Recent reviews by Spring Breeze Dancin'

One of the best roleplaying games ever made, hands down. Can't recommend it highly enough, I adore this game. When I first played it on Xbox 360 I described it as a 'Lord of the Rings' sized adventure, and while it definitely feels smaller in scope than that in modern day, I'd say the game itself holds up pretty well regardless. You really can't go wrong with this game, it has everything you could want in a fantasy RPG.

The only problem with the PC version is it has a few unfortunate bugs that cropped up in my playthrough, so be wary of that; for me the game crashed in at least three specific areas. They are not gamebreaking because they do have workarounds and they are not predictable for every player, so don't worry. Just save often and do some Googling if you get really hamstrung, I found everything I needed to know between various forums.

For people who may be picking this up while it's on sale:

Insofar as what I've played, this is a very creepy and unsettling horror game that is held back by some frustrating design decisions, some of which I can't be sure if they are intentional or just poorly thought out. For example, alternate titles for this game could be, "Where's My Torch?" and "Torch Dropping Simulator", and the funny thing about it is you are kinda screwed without your torch, so assuming you properly calibrated the brightness setting this leaves you to wander around in the dark using naught but the minimap as a guide. The character drops their torch if literally anything happens and you don't get it back upon respawning, you must backtrack or find a new one. Plus, the first time I died in the game, I started the level over and the beginning of the game was different somehow, sending me on a new and confusing path that I wasn't sure was intended or not.

If you can look past that odd trial-and-error aspect of it, there is an interesting game here with some solidly spooky atmosphere. Not regretting it at two dollars purchase just yet but I may in the hours to come, I'm not sure.

I'm not crazy about this expansion. It's hard to recommend unless you just really love the crap out of the main game and need more Dying Light, which I wouldn't blame you for. Feel free to skip it and don't feel pressured to play it, The Following just isn't even close to being amazing like the main campaign is; the pacing and structure of it is way off and isn't nearly as much fun because it forces you to use a buggy to drive over the map instead of parkour-ing like you're accustomed to, and this really makes the whole thing feel like a slog to get through. The buggy feels fun at first but the novelty of it quickly wears off. What's worse is this expansion could be accurately summarized as "a collection of sidequests attached to a reputation system", although the story that underpins it all is kinda sorta interesting. Too bad it's buried under meh sidequests. And the fact that you are driving everywhere on this huge map with no fast travel whatsoever means you are now constantly in the path of way more zombies than you're accustomed to, not to mention the volatile which are just straight up annoying and difficult to fight even on Normal difficulty. Es no bueno.

To its credit, this DLC introduces some cool stuff to the game like an actual day/night cycle and some new equipment. The buggy as well wouldn't be so bad if you weren't forced to use it, but on its own I like the idea of it because it's something else you can customize and upgrade. And you can slip right into this expansion with your existing character, which is pretty neat. But that's about it!

I would give it a "meh" grade if it were available. But since I can't I have to express my opinion with a downthumb. Soz Techland, the main campaign rocks but this one don't.

Yes, it's very Dark Souls. Strikingly, unabashedly so, and I like that.

Anyone familiar with the From games or Soulslikes will feel right at home in this game. But it's Dark Souls made by someone else, and frankly, it shows. There's nothing like a copycat to show how good the original is, and within the few hours I've played of Mortal Shell I can tell you already that From is still the undisputed king of what they do, especially in the realm of level design.

However, Mortal Shell is great so far regardless; it takes many of the lessons from the FromSoft games and applies them all at once right off the bat. It has that good weighty Souls combat feel to it but with a few new wrinkles; crowd control and timing is more important than ever, though the need for timing is not as oppressive as say, Sekiro, and it's a lot closer in pacing to original Souls than the likes of Nioh. You start off with an ability called "Harden" that seems simple at first glance but quickly proves to be more like a unique iteration on parrying. Stuff like that appears to be what Mortal Shell is all about: new ideas on top of Soulslike tropes. It has little surprises for you pretty frequently, I'm not even out of the starter area and already I've discovered a few things that had me thinking, "Hmm, interesting." I'm resisting the temptation to look anything up unless I absolutely have to, the sense of discovery is palpable and I suspect there's a lot of nuances I may miss over the course of my playthrough. After defeating the first boss (which took me a few tries), I realized there was going to be a lot of those "Hmm" moments.

