Recent reviews by eldarad

I found this very difficult to get into, and I rarely have the desire to play for more than half an hour at a time. That doesn't say much for the game's ability to immerse you in its world.

There are some very good ideas and concepts here - the gathering storm in the prelude to war, the factions attempting to use you for their own ends, the life of a musician on the road. I also felt that the nature of Genius, the metaphysical beings(?) that co-inhabit the mind of some gifted people, could be explored and expanded on far more. But it feels like this should have been a novel rather than shoehorning it into a choose your own adventure format.

Perhaps you will like the story anyway, and it's not an expensive game, but I can't recommend it.

Super Hexagon is a game where you move your little triangle cursor left and right to avoid the walls that close in on the centre of the screen. It's a game where you can switch off your brain and get into a flow state.

The game is punishingly hard, and you will fail often. This is OK though, because it is very easy to restart immediately - there's no load screens or waiting times to sit through while you press Space trying to start again. Press Space, and you're instantly back in the game and you can have another go.

The soundtrack is just awesome - it totally fits the gameplay, it doesn't interrupt your concentration, and it's a big part of the game's personality.

In many ways, this isn't the type of game I usually buy, but I don't regret my purchase. It's cheap, and you can dip in and out of the game whenever you feel like it.

ETS2 is a fun, relaxing game...even though all sense and logic says that it shouldn't be. I don't know why I enjoy it so much - the developer's fun global events, the trance-like state when you drive down the motorway, the pretty scenery, or the "gotta collect them all" vibe from the different vehicles you can buy, trailers you can transport and towns you can visit.

Whatever it is, I'm glad I bought the game, and highly recommend it.

Transport Fever is a sandbox where you create a transport netowrk between industries and towns on a 3D map. Although there is a campaign mode, in reality the real entertainment is in user-created maps or maps generated by the computer. For fans of the genre, the obvious comparison is with Transport Tycoon ("TTDX") - and although this game scratches that itch, it's probably a "spiritual successor" rather than an actual evolution forward.

That said, it's a very relaxing game, and every so often you can just ride along with one of the trains and enjoy the view.

The concept of this game is great - the execution is lacking.

I wanted a game that focussed on the politics of running a city - playing factions against each other, ensuring that you had a plurality of support even if upset some groups. This is not that game. The march of progress is predetermined, and your actions have a negligible impact on it. More to the point, your prior actions count for nothing - council elections ignore your impact on the city, and there is not even the prospect of asking for a quid-pro-quo from an ally to get something you want - if their initial inclination is to oppose a proposal your only option is to beg, taunt or threaten them into submission, at the expense of your previous months of friendship.

The game has many, many numbers...but no feedback. If your city is making a loss, there is no indication why, and the city-builder-lite approach means that you have no practical way of solving the deficit anyway, short of exploiting a glitch in the game's logic.

I suspect a very large percentage of players are like me - they played once, got the "End of the Line" achievement, and have no desire to play again. Which is a shame - this promised to be the game this niche was waiting for, but failed to deliver.

Tavernier is a short game that is reasonably good. I bought it for half price in the sale, so I got around 4 hours of entertainment for £1 - I can't really complain. I completed the storyline on the second playthrough, and although in theory the game should have replayability because of the different factions you can back, I have no desire to play it again.

I currently have 380 hours in-game, but most of that has been spent designing rockets rather than flying them. If, as a child, you enjoyed building Lego stuff but then didn't really play with them once you had finished making it, you will instantly see the appeal of KSP. It is also a steathily educational game - you will learn about orbital mechanics without realising.

It's a wonderful game and I highly recommend it.

Slammed! is an interactive story based in the world of professional wrestling. You don't need to know or understand professional wrestling, although some terms are crucial to understand (ie, the concept of kayfabe) and a quick google search every now and then will help as you go along. At its core though, this is a story about your journey and the personalities that you interactive with - the wrestling is the backdrop for the most part.

The story's pacing is excellent, and the blurring of the line between real and kayfabe (which is broadly the same concept as the "fourth wall" in acting) is really well done. The quality of the writing, purely from the point of view of the storytelling, is also excellent. For me, the best example of this is the section that features the "promotional video" for the grand finale, where the writing got me genuinely pumped up for the big climax.

There is a reasonable amount of replayability - there are enough branching story arcs for you to play several times and not get bored of it. The choices feel meaningful, and there are several possible finales and many different journeys you can take on the way to them.

Highly recommended.

"Her Story" is a beautifully crafted interactive story where you uncover the plot in an unpredictable and somewhat random way. The game has been cleverly set up so that you are drip-fed twists and plot points without you ever feeling that you have 'spoilt' the story by getting to a piece of content "too early" and there are other clips that act as bridges between the narrative threads

It is, essentially, a short story that you uncover based on how you navigate through the clips, and so it has limited replayability, but even as an 2-4 hour experience I would highly recommend it for the price.