Player Reviews

The Good
One of the great things about Capitalism Plus, imo, is that it has a great tutorial (to help you get started). Like, for example, another review implies that when one of your locations is losing money, that the game doesn't give you enough information to figure out WHY (and hence correct it): This is false, as it is clearly stated in the Tutorial that Consumers will base their purchasing decisions on Price, Quality, & Brand. And since you can review products sold by competitors, you will know whether you need to increase quality, decrease price, or invest in advertising.

The Bad
There are only a few minor flaws in Capitalism Plus:

First is that good, quality farmland is hard to come by and there's no way to invest in fertilizer that will increase the quality of your crops.

Second is that there aren't a huge selection of Executives that you can hire as your VP. Altho, this is probably deliberate as you will have to choose a VP with the specific strengths & skills you're looking for.

Third, if you're running a large scale operation, with revenue in excess of hundreds of billions of dollars, there is only so much you can compensate your VP before he decides to leave: Which if I remember correctly, is about $2.1 billion.

So, I guess the original developers never conceived of players reaching such a level and so, they thought that the maximum value of a 32-bit integer was good enough. Luckily, total revenue can go well beyond this limit.

Finally, there is a flaw that effects replayability: That is that there exists the best starting product in the game AND there is also the best product in the game: And unfortunately, these two products will never change. So once you figure them out, the starting pathway and mid-game objective will usually be the same.

Altho, the developers have done a good job at addressing this issue with different scenarios: I just wish that there was a little more RNG and variance in this area (for custom games). Like, randomize the market so that these two products are different for each new game.

Unfortunately, there's no option to contract for Market Research services: So, you have do that yourself (which would be a pain with more randomization). Nor will the game allow you to become a Big, Fat Cat DOD Contractor manufacturing Fighter Jets for billions of dollars (or selling screws for $70,000 a piece):

The Bottom Line
But, beyond that, you can let your creativity run wild with how you want to run your business: What to name it. Who to hire as VP. Which products you want to focus on. And different strategies for maximizing profits !!! And also where and how to spend those profits :P

Like, this goes well beyond merely re-investing into your business: It includes your own personal compensation package (via shareholder dividends) as well as the option to invest in stocks and even do hostile takeovers on other Corporations !!!

Truly a phenomenal game, imo !!!

The Good
Created in 1981, the asteroids actually move independently, unlike the 2600. The UFO is cool too.

The Bad
Okay, so it uses a lower graphics mode and has few colours.

The Bottom Line
I prefer the 800 Asteroids. A nice achievement for 1981.

The Good
Endless combinations of scores, multipliers, and cards. Each round is completely random and one-of-a-kind. You can fine tune the speed of the gameplay, which I found to be quite helpful as I have a bad attention span. Cards are easy to memorise and gameplay is smooth. Gameplay wise, there is a lot to learn, it's completely worth the time.

The Bad
VERY unforgiving. New players will find it easy to lose early on if unfamiliar with poker.

The Bottom Line
Definitely play this game if you wanna spend days thinking about it.

The Good
The story is fun, and the music & graphics are excellent. A ton of care went into the presentation of the story.

The Bad
Everything else. The dungeon-crawling & Pokémon-style battles are a slog, most of the dialogue "choices" end with the same response, making the "social sim" aspects shallow.

The Bottom Line
No clue why it's as hyped as it is. It plays like one massive cutscene.

The Good
Of course, game is an unlicensed clone of Lunar Lander. You get a closeup as you near the landing pad, just like the arcade. A nice touch.

The Bad
Oh heavens, they stole the Galaxian jingle!

The Bottom Line
Originally for Vic 20, basic difference is one is red and one is green. Graphics are plain, but the gameplay is great!

The Good
It’s amazing what David Crane could do with only 2 KB! Of course there are tricks. The two fishermen are actually the same drawing in reverse.

The Bad
Who can catch the most fish? That’s it…no more screens.

The Bottom Line
Fun against the computer or a friend.

The Good
Playability is good. Also have difficulty options.

The Bad
Plain graphics…what do you expect?

The Bottom Line
Atari created a good home port.

The Good
Great style (very nostalgic. Easy and straight-to-the-point gameplay Smooth animations Simple controls Endless numbers

The Bad
Can be unforgiving often Not sure what else

The Bottom Line
You should definitely play this game! It's a fun experience, and an easy way to entertain yourself.

The Good
Simple in design, amazing playability,really.

The Bad
Only 2KB! No room for extras.

The Bottom Line
Fun in 2 player mode or vs computer.

The Good
Love the use of digital audio samples. The Herge characters are all present and nicely animated. While the gameplay is ok, the 1989 AV is out of this world! The Amiga version appears to be faster and harder?

The Bad
Gameplay is a bit limited. Too hard?

The Bottom Line
Too hard in the platform section! Atari version has much fairer gameplay!

The Good
Love the use of digital audio samples. The Herge characters are all present and nicely animated. While the gameplay is ok, the 1989 AV is out of this world! The Amiga version appears to be faster and harder?

The Bad
Gameplay a bit limited.

The Bottom Line
Play if you are a fan of Tintin.

The Good
Genesis faster CPU,for 1990, actually does a nice running 3D driving simulator. Audio of car is nice too. Crashes are funny.

The Bad
Ok so it’s dated with the polygons and stuff. Oh, you can slide off the course. Whatever.

The Bottom Line
If you like Retro games, the Genesis works very well and is quite enjoyable.

The Good
Satisfying Terraforming Progression: Watching the barren planet transform into a vibrant ecosystem is immensely rewarding.

Accessible Gameplay: The balance between survival challenges and simplicity ensures it's enjoyable for both casual and seasoned players.

Creative Crafting and Building: Intuitive systems make it easy to design and construct bases, machines, and other essentials.

Replayability: Different starting locations, difficulty levels, and hidden secrets encourage multiple playthroughs.

Atmospheric Evolution: The shift in visuals as the planet evolves adds a layer of immersion and accomplishment.

The Bad
Visuals Could Be Improved: While effective, the graphics feel a bit outdated compared to other modern games.

Repetitive Gameplay Elements: Some players may find the resource-gathering loop and crafting tasks become monotonous over time.

Limited Narrative Depth: The lack of a strong storyline or character development might leave players craving more context or emotional engagement.

The Bottom Line
The Planet Crafter offers a uniquely satisfying blend of survival, crafting, and terraforming. Its engaging progression system and replayability make it a standout in its genre, despite minor limitations like repetitive tasks and dated visuals. For players seeking a creative and relaxing survival experience, this game is well worth exploring.

The Good
I love the beautiful parallax scrolling with huge designed backdrops, the funky soundtrack, the exaggerated funny Japanese voice acting, the bad English translation, the huge bosses, different difficulty settings, etc.

The Bad
Apparently not as well designed as X4

The Bottom Line
Too much to like even it has a few faults.

The Good
Fantastic MetroidVania * Some cool powers * Super smooth gameplay * Healthy mix of combat and puzzle-platforming

The Bad
Can get rather frustrating, but luckily mostly in the optional content. * Switch couldn't keep a stable framerate in all areas.

The Bottom Line
The game starts a bit more story heavy and linear before it manages to open up and shine. Once it does it becomes a fantastic, but mostly by-the-book MetroidVania game. The world is quite big and looks great. You unlock mostly typical powers like a hook-shot, double jump, something to by-pass a door etc. But for a bunch of the powers there are additional ways to use them both in combat and puzzle areas which adds another level of depth. A bunch of bosses need to be fought to show you got your unlocked powers under control.

The game adds some character customization. The charms seem interesting at first, but most just aren't that interesting except in very specific situations. Some add cool abilities, but in the end I just ended up picking those that flat out make me more powerful in combat. Athra Surges all seemed quite similar and more often activated by accident than intentionally. So in the end the customization wasn't all that rewarding for me.

Controls are super smooth as you'd expect/hope from a MetroidVania and it's cool to explore all the locations, which all have their own twist. The game has some cool throwbacks to older games in the series. But at other times I felt like I ended up in a Rayman level instead. Where the game tries to establish a believable gameworld at the start, mid-game it lets go of all pretense and focuses fully on the gameplay with very silly premises. Luckily I love Rayman. The silliness also extends to the story which tries to be serious at the start, but at some points revolves around murdering the entire cast to convince them you are being framed. And each of them realizes you must have been right since you could defeat them in their dying breath? What?

That brings us to the platforming. There's quite a lot of intense platforming sections. If you keep on the main path they become quite tough, but remain fair. For some of the optional treasures and a specific challenge section the fairness is debatable. In any case I didn't find enjoyment in learning movement patterns lasting several minutes and gave up on some of them. For the challenge rooms especially they also dictate which powers you can or cannot use, so you can't even come back later when you are more powerful, which is kind of one of the great things about MetroidVanias... Guess I won't get this to 100% completion.

Some frustrations aside, in the end I'd rank this right beside my favourite MetroidVanias Ori and Hollow Knight. What it lacks in coherent world building it makes up with super smooth gameplay.

The Good
The cut scenes between the levels were pretty decent, and some of the dialogue could easily be from the series itself.

The Bad
The gameplay is boring and repetitive, almost all enemies are the same, and once you get the hang of how to beat them, you could use the same method to get through the eight levels of the game.

The Bottom Line
The only reason I ever bother with this game, is the fact I'm a huge BtVS fan, but even that wasn't enough to keep my interest and cause me to enjoy the game.

