Recent reviews by Legoguy9875

If my hours didn't make it obvious, Balatro is an absolute masterpiece, not just as a roguelike, but as a fun card game.

The idea is simple. You play Poker, with the goal being to reach a specified chip value by playing Poker hands - pair, two pair, three of a kind, four of a kind, straight, flush, full house, etc. These Poker hands add up the number of chips given by your played cards, and multiplies them based on a given Mult value. As you complete more rounds, the required chips increase, going into the thousands, and eventually even the millions. How do you manage to reach such high values with a standard deck of cards?

That's where the roguelike element of Balatro comes into play. Every time you complete a round, you are given a cash reward, then sent to a shop. Shops allow you to buy card packs that give you additional playing cards to add to your deck, Tarot cards that can apply buffs to cards or give you more money, and Planet cards that level up the power of a hand, which becomes a necessity as chip requirements become far too high for base value to reach alone.

Shops also contain the most valuable items in the game - Jokers. Jokers are essentially this game's equivalent to relics you would find in games like Slay the Spire or Binding of Isaac, providing major buffs to several aspects of the game, and can substantially influence how each run plays out. There are Jokers that add chips or mult when you play certain card types, multiply your total Mult by a certain amount, duplicates cards, give cash, and more. There are 150 Jokers in the game to find, and all of them are capable with interacting with each other in ways that can send even the smallest hands into literal game-breaking numbers (no joke, it is proven possible for a single card to score a value so high that it breaks the game's score counter).

The catch? Unlike other roguelikes that allow you to stack your relic items almost infinitely, Balatro only allows you to hold up to 5 Jokers, meaning you have to be careful about what you use. Thankfully, the game also offers ways for these Jokers to be more powerful than they already are. Jokers can be given one of 4 different "editions" - Foiled, which gives +50 chips, Holographic, giving +10 Mult, Polychrome, multiplying total Mult by 1.5x, and the rarest modifier of all of them, Negative, which adds an additional slot to your Joker count, allowing you to slap on an additional Joker to your collection.

Balatro is extremely fun and addictive. Runs can be done at your own pace, as the game allows you to skip non-boss rounds, meaning you could complete a run in less than 10 minutes if you play your cards right (figuratively AND literally). Absolutely worth the asking price, both on Steam and on mobile devices.

Sparking Zero is everything I wanted out of sequel to the Budukai Tenkaichi games. A giant roster of characters, a variety of stages to fight on, and the ability to pit characters from every part of Dragonball with no regards to power scaling or balance. There's no funnier a feeling than picking a team of the strongest fighters around (UI Goku, Beerus, Gogeta, etc), only to get whooped by a team of Chiaotzu or Saibamen simply because I got outskilled. As Goku would say: "even a low-class saiyan can surpass an elite if they put their mind to it."

The only thing I would want improved overall is the Custom Story editor. The Custom Story mode is easily this game's best feature - it feels so amazing to be able to create whatever kind of story I want and make the battle play out however I desire. Want Hercule to fight a team of gods and win? Want to create a what-if story where Krillin kills Frieza on Namek instead of Goku? You can do that, and so much more. It's the exact thing I would've loved as a kid, back when my fixation on DBZ was at its peak.

All that being said, the editor itself could use some work. One aspect that could be improved is the dialogue editor. I'm not gonna ask for the ability to make custom text, since I know that they intentionally limited it to preset phrases to avoid it being exploited. However, with the sheer number of phrases, titles, and names available, it becomes frustrating having to scroll through just to find the exact thing you want, and the available filters do little to make that process easier. The simple addition of a search function so that we can search for specific phrases or keywords would help a lot.

In the case of selecting names for character dialogue, it would be nice if characters present in your scene had their names at the top of the list by default, that way we don't have to scroll through the list every time we want to make them speak.

One last thing, it would be nice if we had more control over the stats of the characters in the custom stories. More specifically, I want to be able to control the individual health pools of each character. Yes, you can tweak the starting health percentage through Events, or give characters ability capsules to increase their health, but having a more direct method of controlling how much health a character has by default would add a lot of creative potential.

Good stuff. A fun way to pass the time while also doing something creative. So far, the only things I would want to see added would include:

Proper bridges - you can TECHNICALLY build bridges with the tools available, but you're limited to straight stone bridges. Would be cool to have extra options for wooden bridges, and a way to have them arch over the water to have a lake running underneath

Weather controls - While it is nice to be able to control the time of day, and there is a preset for a winter theme, it would be cool to have extra weather options, specifically something that lets me add rainfall to my scene. I absolutely love rain, it's incredibly soothing to me, so having an option to add rain and control its intensity would be great.

