Fun, Interesting, Moving: May 2013

Combat is interesting on multiple levels. First, there is the aforementioned ability to talk instead of fighting. During the ten minutes I played, I never landed a blow. Always refreshing. Second, the enemies' attacks are little avoidance minigames that are unique to each enemy so far. This would have been engaging on story and tone alone, and they really went the extra mile. 5/5

Fun:

The combat can get a little repetitive, but the minigames do keep it exciting. The puzzles I encountered definitely could have been more engaging. I wouldn't play it just for the mechanics, but the gameplay is a perfectly serviceable complement to the engaging world and tone.. 3/5

Moving:

The characters are engaging and endearing, and I laughed out loud within the first five minutes. Great soundtrack too. I also found it surprisingly satisfying to be able to resolve combat nonviolently. Nothing weighty in the game yet, but I was drawn in emotionally just by the demo. I will be interested to see if the full version makes it up to 5/5. 4/5

The most Earthbound-esque non-Itoi game I have ever played. I am beyond excited for the full version.

Monday, May 27, 2013

Gunpoint

Title: Gunpoint demo

Genre: Puzzle, action

Completion Time: Thirty-six minutes, which I suspect is kind of embarrassing. I got shot and found myself accidentally jumping onto the ceiling a lot.

From the website: "Gunpoint is a stealth puzzle game that lets you rewire its levels to trick people. This video will explain it."

Interesting:

Fantastic, unique premise. You have to electronically rewire the building so the guards will accidentally do your bidding--leaving a room, opening doors for you, etc. The autosave system is pretty innovative and really reduces frustration. Also, tricking people is funny. 5/5

Fun:

I'm not particularly good at puzzles that involve planning ahead, so I suspect this could have been a lot more fun than I was having. I tended to brute-force everything--hook up all the doors to the light switch and then punch out the guards. I suspect I will enjoy it a lot more once I have gotten the hang of the nuances. 3/5

Moving:

The plot and characters are pretty light, but the music adds a lot to the atmosphere and the dialogue is laugh-out-loud funny. Like Misadventure, Gunpoint accomplishes what it was aiming for. 3/5

A light game with a clever concept, I am definitely looking forward to the full version coming out.

Wednesday, May 22, 2013

Misadventure (Highly Recommended)

Title: Misadventure

Genre: Action, horror

Completion Time: One hour and twenty-three minutes, including many, many deaths and game-overs. I'm pretty bad at these games. After mastering it, a single run-through took ten to fifteen minutes.

An arcade-style horror game best played full-screen at night.

Interesting:

The premise is that this is a portal to the demon world disguised as an old Atari-style game, and they do some neat things playing with that idea. I won't spoil them for you but it adds heavily to the game's appeal. In addition, although it is a simple arcade-style game on the surface, environment and enemy mechanics are both unique and fun to play with. 5/5

Fun:

I'm the kind of person who rage-quite the third time I die. But in this game, the constant deaths slowly become more and more spread out, leading to a feeling of mastery. The first time you blow through a series of rooms that had repeatedly killed you when you were first playing, you will feel awesome. Not to mention that the game makes extremely satisfying use of a (semi-)invincibility mechanic. 5/5

Moving:

Not emotional in the typical sense, but "weirdly unsettled" is definitely an emotion. This game creates a neat atmosphere of horror through graphics, sound, and gameplay. Not exactly weighty, but it definitely accomplishes what it was aiming for. 3/5

A combination of concept, gameplay and atmosphere makes Misadventure an absolutely gripping game.

Saturday, May 18, 2013

Hanamushi: Flower Insects

Title: Hanamushi:Flower Insects

Genre: Point-and-click adventure

Completion Time: One hour and fifty minutes to complete the main story, parceled out in pieces over a couple of days and with occasional referencing of a walkthrough.

A surreal, haunting, and oddly endearing Japanese point-and-click adventure.