If you must consume EVERY Buffy content, you might as well watch a walkthrough of YouTube. You wouldn't miss much if you didn't play it yourself.

The Good
The Genesis version is a disaster design and playability wise. This 8-bit version, while simpler, looks great and plays great.

The Bad
A bit repetitive and a tad easy.

The Bottom Line
A terrific 8-bit platformer using Taz’s spin moves.

The Good
Looks like a Warner Bros cartoon.

The Bad
You start the game and what is this? What does this have to do with Taz? Waterfalls? It’s also difficult to jump off the waterfall. Iron head creatures? What the…..?

The Bottom Line
What a waste of resources. Poor planning, level and control design.

The Good
While visually the weakest of the Hardball ports, is there a better Atari 800 baseball game? Some bits of music mixed with great playability.

The Bad
Close to C64 version but not as strong visually.

The Bottom Line
A well designed, fun baseball game.

The Good
MSX1 version already has a nice soundtrack. But MSX2 brings in some lovely colours and sprite work. Plays very well too.

The Bad
The vertical scroll is a bit juddery.

The Bottom Line
One of my favourite 1942 Arcade ports!

The Good
The game world is well-realized, with an involving story of a cluster of Earth colonies divided into two factions struggling for control of a critical resource. As an intelligence agent playing the undercover role of a free trader, you have to make a living through mining, piracy or trade long enough and well enough to prepare yourself to take on missions and opportunities that arise as the interstellar conflict progresses and escalates. Many things throughout the game are well thought out by the designers and much of the game world just makes sense. The economy of the game is extremely well-balanced. Your ship and crew are a constant drain on your resources and making a living is difficult, but achievable. Small successes open the door to upgrades which make meaningful improvements in the overall efficiency of your operation, without tipping the balance too far. The manual is extensive, thorough and well-written. Studying the manual to understand the interactions of ship systems is critical to exploiting opportunities.
There is considerable freedom in how you approach the game. You can genuinely have economic success by specializing in any of the opportunities available, so long as you plan appropriately. Success in any of trading, piracy or mining requires having appropriate crew, investing in the right ship systems and planning/scouting to take advantage of the right opportunities. Some of this requires note-taking and experimentation to succeed. The game starts you off with a fully functional ship, a full fuel tank and enough credits to make some judicious investments, but not enough to optimize anything. Getting to peak efficiency is a slow but rewarding grind. The various game sections (navigation, ship-to-ship combat, close-quarters combat, mining, trading, adventure) are all fully realized and function well (comments on the interface below). The pace of the game is good. Every action takes time and the game events are scripted out over multiple years of in-game time. This gives you time to earn credits, develop your ship and crew, experiment with different activities without undue pressure to constantly be responding to requests from headquarters. When those requests come, you need to respond in a timely way and regularly checking for messages is necessary. There is plenty of warning in advance of the climax and enough hints on how to prepare, though even the ending gives you more than one way to succeed. The missions that the game sprinkles in are well-varied and include a text parser espionage mission, some sight-seeing expeditions, a mission to hunt down a certain starship and forcibly extract intelligence, a text parser wilderness adventure with some puzzles and a maze, some random starport NPC interactions and a final confrontation with multiple possible outcomes. News events are also broadcasted to you throughout the game period, at least one of which provides a significant economic opportunity that can be exploited for profit. A couple of the intelligence missions have significant rewards that are beyond anything you can purchase in the game if you are successful. The game makes it easy to save regularly and allows multiple save-games, so it is easy to experiment and backtrack if you want to. Insta-death is a possibility whenever you take an orbital shuttle to a planet, at certain times during text adventure segments and if you are targeted by a pirate while otherwise minding your own business.

The Bad
The main knock on the game would have to be the interface. Most of the game is operated through a menu interface which you can operate with either a mouse or context-sensitive hotkeys. Once you learn it, you can complete tasks fairly efficiently, but the hotkeys can sometimes be counterintuitive. In some cases, "X" will "exit" you out of a screen while in other cases, "D" will indicate you are "done". In one case "D" will also "dump cargo" in a context where you might think "done" will get you back to the previous screen.
Parts of the game play out in an Infocom-style text parser. I found these sections a bit frustrating for two reasons. First, the vast majority of time, you are simply navigating starports to reach a transaction terminal to load/unload passengers or sell ore/goods. This requires leaving your shuttle, travelling to the starport itself, passing through customs, navigating to the transaction room and then activating a terminal where you again enter into a menu-driven commerce interface. When you are done your business, it's back to the parser to exit the terminal, walk back to the transport platform, transfer to your shuttle, enter and ask your pilot to liftoff. Most of the starports have no other features besides the landing area, customs and a transaction room.
However, those starports that do have other features require working through the text parser to try to achieve some other objective, some of which will only open up once certain conditions are met. A couple of these text adventures were quite frustrating when it was difficult to come up with the expected syntax and one misstep could literally mean death. There were others where I was unable to make any meaningful headway, though it is possible certain locations were added just to provide a little colour to the world and there may not have been anything more to achieve. There is an underlying element of randomness to much of the game world that isn't apparent until you have spent a lot of time in the game and have documented certain outcomes. For example, running a resource scan on a planet can have wildly different outcomes, but you can only run one scan each time you enter a planet's orbit. Attempting to scan again just gives an error message and you would need to transit to another planet or star and then return in order to run another scan. To find an optimal mining site therefore requires saving your game, running a scan, aborting your game and restoring, then scanning again. Each planet will have a range of possible densities for each of the 4 ore types in the game, but it would be extremely costly to determine this range without abusing saves. Similarly, each planet makes approximately 20-25 trade-goods and prices fly by on a ticker. With careful observation, you can determine an average price for each good and identify when a "good deal" pops up. Taking that item to a suitable planet SHOULD result in a profit, but there seems to be a random inflation/deflation factor that takes effect both when entering the buying window on planet A and the selling window in planet B. If you aren't aware that you're in an inflated environment when buying on planet A, you may be unable to turn a profit even with very thoughtful buying. If the selling prices are depressed when you reach planet B, you are likewise in trouble. Again, you can overcome this by saving your game before heading down to the planet and reloading if prices are depressed (or just taking your shuttle back to your ship and then descending again, but that would require running through the repetitive text parser steps again). On one hand, these random factors simulate reality a bit better and force you to manage risk through research, but it takes a lot of in-game time and research to even know these variable outcomes are possible.
Playing this on an emulator would be brutal due to the number of disk-swaps required. I played this on an Apple IIe in the 80's and it was a real slog. Getting through the entire game would have been almost inconceivable at the rate that things ran. Now that it has been released on GOG, it is smooth, seamless and fast.

The Bottom Line
This is an ambitious, deep and well-balanced game. For me, it was fun and involving to come back to this game decades after originally playing it and being stumped. Even that frustrating childhood experience of almost 40 years ago stayed with me though and I was excited to try this again. Nearing the end of my second full playthrough, it has been a real pleasure.

The Good
Really liked the 2D graphics and suspense gameplay.

The Bad
Had some performance issues at launch (especially on Steam Deck), but as far as I can tell they have been fixed.

The Bottom Line
Give it a try if you like the FNAF universe or any good 2D pixel art suspense horror.

The Good
Ah…….at first I just moved right and was stuck. Didn’t know you jumped up through an opening! Hey! There’s something wrong with this game! Ha-ha!

The Bad
Budget game…short, simple graphics

The Bottom Line
Fun budget ninja game with cute eastern music background. Enough said!

The Good
The environments, fighting tactics (combos), sound effects, combat variety, and narrative.

The Bad
The controls are not always precise, and there are battles where two enemies (one with a spear, for example) attack you at the same time, making the fight nearly impossible to overcome.

The Bottom Line
I highly recommend playing this video game.

The Good
Sure audio is simple but pleasant and well designed. Sure, graphics are simple but are functional. Playability is awesome. You have to use your points to manage your weapons, your armour,etc. Makes for a fun game.

The Bad
Simple audio visual but functional

The Bottom Line
This was a well done arcade port. Had fun with it.

The Good
A “4”? Really? the game by design has not a lot to do since you have a targeting system. hello! This is not a simulation! so, your left with eye candy. So, does that work for me? ….yup! soundtrack by simmonds who created opening track on chuck rock? Yes sir! Awesome track. yes, visuals are a bit washed out in some scenes. Still, lots of good stuff.

i was actually considering an 8. 9? Yah, so blah!

The Bad
Not a lot to do due to targeting system.

The Bottom Line
Try it if you like mindless shooting and good music.

The Good
Great music. Good atmosphere. Variety in levels. Sense of accomplishment in advancing.

The Bad
Unforgiving to first-time players and hidden details about power of weapons that you won't know without a guide or playing a lot. Not the most polished of beat'em ups.

The Bottom Line
This game received some praise upon release and children at the time liked it, despite recognizing how hard it was. We just liked it AND thought it was hard. It wasn't until a certain Angry Nerd came along that it became intensely hated by so many.

I encourage you to give it a solid 2 hours of play with a guide nearby, and if nothing else to enjoy a true "late 80s" feel that comes from the music, visuals, and yes, even the weird difficulty scaling.

The Good
Great level design in visual and gameplay side. Very good, remarkable soundtrack and sound effects. Good arsenal, nice tactic mode.

The Bad
Old bugs (like rocket bug, grenade bug, ladder bug)

The Bottom Line
Game is abandoned, needs to be rereleased on Steam.

The Good
Sweet graphics. Decent gameplay.

The Bad
It takes a long time to launch the ball because of the long animated sequence of the ball being released by a mechanical device.

