100 Word Review - #T26 - Dear Esther

As a book, it probably would've been pretty decent.

Dear Esther

Genre - Adventure, Indie, Casual

Metascore - 77%

Developer - thechineseroom, Robert Briscoe

Other Games by Developer - N/A

Tom's Playtime -  1.3 hours

I'm receptive to the idea of games as art, however Dear Esther seems to forget about the idea of games as games. The modus operandi here is simply on-foot navigation around an island while the protagonist narrates to you. Very little happens in Dear Esther and it was tedious to reach completion, but along the way I found merits in the eloquent writing style and a few environments which would give Skyrim competition. These merits do not detract from the non-existent “gameplay” that Dear Esther attempts to provide and, while better than Dinner Date, it too is ultimately forgettable.

Tom's Score - 3/10

100 Word Review - #T25 - Stacking

In the land of the tall, the tiny little child is king, apparently.

Stacking

Genre - Adventure, Indie

Metascore - 80%

Developer - Double Fine Productions

Other Games by Developer - Psychonauts, Costume Quest

Tom's Playtime -  7.0 hours

After the first 15 minutes or so, I was unimpressed by Stacking but it didn't take much longer to win me over. Beyond the adventure game overlay lies an intricate puzzle game in which you take control of various dolls, each with their own unique abilities, and attempt to find a solution to the numerous objectives in each level. Every objective has multiple solutions and while only one is strictly necessary, finding them all is where the game finds its challenge. While not especially long, Stacking is a fun game with a charming sense of humour and comes highly recommended.

Tom's Score - 9/10

100 Word Review - #50 - The Binding of Isaac (Wrath of the Lamb DLC)

New characters, new floors, new enemies.

The Binding of Isaac - Wrath of the Lamb DLC

Genre - Action, Adventure, RPG, Indie

Metascore - N/A

Developer - Edmund McMillen and Florian Himsl

Other Games by Developer - The Binding of Isaac, Super Meat Boy (as Team Meat)

My Playtime - 5 hours

TBoI is still one of my favourite games and was pushing to get full marks, the new expansion has just pushed it over the edge. For £2, you get double the amount of floors (which randomly interchange with the old ones), a new character and new items, enemies and bosses. There are also challenges that require you to use set combinations of items to beat the game. The base game was difficult enough, but the new floors just seem overly cruel. I’ve now put over 65 hours into this game and I can see myself at least doubling that. Addictive.

My Score - 10/10

100 Word Review - E6 - Mirror's Edge

DONT. LOOK. DOWN.

Mirror's Edge

Genre - Action, Adventure

Metascore - 81%

Developer - DICE

Other Games by Developer- Battlefield 2, Battlefield: Bad Company 2

Edgar's Playtime - 9 hours

Mirror's Edge is a kind of negation of the first person shooter genre. It is first person alright, but you are advised to shoot as little as possible when you get a gun, while you try to navigate through a highly detailed and exquisitely designed skyscraper city, unveiling an assassination plot by running - a LOT - and using and exceptional set of parkour skills to avoid obstacles and enemies. It's an amazing, different, immersive and engaging twist to the first person theme that pleads to be lived and is only marred by the long loading times in the elevator rides.

Edgar's Score - 9/10

100 Word Review - #42 - Windosill

Windosill's charm spreads to its humble flash window.

Windosill

Genre - Adventure, Casual, Indie, Family

Metascore - 90% (iOS)

Developer - Vectorpark, Inc.

Other Games by Developer - N/A

My Playtime - 0.4 hours




Windosill is a charming, artsy puzzle game that has an embarrassing feature – its length. I’ll admit I wasn’t spending much time admiring the admittedly beautiful scenery while playing, but 20 minutes is just silly – I’m really glad I got this in an indie bundle and didn’t pay full price for it. Some of the puzzles are filled with red herrings that do nothing but distract you from the solution, but this adds to its charm as you want to click on everything to see what happens. Even though it is extremely short, it’s quite good and still worth a look.

My Score - 6/10

100 Word Review - #40 - Tobe's Vertical Adventure

Ah, nostalgia...

