DrBloodmoney's Super Scientific Ranking of Games!

[rjkclarke]

Soooooooo I totally just spent the last - let's just say for ease " a long while" re-reading all of the last three batches, which was great by the way.  As I meant to comment on each one of them at the time, but as you know, I got stuck in virtual Japan for a little while. Sorry man!

 

Coincidentally, as you've already made this comparison - this is not too far away from what I probably looked like the first time I started to write a review after not doing one for so long

 

 

Yep, just like that haha!

 

Hey this is about you though.......Not my dishevelled self

 

.....Brilliant job on all of those batches. As I expected the Wishlist War between you and I, has just had a huge barrage of destruction fired upon my wallet, which I suspect will soon be crying in a shower with a monochromatic filter. I'll get you back soon I hope!  I've got one or two things up my sleeve that we discussed briefly the other day that I really ought to write about ?

 

What are you doing to me man? I had no idea what Outer Wilds was, and now I literally want to know everything there is to know about it! I think it's kind of funny the fact that you apologised for vagueness. You absolutely shouldn't - you made that game sound so appealing and so interesting that I'd be letting myself down if I never tried to play it at some point! 

 

Why did you have to go and make me interested in a VR thing? Are you trying to turn my house into a river of my internal organs? ? I can't deal with VR, but you've made Statik seem like such a worthwhile time for puzzle game fans that I almost want to ask one of my friends to loan me his VR Headset for a little while.

 

Thanks for making me aware of Hoa as well..... In the pursuit of some fantastic art I can forgive some slightly shallower gameplay elements - because that does sound bloody fantastic.

 

Especially this specific part.

 

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This is a game in which a single screenshot - taken at literally any point during a playthrough - looks like a work of art. Take a screenshot anywhere and frame it, and I'd be happy to hang it on my wall!

 

That is one of the very things that I absolutely love about film-making and cinematography - so to hear that it's an element of Hoa that is done incredibly well, for me at least, means I could forgive a lot of the games other shortcomings.

 

I'm a little on the fence about Shady Part of Me - I'm leaning towards probably trying it out at some point though. I'm a big fan of Hannah Murray, I think she's got some really good range as an actor. The game itself does seem very interesting too to be fair, so I think I'll have to keep a lookout for that one. 

 

Flipping Death - WHY HAVE I NOT PLAYED THIS YET? Seriously...... That game just seems like it's something that it'd be almost impossible for me not to like. Thanks for doing such a wonderful job of actually articulating what it is, because I'd seen that game a lot on the PS Store, but didn't quite know what it was.

 

You've made me think that I need to play Journey as well now - although playing it in 2022. I suspect that I'd have a pretty solitary journey swishing around with just my cape and scarf ?....... I expect nothing less than an absolutely Stellar soundtrack from Austin Wintory as well, he absolutely blew me away with what he did with Abzu.

 

You had already pretty much assured me that I'd like Forgotten City - please don't be offended, but I'm not going to read your review of it until I've played the game myself, I want as much of that game to be fresh and new to me as possible. You already did an excellent job of recommending it to be a couple of weeks back, it's a given that I'm going to play it at some point!

 

Lastly (phew you're thinking right?)...... I'm really looking forward to the next batch - not necessarily for what you might think either - although I'm sure that'll be great too. But for Eventide 3 ? Super Time Force Ultra.  I am really excited to see how you approach reviewing that, I really enjoyed that game, especially the HellaDeck puzzles, some of those had some really interesting solutions!

 

Sorry it's been a while Doc!

[DrBloodmoney]

18 hours ago, rjkclarke said:

Soooooooo I totally just spent the last - let's just say for ease " a long while" re-reading all of the last three batches, which was great by the way.  As I meant to comment on each one of them at the time, but as you know, I got stuck in virtual Japan for a little while. Sorry man!

 

Coincidentally, as you've already made this comparison - this is not too far away from what I probably looked like the first time I started to write a review after not doing one for so long

 

 

Yep, just like that haha!

 

Hey this is about you though.......Not my dishevelled self

 

haha - I must admit, I don't know if this whole situation has made me more intrigued by the Yakuza games, or more afraid of them! ?

 

There are definitely games out there that have done this to me - where I come out the other side of them, and feel like I must have accidentally slipped between the folds of reality, and just spent a year of time in the nether-realms, while everyone else carried on living in slow motion around me... but they're usually games like The Witness...

 

...or:

 

 

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I had no idea what Outer Wilds was, and now I literally want to know everything there is to know about it! I think it's kind of funny the fact that you apologised for vagueness. You absolutely shouldn't - you made that game sound so appealing and so interesting that I'd be letting myself down if I never tried to play it at some point! 

 

Dude.

For reals.

 

I shall say no more, and quit while I'm ahead.

 

But dude, it's something else!

 

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Why did you have to go and make me interested in a VR thing? Are you trying to turn my house into a river of my internal organs?  I can't deal with VR, but you've made Statik seem like such a worthwhile time for puzzle game fans that I almost want to ask one of my friends to loan me his VR Headset for a little while.

 

You know - if you are going to try out a VR game (and trust me, I know how miserable motion sickness is, so I'd understand if you didn't!) but if you did - Statik is the one.

Not just because I think it's the best I've played (which I do,) but also because it is definitely the least liable to cause that motion sickness. You remain completely static (oops) in that one - you are literally strapped to a chair in the game! and you don't actually really need to even move your head much to still totally get the 1-2-1 feeling they're going for!

 

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Thanks for making me aware of Hoa as well..... In the pursuit of some fantastic art I can forgive some slightly shallower gameplay elements - because that does sound bloody fantastic.

 

Especially this specific part.

 

 

That is one of the very things that I absolutely love about film-making and cinematography - so to hear that it's an element of Hoa that is done incredibly well, for me at least, means I could forgive a lot of the games other shortcomings.

 

Absolutely - Hoa might feel a bit lacking in the gameplay department, but it's credentials as a piece of art to be appreciated are not in question - whomever did the design and artwork for the game deserves all the praise in the world... and a job at Studio Ghibli. Or a lawsuit from them... one of the two, at least!

 

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I'm a little on the fence about Shady Part of Me - I'm leaning towards probably trying it out at some point though. I'm a big fan of Hannah Murray, I think she's got some really good range as an actor. The game itself does seem very interesting too to be fair, so I think I'll have to keep a lookout for that one. 

 

Flipping Death - WHY HAVE I NOT PLAYED THIS YET? Seriously...... That game just seems like it's something that it'd be almost impossible for me not to like. Thanks for doing such a wonderful job of actually articulating what it is, because I'd seen that game a lot on the PS Store, but didn't quite know what it was.

 

You've made me think that I need to play Journey as well now - although playing it in 2022. I suspect that I'd have a pretty solitary journey swishing around with just my cape and scarf ....... I expect nothing less than an absolutely Stellar soundtrack from Austin Wintory as well, he absolutely blew me away with what he did with Abzu.

 

Shady Part of Me is a cautious recommendation - I know you dig a puzzle game, though where you stand on that particular strain I'm not sure - but Flipping Death is an absolute no-brainer for you mate. I know full well that your knowledge of and love for those old Lucas Arts games will mean you'll appreciate the nods and see the inspirations, and Zoink to a great job of finding their own unique ways to modernise that style of game, with a completely different type of interface, but without losing the fun or charm! 

 

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You had already pretty much assured me that I'd like Forgotten City - please don't be offended, but I'm not going to read your review of it until I've played the game myself, I want as much of that game to be fresh and new to me as possible. You already did an excellent job of recommending it to be a couple of weeks back, it's a given that I'm going to play it at some point!

 

Absolutely - these reviews are about getting people to consider the good games - if you’re sold already, then just go for it - I'm certain you'll enjoy that one too!

 

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Lastly (phew you're thinking right?)...... I'm really looking forward to the next batch - not necessarily for what you might think either - although I'm sure that'll be great too. But for Eventide 3 Super Time Force Ultra.  I am really excited to see how you approach reviewing that, I really enjoyed that game, especially the HellaDeck puzzles, some of those had some really interesting solutions!

 

Sorry it's been a while Doc!

 

Nice to have you back mate!

Edited February 4, 2022 by DrBloodmoney

[Cleggworth]

1. See game on sale on PSN that looks interesting.

2. Check to see if its been reviewed by DrBloodmoney.

3. If it reviews well, buy it

 

Shady Part of Me today

 

I'll be back once I've played it ?

[DrBloodmoney]

Just now, Cleggworth said:

1. See game on sale on PSN that looks interesting.

2. Check to see if its been reviewed by DrBloodmoney.

3. If it reviews well, buy it

 

Shady Part of Me today

 

I'll be back once I've played it

Glad to be of service, my man! ?

[DrBloodmoney]

 

  NEW SCIENTIFIC RESULTS ARE IN! 

 

 

Hello Science-Chums and Science-Chumlies, as promised (and in some cases (finally!) requested), here are the latest results of our great scientific endeavour!

 

 

Dandara

 

Summary: 

A pixel-art metroidvania from Long Hat House, 2018's Dandara has the distinction of being pretty universally critically acclaimed, wonderfully original... and outrageously underplayed (at least within the confines of this sites' clientele.

 

Taking the role of the eponymous Dandara - a bad-ass sort of warrior-philosopher-priestess with a bad-ass afro and Journey-level scarf-wearing prowess, in a world known as The Salt. Over the course of the game, she battles across the known world on a mission to fight the powers of The Golden Idea - a sort of gestalt force of destructively conformist ideals that have created an imbalance in the spiritual and metaphysical world of The Salt, spreading oppression and misery in its wake.

 

She does this primarily via exploration, macro-puzzle-solving and action - shooting primarily - all of which is fairly standard fare, however, Dandara is anything but standard in its mechanical implementation. It is one of those games that come along every once in a while, where a singular, specific mechanic forms the entire basis for its design, and the whole game works around use of that one element. 

It's a risky endeavour, basing the whole game conceptually on a single mechanic - if it fails to deliver, the whole game is a flop - but we've seen, in games like Portal, or Superhot, (or soon to be ranked Super Time Force Ultra,) it can be incredibly effective when successful.
In Dandara's case - that unique element is its movement mechanics - and happily, it is one case in which that philosophy is extremely successful.

 

In Dandara, you do not walk. You, in fact, cannot walk. Or run. You cannot move an inch, when standing on a surface. 
Instead, what you can do is fire yourself to another surface. The entire world is crafted with white surface 'platforms' all over the environments, which can be 'stuck' to. These surfaces can be on walls, floors or ceilings - in fact, the environments and world are crafted with a complete disregard for the notion of up or down, or a set compass. Dandara moves through the world - and the discrete rooms within it, by zipping - lightning fast - between these surfaces in any available direction, and the world itself plays catch-up to that movement. While each room has a set 'up, down, left, right' this is governed only by the majority of platforms. When Dandara exits one room via, say, an east-facing door, that may result in the world spinning around, so she enters the next from the bottom, or the top, or east or west. The dominant 'floor' is entirely governed by where the majority of platforms reside in that room.

 

This might feel like a confusing concept to grapple with - particularly in a metroidvania, where remembering world layout, and backtracking are a necessary component of the game - however, it really never feels as confusing, as it threatens to on paper. There is a standard metroidvania map, but more than that, there is a uniqueness to each individual biome and room, that allows the player to navigate on memory far easier than the conceptual design might suggest. Combining that with the speed of movement, and the way that within a few hours of play, the player is able to traverse huge distances at a break-neck pace, afford the game a sense of speed and action that is really fun to engage with, without them feeling lost.

 

On the speed, in fact, there is ample adulation to be given to Long Hat House's implementation of the intricacies of the mechanic that facilitate it. Zipping around from platform to platform without the constraints of gravity or direction might seem like it should be tricky, or finicky, but the mechanic is cleverly adjusted to suit the breakneck pace required. Shifting the analogue stick moves an aiming reticule on a 180 degree span, however, there is also a 'last available platform' aspect to this. If the player sweeps past a platform, then hits the button to zip across, the actual reticule is left at the last available point that would work, and Dandara zips to that spot. This allows for a lack of precision, and means the player is never left trying to warp to a platform but not quite lining up the aim - the game is anticipating what you meant to do, and working with that -allowing the player to concentrate on the more pressing elements - the overall direction, and the combat.

 

The actual combat is not particularly unusual - the shooting and the enemy variety is nothing that would warrant specific mention in a bog-standard platforming metroidvania, however, the movement mechanics make what would be pedestrian in other games feel fresh and original here. Because Dandara is tied to the white platforms, but the enemies are not, there is a combat-puzzle element to the game that feels really unique, and requires on-the-fly thinking and split-second decision making in every fight. Adjusting position to gain an advantage in tough fights, or using the different powers and weapons available kales all the difference - and particularly in the latter parts of the game, where enemies are varied and smart, and must be approached accordingly.

 

The metroidvania elements of the game work very well. They are not particularly original either - as stated, Dandara is a game that has one, blistering original and well implemented variation on the standard model, and Long Hat House do the smart thing - they keep from complicating that magic with additional non-standard elements. Instead they choose to show exactly how effective a single, well-executed variable can be in a crowded genre. Finding the plot-critical elements and items and abilities that allow for progression through new areas are often the source of the most explicit lore explanations - generally via brief conversations with NPC characters - and these work well, but Dandara is a game of mechanics, and it is in these mechanics that it really delivers above and beyond the call of duty.

 

Narratively, Dandara works on something of a need-to-know basis. The lore of the world of Dandara is never wholly, or terribly explicitly, outlined - much of the knowledge the player gleans of the coming of the Golden Idea, and its effect on the artistic, creative and philosophically inclined inhabitants of The Salt is via her interaction with those inhabitants she encounters, as opposed to some large exposition dump, or the finding of records. However, it is very obviously a fascinatingly original and well constructed lore. While following a Dark-Souls style minimalist narrative, but with a deep lore bubbling beneath the surface, the tone and aesthetic of the world plays as much of a role as the written text does, but there is always a feeling in the game - like in Dark Souls - that that elusive lore has been well worked out and fits together - it is simply up to the player to decipher it.

 

Design-wise, Dandara is very strong. The actual pixel-art is not the most intricate ever put to a game, however, the art design of the world, of the NPCs, of the bosses, and of Dandara herself is unique, tonally interesting, and cohesive across the varying biomes. The world design - necessarily intricate and interesting, given the movement mechanics - is cool and fresh feeling, but more that that, the design of the NPCs and the elements of the world that feed the lore look really unusual.

 

The audio is limited to foley and music - there is no voice work here - but all of that music is really good. The score is wistful and longing, but pounding and hopeful and action-slanted, and it has a soundscape flavour that makes it quite distinct form the norm.

 

One additional aspect I will mention here, is the DLC additions to the game make in the "Trials of Fear" DLC released a year or so after the initial game. It is rare that a dlc really makes as big a material difference to a game than this one did. While the original game was excellent, the Trials of Fear add on doesn't simply add some challenges, or a new set of objectives - it permeates the entire game, adding additional lore, a whole new area, altering the base-game ending, and generally fleshing out all facets of the game in a positive way. I'm not sure whether it is even possible to play the game now without the DLC included - but if it is, don't! It was great, but the DLC makes it greater!