The Bottom Line
You could probably have more fun with Arkanoid or Arkanoid 2 revenge of Doh or indeed it's sequel that appeared on the Arcade and Super Nintendo.

The Good
Couldn’t believe how much fun a simple looking game can be. It’s almost as the computer opponent is a real person. Terrific design!

The Bad
Not much other than simple graphics. It’s a bit slow.

The Bottom Line
Give this game a try as long as you don’t mind the graphics. It’s a lot of fun!

The Good
The presentation is crisp to say the least. Character design of the main character is cute but I could not tell an arm from a leg when looking at the other characters. Klonoa has great music and the sound desing is also good. Surprisingly the story was also quite good.

The level desing and the bosses are the best bit of the game though. Bosses were tough enough that after the first one I think all the bosses took me couple tries to pull it off. This is mostly thanks to the 3d aiming and positioning which brought my blood to boil a few times.

The Bad
The game has a bit of challenge. Platforming is decent, controls are ok. I feel the controlswere a bit slippery but after a bit of adjustment you can pull of even the trickier platforming without throwing your controller to the wall. for a 2.5d game this I liked the challenge and innovation.

The Bottom Line
Good 2.5D game with replayability. I appreciate that the game was short, around 5 hours to beat. You can return to the levels afterwards and collect all the missing collectibles. The game offers a bit of challenge but you quickly build up your skills so the game stays light. I'd recommend the game for platform enjoyers and those who want a delve into low-poly games.

The Good
Good card/playstyle variety, great card art, generally looked and felt good. Ran on very low-end hardware. Good offline content also. Quick match making.

The Bad
The servers are shut down and the game was not very balanced.

The Bottom Line
The servers are shut down.

The Good
. Graphics are nice and detailed, presenting a bright color palette. . Movement is responsive and swift. . It falls a bit on the short side, making it a quick and fun experience. . Sound effects are solid, with the music being moody and catchy.

The Bad
. This game is harsh, with enemies ganging up on you constantly. . Energy for your Energy Bar is pretty easy to find but health pickups are almost non-existent, adding to the difficulty of the enemy AI.

The Bottom Line
Not bad but not great, Alien Storm can be very fun little experience, regardless of the harsh difficulty these alien invaders present.

The Good
There are plenty of fighteres to choose from with decent pre-rendered cgi.

The Bad
The Gameplay is now playable but the characters and moves are pretty unreadable and you have more success jumping in mashing buttons that trying to use tactics.

The Bottom Line
More of an actual fighting game than the original but still one of the worst fighting games you could choose to play.

The Good
The CGI looks really cool for 94, hi res and sharp with smooth animation.

The Bad
Has the worst combination of slow movement, limited moves, nothing but charge attacks. etc. Truly unplayable.

The Bottom Line
This game had so much hype based mostly on it's cool pre-rendered graphics. it's so unfortunate that the game has the worst gameplay since pit fighter, possibly even worse.

The Good
The graphics are very close to the Mega Drive version, will less animation. The sound and music is also very close.

The Bad
The Gameplay feels like someone who has played Golden Axe but wasn't good at it and doesn't know what's going on under the hood, you can't attack badguys in clumps, so if you get into a combo another enemy will attack you, also the downward stab which is an essential move, is not there. Also there is no reason with VGA and the memory that a PC has that they could have not converted the Arcade backgrounds and sprites rather than the Mega Drive. Also there is no real reason they couldn't have prograbbed everything to act and control the same as the arcade, if the programmers were given access to the arcade source.

The Bottom Line
If this LOOKED worse I would probably be more forgiving, the problem is it LOOKS like the Mega Drive version but plays extremely janky.

The Good
Brilliant Concept. The idea is so good it's baffling that more games haven't imitated it.

Strange there aren't more in the series (excluding the Switch-exclusive Zelda variant)

The Bad
Playing it now feels needlessly exclusionary: a non-existent on-ramp starts difficult and becomes excruciating quickly.

It asks for too much of a commitment. You can progress, but it means not playing a lot of other games while you perfect your skills. However, this isn't Elden Ring, and that's too much of an ask for what the game gives in return.

Isn't the point of a rhythm game to have fun?

Graphics look... rough

The Bottom Line
Amazing concept that needs a proper sequel (or 4) to flesh it out.

Game hasn't aged well on most levels.

The Good
Starggering levels of creativity and wonder

Timeless graphics

Intuitive gameplay that hides deep complexity

Compelling narrative and world if you're willing to work to unravel it

The Bad
Not all of the creative gameplay ideas land equally

Manually translating the native FEZ language gets old

The Bottom Line
Over 10 years later and still one of the greatest games ever made.

Criminal a sequel never came out.

The Good
Amazing narration (writing and voice-over)

The art style holds up

Captivating abstract story

The Bad
Hard to come back to after Hades

The controls and difficulty could have used some tuning

The Bottom Line
Worthwhile playing as an educational exercise to understand the developmental evolution that allowed Supergiant to make a masterpiece like Hades

The Good
Nice sense of humor.

Controls feel tight

Short play sessions that don't penalize failure too much

The Bad
Becomes boring after a while

Not a very captivating metagame

The Bottom Line
There is some joy and surprises, even if they wear thin after while. A really great game that could have used a sequel to perfect the experience.

The Good
Jovial, funny and loving celebration of 30 years of Playstation

The mascot Playstation deserves

The Bad
The later released Astro Bot improves upon this game so much it can be hard to go back and play it after

The Bottom Line
Despite being shown-up by the full Astro Bot release, Astro's Playroom is still a fun time for those who have blown through all of Astro's full adventure.

The Good
Become one with the PS5 controller.

Feels so good it ruins other games (also The Bad)

The game I wanted that I didn't even know I wanted.

Manufactures and distributes joy like a 20th-century assembly line

The Bad
It ends. Eventually.

No multiplayer.

The Bottom Line
Deserved to be Game of the Year. Shows what's possible with a dedicated, inspired medium-sized team.

The Good
Intuitive. Takes 2 seconds to figure out how to play.

Intense, but weirdly soothing and inspirational.

Great for 15 minute play sessions.

The Bad
Progression is somewhat unbalanced

The Bottom Line
One of the best Vita games no one talks about

The Good
The writing, music and mood are all amazing. For such a lore heavy game, the action is surprisingly well done too. If you die, it is almost always your own fault.

The Bad
The quest chains can be incredibly long and confusing. You really just need to focus on finishing one small quest at a time, otherwise you'll be overwhelmed.

The Bottom Line
I still think this is a one of a kind game, ten years later. Its sequels excluded of course.

The Good
Very impressive platformer based on a comic. I love the bits of animation and am impressed with the soundtrack.

The NES version features isometric sections and is a fine game. But it also has tough jumps.

I find the game boy one more fun.

The Bad
Game can be quite challenging as well. But not unfairly so.

The Bottom Line
A game with real fine production values and a fun platformer.

The Good
In short, had a blast playing this. Playtime was around 9h when I finished and I didn't explore most of the side quests in this.

The presentation of the game is excellent. The visual style and character designs and portrayals are what makes this game. Its honestly funny and cute like a goof saturday morning cartoon.

Also the music and sound design is to be praised. Some of the dungeons got this really insidious theme that contrasts the warm happy music from the overworld. I played the japanese version of this game and i liked the voice acting better than the english version. Though the english voice acting isn't bad either. Felt like the japanese VA got the characters down better.

Gameplay wise, the pacing is well in balance with dungeon crawling, boss battles and town related sidequests and upgrading your gear.

The story is decent, nothing mind blowing or too big. The villains are funny and humane, the protagonists are well.. what you'd expect them to be. Story ramps up at the end and sets a bigger mystery for the sequel. In short, I liked it.

The Bad
As megaman is transitionin to 3d, they really didn't get the camera working wit the movement of the character with this one. I mean its not terrible, you are sure to have a good time with this game no doubt. However the camera is very clunky and in big battles it acts against you as it may throw around. Also shooting while moving is a bit rough but works. The game has a lock-on mechanic that is ok, but wont help you if you're moving around.

Honestly thats the bad of this cake. Movement and camera do not coordinate and are very rough. I guess you could give some minus points for that awful PAL and US game cover though.

The Bottom Line
If you're in for a visually striking game with funny characters and some addicting gameplay loops. Look no further. The game has its problems that are common to early 3d adventure games, but despite them you're most likely going to have a good time.

The Good
A terrific shooter no matter which version. But for Sega Master, tops in sprites and background graphics.

The Bad
Soundtrack gets repetitive quickly. But you hardly notice, while firing furiously.

The Bottom Line
A great game with top notch graphics.

The Good
Fast-paced action, with a refreshing simplicity in the design. Good music, even if it could have used a few more tracks. Responsive controls.

The Bad
There's no difficulty levels or assist options, and the last few levels get a bit too fast. You basically have to memorize the level to have a chance instead of being able to react, and even then you'll need to play through them a significant number of times. Granted, you don't need to collect all the trophies or complete the secret levels, but I would have preferred the game to cap the difficulty a bit lower, if only for the sake of my wrists.

The Bottom Line
Look, it's a skateboarding alligator straight from the 90s where the gameplay consists of hitting up and down at the right times. The game is a good execution on that premise. If you want something deeper, go with the sequel.

The Good
So what’s wrong with eye candy? Ever thing works really well: fast 3D graphics, cool lighting effects, ear blasting sound, etc.