Tobe's Vertical Adventure

Genre - Action, Adventure, Indie

Metascore - 75%

Developer - Secret Base

Other Games by Developer - N/A

My Playtime - 1.5 hours

There aren’t many old-school platform games on Steam, let alone good ones. Tobe’s Vertical Adventure is a great looking, great sounding nostalgia-driven platformer that is really fun to play. You play as one of two characters through 4 worlds of 4 (obviously) vertical stages. The game is incredibly short (my playtime was for one and a half playthroughs) - this is really the only thing that counts against an otherwise great game, and I guess there is some replay value to be had in trying to collect everything in each level. The difficulty is well scaled, and never gets overly frustrating.

My Score - 8/10

100 Word Review - #30 - Wizorb

Straight from the 1980s

Wizorb

Genre - Action, Adventure, Indie

Metascore - N/A

Developer - Tribute Games

Other Games by Developer - N/A

My Playtime - 1.3 hours

I woke up this morning to all the gaming sites I care about telling me to buy ‘Wizorb’. So I did. What I found was at the core, a ‘Breakout’ clone. And with that, you should know what to expect - hours of trying to hit a single block at the end of a stage, which can tedious pretty fast. The adventure elements, however, do give you a reason to keep playing. The place where this game wins you over is its retro charm. Its look is rooted firmly in the NES era and the 8-bit soundtrack is just great.

My Score - 6/10

100 Word Review - #29 - Sideway™ New York

The constantly shifting PoV can get old pretty fast.

Sideway™ New York

Genre - Adventure, Indie

Metascore - 71%

Developer - Playbrains

Other Games by Developer - Madballs in Babo:Invasion

My Current Playtime - 0.8 hours

‘Sideway^TM’ is a game that I was really looking forward to playing from the moment I saw the gameplay trailer. The graphics looked great, the gameplay looked interesting and it looked like an all-round fun platformer. After playing it, however, the graphics and the point-of-view shifting game mechanics get a bit much, sometimes even downright confusing. The ‘hip-hop’ soundtrack, which I admit is not my cup of tea, seemed weak and repetitive. The keyboard control scheme leaves a lot to be desired, so it’s another gamepad necessary game. Despite these flaws, ‘Sideway^TM’ is a passable, yet highly polished indie game.

My Score - 5/10

100 Word Review - #17 - From Dust

I made this lovely river all by myself!

From Dust

Genre - Simulation, Adventure

Metascore - 76%

Developer - Ubisoft Montpellier

Other Games by Developer - N/A

My Current Playtime - 2 hours

In ‘From Dust’ you are a deity that has the ability to pick up sand, water and lava to manipulate your surroundings in order to allow your followers to make settlements and move to the next area. You work against persistent tidal waves and volcanic eruptions that make this game just too hard too early on. In the end, I just started to mess around with the environment, changing the paths of rivers and whatnot – this was a lot more fun. It’s like a cross between ‘Lemmings’, ‘Black and White’ and ‘Sim Earth’, but nowhere near as good as either.

My Score - 5/10

100 Word Review - #K5 - Puzzle Bots

Using the pushing robot to push the book over?
Ground breaking.

Puzzle Bots

Genre - Adventure, Indie

Metascore - N/A

Developer - Lively Ivy

Other Games by Developer - N/A

Kris' Current Playtime - 0.2 hours

I went into this game with high hopes hoping that I was going to get something a little like the 'Professor Layton' series but much less talking and more puzzles. I was wrong. I didn't get any of those things. I think this would make a fun game for kids who like puzzles but just isn't engaging enough to keep adult wanting to play it all of the way through. Maybe it got harder as the game went on but the game never made me want to get that far. Unskippable chatting from the backdrop humans doesn't help much either.

Kris' Score -  4/10

100 Word Review - #T4 - Jolly Rover

Nowhere near as likeable as Guybrush either...

Jolly Rover

Genre – Adventure, Casual, Indie

Metascore – 71%

Developer – Brawsome

Other Games by Developer – N/A

Tom's Current Playtime – 2.2 hours

As an adventure game, you have to count yourself very lucky to not be compared with 'Monkey Island'. Unfortunately for 'Jolly Rover', it's trying to be Monkey Island so hard that the comparison is very easy to make, and it does not come out favourably. As far as the genre is concerned, 'Jolly Rover' is par for the course, with the closest thing to a unique selling point being the magic spells you can perform at arbitrary intervals. 'Jolly Rover' is adequate at best, not delivering anything groundbreaking and it didn't manage to compel me enough to actually finish it.