More prop control - It's nice that certain props are automatically placed near stuff you place down, but I wish I had more control of those props and where they went. As much as I like the construction part, it would be nice to able to freely place props around (apart from the windows and lanterns you can already place) to liven up my builds. Even a simple brush that randomly adds props where you click, similar to the flower or tree brush, would be an excellent addition.

Decided to try this out after seeing it featured in Vinny Vinesauce's Sunday stream, and I gotta say it's more fun than I ever could've expected from a game primarily about calculating numbers. It's a pretty simple idea - use all of the buttons at your disposal, all of which have limited uses - to reach a specified number. Every time you press a button, their number of uses decreases until they reach 0. Additional button uses and brand new buttons can be purchased from a shop in-between rounds.

It's amazing how much the simple mechanic of limited button uses adds to this game. It turns even the simplest addition/subtraction problems into a puzzle. Early on, you can go the easy route of basic math, but as you use up more of your buttons, you will need to think more carefully and come up with more obtuse ways of solving otherwise basic equations. It's a great way to get the brain working.

The game has plenty of replay value even in its current form. There's 4 different calculators to play with, each with their own unique array of starting buttons, and each of them currently have 4 challenge modes, with more to be added later.

My only major critique of the game is that some of the button descriptions aren't very detailed, resulting in me being confused in what they do. Most of the ones I've seen do the job fine, but there are some that don't provide enough detail for me to know what they do (worst example being the % button). Another suggestion to make the game more accessible would be to add a description for math terms on certain buttons, such as ones for prime numbers, square root, power, etc. I do understand that the game is targeted to people that already understand math, but it would still be a nice addition for those going in knowing only the basic fundamentals.

Other minor tweaks I would suggest would include a proper undo button (one that reverts a full turn rather than the right-click for cancelling a single button press), a glossary so you can see all of the buttons you've discovered, and perhaps some extra variety in the backgrounds, just to give the game a little extra flair. The last one is completely optional, but would help the game stand out more visually.

All that being said, $4 is a great price for a game like this. Simple on the surface, but can get more and more challenging as you go along. I'd recommend it.

I was so happy when they announced this game a few months ago. I have never particularly enjoyed turn-based/tactics games, simply because I never feel like I have full control of whether my next attack lands because of how luck-dependent those kinds of games can be.

Steamworld Heist (both this and the original game) manage to make the tactical gameplay fun through its use of free aiming and bullet bounce. You're able to freely aim your shot with every character, regardless of weapon. Some weapons aim and behave differently from others, but they all give you complete control of where you shoot. On top of that, the bullet bounce mechanic, a staple of both games, creates an extra layer of strategy to every shot. You can go for a more direct shot and kill the one enemy close to you, or you can look for the perfect angle to hit multiple enemies in a row and potentially clear out a whole room (something I have done several times, and it never gets old).

The best part is that all of this is controlled by the player. While there is arm sway that you have to account for when aiming shots, it's still highly dependent on your own timing and skill, and it feels like your own fault when a critical shot is missed.

And to top it all off, having more original music from Steam Powered Giraffe to listen to is always a massive plus.

I will say first and foremost that while I personally didn't have an issue with the EOS requirement due to already having an Epic account anyway, and I understand the requirement is there for cross-platform multiplayer (something I will always commend a game for having), I will agree that the lack of proper disclosure was a bad move on D3's part. They have said that they intend to fix this problem, so if you are interested in the game but are turned off by EOS, wait for that.

That said, my positive review is based solely on the merits of the game itself, not on the circumstances surrounding its release. Looking past the controversy, Earth Defense Force 6 is pretty much everything I loved about EDF5, but now further enhanced and loaded with more content. I'm only 20 missions into the 147 mission campaign (god help me), and yet it already is throwing challenges at me almost equivalent to the later stages of 5, along with a story that is just as insane (if not moreso). It feels less like a new game in the series, and more like a giant EDF5 expansion that escalates from where that game left off, both in story and in challenge, and I mean that in the best way possible.

17 hours in, so far I'm liking this.