The Bad
One dimensional one dimensional

The Bottom Line
Shoot the bad guys, collect icons, hurry before time runs out…… I had a blast,

The Good
Huge Weapons Arsenal, Storytelling, Maze like levels and Great Puzzles, Fast Movement, Various Environments and Planets to explore, Great Assortment of Enemies

The Bad
Movement and control authority can feel dated and kinda slippery

The Bottom Line
Excellent FPS Game Design and Storytelling with varied weapons, enemies, environments, missions and puzzles. Movement can feel dated.

The Good
XCOM meets Into the Breach.

The Bad
I could nitpick that the XP mechanic is entirely arbitrary and appears to be completely outside the player's influence. Or how finishing all optional goals in the same session could've been rewarded in some way (with something superficial like a shinier star or achievements).

But the reality is there aren't really any bad elements to point out.

The Bottom Line
Tactical Breach Wizards is a sublime mix between XCOM and Into the Breach. Where I really loved Into the Breach's full information mechanics, I couldn't really get into the rogue-like structure of the game. Tactical Breach Wizards instead presents itself with a wonderfully crafted single player campaign and a collection of loose optional dreams. Each level is a manually crafted puzzle on its own and there's a consistent influx of new team members, abilities, and upgrades which keeps things fresh.

Because of the full information of what's going to happen there's never quite that anticipation moment when firing, that XCOM does so well. Nor do we ever feel the loss of one of our long-surviving team mates, but we get a lot in return. The puzzles are carefully crafted and with infinite undoes your are fully free to experiment. There's a lot of ways all the powers work together and throughout the game you'll start to learn them all through experimentation. There's a nice mix of levels in which I felt I could "solve" it in multiple ways, while in others they clearly try to teach you new trick. You'll often feel smart about finding some new combo. Which in occasional situations can become extremely overpowered, but what works well in one level doesn't necessarily work in the next, due to the composition of the team, shape of the level, types of enemies, other interactive elements in the level, and your actual goals.

The conversations in between levels serve well to give the characters some personality and keep the story going. None of the characters follow any familiar class system and instead really feel like a ragtag bunch because of it.

The focus on moving enemies around rather than directly damaging them is an incredibly fun gameplay mechanic, although the balance shifts a bit more towards damage dealing later in the game with more heavy damage powers becoming available.

While a different beast than XCOM, being more of a puzzle game, and less about gambling with lives. Counting them both as "Turn Based Tactics" games, I think I finally found the game that dethrones XCOM from the top position.

The Good
- The style - It perfected the DD and DD2 style and athmosphere
- The mayhem - the tracks and big grid bring the chaos you need
- The physics - for a PS1 game physics are perfect
- The damage - damage looks good
- The track variety - there are a lot of tracks
- The multiplayer - while only on arenas still better than DD2 in that aspect.

The Bad
- The AI acts rather boring
- The AI scores, probably due to optimizations, are fake
- The career mode doesn't lead to a final standing - it is never final. When you finish the Smash 4 cash you get credtis, then start over with the already accumulated results still standing
- Multiplay featuring only arenas. My favourites are the tracks themselves, and no, you cannot race on them with friends unfortunately.

The Bottom Line
Can anyone stop the mechanical mayhem AAA!!!!!
I can clearly see where the shortcommings came from. It was year 2000 and PS2 was just around the corner. Despite it's flaws I still love this game.

The Good
The visuals, attention to detail, the music, the characters. This is as pretty and as unique as PS2 era games get. This game has a lot of gameplay in it with minigames and collectibles. The combat system and brush mechanic is fun and used well in the game.

The Bad
The game is long. I don't mind playing a 30h playthrough but I feel like much of the runtime comes through the dialog. Dialog and is slow and explains action and every plot movement to the player multiple times. I understand that this is to cater larger audiences but man did I feel patronised and guided by hand through the game. The dialog is also unskippable. So if you are impaitent, you might have some frustration playing through the game.

The game also gives you different brush skills that open up new abilities and possibilities as you progress the game. This is great, I like metroicvanias. But I felt the rewards that you got from searching every nook and cranny with your new abilities was not worth it.

The Bottom Line
Even though I got frustrated with the game for it's length and thourough explaining. I sat through the whole game and it slowly grew on me. It felt like a journey to the far east. Getting familiar with japanese mythology and stories related to the gods. This game also has a meditative aspect to it, not many games have you run around the beach as a wolf, digging treasure, earning praise, biting and barking around. The whole revigorating the nature was the best aspect of the game. Surely this game is a must play.

The Good
Engaging Gameplay: Regency Solitaire offers a captivating twist on classic solitaire, with the addition of unique objectives and power-ups that keep players entertained. The strategic use of wild cards and shuffles adds depth to the gameplay, making it both challenging and rewarding. Charming Narrative: The game features a delightful storyline following Bella's journey to restore her family's fortune and find love. The narrative is woven seamlessly into the gameplay, providing players with motivation and context as they progress through the game. Immersive Atmosphere: With its period-appropriate music and art, Regency Solitaire transports players to the elegance of the Regency era. The detailed illustrations and animations enhance the romantic and historical feel, creating a truly immersive experience. Accessibility: The game is designed to be easy for players of all skill levels to pick up and enjoy. Its intuitive mechanics and gradual increase in difficulty make it accessible to newcomers while still offering enough complexity to engage seasoned players. Visual Delight: The art style of Regency Solitaire is rich and detailed, featuring intricate card designs and opulent backgrounds that reflect the Regency era. This attention to visual detail adds to the game's overall charm. Replay Value: With over 180 levels, the game provides hours of entertainment. Each level presents new challenges and rewards, ensuring that players remain engaged and motivated to continue playing.

The Bad
Repetitive Gameplay: While Regency Solitaire offers a unique twist on classic solitaire, some players might find the gameplay becomes repetitive over time, especially if they're not invested in the storyline or additional objectives. Limited Appeal of the Narrative: The romantic narrative set in the Regency era may not resonate with everyone. Players who prefer fast-paced action or more modern settings might not find the storyline engaging. Lack of Innovation Beyond Solitaire: Despite its charming presentation, the game doesn't stray far from the traditional solitaire formula. Those looking for groundbreaking mechanics or significant innovations might be disappointed. Potential for Frustration in Later Levels: As the game progresses, the increasing difficulty can lead to frustration for some players, particularly if they're not utilizing power-ups effectively. Art Style and Period Setting Not for Everyone: The Regency-era art and music, while beautifully executed, may not appeal to gamers who prefer other artistic styles or musical genres.

The Bottom Line
Regency Solitaire is a delightful escape into a world of romance and card-playing strategy. Its charming narrative, combined with engaging gameplay and beautiful visuals, make it a standout title for fans of solitaire and period dramas alike. Whether you're a solitaire enthusiast or a newcomer to the genre, Regency Solitaire offers a thoroughly enjoyable experience that is both entertaining and heartwarming.

The Good
-Good movement -great combat mechanics and combo options -nice shaders -decent story

The Bad
-Very short -windows only

The Bottom Line
As a summary the game has unbelievable gameplay with a very short story. If the game was fully done (the indicated city playable) it would probably be one of the best games I have played. Well done!

The Good
Freedom. Living universe. Variety. Quirky and lighthearted writing.

The Bad
Questionable English translation, writing in general requires lots of Russian cultural knowledge

The Bottom Line
Must play for anyone who speaks Russian at or close to native level.

The Good
Upon starting up the game it almost looks like you’re playing the original Diablo all over again. You’ll be pleasantly surprised to find the plethora of new additions, particularly the monk player character. The monk is just as competent a combatant as the warrior, versatile in weapons, decent in spellcasting and has the uncanny to hit multiple opponents at once, which can really work in your flavour. And that search spell he comes equipped with, really solves the issue finding items obscured by the dark and scenery. Quite a comfortable character to play with.

The nicer features throughout the came consist of newer items, some of an absolute must have. Oils will help improve your weapons, runes allow you to set traps, and some staffs wielded serve as to grant you an extra, it limited spell slot. Other little additions that provide extra polish to the game are smoother movement, faster movement in the town so you don’t have to spend a minute and a half getting from one shop to another, and that annoying shuffling sound of your footsteps is absent, and deservedly so. And you don’t even need to ask the healer to heal you, it happens automatically when you start talking to him.

The biggest surprise that awaits you are two brand new hidden locations with new scenery, enemies and music tracks. Those levels are really hard to beat, but they also rack up the necessary experience you’ll need for Diablo. And speaking of Diablo, the major side quest to defeat that sub-Diablo demon is just the appetizer you need, a satisfying finish to the crypt levels.

The Bad
Good as the game gets with its new additions and tweaking of the mechanics, there still exists a lingering issue of the isometric

The Bottom Line
Sierra really went out of their way to make Diablo a better and relishing experience for players with many of the issues fixed, and the newer features giving the original Diablo a run for its money. If you had frustrating experience with Diablo before, this expansion won’t easily disappoint and you’ll definitely spend hours mastering it with your favourite character, making the best of what it has to offer. Honestly I cannot recommend this game enough to all gamers. It does Castle of he Winds proud.

The Good
The movement is tight, the locales interesting to explore, and it looks gorgeous too. The blue coins give the player an extra incentive to explore every corner of its levels, each of which is carefully crafted to be a playground where the player can have fun with the mechanics.

The Bad
Some levels in this game are just too hard. Pachinko comes to mind. The lilypad level is also diabolical.

The Bottom Line
This game improves on its predecessor in every way. Mario 64 established the 3D platformer formula and this game perfected it.

