‘Featured’

September 4th, 2018 Featured, PC, Reviews No Comments »

Gadget: Invention, Travel & Adventure Review

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Developer: Synergy Inc.
Publisher: Synergy Interactive Corp.
Platform: PC – Windows 3.1, MacOS; PlayStation 1

Playing obscure video games is one of my favorite past times. As such, I’ve kept Gadget: Invention, Travel & Adventure on my radar for years now. After finally playing, it’s safe to say it wasn’t worth the wait. This adventure game certainly has style, but it’s not backed up by anything else.

Gadget starts off with our protagonist waking up in a hotel room. They pack up their luggage and prepare to check out. A creepy bell boy stops them on their way out – they must speak to someone downstairs, apparently. Heading down the elevator yields another creepy incident with a small child (whose luggage is an exact duplicate of your own). As it turns out, after leaving the elevator, you realize he swapped the cases. Now instead of clothing you’ve got a case with binoculars and inset space for oddly shaped objects.

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For whatever reason, there’s a quest to find a scientist – and only you can do it. As this proceeds, other scientists and shady men give you tips about where to go next. The vast majority of gameplay revolves around traveling along a train route. Most adventure games of the era included many puzzles. There are barely any puzzles in Gadget: Invention, Travel & Adventure. Most of the experience feels incredibly repetitive. Board the train, talk to everyone in the area, and then head to the next stop to do the exact same thing.

It’s a shame that the point and click gameplay is terribly uninspired. It’s clear that the developer had something far grander in mind with the sci-fi and political storyline it tells. Well, it’s hard to know exactly what was meant by everything, as it eschews traditional storytelling for a lot of psychedelic imagery. Mind control and aliens might be involved? One awesome point worth mentioning is the noise-style soundtrack by Koji Ueno. These tracks wouldn’t be out of place in a Silent Hill game!

If there were more focus on providing a slightly more coherent narrative, or more compelling gameplay, I would’ve eaten Gadget: Invention, Travel & Adventure up. As is, though, it’s a superbly weird game that fails to truly engage the audience in its short two hour playtime.

Score: 2

2 out of 5 alpacas

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August 28th, 2018 Featured, PC, Reviews No Comments »

Goosebumps: Escape from Horrorland Review

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Developer: DreamWorks Interactive
Publisher: DreamWorks Interactive, Microsoft
Platform: PC

What do you get when you mix R.L. Stine’s Goosebumps novels with an adventure game? Perhaps surprisingly, you end up with an entertaining experience. Goosebumps: Escape from Horrorland takes players to the Horrorland amusement park where they must find their friends and parents and try to escape.

The theme park features multiple themed areas, such as an Egyptian pyramid and vampiric town. As per adventure norms, most areas remain blocked off until you solve a certain puzzle. Puzzles are simple in nature and shouldn’t take too long to solve – unless you’re really having a tough time to understand one.

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Goosebumps: Escape from Horrorland features 3D rendered backdrops alongside FMV sprites and video sequences. This is fantastic and fits right in with the Goosebumps TV show in terms of acting. The best thing about the game is it features Jeff Goldblum as a campy vampire. It’s a shame he didn’t get more screen time!

Simplistic gameplay and puzzles means it should only take one to three hours to complete the game. There are two endings – one good and one not so good. Even if you fail the final puzzle, you might still get the good ending. Goosebumps: Escape from Horrorland provides a silly, short romp through an off-kilter theme park that you won’t soon forget.

 

Score: 4

4 out of 5 alpacas

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August 21st, 2018 Featured, PC, Reviews No Comments »

Your Dry Delight Review

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Developer: Argent Games
Publisher: Argent Games
Platform: PC – Windows/Mac/Linux

Why are there so few video games set in 1920’s America? It’s such a storied, unique time. Your Dry Delight brings players right into the era of Prohibition. In particular, the visual novel centers on two detectives trying to take down bootlegging operations in Chicago.

