Recent reviews by eli alvarez

older-style action game where enemies have set patterns and the gratification comes from exploiting gaps in enemies attacks or defenses while collecting upgrades and traversing the map.

the mini-map is very helpful in finding out where to go next and what navigational abilities to use to get there. this keeps the pace up and removes some of the aimless wandering i sometimes do in castlevania-type games. i rarely felt lost and any mini "puzzles" on how to get where i needed to go haven't felt obtuse. the wallclimb and tight spaces movement are too clunky though, but maybe that's me

casually tactical in episode ii setting. squad dialog is a highlight

flash-game tier top-down shooter. sold trading cards for a profit then retired it

bugs tied to framerate. new version coming out 2015 that this copy will not update to

halloween-themed rpg with simple turn-based combat. gave me billy and mandy vibes at times. felt like an rpg for kids with its simple quests and directions, but i love halloween too much to feel any shame. not that i don't think adults won't enjoy this.

the story doesn't take itself seriously and was good enough to make me want to find out what happens next, the funny dialogue and cute cartoon artstyle mix well to create a comfortable halloween feel.

the combat has quick-time events for offense and defense. classes (attack, defense, support, and special) are determined by the costume the character wears. costumes are changeable and each has its own stats (health and attack) and unique special attack that is charged every 3 turns. there are also equipable "battle stamps" that modify health and attack. the battle stamps can also give a unique ability such as resurrection, poison, or dodge chance. the combat was easy enough to where i rarely felt the threat of defeat. the camera is impressively cinematic in battle with pans, zooms, and letterboxing.

gameplay outside of combat has literal trick-or-treating, fetch quests, bobbing for apples, playing hide-and-seek, defeating specific enemies, and doing-this-to-be-able-to-go-there's to progress in the story and collect items. some costumes have an ability outside of combat that allow you to access otherwise inaccessible areas. the dialogue and atmosphere keep the overworld entertaining despite the simplicity. there is a quest log to help you keep track, but there is no map. however, the areas were not so complex to where i felt lost.

there are three levels that you can teleport between, so don't worry about missables. you also can't jump. this is frustrating when something you want to get is just out of reach, but look around enough and you will find a way to get to it.

retro aesthetic twin-stick (or no-stick if you use mouse and keyboard controls) shooter with purchasable upgrades between levels. soundtrack is decent. my only problems with the game are that it is sometimes hard to tell between friend and foe projectiles and sprites blend in with the background too well, although these may have been a conscious design decisions

a space rouge-like that centers on managing a space ship with a vital mission for the federation. recommended for those who like to exercise realtime/quasi-turn-based resource allocation, prioritization, and risk management... in space!

once you get to 100 hours (in my case) you kind of "get it" and begin making your preferred choices without reading the notifications, but the fun is in the dice rolls... in space!

an addictive game that has eaten many of my nights. no, the flagship is not impossible. it also has a release on ipad as well... on earth!

just one more try...

an excellent game to introduce you to the genre, although the absolute best in-game tutorial for fighting games would be in skullgirls. this game does not have an in-game tutorial and many concepts are left for you to figure out on your own. i can't think of anything in the current state of the game that a casual player would immediately be able to identify as cheap or spammable. you must exercise fundamentals to get anywhere in this game and those skills (zoning, footsies, neutral, decision making, positioning, match-up recognition, frame data) can easily translate to other games in the genre, or all games if you're a huge nerd like me! i highly recommend learning the game with a buddy since the online player base is highly experienced and, even though you can learn from losses, you will get much more from playing with someone on a similar skill level. shoryuken.com , youtube tutorials, and watching streams of the game on twitch.tv are good ways to learn, but nothing beats playing a friend.

settings wise, it is a MUST that you turn OFF vsync (having it on will introduce input lag, although i heard it is not bad if you implement it on a driver level) and set frame rate to FIXED (allows the game to always run the game at 60fps, even if that means skipping frames [essential for gameplay since it keeps timings consistent and is as the game was intended to be played]. setting this to variable or smooth will allow the game to run under 60fps and this is bad due to multiple gameplay and netcode reasons.)