The Good
In retrospect, at least the PC version looked like a demo vehicle for the industry and technologies like CD-ROM or Philips' CDi system. Excellent graphics, stunning cut scenes and backgrounds. Welcome to the world of SuperVGA!

The Bad
For a fighting game, it was nothing but lackluster and no match for console giants like Street Fighter. The fighting system feels poor, incomplete, and moreover it is too easy to win the fights by spamming your opponents with the same move. As for the graphics, they had no counterpart in sound design or music. The PC version is reaaaaally quiet on that behalf. Brian May's intro riff from the Queen-dustbin, a couple metal smashing sfx, that's it. At least other platforms got cool scores by Richard Joseph et al.

The Bottom Line
RotR was all the hype back then because of it's graphics, but it's all just looks. The PC-DOS version demonstrated, what SVGA and CD-ROM were capable of, but as a fighting game it underperformed and could be beat too easily and quickly. Great for nostalgia, but not really for replaying it.

The Good
For an older game, it has fun gameplay, interesting puzzles and a variety of enemy types to fight. Only 3 boss fights in the OG, but all are complex battles.

The Bad
Some elements of the game are frustrating, such as very quick qtes, especially during the Ares fight and some frustrating puzzles where you need to maximize your speed.

The Bottom Line
A fun hack and slash that holds up well, aside from the few frustrating parts and the beginning of the God of War games. Overall a 7/10 game

The Good
As far as I know, this is pretty much the first ARPG ever. If it isn't then it pretty close. If you like the SoulsBorne games, there is a lot here that is going to feel familiar. Set encounters (until the lower levels), stamina management, enemies that respawn every time you leave/die, different weapons that allow for some play style variance, penalties for death, buffs, etc. The manual and it's accompanying lore book are excellent. This is where you'll find the lore, descriptions of the enemies you'll encounter, explanations of what the weapons and armor that are available to you in the shop, treasure values, the lot. All presented as from a dungeon master running a game. It feel a lot like a passion project by Gary Gygax. If you are an old time DnD player who remembers the old modules, it's going to tickle that nostalgia itch.

The Bad
top of the list: developed in 1985. Just about every criticism can be tied back to that. The controls are... rough. This game happened while the conventions for how to interface with a game were still being sorted out. ie: S for swing, Q for Quaff, T for throw, number pad for your controls. There is no counter for your stamina, you just have to figure out how many times you can swing and how many steps you can take before you lock up. (yes, steps take stamina) There's a lot of just figuring it out. it doesn't hold your hand and it expects you to read the manual. The only other nitpick I have is that it isn't very long and just kinda peters out once you have done all the things. once you have maxed your stats and have the best gear. even the lowest level isn't that tough. (still not a walk in the park though) and there isn't really anything beyond that. No Boss, No big bad, no ending. you just end up going "now what?"

The Bottom Line
A marvel of what can be accomplished with less than 500kb, passion, and creativity. For it's time, it's an incredibly complex game. If you enjoy the mechanics of dark souls or love old school fantasy. It's worth a try. Just read the manual or your going to have a bad time. It's not very long (look at the file size), but can be a fun trip to a simpler time.

(disclaimer: I've been playing this game since it came out as a kid. So I am INCREDIBLY biased)

The Good
Some interesting 3rd person overhead graphics and a powerful soundtrack.

The Bad
Too much focus on mindless shooting.

The Bottom Line
Could use some FMV cut scenes to break up the monotony. Yawn…….

The Good
While not licensed by Nintendo, it is apparently licensed by Id. Makes for a cool Wolfenstein clone, I think. Lots of different well drawn animals and features new levels.

The Bad
Eventually, the levels do seem a little long.

The Bottom Line
Good first person non-violent shooter. Being a biblical Noah, doesn’t effect gameplay.

The Good
The characters, the story, and the music drew me in. Absolutely phenomenal in all ways, and I'll never be able to articulate how awesome this game is.

The Bad
It's a "classic" RPG - it's easy to get lost, and the battles may get tedious for newcomers.

The Bottom Line
Doesn't matter which platform - you definitely should try this game!

The Good
Much better game than some reviews suggest. The 3D effect is created by the hardware bitmap scaling and is very effective. The colours are awesome. By leaning forward or back and with practice you can move up the ranks. I like it!

The Bad
Course can get congested but it’s motocross man!

The Bottom Line
You need to be patient to figure out what works best. But if you persevere, it’s really a nice game.

The Good
The idea behind the game is new to me but it is simple enough to grasp and it is easy to play. The music is quite good too. The graphics are simple, clear and easy on the eye plus it is easy to zoom in and out of the game area.

I picked up this game on Steam where it is free though players are asked to consider making a donation to charity. It looked like the kind of game to play between other things, for example while taking a break and having a cup of coffee.
Well I was sort of right and I was sort of wrong. It is great coffee break material but it has sort of got under my skin and I've been playing more of this than I've been playing the 'real' games I was given for Christmas. It has that "I'll just do a bit more before I stop" feeling to it.

The Bad
It started out being a so-so kind of game then it became addictive however after a while, because it is so big, it becomes a bit repetitive.

The Bottom Line
Game stats:
In the last month I have played for 37 hours,
I have, according to the game, made 27505 micro decisions, but I don't think it counts the errors that I had to re-do
I have 36 Steam achievements - there are still 56 to go and I will probably play until I get them all 'coz I don't like to leave a job half done,
According to the game I am just 54% of the way through.

I've been taking more coffee breaks to play this game and have even had the odd late night glass of wine break too.
Recommended

The Good
The only good in this horrific nightmare is the fact its making Ubisoft lose money.

The Bad
Everything is bad. The graphics look worse than Pixel Gun 3D, You need an NFT in order to enter the game, yet the game still includes an in-game shop, currency and a battle pass, not to mention the fact they added a battle pass before a game mode other than deathmatch. The actual gameplay can only be compared to brawl stars if it was made using sketch.

The Bottom Line
Never play this please.

The Good
The artwork is good, the dialogue is fully voiced and there are two difficulty settings - I played on the ADULT setting and struggled but in a good way because I would have slated this game if it had been too easy.

The Bad
There is one big picture and some bits of the image are animated. These look like they could be fun to watch but because the game was timed I was not able to appreciate them. Shame because they look fun, I suppose I could play on the KIDS difficulty setting but then I miss out on a challenging game.

The Bottom Line
I am much too old to have had anything to do with the Where's Wally books but I like hidden object games and I expected this would be a breeze. I played on the ADULT setting and it wasn't.

Decent challenges. I got to a point where I could not continue because I did not score high enough on a level and after three tries I gave up - it was fun but just not fun enough to keep trying.

The Good
It's Tetris, and it looks and sounds great.

The Bad
You probably already own Tetris on a bunch of other platforms. It doesn't really offer anything new.

The Bottom Line
Tetris is great. And if you're new to Tetris this game is an excellent place to start, but in the end it's the same game we've been playing since the mid 80s.

The Good
Extensive roster of Star Trek characters Smooth performance on Switch Accessible turn-based combat Polished user interface

The Bad
Mobile game mechanics feel out of place Repetitive and grindy progression Shallow strategic elements Underwhelming storytelling Limited content depth

The Bottom Line
Star Trek: Legends on Nintendo Switch is a serviceable but ultimately shallow experience that fails to break free from its mobile gaming origins. While die-hard Star Trek fans might find some enjoyment in collecting and assembling teams of their favorite characters, the repetitive gameplay and lack of meaningful content make it difficult to recommend at full price.

The Good
Maquette is the kind of game that makes me want to rate gameplay and storytelling qualities entirely independent from each other. A bittersweet modern love story wrapped around a game of spatial brainteasers in a surreal, recursive game world, I initially found the puzzle mechanics to be very clever and well realised, while the telling of the implausible love story ranged from corny to embarrassing. That impression lasted well into the second half of the game, when the writing started to improve dramatically and forced me to reevaluate my opinion.

Revolving around the ups and downs of a modern-day, long-term romantic relationship, Maquette tells a rather terrible love story, but a moving and honest story of love’s aftermath. The ironic question is whether it’s worth sitting through the cheesy and bland honeymoon phase to get to appreciate the touching breakup and post-breakup parts.

Luckily, my impression was that the quality of the puzzle elements follows a curve opposite to that of the story. Varied and motivating in the beginning, they start to grow a bit repetitive with the third or fourth key-in-door or bridge placement problem. Just as the puzzle elements start to unravel, the storytelling takes a turn for the better and picks up the slack.

Almost every puzzle in Maquette is based on the game taking place in a recursive world. At the centre is the eponymous “maquette”, a scale model of the entire environment. Conversely, when looking away from the maquette, one can see that the current environment is itself a maquette in an oversized version of itself. Even larger iterations can be made out in the distance.

When an object is dropped in the maquette, a larger, but otherwise identical version of it will appear at the same spot in the surrounding environment. Likewise, tiny models of objects located in the world can be taken back out of the maquette. Most puzzles revolve around getting the right size of the right objects to the right place. The scope is implicitly limited by the player staying the same size, while objects deep enough in levels of maquettes become too tiny to pick up, and larger versions of the game world become impassable due to towering heights and depths.

This is quite difficult, and maybe pointless, to try and put into words, but the game does a great job in conveying these mechanics intuitively. Since the differently sized versions of each object move synchronously, a key dropped in the maquette can immediately be seen, in its gargantuan version, dropping to the floor outside with a satisfying, metallic clunk. How this has been realised in the game’s 3D engine is impressive.