 

Overall, Dandara is a really fantastic and original feeling game - and one that should be at least checked out by everyone who has ever had a taste for metriodvanias, or who can appreciate seeing a unique mechanic made to absolutely sing given the right attention and the right game as its vehicle. 
It's a game that is difficult to describe the best aspects of in written format - I encourage anyone who's interest is piqued here, to seek out some video footage of the game in motion to get a better sense of what makes it feel so original.

 

A game that took me by surprise, but took very little time for me to confirm as one of my favourites of the genre in which it sits!

 

 

The Ranking:

For comparison, it's a little tough, as there aren't actually too many metroidvania games on the current list. What there are though, are games where singular mechanics form the thrust of a cool game, and so that's the games that pop out. Firstly, Superhot.

Superhot is an awesome game. It's fun to play, original, and has an art-style that is awesome, however, all those aspects are also true of Dandara. What Dandara adds, is a lore that Superhot doesn't compete with, and music and scope that Superhot lacks, and so Dandara ends up taking a relatively comfortable win.

 

Further up, we have Observation. That is also a wildly original game, and one that has blocked a fair number of interesting indies, however, what works against it is the's repeatability, its length, and its variety. While the narrative of Observation is awesome, I think Dandara offers an interesting take on lore and narrative that does compete, and fundamentally, I could see myself replaying Dandara far more often than Observation, and so Dandara takes that win also.

 

It becomes a little more difficult now, so I'm looking at pixel-art games with good hooks, and smart styles.

Rogue Legacy jumps out first it's a great game, and has the advantage on repeatability given it is a rogue-like, but as much as I like it, one thing that was mentioned several times in that review was that it is a great example of good implementation of existing ideas. There isn't anything close to as original as Dandara's movement mechanics - or even as Dandara's lore elements, and so despite some had-wringing, I think Dandara wins that match-up too.

 

It's not a trouncing though, and so Rogue Legacy is the point at which I begin simply asking "is this more awesome overall?" about games in much differing genres, working upwards. 

The first game to which the answer is a (cautious, but confirmed) "No" is at nightmarishly addictive and well done Lumines Remastered, and so, Dandara finds its deservedly high spot on the ranking! 

 

 

 

 

 

Eventide 3: Legacy of Legends

 

Summary: 

The Eventide series was never the strongest arrow in the Artifex Mundi quiver, living a little in the shadow of their other 'Fairytale' aesthetic series - Grim Legends, and Lost Grimoires - however, the step up from Eventide: Slavic Fable to Eventide 2: Sorcerer's Mirror was quite significant, and - happily - that step up in quality continues with the third entry in the series - Eventide 3: Legacy of Legends.

 

Story-wise, this one is relatively simple, with returning protagonist - botanist Mary Gilbert - this time seeking to rescue her brother, who has been kidnapped by mystical, sinister creatures, using her trademark skills of picture-hunting, puzzle-solving and herb-mixing.

 

The real strong suit in this Artifex Mundi joint is the art. As said, the 'fairytale-mystical' theme is one mined fairly often by AM, however, here the art is a cut above most entires, with gorgeous stills, a nice variety of locations, and a pastel-hued, pink-and-sunset-orange tinge to the whole game, evocative of the equally artistically pleasant (and current Artifex Mundi pack leader) Enigmatis 3: The Shadow of Karkhala.

 

The puzzle variety is strong - there aren't really any new or unique puzzle types, however, the examples of the usual staple are uniformly good, and there is never an over-reliance on similar ones throughout the game. Because of the art-style, the picture hunt sections work well too - not too tricky, but not too easy either, and (unlike some other AM games,) there is just the right number of them here, and they are spread evenly across the length of the game.

 

There is no bonus chapter here, which is a little surprising, given that most AM games of this quality do feature one, however, the main game is nicely paced. It actually felt a little shorter than the median, however, this might have more to do with the good pacing and puzzle variety, meaning there never feels like there is any slow sections or places where the game feels bogged down with repetition.

 

There is a boss fight too - one of my pet peeves with AM games, as they rarely are as fun or interesting as the general puzzles, however, this one is very simple, and doesn't really get in the way.

All in all, a pretty strong entry in the AM cannon - and a pleasant surprise, given the starting point for the Eventide series!

 

The Ranking:

Eventide 3: Legacy of Legends is pretty strong across the board as far as Artifex Mundi goes, and so it feels right to look at the top of the AM tree to begin with, with Enigmatis 3: The Shadow of Karkhala.

 

I think as strong as Eventide 3 is - and despite the art being a potential winner in a match-up with Enigmatis 3: The Shadow of Karkhala's art, the game does falter a little overall in a fight. The narrative is a little more simplistic and a bit less engaging, and the lack of bonus chapter means Enigmatis 3: The Shadow of Karkhala holds its position as the top of the AM pile.

 

I also think the next AM game down - Enigmatis 2: The Mists of Ravenwood - also manages to maintain its spot, however, here it's getting closer to an even fight. Enigmatis 2: The Mists of Ravenwood sits only two spots above Nightmares from the Deep: The Cursed Heart, and I think Eventide 3: Legacy of Legends wins against that one - it has the art for sure, and while losing on narrative, wins on puzzle variety and strength of pacing.

 

In between, the only game on the current list is Hotline Miami-inspired, but much less interesting Serial Cleaner, and I would say Eventide 3: Legacy of Legends wins against that, and so it finds its spot!

 

 

 

 

Final Fantasy XIII-2

Summary: 

A 2012 sequel to the 2009 mainline franchise entry Final Fantasy XIII, Final Fantasy XIII-2 follows in the template set by Final Fantasy X-2, as a direct sequel to its predecessor rather than a brand new world, and stepping somewhat outside of the usual template for a FF game, playing with both retained systems from its parent game, and with non-franchise-standard elements, in specific places.

 

Taking place three years after the end of FFXIII, in which the world of Gran Pulse was saved form calamity by the player controlled team, and in the wake of the collapse of the Sanctum (the primary governmental force in the world), most of Cocoon's inhabitants have moved down to the surface of Gran Pulse. A scientific body called the Academy is rising as the defacto governing body, but things are somewhat amiss. There are anomalies in the world being cause by time paradoxes, and the events that prevented the destruction of Gran Pulse in the previous game are taking a tole on the current world. 
The player takes the role of Serah Farron - the sister of FXIII primary protagonist Lightning. Serah featured in the original game more as narrative McGuffin than character, and so here, the game is afforded considerable leeway to fill in a lot of the colour around the edges of the character. Teaming up with a young man from one possible future - Noel Kreiss - who appears to know of Lightning, and her current status - one wrapped up in a time paradox, involving the final events of FFXIII, and resulting in memory confusions and parallel realities forming on Gran Pulse - and in Serah herself.

 

The plot of the game is extremely winding and intricate - and, it must be said, particularly convoluted, even by the considerable standards of JRPGs generally, and Final Fantasy specifically. As such, I will spend no time attempting to summarise it here. For starters, it would take a long time, and be incomprehensible to anyone unfamiliar with the game, but also because it would necessitate the spoiling of not one game, but two - FFXIII-2, and it's predecessor. 
What I will say, is that it is a complex, non-linear and somewhat baffling affair, featuring a cross-world and cross-timeline journey, and balances those convolutions upon the already quite complex and unusual mythology of Gran Pulse and its history established in FFXIII. That compounding complexity of origin mythology and new time-shifting mechanics does - inevitably - make the game pretty unapproachable for anyone not familiar with the previous game - and a particularly acquired taste, even with the framework of Final Fantasy - however, while this might be seen as a detriment (and I might broadly agree in some instances,) I do think that the actual minute-to-minute storytelling of FFXIII-2 is fairly well done. 

 

The game does still suffer somewhat from the same narrative problems the original game had - it is set in the same lineage, and so inherits the same reliance on overly complicated naming conventions, and it lacks the driving force provided by a particularly memorable 'big-bad'. Again, the lack of a Sephiroth is always a problem in some FF games - the villain being as important, or even arguably more important, than any individual player character. However, there is a smaller roster of playable characters here, and so the actual narrative is lent an intimacy that FFXIII never had. 
Yes, the story is complex and bizarre, and wholly unsuited to summary, however, there is a lightness, and a slightly tongue-in-cheek element to the beat-by-beat conversational dialogue and narrative that was largely absent in FFXIII.

While FFXIII-2 lacks explicit comedy foils in it's principle characters, the world around does not, and the two primary playable characters have an interplay that is fairly well maintained, acknowledging the complexities and confusion of the narrative at times and keeping the tone light in spots, even where the wight of the grandiosity inherited from the previous game threatens to bog it down in over-wrought exposition or explanation.

 

As said - a lot of elements of FFXIII are retained - in particular the art-style, the gorgeous graphics, and the audio. The game looks really remarkable for a PS3 game - like FFXIII, it holds up visually in a way few games do when looking back for a 2022 stand-point. Voice work and music are both good - the music in particular sets the tone apart a little from FFXIII, without feeling like a complete re-writing of the broad style. It evokes the good elements of its parent game, without inheriting quite the same level of occasional pomposity.

 

This element, in fact - the combination of knowing what to inherit form the parent game, and which franchise staples to eschew - is the primary subject of most of this review, really. 

There are a number of different ways in which this bespoke, less 'franchise-standard' set-up is beneficial to the game, when viewed in comparison to Final Fantasy XIII - and they are all elements only available to these more esoteric, 'spin-off' games in the Final Fantasy canon. 

In some cases, too much deviation from the norm can feel like it orphans the game in a negative sense, but here, because the reception to FFXIII was relatively mixed, even among fans, that appears to have afforded a freedom that few FF games get to play with the existing formula - and it's these elements that tend to work most in its favour.

 

Firstly, in terms of discovery and player connection to the environments and the world of the game. 
While in FFXIII, the player is offered a more 'series-staple' relationship to the world - one in which each new area or location is interesting and new by way of simple artistic design, writing and connection to the overall narrative and lore-building of the world - and in many cases tended to fall a little short, as the overall world building and lore of FFXIII was measured in comparison to that of previous numbered entries in the franchise - in FFXII-2, the relationship is different. 
Because each area is viewed across multiple time-lines, and in different eras, with changes based on how that time-line has affected the area and its inhabitants, the player discovery angle is less about how that location features in an overall world, but rather in how the narrative has shaped changes to that area itself. The player is not on a road-trip journey of discovery, viewing each location as a discrete entity on a linear path, and therefore judging the design of those locations in a similar fashion to previous Final Fantasy games, but rather, is viewing each location as a fixed point, which is then altered by actions they take in that narrative. There is a far deeper connection to each location, because the player is not simply discovering them, but affecting them. 
They are exploring consequence, rather than simple existence.

 

Secondly, there is the more limited party mechanics. Where Final Fantasy XIII contained a full party of playable characters, and as such, sets itself up to be judged against previous titanic, main-line entires in the series, it sets itself a particularly difficult curve upon which to be judged. Character rosters in Final Fantasy games are beloved, and the subject of much debate, and so while none of the characters in FFXIII are bad, they are a little less memorable or charming than in previous entries. 
The party in FFXIII tends to feel a little less like a 'core team', with some less narrative-critical characters around the edges, (as was the case in most previous entries,) but rather a single core character - in Lightning - with a whole team of more esoteric, less memorable characters orbiting her. In some sense, the roster in FFXIII felt like it was entirely made up of characters who would, in any previous game, be the less critical ones. A whole team of Yuffie's and Vincent's, if you will, rather than a core team, plus secondaries.

 

These elements, combined with the less memorable or well defined core narrative, meant that FFXIII tended to be a little bogged down. The areas in which the game did excel - in its excellent combat model, and its powerhouse visuals and art-design - were unable to shine as bright as they should.
By eschewing the 'party' aspects of FF game in FFXIII-2, and instead offering a story with only 2 main protagonists, the game side-steps direct comparison to mainline entries in the series, and is able to let the best aspects of the previous game that it inherited really shine through.

In reality, the combat in FFXIII-2, for example, is not particularly better than it is in FFXIII, however, here, it just gets a chance to breath, without other factors overshadowing it.

It is these kind of elements that really elevate FFXIII-2 above it's predecessor, in a way that might seem arbitrary on paper, but are material in the actual game experience. There are really very few aspects of the mechanical game that differ wildly from those present in FFXIII - combat is very similar, levelling mechanics are not too far removed, the world design is broadly similar, as is the linear design of discrete areas, however, these elements are able to flourish, outside of the glare of the main franchise requirements. 

I must admit, there is a certain level to which personal taste is a factor here -I am always a fan of time-travel storylines, and tend to love games in which the same location can be viewed in different eras and within different realities - however, I don't think that is the only factor at play. Fundamentally, the somewhat confusing and convoluted world lore of Gran Pulse is already a burden inherited from the previous game - by adding a time-travel element, it actually becomes so confusing, that it comes out the other side. The player knows they don't need to follow every aspect on a macro level - they likely can't - so the micro storytelling becomes more important, and more intimate.

 

Overall, FFXII-2 is - and was always destined to be - an outlier. 
It was divisive among fans - even more so than FFXIII was, however, the changes made to the standard formula worked for me. Don't get me wrong - I love the tried-and-true formula of Final Fantasy - there is a reason it remains my most beloved JRP franchise, and still holds a special place in my heart after 3 decades of playing. There are entries where deviation from that formula have had a massively detrimental effect on my enjoyment (Final Fantasy XV, for example,) however, here, it just works for me.

 

By taking a slightly different path, and by playing in a slightly different genre, FFXIII-2 manages to step out of the shadow cast by previous FF games in a way FFXIII couldn't.
It becomes the big fish in a smaller, more uniquely shaped pond, rather than a small fish in a big one.

 

The Ranking:

So, for ranking purposes, there are a couple of obvious things thrown up by the review above. 

Firstly, I think FFXIII-2 deserves to rank a little higher than FFXIII. I stand by that. However, it is a slight nudge past its parent game, not a grand leap.

where ranking becomes more difficult, is in where exactly it lands above FFXIII, as there are really no other JRPGs close on the current list. The next ones above - Final Fantasy VII / Persona 4 / Persona 5 are far, FAR above - and well out of reach of FFXIII-2.

 

The fact is, FFXIII is already pretty highly placed, and the games that surround it are all good games too - they just aren't directly comparable to FFXIII-2. 

That means I'm required to fall back on the old, simple "is FFXII-2 more awesome than this game?" question, and simply run it up the flagpole from FFXIII onwards.

That question doesn't actually carry it too far, as while there are a few games on the current list for which the answer is a cautious "Yes", the first one that is a "no", is actually a fairly firm "No" - and that is with the original God of War.

 

As much as I liked FFXIII-2, and as much as I appreciate many aspects of it, it is simply not able to beat out the blisteringly paced and radical debut of Kratos, and so it finds it's (still very respectable) spot on the ranking!

