Recent reviews by Bozanimal

I hesitated to buy "Wings of Seduction" (Wings) due to its adult content. However, I really enjoyed "Soulstone Survivors" recently, and had been searching for a space shooter theme of the same gameplay, but most had poor reviews due to balance issues. This game reminded me of "Asteroids" from my old Atari 800, albeit with adult content. I'm glad I took a chance, because Wings turned out to be quite enjoyable.

I completed all its achievements in 24 hours of gameplay. At around $10, it's a fun and engaging experience. Wings has great potential to be even better if the adult content were removed (granted, the cat censorship is pretty darn cute), additional modes of play were added, and the story was further developed. It needs more variety to enhance its longevity: new ships, fewer mediocre upgrades, more interesting options, and perhaps some skill trees. The adult content feels superfluous and unnecessary; you can find equivalent video online in five minutes for free; dump it, keep the gameplay, flesh it out and you've got a solid space bullet hell game for the masses.

Overall, it's a solid game with room for improvement.

I was looking for a quickplay Action Roguelike that wasn't pixelart. Something to play for 10 minutes between doing work or other more important things. It's a Vampire Survivors clone, but not ugly. There are lots of builds and unique characters, and is great to zone out and get some of that sweet sweet dopamine. Plus, it receives regular updates, so every now and again I'll log in an suddenly have a new play mode or character. The game itself could use a little more depth, but otherwise it's great for what it is, and totally worth the cost of admission.

Playing Destiny 2 is a little bit like flying Spirit Airlines: You CAN have a great flight, but you have to pay for every bag you carry on, that you check, for every bit of food and drink, and even then the toilet doesn't always work. Or your flight is delayed. And they don't give a damn if you've flown with them once or every week for the past ten years.

Shocked this game has gotten so much attention: The leveling process is on rails and highly repetitive, with a forgettable storyline and uninspired characters. You need multiple characters to level efficiently, but leveling is identical between characters, making it, "Go and go these 100 hours of leveling again. And again."

There is a massive infestation of bots, and leveling dungeons are devoid of players to join and experience together. World of Warcraft has had an enjoyable leveling experience that brought players together for two decades so there's really no excuse for this, in my opinion.

Combat is okay, at best, but other titles like Tera and Path of Exile are free to play and offer superior gameplay, more variety, gear upgrades that feel valuable, and greater customization with less repetition in a similar fantasy setting to Lost Ark. Lost Ark also has a massive currency problem, with many currencies for everything under the sun. At some point I just started ignoring all the different coins, gems, bills, and other currencies entirely.

Features like your own character house on an island and sailing the world in your own ship act like minigames, but they're not really central to the gameplay and act as a time sink rather than enhancing the gameplay.

The whole experience ends up being super grindy and, as someone that actually enjoys grinding to feel more powerful, even I was left feeling disappointed because you never really feel more powerful as time goes on.

Wow, this game is beautiful.
"Run over here."
Okay- got some tasks to do. So cool looking.
"Run back where you came from."
Okay- no big deal. Oh, the puzzle changed due to my new powers. And the colors...
"Go back to that first place again."
I was JUST there. Okay- fine. Back again. It is really pretty.
"You missed that last jump, do it again."
Ugh- fine. I'm heading back.
"You missed the jump again."
I KNOW.
"You got it."
FINALLY.
"Now go back to the beginning."
AAAAAAAAAAAAARGH

The short, short version
It's the Jessica Simpson of video games: Beautiful, but completely lacking in substance.

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On the positive side, it's free, the dragons and maps look amazing, and you really feel like you're Daenarys Targaryen ruining the last season of Game of Thrones. It's the closest you will ever come to feeling like you're riding a fire-breathing monster of destruction riding to the defense - or destruction - of your kingdom.

Unfortunately, as a pure PvP sandbox it has attracted a hardcore playerbase unrelenting to incoming newbies (like my daughter), and completely toxic community. The maps are great but small and repetitive. It also feels very lonely in a way I cannot completely describe.

If Playwing took this and leveraged what they've got so far to build out a Doom-like singleplayer campaign to complement the limited PvP they would have a beast of a game instead of a mediocre PvP exercise in frustration. It's a shame, because it's clearly a project of passion: It looks and feels absolutely unbelievable. I hope they can sprinkle some kind of magic sauce into it.

Played over 200 hours of this game and left for a couple years: Come back and there is a TON of new content. At a fraction of its original cost Terraria retains all the original fun of open world exploration and building and adds more diversity than I will ever be able to craft. If you're a fan of Minecraft and side-scrollers, you will love this game. I can't wait to see what else the developers have in store for its future.