Maquette also takes care to always try and give stuck players some subtle clues on where to look for the next step. Important objects glimmer, mysterious noises or animations point the way, and occasionally the storyline provides a clue for the current puzzle. I was stumped twice, but in both cases had to admit that the game had given me fair clues on where to look.

As the limits of the underlying puzzle concept are increasingly pushed, so are the game world and engine. Glitches in collision detection become more frequent and sometimes force players to reload a previously saved game. The game also fails when it veers into genuine jump & run territory, where it feels imprecise, and I was never sure whether hopping across obstacles was what the game really expected of me or whether it would just lead me into a potentially glitchy dead end.

Visually, Maquette struck me as a gorgeous game right from the beginning of the prologue, if not already in the main menu. It’s kept in a lightly textured, colourful look with soft and lush lighting. From fluttering butterflies and swaying flowers, animations are subtle and effective. Cutscenes often feature colourful drawings – both protagonists are passionate sketch artists – which are animated into and out of existence. It’s a beautiful game to look at in every respect, and the restrained ambient noise helps the world feel wonderful and mysterious in a slightly dream-like style which at times reminded me of Ico.

Apart from a handful of ambient musical cues, Maquette also features several softly rocky and folky ballads by independent Bay Area artists which are played at specific points in the story. They fit the mood very well and sound good, so it’s a pity that they’re sometimes cut short if a puzzle is solved too quickly. I particularly liked how the reverb effects changed depending on which scale of the environment I was currently exploring.

Enchanting visuals and beautiful music are essential for any work that wants to tell a good love story, and I’d give Maquette full marks for both. But how do those clever, recursive, physical puzzles connect back to the story of love and heartbreak? The answer is, unfortunately: barely.

The official description draws the analogy: in long-term relationships, small problems can turn into seemingly insurmountable obstacles. With distance, things that once caused devastating and hurtful fights can seem tiny and insignificant. It’s a wonderful connection in theory, but it never materialises in the game. I enjoyed solving the puzzles, and I solved them in environments that often referenced the love story I was following. But I never felt that the two were really intertwined. I think the game as a whole could have fused better if the concrete tasks I was struggling to achieve in the puzzles had occasionally correlated with something Michael and Kenzie were struggling to achieve in their relationship.

Although the puzzles feel disconnected from the plot, I want to point out that the world’s details very much reflect it in beautiful and subtle ways. The fantastical surroundings of the early sections spring directly from Michael and Kenzie’s imaginations as they sketch out paintings and a possible future together. Those paying attention will start noticing little cracks appearing in the buildings long before the dialogue makes the relationship problems obvious. As things get worse, one might notice objects that were part of the couple’s shared life and dreams, and puzzles solved earlier, lying shattered and discarded by the wayside.

The Bad
Which brings me all the way back to this story that I initially disliked so much. Any game that wants to tell players an emotional love story needs to spend enough time building up its characters and making the relationship feel believable and like it matters. This isn’t where Maquette goes wrong, nor is it the main character’s internal monologue, told through floating, handwritten notes, which even in the first half are mostly fine. The core problem is that the dialogues between the two lovers, through which most of the story of the relationship is told, feels very corny and inauthentic. The voice acting is good, it’s the actual lines that don’t ring true with me at all. I couldn’t believe Michael and Kenzie’s honeymoon phase to be like one that a real, grown-up couple would have. It felt more like what a pre-teen imagines a grown-up relationship to be like. (If you want to avoid reading anything that could be considered a spoiler, skip the next two paragraphs).

The Bottom Line
Not even when conflict arises in the relationship do the dialogues become much more believable. It’s only when the end of the characters’ shared life is looming that the writing started resonating with me. Dialogue naturally ceases to be the major driver of the plot, and the focus turns back to the internal monologue the game opened with. It’s obvious from the very beginning that the monologue is a letter written by one of the protagonists to the other. Gradually, it becomes clear that it’s a post-breakup letter, of the kind written after having gained some emotional distance, taking stock of what was and what remains, the kind that doesn’t necessarily have to be sent to the person it’s addressed to. The letter formed by this monologue ends up with many wonderful, bittersweet, touching, even deep lines of thought. Thoughts that anyone who has ever gone through a breakup either knows first-hand or can at least empathise with.

What made me like the writing even more was the realisation – which I only came to after having read the letter a second time – that the game never mentions whether this letter is written by Michael or Kenzie. Probably due to me being male, I implicitly assumed I was playing Michael as he is writing to Kenzie. But nothing in the story contradicts the interpretation that it could be Kenzie writing to Michael, nor that whoever wrote the letter indeed sent it and we might be reading it from the eyes of the recipient. I think it’s wonderful that the story can be read in any of these ways, depending on which character the player identifies with more, and which outcome they’d like to imagine. In real life, people losing touch for good after having shared such a part of their lives feels very sad to me, so I’m personally quite fond of the thought of letters sent and received, thoughts and gratitude shared, and friendships retained.

It’s the great paradox of Maquette’s story that it can feel as if it’s been written by someone who has never had a real, long-term relationship before but has intimate and authentic experience in dealing with the end of one. As the game wrapped up, it had managed to change my opinion of it. I thought I would end up considering it a great and clever puzzle game with a very poorly told and bland story. As I approached the end of the game, it served more and more thought-provoking lines that I had to give it credit for. Having finished it, I can’t even call it a bad love story anymore. For all its weaknesses in the beginning, after it was all wrapped up, I was left with the faintly choked up feeling I get at the end of any slightly soppy romance plot worth its while.

The Good
The art direction of Dustborn is a solid one. Drawing strong inspirations from comic books, it doesn't fall into the trap of looking like yet another Borderlands-wannabe. The menus, world, characters, and visual effects combine into a cohesive mix of "cool".

A diverse cast of characters are lined up for you to get to know, some more intimately than others. If you are interested in a diverse cast, this might offer new characters for you to love.

The setting is interesting, leaning on an alternate timeline of the United States that diverges at JFK's assassination. It's ultimately a setting of "people with paranormal vocal powers" against the regime, which is easy to get into.

The music featured in the game is also generally on-point. As it moonlights as a Guitar Hero-esque rhythm game, the songs that your "band" performs are catchy.

The Bad
The story brushes past some pretty important moments or issues, some where the characters may behave uncharacteristically.

While the cast is diverse, there are some moments I wouldn't necessarily include, contradicting their religion or gender identity. This is nit-picky, however, but it felt weird to have such an inclusive cast with these few contradictions.

This might be a user error, but in the rhythm game, I felt like the beats were delayed. While I felt I were pressing the buttons on beat with the rhythm, I would only get "perfect" if I delayed a short moment. Prior to the initial rhythm portion, I was tasked to synchronize my input, so it could be a user error.

While the voice acting is pretty good, there are some segments where the audio levels renders the dialogue very quiet. Thankfully, there are subtitles.

The Bottom Line
The writing has some serious themes, but is mostly a somewhat whimisical and humorous story. It features themes surrounding language, misinformation, manipulation, and growing as an individual.

It feels like the characters and their powers weren't utilized fully. Especially during combat encounters, I tended to gravitate toward the same options over and over again, as there were little reason not to. I think it could also be interesting to have more agency over which characters you brought to a fight, as there were some combo moves between the lead character, Pax, and her companions.

In terms of complexity, the game is of an entry-level difficulty. You spend a majority walking around and talking to various characters and yourself. There are combat and rhythm segments with low intensity, and various combat encounters can be entirely skipped.

In the end, I wanted to explore a game from a Norwegian studio that featured a diverse cast. I am aware of certain critique of the game, but wanted to form my own opinion. If you're not interested in queer themes or other "woke" ideas, I would look for other games. As for me, I found the gameplay engaging enough, the art style and sound delightful, and the story mostly entertaining. I think it's a "just fine" kind of game. Nothing groundbreaking, but I found it fun. (I would give it a 3,5 score if I could.)

The Good
Was fun about first 8 hours

The Bad
Next 12 hours. This game does not stand the test of time. There are too many pointless movements in it. Boring. I endured the standard game to the end but I stopped playing "Undead Nightmare" because I realized that I would have to ride a horse for another 5 hours without possibility to skip it.

The Bottom Line
Drop the game. Saved myself some time.

The Good
Its just so much fun to hunt for high scores. It has tight controls and a graphic style that is perfect for the system.

The Bad
I have nothing to complain.

The Bottom Line
Great Arcade Action, highly recommended, even for those who usually won't play 2600 games.

The Good
This game was made in a time where 3D-graphics were becoming the norm. You've got vibrant textures and colour variety, some lava flow effects, and the most prominent effect is the lighting which challenges the player to find hidden items, chests and incoming enemies. To top it off, your character's attire changes depending what you outfit on him/her. Bringing out the atmosphere with the graphics are the well-composed music tracks with real instrumentation and chorus voices.

Controls in the game are responsive. The mouse cursor keeps you informed when you point at a certain object and highlights the items hidden in the dark. It's handy that the right-mouse button casts your currently selected spell. And to add to ease are hotkeys for quick-use items and choosing spells. Spell slots would've been nice, but I guess you can't have it all.

There is replay value in the game given that you have a choice between three classes with their own talents. Keep in mind that a certain class has an absolute cap on a trait so you'll need to utilise what you have. And when entering the dungeon levels, you'll have adapt to the randomly generated layout, which luckily is automapped as you go. Also you'll find and buy random items, the unique ones being rewarding if they're suited your character's class. Even though the town is not open world, there's enough services that make you want to spend, get some flavour text and gain a new quest. What you might find surprising is that quests are random for every new game, which is all the more reason to play the game many times.

