel of the game. They could have done the same thing with a pretty color interface but this simplified look helps give it some interesting charm. My only complaint is that once you get a lot of applications loaded into it, it takes forever to navigate. A “Previous app” button would have done wonders to help this. As it is designed there is only one “button” for switching applications.

The Applications range from a simple clock that keeps real world time, to a radar for finding hidden items, to mini maps that tell you where berries or markers are located. Some are extremely useful and required for finding everything. Others, like the customizable roulette reel are ultimately useless.

Now, I know I’ve been a little hard on this game, but the parts I’ve been hard on are a small and mostly unnecessary part of the game. The core game play is a lot of fun, especially if you like RPG style game play. Well, I should clarify that as “old school” RPG style game play. Modern RPGs tend to be a bit different than the simple turn based menu driven combat used in Pokémon. There is also the massive collecting aspect that can appear to a person’s obsessive need to well, collect things. The core game has 150 Pokémon in the “Sinnoh Dex”. After you complete he Sinnoh dex by seeing (not catching) all 150 Pokémon you unlock the “National Dex” which includes all Pokémon from every game in the series. We’re talking not quite 500 of the little critters.

This National Dex is of course empty until you fill it up by seeing or capturing all of the Pokémon. How do you do this if there’s only 150 core Pokémon in the game? After you unlock the National Dex additional Pokémon start showing up around the world. There will be daily swarms in certain areas, the master of the Pokémon mansion will import more exotic types into his garden, a whole new Battle Island will open with lots of Pokémon being used and to be caught from other regions. Also, you can trade Pokémon up into Diamond or Pearl from your previous GBA versions of the game. Unfortunately, this is a one way trip for your Pokémon and annoyingly, you have to do it 6 at a time to satisfy the Pal Park mini game requirements. The real challenge of this game actually comes AFTER you “complete” it.

Ultimately, Pokémon is an experience that a player is either going to love or hate. There’s not much of an “Its ok” or “I guess I like it a little” ground. It’s a concept that appeals to kids and obsessive collectors and not much else. Fortunately, it still does a pretty good job of it. Now if only I could import my Pokémon Blue army into my copy of Pokémon Diamond.