Recent reviews by codefenix

Spaceventure will always be remembered for its long, drawn-out development, and that's the first thing anyone will mention when the topic comes up.

However, putting that history aside and focusing on the game itself, it’s a solid adventure with a lot to offer. Full of humor, charm, and plenty of nods to Space Quest and other sci-fi franchises, there’s a lot to love here. Now that it’s finally out, it certainly deserves a fair shot.

The voice acting is top-notch—kudos to the cast for delivering strong performances.

I’ve only run into one bug so far: the game’s interface froze, preventing me from controlling Ace. A quick restart solved the issue, so it seems like a random glitch. Honestly, it’s no worse than what you’d expect from the classic Sierra adventure games, complete with those nostalgic "Oops! You tried something we didn't think of!" moments. UPDATE: this has already been fixed by a recent patch.

All in all, I’d recommend it. For the price, it’s definitely worth your time.

Delighted that 2023 comes to a close while playing another fine shootemup from the author of two of my old DOS favorites, Raptor and Galactix. I missed out on DemonStar the first time around in the 90s, but it's an absolute joy to be able to play it now.

But jumping jeepers, it's hard.

I originally did not recommend this game when I posted my review on Sep 19, 2023. I have changed my mind, and I now *mostly* recommend it, especially to those who have played The Messenger.

Let's get the positives out of the way: It's a great looking game. Great sound, great music. The characters are (mostly) likable. Most importantly, it's fun to play. The turn-based RPG mechanics with added time-based inputs are an enjoyable breath of fresh air. Overall, it's a nice, little homage to the era of 16-bit console RPGs.

The game mostly falls flat when it comes to the plot and character development. It also relies too heavily on references and connections to the devs' previous game, The Messenger, and doesn't stand up well on its own without making those references.

If you haven't played The Messenger, I'm sorry to say that a lot of the storyline isn't going to make sense. And even if you did play The Messenger and enjoyed it, you may still be highly disappointed by the game's conclusion.

All that aside, I still like the game. It's fun to play, it has a lot of heart, and I can't get enough of the soundtrack. I mean the music is absolutely out of this world good. And the recently added DLC does try to add a little much-needed depth to the main characters, and ads several more hours of enjoyable gameplay.

I am way late to the party playing this game, but it was easily one of the most fun I've played all year. It hits all the right sweet spots the same way all my favorite NES games still do to this day.

I always kinda liked the game. As platformers go, it's average. But on PCs in the early 90s, it was pretty decent. Granted, it definitely shows its age now, but it's still easily on par with Duke Nukem (the original side scroller version) in terms of basic play control. It has a fairly good weapon upgrade system, and the Ad-Lib music is some of the best from the time.

Everyone should play this game to learn what fake difficulty is. This game is not difficult or unfair -- it's simply irritating and it tries to be.

This is what happens when someone watches a handful of XNA tutorial videos on YouTube, borrows every page from IWBTG's playbook, and decides to make a game. What results is an irritating product that punishes the player for anything less than pixel-precise movements in some levels, and outright insults the players in others.

You think you've made it to the exit of a level? Go ahead and run to the door and leave. Surprise! A giant boulder crushed you, and you have to start the level over again. There was no hint of the boulder over the exit, but you're dead anyway. Try to dodge it next time, maybe.

Trying to pilot this little spaceship thingy through a field of floating eyeballs? Well, the locations and speeds of them are determined purely by chance, and all too often you won't have any room to navigate between them. Try again; maybe the random number generator will go easy on you next time.

I can't come away from this game with any impression other than it's supposed to be a "joke game". Taking one look at the achievement list and seeing "Die 1000 times" as a legitimate achievement seems to confirm that. Thing is, these types of games are simply passé now. Games like IWBTG were funny novelties at the time, but their time has passed and they're not fun anymore. This is a waste of time.

Great value for the money; $1 per game.