Detective Richter only needs to visit his first speakeasy to meet with an incredibly handsome, enigmatic mob boss named Meyer. From there the story proceeds into a brief, dramatic romance between them. Alternately, the other path lets players finally become closer to their boss at the bureau.

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There are only two paths in Your Dry Delight based on a small handful of dialogue choices. Interestingly, after forking, the two converge back into a single ending. It’s a cute ending – and one that fits with the history of Prohibition. The game’s quite short, though. Expect to spend an hour and a half with it at most.

I would’ve liked to see more in Your Dry Delight. There’s not enough time to learn about the characters. They’re also not super stressed about shielding their sexuality, which seems inaccurate to the time. With all that said, Argent Games released the title for free, so there’s only so much room for complaints.

Score: 3

3 out of 5 alpacas

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August 14th, 2018 Featured, PC, Reviews No Comments »

9: The Last Resort Review

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Developer: Tribeca Interactive
Publisher: GT Interactive
Platform: PC – Windows 3.1, 95, Mac OS

For every Myst, there are at least twenty forgotten point and click adventure games. 9: The Last Resort had everything going for it in 1996. It was the first game developed by Tribeca Interactive and produced by Robert DeNiro. Alongside stunning visuals was even more star power with Aerosmith (Steven Tyler and Joe Perry), James Belushi and even Cher lending their voices to the game.

Unfortunately, adventure gaming fans have the uncanny ability to smell a stinker when they see it. 9: The Last Resort drops players off at “The Last Resort.” Apparently your uncle devised a retreat for artists to go and get their creativity back. However, weird undulating shrimp aliens came and destroyed the Muse Machine, rending the resort useless. You must rebuild the Muse Machine, solving copious puzzles along the way.

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This title definitely looks great. Artist Mark Ryden provided a distinct visual aesthetic (as well as framing his paintings throughout the resort). Most puzzles don’t feature this level of artistry. Expect a lot of routine music-based memory matching puzzles that quickly wear out their welcome. No puzzles generally prove too obscure to require a walkthrough.

There’s also the matter of a pipe organ which plays a massive piece in multiple puzzles. Historically, people look upon the organ and its cryptography-style puzzles annoying. I actually enjoyed deciphering them – except for the point at which my game became locked in an un-finishable state. Beware: Absolutely do not use the coins to talk to Isadora (Cher) until you’re ready to play all songs.

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There are just too many annoying moments in 9: The Last Resort to recommend it. For example, a shooting sequence occurs late into the game. The whole thing drags on way too long and is pretty tough to win. The game is humorous at times, but mostly meandering. If you’ve never played 9: The Last Resort before, feel secure in your decision to continue avoiding it.

Score: 2

2 out of 5 alpacas

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August 7th, 2018 Featured, PC, Reviews No Comments »

Immoral Study Scenario 1: Shirakawa Reiko Review

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Developer: Scoop
Publisher: Himeya Soft
Platform: PC – Windows 95, PC-98

There are all kinds of stories in visual novels. Some are action packed mecha tales while others focus on pure romance. Certain titles include sexual content as part of the story (eroge) and others (nukige) make that their sole aim. Immoral Study Scenario 1: Shirakawa Reiko falls squarely into the nukige camp.

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July 31st, 2018 Featured, PC, Reviews 2 Comments »

Pro Lesring: Ring Out!! Review

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Developer: ZyX
Publisher: Otaku Publishing, Ltd.
Platform: PC – Windows 95

It’s pretty easy for English-speaking gamers to access visual novels these days via official translations, original English titles, and fan translations. Back in the 90s, your options were much more limited. European publisher Otaku Publishing, Ltd. released a handful of games before their piracy-based demise at the turn of the new century. They brought out Pro Lesring: Ring Out!! in 1997 for Windows PCs.

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June 26th, 2018 Featured, PC, Reviews No Comments »

$1 Ride Review

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Developer: BeHappy Studios
Publisher: Back To Basics Gaming
Platform: PC – Steam

There was once a time before Steam Greenlight and Steam Direct. Back then, getting your game on Steam was a real achievement based on Valve deeming your game worth being on the store (yes, somehow Bad Rats was “good enough”, but that’s beside the point). $1 Ride, shown on promotional materials incorrectly as 1$ Ride, comes from an era where Greenlight was a pretty safe ticket to publication on Steam – and it shows.