 

 

 

 

 

Stick It To The Man

 

Summary: 

A 2013 modern adventure game from Zoink, Stick It To the Man sees the player take the role of Ray Doewood, an affable loser who is struck on the head by a loose canister containing some secret government experiment, resulting in a giant pink arm growing out of his brain, the ability to read people's minds, and a sinister cabal of government forces - led by 'The Man' - wanting him dead at all costs.

Via a series of silly, irreverent puzzles and through a number of outlandish and deliberately mad-cap scenarios, Ray must puzzle his way out of danger via the bizarre cartoon logic of the world in which he resides, and... well... stick it to The Man!

 

Mechanically, the game is unusual, and works pretty well. Its roots are clearly in old adventure games, however, Stick it To The Man is no throwback. What Zoink have done is import the sense of humour of a 90s Tim Schafer style adventure game whole-cloth, along with some of the mechanical stylings - silly, internally-logical-but-externally-baffling puzzles and a focus on exploring and interaction with characters -  but eschew virtually all the elements of those games that slowed the pace down. The puzzles are easier to follow and solve, player movement is direct (and quite speedy,) and the puzzling is tied more to the pace of the game than vice-versa.

 

The game is not long (running around the 4-6 hour mark) and in terms of the actual puzzle solving, there isn't a huge amount of challenge here, but that isn't really the purpose of the game. The real fun of Stick It To the Man is not in the solving of the puzzles, but in simple engagement with the strange world in which Ray lives, and the odd cast of characters that make up the world. The game functions primarily as a joke-facilitator, with Ray's ability to read minds serving as a window through which the irreverent humour can pour, and light platforming is thrown in too - via Ray's ability to use his new, brain-hand to swing on poles and jump around.

 

The narrative is wacky and irreverent, and wholly based in the kind of insular, imbued logic of its crafted world. In terms of pacing and variety, it certainly delivers -thrusting the player form one weird scenario to another swiftly, however, it's one that doesn't always feel quite right... and it took a bit of time to quite articulate why. 
I pondered on it, but the issue, as I see it, is this:

There is a mad-cap, scattershot element to the humour that is certainly by design, and works reasonably well, and the writing is uniformly high quality within that framework, however, I think the game falls in a slightly odd place. 

There are other games - such as Zoink's directly inspired future entry Flipping Death, or older adventure games like Grim Fandango or Day of the Tentacle - where the narrative remains a strong through-line, with zany, quirky humour and more outlandish elements hung upon that line - and those games work very well.

There are, conversely, games that really lean into the chaos and mad-cap humour, with very little narrative through line - Jazzpunk, for example, or recently ranked VR comedy game Accounting+, where the narrative through line is truly throw-away, and is treated as such - and those games work well too.

 

Stick It To The Man, however, tends to fall somewhere in between. As funny as it is - and often that is very funny - there is a feeling that the humour is being anchored just enough to prevent it truly delivering on the more chaotic, untethered humour of the latter group, but the narrative through line is still more throwaway, and shouldering less of the weight of the game than in the former group. 

The result is a game that feels comfortable with its humour and its plot separately, but a little uneasy in its combination of them. It wants the player to ignore the story entirely where the joke requires it, but still care enough to have that be the focus elsewhere - and its in this balancing act that Stick It To the Man tends to trip over itself. Sometimes it works, but often it doesn't. The player is liable to lose focus as often as the game does, but then is forced to realign themselves jarringly when the game demands it.

 

This is not a massive issue - as said, the humour of the game works, and is well done for the most part - and Zoink certainly have a winning way with their art design and unusual game mechanics, however, it is an issue - and one far more obvious now, in light of the fact that Flipping Death exists.
In Flipping Death, Zoink took all the best aspects of Stick It To The Man, finessed them all, and managed to strike a much better balance between pure jokes, a narrative that, while silly, was still very engaging, and featured charming characters that the player didn't just laugh at, but felt a connection to. Its plot was one that kept the player engaged all the way through - and they wanted to see the end of for narrative reasons. Stick it To The Man's plot is more just a string, upon which jokes are hung. There isn't much investment in the overarching plot - just in the scenarios it allows for. 
Now that Flipping Death is available for comparison, that newer, better game casts a long shadow behind it, and tends to show up the more uneven and rough edges on its less polished older sibling. Stick it To The Man may have worn a lot of the same clothing, but it doesn't wear them as well as Flipping Death did when they were handed down.

 

Visually, though, there is absolutely nothing to complain about in Stick It To the Man. The art-style that would be continued in Flipping Death was already in full flight here - a chaotic, bizarre, almost grotesquely stylised reality is crafted seemingly out of paper cut-outs, and the scattershot design aesthetic works a treat. Every character is somehow unusual or crazy, and their visual design follows that. The overall effect is a kaleidoscopic burst of colourful strangeness that really stands out from the crowd. Oddly cinematic camera angles or focus pulls are used with the rudimentary looking paper-cut-out designs really well, and lend extra humour to the proceedings.

 

Music is good - goofy and silly, but always in on the joke, and voice work, while sticking to a tried-and-true style of 90s Nickelodeon cartoons and the more stylish point-n-click adventure games, works great. Where jokes rely on delivery, they are usually very well served, and the voice cast do a good job of adding charm to the characters, keeping them for feeling as grotesque as their visual designs sometimes might threaten.

 

Overall, Stick It To the Man remains a funny, charming and knowingly irrelevant take on the puzzle adventure game - one borrowing elements of Tim Schafer-esque humour, and mixing it with Monty Python, Nickelodeon cartoon humour and Ren and Stimpy-style characters, to generally positive effect. The art is fantastic, and the sound is good, but the narrative aspects leave it in an oddly precarious feeling spot.
It's a game that would have benefitted from either a complete severing of the flimsy tether that ties its humour to its narrative, or by repairing it, and anchoring it a little more to a better one. Here, it finds an uneasy gap in-between. 

 

A game that works more often than it doesn't - but one that, looking back from 2022, can now be considered less a final destination, and more a stepping stone, on Zoink's path to a better game, in Flipping Death.

 

 

The Ranking:

So, the obvious staring point is Flipping Death, and it will surprise literally no one who read the review, that Stick it To The Man isn't able to measure up to its younger sibling. 
Every aspect Stick it To The Man does well, Flipping Death does better, and every aspect Stick it To The Man struggles with, Flipping Death corrects.

 

Below Flipping Death then, we are looking primarily at adventure games, and at smaller, more comical games with some kind of puzzle mechanics at their core.

The first one the pop up, however, doesn't quite fall in either of those categories, but is worth mentioning for another reason. That game is Lost in Random, and the reason - of course - is the developer, Zoink games.

While Stick it To The Man is fun, Lost in Random is just fundamentally a more interesting and well playing game. It's less funny, but that's by design, and more than makes up for that in other areas, as well as being a much more fleshed out, complex and certainly bigger game.

 

A bit further down, we have awesome little puzzler/ exploration adventure The Touryst. While Stick it To The Man is funnier, the other areas in which Stick it To The Man excels - its visuals and its fun, breezy challenge and pace - are all areas in which The Touryst also excels, and in its case, I think ends up being a better overall package.

 

Two rungs below that, however, is Joseph Fares' 3D co-op action puzzler/ family-torture-simulation mishmash It Takes Two. Now, despite my revision at the narrative elements of that game (let's not get me started again!) It Takes Two did manage to take a relatively respectable position on the ranking, primarily based on two things - the visuals, and the puzzles. 
In both those areas, I would probably admit, it wins in a match up with Stick it To The Man, however, it's not a mortal lock in either case - and visually, it gets very tenuous. Really, It Takes Two is coasting on technical visuals. Actual art design is much more interesting and stimulating in Stick it To The Man. 
Once you add the great humour in Stick it To The Man, as compared to It Takes Two's complete inability to land a single deliberate laugh, and the poor writing of it Takes Two, Stick it To The Man begins to feel very good in the fight.
Once you then add the voice work, and the music on top of that, It Takes Two cannot hold up.

 

That leaves only FROM Software's Déraciné in between - a game that couldn't be less like Stick it To The Man if it had been genetically engineered to be in a lab!

That one became an oddly difficult one to puzzle out in my head as a match up, but in the end, I fell on the side of Déraciné winning.

The reason? Flipping Death. Because there is a better version of Stick it To The Man in existence, it lessens the impact of Stick it to The Man a bit. Say what you like about Déraciné, but like it or not, there is really nothing else like it, and so it wins the bout on originality.

As such, Stick it To The Man finds its spot.

 

 

 

 

Super Time Force Ultra

 

Summary: 

A side-scrolling, pixel-art combination of shoot-em-up and action-puzzler from Capybara Games, (creators of, among others, great, and underrated PS3 puzzle game Critter Crunch,) 2014's originally Xbox-exclusive Super Time Force was released on Playstation 4 and Vita in 2015 as Super Time Force Ultra, bringing its winning formula of fast-paced, bullet-hell, time-rewinding/repeating chaos, irreverent pop-culture references and goofy humour along with it.

 

The premise of the game is a simple one - Commander Repeatski, leader of the secret 'Super Time Force', is charged with one task - making his present (our future) a better place to live, by sending his esoteric and swash-buckling cadre of time-bending soldiers to various points in history, and defeating forces of evil!

 

The plot is silly and throw-away - completely by design - and not at all the meat of the game. What is, is the unique and very well implemented game mechanics, wherein the player takes control of multiple different characters, in a fast, frenzied and quick-fire repeating cycle of violence and destruction, as they race through the games six levels, fighting enemy forces, environmental dangers, and an ever ticking clock towards a destructive finish line.

 

Time rewinding and repeating loops within games are hardly an original concept on their own - even just on the current list, we have Life is Strange, Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands, The Forgotten City, Deathloop, Ratchet and Clank: A Crack in Time to name but a few entries getting in on that action. However, the actual implementation of that idea within Super Time Force Ultra is pretty unusual, a-typically fast, and much more action-oriented than in most cases.

At the start of every level, the player can choose any of their available characters, and begin the run. 
That player fights their way through the level, destroying as they go, shooting enemies, and picking up collectible clocks to increase the time available in the level.  If they are killed, (or, in fact, at any time the player chooses,) they can hit the rewind button. This will reverse the action to a point of the player's choosing, and they can select another character from their roster, and pick up the action with them from that point. Crucially though - the original character is still there in ghostly form. They are still walking the path they walked, and shooting in the same places they shot before - and having a enteral effect n the surroundings - but this time, alongside a new player character.

This cycle can be repeated for as many characters as the player has available, with a compounding effect. The result is a gameplay style that allows for level design and enemy placements that would be impossible for a single character to traverse and deal with within the time limit available, but through use of the compounding, multiple character combinations a puzzle-game element is aded to the action, where the player must work out how to effectively use the mechanic to turn an impossible situation into a possible scenario.

 

A Door takes 10 seconds of sustained shooting to break?
That's a long time when fighting a ticking clock. But it will only take five seconds, if the first character shoots for that amount of time, then rewinds, and a second player joins in. Add three more 'copies' and that door is going down in 2 seconds.

 

A room has 6 enemies all shooting at the same time?
Lucky we can have one character kill one, while another kills those two, a third takes out the others, a fourth collects that collectible - or new member for the team - and the fifth can run through unscathed.

 

A boss has 3 weak points? That'll take some time... if only we could have 3 character all shooting at the different spots simultaneously!

 

That rewinding mechanic is already fun and allows for a lot of variable and on-the-fly puzzle-solving, but it is lent additional flavour by the fact that each playable character (from a surprisingly large and player-dependent roster,) has their own unique abilities. Jeff Leppard's bouncing grenades might be the best weapon in one situation, but he's vulnerable. It would be handy to send in Shieldy Blockerson with his force-filed shield to the spot you'd Jeff to occupy before hand, to provide some ghostly cover during his carnage. Dolphin Lundgren's short range attacks are powerful, but you'd be best to have some long-range fire to cover him, so maybe sending in Merlin with his magic, of Squirty Harry with his magnum as well...

 

That all works very well, and despite the chaotic nature and fast pace, becomes quite intuitive and second nature quicker than one might expect. The mechanic is great fun to use, feels unique and clever, and feels fresh and interesting in a crowded landscape of pixel-art bullet-hell games. (It's also worth noting - it also runs surprisingly well, considering the amount of chaos on screen, and the variables present in the compounding copies of player runs playing out simultaneously.) 

That is only one one half of the game though. 

There is a second element, where the action takes a back-seat, and the puzzle-elements afforded by the mechanics take centre-stage - in 50 discrete puzzle room levels, called the Hella-Deck. (Presumably, this was named by Chloe, from Life is Strange!)

 

As regular Science Chums might recall, there is one game already ranked and reviewed, that uses a similar mechanic to Super Time Force Ultra - Ratchet and Clank: A Crack in Time. Its Clank puzzle sections, wherein Clank can make multiple copies of himself, to solve multi-character puzzles with his own clones follows a similar base theme. As those same Science Chums might also recall, those Clank puzzles were by far my favourite part of that game too. That probably gives a hint that I was somewhat 'pre-primed' to like the Hella-Deck levels of Super Time Force Ultra!

These puzzle-rooms give discrete numbers of specific characters and rewinds, and task the player with traversing set puzzles, and collecting every one of a discrete number of collectibles, using the multiple characters efficiently and effectively. 

This section of the game becomes much less variable, of course - there is, in most cases - one specific solution to each puzzle, however, each requires a fair amount of thought and experimentation to achieve the goal, and these Hella-Deck rooms are not always as discrete from the main campaign action as one might initially think. Certainly there is a different flavour to the game in the Hella-Deck, but the skills learned in solving these puzzles absolutely translate to the main game - and mastering the concepts required to beat them are often the key to managing some of the most difficult optional tasks in the main campaign levels - such as beating each one so fast that you can achieve the prized, most elusive collectibles that appear near the end of a stage, but disappear after a (seemingly insurmountably) short amount of time.

 

Artistically, the game is fairly simple - the pixel art is quite rudimentary, (presumably a necessity to avoid slow-down or frame-rate issues with so much chaos on screen,) - however, it never looks bad, and Capybara do manage to make a simple style work some magic from a stylistic and artistic point of view. As said, it runs very smoothly, and on this point I'll also add - Super Time Force Ultra is available on PS Vita, and runs remarkably well there too, given the power available on that system. I played the entire game on that platform, and was genuinely surprised to never experience any visible slow-down or frame-rate problems.

Certainly, any still-screenshot of the game will not look particularly impressive, but in motion, and amid the chaos of the mechanics, it work very well. there is a variety to the campaign levels (future / past / prehistoric etc.) and the art style allows for that well enough, without ever really leaning into any individual one terribly hard.

Audio is fun and goofy - fittingly. There isn't voice work - the minimal dialogue there is is purely text, but explosions and gunfire sound good, and there are some useful flourishes when picking up collectibles etc. giving the player the feedback they need in a chaotic visual environment.

Overall, Super Time Force Ultra is a really smart, fun little game. Much like previously ranked Dandara, it has one great mechanic, and it knows how to use it - it doesn't overburden itself trying to add additional complexity on top of that, as Capybara clearly recognise that the single mechanic they do have is sound and interesting enough to carry the gameplay - both in the campaign, and the Hella-Deck. 

