Recent reviews by tuxdelux

On the fence... it is artistically stunning, and the writing is excellent, but you are buying an interactive GRAPHIC NOVEL. Be aware. The store page says "adventure" and "point & click", but I do not agree. The backgrounds are displayed entirely linear, and the clickables are embellished pauses within the story. In the end, however, I was glad to see this story on my screen, with the breath-taking visuals. I would love to see more of this type of entertainment format, but it does not sound right calling this experience a game. Memorable artwork, but not planning to purchase further chapters.

I tried out The Detail on an Ubuntu 18.10 desktop computer.

Very interesting social satire, but also fun and a bit funny, too. Working fine on ubuntu linux, comrad!
This will feel like working, and it is a hard game. It takes about 90 seconds to check all the paperwork, and you have about 50 seconds to do it. The gameplay will feel like being at work, but the characters, atmosphere, and story will keep you having fun. This social topic is becoming more important than ever, and Papers, Please will get you thinking about the purpose and impact of identification and state power.
Checked your papers on an ubuntu linux desktop computer.

weird black and white puzzles.. with jumping.. meh..
very talented animation.. might be nice to watch a playthrough video..

A cool, old point and click adventure. Works on Ubuntu 16.04 with some work. Had to read the forums on fixing the video resolution, in the settings file. But, it was worth it. Good dystopian story, amazing voice acting (150MB file). Listen, the story and the art keep getting better toward the last chapter of the game, but the mid-game puzzles - bleck! - are terrible. Find a walkthrough to bypass them, and don't miss the great ending.

Seems like this Steam version has been fixed up with some tutorial prompts and other improvements. If you can appreciate those old Sierra point-and-click adventures and you're looking for something retro and yet new, then check out this fun story.

Finally buckled down to finish the tutorial, which took me two hours over four different sittings. This game has lots of layers to the menus, lots of easy to forget hotkeys, a tiny user interface layer, and the icons for ships are shockingly simple and similar. All these made the tutorial a real drag to complete. The community forum recommends youtube videos called, Temeron's Tactics, which are forty-nine ten-minute videos!

The premise of the game is such a good idea, that I really want to like this game, but it feels so needlessly painful to do the simplest things. In a typical RTS-game, building troops is just "build barracks" then "build soldier," but not so easy in AI War. Adding to the complexity is the tiny menu font and abbreviated text, which makes finding each selection even more difficult. The game does not make me feel like the additional complexity is worth it. It certainly is not more fun.

As for the campaign, the base game does not include storyline missions. Each map is generated and played with configuration options. Maybe the included DLCs offer something more, but I did not see any voice-narration, storyline, or graphical cutscenes, as a typical RTS-games uses.

But in the final summary, the game has a unique playstyle that will appeal to hardcore RTS fans. Should an overly-complex game be "Not Recommended" because I lack the patience to enjoy it? I struggle with this question, because the UI is not inconsistent nor is there a lack of quality. I played this on ubuntu linux 16.04 through 19.04, and I found no issues at all. In fact, the game splashscreen offers a 64-bit build option, which is pretty great. This game uses the Unity game engine, and it takes up 1,000 MBs of diskspace.

no way.. the game is all jumping puzzles, but often you cannot see your destination because it is blocked, or the rock that you need to grapple is spinning in a weird way. the jumps require you to leap off a ledge to be in range of the grapple target, so you are trying to aim while you are falling. you may like jumping puzzle games, but you will restart dozens of times just trying to figure out where you are supposed to land! is this hardcore parkour? and it did not match with the gentle, slow kid-friendly story... too bad because the cute 3D character animations were quite charming, so was the gentle music and the soothing voice acting. it is just the level design... not sure what they were thinking!

... so, now a couple years later, I tried playing through the game again. there are a couple tricks that I did not notice previously, like the jump point having a triangle pointing to the landing. I got a bit further and the gameplay got worse. The game goes into a pitch-black terrain, then drops the aim-assisting triangles, that makes it even harder to see the targets.

I played this game on an ubuntu linux computer, with radeon mesa graphic drivers. I played with a keyboard and mouse. It supports a controller, but I would think that would be so much harder. The game uses the Unreal Game Engine, and it takes up 1,500 MBs of diskspace. As for technical issues, I had none and the game ran very smoothly.

