qwertyuiop
Reviews
Dark Asylum: Mystery Adventure (Windows)
A mix of hidden object and free-to-play features
The Good
This does break away from the Hidden Object mold. Instead of being purely a linear adventure game, it has RPG mechanics, and is somewhat open-ended.
The Bad
Unfortunately, those RPG mechanics are in service to some nasty free-to-play mechanics, even in the commercial Windows release. (You get a limited amount of fake cash to spend in the cash shop, but the mechanics remain.) Leveling up unlocks additional rooms, but the amount of experience gained means that you'll be replaying the same rooms over and over, and playing a room costs energy. (This regenerates over time, or you can buy items in the cash shop to increase it.) I had a quest to acquire an object, and it had a 7% drop rate from a single room. I got lucky and "only" had to replay the room five times to get it. Even after you unlock everything, there's only 6 rooms, and you'd have to replay each one dozens of times to reach the ending.
The game's treatment of the mentally ill is exactly as bad as you can guess, by the way. This should be obvious, so I won't focus on it, but it's worth pointing out.
The Bottom Line
There are some interesting mechanics in here, and I'd actually recommend anyone developing a Hidden Object game play it for an hour to pick up ideas. That doesn't make it good.
By qwertyuiop on June 27, 2024
Dracula: The Days of Gore (Windows)
Strangely Good for a Very Bad Game
The Good
The "gimmick" of needing to stake defeated enemies works very well, adding a tactical element to battles.
The enemies are really dangerous. Even the ones that walk slower than you and only have melee attacks have a disturbing ability to sneak up on you.
The atmosphere is quite good. The music, the gloomy corners, the dangerous enemies, and even the lack of a save all combine to leave you constantly looking over your shoulder.
The Bad
The story is entirely contained within the back cover. There are no cutscenes, scrolling text, or anything else of that nature. Finishing the game earns you the word "Victory!", and nothing else.
The game is obviously unfinished. The back cover speaks of elements that are not contained within the game, and even contradicts itself regarding the number of levels. (There are 11.) This continues on into the game itself, with missing textures and uneven level quality. (The sewer level is exactly as good as you think, and the hardest level is level 7.)
The AI is quite poor. Enemies will walk nearly randomly sometimes, and melee enemies in general pose little threat.
While the levels are quite large, there is no ability to save within levels or checkpoints. If you die, you restart the level.
You can, and will, get stuck on the scenery. (I got stuck twice.) As there is no in-level save this is particularly aggravating.
The Bottom Line
To be clear, this is a very bad game. It feels like the development schedule had a couple months knocked off, creating missing features and a generally unpolished game. Even ignoring all that, the game is quite simple. There are 5 weapons, and the pistol/stake is the one to use throughout 90% of the game. There aren't that many enemies, and the melee enemies are more or less interchangeable. Still, the game does horror right. Creeping forward, firing shots at approaching enemies, deciding whether to circle around and stake the vampires on the ground or continue firing, all the while looking behind you to prevent an axe in your back. It's not deep psychological horror or anything amazing, but it will scare you.
By qwertyuiop on August 13, 2010
The Legend of Spyro: The Eternal Night (Game Boy Advance)
Spyrovania?
The Good
The Eternal Night is a bit of a change for the Spyro series, as it's more of a brawler than the traditional collectathon. The Metroidvania aspect comes from the new abilities you collect, with out-of-the-way locations in each level that require a bit of backtracking and exploration, some with extra abilities, or increased health. This works well.
Also of note are the bosses, which are generally well-balanced to be difficult to beat without being frustrating.
The story is a bit darker than the usual Spyro fare, but it is well-done.
The environments range from "next-gen brown", (see below) to lush jungles and pirate ships, and usually look quite pleasing.
The Bad
On to the bad. You know those little birds, or bats, or whatever that can be killed in one hit, but have a tendency to be very, very annoying? Well, every single level in this game features these monsters. Whether balls of light, or bats, or whatever, these monsters will hover just outside of attack range, and swoop in to knock you into lava, or break your hit combo, or just be really annoying.