While the campaign is short, the Hella-Deck provides ample additional game time, and the inclusion of additional challenges in each campaign level means there is more than enough reason to return to each one, to improve ones performance and time - and doing so is never less than wild, chaotic fun.

 

 

The Ranking:

I had originally thought ranking Super Time Force Ultra would be more difficult than it ended up being, as its certainly quite a unique premise mechanically, however, in looking at other action games with a puzzle element, two games popped out immediately, that pretty easily narrow the field: Superhot, and Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number.

 

While even Super Time Force Ultra's crazy, original and fun take on shooting is not able to beat out the similarly original and awesome Superhot, Its winning combination does outclass Hotline Miami's sequel. That is partly due to originality - Hotline Miami 2 is, of course, a sequel - but more than that, Hotline Miami 2 is also just not as good as its predecessor. It suffers from problems in its difficulty curve, its narrative and its deviations from the core mechanics of its parent game - in a lot of the areas Super Time Force Ultra avoids. By over-complicating its great basic premise, it ended up falling significantly lower than the original Hotline Miami... and, I think, rightfully, lower than Super Time Force Ultra.

 

There are only a handful of games currently ranked in-between Superhot and Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number.
Working up from Hotline Miami 2 then, it's a simple case of "overall awesome-ness", and the clear breaking point is between Afterparty and Void Bastards. I think Super Time Force Ultra's overall package is enough to outclass Void Bastards (just), but in spite of the fun time I had, it doesn't quite beat out Afterparty.

 

As such, it finds its spot on the list!

 

 

 

 

BONUS GAMES

3 Additional eligible S-Ranks earned this round!:

 

 

 

The Artful Escape

 

Summary: 

A narrative-focussed light-platformer from (awesomely named) developer Beethoven & Dinosaur, The Artful Escape is a game that is difficult to classify but easy to play... difficult to define, but very easy to love.

 

Every once in a while, a game comes along that really surprises me. In fairness, quite a few of the games to meet that bar in the past 5 or 6 years have been courtesy of Annapurna - a publisher who have really distinguished themselves as the industry standard for interesting, well crafted indie games - and The Artful Escape is no exception in that regard.
It's rare enough that a game surprises me in a positive way in terms of any single aspect, but even rarer where what surprised me was not a specific mechanic, but a lack thereof. What really caught me off guard about The Artful Escape was how little mechanical game there is to it. That sounds like a negative - and in many cases it would be - however, here it absolutely is not. Let me be clear - for a game in which there isn't a lot of actual gameplay, every hour of The Artful Escape has more impact - narratively, artistically, emotionally and in terms of engagement - than many mechanics-heavy games manage in their total!

 

The player takes the role of Francis Vendetti - a resident of Calypso, a small, idyllic Colorado town most famous for being the home of his now deceased, and legendarily great folk musician uncle, Johnson Vendetti. Francis is musically gifted, and feels pressured to follow in the footsteps of his legendary uncle, attempting to become a folk singer, but as the lonesome intro to the game shows us, his heart is not in that genre. While he fiddles around half-heartedly when strumming the soulful melodies of his folk output, he comes alive when wailing overblown, psychedelic Space-Rock to an open sky, on his electric guitar.

 

On the eve of a folk performance he is due to give, as part of a festival celebrating the legacy of his uncle, he meets a curious young woman named Violetta, who, in a laid-back, acerbic tone, encourages him to take a risk - to do what he feels. He should begin doing this - she says - by visiting 'Lightman's' in town - a place Francis knows does not exist. 
Upon heading home, Francis is visited by both an alien, and a fantastically odd old-man musician - Lightman (played to absolute perfection by the inimitable Carl Weathers!) - who take Francis on a journey, through a booking agents office that doesn't exist, across a psychedelic cosmos, and on to Lightman's inter dimensional spaceship - The Cosmic Lung. The reason? In order for The Cosmic Lung to pass through the Cosmic Extraordinary on it's intergalactic journey, Lightman needs to perform a concert for an alien being known as the Glamourgonn - and he wants (nay, needs!) Francis Vendetti on the bill, as his warm-up act.

 

Now - lets not mice words - that sounds like nonsense. 
And it is. Complete nonsense - the whole story is.
It's also wonderful.

The plot of The Artful Escape is completely off-the-wall and ridiculous - and fabulously so. It is, I would wager, one of the best examples of using a ridiculous, overblown, comically-bizarre narrative to make a serious point that I think I have ever seen in gaming.

The story serves as a fun, light, and never-not-charming metaphor for some very real concerns - those of feeling overshadowed by past family glory, of feeling pushed on to one path when one feels naturally inclined towards another, of pursuing ones dreams in spite of the fears and risks associated, and of the transformative power of music.
Francis is a man who unironically loves the music that he feels in his heart, but societal pressures have pushed him to couch those feelings in secrecy, and in the pretence of irony. He feels he needs to be a folk musician, not just to please the ghost of his uncle and the spectre of public expectation, but also because those pressures have forced him to feel that Folk music is 'legitimate art' to the exclusion of other genres. 
He knows what he wants, but thinks he is supposed to want something else, and his internal struggle with this is the crux of the game. Fighting that battle between fake irony and real sincerity is the thesis of the game - that one should love what they love without shame, and never feel beholden to the outside influence of others.
The game is, in essence, a psychedelic love letter to feeling your own feelings without shame, and not trying to force yourself to feel otherwise. To liking what you like in spite of the common consensus. Of having your own opinions. Of the notion that genuine love for something will shine through, and influence others to do the same, far more than the consensus opinion can ever quash them. 
That the Emperor has, in fact, got no clothes on.

It's a thesis statement that is powerful - and one that I think gamers especially - particularly those on sites such as this one, where opinions and consensus-think can be rife, and where loving something everyone else dismisses is often seen as a peculiarity and a negative - can easily find connection with.

 

Mechanically, the game is, as said, pretty minimal. General levels follow a fairly standard light-platforming tract - and to be honest, there is little to them aside from moving from one side of the level to the other. The platforming is not challenging at all. Really these sections serve as a backdrop for the player to experience the visual design of the environments, and to have fun with the movement mechanics. These are a source of great fun in the game. Francis has his electric guitar on him at all times, and holding the square button will see him constantly wailing out abstract space-rock melodies on it. If he presses this during a jump, it results in a slight-slow-motion rocking leap the feels great. Every single time. I don't often tell people how to play their games... but if you are jumping in The Artful Escape, and not ripping a solo as you do - you are playing it wrong!

 

The other side of the game, from a mechanical point of view, is in various Simon-style rhythm mini-game sections. These consist of 'repeat-after-me' button pushing, using a five-note/ five-button input, wherein Francis can play along with (or battle) various earthly or inter-dimensional beings in musical face-offs. These sections are not difficult either - indeed, there is no fail-state in the game, as incorrect input simply requires another try without penalty, but they serve exactly the same purpose that the light-platforming does - they provide just enough player engagement to feel a part of the narrative, and enough input to feel connected to Francis and his through-line to matter, and the game lets the art, music and narrative do the rest. The functional gaming within The Artful Escape is simply a way to the story alive and moving. They are what draws the player in, and hold their hand throughout, giving their hands something to do, but the parts around the edges of those mechanics are what keep their brain engaged.

 

Artistically and stylistically, the game manages to do something pretty difficult - it follows ever-heightening reality and increasingly psychedelic aspects of the narrative, but without feeling like it is ever really 'switching' styles. The early game - in Calypso - has the artistic leanings of a Wes Anderson film - the straight-on framing and crisp, clean lines of the idyllic town feel cut form a completely art-house indie style, yet as the game heightens its reality, heading out into the cosmos, and playing to a narrative straight out of a psychedelic-space-rock album cover, that very same art-style lends itself perfectly to that too. 
There are artistic high points all over the game - the transitional montages as Francis is transported across space-time are hilariously baffling and fun to see - and everything, from character design, to environmental design, to the stylistic flourishes in musical sections - are well done, cohesively connected, and wholly original in the indie game landscape. Are there elements of art-styles seen in other games? - sure, of course - however, the net effect here is something that looks and feels wildly different, and holds it's own, maintaining a uniqueness in totality.

 

Audio is - as it needs to be - fantastic. That is a virtual requirement in terms of music - The Artful Escape is, of course, a game about the power of, and love for, music, and so the fact that the songs played are good is a welcome (and necessary) component of the game. This applies not just to the discrete music sections though - it carries through all aspects of the music, from the folk songs early on, to the space-ballads, to the simple wailing of guitar riffs as Francis runs along the levels is fun, uplifting and genuinely catchy.

 

Voice work is excellent - there is a pretty strong cast on show here, featuring Jason Schwartzman, Lena Headey and Mark Strong, in addition to previously mentioned Carl Weathers, and all do a great job - hitting the mark on the jokes well, and giving a lot of extra personality to the characters - many of whom are bafflingly strange and unusual, but always charming in an odd way. In some instances, I was reminded of Afterparty - in the way the extreme concepts at play are grounded and made unique and emotive through simple grounding of writing and voice work. The normalcy of the individual lines, and in the delivery works in contrast to the outlandish designs and situations, with a comedic edge that works a treat.

 

Overall, The Artful Escape is a hell of a game - and one no one with even a passing interest in either music, or indie gaming should miss out on. 
Its a fleeting thing - the game is only around 4 hours long, and doesn't lend itself to much in the way of repeatability beyond simply re-experiencing a great story with a great message, however, that 4 hours is a gloriously silly and fun ride, featuring a storm of wonderful art, an auditory kaleidoscope of great music, a ton of good jokes, interesting characters and imaginative and interesting locations. 
By throwing these elements in with a narrative message that is deceptively poignant, and extremely well implemented, The Artful Escape ends up being a real winner.

 

 

The Ranking:

As a game primarily concerned with narrative, and one that is indie-leaning, and reliant on writing, strong art and emotive content, the games we are looking at for initial comparison are in the same vein.

The ones that jump to mind first are the Night School Studios duo of Afterparty and Oxenfree. In both cases, those games tell stories that are more important than the mechanical gameplay that facilitates them, and in both cases, strong art and audio are a key component to their success.

 

While Afterparty is far closer in terms of narrative hooks - in that case, an irreverent take on Hell tells an emotive story about friendship, ambition and alcoholism, in contract to the Artful Escape's irreverent take on the cosmic space exploration making it's emotive points - but in that case, I do think The Artful Escape shines a little brighter. Its tale is a little less funny overall, but it is more universal and uplifting, it's emotive angles stronger, and on the art-side, I think it wins out too.

 

That leaves Oxenfree though, and while I would argue the metaphorical aspects of Oxenfree are less impactful than in The Artful Escape, (or indeed Afterparty,) it's tone is more serious, and I think it's narrative more cohesive as a video-game. It also lends itself to more repeatability than either other game. While I would still say The Artful Escape takes the win on art design and music, the fact is, Oxenfree just spoke to me a little more, and so it feels right that it keep its place on the rankings.

 

The one in between that jumps out is Observation. While Observation is a different kind of game, it is equally unique in its own way, and I think on merit, manages a very marginal win when pitted against The Artful Escape. This one is very close however (the two being wildly different styles of game, mechanically, narratively and tonally,) and so it feels right that The Artful Escape take the spot just below Observation.

 

 

 

 

Curse of the Dead Gods

 

Summary: 

A 2021 rogue-like isometric dungeon-crawler from Passtech Games, Curse of the Dead Gods has spent much of its existence being - for better or for worse - compared to, and contrasted with, Supergiant's excellent, and similarly isometric dungeon-crawling rogue-like, Hades.

 

That comparison was, no doubt, inevitable. Both games released in similar timeframes, both play in the same genre, and both certainly cater (mechanically at least) to a similar crowd. In the case of this review, that comparison is likely to feature more than once. However, the useful purpose of such comparisons in not to dwell on the similarities Curse of the Dead Gods shares with Hades, but rather to look at the differences, as they are plentiful - and quite fundamental.

In terms of broad genre, certainly Curse of the Dead Gods is tilling the same field as Hades, however, philosophically - from a game design point of view - the two could not be approaching that genre from a more diametrically opposite positions.

Hades is a game made great around the edges of its core mechanics. The actual dungeon-crawling and combat are good - perfectly adequate, and capable of sustaining the players' attention across the platinum journey - however, they are arguably the weakest aspect of Hades' overall package. That game has good mechanics, but shines brightest in its other areas: Its music, its writing, its narrative and its gorgeous artwork. It is, if you will, a perfectly acceptable and tasty steak, with some of the most delicious trimmings ever set to a plate. 
Curse of the Dead Gods does not come with trimmings at all. It is simply a steak on a plate. It is, however, one of the tastiest cuts of meat available in the Steakhouse!

 

The narrative aspects of Curse of the Dead Gods are very slim. There is a story to its dungeon crawling, seeing the player take the role of Cardog McCallister, an explorer seeking riches in an ancient, Mayan temple dedicated to the glory of three 'dead' Gods - T'Amok', Yaatz and Sich'al. Each of these Gods is themed around an element - Fire, Lighting and Poison, and the history and mysteries of each, their champions and their areas of the temple are revealed slowly throughout the game, however, this narrative aspect is confined to text entries associated with different weapons, enemies and challenges. The game maintains a Dark Souls-esque "big-on-lore, small-on-story" minimalism to the narrative elements.
There is no voice work, there is no real characterisation of Cardog, (outside of his stomping gait, his grunting, heavy demeanour, and his fantastic mutton-chops!) Indeed, there is no real time spent in adding fruitful additional aspects around the edges of the mechanical aspects.

 

What there is, instead, is an attention to detail in the core combat mechanics, a variable and artistically cohesive randomised level generation, and a breadth of interdependent and inter-linking subsystems to be engaged with and managed that borders on outrageous. It is, frankly, overwhelming at first, but upon experimenting with the game and learning its many inter-connected facets, it results in one of the most variable, complex, nuanced and - most importantly - engaging rogue-likes I have ever had the good fortune to stumble upon.

 

Those inter-linking variables in each run are truly the magic of the game.

Each dungeon run (after the initial few short 'on-ramping' ones, designed to give a flavour of the game,) consists of three main sections, each of which has 8 stages. Traversal through each of these sections allows the player to select their next destination from a randomly generated 'map', where they can see the room 'types' available. These might be a gold-heavy room, a 'mini-boss', a 'speed' or a 'perfection' challenge, or a room containing a weapon upgrade alter, or a new weapon alter, or an alter giving runic charms - with the final level being a "Champion" - i.e. a boss fight.

The weapons available to Cardog at the outset are limited - and randomised - with initial altars providing a randomised main, secondary and a two-handed weapon, each of which is tied to one button on the controller. These - like everything in the game - have unique strengths and weaknesses. They play differently - more so than in many other rogue-like games - and are able to be managed, upgraded or replaced, depending on the player's choice, the nature of the RNG, and the path taken through the labyrinth. 

 

That may sound fairly standard so far - indeed, many games, particularly rogue-likes, offer multiple weapon classes and randomised item drops - however, what sets Curse of the Dead Gods apart is both the distinctness of individual weapon classes, and the sheer volume of elements that need to be managed within a run.