There's not much else to say until I play it more! If you were waiting for the Steam version, I say go for it, it's exactly what it looks like. Runs great for me on Ultra, no qualms in the performance area.

As far as story goes, whereas the first game kept you guessing and wondering for a long time because nothing made sense until you pieced together the story and what was really going on, this one strikes a really comfortable balance between scares, story, and action, that I think is a huge improvement. The plot has an Inception/Matrix-ey kind of vibe to it that I like a lot, although it makes a slightly jarring segue about halfway through that I think could've been smoother. It still doesn't explain everything to you in full clarity right at the beginning, I found myself asking some fundamental questions about the rules of this world and its technology a long time before the game answered them, but I wouldn't say that's a bad thing. It's just a creative choice and obviously it works, because I loved both these games. But your mileage may vary. This game still has a hint of that charming jank you see from time to time, but it's very slight.

The first game was a teensy bit in your face scarier overall, since many long stretches of this one aren't so much scary as they are just generally creepy or intense, but that's not a criticism per se, just an observation. The atmosphere remains top-notch throughout, every second of the game need not require new pairs of underwear. The sections that were scary however are extremely unsettling, and I applaud Tango for that. It's also paced in such a way that it doesn't keep you unsettled for longer than you truly need to be, which is a major relief for me, because some horror games are all scares, all the time; you can never stop looking over your back or nervously peeking around corners in those kinds of games, and I don't find that to be quite as fun as this one, which gives you plenty of breaks and treats for being a good sport.

The "open-world" portions are fun and well-made, I'd like to see more of it in the future. As far as survival horror goes, I thought it worked really well, and although it is smaller in scale than most open-world games, it never feels that way. The gameplay in general has an addictive quality that makes progression and progress feel rewarding, and the standard difficulty keeps you on your toes without feeling unfair, I found it very satisfying. It's also very stealth-heavy, which works in the game's favor. My only real criticism of the gameplay is that there's one weapon in particular that I struggled to fire properly, right up until the end of the game, and consequently I didn't use it as much as I'd like to have because it didn't feel effective all the time even though it's a staple of your arsenal, but maybe that's my fault. Plus there's a boss near the end that had me actually ask myself aloud, "How am I supposed to beat this?" But I figured it out quickly, I was just confused for a second because of the "Press rapidly to do the thing" mechanic and the fact that I didn't really have a lot of time to do that. These things didn't detract from the experience at all though, in fact I think it may be part of it since it's a survival horror.

The game ran smooth as butter on my machine. I have a beefy GPU but my CPU is quite old, and my system didn't even flinch. I was quite impressed with it. I'd wager it's a well-optimized game, but I'm no expert. I also have to compliment the game's graphics, it really is beautimous, and that makes the game much more fun in my opinion. Some of the visuals in this game definitely had that "Wow" factor for me. There were many times when I literally said, "Jesus..." out loud. The folks at Tango are good at what they do.

Overall, I'd give it a 9.5/10. Worth a play, 100%. I expect great things from Tango in the future.

TL;DR: only recommended if you're already a Doom fan. In which case, you'll appreciate it. If not, you're not missing anything. It's Doom. You've seen it before.

I really wish Steam had an "It's a'ight" option with a sideways hand, because I didn't hate or seriously dislike this game, but neither did I love it. It's just that a lot of it is uninteresting, plain and simple. A bunch of the early levels are pretty drab, and the best levels of the game don't come in until roughly the last third. As you're nearing the end, the game throws you a lot of curveballs that will keep you guessing, not to mention some actually decent puzzles that may have you scratching your head. It's hard to recommend something that only gets fun in the end, but seeing as how it's a five dollar fully-functional port of a classic game, I feel bad about thumbing it down. That feels harsh. After all, I beat it, so there must be something to it.

