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Rumu (PC) by dkirschner (Nov 19th, 2024 at 19:06:57) |
Another excellent short point-and-click game. Rumu is a cute little robot vacuum cleaner who wakes up in a big house to the voice of an AI named Sabrina. Sabrina explains that the house's human inhabitants, scientists named David and Cecily, are gone mountain biking, to the grocery store, or otherwise out of the house. Rumu is programmed to clean and to feel one emotion: love. Sabrina teaches Rumu how to clean messes and safely guides Rumu around the house, but warns not to explore. Well, Rumu eventually gets curious and explores, and finds some things Sabrina didn't want Rumu to find.
You think it's going to be a game about sinister AI, but it's not. It does say some things about our relationship with technology, about technology and ethics, and is actually really sweet and sad. To say anything else about the story will spoil things. Gameplay-wise, you just trundle around the house in a rather linear fashion learning more about Sabrina, David, Cecily, and a couple other characters, occasionally cleaning messes, and saying silly dialogue, usually about things you do or do not love, until you learn the truth of what's really going on.
I saw this game on some list of "best games you've never heard of" or something, it sounded intriguing, and it's totally worth checking out. Also, it ends with a "Baba Is You" style sentence, so I guess I'm finally going to start Baba Is You. A sign from the universe if there ever was one.
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Genesis Noir (PC) by dkirschner (Nov 18th, 2024 at 16:22:28) |
Artsy point-and-click about love and the end of the universe. The visuals are mesmerizing, lots of black and white (film noir style) with yellows for accent, flashing lights, changing perspectives, just wildly creative. The sound design is great too, lots of jazz music that often coincides with visuals bouncing around.
The story isn't easy to follow. It's a metaphor about the main character's relationship with a jazz singer told as the creation, evolution, and destruction of the universe. I didn't care much about what was going on, but was just basking in the audiovisual treat.
Gameplay is simple. Like I said, it's a point-and-click adventure at its core, but hyper stylized. So you aren't just walking around pointing and clicking. It feels like a series of scenes with toyboxes because it's not always obvious what you need to interact with or how to do it. It was reminding me of GNOG, where you just play with a level, click around and see what things do. I read that a lot of people found the gameplay frustrating, but I never did. Again, for me, this boiled down to "oooh aaah." I couldn't have cared less about how easy the puzzles were or how obtuse some of the interactions were or how deep the metaphor was going. It's a beautiful game and not one I'm likely to forget any time soon! I saw that there is another one coming out (sequel?). If it's the same kind of thing, I will definitely buy.
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Kentucky Route Zero (PS5) by jp (Nov 17th, 2024 at 23:33:47) |
I've just finished Act IV.
And, I think I understand why so many people adore this game. There's a few things I think are really interesting design-wise, but for the most part it's not really about the game's game-ness...
a. The interface when you're moving around/driving on the map is really slick. It feels quite natural and it works well when you change roads and so on.
b. The game changes perspectives A LOT. In most games you make dialogue choices for your characters. Here it feels like you make choices for all the characters - sometimes alternating even within the same conversation. It's a bit unsettling but really interesting in a special way. I do feel like I have to pay closer attention to see who's saying what and what I want the responses to be.
c. The game really does a good job in being cinematic in the sense of having interesting camera movements and positions and framing and so on. So, it's like the photographic direction is really good. The camera pulls back after a minute in some areas, as you move around the camera follows you but may also zoom in or out and show more/less stuff. It's quite clever. My guess is that it was hand/custom coded for each scene/moment?
I have no idea where the story is going, the plot is all weird and all over the place, but I am curious to see/know where it all ends.
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Killer Frequency (PC) by dkirschner (Nov 15th, 2024 at 19:16:32) |
Cool concept, stays pretty engaging throughout. The first-person perspective might suggest more action than there is. It's totally a narrative game. Not a "walking simulator" per se, although it's true that you cannot run. Most of the game is actually you standing in place.
You play as a radio host in the late 1980s who gets a job in some small town. On this fateful night, there is a serial killer afoot, with the story rooted in the town's history. After an incident with the police, 911 calls are routed to the radio station. You and your producer take calls and, from behind the DJ booth, hopefully save some lives. Callers will ring up saying they're being stalked by the serial killer and you have to walk them through staying alive. One guy is being hunted in a corn maze; another in an office building; another needs to leave her house and go down the street; and so on. You often need to explore the radio station to find things to help you handle the calls, like a map of the corn maze to help that caller get to the exit. Your producer doles out keys to locked doors as you explore more of the station. Other callers will ring to talk or play pranks or whatever. The writing is strong and there are some really funny parts, like any interaction with the pizza owner. It's got a great 1980s slasher film campy vibe to it.
It's less scary than I thought it would be, though there are some tense moments. Eventually, though, you'll realize that it doesn't matter if callers die. The story keeps going, and I'm not sure if there are multiple endings. It seems like there's just one. And since it is campy, sometimes it is kind of funny if someone dies. This game may not be the best at promoting ethical reflection, though there was one poignant caller who talked about beating addiction and gaining a new outlook on life, which was very touching. Eventually, you will get into the basement of the radio station, which was a little creepy. It felt like it went on a little long because you're not really doing a whole lot. The radio station is really small, you'll collect the few extra records and tapes scattered about, you'll play the same records 3 times each, you'll toss dozens of paper balls into a wastebasket basketball goal while you're listening to people talk. If the writing and voice acting wasn't on point, this would have been a swing and a miss, but luckily it was a fun several hours!