 

There are damage types - poison, lightning, fire, critical and weakness - each of which can be specced to with different interlinking runes and curses.
There are 3 player stats - Constitution, Dexterity and Perception - each of which can be raised by different actions, and have cumulative and comparative effects on health, power and item drop.
There are runic charms, giving a plethora of bonuses and abilities to different game elements.
There is a stamina meter to manage, with different weapons and combos requiring different amounts, a dodging mechanic, and a parry/riposte mechanic for those with the stomach to stand toe-to-toe with the enemy forces.
There is a 'curse' mechanics, where a curse 'meter' - which increases when attacked, or when passing a door, or which can be increased as substitute for gold at altars - will add random detrimental effects to the player - and culminates in an extremely debilitating 'Final Curse', seeing the player's health reducing constantly to 1HP. 
There is a persistent currency system, allowing the player to unlock different starting weapons to add to the randomised pool, as well as unlock certain bonuses, such as additional re-rolls of randomised offerings at altars, or adding additional starting weapon offerings.
There is a non-persistent money mechanic, a 'sacrificial' mechanic, in which found items can be sacrificed to the Gods for alternate bonuses, a 'light/dark' mechanic in play, an numerous other elements that have to not only be learned and contended with in each run, but only by mastery of which will the player stand a hope of traversing the late game dungeons and facing the final boss - Clovis Pardieux, the Champion of Death.

 

The wealth of elements in play in any single run of Curse of the Dead Gods really is incredible - and very complex and intricate. Bafflingly so at first, however, over the course of my 150 hours with the game, I came to understand just how well these elements have been crafted - not simply on an individual basis, but in combination. Each is balanced and finessed to work together. Not since playing Invisible Inc, had I seen a game use such a massive number of inter-connected variables, within the already variable playfield of a randomly generated rogue-like, with such finesse.
Because each element is dependant upon, and affects, so many others, there is a constant requirement on the player's part to evaluate the micro and macro effects every single item drop and variable will have on their play-style. Every run requires them to make scores of decisions on the fly, then adjust their approach based on those decisions, and on the challenges the game then throws at them.

 

"Is is more important to look to upgrade this awesome whip, which does massive damage, but is slow, or should I swap it for this claw?" 
"The claw is weaker, but increases power as I am cursed, so do I avoid being cursed and take things slow, or allow myself to be cursed and go fast?" 
"If I do, what curses might I get?" 
"Can I deal with them?"
"Will that affect my ability to defeat a champion, and remove a curse?"
"Which one should I remove?"

 

These kind of evaluations are as complex and nuanced as they are frequent... and in each run, they are very frequent!

 

All this is good, however, it would be for nothing if the actual combat was not enjoyable. Luckily, here, it very much is. 
There is not the largest variety of enemy types I've seen in a rogue-like (each of the three 'themed' temples contains 6 or 7 different variants, each of which has a regular and an 'Elite' version.) These enemies are all distinct, however, and require different tactics, and while the variety in terms of individual enemies is small, where the nuance lies is in the combinations of them. Each level's enemies are randomised, and the difference between, say, one 'elite' 'Tomb Horror' and two 'Vermin' requires a hugely different approach to three 'Plague-bringers' or three 'Serpent Cultists'. 

While learning individual emery patterns is simple, dealing with multiple combinations, (along with the myriad of temple traps, which affect both enemy and player alike, and the obvious differences afforded by different weapons and builds,) requires an on-the-fly decision-making and nuanced approach that does not grow stale, even over the lengthly platinum journey.

The bosses - of which there are 10 total - are each well designed and unique fights, each with their own strengths and weaknesses, requiring specific approaches. Each will be faced numerous times throughout the game, and each has its own patterns to be learned, and experimentation in these fights is fun, challenging and rewarding.

 

Visually, the game has a pretty awesome look to it. A cell-shaded, comic-book-esque style with dark, heavy black lines and cell-shaded elements compliments the Mayan aesthetic really well. This visual style is not simply good from a visual standpoint either - it adds to the game mechanically in a material way too.
The light/dark mechanic, in which Cardog takes increased damage in the dark and cannot see traps, but can be specced to do more damage in the dark, (or light) himself, and is able to either light torches, or destroy them, means there is a mechanical element to the visuals to which the player must be vigilant.
Flourishes like the comic-book 'sweeps' of enemy attacks work really well with the visual style, but also give the player the information they need - about the hit-boxing of the game, and of timing for parry/riposte mechanics, or 'perfect dodges'.

 

In terms of audio, the game is good, if not outstanding. In terms of voice work, of course, there is none, and the general score is good - ominous and thumping - but not stand-out in a crowded field, however, the one area Curse of the Dead Gods does excel in is the foley and sound design. Cardog's grunts and cries are visceral and evocative, and give the player much needed feedback on damage when they are in combat, and not able to glance at health meters for that information. Weapon swings and hits are impactful, and slight differences in the sound of a hit, a perfect hit and a critical give good feedback too, as well as sounding great from a purely artistic point of view. 

 

It is worth noting one additional aspect here - the trophies. I don't make a point to mention them often, but I do where they are of real note, and here, they are. Or rather, one trophy is.
Most of the trophies for Curse of the Dead Gods can be reasonably obtained in a fairly timely fashion - within 30-40 hours, even a a slow, regular pace of an unskilled gamer such as myself. One final trophy, however, - "Memoirs", for completing every entry in the bestiary - is an incredibly long and arduous journey. 
Each entry in the bestiary requires its own set of challenges to be completed, and some of these are no joke. For example, each boss entry requires beating that boss 10 separate times, each without taking a single point of damage. The final boss requires 5 no-hit kills. Each enemy requires 50 kills of the 'elite' variation to be killed, without taking any damage - and these do not spawn at a particularly prodigious rate. 

 

These, plus a litany of other tertiary requirements, means two things: 
1. While getting most of the trophies is available to most players, getting the platinum, and the S-Rank requires a mastery level far beyond simply that of completing the hardest run. 
2. The platinum will take quite some time.

 

I, for one, had all trophies bar that last one (and the platinum) for six months, before I was able to finally finish up the trophy list - and the final trophy took over 100 additional hours. While I am certainly an outlier -I have seen people complete the list in under 60 hours, (looking at you, @Copanele!,) the fact remains that the game asks a LOT of its players, if they desire that final platinum for their collection.

This is, I will caveat, not a case - like say, RAD, or Void Bastards - where I am warning that the platinum requires a dismal grind or joyless runs - I can categorically state that I enjoyed every run I made in Curse of the Dead Gods, right up to the last one - however, it is worth noting for anyone going into the game - you'll be at it a while!
Every moment of that 'long while' though, is with a damned fine game, that is so well balanced and realised, that every way you decide to play, the game will meet you there, and come armed with a new set of challenges for you to conquer!

Overall, Curse of the Dead Gods is a hell of a rogue-like, and a hell of a game. 
A simple one on paper, but one stacked with variables and interesting nuance, and an abject lesson in how to turn what feels like a small game into one of the most enjoyable and fun and variable experiences money can buy. It's not a rogue-like in the Hades model - there isn't a sweeping or complex narrative, or story hooks - but rather in the Dead Cells model. Its story is in the lore the player builds around the biomes and environments and bosses... and in the tales they tell to other players. Of their new build, and their new method, and their smart exploit and their odd challenge.

 

There aren't too many games I keep loaded on my console after I collect the platinum - Dead Cells, Hitman, Invisible Inc, The Witness - these are the outliers, not the norm. That small pack has a new entry now - Curse of the Dead Gods. Even after 160 hours of play, and a platinum under my belt, I know I haven't smacked Clovis Pardieux around for the last time.

I'll be back.

 

 

The Ranking:

The two most apt comparisons here have already been mentioned, so let's start there: Dead Cells, and Hades.

 

I pondered a long time on the comparison to Hades. Hades has the match sown up when it comes to all aspects outside of the core game mechanics - its narrative, its art, its music and its writing, however, the core gameplay of Curse of the Dead Gods is just fundamentally so much more enjoyable and variable than that of Hades, that the match-up gets much tighter than one might expect.

While Hades is fantastic, I have to finally fall back on the fundamental aspect of rogue-likes: they are played over and over and over again. As great as tertiary elements are (and in Hades, they are masterful,) the fact is, after having completed both, I can categorically state that I doubt I will ever replay Hades. I know I will replay Curse of the Dead Gods. Considering I spent nearly 3 times the amount of time I did with Hades with Curse of the Dead Gods already, that has to be the deciding factor.

As such, Curse of the Dead Gods takes it.

 

As compared to Dead Cells (currently much higher on the list) it gets sticky too. The fact is, my personal tastes tend towards the isometric 3D of Curse of the Dead Gods more than the 2D Metroidvania trappings of Dead Cells, however, I do think the fundamentals of Dead Cells are better. There is less variation in terms of build management to each run, but not much less - and Dead Cells has much more variety in the way of enemies and biomes. It also has Curse of the Dead Gods beat on narrative tone, and on music. As such, Dead Cells retains its place.

 

That leaves me working with the 20-odd games in between, and asking the old "is this more awesome overall?" question. The first game, working up from Hades, in which I think it gets tricky is in Journey. I love Journey, and the feelings it evokes, however, after much hand-wringing, I do think Curse of the Dead Gods' mechanics see it through. 

 

With the game just one spot higher though - Pyre - that isn't the case. Curse of the Dead Gods' mechanics are blisteringly good, but Pyre has so much going for it, in all areas, that if still hold onto its spot. As such, Curse of the Dead Gods finds its spot!

 

 

 

 

Moons of Madness

 

Summary: 

A Cosmic Horror first-person puzzle explorer, released in 2019 via a co-ordinated effort by Rock Pocket Games and Dreamloop Games, Moons of Madness attempts to mash up the somewhat 'hard sci-fi' elements of films like The Martian, and combine it with Lovecraftian Eldritch Horror, giving a 'horror of hidden knowledge' slant to a semi-realistic 'space and science' setting.

 

Taking the role of Shane - an engineer working for the sinister Orochi Group as part of a secret project on a scientific research facility on Mars, the player combines their routine (and latterly, far-from-routine) tasks around the facility with experiencing Shane's nightmares - a portent of the future, where the facility is overrun by grotesque black 'filth' and tentacles, taking over the rest of the crew, and seemingly controlled by a shadowy, hideous witch-like figure plaguing his dreams.
Throughout the game, it becomes apparent that Shane's selection and inclusion in the mission may not be for the reasons he thought, and his strained, unusual relationship with his mother - a world-renowned researcher into both space and the occult - that had affected his childhood and his current situation may be wrapped up in his hiring, and his current predicament. 

 

Narratively, Moons of Madness is, unfortunately, something of a wet fish. There is certainly potential in the mashing-up of Eldritch Horror, scientific research and the isolation of space, (one only needs to look at the Dead Space series to find good examples of such narratives as backdrop to good action games, or to SOMA as a great example of leaning into the horror and narrative elements for a more stealth-based focus,) however, those comparisons do Moons of Madness no favours. The story is pretty rote, and unusually poorly paced for this style of game. Because the writing is rather simplistic, and the dialogue not particularly well constructed, there is a feeling that the whole narrative has been stitched together, in order to fit in as many pre-existing, tried-and-tested Horror elements as possible, rather than being constructed with a clear story in mind, and building horror moments out of that narrative organically. 

 

The frightening moments are almost uniformly of the jump-scare variety - the laziest and least interesting of horror tropes. Jump-scares can work effectively, however, they really require more of an action-slant to the gameplay to be effective. In Dead Space, or Resident Evil, for example, a good jump scare works, because it spurs an instantaneous call to action - the player has to suddenly react, and make a spur of the moment decision - fight, or flight. In Moons of Madness, because the game has no action elements and no way to fight back, no choice exists, and because it is heavily checkpointed, there is no real threat to these scares. the player always has to run (or, saunter away, since the movement is so slow and stilted - more on that later,) and since dying is simply a cut-scene, followed by a return to a recent checkpoint, these scares only ever work once. The second time, the player knows what is coming, and exactly where from, and so the threat becomes simply an inconvenience in their path to (slowly) walking from one spot to another.

 

There is a second element to the horror in this kind of game - one in which exploration and simple appreciation of a narrative is key - that is a real requirement - tonal unease. Creeping, sustained tension. Games like SOMA, (or Amnesia, or Outlast,) do have jump-scares, but those are not the memorable parts, the memorable parts are the lingering, creeping tone of the games, which oppresses the player constantly with a palpable disquiet. While atmosphere played a part in those games of course, and Moons of Madness does manage the oppressive, chilling atmosphere quite effectively at times, really, that kind of horror is predicated on an investment with the characters and the story - something Moons of Madness is unable to replicate. The narrative elements are too weak. There is very little investment to be had in a narrative that feels like a paleo imitation of other, better ones, and any investment in the protagonist, or the NPC characters is stilted at best, due to the rather ridiculous and underwritten dialogue. 

Shane has a tendency to talk to himself (well, to the player,) but does so with a tonal inconsistency that borders on laughable. Shane's reaction to something like a falling piece of debris will be extreme - shouting and fearful - yet when he witnesses somethings so outrageously horrific - something utterly grotesque from beyond the depths of human understanding - his reaction will be akin to "What the...? That's odd..."
In a fairly early section, for example, where he is - for reasons unknown to him - transported to the basement of his childhood home - his reaction is simply "Huh, my childhood basement."

When, while exploring this space, he uncovers a gloriously bizarre and hideous altar to some ancient, cosmic Gods, his reaction is simply a rather curious "Was this here the whole time? What were you up to, Mom?" - the same reaction one might expect if he had found a photograph of his mother with a stranger.

 

It's these kind of inhuman reactions to extreme circumstances that really deflate any sense of urgency or horrific tonal realism to the whole game. By the time the narrative is reaching its conclusion, and the true horror of Shane's Mother's secrets, and the threat residing on Mars' two moons is revealed, the player has lost all emotional investment in the game, and is simply plodding through it, waiting for the narrative to stop flopping on the floor and fall limp.

 

In terms of gameplay, Moons of Madness has some good points, but they are spread thinly. There are puzzle elements here - both macro, as Shane tries to fix certain areas of the research facility or get from one area to another, and micro - where individual parts require the solving of light puzzle screens to repair - but these are sparingly used. The rest of the game functions as a walking sim, and as any fan of Walking Sim's knows, that requires a good narrative investment to remain interesting. 

There are elements of the early game I really liked - the attention to scientific realism in terms of navigating the base is cool, requiring, for example, airlocks to be used correctly, and oxygen to be managed to avoid suffocation - however, because the rest of the game fails to meet this standard, these aspects do tend to go from feeling realistic and cool, to simply slowing down the story after a while. Having to correctly sequence an airlocks fun the first few times - by the tenth, it is gets repetitive and borders on irritating. 