But that being said, I played on the hardest difficulty to keep the tension up, and I still found myself getting kinda bored of it halfway through. I felt compelled to finish it because I bought it. If you already like Doom, you'll find something to appreciate here with this classic Doom title. But if you're not a fan already and you stumble on this game, I say "move along", there's nothing special to it besides more Doom.

Word to the wise, this game triggered some serious motion sickness for me at one point, keep a look out for that. Don't know why. I took my headphones off (switching to speakers) and upped the FOV, and that eliminated it. No idea what that was all about.

After Terraria came out, it started kind of a new genre of games I guess you could say, just like Minecraft. Minecraft spawned tons of indie games just like it, and most of them were garbage. I played some of them myself, and they were hilarious but amusing in their own right. Well, like Minecraft, Terraria-like games have been hit and miss. Fortunately, Starbound is in the Terraria/Minecraft genre, but it's actually pretty darn good.

The graphics are pleasing, the gameplay is satisfying, and Starbound is one of the few games I've played that actually makes you feel like you're exploring. And the universe is practically endless, so it's really quite impressive. Where Terraria ends, Starbound begins. The reason I'm making that comparison instead of reviewing the game solely on its own merits is because the games are so much alike, and yet Starbound is different enough that it doesn't feel like a bad clone or derivative at all. It really is quite funny how the games each seem like they do things that you wish the other one would do.

What's unique about Starbound is the quest or story it has. It actually has lore and a questline to follow, lots of quests as a matter of fact. Ironically, while this feature is exciting, I have barely touched it because the survival aspect is so engrossing. My brother and I often play the game together (more on that later), and we spend most of our time just colonizing and building up our living spaces. It's a little bit addictive, and the atmosphere keeps you immersed.

The multiplayer is pretty cool, as expected. Though, I have run into some performance issues. My brother and I seem to have lag no matter what we do. My internet connection is rock solid, and even if I host, one or both of us will have just the teensiest bit of lag. It's never been unplayable, just super annoying. Not to mention, the game has some performance issues in single-player as well, though fewer they are, which is odd because it's not a graphics intensive game. Occasional crashes, slight lag, FPS hitches...it's a minor annoyance at best.

All in all, I recommend Starbound, at least what I've played of it. If you enjoy science-fiction, and you like the idea behind the genre, it's right up your alley.

This game fell somewhere between "equal to the first game" and "much better than the first game" for me, but that's comparing
two games that I each liked a lot. I give it two thumbs up. I wish there'd be another one, but it seems like that won't happen. Two great feature-length games and one just okay handheld title -- not too shabby.

Things I loved:
* Story and lore both continue to be engrossing
* Voice acting, memorable performances all-around
* Visuals (despite the purportedly boring city setting)
* Not too easy, not too difficult (for ME, big asterisk on that one since admittedly I am decidedly average skill-wise compared to most hardcore gamers)
* Amazing opening chapter
* Lots of secrets to find
* Art direction (for the extras and the lore entries, and overall) is to die for
* Takes inspiration from real life without being too heavy-handed and preaching to you, which is super rare these days and something I greatly appreciate

Things I liked:
* Combat is fun and easy to pick up on
* Lots of abilities to unlock
* Just long enough length-wise
* Reserved but well-done take on "open world" structure
* Mostly ran perfectly, except for a couple times when I crashed apropos of nothing

Things I didn't like:
* No lock-on during combat,; even if you don't really NEED it, it'd be nice to have
* A few moments where the camera hinders you in combat; one sequence near the end nearly got me killed because I just couldn't see the enemies off-screen
* The reason behind some things that happen in the moment-to-moment plot could be a little clearer, or alternatively a little less convenient. Question: "Why did that happen?" Answer: "I dunno, roll with it."
* Ran out of consumables that I very much needed near the end, but whether that's a good thing or bad is up to you ultimately
* A pointless death in the story that seemed like it could have been avoided somehow, but hey, what do I know
* I didn't use all the consumables, and furthermore, skills, that were available to me. Maybe that's a fault of my own and thus you can ignore me here, but there were some elements of the combat that went unused for a majority of the game.

