Análises recentes de mudpuppy510

Soul Gambler is a fun point and click virtual novel with a pleasant colorful art style. Interestingly the game has an RPG element in that you are able to assign point values to different parts of your character that have an effect on the stories outcome. On the downside the game suffers from some translation issues (although nothing bad enough to make the game incoherant.) My main gripe about this game is an annoying looping soundtrack that gets VERY grating as the story wears on. If somneone from Soul Gambler is reading this please please please add an option to mute the audio but keep the sound effects on. My ears would thank you. Anyway other than those two gripes the game is pretty neat and seems to have a lot of replay value.

One Night Stand is a fun point and click visual novel with several different endings depending on the choices you make. Some of the endings and choices available are unexpected and hilarious. Folks who are a fan of the genre should give this game a try. I managed to put in a fair number of hours on One Night Stand trying to discover all the achievements and endings. I for sure got my monies worth on this one.

Gone Home is a fairly short walking simulator type of game that can be completed in 3 to 4 hours depending on how thoroughly you want to explore the house. I found the voice acting to be high quality and the soundtrack to be fun to listen to. The story of the game will probably resonate among a certain demographic of people while others may be left saying to themselves "that's it?" when it's over. I fall into the second category. While not a bad game, I just thought I would get more out of it than I did. This is one of those situations where as a reviewer I wish there was a choice in between thumbs up and thumbs down. Maybe a thumb in the middle - something like that.

At any rate I initially give the game a tentative lukewarm thumbs up, in large part due to the creepy atmosphere and high quality voice acting. After thinking on it overnight though I am going to walk that back to a thumbs down. The story presented would have made a nice subplot to the actual story or could have been expanded upon in some way. As it stands now though my "that's it?!" feeling from last night is what has stuck with me the most after playing Gone Home.

This quick review is for the series as a whole rather than just the first episode. I loved the first four episodes and I'm not sure about how I feel about the 5th one. From a gameplay perspective there is a stealth / maze mechanic inserted into the final episode that was extraordinarily frustrating for me to get through. There is also a very dark scene that takes place at the start of episode five that while I understand is needed for the narrative, was not a pleasant excperience to sit through. All in all though this is a great game that hits you in the feels.

Orwell is a great game that really draws you in. I found myself invested in the characters I was investigating and I also wanted to help the other citizens of The Nation. When some of my actions led to a negative reprocussion for one of the citizens I was investigating (I'm keeping this vague to avoid spoilers) I was actually upset and needed to take a break from the game for a few days. Yes from an intelectual standpoint it's silly to get attached to pretend people in a video game but thats where Orwell really shines. These people are not nameless badguy #1 and #2 and Orwell makes you care about them.

This version of Grandia II is faithful to the original Dreamcast version and well done. I enjoyed the game for the most part. Grandia II has solid (for it's time) voice acting in cut scenes, neat looking boss fights (particularly the hunks o' Valmar), interesting vaguely biological feeling dungeons (mostly late game) and some fun looking spell animations.

Not all in Grandia II is rosy however. The game is fairly linear, There is an annoying blond kid who speaks through his nose that I hate, the enemies (outside of boss fights) are often palett swaps of earlier bad guys and pretty uninspired.

Also I want to take a quick minute and talk about those beautiful little movies that play each time you use an ability or casst a spell in the game. Boy do those look great, they are a pleasure to sit through. The first time. Unfortunatly you have so sit through them everytime you or an enemy use a special ability or cast a spell. As a general rule the more powerful the ability the longer the little cut scene, so that gets old fast.

Despite all this Grandia II is a fun game I enjoyed it back then on the dreamcast and still enjoy it today. I think it still holds up.