Recent reviews by Lin

Marvel Snap came out a few years after Hearthstone started going downhill, and was able to capture a considerable amount of that audience that wants an easy to get into card game, yet has some depth to it and isn't overly complex. The location system is a great innovation that adds a ton of replayability and has just enough RNG to spice things up, but not so much that it becomes frustrating. Some matches will be won or lost just because the locations are more beneficial to one deck, but the vast majority of matches feel like they could go either way.

The best part of this game though is definitely the cards, which is arguably the most important aspect of a card game. I imagine it was extremely difficult to make these larger than life heroes feel as powerful as people expect them to be. The game seems to take a "if everything is OP then nothing is" approach. When you're first learning the game, there are definitely a lot of cards that seem unfair, but once I got some hours under my belt and actually learned what all the cards do, I came to appreciate just how well balanced this game is.

The game has only been out for 2 years and has had tons of great content updates. Every new set or event feels exciting. It gives people a reason to log in and rewards people who play consistently. I haven't spent a single cent on this game and I'm closing in on level 1,000 with a respectable collection. As long as you can do your daily missions on a regular basis, the game is very free to play friendly. Easily one of the best card games I've ever played.

The stages are criminally large and the base move speed is painfully slow. A single red whip should honestly be the base move speed for every survivor. Not only are the stages too big horizontally, but also vertically. I feel like a quarter of my time playing is just going up and down ropes. The stages are so large that if you don't play zoomed all the way out, you're basically trolling, and at that point your survivor is so tiny you can barely even see them let alone appreciate their design.

I don't quite understand why the difficulty scales with time, shouldn't it scale with what stage you're on? It doesn't hurt anybody if I want to take my time and play at my own pace. But instead I feel punished if I'm not constantly going through the next teleporter. I heard the devs are adding mouse aim in a later patch, but for right now, every survivor feels clunky to play except maybe huntress.

Returns is using the same engine as 1 with the same 60fps cap, so you won't be taking advantage of any high refresh rate displays. I wouldn't expect extra meta progression, but it would be nice if I had a reason to keep playing the game outside of trials. I understand the game is inexpensive, but so is risk of rain 2. At this point in time, risk of rain 2 is actually cheaper when it's on sale.

Risk of rain returns is faithful to the original, no doubt about it. But risk of rain 1 had so many issues that they just simply didn't do anything about. It seems like the devs decided on a remaster, when what we really needed was a remake. A fresh coat of paint and some new assets can only go so far. Hopefully risk of rain 2 is more fun because so far, I'm not impressed.

Better than vampire survivors in every way I can think of. The game has actual meta progression in the form of skill trees, runes, and weapon upgrades. Quality of life is much higher with things like enemy health bars and turning off automatic level up so you can decide when you want to choose your buffs. The bosses have proper health bars so you can actually tell how close you are to killing them. The UI looks better and has more information. The game just looks and runs better in general.

Most vampire survivors clones are better than VS, and soulstone is definitely one of the best of them.

It's just a worse version of Overwatch 1 in every conceivable way. I will never forgive greedy Blizzard for ruining one of my favourite games of all time. You have to learn to enjoy live service games for what they are in the moment, because you never know when you're going to wake up one day and realize that everything you loved about the game has been completely obliterated.

This game has been going downhill since Jeff left. It's nothing more than an empty husk of the great game it once was. I can't even look at it now without being constantly reminded of the never-ending greed that all humans are susceptible to. I already got my enjoyment, I already got my money's worth, I just feel bad for the devs that slaved away creating an incredible work of art only for the executives to come and pillage it for every last cent it's worth. Disgusting.

The game is hard, but not as hard as I am when I see hand drawn animation that perfectly compliments the gameplay. My only complaint is that it's way too easy to accidentally summon Djimmi and there is no way to decline and cancel the wish when you summon him.

It might be a fun game. I wouldn't know, I can't see anything.

I always get nervous when a series I love gets a sequel after a very long time. What if it's not good? What if it tarnishes the legacy? Is my nostalgia being preyed upon? Luckily, as a long time crash fan, crash 4 is everything I could ask for out of a modern crash title.

