#review
#review
by Amr (@siegarettes)
Venture Kid is a Mega Man inspired platformer. Retro style action games aren’t exactly the rarity they used to be, and you’ve absolutely played a game in this style already. Thankfully, Venture Kid at least nails the core action, with responsive controls that provide the kind of strong feedback that other retro games lack, which counterbalances its more strict damage requirements. Unfortunately, Venture Kid also chops of the framework of the series it takes inspiration from, and puts the pieces back together in a form that doesn’t make sense.
by Amr (@siegarettes)
Up until its ending, I was never sure where Falcon Age was going. From the colonialist labor camp it opens on, until the final moments where you’re asked to choose between two paths, I never understood where my place in Falcon Age was. Its anti-colonialist message rings clear, and while it’s refreshing to see such a clear political stance, it never digs meaningfully into the effects or consequences, or finds a way to explore them within its framework.
Let me be clear here–its explicit enumeration of the crimes of colonialism and rejection of the colonial ideology is admirable and something I’d like to see other developers follow–my problems with Falcon Age are where it goes with ideas, which never achieve anything as coherent as its stated message. It aims to tell a story of bond between a falcon trainer and her falcon, resistance and its toll, and keeping your culture alive against a force that attempts to erase it, but it constantly distracts from its message through the act of play.
by Amr (@siegarettes)
Stripped down to its movement and topography, Feather aims to bring joy through flight and freeform exploration. No objectives or progression, only the island and your wings.
It works–mostly. Movement gives off a sense of lightness, with climbing and diving between altitudes coming easily, and directional reversals at a button’s touch. Whether skimming the surface of the ocean or the clouds Feather makes the breeze at your wings a tangible presence. And while movement in itself is one of the easy joys of games, without context it’s difficult to keep it compelling for long.
by Amr (@siegarettes)
Overwhelm’s pitch nearly convinced me that it would be for me. An action-horror platformer where enemies get new abilities each time you beat a boss. It flips the usual action game dynamic and pushes back harder each time you take a step towards beating it. On top of that you’re only given three lives to complete a boss before you start all over. And you can only take a single hit.
By: RJ (@rga_02)
This review contains some spoilers
It has been 12 years since the release of a “proper” Ace Combat console game. Since then, Namco has experimented with the series - with varying degrees of success depending on who you ask. However, the common opinion you’ll find across is that there hasn’t been a “proper” Ace Combat game since the PS2 era.
Fans of the series have been left wondering when they will be gracing the skies of Strangereal once more. Luckily for them - including me, our prayers have been answered this year with the release of Ace Combat 7: Skies Unkown. And spoiler, it is everything that I’ve wanted.
by Amr (@siegarettes)
Contrary to its title, one of the first things Baba is You taught me that my adorable sheep avatar was not in fact always me. Sometimes I’m a rock, or a ghost, or every single wall in the room. Sometimes the goal is to get Baba to a flag to win, sometimes the goal is to get something else there, transform into it and then make yourself the win condition. If that sounds confusing or inconsistent that’s because Baba is You is fundamentally about changing its own rules.
by Amr (@siegarettes)
When I originally reviewed The Caligula Effect for the Vita I found it to be a dire RPG, with a half-baked story and combat that was held back by its abysmal technical performance. I questioned the merit of returning to it for a PS4 remake. Still, I was curious if any of the original game could be salvaged. So once again I found myself, like the game’s protagonists, stuck in an endless loop of high school life.
by Amr (@siegarettes)
Ghoulboy doesn’t quite capture the retro feeling that it goes for. Ghoulboy fits comfortably along games like Poppyworks’ Super Skull Smash and Halloween Forever, which look the part in screenshots, but aren’t quite there when you get your hands on them. The movement is all slightly off, the feedback isn’t there, and some of the stage designs get finicky. Regardless, it ends up being decent fun in its own right, even if it mostly reminds me of games it can’t live up to.