Interesting observations:
* The stealth sections aren't as bad as I'd been led to believe. What I'd heard made it sound like it overwhelmed the entire game, kinda like how I'd also heard the city setting also brought the game down, but neither of those things were true for me. There's actually only ONE stealth section that really got my goat, and even though it was blissfully short, it still pissed me off because of how hard it was. So overall, not that bad, if you ask me. One or a couple frustrating sequences does not a bad game make.
* When some people called this game an 'open-world' game, I expected something a little different. But I like what this game offers in terms of world structure, even if the world structure doesn't always make sense (ex: you can't jump over this barrier that anyone could easily get over). It's an open-world in a very structured way. It's an interesting variation on exploration in games, I'll give it that. In a way, it fits right in with the Metroidvania genre; I would love to see more games made in this format, not every game needs to be a LOTR-sized adventure.
* The Transmutation Rune (available in the DLC) is something I'd like to see more of in games. It gives you the freedom to trade in consumables you don't need for ones that you do. Extremely useful!

Just tossing my hat in the ring, to promote my favorite game.

The game itself:

Chrono Trigger has been and always will be my favorite game of all time. It's pretty much a perfect role-playing game. I first played it on the Super Nintendo when I was just a wee lad in ye olde days of yore, and my life from then onward was never quite the same. I have not stopped recommending it and will continue to do so. From the graphics and art direction, to the gameplay, to the story, to the music, everything about it is timeless (literally) and perfect. Even if RPGs aren't typically your thing, your milieu, I still recommend it. There is something in it for everybody; not to mention, if social issues are on your mind, Chrono Trigger happens to have at least two female characters that most people will appreciate.

This port specifically:

When the PC version first came out, it was terribad. I bought it anyway, wanting to see for myself, and I returned it. Even the "special items" it came with, labeled as the "Limited Edition" were really stupid: a few cheesy wallpapers that nobody would use, *ahem* a melody of sorts that was said to be some kind of grand symphony that was really just several tracks put together back-to-back, and if there was anything else I don't remember it. Then it had this horrendous user interface that ruined everything, and that's just what I can think of off the top of my head. In short, it was bad.

But they fixed it! This is now the official best way to play the game, barring the actual original game. You will not regret buying this, as it brings together everything done for Chrono Trigger since its release and puts it into a good PC version. Even the sound is fantastic, it sounds pure and crisp in my headphones. The only criticisms I can think of are minimal. For instance, there is the fact that there is currently no way to hide the mouse cursor if you're playing with a gamepad. Also, the game has a "High Definition" version of the graphics that looks amazing, that I actually prefer to the original graphics to be honest, but it has blemishes here and there; once in a while for example, you'll see textures that don't fit together properly, which is an unfortunate oversight.

Trivial oversights notwithstanding, this is worth a purchase.

Since I recently finished the game, I thought I'd post a short-ish review.

The level design and the puzzles both are occasionally frustrating, and sometimes more vague or unclear than I'd personally care for. I also ran into a few bugs here and there, where the game would either freeze for a minute apropos of nothing, or crash to desktop (but that only happened once or twice that I remember). Those minor blemishes however don't spoil or hold back what is otherwise an engrossing and fun game! The story and the lore are interesting as well, which is more than I can say for many games.

The art direction is enticing, the voice acting is great, and the gameplay gave me plenty of challenge. Personally I don't mind quick-time events, as long as they don't feel unreasonable, and this game has them in just the right amount for my taste. I also don't mind not having control over the camera, as I feel it gives the game a certain kind of "Castlevania" quality to it, but I'll admit that sometimes it can be a smidge wkward. And for an Xbox 360/PS3 game, the graphics are pleasingly pretty on all max settings, even if those seldom-played cutscenes (the ones that aren't in-engine) didn't get the upgrade, but those are very short anyway. There's something to be said for the atmosphere and the music, which are beautiful and par for course for this franchise.

Overall, decent game. I love the concept, and it feels right at home in Castlevania. It is unfortunate however that I found myself scratching my head so often at the game's knack for making you feel stupid; there's definitely a difference between thought-provoking and plainly unclear, and this game straddles the line a bit. Not to mention the bugs, which are always disappointing.

If you can overlook the small imperfections, and you're into Castlevania, it's definitely worth playing.