Tom's Score – 5/10

100 Word Review - #K2 - Portal 2

The multiplayer is good too

Portal 2

Genre - Action, Adventure


Metascore - 95%


Developer - Valve


Other Games by Developer - Portal,  Left 4 Dead 2,


Kris' Current Playtime - 16.1 hours

It is a bit obvious but this is my favourite game of last year. It was the perfect sequel to an amazing game. I like that there were new game constructs such as the gels but not too much to take away from the portaling heart. The story and comedy definitely need a big mention as they elevate a clever puzzle game into a true fan favourite. Everytime I see or hear Steve Merchant, I now think of Wheatley. GLaDOS is as funny as ever and I loved the idea of Cave Johnson. A truly modern classic in every respect.

Kris' Score - 10/10

100 Word Review - #K1 - Machinarium

The quirky humour adds a lot of value

Machinarium

Genre - Adventure, Indie

Metascore - 85%

Developer - Amantia Design

Other Games by Developer - Samorost2

Kris' Current Playtime - 5.4 hours

I've had little to no luck with point and click adventurers; I just don't have the time or patience. 'Machinarium' is the only one that I have played from start to finish. It is quite short but that is made up for with the beautiful art style and the warm and fuzzy feelings that you get for the main character. I ended up using some hints but regret it, the puzzles aren't that hard and the game can easily be completed in an evening. Unless you spend most of your play time just staring at the backdrops like I did.

Kris' Score - 8/10

100 Word Review - #3 - Terraria

Have you ever wanted a lakeside log cabin?

Terraria

Genre - Action, Indie, Adventure, RPG

Metascore – 83%

Developer – Re-Logic

Other Games by Developer – N/A

My Current Playtime – 16.8 hours

‘Terraria’ is an addictive game. You start with simple tools and have to rush to build a house before night-time and you get mauled by some zombies. When you’ve built your shelter, you dig down, waaaaaaay down. The rest of the time is spent trying to find ores to craft better tools, find new areas and pretty much becoming awesome. The developers have recently doubled the amount of content in the game, and are planning to keep adding. I would highly recommend bringing others along for some mining fun, especially when the difficulty starts to increase when visiting new areas.

My Score – 8/10

100 Word Review - #2 - Puzzle Agent

Many of the puzzles are just slight alterations of earlier ones

Puzzle Agent

Genre - Adventure, Casual

Metascore – 70%

Developer – Telltale Games

Other Games by Developer – Sam and Max, Back to the Future: The Game


My Current Playtime – 2.7 hours            

Anyone who’s played a Telltale game before should know what to expect – constant pointing and clicking. This is pretty much a knock off of the ‘Professor Layton’ games on the DS, and doesn’t come anywhere close to the quality of it. I completed it in less than 3 hours, in which there were only 37 puzzles. The puzzles are easy and repetitive and the art style is distracting. The story redeems slightly and the voice acting reminds me of the excellent ‘Fargo’. If you want a good puzzle game, get your hands on a DS emulator and ‘Professor Layton’ ROM.

My Score – 3/10

100 Word Review - #1 - The Binding of Isaac

This character's single heart adds an extra challenge

The Binding of Isaac

Genre - Action, Adventure, RPG, Indie

Metascore – 83%

Developer – Edmund McMillen and Florian Himsl

Other Games by Developer – Gish (as Cryptic Sea), Super Meat Boy (as Team Meat)

My Current Playtime – 42.5 hours

‘TBoI’ is a randomly generated adventure game which at first glance reminds me of ‘The Legend of Zelda’ on the NES. You have six (later eight) increasingly difficult levels to complete, each with items to collect, enemies to kill and bosses to overcome.  It seems criminally short at around an hour, but it has massive replay value as you unlock new characters and new items that freshen up the whole experience. It can be horrendously difficult at times, but then you find that combination of items that lets you breeze through. Until you get killed cheaply by a fly. Fuck.

My score – 9/10