 

The gameplay does also come - in later game sections - to rely on some stealth aspects. These are not fun, not well implemented, and utterly ruinous to the tempo of the game. Movement in moons of Madness is stilted and slow at all times - indeed, few games outside of Everyone's Gone to Rapture have had such noticeably slow movement. That makes the whole game feel more sludgy and plodding than it should already, but it really, REALLY does not lend itself to stealth sections. There is little clear indication of the distance required to avoid the threats, and even less ability to effectively hide, and so these sections become painfully repetitive 'trial-and-error' walking sections, where the tension is entirely borne out of wanting to avoid repeating the same section, rather than the in-game narrative horror.

 

There is an unusual level of inconsistency in terms of attention to detail in the game. While in some spots, there are admirable flourishes (for example, there are changes to basic animations like filling up space-suit oxygen, depending on how stressed Shane is - with the basic animation of holding a button becoming a frantic, repetitive clicking when he is scared,) however, there are other aspects in which the game feels downright amateurish. Voice dialogue explaining the current situation between Shane and the remote NPCs is generally in a calm, objective tone - fittingly at times - however, if Shane, for example, happens to stray the wrong way, and awaken a security threat, or some ghostly apparition and suddenly heightening the tension, this voice over does not stop. Multiple times, I had overlapping audio playing - where Shane was both calmly chatting with one of his crew-mates, while also shrieking as he was beaten or clawed to death by some horrific threat. In a game where narrative is the main component, that kind of error has a catastrophic and unforgivably destructive effect on the player's ability to invest in the world they have inhabited.

 

Visually, the game is fine, if never stand out. The space-based sections look nice - the base has a clean, sterile look that works, despite never feeling particularly original or interesting - and the vistas and views of the surface of Mars do the job. Sections where Shane is transported into his own childhood, where more Earthly locations are used look decent, but again, unoriginally so. When the 'filth' takes over, there is some interest to be found, but not too much. It's all quite derivative of other, better games (and films.)

 

Audio is okay - the score is a minimal, lonesome affair that fits the tone, and foley is perfectly adequate. Voice work is something of a mixed bag - I'd hesitate to call the voice acting bad, as I feel like most actors are doing their best with poor material - but the writing really lets it down. There is such tonal inconsistency in the writing, that the voice acting can do nothing but follow it down the sink-hole.

Overall, Moons of Madness is a bit of let down across the board. There are some small aspects that are admirable here, but the whole endeavour feels misguided, and lacks any really original or interesting flavour. The narrative feels like an attempt at emulation of other, better games, and ends up being exactly that - an imitation, and not even a particularly sound one.

Yes, there are aspects that bring to mind SOMA, or Dead Space or even Returnal - particularly in the amalgamation of earthly, family trauma and space-based exploration and horror - and Moons of Madness even takes a swing at filmic entries like Event Horizon or Pandorum on occasion, but these invited comparisons don't do the game any favours. 
In the end, all they do is remind the player that they've been here before... and when they were, it was in a much better vehicle.

 

 

The Ranking:

Unfortunately, we're looking at a pretty low placement here, as there are few individual elements that work in Moons of Madness, and the overall game is sorely lacking.

 

The initial comparisons are other games that disappointed me - particularly in terms of writing, and of movement, and the first is Raji: An Ancient Epic. The reason that game comes to mind is the movement primarily - Raji was also a game that felt spongy and finicky to control. In Raji, I think that issue is actually worse, however, Raji did a lot of other aspects well - the design, the writing and the narrative were all streaks ahead of Moons of Madness, and so Moons of Madness has to rank lower.

 

Another recent disappointment was pixel-art souls-adjacent Morbid: The Seven Acolytes. That game suffered from a lot of misguided elements, and movement was one of them, along with narrative problems, but really, while I'd argue Morbid was also a game that was something of an imitation of better games than original, it was markedly less of an issue than in Moons of Madness. There is still far more fun to had in a playthrough of Morbid than of Moons of Madness, and so it retains its spot too.

 

Moons of Madness, I'm afraid, just keeps slipping down the list, failing in bouts due to its myriad issues, and only finally comes to a stop with fairly recently ranked Access Denied. While Moons of Madness is a paleo imitation of better games, it does at least try to be original in some small aspects. Access Denied never does - it is absolutely cribbing whole-cloth from better games, and fails to even attempt anything original. It also plays fairly poorly, and doesn't offer even the modest fun or thrills that Moons of Madness does. 

As such, Moons of Madness finally finds a low spot, jut above Access Denied.

 

 

 

So there we have it folks!

 

Thanks to @GonzoWARgasm , @The_Kopite & @grayhammmer for putting in requests!

 

 

 Hitman 3 remains as 'Current Most Awesome Game'!

LA Cops stays as the worst-of-the-worst, with the title of  'Least Awesome Game'

 

 

What games will be coming along next time to challenge for the top spot... or the bottom rung?

That's up to randomness, me.... and YOU!

 

Remember:

 

SPECIAL NOTE

 

If there are any specific games anyone wants to see get ranked sooner rather than later - drop a message, and I'll mark them for 'Priority Ranking'! 

 

The only stipulation is that they must be on my profile, at 100% (S-Rank)....

 and aren't already on the Rankings! 

 

 

 

Catch y'all later my Scientific Brothers and Sisters! 

[Cleggworth]

"Shane has a tendency to talk to himself (well, to the player,) but does so with a tonal inconsistency that borders on laughable"

 

this is possibly something I could work with. The wife and I quite enjoy stuff we can laugh at for being dreadful ? it does sound like it strays way beyond 'so bad its good' back into 'so bad it's shit' though so... hard pass I think. Cheers for taking a bullet for the team on this

[DrBloodmoney]

3 minutes ago, Cleggworth said:

"Shane has a tendency to talk to himself (well, to the player,) but does so with a tonal inconsistency that borders on laughable"

 

this is possibly something I could work with. The wife and I quite enjoy stuff we can laugh at for being dreadful ? it does sound like it strays way beyond 'so bad its good' back into 'so bad it's shit' though so... hard pass I think. Cheers for taking a bullet for the team on this

 

haha - no problem... though I usually like to know it's a bullet I'm jumping infront of!

 

This one stung a little...

...it's so much worse when you are genuinely excited for a game and this is what you get ???

 

This wasn't so much jumping in front of the bullet, as it was eating the black sweet you think is going to be delicious blackberry, and it turns out some satan-worshipping terrorist at the wine-gum factory decided liquorice was an acceptable flavour for human consumption! ?

[Copanele]

Hell Yeah Curse of the Dead Gods review  you said it better than I could ever do, that game was awesome and I can't recommend it enough.

2 hours ago, DrBloodmoney said:

I, for one, had all trophies bar that last one (and the platinum) for six months, before I was able to finally finish up the trophy list - and the final trophy took over 100 additional hours. While I am certainly an outlier -I have seen people complete the list in under 60 hours, (looking at you, @Copanele!,) the fact remains that the game asks a LOT of its players, if they desire that final platinum for their collection.

I do admit, I kinda did an Aztec Speedrun any% with that game ? but that's what happens when you get me obsessed over videogames. But yes, normally that game would take quite a while to grind and platinum.

 

And also thank you for reminding me (without intention) that I need to get Dead Cells already. Including that insane number of DLCs  

 

Now, a truly noobish question for you Doc. What are Artifex Mundi games? I ask, because my constant struggle lately is to find a game where I can relax and enjoy, an artsy 2/10 difficulty game that will chill my fingers, weary after crazy games(to explain, I chose Guacamelee 2 as an easy game to relax with - you can see why I am so bad at this  ). I heard that these games are relaxing and fun but I don't know anything about them. Any recommendations?

Also if I asked this before on this thread (or mine), sorry, my memory is gold fish level.

[DrBloodmoney]

4 minutes ago, Copanele said:

 

 

 

Now, a truly noobish question for you Doc. What are Artifex Mundi games? I ask, because my constant struggle lately is to find a game where I can relax and enjoy, an artsy 2/10 difficulty game that will chill my fingers, weary after crazy games(to explain, I chose Guacamelee 2 as an easy game to relax with - you can see why I am so bad at this  ). I heard that these games are relaxing and fun but I don't know anything about them. Any recommendations?

Also if I asked this before on this thread (or mine), sorry, my memory is gold fish level.

So… I have no idea if Artifex Mundi would scratch that itch for you… but the certainly do for me!

 

Well, first thing to note - they are very very basic games in terms of story / acting / animation etc. Like, seriously, if you don’t know what you’re in for, and play one in 2022, you are going to be like “wtf is this?”

They are laughable as compared to even B-game quality games - on those terms. 
 

What they have in thier favour though, is pretty fun little puzzles, and picture hunting games, combined with a pretty good approximation of old-style adventure game mechanics.

The art is often very nice - still paintings, of course, but nice - and they are all easily completed in a day or so.

 

I like to describe them as the videogame equivalent of those “1001 Puzzles” books you buy in a train station to pass the time when on a long journey. They’re not going to challenge you too much, or stay with you too long, but they pass the time pleasantly, and you have fun while doing them!
 

What I will say, is that stylistically, they appeal to me (and I suspect I’m not alone) because I grew up on (and still have a soft spot for) those really old Sherlock homes games / early Sierra games, and the Nancy Drew games on Mac / PC.

They have the same earnestness in their rudimentary characters and visuals, and the same sort of discrete, one-and-done puzzles.

 

If you’re going to try one, I’d recommend starting with the Enigmatis ones - that’s a good series as they go…

…though one final point - I do maintain, they work best on IPad. No trophies of course, and nothing wrong with controller input in them, but the touchscreen is really the best format for them (and their suitability on iPad probably does a better job of giving an indication of what to expect better than my whole post here!) ?  

[Copanele]

Well I don't have an iPad, but you mentioned something  

 

8 minutes ago, DrBloodmoney said:

What I will say, is that stylistically, they appeal to me (and I suspect I’m not alone) because I grew up on (and still have a soft spot for) those really old Sherlock homes games / early Sierra games, and the Nancy Drew games on Mac / PC.

They have the same earnestness in their rudimentary characters and visuals, and the same sort of discrete, one-and-done puzzles.

 

If you mean the OLD Frogware Sherlock Holmes (I played Case of the Silver Earring so many times, loved it), the OLD Sierra games and...well I haven't played Nancy Drew but I know how those games were, then yeah, they might be a very chill "wanna play it just to have a relaxing time" kind of game that I want. Find the object, piece the puzzle...yep, just like the puzzle books.

 

I might legit have a check of these games. You might be amazed, but I don't always play "1001 ways to smash my fingers and regret my existence" kinds of games ? Enigmatis might be right up my alley. Many thanks for the recommendation!

[Platinum_Vice]

Thanks for reviewing Dandara, Doc. It looks like nothing that I've played before so I probably need to just play it on that basis alone, let alone to experience the positives as you've put them. Would you recommend Dandara or Celeste if I was to only play one of them?

 

You've also helped Super Time Force Ultra reach a tipping point with me too, and I think it's on perpetual sale... I just needed a trusted reviewer to show me the way.

 

I hadn't commented on your prior batch of reviews yet, which might be my favourite batch from you ever, I think.

 

Journey is such a beautiful game and I related the chance meetings of other players to gaming's version of a one night stand, so it's funny seeing that you related it to a chanced holiday tryst. It must be art, because it becomes more beautiful when actually trying to formulate an intelligent reason why it has such an impact than it was when playing it. Some games need a distinct ending and meaning. Some need some ambiguity. Some, like Journey, are better off being juuuuuuust metaphorical enough that every player can apply multiple levels of meaning, relation and understanding. 

 

The Outer Wilds and The Forgotten City... what rock have I been living under? You have sold me in singular reviews without looking at trailers or trophy lists. They're straight to the Must-Plays, Doc, and if I was to make a scientifically-organised tier list about the quality of your reviews, these two would be top 5 material. ?

 

On 04/02/2022 at 8:59 AM, rjkclarke said:

What are you doing to me man? I had no idea what Outer Wilds was, and now I literally want to know everything there is to know about it! I think it's kind of funny the fact that you apologised for vagueness. You absolutely shouldn't - you made that game sound so appealing and so interesting that I'd be letting myself down if I never tried to play it at some point! 

 

This is accurate! And I'm very grateful you didn't spoil this one, yet am also grateful with the small amount of tantalising that is in The Forgotten City's review. You've got perfect instincts.

 

L.A. Noire, though? I dunno... That game missed the mark for me, but the review was again an interesting read to see where we would disagree. 

 

Looking forward to the next batch!

[DrBloodmoney]

4 hours ago, GonzoWARgasm said:

Thanks for reviewing Dandara, Doc. It looks like nothing that I've played before so I probably need to just play it on that basis alone, let alone to experience the positives as you've put them. Would you recommend Dandara or Celeste if I was to only play one of them?

 

Ha - well, contrary to all expectation and common sense, I’ve somehow not actually played Celeste yet!

 

I bought it a while back, but it’s been one of those games that just managed to pachinko it’s way in between other games, and slip through the cracks so far!

I’ve heard great things - but I will say, Celeste seems to get the respect it clearly deserves. Dandara, on the other hand is criminally underplayed - so I’m gonna be a bit wide, and say Dandara is the one to go with anyways! ? 

 

4 hours ago, GonzoWARgasm said:

You've also helped Super Time Force Ultra reach a tipping point with me too, and I think it's on perpetual sale... I just needed a trusted reviewer to show me the way.

 

I hadn't commented on your prior batch of reviews yet, which might be my favourite batch from you ever, I think.

 

Journey is such a beautiful game and I related the chance meetings of other players to gaming's version of a one night stand, so it's funny seeing that you related it to a chanced holiday tryst. It must be art, because it becomes more beautiful when actually trying to formulate an intelligent reason why it has such an impact than it was when playing it. Some games need a distinct ending and meaning. Some need some ambiguity. Some, like Journey, are better off being juuuuuuust metaphorical enough that every player can apply multiple levels of meaning, relation and understanding. 

 

Totally agree!

 

4 hours ago, GonzoWARgasm said:

 

The Outer Wilds and The Forgotten City... what rock have I been living under? You have sold me in singular reviews without looking at trailers or trophy lists. They're straight to the Must-Plays, Doc, and if I was to make a scientifically-organised tier list about the quality of your reviews, these two would be top 5 material. 

Absolutely - as a fellow The Witness appreciator, I have no doubt at all you will recognise the magic of Outer Wilds quickly - and be consumed as I was!

 

One of those rare games where t will want to crack out the notepad and pencil - as you’ll be space-detective-ing your way around the solar system with the same level of wonder and awe The Witness tapped into!

 

 

Very happy to have piqued your interest in The Forgotten City too - what a game!   
 

That was a rough one to try and keep the spoilers out of, but good that the enthusiasm still rings through- I did worry it would get a bit to vague for anyone to understand!

 

4 hours ago, GonzoWARgasm said:

 

L.A. Noire, though? I dunno... That game missed the mark for me, but the review was again an interesting read to see where we would disagree. 
 

 

Hey - it’s an oddball one for sure - definitely an aquired taste, so I can understand. After all, we’ve all got those games we just can’t connect with, despite the popular consensus - and I’ve got plenty of them myself! 

In the end, if we all agreed on everything, the checklists would be a pretty dull spot ?

