Recent reviews by tmwfte

"So what dangerous treats lie in store as we continue to unravel this treacherous sweater? I don't know. But use caution as you continue your gallant endeavour. Don't, don't like... fail and die and stuff. CAUSE IT'S ALL UP TO YOU NOW!"

This game is brilliant. And funny. And expansive. It's part platformer, part arena battler. Just when you think the game is one thing, you realise that there's so much more to it. And it has cats. Who see you. "Clench your butt! This isn't going to be good!"

Yes. I realise that this review isn't really a review and doesn't explain anything.

It's Limbo with cats.

Just buy Snuggle Truck instead.

This isn't necessarily a "bad" game, but it's not worth the asking price. It's a simplistic, both in controls, graphics, and physics, racing game which will likely frustrate you early on either getting stuck on the scenery or racing to your doom off the track. While some would say this "challenges" the player, more often than not it actually just seems like misplacement of world objects -- resulting in a too close overhead that will immediately deaden forward momentum or an unavoidable seesaw that will lower to bar progress. I'm sure that if playing this on a phone people would continue to play just to beat the frustrating levels once, but I can't see myself doing it on the PC. It seems like it needs a fair bit more polish.

Although the level editor seems clunky, perhaps user-devised levels once Steam Workshop is in place will elevate the game?

This is a really rather well-done music puzzle game asking players to select the correct samples in order to complete the piece of music. It's fairly simple, with some added twists such as loops, switches, and repetitions, but very addictive. The puzzles are interesting and increase in difficulty, but the game overall is rather short (the 25 levels should really only take you a few hours to complete).

The music included is atmospheric and relaxing, and will largely be what hinges on your appreciation of the game. If you enjoy chillstep, you'll be sucked into the game, if not, you might find it grating (and possibly repetitive, even though the game really isn't). Which to me leads to the only real downside of the game. If it had a sandbox mode, an editor, or the ability to incorporate your own music into the game, it would be perfect. As it stands, it's still a solid music puzzle game, but it's dependent on whether you enjoy the music already presented in the game.

It's more action than RPG, with only a handful of side quests to distract you from the main plot, despite having mechanics similar to Diablo or Torchlight. There's loot, but it seems largely inconsequential compared to the ability upgrades that you'll receive. There's no way to max them out, though, as once your finish an area, enemies do not respawn and you cannot revisit them for more loot or missed blood coins.

Which leaves us with a fairly short (5-7 hours) main story. It's by no means terrible, but its' the sort of thing that you'll see as a somewhat unintelligible direct-to-TV b-movie. The voice acting is generally well done, although some of the scripting strains credibility and intelligence. If you're not laughing out of embarrassment by the third time the priest says "but first I will use my healing powers" in the introductory battle, you're likely to cringe through the remaining dialogue. The limited dialogue choices do have an effect on the outcome of the game, and there is apparently an entirely different ending you can achieve, but don't mistake this for a particularly deep RPG.

There are some platforming mechanics incorporated into the game and, while they do offer an interesting change of pace, their implementation are less than good. If you're using a keyboard and mouse, it will be an exercise in frustration as you leap to your death multiple times as often the next platform will be at an angle not recognized by your keyboard buttons.

Graphics and animation, however, are fairly well done. It's at the very least a nice looking diversion for a few hours. I can't recommend paying more than $10 for it though.

It's a relatively short (3.5 hours or so) puzzle platformer, but where it's small, it easily makes up for in its brilliance. The story of Thomas and his new quadrilateral friends is endearing and adds to the interesting mechanics that each block has and how you're supposed to utilize their different abilities to reach the end goal. The narration by Danny Wallace is spot on and at times hilarious, well-deserving of the BAFTA he won for his contribution.

An excellent turn-based RPG in the vein of Costume Quest, combining the humour of the Penny Arcade comic and the irreverancy of the creators of DeathSpank. Highly recommended. If just to have an ordinary cat as a supporting character...

Beyond the Sword is easily one of my favourite expansions for Civ IV, making the game feel even more epic in scope. The mods developed for it also change the game in amazing ways. You'll lose yourself for hours, possibly days, playing this game.