$1 Ride is incredibly simple. It’s a 2D vertically scrolling arcade-style game where your goal is to never let the space ship stop moving. This is accomplished by hitting boost icons when passing through a strip of various icons. Other icons include mud that slows you down, rockets that automatically fire if there are any in your possession, and some health.

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As the ship goes faster and faster, the camera zooms out further and the strips of icons grow wider. The hardest part is that it takes a lot of skill to ever be able to collect multiple icons at once. Ever choosing something like the health means you’re giving up on another speed boost. Without speed, the game ends, so it’s best to always try to hit the speed boosts.

That’s all there is to it. After unlocking some in-game achievements, another ship becomes available. There is an in-game leaderboard. None of this correlates to Steam achievements or leaderboards. $1 Ride also grows stale quickly due to the slightly entertaining concept being marred by less than stellar execution. At least the name is fairly accurate as the game only costs $0.99, and is often discounted further.

Score: 1

1 out of 5 alpacas

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June 19th, 2018 Featured, Lists No Comments »

My Favorite E3 2018 Announcements

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As a fan of video games, it is pretty much impossible to get through E3 without feeling some sense of excitement. This was the first time in many years where I didn’t actually attend the conference due to my day job. Even so, I had fun watching streams from home!

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May 1st, 2017 Featured, PC, Reviews No Comments »

Mini Golf Mundo Review

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Developer: EnsenaSoft
Publisher: EnsenaSoft
Platform: PC – Steam

After successful rounds of weird golfing in Golf With Your Friends, I decided to load up another mini golfing game from my Steam library. Unfortunately, this decision came before remembering the game was originally received as part of Bundle Star’s Dollar Mega Bundle. This bundle offered 28 games for $1…

Suffice it to say Mini Golf Mundo doesn’t hold up to Golf With Your Friends, or any other decent golfing game out there. There are only four stages to play with – each connected to a level of difficulty. Each features nearly the same grassy, idyllic locale with cabins and lakes surrounding the mini golf course.

The game ramps from super easy to super challenging over the course of these four courses with no real warning. You’re just suddenly faced with parts of the course disappearing and reappearing. Because you cannot “lock in” the strength of a hit, you’re forced to waste multiple swings hoping to match up the timing.

One neat bit is the final course which offers warp points. These almost add a bit of strategy to the gameplay, but quickly wear out their welcome. There’s absolutely no music in Mini Golf Mundo, either, which further reveals its failed cash grab status. Just don’t play this game.

Score: 1

1 out of 5 alpacas

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April 25th, 2017 Featured, PC, Reviews No Comments »

Eversion Review

Eversion Logo

Developer: Zaratustra Productions
Publisher: Zaratustra Productions
Platform: PC – Steam

Eversion is one of those games that it seemed everyone had played back a few years ago. Time and time again, it saw mentions in articles and forum posts about creepy games. I bought it sometime around then, but never ended up playing the darn thing until now.

Mechanically, Eversion is a simplistic 2D platformer with a switching mechanic. It is possible to change the landscape/features of blocks at predetermined Evert portals. Aside from opening up paths through the stage, these also make the game gradually darker and disturbing. Well, as disturbing as a cartoony 2D platformer can be.

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There’s no doubt that this bait and switch worked extremely well around the time of its initial launch. At this point, however, so many retro-styled “secret” horror games are out there that it’s much less shocking. I did get a feeling of tepid surprise, but not much else. Autoscrolling stages in particular proved far more frustrating than frightening.

I likely did myself a huge disservice by waiting so long to play Eversion. This is a game that worked in a specific time and place. Sure, it only takes about half an hour to beat (if you’re not seeking completion), but the greatest asset of the game now feels stale.

Score: 2

2 out of 5 alpacas

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