Recent reviews by RVK250

A physics-based puzzle game with jank physics. Seriously, somehow placing parts in particular places can affect how inertia/momentum works for completely unrelated items. One of the later fischertechnik levels was guilty of this in a way that made me worry if I could complete it.

Speaking of things that don't work, I can't exit the game without it causing a crash. Putting the game in "Full Window" mode instead of "Fullscreen" in the settings allowed me to at least skip having to CTRL-ALT-DEL every time this happened.

Sometimes the screen was too cluttered with stuff, making it annoying trying to determine what is part of the puzzle and what is part of the background.

It doesn't help that the graphics can be fairly ugly sometimes.

For a game that's basically a Rube Goldberg simulator, imagine my surprise when one of the later stages was simply a puzzle where you fit different shapes together in a square--no machines involved whatsoever.

The mini games are crap, mostly revolving around collecting things with poor controls.

It offers a detailed editor for building your own custom machines and puzzles, but I just don't care.

The game has a silly sense of humor, which I don't mind, per se, but any charm you might find can't save this game from the important things wrong with it.

I am anti-Disney. I don't recommend you support them, even through licensed games. That being said, this is a “thumbs-up” game associated with a “thumbs-down” company.

TL;DR: Those unfamiliar with DuckTales will find this a competent platformer. Those who, like me, grew up with both the show and the original NES game will find this a competent platformer AND a huge nostalgia trip.

Everything in this game is “remastered” or re-worked in some way, usually improving on the original NES game while keeping its charm, but perhaps the two most notable changes are tweaks to the gameplay and the addition of cinematics.

If you're thoroughly familiar with the original, you'll notice certain parts of levels have been reworked, as well as all of the boss fights. Various secrets are affected, too. These changes can make the game feel more cohesive, or add tedium and frustration, or both at the same time. I don't know how many times I was in a boss fight thinking, “How much longer do I have to do this?”

Every part of the game has multiple cinematics. The game will frequently stop for exposition, so much that it can get ridiculous. For instance, when visiting Transylvania, there's a cinematic followed by a moment where the player literally walks a few steps into a castle before a new cinematic starts. On the upside, the first time you play it you can appreciate all the voice-work. Most of the voices are provided by the original cast of the TV show, including (but not limited to) Scrooge McDuck, his niece and nephews, and most of the villains. Those that were not from the original cast did such a good job you might not even notice. On the downside, once you've seen the cinematics you have no reason to watch them ever again, and skipping them becomes a tedious chore, especially with multiple playthroughs.

But why would you play through the game multiple times? Achievements, of course! There's an achievement you can only get when playing on Easy or Medium difficulty; there's another for beating the game on Hard; another for beating the game on Extreme (only available after completing Hard difficulty); and another for unlocking everything in the gallery—which requires several playthroughs itself. So, at minimum, you are looking at three playthroughs, plus grinding.

There are a couple of sequences at the very end of the game, which I refer to as “the chase” and “the escape,” that are so easy to screw up (resulting in instant death) that I'm seriously considering not even trying Extreme difficulty, which requires you to beat the entire game in its hardest form with zero deaths.

Imperfections aside, though, playing DuckTales was a neat experience. Maybe check it out if you know someone who already owns it.

Boy that Steam Awards Nomination Committee 2021 badge sure is ugly, isn't it?

Sonic fans probably know what to expect from this game, as it takes pieces directly from—and pays homage to—various Sonic games between 1991 and 2011.

If you're NOT a Sonic fan, I don't think this game will change that.

TL;DR: The story is dumb, the boss fights suck, controlling Modern Sonic is persistently frustrating, mechanics introduced in later levels are lame/annoying, and there are too many tasks to do in order to get 100% of the achievements. What charm that may be found is not enough to warrant another playthrough. At the best of times, this game isn't bad. At the worst of times, it could trigger an existential crisis.

Story and Characterization:

Classic Sonic (who is mute, apparently) and Modern Sonic cross paths when a monster starts mucking with time and space, and a bunch of Sonic's pals are captured. The two Sonics are cast into a hub-world with colorless platforms and Stage-entrances to explore. Once Classic Tails and Modern Tails are rescued, they pretend to be Geordi La Forge while the two Sonics do the real work—finishing Stages to rescue the rest of the gang one by one. But if you were hoping for some character development along the way, well that's too bad. And if you find it odd that, after being rescued from the frozen void, characters suddenly suspect someone is influencing the time-monster behind the scenes... well, tough chili-dogs, friend.
As you complete Stages and Challenges, the hub-world—initially a vast white Limbo—starts to sprout color. This works better in concept than in execution, because the whole world is still mostly white and empty by the time you've done everything, half the colored elements aren't even interesting, and you might not get to see some of the changes when they happen if you're standing in the wrong place.
In the end, you finally face off against the time-monster in a tedious battle accompanied by cheesy cutscenes.

