Recent reviews by tuxdelux

I just finished Firewatch. I slogged through to the end, but I would not recommend this game. I am sorry that this game did not work out better, because I can see the obvious effort put into this game. I can see what the developers were trying to do, and I would have thought I was just the type of person for that idea. And technically, it works without crashing and the support team works hard, including support for linux. So, sorry that I feel compelled to express my negative sentiments.
I usually like narrative in games. But in Firewatch, you have to play a game of "mother may I?" with an emotional wreck to get any story information. And the story did not grab me, because it didn't seem plausable. It all seemed so forced, including feeling sorry for the main character.
I usually like exploration in games. But in Firewatch, the level design was painful. I was constantly trying to get around obsticles, constantly checking the map instead of enjoying the views, the navigation signposts would point in inaccessible directions, and terrain would not follow natural topography. Trees would block your view of the one path to exit a field, and the hill with a gentle slope could not be climbed. But for what reason? What was the purpose of making it a huge pain to get around the map?
I usually like open world games. But in Firewatch, I felt like I was always being railroaded from one place to another. And, yet the trails were not easy to follow, so I was going back and forth in an area trying to figure out how to continue in that specified direction.
I just wanted a game with a natural area to explore, that maybe had some interesting features. The description seemed to indicate that Firewatch was at least that type of game, but I felt really let down. If they wanted to make a game where you shuttled from one place to another, then they should have made levels like that. When I had to go back and forth through a mine passage, toward the end of the game, I felt strongly that the designers were most comfortable making that type of game.
I played it to the end, but I could not share in the game's efforts to make me feel sad about leaving. The ending reminded me of the whole experience: it looked great at first, but you could only move toward it, in the way the game told you. Then, it was over.

I was initially really impressed with the game, but it lost me with the difficulty changes in the boss fights. I really fell in love with the game at first. Light levels that go up and down, camera zooms, music matching the environment, and then the environment.. wow.. so much detail in the backgrounds. The pictures tell the story, and the soundtrack captures your interest. You feel pulled into this watery world. I was playing a game Aquaria and this game is what I wanted that game to be, but it wasn't. This feels murky, dark, and aquatic.

It was fascinating to explore but there was the spectre of lethal trouble. All the fights are boss monsters, and the boss fights are all brutally challenging. From the store page, "Polarized gameplay: It's pretty chill until you've gotta fight for your life!"

Yeah, I fought the third boss literally dozens of times, before I beat him, even after looking up walkthroughs and secret upgrades. At some point, it stops being fun for me. If you are looking for tough boss fights and don't mind slowly cutting through seaweed to do it, then maybe this is a good game for you. I can say that it ran great on ubuntu linux 16.04 with radeon mesa drivers, at least.

Woah! Space Invaders meets genetic algorithms! Some pretty fun ideas. Go into this knowing it was created by college students trying to prove a thesis, and you will be much happier.

That said, there is quite a bit to like in this game. Lots of unlockable ships and upgrades. Think of it as a campaign, where you try to keep pace with the alien upgrades with your own ship upgrades, except the aliens are watching to see where your play-style is the weakest. This looks like it was a big university effort, so you get a lot of polish here for the price. Fun and compelling. (Just be sure that you are ready for a space invaders style gameplay.)

Works on ubuntu linux 16.04 through 20.04 with radeon mesa drivers. Unity engine. I could not get a gamepad to work. I could not get multiplayer to work. Nice graphics, but slow load times.

Really nifty game. Finished the story on ubuntu system with zero glitches! Great style: I got swept up in the odd, neurotic world that feels just so huge. Three dimentional characters and game physics, with great animations. The story of driving into the desert to claim the inheritance of pants, while finding casette tapes - that are played as in-game music. If you are looking for a cool first-person game with a beatnic coffeehouse vibe, then check out this action-puzzler. It is one of my favorites.

There are some big bugs for ubuntu linux game controllers that you will need to handle after installing, but if you can be patient, then this is a clever, humorous game. Several times, I had a real hearty laugh from the cut scene dialogue. The characters are so great, and the level design is so far pretty solid.

update... still playing psychonauts! so much content.. and, I also found the game Stacking - also by Doublefine - that has the same psychonauts feel... not as action packed, but worth checking out!

update deux... STILL playing and checked a walkthrough that said I was only halfway done.. this game.. does.. not.. let.. up.. there are still frequent cut-scenes, clever story arcs, and funny scripted moments. The game continues to be high-quality levels, even after countless hours of play

update troi... Oh my gosh, this has got to be one of the longest games that I have played. My in-game save says 17.5 hours, and I expect there is another 4 left to go. The quality of the levels is still excellent even toward the end of the game. I finished one level where you crawl inside of a board game to complete in-game objectives. As a big fan of board games, I say they totally nailed it.

