Recent reviews by ManlyMeatMan

(I am giving this a positive review for the gameplay, but overall, I do not recommend purchasing it)

Day of Infamy is a first person shooter that falls into the "combat realism" sub-genre. I received this game in a bundle, well after its release, so I can't speak to how lively the game was on release, but nowadays, it has a very small player base. The gameplay itself is very good and enjoyable, assuming you enjoy a more realistic take on the genre. For me, it struck a good balance between feeling realistic and feeling "gamey". The developers go for realism as long as it doesn't lead to an annoying or tedious mechanic. The main downside for me was the community, specifically during the time I played the game. Almost 90% of games involved at least 1 Nazi roleplayer who would either complain about Jews, promote the holocaust or recite Hitler speeches. It often soured the experience, but I wouldn't hold it against the devs, it is simply a consequence of creating a WWII game nowadays. I would fully recommend this game if the player base was stronger, but unfortunately, I can't. Instead, I suggest anyone that is intrigued by this game wait for the developer's next game and try that out, whenever it eventually releases.

An interesting take on arcade shoot em ups. It has a few notable mechanics, such as being tethered to an object, that help give it a unique style of gameplay. You have an upgrade system similar to megaman style games, in which defeating a certain boss unlocks his weapon, but instead of switching weapons, they all just slowly combine together until you have a super powered weapon by the end of the game. Fun for some quick gameplay, but doesn't have enough content to feel like a lasting game.

A decent arcade game but has overall very little content. I enjoyed the upgrade mechanics which involved completing certain tasks in order to upgrade your ship, but in general, this type of game has been done better before, even by this same developer. I would recommend his game Er-Spectro far more highly because of its variety. This game felt pretty much the same the whole way through. Good for a half hour if you want to try for 100% in a challenging game, but not much more.

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FTL is a strategy roguelike set in space. To simplify it, your goal is to destroy the main bad guy’s ship. This sort of setup is very generic and for most games would be a negative, but FTL has a very specific focus. FTL only really cares about the journey, not the destination. While your overall goal is to be the hero, along the way you have complete freedom to craft your own story. Most playthroughs you won’t even get close to beating the game before you die to a pretty average, unremarkable ship. It gives the game a sense of realism, in that your character/ship isn’t special. You don’t have any unique advantages or anything like that, you are just an average guy.

On the strategy side of things, FTL usually succeeds. It’s got a very solid gameplay loop in which you and the other ship trade blows while attempting to make the right choices when it comes to which area of the ship to target. The wide variety of weapons and crew members means that you wind up with a new ship everytime you play. The first and only misstep FTL makes is the balancing. There are a number of builds that are significantly better than some of the worst ones. Usually, it isn’t too glaring, but it can be hard for some players to resist the urge to min-max their ship.

Presentation-wise, FTL has visuals that can be a bit basic, but they work very well with the overall vibe of the game. The ship designs all have a cohesive theme that differentiates each group of ships from each other. It feels great to recognize a ship type just from its shape or colors, and being able to use that information to guess what tactics the ship might use.

The soundtrack fits the game and is much better than your typical background music. Most tracks set the tone of an event fantastically, serving to heighten the already tense experience. The sound effects are good, although somewhat generic. They don’t take you out of the game, but they don’t add much to the experience. There is a good variety in weapon sounds though, which helps separate the different variations of equipment you can use.

The one aspect of FTL that brings it from good to great is the modding community. FTL Captain’s Edition is an amazing mod that fixes nearly every issue I have with FTL, both the big and small problems. It rebalances the entire combat system, bringing bad builds up to the levels of some of the best. The new events and items blend seamlessly into the vanilla experience.

FTL manages to get so many things right, while avoiding any glaring issues. A classic strategy roguelike that influenced a ton of games.

10/10 (with Captain's Edition mod)

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The Rainbow World is an adventure game with a distinctive art style. Gameplay-wise, it uses fairly standard combat, not bad, just not unique. It features a progression system in which you slowly gain new abilities as you get farther in the game. It has some fairly prominent exploration elements, at least early on in the game. The difficulty is pretty low, a casual player could fairly easily beat the game (assuming that the game doesn't have a huge spike in difficulty past the point where I stopped playing). My only big complaint about this game is that it is too generic and by the numbers. It doesn't have any real flaws, but no real strengths either. It's just middle of the road. I'll recommend it because I'm sure it will land for some people who aren't looking for anything fancy and just want some basic rpg/adventure gameplay, but for me personally, it was just okay.

Prison Architect is a building/simulation game that revolves around the prison industry. You are given plenty of freedom with regards to how you manage your prison. You can build a relaxing minimum security prison focused on reform, or you can choose to only house the most violent prisoners and run your prison with an iron fist. Both are viable choices, as well as going with a blend of both.