Runs on DOSBox, so if you know what you're doing you can customize the settings and make it run optimally on your PC. Seems to run just fine out-of-the-box though.

Too bad it doesn't include Aliens Ate My Baby Sitter!. Technically, it's not part of this series, so it's understandable. It's just a shame because it doesn't seem to be available to buy anywhere else.

Hopefully they can work in trading cards at some point in the future.

EDIT: I recently submitted a write-in nomination called "Best Nostalgia Fuel" for this game for the Steam Awards. If you agree this game is deserving of this award, please submit your nomination.

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If you're anything like me, then the Transformers universe begins and ends with G1; everything else, especially what Michael Bay's camp has been churning out, doesn't matter.

If so, then this game... oh, boy... this game is for you. This is the game you didn't know you've been waiting for.

It's faithful to G1 in just about every way. The voices of all of the Autobots and most of the Decepticons are supplied by their original actors, making it seem as though you're living in the cartoon from 30 years ago. The setting is absolutely spot-on, complete with the Ark and Teletraan I.

There are flaws, but they're mostly forgivable. The difficulty spikes sharply after the second boss fight, and most enemies start to seem overpowered compared to your characters' stat progression. The action is lightning-fast and over-the-top, but starts to feel repetitive.

Many characters are glaringly absent. For example, you won't find Ironhide, Ratchet, Prowl, or Jazz. With many characters being recolors of each other, it seems like a missed opportunity to include Cliffjumper as an alternate to Bumblebee. Hopefully we get the chance to see these characters resurface in DLC's or sequels.

Anyway, great game. Can't wait to play more.

Reviewers have been unnecessarily unkind to this game. If one breaks it down into its individual components, it's easy to find things to like about it.

Graphically, it's good. The visuals are quite stunning in many areas.

Musically, it's brilliant. Lots of rock and metal tunes to enjoy.

The voice acting isn’t the worst I’ve heard. It’s on par with what I’d expect from typical run-and-gunners.

The narrative is... there. Nothing new and creative, but it shows promise. It’s something that can be built on if it takes off as a series.

The basic gameplay is decent. On its face, the game is a futuristic dungeon-crawler. I've read reviewers compare it to "Diablo in space", but I find it closer to something like Lara Croft: Guardian of Light.

What plagues this game is its sheer bugginess...

• I've died so many stupid deaths, and not all of them because I suck. I’ve died, respawned, and INSTANTLY fell through the world to die again.
  
• Some enemies will stand perfectly still an inch away from me, looking right at me, while I unleash hell in their face. Other enemies I’ve toasted will lie twitching on the ground… forever.
  
• I experience vertical tearing even though I’ve enabled V-sync, and oddly enough I also experience what appears to be horizontal tearing.
  
• The game has also completely crashed once for no apparent reason.

The list of bugs goes on. I’ve yet to play a single session where I didn’t experience something odd.

All the bugs aside though, I have to say I’m really enjoying the game. It’s a lot of fun when looked at for what it’s intended to be. And it’s clear the developers care and take stock in what the players say, as they’ve been diligently working to fix bugs since launch. It still needs lots of work though, and hopefully the bug fixes continue.

I should mention that I did not buy this game. I got it for free with the purchase of my graphics card (EVGA was running a special). So take this review for whatever it’s worth, compared to one from another who paid full price on day one.

That said, I’m glad I have this game in my Steam collection.

This is an oft overlooked classic, and deserves a play. Designed on Sierra's AGI platform, players familiar with the original King's Quest, Space Quest, and Leisure Suit Larry games from the 80s will feel right at home. The game offers replayability, as there are three different paths from Brooklyn to Sacramento, each with its own unique challenges and puzzles to overcome. The designers also painstakingly went to great lengths to include various points of historical detail about The United States as it was being formed, and the sacrifices made and hardships endured by those who risked the journey across... granted, it's a work of pure fiction, but it paints a believable picture, at least believable enough for an 80s adventure game to be immersive.

Well worth a play for the price.