Still worth playing in 2019?

Tera has the best combat of any MMORPG currently on the market (personally favored over Black Desert Online and Blade & Soul). The combat feels crisp and responsive, each class has a very unique feel in their combat style, and fighting is satisfying when questing in the open world, dungeons, and raids. Every encounter requires some degree of skill to dodge and block at the right moments, and enemies can miss even if you are targeted. So if you enjoy say, World of Warcraft, but find mashing cooldown buttons and moving out of area-of-effect spells to get boring, this may be for you.

Tera has stamina. It was launched in 2011, but has enjoyed many updates and extensive support over the years in terms of new content and rebalancing. It still has a large number of lolicons- er, a large playerbase after almost ten years. You can log in at any time of day and generally find a few folks to quest alongside and activity in the major cities. The starting experience was completely overhauled a few years ago; for better or worse, it added some variety. There is every reason to expect continued support for at least the next few years.

Amazing world, weak story. The world of Tera is a beautiful fantasy mashup of haunted valleys, barren wastelands, oversaturated wetlands, elvish forests, etc. It's set up in zones much like those of Azeroth and other MMOs where you move from one leveling area into another zone with its own unique look, feel, and questing path. Tera uses instancing and a few short cutscenes to deliver on its storyline but, in all honesty, the story is weak and forgettable at best. Something about two continents on the back of fallen titans, child races, and a random alien threat called the Argons. So really it's a more forgettable Azeroth and Burning Legion without the competing Alliance and Horde factions. No factions is, in general a bonus given a lower overall player population.

Solid graphics almost a decade later The graphics, armor, world, and just about everything are still amazing to behold nearly ten years later due to excellent art design. Some of the woodland and plains areas are feeling a little dated as foliage technologies have improved, but the overall look and feel of the world and its denizens is excellent. I still get that, "Wow!" factor when I login or fight a giant monster.

Doesn't feel "pay to win" Further, Tera is free-to-play and playable for free, meaning you don't need to invest any money to get into the game and experience its content. Probably 98% of the content is relatively easily playable without spending any money, with that last 2% being the bleeding-edge of end-game raiding. All PvP, open world, dungeon, and raid content is available to anyone. Paying real money will accelerate leveling and provide faster access to end-game gear, but none of it feels pay-to-win.

Creepsters in the community The big downside - or upside, depending on your perspective - is the community. This is not a game in which you are going to suspend your disbelief that you are in anything but a slick fantasy MMO. Player skins and costumes include very, very scantily-clad lingerie and swimwear, both male and female. Walking through any major city has the feel of a Victoria's Secret show- with a lot of underage girls. Players can use car mounts and have guitars as weapon skins. So if you're looking for sexy and fun, Tera is a yes. If you're looking for immersion- maybe no.

Yes: Tera is a haven for lolicons. A lolicon is someone that is attracted to underage girls, with a specific connotation of attraction to underage anime girls. Most Tera players are not going to deny that. There is an entire race dedicated to lolis called the Elin. I have - true word - never played an Elin and am not a lolicon myself. The combat and gameplay of Tera is just that good to outweigh the weak story and excess of lolicons for me. But if the appearance of a scantily-clad anime girl is a deterrence for you then run - don't walk - away from this one.

If you're looking for a fun MMORPG with fast-paced (and depth of) combat, great atmosphere, art direction, and a company that has been pretty good at supporting their title, Tera is worth a play.

This is the best game you'll never want to play again.

With a narrative that will make your heart ache, moments that have you on the edge of your seat, and a dash of laughter at some poignent moments, Brothers is a game that will pull you in from the opening scene. It's sweeping vistas will enthrall you, and its music will haunt you long after you've stopped playing.

Brothers is part adventure game and part puzzle platformer. You spend a lot of time figuring out how to progress, though the game itself has a very linear path. None of the puzzles are so arduous that you'll find yourself searching for answers, and there are plenty of embellishments that add to the atmosphere and world of the game.

While it warns you at the outset that it was designed fopr a controller, I found it to work quite well with a keyboard. If possible, try to play it on a home theater. Its Dolby Digital score and effects help immerse you in the unnamed fantasy world. I played through it in about six hours.

Brothers is a story you won't soon forget.

Mark of the Ninja is the best game I've played in 2012, combining elements of the original NES Ninja Gaiden with Thief. The artwork, level design, controls, animation, audio effects & music, gameplaty mechanics: Everything is absolutely top-notch. If you've ever wanted to step into the shoes of Samurai Jack or Jubei from Ninja Scroll, this game is a requirement for your library.