Recent reviews by CeleryX5

The game's blurb says it all: "Experience Sonic like never before!" Sonic Frontiers is a new step for the series, as it introduces full open-world roaming gameplay. This will likely either sound awesome to you, or not that great, given that open-world games tend to involve lots of side quests and puzzle solving.

Do not expect this game to play like Sonic Adventure. Sonic Adventure has hub worlds to explore, but the meat of the game is still conquering linear, full-length levels. Frontiers on the other hand, plays a lot closer to a collect-a-thon like the good ol N64 days. You'll be completing dozens of mini-challenges and platforming segments to collect items to unlock new areas, power up Sonic, and taking down huge bosses. There's loads of items to collect, but there's so many scattered about that you'll probably rarely end up reaching a roadblock. There's still more linear 2D and 3D cyberspace flashback levels that are larger than the platforming segments in the open world, but these are still short thrills and take a back seat to exploring the islands.

I quite enjoyed completing the platforming and scoring challenges, at my own pace. The boss battles are also epic overall, with each one requiring a different strategy, lots of cinematics, and Sonic's combat arsenal is surprisingly diverse, though some moves are more practical to use than others. As usual for Sonic games, the soundtrack is also fantastic, especially the boss themes. Story might seem weird at first, but it unravels more as you progress. The callbacks to so many of the previous games were great; most recent Sonic games don't acknowledge continuity that much anymore. The post-launch DLC additions, which includes a really tough alternate ending campaign, were a nice bonus too. There's a lot of content here.

There are some snags with the experience though. Nothing too bad individually, but these issues can add up and interrupt the fun at times. My biggest gripe is the control. Sonic doesn't handle poorly, but with the game's engine being made for lots of boosting around, Sonic doesn't have a tight turn radius, lacks a lot of momentum, and it's really hard to steer him in midair, which ended up making the cyberspace areas my least favorite part. They were still nice changes of pace, but Sonic's stiff controls don't help these levels that expect slower, more precise platforming. If he controlled as he did in Sonic Adventure, it'd be perfect. The poor draw distance in the open world is another glaring issue. At best it's mildly distracting and at worst, it'll prevent you from seeing where platforms and objects are which you need to climb to higher places. The puzzles range in quality, with a few being a little tedious to complete. There also is much more interaction with platforms and bosses, rather than the actual terrain of the islands; ergo, they lack many set pieces to make each one stand out.

Sonic Frontiers is by no means perfect but it is a solid game, and a good first tread on new ground for the series. Still, there is so much more that can be done with open-world Sonic. Buy it during a sale if you're on the fence about it.

The praised paranormal surveillance series continues with I'm On Observation Duty 7! I didn't know what the series would do next after the sixth game, but here we are; Notovia still finds ways to innovate such a simple concept, craft unsettling environments to monitor, and keep the series challenging. As always, your goal is to survive your shift of 12AM-6AM, reporting changes that you see, such as objects moving, pictures changing etc.

Challenging indeed. The most notable thing about this entry is the significant jump in difficulty. All of the other games are tough as well, but many of their levels can be beaten after a handful of tries after playing enough and building your memory. This one? Normal difficulty alone makes me struggle, and while I'm no pro, I have played and beaten every level from the previous games, except for the HQ in the 3rd game at the time of writing this review. Yes, even after Hard mode was added in the previous game, this game's difficulty was cranked up further still, and it too has a Hard mode! There's multiple factors playing into this; for one, in addition to the click-and-hold reporting mechanic from the last game, you now have choose the anomaly type it is, so you can't cheese the run by just clicking all around the screen. If you're not sure of what it is, you'll just waste time. There's also more subtle anomalies, very clever use of lighting, and some anomaly types that were easier to see in previous games, such as lights flickering or objects moving, are harder to see or hear. At first, some of the levels don't look like they'd be that hard, but I'm not alone in calling this one the toughest in the series yet.

The increased difficulty encourages more replayability and makes it even more satisfying when you do win, but for some it may begin to get frustrating after numerous repeated attempts, because a full run to 6AM takes about a half hour of real time. You still get pointers as to which anomalies you missed if you lose, which helps a bit, but with how subtle some of them are, you may find yourself having to wrack your brain in this game. Notovia took the feedback about the last entry's lower difficulty to heart.