 

4 hours ago, GonzoWARgasm said:

 

Looking forward to the next batch!

 

 Cheers dude!

[YaManSmevz]

Yet another mouth-watering batch of goodness, and one where my backlog was once again unable to escape unscathed.

 

Bloodmoney!

 

Dandara and Super Time Force Ultra seem like obvious adds for me, the latter in particular reminding me of current backlog dwellers Broforce and Unmetal (who are no doubt chilling together and sharing obnoxious, testosterone laden jokes).

 

Stick It to the Man presents me with an interesting thought - would it be best to play that before Flipping Death, or after? It definitely doesn't seem like a game I'd care to skip altogether, it sounds like a lot of fun! Ay, another curse of these threads - not only do you watch the amount of games you want to play skyrocket, there's also a potential optimal order in which to play them! Back in the day you hear about a cool game, you just shrug, make the purchase and play! Man... overthinking and gaming does not mix.

 

When I got to Artful Escape I noticed the image was not rectangular so figured it was a PS5 game and it didn't apply to me. But it sounded so much up my alley, from the emphasis on love of music to your Wes Anderson and Afterparty comparisons, that I snuck a quick look and confirmed that it's available on PS4 as well. Which made me think:

 

Awesome, I can play it!!

 

and

 

Dammit, now I have to play it!!

 

in a unison so perfect it was slightly confusing!

 

Curse of the Dead Gods intimidates me more than a bit, but I must confess to being intrigued.

 

On 2/5/2022 at 9:44 AM, Copanele said:

 Now, a truly noobish question for you Doc. What are Artifex Mundi games? I ask, because my constant struggle lately is to find a game where I can relax and enjoy, an artsy 2/10 difficulty game that will chill my fingers, weary after crazy games(to explain, I chose Guacamelee 2 as an easy game to relax with - you can see why I am so bad at this  ). I heard that these games are relaxing and fun but I don't know anything about them. Any recommendations?

Also if I asked this before on this thread (or mine), sorry, my memory is gold fish level.

 

As far as just something chill but entertaining goes, I recently played Islanders and Dex, and am currently playing Murdered: Soul Suspect, all of which fit the bill - Islanders the most by far, as there's no guide-necessitating collectibles to pad out the playing time.

 

I am on the opposite end, it's been a while since I've had a new, challenging game to sink my teeth into, but at the same time I really want to finish more of what's on my plate first!

Edited February 6, 2022 by YaManSmevz

[DrBloodmoney]

1 minute ago, YaManSmevz said:

Stick It to the Man presents me with an interesting thought - would it be best to play that before Flipping Death, or after? It definitely doesn't seem like a game I'd care to skip altogether, it sounds like a lot of fun! Ay, another curse of these threads - not only do you watch the amount of games you want to play skyrocket, there's also a potential optimal order in which to play them! Back in the day you hear about a cool game, you just shrug, make the purchase and play! Man... overthinking and gaming does not mix.

 

You know - I actually thought a lot about that while I was reviewing both of them - I thought about talking about it a little, but it didn't feel fitting to be advising order to people, as it's a personal thing, but since you asked....

...9 times out of 10, I would usually advise playing in order, but in this particular case, I actually think I might have appreciate Stick it To The Man a little more, if i had played it for the first time after Flipping Death. In this case, because they aren't actually a series, there isn't a narrative reason to stick to chronological, and I think seeing the formula work great in Flipping Death first would probably have primed me to look past some of Stick it To The Man's flaws as endearing early stepping stones than outright issues, knowing what they lead to.

 

On the other hand of course, if you want to end on the high-point, you could just go chronological, and just trust me that the issues in Stick it To The Man are all going to be solved, and the experience much better in Flipping Death!

 

 

1 minute ago, YaManSmevz said:

When I got to Artful Escape I noticed the image was not rectangular so figured it was a PS5 game and it didn't apply to me. But it sounded so much up my alley, from the emphasis on love of music to your Wes Anderson and Afterparty comparisons, that I snuck a quick look and confirmed that it's available on PS4 as well. Which made me think:

 

Awesome, I can play it!!

 

and

 

Dammit, now I have to play it!!

 

in a unison so perfect it was slightly confusing!

 

Haha - in your face! ?

 

Dude - it's so worth it. What a bizarre and unusual thing - and such an uplifting experience. It's about 4 hours in total, and I don't think my smile faded once in that whole time!

 

1 minute ago, YaManSmevz said:

Curse of the Dead Gods intimidates me more than a bit, but I must confess to being intrigued.

 

Well, all I'll say on that is - don't ever be intimidated by a game on my checklist!

Trust me - if I get an S-Rank, it's possible for anyone - I'm at best modestly good at games, but in general, if I throw down with anyone in any kind of match-up / co-op / competitive play - in any game - I look like Frank Drebin, and they look like James Bond ?

 

Any time I get an S-Rank in a game that seems tough, you know I bumbled my way through it ass-backwards, though a combination of pig-headedness and dumb-luck, and so if that can happen for me, it can happen for anyone! ?

 

1 minute ago, YaManSmevz said:

 

As far as just something chill but entertaining goes, I recently played Islanders and Dex, and am currently playing Murdered: Soul Suspect, all of which fit the bill - Islanders the most by far, as there's no guide-necessitating collectibles to pad out the playing time.

 

Islanders caught my eye a while ago (when Realm reviewed it I think?,) but it got a bump up with your review, and is currently in my wishlist - reckon I'll get on it when the city-building vibe hits... and since there's a new dlc out for Cities Skylines, I'm thinking that might be the perfect chill-version to wean myself back out of a Cities Skylines relapse!

 

How do you like Murdered: Soul Suspect? I found that a really weird one - like a photo-hunt / adventure game in disguise as an open-world game! It felt a bit like and Artifext Mundi game rubbed a magic lamp, and wished it was a crime-sim for a day or something ?- very odd, but kind of awesome in it's oddness!

 

 

[YaManSmevz]

6 minutes ago, DrBloodmoney said:

 

You know - I actually thought a lot about that while I was reviewing both of them - I thought about talking about it a little, but it didn't feel fitting to be advising order to people, as it's a personal thing, but since you asked....

...9 times out of 10, I would usually advise playing in order, but in this particular case, I actually think I might have appreciate Stick it To The Man a little more, if i had played it for the first time after Flipping Death. In this case, because they aren't actually a series, there isn't a narrative reason to stick to chronological, and I think seeing the formula work great in Flipping Death first would probably have primed me to look past some of Stick it To The Man's flaws as endearing early stepping stones than outright issues, knowing what they lead to.

 

Yeah, I think I'll try that. Truth be told, I'm more excited for Flipping Death, but this one just sounds too slap-happy to pass up, so maybe that's the correct order for me!

 

Man, I sound like Chidi from The Good Place right now.. what's the right order??!!!

 

6 minutes ago, DrBloodmoney said:

Haha - in your face! 

 

Dude - it's so worth it. What a bizarre and unusual thing - and such an uplifting experience. It's about 4 hours in total, and I don't think my smile faded once in that whole time!

 

???

 

Yeah that one's getting a hearty add to the backlog... once I clear out all the games that've been cluttering up the gaming space, I've got a lot of games to set up!

 

6 minutes ago, DrBloodmoney said:

Well, all I'll say on that is - don't ever be intimidated by a game on my checklist!

Trust me - if I get an S-Rank, it's possible for anyone - I'm at best modestly good at games, but in general, if I throw down with anyone in any kind of match-up / co-op / competitive play - in any game - I look like Frank Drebin, and they look like James Bond 

 

Any time I get an S-Rank in a game that seems tough, you know I bumbled my way through it ass-backwards, though a combination of pig-headedness and dumb-luck, and so if that can happen for me, it can happen for anyone! 

 

Hah! I appreciate that (both the sentiment and the Frank Drebin comparison). It's been a while since I've conquered anything truly arduous and I feel that's a muscle that needs to be exercised somewhat regularly. It's easy to forget that the road to any S rank is paved with a whole lot of failure, regardless of who's on it!

 

6 minutes ago, DrBloodmoney said:

Islanders caught my eye a while ago (when Realm reviewed it I think?,) but it got a bump up with your review, and is currently in my wishlist - reckon I'll get on it when the city-building vibe hits... and since there's a new dlc out for Cities Skylines, I'm thinking that might be the perfect chill-version to wean myself back out of a Cities Skylines relapse!

 

YES. All of this, just yes.

 

I need to get back into Cities, man.. finally made some progress and fell back off. It's a stupendously well made city planner, and it deserves the attention!

 

Martin Prince: My simulator must be acknowledged!

 

6 minutes ago, DrBloodmoney said:

How do you like Murdered: Soul Suspect? I found that a really weird one - like a photo-hunt / adventure game in disguise as an open-world game! It felt a bit like and Artifext Mundi game rubbed a magic lamp, and wished it was a crime-sim for a day or something - very odd, but kind of awesome in it's oddness!

 

I like it! It's one of those games that knows what it is and what it's going for, and doesn't try anything too fancy. The combat is awkward (boooo) and apparently there are 200+ collectibles (booooooooo) but combat isn't too common, and collectibles aren't difficult to find so long as you're making a genuine effort to explore your surroundings. The story is simple, the atmosphere and look are cool, and it's quite undemanding. Also a dope thing to play late at night!

[rjkclarke]

Another fantastic batch of reads Doc!

 

Although I must admit some of them did give me a little deja vu. Especially about Final Fantasy XIII-2 and Eventide 3 haha.

 

I'd already said how much Flipping Death had caught my eye, but I'm pretty interested in playing Stick it to the Man now too. Albeit, from what you said I probably ought to play that first so that Stick it to the Man isn't a little bit underwhelming compared to Flipping Death, I could totally get excited about both of those though, so that's one I'm definitely bumping up the order of priority.

 

They were all great reads obviously - even Moons of Madness which I think I can safely say I'll be applying words you and I have both used in the past of "You've played it, so I don't have to" switch them around, depending on who said it or words to those effects. That seems like a huge mess, especially the way the audio was overlapping in places - trust me when I say this, that is such an easy thing to avoid happening, which makes it even less forgivable.  So whoever their dedicated mole person was, they deserve to have their "Hour outside the Sound Silo privileges" revoked for a while.

 

Thank you for giving Final Fantasy XIII-2 a reasoned review too - so many people get caught up on so many fairly petty arguments about whether that game is good or not, or what makes it bad - you already kind of know my opinion on that game, to some degree, it really isn't too dissimilar to yours. 

 

I just think people focus on the wrong elements for criticism in that series - that game in particular, is not the one that deserves quite a lot of hate thrown its way. I'm glad you elected not to tackle the story too, because it is, as you rightly say, so convoluted that you'd probably break the forum software just trying to even get close.

 

You've also put me off reviewing XIII-2 myself for a while, not that I was planning to anytime soon (I don't want to touch anything I know will take an age to write for a little bit,) but because this is another one of those situations where I wouldn't like to be accused of plagiarism ?..... I'd spend too long writing about how immaculate that games sound design is anyway, and it really, REALLY is.

 

It's certainly my favourite one in that weird little trilogy that literally nobody asked for.

 

On 05/02/2022 at 6:06 PM, DrBloodmoney said:

If you’re going to try one, I’d recommend starting with the Enigmatis ones - that’s a good series as they go…

…though one final point - I do maintain, they work best on IPad. No trophies of course, and nothing wrong with controller input in them, but the touchscreen is really the best format for them (and their suitability on iPad probably does a better job of giving an indication of what to expect better than my whole post here!)   

On 05/02/2022 at 6:19 PM, Copanele said:

I might legit have a check of these games. You might be amazed, but I don't always play "1001 ways to smash my fingers and regret my existence" kinds of games  Enigmatis might be right up my alley. Many thanks for the recommendation!

 

Okay so, I think Doc is on the money in recommending you Enigmatis for a decent Artifex Mundi title......That'd be the one I'd recommend people start with too  I definitely think there's a bit of crossover, even if it is a small one with those Frogwares Sherlock Holmes games too.

 

My worry though, is that if you play Engimatis first (which I did too) you'll probably find that you - fairly or unfairly, compare any other Artifex Mundi title you play to that specific series. I haven't played every one of them, Doc has played a fair few more of them than I have, but they usually have one or two good entries in each series. Or one that really stands above the rest - whereas I thought all three of the Enigmatis games were all at least very good to excellent to varying degrees. . Even so - you could play those three good games and see how you feel about Artifex Mundi as a developer after that.  They are absolutely great when it comes to a nice chilled out experience.

 

21 hours ago, GonzoWARgasm said:

You've also helped Super Time Force Ultra reach a tipping point with me too, and I think it's on perpetual sale... I just needed a trusted reviewer to show me the way.

 

Get it played Gonzo!

 

It is a fantastic game - if you fancied it you could do it for the Ultra Rare Cleanup too. I know you were finding it a bit tough to get some gaming in lately - but thankfully Super Time Force Ultra isn't too much of a drain on your time, but it is an incredibly fun experience. Try not to get too offended that the Australian character is called Melanie Gibson and throws a boomerang......  ? You know, just pretend you aren't seeing any.... *cough*.... *ahem*..... cultural appropriation ...... *cough*and I'm sure you'll have a good time.

 

Also ? for bigging up the Hella-Deck levels Doc, instead of them being a nuisance like I've seen some people describe them ..... I kind of figured if anyone was going to wax lyrical about those it was going to be you..... Well.... you or me, but I haven't gotten around to reviewing Super Time Force Ultra yet, and now this is another one I won't for a while for the same fear of plagiarism claims haha ?

 

 

I loved reading about Curse of the Dead Gods too by the way.....I might have to try that out some ways down the line after I give myself a little bit more experience with rouge-likes, which honestly, I'm really not very well versed in at the moment despite liking the very limited experiences I've had with them!

 

Congratulations on finally slaying that beast man! Bet that feels satisfying, it also sounds like it's joined pretty esteemed company amongst the games that get left on your console long after completion!

[DrBloodmoney]

5 hours ago, rjkclarke said:

Another fantastic batch of reads Doc!

 

Although I must admit some of them did give me a little deja vu. Especially about Final Fantasy XIII-2 and Eventide 3 haha.

 

?

The perils of discussing the games while also working on reviews... the review ends up containing half the lines you 'test-ran' during casual conversations! ?

 

5 hours ago, rjkclarke said:

I'd already said how much Flipping Death had caught my eye, but I'm pretty interested in playing Stick it to the Man now too. Albeit, from what you said I probably ought to play that first so that Stick it to the Man isn't a little bit underwhelming compared to Flipping Death, I could totally get excited about both of those though, so that's one I'm definitely bumping up the order of priority.

 

They were all great reads obviously - even Moons of Madness which I think I can safely say I'll be applying words you and I have both used in the past of "You've played it, so I don't have to" switch them around, depending on who said it or words to those effects. That seems like a huge mess, especially the way the audio was overlapping in places - trust me when I say this, that is such an easy thing to avoid happening, which makes it even less forgivable.  So whoever their dedicated mole person was, they deserve to have their "Hour outside the Sound Silo privileges" revoked for a while.