While you have unlimited lives, the enemies never seem to drop enough health. This means that running past everybody to get to the exit is the best strategy in many levels, which isn't all that fun.
The worst level of the game is undoubtedly the fire temple. You visit it early in the game, before you have most of your abilities, and a very short health bar. The enemies are mostly brown, and the background is a slightly different shade of brown. The annoying flying enemies are abundant, of course, and the pools of lava everywhere don't hurt the enemies. I almost gave up on the game here, but it does improve significantly once you leave.
The Bottom Line
In general, the good outweighs the bad. There's nothing quite like revisiting an early level with a new ability, and finding a bigger health bar or an extra attack.
By qwertyuiop on October 30, 2009
Crash Twinsanity (Xbox)
Two unfortunate faults
The Good
The music is memorable, and fits the game. The cutscenes are also look professional, and are well-scripted as well. Definitely above most other platformers in humor.
The gameplay is classic Crash, with a few additional characters.
The graphics finally look appropriate for the hardware. I was disappointed with the appearance of Wrath of Cortex, but this game looks noticeably better.
It's welcome to have a bit more freedom to move around the levels. Crash is no longer restricted to a single ribbon of a level; instead, there are actual side paths and open areas.
The Bad
First, the cutscenes are unskippable. Yeah, the humor is good, but when you're watching the same cutscene for the 6th time, it turns grating. Of course, there's a cutscene before every boss, and before most difficult sections.
Second, there is no hub world and no way to return to a level except through a few shortcuts. This is very bad for a collectathon game. While you don't gain new abilities, and can theoretically clear each level out in one go, there's always that one gem that you just can't get. In most games, you would be able to ignore it, and return later once you have more skill at the game. In this game, that involves you finding an appropriate shortcut, and then playing through all the levels between the gem, and where you were again. This includes beating all the bosses, and watching all the (unskippable) cutscenes.
The Bottom Line
It's at least reasonably good, but between the unskippable cutscenes, and the lack of a hub, I can't really recommend it; personally, I turned it off halfway through, and put it back on the shelf. I was tired of beating the same bosses, and watching the same cutscenes over and over again.
By qwertyuiop on June 22, 2009
Spyro: Season of Ice (Game Boy Advance)
Two big flaws
The Good
Well, it's Spyro. If you enjoyed him on the Playstation, you should have fun with the game. They did manage to get the basic formula right.
The Bad
First, while the isometric viewpoint usually works, it is difficult to tell, when jumping south, how high your destination platform is. This has a unfortunate tendency to result in "plummeting to my death" moments. (The easiest way to fix this would be to have visually distinct designs for each height, which was done in some levels, but not others.)
Secondly, and this is the biggest flaw in the game, the hard versions of the flight levels are much more difficult than the game in general, and are required in order to finish the game. Quite frankly, a collectathon that's too difficult for most people to complete, let alone 100% on, is not a game I can recommend. (The easiest way to fix this would be to drop the number of fairies needed to face the final boss from 99 to 95. There's still the "Dragonfly X" mode to give a reason to recover all the fairies.)
The Bottom Line
If you're skilled enough to complete the hard flight levels without throwing the cart at a wall, the rest of the game will be boring to you. If the regular game holds challenge for you, the hard flight levels will vary in difficulty from nearly impossible to beyond impossible.
By qwertyuiop on December 2, 2008
Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex (PlayStation 2)
Not as good as Warped
The Good
Well, Crash is back. While not the best game in the series, if you're looking for more platforming and crystal collecting, it is perfectly serviceable. The new "hamster ball" levels are well-done, and Coco's levels are a return to classic platforming, before you got all those powerups, and give a rather different feel than Crash's levels.
The Bad
First, it doesn't look all that good. On a technical level, it looks about the same as Warped, which is a bit of a downer when Warped is a PS1 game. On an artistic level, while I can't point to anything specific, the game feels less interesting.
While the main platforming controls are alright, there are some rather annoying platforms with beveled edges, which allows you to land on the edge, then fall off... The vehicle controls are somewhat uneven, going from acceptable to horrible depending on the vehicle in question.