The gameplay itself focuses on starting small while slowly expanding towards whatever goals you set for yourself. It has a very satisfying progression as you get farther into the game, thanks to the wide variety of systems you can setup, such as schools, workshops, and even your own death row. They all have positives and negatives that you will be forced to try and balance. For example, building a workshop for your prisoners to work in will generate money, but it will give prisoners access to weapons and tools that they normally wouldn’t, resulting in the spread of contraband. There are numerous other systems with similar levels of depth throughout the game. It gives the game that addictive quality where you are always progressing, unlocking a new thing to try out, giving it a try, then realizing you unlocked something else to try. Next thing you know, you’ve been playing for hours without even noticing. It’s a truly fantastic gameplay loop and easily the game’s strong point.

Graphically, the game looks good for such a basic style. Animations are terrible, but they fit the look of the graphics, so it all winds up working out. The visual clarity is good, so even when you first start, it’s relatively easy to understand what’s going on. The UI feels a bit bloated at times, but becomes a lot more usable once you begin to learn where everything is.

There are some light story elements, but it tends to feel tacked on and adds little to the game as a whole. Playing the game as a sandbox prison simulator is it’s strong suit. It offers a ton of freedom and a range of possibilities, without losing a sense of direction and purpose. Highly recommended for fans of management/tycoon games who are at least mildly interested in the setting.

9/10

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Total War: Shogun 2 is a game that blends turn-based strategy with real time strategy. Every Total War game has followed this formula, yet the games always manage to incorporate new mechanics to help differentiate themselves from each other. What stands out most obviously in Shogun 2 is the change in setting.

While many Total War games are set in a wide historical era, Shogun 2 is extremely focused. It is concerned exclusively with feudal Japan and offers little to no variety within that. A different game in the franchise, such as Rome, has a focus on the era of the Roman Empire, but offers the ability to play as a wide variety of countries that were present at the time. Japan’s historical isolation prevents this, making every playable faction feel very similar. To counteract this feeling of repetitiveness, the developers have created an extremely polished base for Shogun 2. It has some of the best combat of the franchise, while having very little unit variety. Most factions have 1 or 2 notable units that attempt to define that faction, but the core gameplay stays the same. You can play as a faction specializing in farms and bow units, but you will still use spear and sword units like everyone else.

The game’s apparent repetitiveness can be counteracted through the use of mods, which often add more units to spice up combat and more complexity to the faction management portion of the game. My personal favorite is Master of Strategy Sengoku (MoSS). It adds a lot of depth to managing your empire, while also improving combat significantly. It has a big focus of the logistics of war, requiring careful preparation, rather than the vanilla game which encourages going to war at the drop of a hat. It won’t be for everyone, but it should appeal to those wanting a more tactical, slow paced game.

When taken as a whole, Shogun 2 is one of the better games in the Total War franchise. It suffers from a lack of replay value that other Total War games don’t, but it remains a top tier game based primarily on its polish and refinement. If you like the general feel of feudal Japanese combat, you will love this game, but if not, you would be better served playing a game like Rome II or Warhammer II.

8/10

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Tricky Towers plays very similarly to Tetris, but with a few key differences which end up completely changing how it feels. The most impactful change is the removal of the grid based system that Tetris uses, instead opting for a free-form, physics based style. This works very well with the competitive aspects, as you can mess with each other's tower in order to make it difficult to build higher. While the game can be played alone or with 1 friend, it plays best with 4 people as everyone tries to gang up on the first place player, helping to keep the game close and fun.

8/10

Dog Sled Saga is a management/simulation type game, in the same vein as a lot of other "_____ Tycoon" games. It stands out largely because of its unique concept. You manage a dog sled team and attempt to climb the ranks of different racing leagues. The game isn't particularly difficult, but it has a lot of things to do as you progress through the story. It doesn't have a huge amount of content, but it is a very tight experience. The game doesn't overstay its welcome, instead focusing on creating a fun, short experience. If you only like the more challenging side of management type games, this one probably isn't for you, but for the average person, I would definitely recommend it.

Gift of Parthax is a game with a generally interesting concept, but falls flat on execution. It is a gladiator style game, but with a focus on magic instead of realistic physical combat. It has a progression system in which you learn new spells, as well as runes to upgrade those spells. In theory, this would be fun, but in practice, the flaws of the game outweigh the enjoyment. The controls feel slow and inaccurate. The aiming reticle changes based on the spell you are wielding, but the transition is usually jarring. When aiming a projectile spell, such as shooting a fireball, the reticle becomes an arrow that often doesn't actually point where you are aiming. The camera is another issue, because it sometimes zooms in far more than it needs to, making it difficult to play. Overall, the game could have been great, but needed better execution and more polish.