Recent reviews by dani.jz

Hehe. This game is just plain insidious. If it had been made during the 80s or early 90s, it would have been an A-list title. Now, it's "just" one of the best oldschool platformers out there.

While I absolutely love the cheesy premise, the game very quickly devolves into an extremely boring and frustrating routine of a random encounter for every 4 steps you take. You really can't carry enough recovery items to last, and fighting the exact same monster combo the 50th time within the same area is not my idea of fun.

In this case, being less faithful to the more frustrating tropes of very early JRPGs would have made the product much better.

Loved this game. I've never played Shadow of the Templars when it was new, so it was a totally fresh experience for me, and it does indeed hold up to today's standards in terms of game design.

However, as others, I have to point out that the remastering could have been done better, from a technical viewpoint. The volume of the audio clips is inconsistent, and some of them could have done with some digital noise filtering applied. Also, the video cutscenes end rather abruptly, using a slow fade-out would have been a better choice.

This is a high-octane, adrenaline-laden bullet hell shooter, with all the mandatory trappings of the genre, from the cutesy graphics to the energetic soundtrack. And let's not forget going against a vast and near-invincible foe.

The choice between various dolls makes for an interesting strategic metagame, which made Hitogata Happa a lot of fun. BTW, my suggestion is that you should use the original soundtrack, as the new arrangements may be more nuanced, but they have lost a lot of the high-octane, flowing explosiveness the original has.

Cave Story has it all. Robots in love! Rabbit creatures! Evil magic! Cute monsters! Ridiculously overpowered guns!

This is probably the best platformer in the world, unifying the awesome in all the great platformers from back then. It's funny, touching, and a damned whole lot of fun to play...

It can get rather hard though... Good thing that there is an easy mode. :)

The gothic horror adventure game you have been waiting for.

It is generally very well designed, the puzzles flow naturally, and the creators are masterful at creating a foreboding atmosphere. There are jumpscares too, some of those are absolutely ingenious. If anything, the pixel graphics, which is barely symbolic of the places, people and things it represents, just add to the tension and the scare-factor.

This was one of the most celebrated games in the genre, and with very good reason. The story is interesting and funny, the characters colorful, and it's generally a great game.

True, some of the puzzles are not quite intuitive... and the camera positions in some of the locations are laid out in a very strange fashion... and the mouse interface (which was tacked on in the remake) seems to be glitchy at times... but those don't make it any less awesome. :)

Well I can't hit "NO" on bloody Fallout 2 can I? It's a cult classic.

That said, I'm sure you've heard all the good stuff about it from everyone else. Maybe you remember playing it as a kid (and remember all the good stuff). All that good stuff is true. This game is awesome.

That said... there are some things that really grate on me...

Combats are painfully, hair-tearingly slow. Sometimes you have to wait minutes for some scorpions to crawl ahead a few hexes each, only to fire at one and find out that you missed. Again some minutes of crawly-crawly. Until they surround you and tear you to pieces within a single round.

Your weapons don't really improve all that much. Later in the game, around San Francisco, even though you can upgrade your arsenal, it feels like a downgrade with the ridiculously overpowered (and numerous) enemies.

Merchants run out of cash, and you run out of storage space. You'll end up lugging around dozens of extremely valuable guns you can't use, and can't barter in for an upgrade, because, say, the gun you'd want to buy costs 10000, each of the old guns cost 1000, but you can't carry 10 of them at the same time.

Party members are bloody idiots. They are a liability 50% of the time. They are very good at two things - getting themselves killed, or killing you and each other. If you give them powerful weapons, they will try to shoot a full cartridge into some enemy right through a party member standing inbetween. If you give them crappy weapons, or tell them to run away, you can't win most of the fights late in the game.

The NPC control dialog is incredibly hard to navigate.

Did I mention how slow combat is? On a computer maybe a 100 times more powerful than the one this game was written for.

Anyway... of course it's recommended. It's Fallout 2. But it will frustrate you to no end.

Great oldschool game. The control scheme reminds me of the Amiga. :)

It's a great game. To enjoy it fully, you only have to obey THE RULE.

What is THE RULE you ask?

THE RULE is: Don't google Phil Fish.

I said DON'T. No, really.

I'm serious.

...no, I actually am completely, fully, absolutely serious. Don't.