Structure:

You're given nine Stages to complete, each with two Acts. Act 1 of each stage is reserved for controlling Classic Sonic in a side-scrolling format, while Act 2 is for Modern Sonic, who uses a combination of side-scrolling and third-person gameplay. In practice, each Stage is comprised of two structurally different levels with the exact same aesthetics.
After three Stages are completed, you're required to defeat a boss before you can proceed to the next three. However, before you can face the boss, you must complete three Challenges, one related to each Stage you just finished. Challenges can be found by exploring the hub-world, which isn't all that fun or interesting. After you've defeated the three bosses and three mini-bosses (found loitering among the Challenges), you can face the final boss.
Progress in this game is very disjointed. You'll be jumping back and forth between playing Classic and Modern Sonic—two significantly different types of gameplay—through the whole game, and doing Challenges and boss fights that run the gamut between forgettable and aggravating. If you're fairly inexperienced with Sonic games, like me, you'll resent the schizophrenic structure and try to alleviate it by being choosy (when you can) regarding what to do and in what order.
As a side note, this game also has an odd relationship with extra lives. There is no true Game Over. When you lose your last life within a level, you're asked if you want to start over; you're given back your five initial lives and start the level again from the beginning. Losing all your lives really just means you don't get to spawn at your last checkpoint. Also, you can choose to start over when pausing a level, but it will cost you a life, and the option isn't available if you're on your last life. In a game where you cannot truly lose, this system is simply a nuisance.

Gameplay:

I am not a Sonic veteran. I didn't grow up with a Genesis/Mega Drive, and even when I had a mammoth Dreamcast collection, playing Sonic games wasn't high on my gaming to-do list. I never experienced firsthand any of the Sonic games released after 2001. Even now, in my Steam library there are many Sonic games, but Sonic Generations is the first one I've actually played on Steam.
So not only am I incapable of seeing this game through nostalgia goggles, but I was not prepared for the echidna excrement that is trying to control Modern Sonic. Classic Sonic was a bit frustrating when you realize how many platforms and enemies are positioned in a way that require precise jumping, but Modern Sonic is a whole 'nother lil' blue beast. Between glitches, controls that varied in how sensitive they wanted to be, a very fickle lock-on mechanic, and a janky camera with no options to control it, Modern Sonic takes this game from a so-so experience to a regretful one.
And then there's the gimmicks. The further you get into the game, the more gimmicks and oddball environmental hazards you get introduced to, and Omochao's instructions regarding them come at you in a sudden, quick, unproductive, and annoying manner.
Not only does the game introduce annoying mechanics and obstacles as the game progresses, but the levels get longer. There were so many times, especially when playing as Modern Sonic, when I had to ask, “Good Lord, when does this level end?” and the Almighty did not answer, but instead let me keep playing to find out.
On top of these complaints, there are simply too many Challenges to do. With ten Challenges per Stage, you have to do NINETY Challenges if you intend to fully complete this game. Most of them will have you running through their respective Stage in whole or in part, and some introduce gimmicks of their own. It's a painful slog.
And while you might say, “git gud,” I'll tell you: I got gud. Or, at least, gudinof. Gudinof to get all the Achievements, and that's gudinof for me. Interestingly, having to find all the Red Star Rings in each Stage helps you navigate the Stage better, so you're more prepared to go for that S-Rank you'll eventually need if achievement-hunting. And when I was gudinof, playing felt a bit better, but by then it was too late. When it was all said and done, I wasn't satisfied. I wasn't proud or fulfilled. I was just relieved it was over.

As far as I'm concerned, this game is only for Sonic fans, because it certainly didn't make one out of me.

This is one of the games that taught me I enjoy the Tower Defense genre.

I like the aesthetic. I also appreciate that each wave consists of a planning phase and an action phase, so I can get my fix of gameplay that requires thought and reflex/skill without it being overwhelming...

...except when the game is just flipping hard.

The downsides to this game are that the balance between towers could be better, using a heavily upgraded sniper rifle is basically a requirement for every level, and the game is quite time-consuming.

I am often thinking to myself, "Man, I need to go back and finish Sanctum," but a big reason that keeps me away is that each level is about 20 to 30 waves, so finishing just one level takes over half an hour.

Still, this game will likely hold a special place for me for a long time.

TL;DR: It's fairly mediocre and you might run into technical issues. If you watch/remember Zero Punctuation, Yahtzee pretty much gets it right in his review.

I wanted this game--despite its mixed reviews--because it looked like the Rocketeer with an extra coat of Sci-Fi paint.
This was/is (as far as I know) the only game of its kind, and I wanted to see it in action myself.

Honestly, if that idea kinda jives with your own curiosity, I can tell you now: just skip it.

First, let me get some technical stuff out of the way.

1) Many people reported trouble with the game not validating their CD Keys (Steam provides a CD Key that you must paste into the game when you start it for the first time). Luckily for me, I had no such problem.
2) Rumor has it that SecuROM doesn't work with Win10. Luckily for me, I successfully installed, ran, and finished the game on Win10 64-bit.
3) There is a bug that causes the game to crash when trying to change the resolution/window mode. You can find a fix in the Steam forum. Tweaking the settings in a specific file allowed me to play fullscreen at 1440p (1440p is not even an option in-game).

