Recent reviews by BlueKunai

I'm a big fan of a lot of Double Fine's output, but Brutal Legend is a bit tough to recommend. The visual design and writing are both fantastic as always and it has a rich soundtrack of over 100 rock and metal songs that'll keep you headbanging along the journey. The actual gameplay unfortunately sells the rest of the experience short. It does a juggling act of sandbox, hack 'n' slash and RTS and doesn't really offer a solid experience for any of them. The sandbox is for getting from point A to B and doing side missions more than anything with not many fun options for messing around on foot or in the vehicle. The hack 'n' slash is passable, but attack and combo options are incredibly simple and the enemy variety doesn't really encourage much experimentation. The RTS segments are harder to judge being that I've not really dabbled in that genre, but even as a non-fan I can tell what the game offers is incredibly dumbed down. The game doesn't throw anything at you that can't be bested by sending all your units at the thing causing you problems and brute-forcing your way to victory. Being able to jump into the fray yourself and assisting with the hack n slash combat sounds nice on paper, but the RTS sections make the enemies tank so much damage that it doesn't feel worth it most of the time.

A lot of cool ideas that sound great on paper that unfortunately don't coalesce into a coherent whole. You might enjoy the journey enough if you're a big metalhead but I can't promise the mix-and-match gameplay will keep you satisfied.

A short, simple and sweet incremental game about blowing up shapes and becoming increasingly more powerful. Not a whole lot to it, but an addictive and satisfying hit of dopamine for the few hours until you finish everything.

Frogun Encore is a fun little 3D collectathon platformer with the central gimmick being the titular Frog Gun that can reel in enemies and help you get around the many gauntlets. A great iteration on its predecessor that is massively improved by the fixed camera and new mobility options. Grappling around the levels is always satisfying, and it's even more fun finding all the ways you can sequence break and improvise shortcuts when going for the time trials.

Oddworld is a series I adore that's ripe with creativity and a rich world making up one of my favourite settings in fiction. Munch's Oddysee unfortunately is the weak link in this franchise. Lots of interesting ideas and a story very in line with the grander theme of the series bogged down by trappings of a clunky and repetitive 3D platformer. It was Oddworld Inhabitants' first foray into full 3D and the inexperience shows. Level design is lacking the clever puzzles and secrets of its predecessors, combat encounters are asinine, the sound design is a big step down, and there's a lot of repetitious busywork double-handling many elements whether you're going for the best or worst ending. While the overall story was unfortunately compromised as hinted at by much of the cut content (mainly the subplot involving the Mudokon Queen Sam being scrapped), the visual presentation in the cutscenes is top notch as always.

The PC port is also a bit rough around the edges. Definitely worlds better than that initial release in 2010 but still suffering from bit-crushed audio and a couple of times the game had enough of a visual freakout that required restarting it. The sound issues at the very least can be alleviated by mods. If you're going for all the achievements, refer to some of the discussion threads as a few of them have trouble triggered, in some cases requiring running that old 2010 version. I didn't encounter this personally as I played that old version for a bit at launch, but be wary.

The whole package sadly is the end result of an experiment that didn't quite stick the landing. If you're a big fan of Abe's Oddysee and Exoddus, it may be a bit rough to get into. If you're interested in the larger world and scope of the series then you may find something in here to like.

Exactly as it says on the tin. A great game if you enjoy incremental time-wasters and wish to fulfil the male instinct to dig a giant hole in your backyard. Only real grips are the tiny bits of dirt sometimes left from digging can be a nuisance and outright kill runs if you're going for the speed-run achievement, and your mileage may vary on the jarring shift in tone at the end. All the same would definitely be keen to jump back in again if there were more content updates in the future.