With all that being said, gameplay and presentation is otherwise very similar to Observation Duty 6. I expected even more levels here, but six is still a good number and the levels are different enough locales from everything we've seen before. The cast of intruders is crazier than ever, as well, and they're a good payoff for sticking along for the ride. Due to the higher difficulty though, I don't suggest starting with this one first if you haven't played any of the other games, unless you're looking for a serious challenge right off the gate. But otherwise, if you've enjoyed the rest of the series, as long as you don't mind a steeper challenge, you'll have fun with this one too.

After perfecting his craft with the last two installments, Notovia shook a couple of things up again with the release of I'm On Observation Duty 6. In all the previous games except the 3rd, to report the various oddities that you'll encounter, you click on a button to bring up a list, choose the type of anomaly that you think it is, and then wait a few seconds for the game to clear it (if you were correct) or accomplish nothing if you weren't. This time around, for most anomoay types, you have to pay attention to where on the screen these anomalies appear, and click + hold your pointer for a couple of seconds. While you still have a list to bring up, this list only contains more specific anomaly types, and these specific types must be reported using this list. This makes for a more engaging means of reporting anomalies, and you cannot rely on just blind guessing whichever type anomalies are to get by.

Just like the previous game, there's a total of six available levels, with good variety. These maps are also in full color, something not seen since the third game, and with a Phasmaphobia-esque aesthetic that stands out from the previous games. The difficulty has been greatly reduced in this one; there were numerous levels that I beat on my first try, as many of the anomalies are easy to spot and you can definitely click around the map blindly to try to save yourself. Additionally, if you lose, the game will clue you in on which room the anomalies were in, and what type they were, which can help you with trying again. However, a hard mode was later added, a first for the series, which places a lot more objects in the levels, and penalizes you with a lengthy wait if you get three false reports at a time. Hard mode is legitimately challenging and quite the contrast to the normal mode. And the intruders...Oh boy. The 5th game has a lot of intruders, but some of the ones introduced here are the freakiest yet!

Given the good level variety and two difficulty settings, there's a strong case to be had for this game being the best in the series. I also love the ambiance that plays during the last hour of 5-6 AM; it really ups the tension that much more. The only real letdown I have is that hard mode unfortunately does not add additional intruders. But that aside, along with the original game, Observation Duty 6 is the game I'd recommend most to newcomers who don't know what to expect from the series, or have played a previous game and would appreciate the lower overall difficulty in this entry.

Further expanding upon the improvements made in the fourth game, I'm On Observation Duty 5 doubles the number of levels from the last entry; making for a whopping six in total! Half of these play with the standard rule of: there is no penalty for the number of false reports you submit other than some wasted time, which can make you lose if it happens at a bad time. The other three levels have have a three-strike rule for false reports, making them much harder since it takes just about 30 minutes to complete a run. This means that within a half hour of real time playing the level, you can't make more than two mistakes! One of these levels isn't too hard, but the other two (the Bank and the House) have a LOT of rooms and as always, clever lighting and object placement. In return though, you only have to report which room these anomalies are in, and not the type. Still, these are some of the toughest levels in the series, but not nearly as bad as the Headquarters level in the 3rd game. I would've liked to see levels with this style return in later games.

Otherwise, it's the same deal as the rest of the games: spot anomalies by watching surveillance cameras, don't let four become active at any one time, and survive until 6 AM. Some anomalies are very obvious or even right in your face, while others are incredibly subtle. You just might be surprised by how much the game tests you, and this is one of the most well-rounded installments. Watch out for those intruders; they're really crazy this time around and there's more than ever!

I'm On Observation Duty 4 is one of my favorites in the spooky surveillance anomaly-hunting series, and it's where the games really started getting bigger and better after the experimentation of the third game. In a return to form, levels are presented through monochrome camera footage, and you toggle through each camera of the level looking for changes. All the previous games have only two stages, while this one has three. Even a single additional level extends the replayability quite a bit, as all three levels are quite tough (though one is clearly harder than the other two). Not only that, but the lighting and detail in the rooms are significantly improved. Finally, in my opinion, the intruders started to get even weirder from this game onward.

