Recent reviews by Luigi McDingle

A fantastic DLC and a very worthy followup to Survivors of the Void. Fun new items, expertly crafted new survivors, new enemies, beautiful new stages, and what is now some of the best music in the game. The bugs are massively over-exaggerated (and started being fixed less than a day after release!), and you'll notice that most of the bad reviews for this are just hating on Gearbox as a company, not anything to do with the actual content of the DLC. Hopoo absolutely left this game in good hands, and I'm very excited to see what the new team will do next!

I always take any opportunity to plug this game. It's a fantastic port of two of Capcom's more obscure games, extremely unique four-player beat-em-ups in the world of 90s Dungeons and Dragons, translating the tabletop mechanics, monsters, and world beautifully to an action-packed arcade format. There's a bit of a learning curve to the combat and inventory mechanics, but if you're a fan of Castle Crashers, you'll definitely be into this! It's a total blast solo or with friends and very fun to optimize runs and go for 100% with the new progression tracking mechanics. Achievements, unlockable concept art and gamemodes, player stats, screen filters-- it even has online matchmaking for co-op, though these days it's nearly impossible to find anyone online. It goes on pretty steep sales often, so pick it up when you can!

Does not live up to the original webgame. A lot of the hole designs are uninteresting, with an art style that somehow feels like a ripoff of the original. Each main course tells a vague, wordless story, all having something to do with the follies of man; if you're into that, cool, but it leads to holes either being very samey or confusingly disconnected, and the short scenes between levels are forgettable. The extra 100-hole courses are extremely bland, and a noticeable amount of hole layouts are reused.

Ball physics are about the same as the original and pretty satisfying, but main course holes often require extremely precise shots and a lot of trial and error, and sometimes the gimmicks just flat-out don't work; the game will want you to hit the ball up a ramp to hit a target, but the ball doesn't fly far enough to hit it even at max power, or the game will want you to shoot around a spiral, but the ball will just bounce off the walls and not keep any momentum.

On the positive side, there are a lot of unlockables if you want to muscle through and learn the strategies for each level, and they are pretty fun to mess around with, especially the trip modifiers. A handful of holes also have secret solutions or bonus objectives that can be satisfying to find. The sound design and music are pleasant and make the simpler holes very relaxing to play. Overall though, every aspect of this game feels like an amateurish eShop clone of the original Wonderputt that somehow got the rights to the name. It goes on pretty steep sales, though; at time of writing, it's 75% off for $2.49, so if you have a couple extra bucks and just want a slightly different minigolf experience, it's not exactly a bad game, just an extremely disappointing one as a longtime fan of the original (which you should definitely play!)

If you're an apologist like me for Zelda II and Castlevania 2, you owe it to yourself to check this out. It's a fairly short experience, but one that perfectly captures how those games felt, if not precisely how they played; Tight platforming, engaging bosses, exploration, and semi-cryptic puzzles are the name of the game here, though said puzzles are thankfully not nearly as difficult as those old strategy guide advertisements. It replicates the feel so well, in fact, that I had to look up whether this was just a ported retro game. Your character's expanding inventory and evolving moveset keep things moving in a very Metroidvania-esque way, with new areas and mechanics opening up as you progress and backtracking exploration proving valuable. The art style, locations, and overall vibe of the game can feel pretty generic, but that's not necessarily a bad thing; I personally take comfort in the familiar. My one and only major complaint is that your controller disconnecting renders the game totally uncontrollable for whatever reason, forcing you to restart, and if you haven't saved in a while, that can be more than a little frustrating. I really love this game and would recommend it to any retro gaming enthusiast.

Without a doubt one of the greatest achievements in VR so far. More guns and artillery weapons than you can imagine, all lovingly modeled and detailed with the most realistic function I've seen since schematic simulators. If you can think of a firearm, it's probably here. Game modes to satisfy any shooter, from realistic firing ranges and plinking playgrounds to abstract shooting challenges to tactical PvE adventures. Constantly updated with new content and quality of life options, and upcoming additions promising ever-expanding possibilities for community content. Wonderfully optimized and accommodating for nearly any VR setup. You would never guess by playing it that the development is led by a single man! If you can only get one VR game in your life, make it this one!