The Bad
Gameplay is not entirely balanced when it comes to fighting enemies for a few annoying reasons. One of them is that you are restricted to moving in only eight directions. In 2D RPGs that works out okay, but here this isometric angle makes it difficult to move away from enemies in a without running into more or bumping into obstacles. You have to position your mouse cursor in the correct area of the screen to move in any cardinal direction, otherwise your doing this zig-zag movement. And the fact that the levels are grid-based means that you can't easily retreat from enemy attacks, because when you're halfway between the square you shuffled off and the one you're about to go on, enemy projectiles or melee weapons will grab you and shift you back for some more repeated attacks, which is one of the most common causes for repeated deaths. Adding to this is that you can't cast a spell when you're moving, you have to be absolutely standing still, and before you know it a split-second later, you're taking damage from an opponent. You really have to fight with the mouse controls sometimes to fight your opponents effectively.

And speaking of shuffling, there's no option to turn off that annoying footsteps sound your character makes. It just ruins the music tunes and becomes an incessant distraction.

The Bottom Line
The structure of this game is almost a homage to the Epic Megagames RPG "Castle of the Winds". This game was a very good idea and next to Warcraft, it's one of Blizzard Entertainment's best. If not for the difficult mouse controls and awkward movements, I'd call this one a total winner. But hey, it sold millions, it built potential lore and release sequels, and it still runs on modern Windows operating systems, so make this one part of your personal PC collection. We might see a remastered version in future.

The Good
The premise of being on the run and having to take care of your ship and crew is cool. Mixing elements of Battlestar Galactica and Firefly.

The game is easy to start with and clearly hard to master.

The Bad
Uninspiring visuals. No connection with any characters. Combat isn't that thrilling.

The Bottom Line
I skipped FTL when it was popular in 2012, because it didn't look like my thing. I figured I'd give it a try since I know people liked it a lot and I did really enjoy Into The Breach. But my initial gut reaction was right in this case. It isn't really my thing.

The main premise is nice, but I never really have a bond with my characters. It feels like the game tries to focus more on me bonding with my ship, but that's just a series of rooms.

Everything is presented in a very dry and sterile way, devoid of much emotion or character. There's some RNG going on, but the chances are kind of hidden, which removes the excitement which for example XCOM has about knowing the odds.

But my biggest gripe with the game is that having my crew run around the ship while my weapons reload painfully slowly, just didn't feel very fun or exciting. The game just failed to capture my attention even after trying a couple (not very successful) runs. There's clearly something to get good at and master eventually, but as the primary mechanic didn't really manage to hook me I guess the game just isn't for me. Which is unfortunate, because I was kind of hoping it would prove me wrong.

The Good
I am impressed by this game's faithful conversion from it's bigger brothers on more advanced platforms. The game has randomized levels and easily endures a lot of replays. I've been playing on and off, and this is just top quality fun.

The Bad
The endless arpeggio sound of you walking. The digging mechanic is a bit sensitive.

The Bottom Line
Worth it. Fun still in 2025.

The Good
Doom Eternal is a very visceral experience, and it does this really well.

The Bad
After the first or so mission the game becomes utterly overwhelming with dozens of resources, weapons, mechanics, upgrade paths, etc. it all wishes to explain at the same time. While they add depth to the game they offer so at the wrong time.

The monkey bars feel like a prototype at best, with no animations to support them. And even if they did, they feel completely out of place in the game.

The Bottom Line
I'm not a huge fan of Doom. I do have fond nostalgic memories of the original, but didn't think Doom II was as anywhere near as good. Doom 3 was alright as some kind of action horror game. I never really played Doom 2016. Playing this in a time where I don't really care about shooters anymore, I can see the appeal it would've had for a younger me. I did enjoy the couple levels I played. And I might play more if I feel the need for some mindless action. It's full of secrets to find, and a younger me might've gone and collected them all. But for now the lack of emotional connection to the game kind of hampers the drive to continue. The story is completely out there and unintelligible with a new character being introduced every level. I'm not even sure why it's there to be honest. The story beats perhaps serve just as a cooldown, much like the platforming segments. That said it's probably the best Doom I've played since the original, but it mostly made me realize my taste in game has moved to other pastures since my teens. I'd much rather play a shooter with a bit more story like Half-Life, but this is still muuuch more enjoyable than the next Call of Duty or Battlefield single player campaign.

The Good
Impeccable presentation, tracks, car sounds, car models, physics, soundtrack! Amazing game. Just spectacular.

The Bad
Repetitive near the end, not too many tracks, total disrespect for the Baja rally tracks, lacking in the car list department.

The Bottom Line
9/10, would play again.

The Good
One of the first games for the Speccy. The developer went wild with the colours. I love it! The skiing section is actually a lot of fun trying to beat your score.

The Bad
The Frogger get to the other side side of the road is a bit hit and miss. Say a prayer and go for it.

The Bottom Line
Another fun iconic title for the Spectrum.

The Good
Certainly, one of my favourite arcade games. I love the challenge, colours and music.

The Bad
Can be a bit too fast. New Rally-X is a touch easier.

The Bottom Line
I can play this for hours. It’s fun!

The Good
Almost everything, large open world, great soundtrack, great theme (post-apocalyptic), it feels good to ride alone in an almost empty world. CPU opponents while racing are not bad. They also used the right song for Free Ride. The eerie, creepy style of the song fits perfectly with the equally eerie and creepy post-apocalyptic theme (almost empty world)...

The Bad
CPU traffic cars are a bit stupid, but not game-breaking. A lot of frame drops while racing. Not all tracks on the soundtrack are good, but I guess that is mostly personal opinion. Also the soundtrack/most songs is/are not on Spotify, except for one song (which is not my favorite)...

The Bottom Line
This game is fairly okay, it can be played for a long time without becoming boring. I think it is also good for replayability, not boring quickly. Downside is a lot of frame drops while in races.

The Good
Game looks nice and the stealth start was kind of fun, although very on-rails.

The Bad
The chaotic firefights in the Modern Warfare series always rubbed me the wrong way and this game is no exception.

The Bottom Line
I'm not a big Modern Warfare fan. I played the campaign of the first two and thought it was OK. Skipping many iterations I figured I'd give this one a try as it was on GamePass. The first mission was kind of OK until it becomes a massive firefight, which was exactly the moment which were the major turn-offs for me in the previous games. Then the second mission it's clear there's more stealth and choice on how to approach things, compared to the old games. But the dozens of weapons and tools are just a distraction and are all introduced at once giving no proper introduction to any of them. Maybe I'm supposed to be familiar with them from the games in the series I skipped? In the end it just quickly evolves into mindless chaos. I didn't bother continuing after this. Not my kind of game.

The Good
The visuals are quite nice. And the main attraction point in my opinion is a medieval setting devoid of high fantasy tropes.

The Bad
The game feels aimless. There's no red thread of a story, or at least it doesn't really present itself in the first hours. My characters don't have any real motivations to do anything except find food and money to survive. It's not a very compelling reason to keep playing.

The Bottom Line
I only played the game for a couple hours, but I simply couldn't get into it. An RPG with fantasy sounded like it would be right up my alley, having grown tired of the same old high fantasy tropes. But unfortunately this isn't it. The tactical combat works quite well, but is very slow and methodical. It misses the excitement and flair of XCOM, but the various bonuses for surrounding, backstabbing, etc. make for an interesting enough puzzle. Outside of combat there's a lot of complexity, where you are showered with all kinds of stats, items, skills, professions, etc. of which you have no idea of their value. But none of them felt particularly rewarding to engage in.

Each of the individual aspects of the game feel quite polished and finished, but somehow it never really comes together as an awesome whole. There are probably people who will love this game, but it's just not for me.

The Good
It's Bluey. Bluey is amazing if you are young child or the parent of one. It has four player co-op. My kids love unlocking new hats and playing dress-up.

The Bad
For starters, the game is quite buggy. Multiple times we had to restart the game because one or all of the players was just stuck and could no longer move.

My kids are about the age of the kids in the show, and while they love and enjoy the treasure hunt aspect of the game, all the elements that require skill or timing are just too hard for them. This includes all mini-games that can be unlocked. Which is a bit of bummer. I feel that once they are experienced enough to properly play them, they might already find Bluey childish.

The Bottom Line
As an adult, the game doesn't have much to offer. All the Bluey characters are there, but it's missing much of the modern parenting situations and humor that makes the TV show fun. The visuals are fine, although the animation quality is way below the high quality bar of the show. As a game it's clearly aimed more at kids, but for some weird reason for much more experienced gamers than you'd expect for children in the 3-7 year old age category. Or perhaps I'm limiting screen time too much? ...

My kids love to explore the familiar locations, and liked seeing the scripted scenes. It's also great you can play with four players. But as their first game in which they manually control a 3rd person character (other than Mario Kart with all the aids on) it was on the difficult side for them, which did lead to a lot of frustration and some sessions which had to be cut short when emotions of frustration and defeat ran too high.

Maybe my 2⭐ review isn't fair, as my kids probably would still rate it 5⭐. In their mind they are Bluey and Bingo and they are really there. As a parent I was just hoping for a bit more relatable topics for the parents and a bit more content my kids can actually enjoy. Maybe they'll surprise me and still play this every now and then in a year or two and master those minigames...