A neat little combo of idle game and desktop companion I'm surprised wasn't done sooner. Ropuka is a narcoleptic frog with no greater aspiration in life than tending to his lawn. He sits on a little floating island somewhere on your desktop and just goes about his business. The extra layer of content comes with the idle game mechanics where the grass he trims becomes currency, slowly accruing for you to spend on cosmetics for the island or upgrades for him. It's been nice to have there to check on every hour or two while I've been getting writing done for a project. Nothing as in-depth or involved as a virtual pet, but has done a great job filling the empty gap in the top right of my screen.

Smushi Come Home is a laid back exploration oriented collectathon in the vein of titles like Lil Gator Game, Tasomachi: Behind the Twilight and TinyKin. I'm a sucker for games where you play as tiny characters in massive scale recreations of real world locations and this is a fine addition to that pantheon. Movement is satisfying yet simple with more options rewarded to you for exploring, environments are visually pleasant and detailed without feeling cluttered, and there's tons of fun facts about mushrooms to be discovered as a neat bonus.

MiSide was quite a pleasant surprise. At face value it looks like another take on the sort of thing Doki Doki Literature Club was going for, which is true to some degree, but it's more than the sum of its parts. Unlike DDLC it becomes clear a lot earlier on that something isn't right (hell, the store page isn't exactly hiding it either). But I think the devs knew that, because the meat and potatoes of the story isn't the lead-up to the rug-pull, it's what comes after. I won't allude to what happens, but the story plays out in a very engaging way that takes full advantage of using games as a storytelling medium.

The premise is one of those game within a game sort of setups akin to titles like Pony Island or There Is No Game: Wrong Dimension (both of which I would recommend). It has a degree of attention to detail when aping on many different genres that shows a clear love for the craft, even if some of the many minigames contained within can be a little simplified. The core game never sticks to one format for too long, striking a good balance between the walking/talking sections, the puzzles, the mini-games, and the horror encounters where you're more directly at risk.

Presentation is superb with some beautiful art direction, detailed environments, great looking models, and nice smooth animations that are incredibly impressive and remarkably polished for what is essentially a two-man effort. The peaceful and colourful areas also contrast well with the horror segments and make for some tense moments, even if the few times scripted jump scares are used are a bit cheesy.

MiSide is an easy recommend if you're a fan of both game dev shop talk and cute girls. If you liked the idea behind DDLC but thought it would be improved with some actual gameplay, be sure give this one a look.

If you've ever found yourself spending an inordinate amount of time doing stuff like alphabetizing shelves, scooping your Froot Loops into clusters of the same colour, peeling all the white bits off of an orange or grouping Lego blocks together by size and shape, then this game will be right up your alley.

A Little to the Left is a huge collection of scenarios which have you tidying or organizing a variety of items to meet an unstated goal. The pleasant presentation and low stakes make this an excellent unwinding game while still challenging you to think outside the box. Plenty of "a-ha" moments arise, especially in stages which have multiple completion criterias. Some of the solutions could feel a bit cryptic or overly specific, but they're thankfully in the minority.

I got three stages into this game and it immediately clicked. I dunno what that says about me or the person nodding along reading this, but rest assured you're not alone.

Katawa Shoujo is still as beautifully poignant and heart wrenching as I remembered when I first played it back in late 2012. It found me at one of the lowest points in my life back then and still resonates with me in different ways 12 years later.

The characters in each route are all well-rounded and defined, even if some feel a little weaker than others. They're very nuanced and tastefully portrayed given the touchy subject matter involved between the variety of disabilities on show and the trauma/mental turmoil that can come with them. The writing manages to walk a fine line between its light-hearted and more crushing moments well while still having plenty of genuinely funny interludes without ever clashing. The soundtrack is also absolutely beautiful, one of my favourites.

Katawa Shoujo has upheld it's reputation as one of the few great western-made visual novels for a reason. No obnoxiously tongue-in-cheek genre deconstruction or post-ironic commentary here. This game wears it's heart on it's sleeve and is particularly a breath of fresh air now in an era where sincerity is increasingly feeling like a lost art. A stellar effort for a project helmed by a bunch of guys on 4chan in their free time.