Too many joke reviews. Here to leave a real one.

This is a shockingly enjoyable reboot of a really weird game. It channels the spirit of the original '96 Doom clone while delivering a new, unique charm and character. The personality of this game is through the roof, from the Duke Nukem-esque talkative protagonist to the genuinely funny text terminals in secret areas. The gameplay is rough, the settings and customization are lacking, and it can be confusing to get around with no map feature, but for a totally free singleplayer shooter, it's a great time. Sure, there are Chex Mix logos plastered all over the place, and I can't say I didn't crave a bag when all was said and done, but it's easy to mistake this big advertisement as a loving, passionate tribute to an era of fun and good times in gaming. I personally can't speak for the multiplayer since it's local only and I have no friends, but I imagine it would be very fun to blast through the game with a buddy. Even if you never played the 1996 original, even if you don't care for Chex Mix, there's no harm in picking this up and giving it a go.

You swing your machete, slicing a zombie's head clean off, then turn to throw it at another one, ripping it back out of them before they hit the ground. Another walker charges you, inches from your face when you grab it and throw it into some nearby spikes. You notice some enemies standing in a pool of oil and take the opportunity to throw a knife at it, the spark sending the rotting fools up in flames... Then it detonates an explosive barrel. You hear the screams in the distance; the horde is coming. You quickly scramble up a building, hopping from ledge to ledge and finally perching on the roof. With the press of a button, a car alarm goes off on the ground, attracting the quickly approaching virals before detonating violently. You sneak away in the chaos. The sun is setting, and you don't want to be caught outside a safe zone when the Volatiles come out.

This game excels at making you feel like a badass. The movement and parkour mechanics feel incredible, and combat is as satisfying as cutting through rotten zombie meat can be. The experience and levelling systems are fun, and between New Game+, multiple difficulties, tons of sidequests, challenges, collectables, oh-so-many secret items and Easter eggs, and a campaign that's completely 4-player co-op compatible, there's replay value to spare. The story and characters are shockingly good for a zombie gore fest, though the voice acting can be less than professional at times. That's not even mentioning the Following expansion that adds even more great mechanics and a whole new campaign to play through, as well as the Be the Zombie mode, one of the best asymmetrical multiplayer experiences I've ever had. Though the modding scene isn't very active, there is some great potential and fun to be had in making and playing custom maps.

Well, there's the good, now I suppose I have to talk about the bad. This game isn't the most polished thing out there. The physics can be wonky at times, textures sometimes look off-putting, and you're guaranteed to come across a few bugs in your gameplay, including broken quests, getting stuck in some locations, and just weird occurrences in general. The DLC is unnecessary at best and predatory at worst, with countless overpriced addons that nothing of real value; you may think you're getting some cool new weapons to use, but functionally everything in the addons are identical to things you can find in the base game, though I will admit some of the more recent ones do have some neat perks to go with them. I highly recommend The Following, and if you want some extra challenge the Bozak Horde is a nice one too, but other than that you can skip most of the DLC unless you just have to have a little more stuff. If I may nitpick a bit, sometimes the subtitles don't match what the characters are saying, although what they say is usually better than the subtitles anyway so that's not a big deal.

However, none of that is a deal-breaker by any means. This is some of the most fun I've ever had with a game and I'm usually that guy that promotes Dying Light whenever he can just because it's such a great experience. If you can get it on sale, do it! And if you can afford the Enhanced Edition, GET IT, as it comes with all the best DLC and isn't much more expensive!

A delightfully surreal memefest that seems to take heavy inspiration from Hotline Miami in terms of setting, premise, and especially difficulty, but is completely original in every other way. I was coughing laughing within two minutes of starting the game, and had a great time with the combat. The music is incredible and fits every situation. The game oozes "indie" and uses that to a great advantage in its writing and gameplay. Overall, a great little teaser that will only take you about an hour to beat. I look forward to the full game!