Interesting:

For the most part this is a fairly standard point-and-click adventure, although the dress-up mechanic is interesting in that it is both functional and aesthetic. In addition, the artist has scattered galleries of his other work throughout the game, which is a neat concept. 3/5

Fun:

Without a walkthrough this would have been too frustrating to be worth my time (since the entire world is mostly open, realizing that you missed something means having to comb over at least a dozen screens). With the walkthrough, it was smooth and pleasant if not particularly exciting. Sadly, I have to dock a point for two minigames with aggravating interfaces. 2/5

Moving:

This is another one where the real power is in the aesthetics. The characters are intriguing in design, and the whole world is beautifully executed with a very unique style. The ending was not mind-blowing or anything, but did provide a satisfying and affecting wrap-up that was worth playing through to. 4/5

While not really meant to be played in one sitting, Hanamushi: Flower Insects provides a lovely little world to drop into during your coffee breaks.

Orpheus

Title: Orpheus

Genre: "Interactive art" is really the best word here, as the "game" elements are minimal.

Completion Time: Seven minutes on my second run-through. I have relative pitch (similar to perfect pitch) so it may take others longer to solve the music puzzles.

The story of Orpheus, presented through simple, music-based gameplay and lovely illustrations.

Interesting:

Sadly, the gameplay of Orpheus is pretty minimally interesting. Even the "puzzles" don't really deserve the title. 1/5

Fun:

This game is designed to be beautiful, not fun. But the gameplay never gets repetitive or frustrating, allowing you to move through the environments at a pleasant pace. The game was created for a class project in eight weeks, and I definitely would have loved to see more levels but also appreciated its role as a tiny, impactful diversion. 3/5

Moving:

I am such a sucker for anything having to do with Orpheus and Eurydice (see Don't Look Back, to be reviewed later, and the album Hadestown), and unfortunately the game doesn't quite carry the emotional punch that the original story does. However, the real strength of this game is in the visuals--I've never seen anything quite like this style, which is simultaneously alien and evocative. 3/5

Orpheus isn't so much a game as a stroll through some stunning illustrations--interactive art in the most literal sense. A lovely diversion that fits neatly into a short break.

Thursday, May 16, 2013

Coming Soon

A short(ish) and very incomplete list of games I hope to review in the future:

Ib (Highly recommended)
Eversion (Highly recommended)
You Find Yourself in a Room
The Fabulous Screech (Highly recommended)
...But That Was [Yesterday]
Off
400 Years
Evoland
Alone in the Light
To What End
Dys4ia
XOrpheus
The End of Us

Anodyne (Highly Recommended)

Title: Anodyne

Genre: A retro, Zelda-esque action-adventure game

Completion Time: My logged playing time was 6 hours and 25 minutes. Someone more coordinated than me might finish more quickly.

Anodyne is, for the most part, a dark, surreal, and cryptic imitation of old Zelda games like Link to the Past or the Game Boy ones. Add in its Earthbound-like diversity of quirky worlds and characters, and Anodyne was pretty much everything I could want in a game concept. Your mileage may vary.

Interesting:

Like I said, Anodyne is very firmly based in old Zelda games. However, instead of a sword the main character is armed with a broom, opening up a whole array of dust-related puzzles. (Not a phrase I ever expected to write.) There are also a lot of puzzles that involve exploiting the behavior of enemies. An old concept, but with some compelling twists. 3/5

Fun:

For starters, I will tell you this: you are going to fall in pits and die. A lot. Jumping is always finicky in these kinds of games, and plugging in a gamepad bumped up the fun level at least two points, and even then there were some rooms where I was ready to pitch a fit. That said, the gameplay is otherwise excellent. Puzzles are logical and varied, and combat is at a nice level of challenge. The world is sprawling and involves a ton of exploring, but a good map and teleportation system means that the spatially challenged (e.g., me) can wander about the beautiful maps without fear. 5/5

Moving:

What this game lacks in coherence it well makes up for in atmosphere. This is clearly a very personal game for the writers, but not in a way that tells you anything concrete for them, so I think your reaction to the game depends on whether their personal mythology resonates with you. In a world so packed with detail, though, I had no problem finding plenty of things that pulled on something deep in me. If any of you play this, I will be very curious what you think. 4/5

A bizarre, beautiful, and compelling game in the body of a much more commonplace one. This game will stay with me for a long time.

Saturday, May 11, 2013

Banana Breakers

Title: Banana Breakers

Genre: Word Puzzle

Completion Time: Easy mode takes me 1-2 minutes to complete--longer before I got the hang of it.

Jayisgames.com described Banana Breakers as "Mastermind Meets Boggle," which is a fair assessment. You're trying to find words in the grid--but it has to be the words they're thinking of. You want to find as many words as you can, though, because that gives you clues about the key words.

