Recent reviews by Tobash

Adventures of Chris is a solid platformer with very interesting mechanics relating to the main character being a balloon. Consequently, there is good variety to mechanics, which is refreshing in a genre where the mechanics always boil down to having a double jump, getting an air dash, and some wall breaking thing. There's more to this one, where you get variations on how to control being a balloon. I like this. that's good. The boss fights are great and can be challenging, but they're rewarding when you approach them right and get their patterns down.

The story's great with good dialogue and humor. There's interesting lore to the game, but it can easily be bypassed without missing anything. The main character is likable all throughout, and you can really put yourself in their shoes. The enemies are well thought out and interesting as characters.

Overall, the game is great and I would highly recommend it. The developer does good work, and the next game they have in the pipeline also promises to be a banger.

This game's real fun. The game revolves around the idea that the cards that enemies shoot at you can be picked up, in exchange for health. The exception to this is healing cards, which can be picked up for free. You can move around, and as you move around, the game moves forward. The cards you pick up are abilities that you can attack, heal, defend, or do other things with. Each card has a time cost associated with it, so after you use a card, you have to wait however many time units (seconds I wanna say) the card says it is. Usually, the stronger the ability, the more the time cost. When you defeat an enemy, they also drop health, so there's some payment to destroying enemies. It becomes a fun risk for reward type of thing where you try and have good attacks in hand, with a balance of time vs damage, some healing cards. You start with 3 health and can kind of expand that from what I've seen so far by getting these cross cards, but they seem few and far between from what I've played so far.

Overall, I'd say the core gameplay loop is fun and does what it tries to do quite well. It's a unique idea I haven't really quite seen before, and I feel like it's executed quite well. I do feel like it could be expanded on in the future, perhaps having something like different classes that have different small perks (less charge time, more health, more/less speed, that sort of thing). To be clear, that's not a critique so much as a thought of expansion, and of course I'm sure there's much more room for expansion in there.

In terms of music, I'd say the music I've heard in the game is nice. There aren't any bangers that really jump out at me, but the music is chill, it's good, and, most importantly, it fits quite nicely. I do personally like hype music, but that's a personal preference. I probably haven't heard all of the music at this point, I've only gotten a few stages into the game, but nothing about it so far tells me that it'll build up to something super dramatic or anything. Keestak is the one who composed this music, and I'd say it's worth keeping an eye on them to see how they expand on their art in the future (just looking at their soundcloud page, there's some pretty good stuff there!).

Graphics-wise, the game is simple, and it fits in nicely with the style of the game. There doesn't need to be elaborate sprite work or anything like that. Everything looks good, and I'd even go so far as to say there's a cute style to everything that's pretty nice and doesn't get boring to look at. I think what I'm trying to say there is that the game is colorful, and it's kind of refreshing that it's colorful in a nice balanced manner.

Overall, I'd give this game a recommend. I'd be very interested to see how it's expanded on in the future: a part 2 with story, classes, and super epic boss battles to put me on the edge of the seat maybe? Perhaps not all of that, but I think some aspects of those sorts of things or something might make the game catch people's attention even more along with its unique gameplay.

Check the game out. It's on mobile too, and it's not terribly expensive to boot, so it's not like you're breaking the bank on something that you'll just end up hating (looking at you AAA industry!)

This is a game that has filled that tough platforming itch I've been trying to scratch for years. I've played a lot of platformers. Super Mario games are great, but they're always relatively easy to blow through with little difficulty, and a lot of other games just always mess up small details that makes it not quite that game I'm looking for. Then along comes TowerClimb, and everything is about as close to perfect as it can get.

Graphics:
I know there are a lot of games out there that have pixel art, but let's be honest here, they don't always do it well, and that's why they don't always look good. Davioware and Quazi really nailed the detail on their game in this category. The amount of detail put into everything is exquisite, and it really makes for some nice eye candy.

For some reason there's an option for depixelizing the game that is on by default, and I highly suggest turning that off, as the smoothness to me just doesn't look as good in my opinion. Some may like it I suppose, and that's why the option is there.

Music/sound:
This soundtrack is incredible. Once you hit chapter 2, the music hits this level of epic that just blew me away. At times I wanted to just put the controller down and just jam out to the music. Chapter 1's music is awesome as well, but it feels like it's just one level below the second chapter.

The sounds of the game are incredibly satisfying. Whether I'm slicing into a beetle, killing a dog, or dying for the 50th time, every sound is fitting, enjoyable, and adds that nice little touch to an overall great experience. All of it just feels like it was well thought out and well composed. Top notch here!

Story:

The story is interesting, deep, and definitely makes one think despite how simple it appears. You are a climber, and you are climbing a tower that many have tried to climb before. You may fail, but you may succeed. Take it from there! Yet somehow there's so much more to it than that, as this tower has some history, and it alludes to it in many different forms. It is almost akin to jumping into the world of The Labyrinth.

Gameplay:
Take Super Mario World. Now add climbing, extra jumps, item hopping, teleporting, and weapons, and you have the controls for this game. It feels amazing to control. The controls are extremely responsive and expect you to be too. The controls are straightforward and easy to learn (with the exception of item hopping, which I suggest learning), yet take a lot of practice to master. Even after mastering the controls, you have to learn how to deal with all the different situations you encounter in the game. since this is a roguelite, there's perma-death, which means you're dead when you die. No checkpoints. No quicksaves. No ranking system to beef you up for your next journey. You start with the clothes on your back and the determination you set out with.

Seeing as how this is a roguelite, there's an expectation that this game is hard, and it is. It is incredibly hard. This game has to be learned. Rather than rote memorization, expect to know how to deal with beetles swarming you, or being dropped into a den of hounds. Or both, since there is indeed an edge of cruelty to this game. There are items to help you through all the terrors of the tower, and they can be greatly helpful to moderately helpful, ranging from gloves that help you run faster to seeds that hold explosive berries and jump berries. All these items can be stored in the inventory for later use or carried on hand ready to be used in some capacity. The items are really well thought out, and the limit on items makes one not feel too overwhelmed with useless items yet sometimes trying to figure out which items is the least useful at the time. Expect to die until you figure out how to use items wisely and be resourceful.

Summary:
Persevere and the rewards shall be bountiful, as this game really feels great to run through. Climbing up and down the towers is just a pleasure to do, and this is my personal go to game for when I want to blow off some steam. Don't expect to be good at the game to start, and don't expect to find everything quickly. This game will chop off your head, hand it to you, then make you figure out how to eat it. But when you figure out how to eat it, oh does it taste so good! It's definitely my favorite game of the year, and possibly my favorite game of all time.

Score: 10/10