This game is a beautiful love letter to Chuck E. Cheese style prize arcades. It features plenty of recognizable games and novelties, from skeeball to Mega Stacker to Whack-a-Mole, all with very clean controls and wonderful atmosphere. You play games, win tickets, feed them through the ticket muncher, then exchange them for fun prizes that you can decorate your home with. The game's world is a little creepy at times (I always feel like some Silent Hill-esque monster is going to jump out at me; it won't, but the feeling's always there) but it's still detailed and fun to explore. The navigation system is a bit unreliable on purpose, forcing you to use the environment to find out where you want to go. Or you could just fast travel around. Overall, this is a great immersive experience that perfectly captures the essence of ticket-munching, prize-winning arcades. With constant updates and new content that only gets better (laser tag was added recently!!) I highly recommend giving this game a whirl.

TL;DR The new chapter is short and terrible, and the new game mode is unfair and frustrating rather and challenging and satisfying as it was meant to be.

This DLC adds two new features. The "Seal" part adds a new chapter with 6 total Time Pieces spread over 3 Acts and 3 Time Rifts. The whole chapter sucks. I'll go over why in a second. The "Deal" part adds a new mode called Death Wish, a challenge mode that provides strict challenges for existing levels and rewards you with cosmetics upon completion. This sucks too.

The new chapter, Arctic Cruise, takes place on a cruise ship. First off, I want to mention that it's painfully short at only three acts and no boss fight.

The first act sees you boarding the cruise ship along with a bunch of other main characters who just happen to be on the same cruise for some reason (just the first in a string of poor plot choices.) When you enter, you find that one of the seals who work on the cruise broke a Time Piece and somehow the pieces spread across the ENTIRE CRUISE SHIP. Now's a good time to talk about the seals. They're terrible and annoying. Their dialogue is plagued with horrible "baby talk" (which amounts to placing Ws in random spots) which is only saved by the voice actor taking liberties with the lines. If it wasn't for that, I would have used the Mumble Badge the whole chapter. Anyway, the first act isn't terrible, and it introduces you to the layout of the ship (which you won't get used to, by the way. it's confusing and terrible.)

The second act is where it all goes downhill. A Time Piece was turned into the lost and found, and for some ungodly reason, the captain forces you to do unpaid labor around the ship to claim it. The ungrateful captain gets legitimately angry at you if you don't do everything perfectly, which you have to to have any hope of completing this unnecessarily difficult time-based act. The only way I beat it was with the help of a mod that gives you infinite time.

In the third act, you crash the ship into an ice berg because you see what I guess is supposed to be a time piece on it. I couldn't tell because the background is constantly blurry. You then have to save a number of people on the ship by taking them to lifeboats. The ship is turned on its side, resulting in a layout which neither the controls nor the camera were made for, making this act absolutely infuriating. On top of that, the final part of it has a time limit, making it even harder for no real reason.

The Time Rifts that appear in this chapter are really nothing special, not much noteworthy to talk about there.

Then we come to Death Wish, the new game mode and Gears for Breakfast's smartalek answer to all the people whining about how easy the game is. The Snatcher offers you contracts to complete for cosmetic rewards that essentially see you replaying levels of the game with tougher restrictions, such as limited jumps, more obstacles, etc. Death Wish is advertised as brutally difficult, and by God, it is. But it's not difficult through clever level design or anything like that. No, it's difficult through absolute bullcrap restrictions and level changes, like making it so you can't jump in a level with lots of platforming, or giving you 20 seconds to beat a level instead of 90. The "easy mode" included with the challenges barely makes it any easier either. If you're a masochist and like games like Kaizo Mario, go ahead and get this on sale. But if you enjoy a genuine challenge or no challenge at all, avoid this at all costs.

Overall, Seal the Deal is plagued with poor level design, unfair challenges, and needlessly frustrating mechanics that make the whole DLC not enjoyable. You may want to buy this just to have more Hat in Time, or because you feel like you're missing out. Don't. I repeat. Do not buy this for those reasons. Buy this DLC if you hate yourself and want to spend hours upon hours on an unfair, unfun mess of a DLC. Either way, do not buy full price.

The only good part of this DLC is the smug dance.