The game looks beautiful and is perfectly optimized. Difficulty is more in line with crash 3, but that's totally fine with me. I think crash 3 & 4 are noticeably easier than 1 & 2, but not by much. There are plenty of unique worlds or "dimensions" and the level selection is the old crash 1 map style, which I love regardless of how inefficient it is. I'm not a massive fan of the story premise, and I still think the new masks are kind of gimmicky, but I can't argue with the results. I thoroughly enjoyed the game from beginning to end, and I never felt bored or that the game was dragging. The mask mechanics are cool and the dimensions are varied enough so that you don't feel like you're playing the same thing over and over. It's very fun, dense, and difficult; the way a crash game should be.

They changed Tawna from a bimbo to a badass, which is cool, but I didn't enjoy the side character levels as much as I wanted to. I don't know if it was just me, but I feel like the bonus levels this time were much more frustrating than any other crash game. Usually I complete all the bonus levels, but this time I skipped the last 5 or 6 because I just couldn't take it anymore. In my opinion, the N. Verted levels are really really stupid, and it kind of saddens me they wasted dev time on it. I would have much preferred it if they spent that time adding one or two more levels. I don't think crash needs any more replayability than what it already has anyway.

I think the most impressive part is how they made it feel like a proper modern sequel despite coming out over 20 years after crash 3. You can now choose between the traditional lives and having to restart the whole level when you run out, or the more modern version where you just always respawn at your last checkpoint. The skins look great and are super fun to unlock; you even get the classic crash skin after the 3rd or 4th boss so you can look like the PS1 crash if you want to. I still hate double jumping btw. I know it adds so much to the game, and I'm probably the only crash fan that still hates it at this point, but that's just how I feel. I personally believe that the enjoyment of a crash game should come from the difficulty and creativity of the levels, not what crash can do. That's why I'll always prefer 1 & 2 over 3 & 4.

Crash 4 isn't a 10/10 masterpiece like the original trilogy, but it definitely came a lot closer than I thought it would. It's obvious the devs have an immense love for the trilogy. It's obvious the devs have adoration and respect for the naughty dog team that made the trilogy possible. Despite its minor flaws, Crash 4 is a worthy sequel and a labour of love that is worth every cent. Also, shoutout to any hardcore crash fans who waited for the steam release. ♥♥♥♥ exclusivity.

60 fps cap. Boring af. No tits. Couldn't have put in less effort if they tried.

I randomly came across this game while browsing the new free to play games and decided to give it a try. It ended up sparking a love for fine art that I genuinely didn't know I had, and for that, I'm very grateful. I used to think art was super pretentious, but it really can be whatever you want it to be. The more you play the more the AI will adapt to your taste, and the more likely you will be to see things you enjoy. The more often you see things that excite you, the more you want to play, which means the recommendations get better, which means you end up staying longer and the game just becomes more and more addicting. It's definitely not for everybody, but if you're at least open to the idea of liking art, then it's worth a try.

The game's optimization is acceptable. In complex galleries with tons of assets, you'll get about 30-60 FPS, but in most normal galleries with a reasonable amount of assets, you'll typically get 60-100+ FPS. Luckily the game tells you the complexity of the gallery before you decide to load in. It's simple to zoom in and examine fine details, view basic information about the work, find other works the artist has made, and discover new works related to what you're viewing. I haven't had any issues whatsoever with discovery or viewing. I hit max level in less than a week, so I've been buying most pieces at full price. I've never been in a situation where I couldn't afford a piece I wanted. It's super easy to earn money through your gallery and I'm very glad they didn't make the game more complicated or difficult than it needs to be.

I wish they would make it a little more obvious that you're not just signing up for a game account, but also an account for their website. The website and the game are intertwined, so I'm glad there's just one account for both, I just wish they would make it more clear. But they probably tell you in the fine print and I just didn't bother to read it so w/e. Sometimes daisy will bug and load infinitely, and the only way to fix it is to relog. It doesn't happen a ton, but it's enough to annoy me. Honestly, the only thing the game really needs is just a bit of polish. Discovery for art is amazing, but I wish they would add more ways to discover galleries. The game can be rough around the edges sometimes, but overall it accomplishes what it's trying to do.

I didn't realize it until I went back and played the old bloons games cause I was feeling nostalgic, but BTD6 is by FAR the best bloons game. It's the most replayable with a ton of maps and incentives to play all the difficulties and modes. The jump to 3D not only made the game look better but also affects gameplay too. Usually I don't like changes to simple formulas that work, but the addition of heroes made the game better in every conceivable way. The only bad thing I can think of is the microtransactions, but I've never felt compelled to spend and it's pretty easy to unlock everything for free.