The Bottom Line
Well, it's like Crash Bandicoot: Warped, but not as good.
By qwertyuiop on August 2, 2008
Great Greed (Game Boy)
More than the sum of its parts
The Good
First, the story has an undeniable, though somewhat inexplicable, charm. While the idea of a land inhabited entirely by food and food-related items may seem somewhat odd, the game pulls it off.
Next, while the game certainly doesn't break any new ground regarding the standard RPG experience-n-items upgrades, it does this portion of the game quite competently.
Finally, the battle system helps draw you into the combat more than the usual turn-based, menu-using options of the time. It may not seem like much, but it works.
The Bad
The story, while certainly unique in some ways, was just the standard RPG "Evil Emperor" plot.
The graphics, while adequate, are rather simple even for that time period.
While the battle system is unusual, and well suited to the Gameboy, it did get rather repetitive after a while due to the lack of useful actions to take.
As a side note, the last boss is far too hard. After reaching him, I needed to spend an hour just leveling up.
The Bottom Line
While this review may seem to be damning with faint praise, in the end the game ends up as more than the sum of it's parts. While the combat is rudimentary, and the story sparse, I certainly had fun playing it. The game is enjoyable as a time-waster, just don't expect a masterpiece.
By qwertyuiop on December 1, 2007
Wendy: Every Witch Way (Game Boy Color)
Unique puzzle game, but far too short
The Good
As a puzzle game, you will be glad to know that the puzzles are good. Not only are they unique in a now-I'm-walking-on-the-ceiling way, but the game takes advantage of this odd mechanic.
The graphics are beautiful, as well. On a technical level, they are reasonable for later GBC games, and stylistically they are quite enjoyable.
The Bad
The biggest flaw with this game is that it can be beaten in a lazy afternoon. Not only that, but the regular levels have very easy puzzles. (There are two difficulty levels, but the hard level only makes the fighting harder.) While the Gameboy-Advance-only levels are significantly more interesting, there's only a few of them. In the end, the game feels like the demo for a much larger game.
The Bottom Line
In the end, the game's decent for younger players, but for anyone who've played more than a few puzzle games, it's just too short and easy.
By qwertyuiop on November 30, 2007
Mole Mania (Game Boy)
A unique puzzle game worthy of your time.
The Good
The biggest draw of this game is that many of the puzzles have multiple solutions, and not just the "multiple variants of a single solution" kind. In this game, it is perfectly possible to finish a puzzle, and have a piece of tubing, or a barrel (or even half the field in a couple puzzles) left untouched. While this may not sound like much, it makes the puzzles feel much more natural, as opposed to the "every piece used, perfect solution plotted, possible to complete in exactly N moves" of basically every single other puzzle game ever created.
The innovation of having surface and underground levels works, by the way. You must keep an eye on both levels when planning a solution, and most of the puzzles would be much more boring without that second level.
Finally, you are able to skip around puzzles that you get stuck on, by either using an item, or by going to one of the other 7 levels. Nice touch.
The Bad
First, the bonus sections. (In these, you run around trying to avoid a farmer while dropping cabbages down holes. There is a time limit.) These seemed quite out of place, considering the puzzle-oriented nature of the game. More importantly, they are significantly more difficult than the rest of the game, turning them from what could have been a welcome diversion to an annoyance. While they do not need to be completed to finish the game, they are needed for a 100% rating.
Somewhat less of an issue is the placement of underground enemies in the later levels. As you can't actually see underground at the start of each puzzle, there is a possibility of unfairly running into an enemy you couldn't see. While this just requires a quick restart of the puzzle, it is still irritating.
The Bottom Line
If you like puzzle games, but want something a bit different, this is the game for you. There's plenty of puzzles, and the concept is interesting.
By qwertyuiop on July 26, 2007
Wars and Warriors: Joan of Arc (Windows)
A poor RTS, but a much better action RPG.
The Good
The action part of the game is quite good. Mowing through hordes of enemies, you gain experience and gold to upgrade your moves and equipment. The controls are simple and responsive, and the core game of destroying the English army is well designed.
