Recent reviews by Shobra

This game has served as a way for me to visit different worlds and meet many different people. Because of this recent update that includes EAC, many of these people will be unable to access the accessibility options that they need in order to properly interface with the game. While it is admirable the development team is trying to incorporate some of these features, the inclusion of EAC makes it hard to enjoy these inclusions.

I would not recommend VRChat until EAC is rolled back. Considering there is no sign of that happening, you may be waiting for quite some time.

Lethal League Blaze... this is the game you get when baseball and dodgeball decided to have a baby.

Unlike your traditional fighting game, Lethal League Blaze is centered around a baseball as the point of interest for your matches. Every character has an HP Bar (which can be turned into just a single point if you enjoyed the original version more) which depletes more and more as the ball gets faster through continuous rally. Fail to hit the ball when your own HP Bar is flashing, and YOU'RE OUT! Well, that stock is, really. Lose your lives, and your opponents win. Simple as that.

In the original game, everyone had a single jump (except Sonata), could parry the ball, and had their own special move. Here, everyone has a double jump (except Sonata) and can not just parry the ball, but grab it too! This leads into an interesting rock-paper-scissors dichotomy in matches where you need to not only recognize the angles the ball is traveling, but to also predict what your opponent will do when they're hitting the ball. Do you think they'll parry it during a wind-up? Grab it! Not gonna parry? Get ready to hit the ball! It's really fun, and you'll find yourself getting into matches where the ball travels at the speed of light and then some.

It'd also be incredibly foolish of me to not mention the absolute STYLE this game exudes. Characters have their own unique outfits and color palettes that can be unlocked with Sparks (the game's currency), the art style has amazing 3D landscapes and wonderful animations, and the music is absolutely a banger. You've got tracks like Klaus Veen's Ordinary Days V2 that plays in Candyman's stage, Hideki Naganuma's AIN'T NOTHIN' LIKE A FUNKY BEAT that plays in the rumbling subways, and D Fast's Jungaaaa that plays in The Renegade's own hideout.

If you're a fan of high-octane speed and action, this is definitely the game for you.

Skullgirls is a weird case for me.

I'm a big fan of platform fighters. I really like Rivals of Aether and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate for how they play and handle, but the idea of a traditional fighter always kind of scared me. Admittedly, starting from scratch in a new game isn't that big of a deal for me, but a trad fighter always seemed more complicated. Quarter circles? Z motions? Six button attack system? How do you do all that? The entire idea seemed odd and foreign to me, and it was for the first few hours of gameplay.

Despite all of that, Skullgirls is a fantastic game. The tutorial is very helpful in easing players into how the game works, and it gives an in-depth look at the game's Infinite Prevention System (IPS) mechanic. I went from not knowing how to do quarter circles or combos of any kind to being able to make up my own sort of strings, with varying success. The controls feel fluid and you never really feel like anything you get hit by is the game's unresponsive controls. The characters all feel unique and different, with Double and Beowulf having some of my favorite playstyles.

The music and art shine spectacularly. Some examples being Clear Breeze, a song that plays as you duke it out on the rooftops of New Meridian in the midst of the daylight. The Crowd Goes Wild plays in the middle of the NMO Arena, where fans of the wrestling scene shout and cheer everyone on as they clash for glory. The animation in the game flows wonderfully, and there's plenty of care given to each individual frame for these animations. The alternate color palettes, should you get bored of the standard colors, are also implemented very well. Some of them even have some special cosmetic effects, such as Robo Fortune's Varia Suit.

I highly recommend Skullgirls if you'd like to get into the traditional fighter scene. I'm nowhere near amazing, but I can only get better with time, right?

PAYDAY 2 kind of runs like garbage. It's frames can be bad, enemy force comes in at about 3 FPS, and it was built on a racing engine.

Despite all of this, it's still a very fun game.

PAYDAY 2 is about a gang of robbers who break into vaults, banks, museums, meth labs and whatnot, and take what they want when they want. There's a treasure trove of scenarios just waiting to be played, and the voice acting and writing really sell the game's charm. You'll go from robbing a measly bank of it's money to securing a set of diamonds in a jewelry store, and who knows what else you'll get mixed up in? The game throws you into these scenarios and you're free to tackle them as you please. You can either go guns akimbo and loot the bank while murdering cops, or you can steal everything right out from under their noses, without them suspecting a single thing.

