Recent reviews by jello ツ

‘Ghostbusters: Sanctum of Slime’ -- or ‘Ghostbusters: We didn’t even try to make a good game, because it’ll sell like any Ghostbusters-licenced product does...’

Don’t buy it, especially if you just want it for single-player. Imagine anything that could be wrong with a top-down shooter and you’ll probably will find it in this game: constantly changing camera angles; non-customisable controls; stupid AI; super-stupid enemy design -- especially for bosses [more health + one-hit kills = more challenge, right?!]; weapon design that’s a joke... Let alone the blatant disregard for the licence it’s based on.

It’s like the developers were kidnapped and forced to create this atrocity. They are probably trying to communicate this fact, or otherwise the title couldn’t be shortened to ‘Ghostbusters: SOS’. Subliminal messaging at its best.

Yes, it does hold up to all the hype it gets -- because everyone pretty much says “That’s where we want games to go, but it isn’t quite there yet.”

Don’t judge it by the demo. It’s only the first hour or so and it’s probably the weakest. Sure, it does look like your standard modern military shooter and plays like one, but it’s no Call of Duty and it doesn’t want to be one. It’s the expectation with which SO:TL plays. Much like BioShock, there is a meta-level you need to acknowledge to see its brilliance, otherwise you’ll just get an mediocre to okay game.

I wouldn’t go as far as to call SO:TL an anti-war game -- after all, it’s a spectacle that fires up everything any other modern military shooter fires up, except that “America, ♥♥♥♥ yeah!” and “Isn’t war cool, huh?” feeling. But it’s the closest we got: It’s an engaging game, but not really fun at all.

Story-wise, it might be only a re-hash of Heart of Darkness or Apocalypse Now but it goes the extra step and uses its game-play mechanics to show that narrative doesn’t have to happen in cut-scenes and text entries only. Especially, that the choices you are presented with aren’t cut down to “push button X”, but to use what [limited] game-play feature you are given, is a brilliant move -- and it’s something I really want to see more often in the future.

If you care for narrative in games just one bit, get SO:TL.

79 minutes of awesomeness. If you wait for a discount, you're a meanie and you stink! At $2.99/2.49€ it's a total steal.

“Puzzle game + Zombies = weird”, right? Yeah, that’s probably what the developers thought, too. So, paint your “Match 3” game of sorts a little bit different and it’ll sell, BECAUSE ZOMBIES!

But: While you can certainly replace the Zombies and Survivors with gems or fruits or whatnot and you’d have the same puzzle aspect, the Zombie-apocalypse atmosphere the designers created for ‘Containment’ can very well stand equal to other “serious” Zombie fiction.

It’s not your typical “Match 3” game as you have to surround the -- sometimes quite rapidly -- spreading Zombies with like-coloured Survivors, but if you like this type of puzzle game and/or can’t get enough of the living undead, get ‘Containment’ ASAP!

If you like exploration, highscore hunting, 2D platforming [of sorts], and electronica music, ‘PixelJunk Eden’ is *the* game for you. Easy to pick up, hard to master. And while you’re at it, definitely buy the soundtrack, too, you won’t regret it.

If you look up “console port” in a dictionary, there should be a picture of ‘Bastion’ for “good example”. Because saying “it’s a console port” in its most common sense would be a downright insult. It runs very well, even on older PCs, and its mouse/keyboard controls don’t feel clunkier than its gamepad controls [which is to say: a little]. And apart from that:

You’ll fall in love with ‘Bastion’s narrator. And its soundtrack. Its graphics, too. Maybe even its characters. But definitely its soundtrack. And the narrator. Did I mention the soundtrack? I probably did, but just to be sure: Narrator, story, soundtrack, good console port. ’nuff said.

You like rhythm games? And RPG elements, too? You want to feast your eyes on colourful character and background designs? And you don’t mind sometimes silly humour? You better not wait to hit that buy button!

‘Sequence’ gives you all this: wonderful music, colourful 2D graphics, silly but loveable dialogue and humour [apart from that Hitler joke maybe], and at its rhythm core a superb game where you’ll learn what it means to multitask.

The RPG element can become a chore at times [keyword: grinding] and a gamepad is very highliest recommended, but that shouldn’t keep you from playing a game that has so much character in the most positive sense of the word.

Shooting zombies! -- More to say? :D
Okay: One of my top-played games, and thanks to a new patch every few weeks you’ll always get something new -- for free. Whole lotta shooting zombies!

So you’ve never played a Bullet Hell shooter before and ‘Jamestown’ got your attention just because you’re a sucker for a nice alternative reality and/or Steampunk setting? Then let ‘Jamestown’ be your starter drug!

It’s hard -- hell, it’s called “Bullet HELL” for a reason -- and you’ll curse many, many, many times, but you WILL [have to] get better progressing through the levels, and playing the first level again on one of the lower difficulties after beating the last level, you’ll somehow manage it without using all your credits. Who’d have thought?
There are only five campaign levels, but its 20-odd bonus challenges [again, “challenges” for a reason] and, of course, the Gauntlet will test your skills to the fullest.

Thanks to its retro-graphics and magnificent score, the game looks and sounds simply amazing. Beware though: Keyboard and mouse control are a bit odd. Gamepad recommended.