The Good
The game looks pretty, and manages to convey a nice journey without words. It nicely speaks to the imagination of children. Also does a great job on having no tutorials and no UI.

The Bad
The mouse-controls on PC are rather counter-intuitive. Which causes me to do the wrong thing quite frequently. It's even harder for my kids.

The Bottom Line
I bought it mostly to play with my children and in that it's a success, but I doubt I would've enjoyed it much without them. It looks great, but the puzzles don't hold much challenge for me. Later on the game they do get a bit more challenging, but also a bit more obtuse at points.

The Good
The game has a nice ambient soundtrack, and a great setting to explore. The game mechanics are easy to get into and for most of the game feel compelling enough to keep going.

Although light on RPG stats, the choices you make do give the sense of having full control over your character and your destiny within the game. With lots of interesting choices to make.

The Bad
Sometimes the game feels a bit like a Ubisoft open world game's worldmap. But the game is just the map. There's a ton of actions to do, but not everything is all that engaging.

The game tends to fizzle out a bit. Where in the middle of the game there's tons of different story threads running in parallel and it's hard to choose what to do. Once one or more of the threads come to their conclusion (and you might get a credits sequence) there's still a lot to do, but the game just gets less and less dense with choices over time. At some point I just stopped playing, because it just wasn't so engaging anymore. But I had seen two endings at this point, and almost reached the conclusion of the third, and played one of the three content additions.

The Bottom Line
I really enjoyed the game. It's sometimes perhaps a bit too verbose, and in retrospect I probably should just have stopped playing after reaching an ending, to end on a high note. But it's cool to explore the space station and to have an impact on the world.

The Good
Reading about the game beforehand I wasn't sure whether I'd love it or hate it. It has its quirks, but in the end I really liked it a lot.

The story is really well told, and proves a great whodunit. Especially the first part of the game really shines in this regard, as you really want to find the perpetrator.

The realistic historic setting were a great change of pace compared to the abundance of generic fantasy and sci-fi settings we see in games. It showed a great attention to detail, and the glossary allowed for some brief background information on all the things medieval and Roman you might not be familiar with.

I liked the mechanic where I really had to choose where to invest my time. It clearly had a big influence on my further actions in the world.

I feel a bit ambivalent about the game's visual quality, but I like how they tried to keep it in a medieval style. It's surely unique and that's appreciated.

The Bad
The game doesn't start very strong until the first major event there isn't much of a hook, but once you start being the detective it becomes great. The game has three major parts, and the last of those didn't feel as nice as the previous two. The change of character felt a bit weird, your actions feel less consequential, and at this point I had pretty much solved the whodunit, but the game wouldn't let me solve it, because it had other plans.

The Bottom Line
For the most part of the game it feels like you are the one in control of the plot and that's the parts where Pentiment shines most brightly. It suffers a bit at the very start and during a dragging end, but that certainly won't spoil the overall fun of this game. Considering its setting and visuals it won't be for everyone, but I certainly loved it.

The Good
graphics improved over previous years, plenty of levels designed to use a variety of skills in varying order

The Bad
does not hold interest in the modern day

The Bottom Line
good for its day, too monotonous compared to modern games

The Good
I can't say that I enjoyed any of it.

The Bad
The bleak colors, the sound, the gameplay.

The Bottom Line
This game is done so much better by Caverns of Mars, that only came out for Atari 8-bit, alas. Keep it as a relic of a really early release by a UK software house.

The Good
Artwork /CV. /Yuzuko and the storyline of Yuzuko, charm of true love.

The Bad
Some storylines are easily seen fabricated, especially the plots of Io, Rui and Honoka, rarely happen in Japan. /Mechanically making conflicts and twists.

The Bottom Line
Easy to Finish /Contain hidden characters but not very attractive

The Good
This game is fun. Very fun. Gameplay is a bit wonky at first, but once you get the hang of it it's very addicting and satisfying to play. Even though you are violently killing 99% of the time, the game barely gets stale and remains fun through the whole Campaign.

Art and sound design is expectedly top-quality. Nothing to complain there. Worldbuilding is also pretty good, the game gives you many snippets of the world around you that you aren't forced to check but it's cool to see none the less.

The Arena Mode caught me off-guard with it's quality. Very interesting lore-wise, cool missions and the arenas themselves are more fun than you expect being just horde modes.

The Bad
Despite not feeling sick of it, I have to admit the game is repetitive. If mindlessly gunning and slicing through hordes for most of the game isn't for you, it will get old quick.

The Story Mode isn't very story-focused. The main plot is rather simple and the characters are kinda bland, especially in their dialogue, it's kinda obvious these guys weren't built for chit-chatting. The Arena Mode surprisingly had a more interesting plot, though that might be incredibly personal.

Losing in some stages in Story Mode can be pretty frustrating as the game likes to give you very sparse checkpoints. In Arena Mode that can be even worse, as you don't gain any rewards for losing a stage, this can lead to a pretty rocky start in harder difficulties as your character starts off rather weak.

The Bottom Line
A solid action game for just shooting, slicing, smashing, breaking, destroying and ripping apart grey men, with a few more neat surprises along the way.

The Good
My favorite part of this game is the awesome soundtrack created by the Follin brothers. With it's funk stylings, it very much reminds me of the Spiderman cartoon from the 60s.....perhaps on purpose?!

The Bad
One common complaint is you have to repeat level 1 after dying. Fair enough.....but on an emulator, we don't have that problem....do we?!

The Bottom Line
Another complaint is limitations on how Spiderman can climb or use his web. I took the limitations as the rules of this game. I quite enjoyed finding out what Spiderman can do. Much better game than review, I say.

The Good
This game has excellent sound, even if only a few effects are being used. The action is great and frantic when your llama runs around trying to shoot the spiders as they drop and crawl towards you. It takes a while to master the ricocheting laser spittle from the llama you control. And until you realise you can lower and raise the ceiling to alter the path of your llama laser loogies, it's difficult to survive for many waves.

The Bad
Once you figure out that there's a specific angle that more or less gets you a 100% kill rate the game gets dull. And that's a shame. There's also no development, just more of the same spiders. You can choose the level to start at. At the maximum level, you're attacked by so many spider that you'll die in 2 seconds.

The Bottom Line
Very fun for a short while. With a little better balancing it could have been fun for a longer time than it is now.

The Good
Microprose did its magic and produced a wonderful game, accessible by rookies and pros alike. Plenty of choppers to fly in randomly generated missions, progressive career with a squad to command and additional, more capable helos to unlock with coming promotions was a genious move that pushed you to play it more.

Various game modes were available - you could hone your skills during training, where you were invincible. Fly single missions in a selected theatre. After promotion to 2nd Lt you were given access to Flight type missions where you commanded 4 additional helicopters. Finally you would unlock Campaign mode which would take you for a series of missions in a single hotzone, where your goal was to win the war.

All this was dressed in a spectacular 2d artwork of airbase offices, command tents, arming helo pads you could navigate between the missions. The interface resembled a point-and-click adventure game. - it was a great way of increasing immersion.

The game was accompanied by a thick manual, with chapters describing how helicopters operate taken out of Bill Gunston's Modern Fighting Helicopters book. It was a great read for every aviation enthusiast.

The Bad
The flight model wasn't that realistic, on the "Realistic" setting it was more of a nuisance. Games like Longbow Apache from Digital Integration did this aspect way better. Apache Longbow cockpit could also be modernized with 2 MFDs, but that's just a small nitpick.

The Bottom Line
The greatest helicopter flight simulation game of its time. On PC it had a spiritual successor in form of Jane's Longbow series, on Amiga it was never topped by anything else.

The Good
- Easy to pick up and play, because Gameplay is a bit simplified compared to other SF Games, but without being to easy. - great artwork everywhere: Fighters, attack animations, background of stages

The Bad
- more characters would've been great

The Bottom Line
This is a Beat'em Up for everyone, the skilled and the rookies. I love everything about it.

The Good
A fun challenge with 2 player or vs computer.

The Bad
Plain audio visual. Computer slow reaction in advanced levels (duh...)

The Bottom Line
Another game better than It's overall score.

The Good
Famously panned by Intellivision for not being as good as their game. Remember: this was done a full 2 years earlier with a 2k limit.

Positives: first Atari baseball game, first sports game to feature computer opponent?! (Correct me if I'm wrong/ 1980 Intellivision version didn't have it!)

The Bad
Doesn't use 9 players

The Bottom Line
I quite enjoy throwing trick curves against the computer. A guilty pleasure of mine.

The Good
The graphics are spot on. Visuals done right, play a big part in games. When they are mediocre, even good mechanics can be overlooked. The sound design is on par with the visuals, 100%. I particularly enjoy the machine gun sounds. But all other effects are spot on. The difficulty can feel a bit unfair at first, but that's because of the way your ship handles. If you practice, you can become very good at dodging bullets and enemy ships, but it does take practice. There are areas for you to explore (secrets) that award extra ammunition. Also there are what seems to be side missions.

The Bad
I can honestly say I don't have anything bad to say about the game except maybe how difficult it is. But that can be chalked up to each player's skill.

The Bottom Line
I cannot recommend this game enough. It is fun every single time. Even if you don't finish the mission. You'll be at the edge of your sit.

The Good
The story, the characters, the horror, the puzzles, the visuals, the audio, and the diversity of localizations just make this a must play.

The Bad
Nothing, honestly. I've played it dozens of times and still don't get tired of it.

The Bottom Line
If it interests you, get it! You won't regret it.