As for the game: Almost everything about this game is mediocre.

I finished the game on Normal--it was a mix of levels that were too easy, too hard, or that just didn't feel very rewarding.

The story is dumb. The slow build-up is tiring because you don't care about the characters, and there's no good payoffs or interesting turns/surprises throughout the whole game. Everything misses the mark, and the abrupt, cheap, nonsensical ending is a letdown.

The controls are a little janky. If you play long enough, you adapt, but it was annoying throughout. The mouse and keyboard actually worked a lot worse than a gamepad--That shouldn't even be possible!

A mix of small issues with gameplay end up being a prolonged nuisance: during firefights the enemies can take a while to kill, and you might have no ammo left after clearing an area. Dying actually gives you full ammo when you respawn, but it's disappointing to feel like you might have to rely on that.

There is no fiddling with saves--the game strictly autosaves for you at checkpoints. It's clear this game is meant to be played as a linear experience, and not as a way to impress people with your mad skillz or something. I had mixed feelings about this.

It's a cover shooter with regenerating health, but no health bar. Your danger of dying is indicated by an increasingly blurry screen that clears up after a moment.

The "vertical" cover system is interesting on the surface--you have the ability to hang or crouch on ledges and fire over the edge at the enemy, above or below. The enemy will do this, too, though this mechanic comes into play mostly when it's a deliberate part of the design of a level. It doesn't become annoying, but the novelty does wear off--it just changes from being a cover shooter on the ground to a cover shooter on a cliff-side or in a really, really tall room.

The enemies would just as soon juke around, trying to dodge your fire, as they would simply stand somewhere (openly or hidden), not doing anything. Both scenarios can be frustrating. Enemies are generally aggressive, though; that can keep tension up at times.

Most of the enemy designs aren't bad, but it's kind of like you're just shooting shiny artist mannequins and the Geth from Mass Effect throughout the game, with some odd bosses thrown in.

During flight sections (there is very little opportunity for crossing over between running around in an area and legit flying above it) you can latch on to an enemy ship, and after several QTE's, you can hijack the craft for yourself. Unfortunately, it's generally not worth the time.

Speaking of QTE's, there's handful for boss fights, and they aren't very interesting. Also, there's at least one escort mission, because of course there is.

You collect orbs to upgrade your weapons. Some are placed deliberately throughout the levels, others come from enemies and disappear after a while. Collecting these orbs is not fun, and the weapons (there's only six!) generally aren't much fun to play with anyway.

Even with Physx on High, I didn't find it added anything remotely meaningful to the experience. As far as I can tell, it's mostly used for particle effects for weapons you will rarely use.

The music has a cinematic flair, but nothing to write home about--you won't remember a theme song or a motif.

Overall, it wasn't awful, but nevertheless it was very disappointing. So much potential, but mediocre execution.

It's probably the best sports game there is.

Remember Portal? That was a good game.

My first Steam game, even.

Little did I know what depths I would be brought to through that digital she-devil, Steam.

I'm stopping now.

TL;DR: Some nice mechanics, but past a certain point it's no longer so much fun as it is compulsory.

Pros:

- Engaging gameplay mechanics combining match-three and deck-building
- The ability to continue playing on your phone/tablet
- Developers support the game with bug fixes, new troops and kingdoms, tweaking stats, new game modes, sale events, and general improvements

Cons:

- It all becomes an endless grind, even after putting significant sums of money into it
- 100% of PvP is against bots using player-configured teams
- Stat tweaks can vary wildly and quickly
- The influx of new troops have become impossible to keep up with
- Art is inconsistent in style, and the quality runs the gamut from crap to fair; the art for the Hero and Hero Armor are particularly lousy
- Uninteresting quests; writing is often very kitschy
- The voice-overs and sound effects range from serviceable to annoying to laughably bad


While the core gameplay is fairly sound, the overall experience is not endearing. There isn't much world-building, despite unlocking “quests,” and what is provided isn't particularly interesting. There is no true PvP: Players put troops on defense duty, and other players do battle against those defenses with no input from the defending player. I'd say the most important thing for one to consider, however, is that the game operates in true F2P fashion: No matter how much time or money one puts into the game, it all comes back to the grind. Collecting troops and traitstones is primarily dependent on chance (note: there are opportunities to outright purchase them), and one must grind-grind-grind for the opportunity to take those chances. Sooner or later, playing this game is like working to put coins in a slot machine.

Despite my personal policy against F2P games, I gave GoW a try, and after accomplishing all the achievements I decided to keep playing. However, after nearly 1,000 hours of playtime, and investing more money than I'd like to admit, I regret having done so. I'm done.

PS: Death Mark is a terrible idea.

This is the first Steam game I ever played for more than 100 hours, and the only one of those that didn't come with a fair amount of embarassment.

Not only are there lots of things to do, including multiplayer, it's nice to simply drive around.

Just a heads up, though: remember to back-up your files yourself. Progress and achievements won't be saved by either Steam or EA.