Similar to how Hollow Knight rewards offensive play with the ability to cast high-DPS spells, Nine Sols instead rewards defensive play by charging up Talismans. Well timed parries cause enemies and bosses to gain bleed damage, and upon placing a Talisman onto the target and detonating it, it deals damage equivalent to how much bleed the target has. I was worried that a more defense-oriented combat system would get stale quickly, but even 17 hours in, the game introduces new ways to keep you on your toes, as well as new abilities that make a well timed parry oh-so satisfying.

That's not to say your offensive options are limited. You do start off with a basic three-hit combat, but as you unlock more skills, you become capable of chaining several hits in rapid succession. My favorite move to do is start a ground combat, jump, air attack, then follow that up with a downward slash to keep the chain going. Hard to master, but it's very satisfying to pull off.

I haven't completed the game yet, but I can recommend it for those that want something akin to Hollow Knight, but with the more parry-heavy combat of Sekiro.

A great mod with equally great puzzles, along with mechanics never seen in any other Portal game or mod afaik. My only real negatives are that the unique puzzle mechanics don't really get enough time to shine (apart from the shower walls, which are a great alternative to the base game's water gel, as well as the use of power switches to turn off certain mechanisms), and that the ending feels a bit rushed - the final boss is a series of short puzzles that build upon each other to eventually create one massive puzzle, which is a cool structure for a Portal boss, but it doesn't utilize any of the unique mechanics that previous chapters introduced, so there's some serious missed potential there. On top of that, the ending is extremely abrupt, cutting to the credits seconds after you push the final button. There is a short post-credits scene, but other than that you don't get a whole lot. Not that I expected too much considering it's a free community mod, but it felt lacking even when compared to other mods I've played.

Assuming the mod creators are doing more based on what is implied in the ending, I do hope that they expand more on the unique ideas introduced here (especially the laser warp cubes, which were my absolute favorite mechanic out of all of the new stuff - no joke, I legit thought that the game was glitching out when I first used them, and was blown away at the realization of how they worked).

Something to keep in mind going in is that the game is very story heavy. It's not Metal Gear levels of story imbalance where there's only ten minutes of gameplay followed by five hours of story, but be prepared for some lengthy bouts between gameplay. You can skip cutscenes if you really want to, but it is strongly recommended that you pay attention to the story to get the most out of the experience.

Doesn't change my opinion of the game personally, as I found both the gameplay and the story to be phenomenal from start to finish (to the point that I ended up playing for three hours longer than I intended to on my last session because I was so invested in the story and I wanted to see how it all ended)

While I still believe Risk of Rain 2 has a better overall gameplay loop just for how much the jump to 3D adds to the already great formula, Risk of Rain Returns is the definitive way to play the game that started it all. Improved visuals, improved controls, and plenty of quality of life changes that put this version on a much higher pedestal than the original, and in some ways makes it feel like a RoR2 demake in a great way. Hell, there are mechanics EXCLUSIVE to this version of the game that even RoR2 doesn't have, such as temporary items and drone scrapping machines. Temp items act the same as normal items you can find, but each stack of a temp item only lasts for a short time, so you have to act quickly if you want to make the most of the effect.

The game also introduces unlockable skills from 2, with all characters having their own selection of different alternate abilities. These new abilities can be unlocked either by playing the standard game with those characters, or by completing this game's brand new mode, the Providence Trials. These trials act as character-specific challenges that either act as a tutorial for a brand new skill, or as a test of your knowledge of the game's existing mechanics. When I first saw these, I fully expected them to just be slight modifications to the standard gameplay loop, but I was quite surprised to see fully fleshed out missions, with a lot of them even featuring custom level layouts and item gimmicks. If you've ever seen the Adventure or Event modes from Smash Melee and Brawl, the Providence Trials play a bit similarly to those. They are challenging, especially for getting the Crown ranks, but they are a fun way to pass the time if you want a break from the standard formula.

My only real complaint with the game is that item spawns feel less frequent than the original, at least on base settings without Artifacts turned on. This could very well just be my memories of both the original and 2 getting mixed up, or I just straight up misremembered since I haven't played the OG version in years, but I've been lucky enough to get maybe 3-5 items at best by the end of the first level, which isn't very much given that a run typically only goes for 6 levels without looping. Thankfully, there are ways to circumvent this, either by enabling the Sacrifice artifact that makes enemies drop items, or by playing as the brand new Drifter character, who's special ability drops temporary items that can give you a short-term edge while you look for permanent items.

Overall, I'm very happy with how this remake came out. It's an amazing new way to go back to a classic.