#Steam
#Steam
A storm of pulsing beats and raucous feedback, Rym9000’s psychedelic visage obfuscates what is otherwise a straightforward shooter. Its draw is in the aesthetic exercise. Its unrestrained use of color creates an intense energy that never lets up, and the soundtrack continues that high. The waves of enemies come in familiar patterns, smartly placed to provide a steady rhythm. Each explosion lets off another burst of blown out sound and feedback to complement that rhythm. All of this is covered in severe visual artifacts, distorting the view and giving Rym9000 the look of an image file trying to constantly recover its data from corruption.
[TRANSCRIPT]
Sonic Mania is an incredible achievement. It’s a game I looked forward to since its announcement, and one that I had total faith in knowing the team behind it. It’s smooth, modern, and has great boss fights and a few surprises that I appreciated.
by Amr (@siegarettes)
[TRANSCRIPT]
Sonic Forces feels incomplete. It’s straining against its budget, with signs that it may have gone a few changes of direction. Everything is highly polished, but it’s clear that plenty got cut on the way, leaving them to assemble what’s left into something resembling complete. It’s frustrating, seeing something with so many ideas, but with almost none of them explored.
By: RJ (@rga_02)
There are some games you play for the sake of irony or a joke. You know those type of games. You would find them digging deep in the Steam storefront and you tell yourself, “this looks so awful, but I’ll play it anyway.” Then there are games that are so atrocious that even any sort of irony won’t be able to salvage your experience. Touhou Kobuto V is one of them.
by Omar (@siegarettes)
Sine Mora was one of the most interesting shooters of the last generation. Interesting, in the way we reserve the word for games that have peaked our attention somehow, but don’t quite manage to get all the way there. Sine Mora EX returns to it, bringing a fresh coat of paint, small balance changes, and a few 2 player modes.
by Omar (@siegarettes)
There are few feelings more satisfying than a good parry. Bleed 2 knows that, and not only does it center itself on it, it brings the best version of the parry: the one that can reflect missiles into an enemies face.
That’s what makes Bleed 2 work. The slow motion gunplay, the agile character, the two color bullet system – it all complements the parry. The parry changes the way you approach levels. It makes it smarter to be the aggressor, forces you to run towards bullets to create breathing room. The best moments in Bleed 2 are the ones that play with that. They create tension as you rally bullets until your opponent drops it, then have knock them out of the air with a quick response to their dive attack. Or they have you defend an ally by parrying a car out of the air.
by Omar ( @siegarettes )
RIVE is a bit of anachronism in 2016. Despite the current popularity and developments of the twin-stick shooter, RIVE feels like a game from the heyday of Xbox Live Arcade. Between the gruff, blue collar characterization of the protagonist, constant reference to retro arcade games, and fourth wall breaks, RIVE is particularly enamored with an idea of a retro throwback in a way that now feels like a throwback itself.