All in all, another excellent entry in the series. No complaints, though as always, you'll need a really sharp memory and ability to realize what things can change. Although, the sound that plays if you fail a run, which sounds like an emergency alert you'd get on your phone, is loud enough that you might end up getting jumpscared by that as much as the other things in the game.

I'm On Observation Duty 3 is the black sheep of the series, due to one main change: instead of finding anomalies through surveillance cameras, you explore the level in first-person and snap the anomalies using a smartphone! This means that this entry offers arguably the most unique experience in the series, since all the other games use the typical surveillance cam setup. The different perspective can feel potentially more unnerving to see anomalies right in your face vs through a camera. The game's still largely dead silent just like the other games, only adding to the creepiness. Haven't tried VR, but I could see that being good for some extra thrills.

Unfortunately, first-person gameplay largely works against it too. Reporting anomalies by moving around a building means you spend most of the time tediously walking from room to room, which takes away from the tension at times. This especially applies for the Headquarters level, which at the time of writing this review, I still haven't beaten, because the level is way too large and there's too many objects you can interact with, so it takes a load of attempts just to get a feel for what can change. So you get one challenging level that's totally doable after a few attempts, and the other level that's close to impossible without a ton of patience or looking up the anomalies. In my experience, most of the anomalies tend to appear only when you're not in the room they would appear in, so some anomalies can get predictable. I assume that this was done because it would otherwise be easier to see when things move or appear. Additionally, while you may think that first-person could make for some really crazy intruder encounters, there's surprisingly very few jumpscares or ways to die from intruders. Worse still, sometimes when you snap a picture of an anomaly, it may not register unless you're super close to it.

Ultimately, while I'm On Observation Duty 3 is the weakest installment in the series, that's not saying a whole lot. It's still worth a try if you enjoy this series, or spot-the-anomaly type games in general. It's commendable to try something new, and even if not everything worked out, Notovia definitely learned more about what works best for this series, as the later games are significant improvements over this one, and even the 2nd game. If anything, I wished we'd get a map or two in a later game with fixed first-person, or maybe even a setting that could be toggled per map, in addition to the regular gameplay style. That'd make for a nice change of pace, and even more content.

The second game in the series, I'm On Observation Duty 2 plays similarly to the original: spot anomalies as they appear (randomly, so every run is a different experience), and don't let more than four appear at a time before 6 AM. Watch out for intruders, too...But there are some twists; to start, both stages are in full color, and one has a 2nd camera that can be set to a different room than the one you are currently viewing. It's tricky to use since it takes up part of the screen though, and it doesn't last the whole night. As for the other map, it's very pixelated and may prove quite difficult to beat. The retro style makes for a very unique experience in the series. There's also a secret just like the first game, as is series tradition.

Since the game plays so similarly to the first but has two totally different maps, I can't definitively say that it's better or worse than the first game. Both games have two levels each, and whether you like the different styles is matter of preference, as you might prefer the black/white style of the original game. Or maybe the original proves spookier. Some of the anomaly types (like object disappearance/growth) also tend to be very tricky to notice. Overall though, this is a very nice sequel and addition to the series. Used to be my favorite for quite some time, until I played the 4th game.

If you've ever seen the recent proliferation of horror-themed "spot the anomaly" type games like The Exit 8 and Midnight Monitor, you can largely thank Notovia and his wonderful creation, I'm On Observation Duty. By mixing spot-the-difference gameplay with environments presented through security cameras, this series has made a real name for itself and become a classic in my book. Your job is to survive from 12 AM-6 PM by reporting anomalies, such as objects moving/disappearing, weird things happening to walls/floors and so forth. The horror comes into play from the fact that you will inevitably encounter at least one freaky intruder, often when you least expect it, and the audio is dead silent until certain anomalies trigger, which can definitely jumpscare you. The dead silence in general also adds an unsettling feeling that always sticks with me, no matter how many times I replay these games. Additionally, there's plenty of objects placed with no rhyme or reason, which will throw you off even more. You'll be questioning yourself a lot, and that's also a major strength of this series.