There's a lot of weaponry to choose from, so you can customize your loadout to what you personally enjoy. Want a shotgun? You've got it. Want to hold a sick flamethrower? You can have that, too. You can deck out your character with a bunch of skill trees that grant you extra abilities on the field, such as regenerating armor when getting a headshot, the ability to insta-revive a friend, or being able to carry more ammo bags or first aid kits. There's also Perk Decks that allow you to focus in on a certain playstyle. I'm all about the Muscle Deck, which is built to let me attract attention and to soak up pain so my friends can get rid of the authorities with ease.

Unfortunately, PAYDAY 2 comes with some downsides, one being is that the game has a lot of DLC, and I mean a lot. I would recommend getting the Ultimate Edition (or similar bundles) when it goes on sale, so you've got almost the entire game at your fingertips. As mentioned before, the game can also run kind of crappy, too. Your frames can drop in unexpected places, the AI can act kind of weird, and you're likely to end up experiencing a glitch or two here and there thanks to the game's engine.

But if you can look past the downsides and get over them, you'll be playing a game that offers hours upon hours of content.

Oh, and how could I forgot! You can wear all kinds of masks!

Buying this game is like getting a payday.

Rivals of Aether is Smash that advocates offensive play.

The gameplay is fast, thrilling, and precise, with each combo string or move you bust out feeling very good and powerful. There's no shield, instead having it be replaced by a parry that reflects projectiles and stuns your opponent when used with good timing. There are also no grabs (save for some characters with a command grab like Clairen), which makes the focus of the game stay strictly upon combos. The ledge grab has also been replaced with a wall jump, which allows characters to use their recovery move again after the initial jump.. All of these things make Rivals of Aether satisfying to play, not to mention that there's an extraneous amount of tutorials you can go through in order to learn the ins and outs of each character, as well as sharpening up your DI and learning mechanics you may not have known about before.

The music within the game is breathtaking, too. While some tracks are somewhat short, they're all incredibly ear-catching. I find myself getting lost to The Forest Floor whenever I need to focus, and I can always enjoy Full Steam VENGEANCE!! when I want to be up and about when going around. Sorrow is a touching tune that can jerk tears from my eyes, and Formless Onslaught lets me know that I'm in for the fight of my life when I start playing Abyss Mode.

Don't even get me started on the Workshop for this game, either. Whenever I meet up with some of my college friends, we all get together and see who'd win in a fight: Obama, or Squidward? That being said, some of the original characters on the workshop, such as Ash, Guadua, and Mollo, are genuinely exciting and fun to play. It's also neat to see your favorite characters come to life. I quite enjoy playing as Kirby and as Emerl, personally, and I can't wait to see if people'll start doing commissions for custom characters! I'd pay a pretty penny to put someone through the workshop.

This being said, if you love platform fighters and want a good, free-flowing game, pick up Rivals of Aether. It won't be a mistake.

Streets of Rogue has an endless amount of content that stems from various classes, to different weapons, and missions that have to be fulfilled. You'll be a Jock who hates using computers and can run through walls in one playthrough, only to be a Vampire who has to hunt down Werewolves and can't be picked up by security cameras in another.

This game is great. By all means, please buy it.

An experience that leaves its mark for quite some time. With it's constantly changing level layouts, the many ways to modify your character, and the passive and active abilities of all the mutants you're going to unlock, Nuclear Throne offers hours upon hours of gameplay for those who want to sink their teeth into a top-down roguelike shoot 'em up.

The music is also amazing, too. I've listened to the soundtrack more times I can count, and each song feels beautifully tailored to each area. To Fläshyn and its spaghetti western guitar, Groundwork of the Past with its forlorn vocals and ambience, and Mt. Rubble's overpowering danger in it's instrumental, you'll feel not only in touch with the surroundings, but it'll put you in the shoes of the very mutant you play as.

Get this game. It is well worth your time.