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Geometry Wars 3: Dimensions Evolved (PC) by dkirschner (Nov 12th, 2024 at 21:38:31) |
Cannot believe I beat this. What a fun twin-stick bullet hell game. I set out initially just to beat Adventure mode. At some point, I dabbled in the other modes, one of which added more enemy types and game types and the other of which stripped the game to its core--no special weapons. It was so fun, and there were so many variations on the core gameplay, that I ended up beating every single level in the game. But I tell you what, although there were definitely some challenging levels, the last boss fight--Topaz--was a massive difficulty spike. Topaz is the last boss in both Adventure mode and Hardcore mode, and both of those levels have been all I had remaining for weeks. I played some other games in the meantime, and periodically tried to beat Topaz, but never could. Tonight, sitting up in my friend's spare bedroom, I got frustrated and looked online to see if other people were having just as much trouble as I was. I was not alone! Dozens and dozens of forums complaining about this boss. And lots of encouraging posts. I decided I'd give it one more shot. And I beat it. That was probably 30 or 40 tries in total. Then I thought, "What the hell, let's give Hardcore Topaz another go." And I beat that too on the first try tonight. So, after 30 or 40 losses, I beat both Topazes back to back. The Steam achievement for Topaz on Adventure mode is 6.2%, so I'm feeling pretty smug at the moment.
Topaz has six or seven phases, and they're all pretty easy once you memorize the patterns, except the last one or two. So, I was getting right near the end of the fight like every single time. At the end, he starts spinning around and moving toward you. The level is bordered by red walls (you touch, you die), and Topaz itself has red walls circling it. Enemies spawn along the wall, usually blue diamonds (which move toward you at a moderate speed) and a couple colors of purple (which slowly move or stay pretty still). At one point, these yellow balls start spawning randomly on one side of the level, then another side, then another side, and they fly quickly across the level. It's super annoying because they can spawn right on top of you if you're near an edge and will kill you before you have a chance to move. So, don't be near the edge in that part, avoid the yellow balls, and move the boss quickly into the next phase. At the end, the boss gets larger and its red walls take up like 1/4 of the screen, plus enemies are spawning along the edges of the screen, so you really don't have many places to move. I regularly died here if the yellow balls didn't get me because I'd get trapped. I think the trick is to stay calm (obviously) and focus more on staying alive than attacking the boss. You'll have plenty of time to attack Topaz in between waves of enemies. But if you're dead, you can't attack, so stay alive! I used the "fire" weapon, which amplifies your frontal attack, and the turret special, but I actually didn't set off the turret or my bombs, beating the Adventure Topaz with no special weapons (which deserves another, even rarer, achievement, right?!). Now that I think about that, I'm definitely feeling smug.
This entry has been edited 1 time. It was last edited on Nov 12th, 2024 at 21:49:03.
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Marvel vs Capcom 3 Fate of Two Worlds (PS3) by Max_Seven |
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most recent entry: Monday 2 May, 2011
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Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds
Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds is a crossover 2D fighting game composing of Capcom’s own characters, and the comic book characters of the Marvel Comics.
Graphics
Unlike the Marvel vs. Capcom 2 sprite based artwork, Marvel vs. Capcom 3 decided to go for a different approach, the game's opening cinema is there to show how awesome this game looks. It utilizes a combination of cell-shading, inky textures, and highly detailed polygon models to create a look that truly feels like a comic book.
Gameplay
Marvel vs. Capcom 3 is a fighting where up to two players can choose character to compete and battle with their own unique fighting style. The game has 36 character split pretty much down the middle between the new and the old. Though a few of the veteran characters seem more or less identical to how they were in Marvel Vs. Capcom 2, a lot of the returning fighters have some pretty substantial tweaks that make them feel fresh. The game features the same tag-based team system in the previous game of the series, along with new add on features such as the team aerial -combos, advanced guarding and cross counter with good used can be very effective.
Unlike previous installment of the Marvel vs. Capcom franchise, Marvel vs. Capcom 3 used a simplified three button layout of light, medium, and hard attacks, along the partner 1 and 2 buttons to called for assist, a new add on the special button used to launch opponent in the air, switch character during air combos, snap back a character on the field a quarter circle front motion, and character specific actions such as Captain America cartwheel, or Spiderman eight way web zip line. But the biggest addition to the game is the "X-Factor". X-Factor is activated when you press all four attacks buttons and the special button. X-Factor is the biggest game changer of Marvel vs. Capcom 3. At least, that's how it feels at first. Once you really get going, you realize that X-Factor is by far the biggest new edition to Capcom's superhero fighters ever implemented. It's a game changer, pure and simple.
Game Modes
There are two modes in the game to help the player practice and develop their fighting skills. Training Mode is still the same as ever allowing the player to string combos together while beating down the practice dummy. But the game’s Mission Mode is where most of your technical growth of learning the game begins. Each character of the game get ten "missions", all designed to teach you how to use that character from step one. The mode gradually walks you through their more essential special techniques, bigger combos, and combination supers. It also shows off what makes each character special. Online Mode is very lack without the use of spectator mode. And finally Arcade Mode is short it does encourage replaying as you unlock new characters, artwork, sounds and 3d models depending on who you defeated Galactus with.
Sound
The music to the game feature a lot remixes of old school themes from Capcom and Marvel. I enjoy listening to themes of each character whenever I switch in the middle of a fight.
Game Sessions
The first time I played MVC3 was at GameStop three hours before the midnight release. I have a lot of fun playing with Dante, Deadpool, Mike Haggar and what not. When I attend the free MVC 3 tournament at Butler that Friday, and got sent loser bracket by Spencer Bionic Arm. I still have fun.
Opinions
Overall, I see that Capcom that try hardly to made the game fun. I think the game has a lot of potential once the glitches are fixed. This game was made because the fan demand another Marvel vs. Capcom, and it probably not the fighting game for everybody. Honestly, a game made for the fun. I don’t think enough consent has been released for the game or any news about more DLC coming to MVC3.
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