 

Man - that one was so bizarre. The first time it happened, I assumed it was just a one off glitch - and if that was theo nly time, I'd not have bothered mentioning it, as it probably wouldn't happen to everyone... but it ended up happening 3 or 4 times for me, so I have to assume it was an oversight in design, and not just a technical hitch. 

It was funny for sure, but man - in a horror game where tension is key, the first time your audience laughs, that's it really. There's not much you can do to come back from there!

 

5 hours ago, rjkclarke said:

Thank you for giving Final Fantasy XIII-2 a reasoned review too - so many people get caught up on so many fairly petty arguments about whether that game is good or not, or what makes it bad - you already kind of know my opinion on that game, to some degree, it really isn't too dissimilar to yours. 

 

I just think people focus on the wrong elements for criticism in that series - that game in particular, is not the one that deserves quite a lot of hate thrown its way. I'm glad you elected not to tackle the story too, because it is, as you rightly say, so convoluted that you'd probably break the forum software just trying to even get close.

 

You've also put me off reviewing XIII-2 myself for a while, not that I was planning to anytime soon (I don't want to touch anything I know will take an age to write for a little bit,) but because this is another one of those situations where I wouldn't like to be accused of plagiarism ..... I'd spend too long writing about how immaculate that games sound design is anyway, and it really, REALLY is.

 

It's certainly my favourite one in that weird little trilogy that literally nobody asked for.

 

Thanks! Truth be told, that one felt a bit wishy-washy in the end - like most of the JRP games, most conversation among people who played is about story specifics, but trying to summarise those plots is impossible without going for thousands of words anyways, and doing it in a non-spoiler-heavy way is a fools errand, so the reviews end up pretty vague by necessity!

 

I do think both the games I've payed of that XIII trilogy were pretty hard-done-to really. Are they on the level of some of the brightest FF stars? No, not really - but since when did "not as good as some of the best games in a genre" equates to "Bad"? ?

They're still a great time, and have their ups and downs like most every game - and I think both FXIII and FFXIII-2 have some pretty great high points!

 

 

5 hours ago, rjkclarke said:

Get it played Gonzo!

 

It is a fantastic game - if you fancied it you could do it for the Ultra Rare Cleanup too. I know you were finding it a bit tough to get some gaming in lately - but thankfully Super Time Force Ultra isn't too much of a drain on your time, but it is an incredibly fun experience. Try not to get too offended that the Australian character is called Melanie Gibson and throws a boomerang......   You know, just pretend you aren't seeing any.... *cough*.... *ahem*..... cultural appropriation ...... *cough*and I'm sure you'll have a good time.

 

Also for bigging up the Hella-Deck levels Doc, instead of them being a nuisance like I've seen some people describe them ..... I kind of figured if anyone was going to wax lyrical about those it was going to be you..... Well.... you or me, but I haven't gotten around to reviewing Super Time Force Ultra yet, and now this is another one I won't for a while for the same fear of plagiarism claims haha

 

Yeah, I had a notion that the Hella-Deck would probably be the section of that game - like the Clank puzzles in R&C: A Crack in Time - that would be my high-point, and everyone else's low point!

TBH, it is understandable - in both cases. I mean, neither game is sold as a puzzle game, and that is a much more niche genre than the action one that both main campaigns play into, but I do still kinda mourn the idea that people see a great puzzle-game addition to a package as a burden, rather than a nice surprise, and a good sampling of puzzle-game mechanics by way of side content in a generally non-puzzle game.

 

On paper, it should be a good taster for another genre, but with the focus on trophies and completion that's inevitable now, I guess it can be an annoyance. I mean, I'd probably have the same reaction if a puzzle-game I bought shad some side content that was a survival game or a racing game or some genre I'm less of a fan of personally - though I like to think if those sections were of good quality, as the Hella-Deck is, I'd be more forgiving!

 

5 hours ago, rjkclarke said:

 

I loved reading about Curse of the Dead Gods too by the way.....I might have to try that out some ways down the line after I give myself a little bit more experience with rouge-likes, which honestly, I'm really not very well versed in at the moment despite liking the very limited experiences I've had with them!

 

Congratulations on finally slaying that beast man! Bet that feels satisfying, it also sounds like it's joined pretty esteemed company amongst the games that get left on your console long after completion!

 

Ha - yeah, for sure @Copanele jumping in on that one, and offering some strats, and keeping the conversation going definitely gave me the fuel to finally go back to it with more than just a casual eye, and get over the real humps in difficulty - and once those were done, the game is just so addictive that it carried me through the last parts!

[Copanele]

5 hours ago, rjkclarke said:

Okay so, I think Doc is on the money in recommending you Enigmatis for a decent Artifex Mundi title......That'd be the one I'd recommend people start with too  I definitely think there's a bit of crossover, even if it is a small one with those Frogwares Sherlock Holmes games too.

 

My worry though, is that if you play Engimatis first (which I did too) you'll probably find that you - fairly or unfairly, compare any other Artifex Mundi title you play to that specific series. I haven't played every one of them, Doc has played a fair few more of them than I have, but they usually have one or two good entries in each series. Or one that really stands above the rest - whereas I thought all three of the Enigmatis games were all at least very good to excellent to varying degrees. . Even so - you could play those three good games and see how you feel about Artifex Mundi as a developer after that.  They are absolutely great when it comes to a nice chilled out experience.

 

It's all I wanted to hear  to be honest, I don't expect to have a mad gaming experience with these games, I just want to sit back, have my significant other join me and go " alright, let's find those pesky objects hidden in the background" and have a laugh. Need to recover my fingers from Persona 4 Arena somehow.

12 hours ago, YaManSmevz said:

As far as just something chill but entertaining goes, I recently played Islanders and Dex, and am currently playing Murdered: Soul Suspect, all of which fit the bill - Islanders the most by far, as there's no guide-necessitating collectibles to pad out the playing time.

 

I am on the opposite end, it's been a while since I've had a new, challenging game to sink my teeth into, but at the same time I really want to finish more of what's on my plate first!

 

OH A game with no guide-necessitating collectibles. That's so rare damn! Definitely caught my attention  

Hah I am at the supermarket again, filling my cart with suggestions.

5 hours ago, rjkclarke said:

I loved reading about Curse of the Dead Gods too by the way.....I might have to try that out some ways down the line after I give myself a little bit more experience with rouge-likes, which honestly, I'm really not very well versed in at the moment despite liking the very limited experiences I've had with them!

 

Congratulations on finally slaying that beast man! Bet that feels satisfying, it also sounds like it's joined pretty esteemed company amongst the games that get left on your console long after completion!

 

7 minutes ago, DrBloodmoney said:

Ha - yeah, for sure @Copanele jumping in on that one, and offering some strats, and keeping the conversation going definitely gave me the fuel to finally go back to it with more than just a casual eye, and get over the real humps in difficulty - and once those were done, the game is just so addictive that it carried me through the last parts!

Yee @rjkclarke go for Curse of the Dead Gods whenever you got some spare time  that one is KILLER fun. Now I want more mesoamerican mythology based games, just because of that one  

Also, you might be the one to figure out how to use the damn bombs. Because in 200 runs I still haven't figured out how those stupid weapons work.

[DrBloodmoney]

3 minutes ago, Copanele said:

Yee @rjkclarke go for Curse of the Dead Gods whenever you got some spare time  that one is KILLER fun. Now I want more mesoamerican mythology based games, just because of that one  

Also, you might be the one to figure out how to use the damn bombs. Because in 200 runs I still haven't figured out how those stupid weapons work.

 

? True that!

 

I think all the times I tried to use bombs, I killed myself more than I killed the enemies - I lost count of how many times I used them to blow open weak walls, only to have them bounce back and blow myself up! 

[DrBloodmoney]

 

 

 

SCIENTIFIC RE-CERTIFICATION?

 

A little update here, necessitated by the DLC addition to a previously ranked game, who's DLC I have now earned!

(Actually, did I say earned? I meant played. There isn't any trophies for this one, so nothing to "earn" so to speak!)

 

 

  

 

Life is Strange: True Colours - "Wavelengths" DLC

 

Summary:

The bonus episode for Life is Strange: True Colours revolves around main campaign cohort (and, if you're playing as I did, love interest) of protagonist character Alex, Steph Gingrich, prior to the events of the main game. Alex is not yet a factor in the story - having not arrived in Haven Springs at this point - and Steph, having moved to Haven Springs recently (at the outset of Wavelengths,) takes over the job as the DJ for the local radio station, and running the record shop in which the station is based.

 

The content is relatively limited in scope - Steph is pretty much the only character seen on screen throughout, and almost all conversation is internal monologuing, text-conversation (via sms, and the dating app Steph is using, and using which the player is able to control to some pretty amusing effect,) and via conversations with callers over the radio. The entire DLC takes place within the confines of the record store, and does - mechanically - remain fairly basic, which each 'day', (the dlc is broken up into specific vignettes,) consisting of a simple list of tasks to be completed. That is not to say, however,  that it serves no purpose, or that Deck Nine have scrimped on content.

There is a pretty impressive wealth of dialogue and text conversations - all variable, based on player input, and a huge amount - a genuinely surprising amount, in fact - of new licensed music in the game.

Given that Steph is running a radio station, that should be surprising from a narrative point of view, of course, but simply from a technical and economic game-design point of view, its clear that effort was made to give the whole section a great, eclectic soundtrack - with more individual licensed songs than any three episodes of most Life is Strange games combined.

 

There is a fairly significant amount of back-story and insight given via this content - both into the story of Life is Strange: True Colours, and the bridging of True Colours to Life is Strange, and Life is Strange: Before the Storm.

Wavelengths, in fact, is functionally similar to the bonus episode for Before the Storm - "Farewell" - in that it both changes the protagonist of the main game to which it belongs, provides background flavour on its parent game, and serves to bridge the history between its parent game, and the games that came before it.

While some aspects simply add flavour and background to Steph's character in True Colours, (it is, for example, easier to understand how quickly her relationship with Alex becomes meaningful, when considered with the knowledge that she has been trying - and failing - to find love via a dating app since arriving in Haven Springs herself,) but the meat of the DLC is in connecting True Colours to the previous games.

 

It's telling that, at the outset, Wavelengths ask the player, before they even begin, what the fate of Arcadia Bay was in their particular playthrough of the original Life is Strange - something the main game never did.
True Colours was an outlier, in the sense that it tended not to be particularly influenced by the games that came before it from Alex's point of view, of course - but Steph, as the only cross-over character, is the bridge to the past. Video and text communications with Mikey (her Before the Storm bestie, and Dungeons and Dragons compadre,) illuminate some of her backstory as to her reasons for leaving Arcadia Bay, and more than that - there are several references to the fate of her hometown having some lasting trauma that still lingers.
(Note - I have only played Wavelengths from my point of view - that of someone who was never able to allow Chloe, after all the tragedy she had survived, to die painfully on a bathroom floor. That Arcadia Bay suffered the fate it did, is canonical to me… and considering that is the ending that the (very good) comic book follow up adheres to, I’m going to say it’s canonical for everyone, dammit!)

Seeing how those memories still affect Steph's outlook, and coloured her personality when we met back up with her in the first episode of True Colours is interesting, and feels significant in the plot of that game, even if only as added texture. 

 

Wavelengths is a fun, if non-critical addition to True Colours, but actually, much more valuable as connective tissue for franchise fans. Almost entirely by accident, I happened to play it directly after finishing Before the Storm, and that was absolutely the best possible time to do so - it allowed me to appreciate all the tie-ins and cross-over nods with that earlier game fresh in my mind, and if anything, made me genuinely consider replaying True Colours...
...I'm still thinking seriously about doing that at the time of writing this!

 

I would argue Wavelengths is a perfectly fine addition for someone who simply played True Colours - but for those who played all the games, there is a lot of fun tie-ins and nods, and those make the whole thing great for those looking to mop up every morsel of narrative - even if it is, mechanically, fairly sparse. 

 

 

Re-Ranking:

Life is Strange: True Colours already sit's in a very high spot (and deservedly so!) and while I would recommend playing Wavelengths to anyone who enjoyed the main game - and especially to franchise fans - (don't let the lack of new trophies deter you!), I don't think it warrants a change in the ranking. 
Yes, the game is made a little better and a little richer by the addition of new content, however, it is slightly hamstrung by the fact that the game one notch above is Bastion. It would take more than a single DLC to vault that hurdle, and so Life is Strange: True Colours remains where it currently sits.

 

Edited February 7, 2022 by DrBloodmoney

[DrBloodmoney]

 

!!SCIENCE UPDATE!!

 

 

The next 5 (somewhat) randomly selected games to be submitted for scientific analysis shall be:

 

Apotheon
Castlevania: Lords of Shadow
Hitman GO

Life is Strange: Before the Storm
Life is Strange 2

 

 

 

 

Subject(s) in RED marked for PRIORITY ASSIGNEMENT

[Care of @Cleggworth & @Neef-GT5 ]

 

(Plus, some of the others not chosen by - but rather, in honour of @Cleggworth... ?)

 

 

Can 'Current Most Awesome' game, Hitman 3, maintain the title again?

 

Is gaming slop-bucket LA Cops going to be emptied, and finally lose the title of the title of 'Least Awesome Game'?

 

 

Let's find out, Science Chums!

Edited February 8, 2022 by DrBloodmoney

[Cleggworth]

17 minutes ago, DrBloodmoney said:

 

!!SCIENCE UPDATE!!

 

 

The next 5 (somewhat) randomly selected games to be submitted for scientific analysis shall be:

 

Apotheon
Castlevania: Lords of Shadow
Hitman GO

Life is Strange: Before the Storm
Life is Strange 2

 

 

 

 

Subject(s) in RED marked for PRIORITY ASSIGNEMENT

[Care of @Cleggworth & @Neef-GT5 ]

 

(Plus, some of the others not chosen by - but rather, in honour of @Cleggworth... )

 

 

Can 'Current Most Awesome' game, Hitman 3, maintain the title again?

 

Is gaming slop-bucket LA Cops going to be emptied, and finally lose the title of the title of 'Least Awesome Game'?

 

 

Let's find out, Science Chums!

 

Spectacular timing on Life is Strange 2 ? Apotheon was my request but I'm more interested in finding out why I'm wrong with that now!

[DrBloodmoney]

On 08/02/2022 at 2:40 PM, Cleggworth said:

 

Spectacular timing on Life is Strange 2 ? Apotheon was my request but I'm more interested in finding out why I'm wrong with that now!

 

haha - yeah... I definitely didn't bump another game just to slide that one in at the last minute for your benefit... ?

 

Hey - I think you're the one with the general consensus in your corner on that one -  it's me that will be shouting dissenting opinions into the void, I think! ?

Edited February 21, 2022 by DrBloodmoney

[Copanele]

54 minutes ago, DrBloodmoney said:

Apotheon
Castlevania: Lords of Shadow
Hitman GO

 

A game that I loved, a game that I hated and a game that I want to buy asap. 

Damn this promises to be a good season in terms of science  

[Sendai-Horatio]

So if you were to start the LIS Series should it be release order or chronological order?