The levels are of interest due to the size. While there aren't that many, each one will take a long time to complete. A regular level might feature one or two large castles, along with several smaller towns. The maps are swarming with enemies, to the point that you can easily kill over a hundred English soldiers per map.
The Bad
While the box touts "a Prefect Blend of Action and Strategy", this is false. Instead, the strategy portion of the game is markedly inferior to the action portion. As an example, you do not have unfettered scrolling when in strategic view. Instead, you can only scroll a few screen lengths away from the focused general. This means that to send troops from the barracks to the front lines either requires careful positioning of your generals, switching focus between them as the troops advance, or sending a nearby general with your troops. Either way will take several minutes, and require giving orders repeatedly, just to do an action that would take one or two clicks in a regular RTS.
This is not to say that the action portion of the game is without problems, though. One of the biggest problems is dealing with interior spaces. Quite simply, the camera is not good enough to deal with some of the castles in the game. As much of the game centers around attacking enemy castles, this weakness is encountered repeatedly.
The other problem with storming castles is simple to avoid, but can cause immense frustration if encountered. Basically, if you bring several troops with you, and walk into a narrow corridor, it is possible to get stuck between two troops. While it is possible to get unstuck, doing so will take some time. Thankfully, Joan of Arc is quite capable of taking over major castles with no backup, but this bug can easily create a problem when attempting to bring backup.
Unfortunately, the AI isn't particularly good, either. Large groups of enemies sit out in the open, and wait for you to get close enough to trigger a response. In combat, they are predictable enough to pose no challenge. The bosses are tougher, (at least partially due to their use of heath-restoring food, which completely eliminates the usefulness of their health bar...) but once you understand the patterns, killing them is just a matter of time.
The Bottom Line
I found the best way to enjoy this game is to spend all your time in the action mode, only moving to the strategic mode when you either need to move cannons (to open gates) or generals. If following this path, the game becomes quite similar to the Dynasty Warriors series, and is much more enjoyable. Plow through the innumerable foes, upgrade your stats and equipment, and save France from the English.
By qwertyuiop on July 11, 2006
Heroes Chronicles: Masters of the Elements (Windows)
Well-designed, though short.
The Good
The Heroes Chronicles series was a line of games based on the Heroes of Might and Magic III engine, aiming for a short, story-based campaign. For the most part, this works. The story is of high quality, continuing the plot of Conquest of the Underworld. I was interested in seeing what happened next, and the game comes to a good conclusion. It's not necessary to have played the previous games in the series, by the way; the story is self-contained.
As can be expected from a game based on the HoMM3 (Heroes of Might and Magic 3) engine, the gameplay should be familiar to veterans of the series.
Finally, the battle animations have a bit of a "CGI/early 3D rendering" look to them, but most graphics look quite good, even today. Most of the art is clearly re-used from HoMM3, though.
The Bad
The biggest problem with this game is the length. There is only one campaign, with only eight missions. There is no random map option, no multiplayer, and no scenario editor. Really, this is a game that goes on the shelf after finishing it.
While the story is interesting, it doesn't play a large role in the game. All objectives are either of the "kill everybody" variety, or can be completed by killing everybody. Also, I would have appreciated a larger hand in the story. As it stands, there does not appear to be any ability to divert the plot from its pre-ordained course.
The Bottom Line
Elements is basically an extra campaign for HoMM3 that doesn't require the original game. If you can get the game cheap, it's worth playing through once. However, if given a choice between HoMM3 and Elements, go for HoMM3.
By qwertyuiop on June 8, 2006
Cyberstorm 2: Corporate Wars (Windows)
Very basic
The Good
Cyberstorm 2 has good graphics, though they scale down enough to run on my 233. The real-time more is useful for "sure-thing" battles. The difficulty level is adjusted through sliders.
The Bad
Formulaic ending setting up sequel. Fighting corporations instead of Cybirds. Ending is incredibly hard, unless you bend the rules.
The Bottom Line
Try using it to get others (or you) interested in BattleMech. The combination of real-time mode, easier to understand square based system, and slider based difficulty makes the game easy to get into.
By qwertyuiop on September 8, 2001