All that said, the game's difficult platform jumping puzzles really detract from the experience. The game puts you in a corner, where the camera has trouble showing the jump, then you either have an inaccurate double jump, or use the bubble-jump glide which is way worse. You might be asked to land on a hardly visible platform or netting, that the camera angle cannot display.

(Update: noticing some random system-locking crashes on Ubuntu Linux...) Very happy to play a spiritual successor to Dungeon Keeper. Orchestral music, captivating voice narrator, and funny worker animations. Even with rose-colored glasses, I can remember that the original game had some problems. This game runs more smoothly, it has some interesting quests, and it has a different approach to dungeon building. It is certainly not exactly the same as the original, with the above-world below-world maps. For me, however, it is everything I expected and more. Recommend it highly for someone looking for a create-your-own-lair game.

Simple RTS with wonky controls. Starts out with goofy premise, but later you realize the game interface is really just as goofy. Probably a port from tablet computers. I played this on two ubuntu linux systems, and it technically worked great on both. It has low system requirements, and the pixel graphic animations always run quickly. However, the controls seem designed for a touch-interface, so it feels really weird commanding troops, with a pc mouse. Even so simplified, the controls feels slow and clunky: (1) click a group, (2) drag a path across terrain, (3) backtrack on any missed squared, (4) then use a weird dial to select the number of units, but not with a scroll wheel, then (5) click on the number on the dial. This becomes increasingly frustrating as the challenges become more difficult, and the story is just not interesting enough (or the jokes funny enough) to push through the annoyances. I made it 3/4th the way through the first world, and it was just a slog after the first few levels. Very repeatitive. Good for some initial smiles, but then just becomes a headache.

Changing my review to Not Recommend, after arguing with another reviewer about the music. He said the music was good, and I was shocked since there was only a bit of melody played over and over. I kept thinking about this, and I realized there is not a lot to like about this game, except that it is inexpensive and it works. But is that the bar that must be met for me to RECOMMEND this game? I certainly would not recommend this game to a friend. After playing this for thirty seconds, I was pretty well bored with it, and while I will certainly play it again, I would not recommend anyone get it.

Let's compare it to another asteroid clone called Maelstrom on the Macintosh computer that totally blew me away, in 1995. When I first played Maelstrom, I could not get away from the keyboard for hours. I looked forward to playing it over and over. And yet the two games are so similar, with ship upgrades, a race for higher scores, rotating and thrusting for movement... Now here it is twenty years later, and what does Bit Blaster have that Maelstrom doesn't? Plus, Maelstrom was released as free software, so you can download it even before you finish reading this review.

I am fairly certain that the majority of reviewers would be spitting mad if they had purchased the Bit Blaster game for the ten dollars that most light steam games have for a price. I do not think the overwhelming positive reviews are a good reflection of the quality of this game, except that people have very low expectations when they are getting what they see as a bargain. (And my sympathies in advance to the game author, who no doubt will read this and try to respond, as I have seen him do to other negative reviews. I do understand you put a good faith effort into creating, pricing, and supporting this game.) In hopes of being balanced here, I want to point out that there is a nine MP3 track DLC that unlocks at no cost. It is chiptune music. I initially did not notice it, and it may be interesting for people still considering a purchase.

Ran well on Ubuntu Linux. Had to restart because there was no sound, initially.
I recommended this game at a five dollar price, and now that the game is no-cost, I whole heartedly recommend trying this game. The scope is very small, but it is an interesting and memorable adventure. Not a stupid joke like the Stanley Parable. I played this game on ubuntu 18.04 desktop with radeon mesa graphic drivers and a keyboard and mouse controls.

Detailed platformer that has lots of interesting gameplay mechanics. I found this one a bit challenging, because of the lateral jump mechanic. It requires using a lot of buttons during jumps, including a lateral jump and color shifting. I am still not completely comfortable with the controls, but I am coming closer to having an enjoyable experience. It is not always easy to see how to use the abilities in the levels, especially when the platforms are off-screen. But even when there is insta-death, the game kindly starts at a very close checkpoint.

Anyway the highlight of the game is the high-quality assets here, including sound, music, and graphics. A little lag time when going between levels, but otherwise smooth experience. This game has some very challenging boss-fight gameplay, and the level design has some tough parts but mostly a puzzle-y feel to them.

I played on on ubuntu linux, with radeon mesa graphic drivers, and a xbox-type gamepad controller. A controller is highly recommended. This game uses the Unity game engine, and it takes up 800 MBs of diskspace. I recommend this game to advanced fans of interesting platformers looking for a decent narrative story. Those without the patience for mastering precision with float-y controls may want to look elsewhere.