Interesting:

Very clever and novel concept, incorporating components from both verbal and nonverbal puzzles. In retrospect the idea seems obvious, which is always an impressive feat. 5/5

Fun:

The idea is incredibly well-executed, with an easy-to-use interface (try typing instead of clicking) and many ways to kick-start your thinking if you get stuck. The three difficulty levels range from "fluid mental warm-up" to "I really have to sit there and rack my brain." Nearly infinite replay value so far. 5/5

Moving:

Okay, apparently I lied in the last post. I'm a sucker for a good puzzle game, emotional content or no. 0/5

A wonderful distraction, whether you're looking for light mental exercise or a real challenge. Will probably be one of my go-tos for quite some time.

Monday, May 6, 2013

The Which? Series

Title: The Which? series: Which?, More Which?, Also Which?

Genre: Puzzle

Completion Time: <5 minutes apiece

The Which? series is a seemingly endless procession of variants on a very simple idea: two seemingly identical circles are presented, and you are tasked with figuring out which one meets the criterion given. This can involve manipulating the circles, manipulating the environment, or any number of other interesting things.

Fun:

Somehow, this type of puzzle never, ever gets old for me. I am always delighted to see a new one up. It helps that they are very well executed. If you get it wrong then you just get a "Mistake!" and a skip to the next level, so you never get stuck. (If you want to go back and retry the ones you missed, replay is very quick.) 5/5

Interesting:

Yoshio Ishii has essentially invented a new genre of puzzle here. It could easily be adapted in exciting ways by other people. If that isn't interesting, I don't know what is. 5/5

Moving:

One of the rare games that draws me in despite having no emotional content whatsoever. 0/5

One of my very favorite series for a quick and engaging mental boost.

Saturday, May 4, 2013

Fear Less!

Title: Fear Less!

Genre: Jump and Run

Completion Time: After 35 minutes I had all the upgrades. I am not really skilled enough to reach the ending in a reasonable amount of time.

Fear Less! is a simple jump and run game that is vastly enhanced by its incredibly charming graphics. It's the sweetest little-girl-being-chased-by-Death that you will ever see.

Fun:

Jump and run games are great for getting into flow, where you are totally immersed in the game. Fear Less! implements this pretty well, with smooth gameplay and a good difficulty curve. I really could play it forever without getting bored. Actually beating it (collecting all the medals) was too difficult for me to finish in a reasonable amount of time, but I'll probably be returning to it every now and then. 3/5

Interesting:

As these games go, this is one of the less novel ones. The fighting mechanic doesn't add a ton of depth and the upgrades are extremely simple. 1/5

Moving:

This game is just beyond adorable, and also rather beautiful in a way that . I suggest you take a look for that alone. Facing up to fear is a theme that is close to my heart, so my reactions may be idiosyncratic, but the upgrade menu alone (the little girl training with boxing gloves in preparation for facing her nightmares) completely won me over. I just wish there was more of a developing narrative. 4/5

Pick it up for the charming theme and graphics, stick around for the flow experience.

Thursday, May 2, 2013

Grey

Title: Grey

Genre: Simple platformer (no difficult maneuvers)

Completion Time: 12 minutes

Fun:

Grey is not fun in the exciting sense. I didn’t laugh or even smile when I was playing it. But the gameplay carries you smoothly through the game, with an intuitively laid-out world and helpful arrows reminding you where your target is. In short, the gameplay is unobtrusive and allows you to lose yourself in the atmosphere, which is a perfectly serviceable way for a game this pretty to work. Gameplay is repetitive but brief enough that I never considered quitting. 3/5

Interesting:

It’s an extremely simple platformer that uses only the arrow keys, with no puzzles or difficult maneuvers of any sort. It has a mildly novel mechanic that contributes heavily to the atmosphere, but it doesn’t actually affect gameplay so it belongs more under “moving” than “interesting.” 2/5

Moving:

The graphics and music are simple but evocative, suggesting an ambiguous story and stirring up less ambiguous emotions. Once immersed in the game I found myself drifting through my own imagination and memories in a rather affecting way. This was especially true on the second playthrough. 4/5

Grey is really more of a meditation than a game, but well worth the 12 minutes.