This game, and all its sequels, will really test your memory, knowing what types of anomalies there are, and which objects can change. It's very difficult to beat either level in this game on your first try with out looking up the anomalies. Anomalies are randomized each run and don't appear at set times. The difficulty and randomization encourage replaying the game and going in with what you know can change, and discovering more subtle anomalies you've missed before.If you don't like trial-by-error, you might get a bit frustrated with that, since full runs take about 20 minutes and it's entirely possible to lose even in the last in-game hour. But you're not penalized for submitting false reports other than costing you time. You can only have up to 3 anomalies active; 4 and you lose, and you only get a single warning per run when you're up to 3 active. That leads to my only real complaint about this game and the later entries; generally there's only one object per each type of anomaly (for example, object movement in a bedroom will only ever given to one object for that room, instead of multiple). It does make memorization easier, but at the cost of making future runs more predictable more quickly.

Despite that though, this is a really enjoyable game and a great foundation for the rest to follow. It's a particularly fun game to stream to audience or a group of friends, too!

For spooky month and celebration of the release of the 7th game, I will be reviewing the rest of the series.

DISCLAIMER: I do not think that Frostborn Wrath is a bad or even mediocre game. However, there are many dubious changes from the previous Gemcraft entry (Chasing Shadows), which create an experience that makes it difficult for me to generally recommend to those who aren't big fans of the games already. As in previous games, you play as a wizard who uses gems socketed in towers and traps, to fight hordes of monsters.

The elephant in the room here is the difficulty, greatly cranked up from the previous Gemcraft. By itself, this is good; Chasing Shadows was mostly a breeze unless you went out of your way to make it challenging. But FW makes it harder to grind while also expecting you to grind earlier on. Your options to beat levels in the early to mid/late-mid game are limited, meaning less room for creativity and experimentation, and greater chance of you replaying previous levels for only small XP gains. If you get through that, then you'll have expanded your arsenal and it'll be easier to progress, but that initial slog might be a big turnoff to newcomers.
Below I'll use bullet points to list these changes from GCCS, the only other Gemcraft game currently on Steam, with (+) for positive, (o) for neutral, and (-) for negative. Hopefully this makes it easier to understand what you may be in for.

Difficulty/Grind Factor

+ Undoubtedly more challenging than Chasing Shadows, the other Gemcraft game available on Steam.
+ Easier difficulty mode (Chilling) available if you struggle with the regular Frostborn difficulty.
o Chilling mode only gives you some boosts; doesn't weaken enemies. If you are unskilled at TDs then this difficulty mode still might prove tough for you.
- The higher difficulty is mainly achieved by nerfing or outright removing options available in CS.
o Endurance mode was reworked.
- Shadow core and talisman fragment drops are MUCH less generous than in CS. This hurts a lot since it means much more time spent accumulating them.
- Wizard Stashes can offer more unlockable battle traits for endurance runs, but many of them range from less-than ideal, to outright unusable for decent runs. Most of these are given earlier in the game (seriously, if you use Vital Link or Swarmling Parasite, you'll find yourself with loads of unkillable enemies very quickly). So you'll likely be using the same few traits all the time; another limitation of your options for growing stronger. Same applies for Skills; many of the ones you can get early on, like Fusion or Demolition, are absolutely terrible for a story playthrough.

QoL

+ Can now enrage multiple waves at once with a single gem. No need to repeatedly drop gems on individual waves. Not sure why some other reviewers cited this as a negative.
o Can create higher grade gems by simply using mouse wheel, instead of repeatedly upgrading a grade 1 gem or having to click a row. The downside is that this makes it easier to accidentally create a higher gem grade than what you wanted, wasting mana.
o Normal mode and Trial mode (where you play under fixed conditions) are playable for each map rather than each being separate playthroughs like Iron Wizard was in CS. Some prefer it the previous way; I don't mind how it was done here.

