Recent reviews by Yargles

BIT.TRIP CORE is a rhythm game and is the second entry to the BIT.TRIP franchise also being my favorite. Note that I have played the Wii (and 3DS) version of this game a lot more then I have on the PC so I have a lot more hours in the game then it shows.

Gameplay
The way CORE works is, you are playing at the + in middle of the screen. When a beat (square things) comes you have to take aim in one of the four directions and shoot the beats. The beats are in-time with the music and you will need to use the beat of the song to hit these accurately.

A staple to the BIT.TRIP franchise is the zones. The higher the zone, the higher your multiplier will be, thus more score. You zone up by hitting a certain amount of beats while not missing too many. Staying in higher zones results in more score, but it is really easy to fail out of it. The higher the zone, the better the music gets which is another thing to keep you motivated to keep doing better.

To fail a stage you will have to drop out of the Nether zone (the lowest zone) and there are no checkpoints. If you don't have experience then this game will be really hard at first. The difficulty curve is steep and the first level (Discovery) will be hard for first-timers. However once you get the hang of the game and mechanics, the next two levels will not be as hard.

Personally, once I pick up a good rhythm game I will spend too much time in it and this game is no exception. I find it very addictive to try to improve my score more and more.

Also, note that there are only the three 15 minute levels; Discovery, Exploration and Control. Playing through the game without failing will take just 45 minutes, but if you're motivated to get further improve your scores (like me), it shouldn't be a huge problem.


Music/Sound
As a rhythm game, the game is partially dependent on the music, so is it good? Definitely, CORE probably has my favorite music of any of the BIT.TRIP games, though that is subject to opinion. Also as I said before, the higher zone you're in, the better the music gets. Exploration is my personal favorite. (*^▽^*)

As far as sound effects go, they're solid and they do the job well.


Versions
Between the three versions of the game (PC, Wii, 3DS) I feel that if you have the right controller (the Xbox 360's circular D-Pad design does not go well with CORE), PC is the best because of the increased resolution. Also, the challenges which flip the + 90 degrees are actually challenging on the PC cause you can't just flip the controller like you can on Wii. Don't bother with the 3DS version, it's basically broken as the music de-syncs after the first section of Exploration and Control.


Final Thoughts
BIT.TRIP CORE is up there in my all-time favorite rhythm games. The great music and addictive gameplay keep me coming back to spend even more time in it.
Despite the difficulty curve, this is a very solid game. If you are a fan of rhythm games, definitely consider picking CORE up, and check out the rest of the franchise for that matter.

Thanks for reading and I hope you'll like this game as much as I do if you decide to pick it up!

BIT.TRIP Presents... Runner2: Future Legend of Rhythm Alien (Runner2 for short) is an auto scrolling rhythm based platformer (or what I like to call it). I naturally love rhythm games and spend way too much time playing them but this is less of a rhythm game and more of a platformer.

Content:
There are tons of levels and each level has 3 difficulty levels, so if you have the patience to beat each level three times on different difficulty levels, the game has lots of replay value. Add on the collectables and leaderboards and you could spend lots of time in this game. It took me around 10 hours to finish it at first on Rather Hard (hardest difficulty) and almost triple that time to get Triple Perfect+ on each level (which you can achieve by completing each difficulty perfectly on said level) so I personally got tons out of this game. Let’s not forget the 20 hidden stages and hidden costumes too!

Graphics and Performance:
The graphics are very appealing and are a step up to the first six games in the BIT.TRIP series. If you have a weakish computer, you shouldn't have much of a problem running this game @ 60fps, just make sure to turn the depth of field off. Unfortunately that (and resolution) is the only graphics setting you can change.

Sound + Music:
As expected from a rhythm game, the music is some of the best (in my opinion) of what I've heard from a rhythm game. The developers even got the voice actor of Mario (Charles Martinet) to do the narration!

Controls:
Finally, the controls are great and responsive on the 360 controller and all the actions are where it should be. Even though I (and the game for that matter) highly recommend using a controller, the keyboard configuration is great and does the job properly once you get used to it.

Final Thoughts:
If you are a rhythm and/or platformer fan, I highly recommend you pick this game up. With lots of content, appealing graphics and an amazing soundtrack, the $15 asking price is a solid price. If you want, you can get the optional $3 DLC that adds characters like Atlas, Razputin and Dr. Fetus who of which all look great, but these are just characters, no extra levels or abilities.

Amnesia: The Dark Descent is the best horror game I've ever played, none other has ever made me so scared.

Content:
The main story is pretty short, clocking in about 4-6 hours and there’s not much replay value other then to see more then one of the endings. Justine (a side story) takes about an hour or so but I can't be sure because I really cannot beat it (it's sooo scary). However, the replay value comes in when you go online and download custom stories. There are some great ones out there so that’s where I spent most of my 70 or so hours in this game.

Graphics and Performance:
The graphics do a great job of setting the mood. However, some textures can look pixelated at times but it's not really that immersion breaking. The other complaint I have is that you're likely to play this game in a dark room (please do) and when you experience flashbacks the screen will turn white for a second or two and it can hurt your eyes. Performance-wise, I've always had framerate problems, at least the graphics options are very customizable so chances are you will find a set-up that will get you a constant 60fps.

Sound and Music:
The sound and music department is great, always setting the horror mood. You will hear floors above you creak, chains rattling, water flowing, basically anything that can make the room seem more scary than they actually are.

Mechanics:
This is where I think the game is weakest. Every monster encounter is scripted (except in Justine where they patrol, but still spawn to a script) so playing through the game enough I have memorized where every encounter will be. There is little patrol and some encounters can be easily waited out to wait for them to despawn. The monsters are also pretty dumb, but they easily get the job done. The physics engine is also pretty solid, but sometimes weird things can happen.

Final Thoughts:
Even though now that the sequel is out, I think this is the better one of the two and highly recommend you play this one instead, though both are great games. But despite Amnesia: The Dark Descent's many flaws, it is my most favorite horror game I have played and I think you should too.