Recent reviews by Charles

Came because fishcake, didn't stay because gameplay is as entertaining as math homework

The more outdated the more fun with friends it is

This is one of those remakes of games so obscure that I genuinely didn't think they'd do anything more with them, but they did, and I'm glad because the remake itself is dope as hell B)

we miss you bailey :(

CONS:
-Buggy
-Outdated
-Dead
-Unsupported
-Broken

PROS:
-funne ragdoll

in summary, 17/10

I really don't know why I even bought this, fully knowing it wasn't the real PH OST (that I had to download off khinsider later anyway). Still, I guess these tracks are mostly 6-8/10's, nothing crazy.

What really puts me off is how easy it is to confuse this with the real thing, which for licensing reasons is not on Steam.

I think the devs should just take this down from stores, almost nobody buys it and those who do end up refunding it as soon as they realize the catch. There was no reason for this thing to be released here, much less with a price.

Input lag on ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ jigsaw puzzles. ♥♥♥♥ you Unity.

Didn't get a life, but I did get "Get A Life"


The addictive rush of fast inputs, wether wrong or right, provoked by the synths in the background and fueled by the feeling of power from the fragility of your enemies' lives, taken away by a single bullet, swing or slash, immediately.
It's unmatched to this day.

But it's even more than just perfect gameplay. It's a perfect story and a perfect style.


A natural, unique 80's setting that remains very consistent throughout the game. Locations, color scheme, weapons, vehicles, etc. And it's not a mishmash of popular elements of the aesthetic either, Miami really looks and feels like it's set in an 80's summer, which is quite impressive considering the developers aren't even American, let alone Floridian.

Besides the physical aesthetic they really pulled off, the meta elements such as effects and coloring (e.g trippy colors in the level backgrounds, scanlines) add a lot to the style, without including 80's/90's clichés like cassette simulation or vaporwave shaders.
It's also nice how the effects don't affect performance in any significant manner, making the game visually beautiful, completely unique and low-spec compatible all at once.

Subversive by design. It really tries to make itself seem down-to-earth.
No intro. No names. No tone-setting.
You just begin in a dark alley, instructed by a mysterious vagrant to make your way out by force.

But it didn't happen. It was just a really bad dream.
So it's a canon-compatible tutorial. Nice.

The rest of the game's story is spread out in small bits between and rarely inside levels, and almost all have patterned interludes, all the way until the end, which events reflect Jacket's state of mind.

The ending itself is very climactic and though it gives the player a sense of accomplishment, it isn't too over-the-top or difficult, as to not give the player any sense of "achievement" but instead to provoke reflection. And considering the game isn't over at the first ending, it's rather fitting.


Truly, its purpose is the most admirable thing.

Even though it features violence heavily, it won't try to convince you to desist nor continue with your massacre. It instead leaves the player to witness Jacket's persistence in tirelessly brutalizing the members of the Russian Mafia, one at a time.
He can't stop.
His inner anger and complete uncertainty drive him to not even think twice before he listens to the men over the phone and does their bidding no matter how challenging the odds become.
And when he is betrayed by them, he continues to do as they would've preferred, to the end, but not before taking revenge for the only person he had reached closeness with since him.

The unvoluntary catalyst.
The unconditional friend.
And his martyr.

But unlike the typical action-packed revenge story starred by a loner, this game won't let you take his side. They won't even let him take his own side, as his personified thoughts split and attempt to give him clarity in a few ocassions over the course of the game. It's clear that as dangerous as he is, he's subconsciouslly unsure of his actions, but this never manifests strongly enough to stop him.
And to display such a dilemma without cheesy cutscenes or even any input from the fittingly silent protagonist? That's quite remarkable.

Frankly, too few celebrate the genius storytelling of the game and how it proves the absolute importance of the bigger picture. How actions, even if displayed as animalistic and personal, end up changing the world and the fate of many of its inhabitants over time.
A use of the butterfly effect with far less exaggeration. That's new.
To achieve all this with a protagonist devoid of unique powers, who can die as quickly as his enemies? Now that's really new!

The balance between fresh and satisfying gameplay, an atmospheric soundtrack, unique and vivid style, a deep and thoroughly developed story AND incredible replayability? It deserves its place as my favorite game of all time, second perhaps only to its masterpiece of a sequel.

Buy now by calling at...

555/555

(i'm serious, buy asap even at full price)

I usualy don't do "Pros-and-cons" type reviews, but I really can't find a reasonable way of linking the various criticisms I have of this game in several paragraphs, so I'll be taking the easy way

PROS:
-Amazing soundtrack, on par with that of a triple-A shoot em' up game

-Highly replayable. There's a ton of mechanics and ways to play the game. I'd recommend doing at least 3 runs, even if you didn't particularly like it, to fully understand its gameplay

-Easy to learn, hard to master. Like a lot of danmakus that lack several difficulty settings (or that do have them, but aren't challenging enough), Super Ledgehop will not be hard to beat, but it'll take some time and practice before you can aim for a no-deaths run or even try to speedrun it.

-Great character design. Most, if not all of the characters in this game visually pleasing and have some features that make them unique. High fanart potential

CONS:
-Has voicelines for everything, except for the things that actually deserve them. There's voicelines for getting hurt, for hurting other enemies, for dying, for getting combos, for the bosses' patterns...but there's no voiced dialogue. It's really odd they had enough people and the equipment to record high-quality voicelines for many events in the game, but the devteam never got around to actually voicing the dialogue.
That said, I can understand that maybe the voices they borrowed did not have enough experience to deliver high quality voiced dialogue, but did have the intention of recording some goofy grunts and screams for the fun of it.

-The environment is really lacking. I mean it.
It's not just flawed, it's just straight-up displeasing. Not just the textures, but the angles and shapes are all extremely bland and uninteresting. I wish they put even a slight bit of effort into making them look better. If they didn't have the tools or time to make better textures, they could at least have found a way to take the textures and use them better. Particuarly, enlarging them would help a long way to raise the scenarios from "Eye-straining" to "Bearable"

-The artstyle(s) are all over the place. I'm not saying they're ugly, but there's just too goddarn many for such a short game. I know, this is because several artists worked on the same game, but it gets annoying after like the 4th artstyle transition in the first two hours of gameplay.

-The color palette. Now now, I know that the odd color palette is due to Chizuru's canon color blindness but it's not a good enough excuse to make the color palette look so plain.

...with all that considered, I'll be generous and give this piece a 7/10. Has some issues that could've been worked on, but they don't detract from the core gameplay. Most of the time, anyway.

High quality CBT, would recommend. 9/9 lifechanging experience