Gem/Building Variety

o Chain Hit gem isn't here. This means you cannot easily hit multiple enemies with armor tearing gems, or mana leech gems for mana farming. These two factors by themselves make the game a lot harder, and it especially makes swarmlings much more troublesome.
+ Suppressing gem was removed. In CS, ALL enemies can regenerate health, so you'd often have to remove BOTH health regen and armor. In FW, no need to worry about that.
o Poolbound and Bloodbound gems were cut, with their effects now being universal to all gems, based on your mana pool level and how many hits your gems land, respectively. It's a fair tradeoff, Poolbound and Bloodbound are quite powerful in CS, so losing them here the game harder, too.
o Unfortunately, the only new gem type compared to CS is Bleeding. It's not bad, but doesn't replace Chain Hit at all.
o Two new building types, Pylon and Lantern. Pylons store shots from your towers to fire pure damage shots at enemies; very useful for most bosses. Lanterns are AoE towers, but only hit a few enemies at a time and are slow. If they fired faster then they'd make up for lack of Chain Hit; as is, they're generally not worth using.
o A couple of new spells were added alongside the returning ones from CS.

Enemies

o The same regular enemies are back; no new standard types added.
+ Quite a few new bosses in addition to a few returning ones, which all require different tricks to beat.

Talisman (The changes to this mechanic bother me most, so it gets its own section)

- Talisman fragments give you passive buffs. Talismans are mostly dropped randomly, with a few found in stashes. In CS, you had to worry about talisman fragment rarity, which buffs they provided, and whether it was a corner, edge or inner fragment. In FW, talisman is a jigsaw puzzle. Now you have to worry about whether fragments you get are corner/edge/inner, the rarity you want, have the buffs you want, AND are the right shape. If they're not the desired shape, you can change them by spending shadow cores, BUT you also need to have previously sacrificed an identical fragment to add it to your collection. I can't stress enough how much more tedious this already grindy mechanic is now.

Presentation & Performance

o Sound design is eerie and ambient, per series usual. Story isn't super compelling but it's easy to follow, and a nice parallel to the story found in CS. Graphic style is just like the other games; nothing fancy, gets the job done.
- Minor complaint, but for a name like Frostborn Wrath, I expected a world or UI aesthetic with more of an icy or frozen focus. Instead the game feels nearly identical to CS.
+ Game handles later endurance runs much better than CS, which infamously lags when reaching late endurance waves with 100s of monsters on the field.
- Despite the graphic style remaining the same, this game may be trickier for lower-end PCs to run. My laptop with outdated GTX 960M could run CS fine; FW would always lag. Needed my gaming PC just to play this little TD game well.

Conclusion

GCFW is a sidestep of a game for me. It does some things better than its predecessor, while also regressing in many other ways. I did have fun with this game, but also had a load of frustration. Early to mid game was often a chore, and by the time got through that, I was up to the end of the story. Pains me to leave a negative review, but I think it's mainly diehard Gemcraft fans who will get enjoyment out of this one. If you're new to the series, or liked Chasing Shadows but didn't care a lot for the grind, there's a good chance you won't like FW much. On the other hand, if you really like grindy games, or played Chasing Shadows and just couldn't get enough, give this one a shot. If the dev creates another entry, I hope he finds a better way of keeping the game challenging enough, without railroading the gameplay loop.

As someone who never played Ratchet & Clank growing up, but knew of the series and the premise of the gameplay, I decided to start with this latest entry. Rift Apart was a blast to play through! Controls are fluid, the platforming is tight for the most part, the graphics are amazing, and the weapons are unique and fun to use. There's also dozens of configuration and customization settings, with lots of collectibles and unlockable rewards. The central rift tethering mechanic is cool, even though it's mostly relegated for warping around the map. Some fans find the story writing a little too juvenile, and while it is a bit overbearing at times (looking at you, Zurkon Jr.) overall it was charming, engaging enough, and got chuckles out of me along the way. Attention was also paid to the immersion. NPCs and your playable heroes will often talk to themselves and each other in the overworld; enemies will taunt you for landing hits on you and many of them call out whatever weapon you decide to use on them. Little touches like these go a long way.

I only have a couple of minor gripes. The lack of universal fast travel can make exploring the far corners of the planets a bit tedious to return from, particularly when hunting collectibles. Though you have a variety of ways to traverse faster, it still can be a hassle to backtrack at times. Rivet is a cool protagonist, but she does get noticeably more screen time than Ratchet, while Dr. Nefarious unfortunately doesn't quite get enough.

Overall though, Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart was a great time, and I'm very much looking forward to playing some of the beloved classic titles that I missed out on. Highly recommend to any series newcomers, and longtime fans will likely get a kick out of it too.