This is nonsense. First of all, it is not three dimensional. I was picturing a Super Mario going to a Super Mario 3D world, but instead I got a 2D platformer that requires extra button mashing to navigate. And it does not even give you a 2D that you would expect, so it is even more frustrating. For example, a platform that was behind a tower will be on the front when it spins. It is like a 3D world is being pressed into a 2D world, each time you hit the mash the spin button. But then the map can change in each spin, so a deadend in one direction can turn into a passage in another direction. This causes you to have to mash the spin button relentlessly - without any idea which spin direction is necessary - just to navigate the level. It is not fun and it not not interesting. Speaking of not interesting, the game purposely encodes the story, to give you the joy of decoding the basic plot. But the designer forgot that the player is only going to be interested in working to decode the story when they are already invested. If you encode the plot from the start, then there is no way for the player to get invested. Why am I going to work to figure out the cube-speak language, when I have a bunch of other games to play? Why would I figure out the esoteric controls when the lack of plot has given me no goals? This feels like the designer came up with an idea that they thought was clever, built a game around it, but never asked whether people actually wanted to play a 2D platformer where you had to move in four directions at once to get anywhere, then he doubled-down by building a story that actually required playing through the game to understand.

A 3D exploration-action game. There are some fun elements, but the gameplay lacks the punch to make this a worthwhile purchase.

Collect items, avoid or defeat monsters, and try to navigate randomly generated mini-dungeon levelss. The graphics and gameplay are not the most amazing thing in the world. At first glance, it looks like a game where you sneak past monsters, until you learn that they only respawn when looted. Then, it becomes a game about slashing the predictable enemy AI, when it comes around the corner. One thing that I did not like was lack of save game, because it is very common to get killed by suprise. The idea of starting and finishing the game with one try seems unlikely, and restarting the same game levels again is a bore, even if they are slightly different. I also did not like having to pick up items through the crosshairs, especially for the tiny keys.

I played this game on ubuntu linux 16.04 with radeon mesa and intel graphics. Worked well on both, except the game would get noticably laggy on some levels. The gamepad controllers worked fine, and I used a couple different ones. There are also extensive configuration settings to customize the controls.

Lots of games here make me say w t f when I first start them up, but Roundabout has the high score for bizarro gameplay. Can you recommend this game? I am not sure, but you also can't not recommend this game. I am not sure you can appreciate it without playing it. I watched some videos of the gameplay, and I had no idea until I actualy started moving a rotating limosine down some uncomfortably tight passages. Is there any other game with controls so infuriating? At the same time, this game never hassles you for blowing up your limo and passenger ten times in a row. The video reward payoff makes it all worthwhile.

I bought this game for the Full Motion Video, after playing Press X Not to Die, and Roundabout delivered on that account. The game has a lot more interesting features, and it will keep me coming back to it to keep exploring. The designers put a lot into the game, and it is a unique experience. I think everyone should try it, just to see something very different. There is a lot of love and polish that went into Roundabout... cool music, funny joke upgrades, and little graphical effects... and this game would be otherwise easy to dismiss. Instead, this game that challenges you to enjoy a rich game world, while forcing you to explore it in the most a ridiculously inefficient way.

(update) Liking this even more, as I finish the first stage's challenges. I see this sometimes pokes fun at the Grand Theft Auto 2 gameplay, but it keeps getting more and more bizarro humor. It is like a joke that is funny, then it's not funny, then it is funny again. They did just such a great job with everything here. I really commend the technical designers and oddball minds that came up with these stories. And, it is working great on ubuntu linux 18.10 with radeon mesa graphic drivers. No problem dealing with gamepad controller disconnects. Two thumbs up!

The linux version works through WINE, first of all. A half-hearted effort (much like the rest of the experience) to port the game, but it did work fine for me (except the intro video didn't play correctly, occasionally).

Okay, here is my review of Iron Sky: Invasion. I had the same problem with this game that I did with the movie. First, I loved Star Wreck: The Pirkinning, so when I saw Iron Sky, I was surprised that I could not sit through the whole thing. This game and that movie both missed what made Star Wreck so awesome, which is not taking itself too seriously. Iron Sky (both the game and the movie) found some funding, and they set out to make the great extravaganza where Nazis waged war from the moon. And because they spent all this money, they wanted the viewers to be really focused on all the gags where they spent that money. Take this serious!, it seems to say. But the whole thing is ridiculous and it does not do well when taken seriously. Did they really make it feel like the International Space Station is shooting laser beams? No? then don't draw a lot of attention to the half-hearted 3D model. Is the Sarah Palin impersonator tell any good jokes? No? then don't stop the entire game to make me watch it.

Iron Sky should have been made on a shoe-string budget and given the B-Movie treatment it deserved, where the creators focused on silly jokes that made fun of themselves, instead of trying to deliver a AAA level entertainment. They really missed the mark despite trying so hard. What you have here is an expensive game engine with only passable gameplay interrupted by professional actors telling not funny jokes.

Don't spend your time trying to find anything redeeming about Iron Sky. Instead, go watch Star Wreck: the Pirkinning (on youtube), and laugh along with the creators -- because they know what you know -- it's a cheezy, b-movie but they are having fun with it anyway.