Recent reviews by Hyrax

This is one of my favorite games from recent years. It is very relaxing and fun to play as a board game with friends, but the PC version is even more relaxing as you don't need to follow the rules and worry too much about playing it wrong.
Me and my wife own the board game and all the expansions.
The game seems simple, but actually is quite deep and interesting,. but the overall concept is easy to understand.

The only thing missing from the PC version is kind of a story mode that progresses with birds until the end. It would be cool if the number of birds gets gradually bigger and you have different scenarios where you have to match certain criterias and extra challenges. Win the game without playing any water birds or win the game with birds that cost under 4 points etc. etc.
The game itself is very fun, but additional scenarios against AI would familiarize the player with the different birds and tactics.

POS:
Gameplay is player friendly - there is almost no design flaws. Very smooth gameplay
Lots of guns and attachments
Several classes and abilities
Several game difficulty levels
Variety of enemies (also negative as some are annoying)

NEG:
Once you have beaten the game there isn't much to do except higher difficulties. Higher difficulties have bullet sponges and tactic needed to succeed. Some classes on higher levels not viable
Need to play with other players - synths become very annoying quickly.
Recommend finding friends with voice. Playing with randoms is possible, but not as fun.
The game has occasional connection issues and basically rejoining not possible. It is basically on higher difficulties death sentence

Overall:
worth playing

Very nice skateboard game, requires a lot training into timing to get everything right. Good to pick up from time to time between other games.

If you enjoy story driven games that are well done than this one is for you.

Comparing to telltale games this game is more darker and grittier and choices matter (a lot more than in telltale games)
If you don't like QTE I recommend playing it on easy as some of them might be frustrating to get correctly.

Overall, the game looks good, sounds good, plays good and is very solid. 4.5/5

I play in bands and I am very lazy in playing other bands music (prefer to play music written by ourselves). So this games helps me to play tunes I love to listen to but never have bothered to play myself. It makes playing them and learning them easy.
I recommend this to other players a lot as well and especially to new players. It makes learning new songs and working on songs really stress free and helps you understand different ways you can contribute to songs. Some songs have really simple riffs which work really well and others have suprisngly difficult riffs which you never pay attention to while listening to it.

Other players suggest me to uninstall the game, but I still play it.

In short:
Stasis is an excellent point and click game with great atmosphere, story and gameplay. 4,5/5

Long version:
Gameplay: 4/5
Stasis is a point and click game released in 2015 and is reminiscent of older school point and click games (especially Sanitarium). During the game you are not presented with hints by characters or through menus meaning that you have to come up with all the puzzle solutions (or use an external guide). The character moves around based on mouse clicks and intercats with items either with a view icon or a use icon. The number of items you carry around isn't very large and a there aren't much other characters to talk to (perfect for the setting). In this matter the game is a little simpler than the old school games, but it sufficiently difficult without hints to make the gameplay worthwhile and challenging. Also there is a lot of ways to die in this game which is usual absent from modern point and click games.

Story/setting 5/5
The setting is a sci-fi horror/thiller story onboard a spaceship. You come out of stasis and are unaware of your surroundings and start to puzzle together what is going on. The horror style isn't based on jumpscares only and the atmosphere is done very well making the game quite intense and build up tension with the minimal info you are presented in the beginning. The story itself is not that complicated, but the way it revealse itself is very well done and the characters are very likeable and believable. A lot of the situations in this game might make you think about morality of humans or play with your emotions.

Graphics/sound 5/5:
The graphics (isometric view) and style of the graphics is ideal for the setting capturing the angst and darkness of the situation. The sounds are also done excellent and keep you on your toes. The music score is also amazing.

The game is sufficiently long (beat it in 8 hours, examined a lot of the world, prolly normal gametime 6-10 hours depending how much you read and how fast you solve the puzzles), doesn't drag or seem short. Overall I definitely recommend this title. One of the best point and clicks in recent years that I have came across.

This review need updating. The game has been updated and polished even further. Will update when I get around to playing it again.

In short:
Ghostcontrol Inc. is a solid and fun turn-based strategy ghost hunting simulator with very good humor.

Ghostcontrol Inc. style and feel is that of a casual and fun game (but not easy :) ). The graphical style, sounds and music are similar to Theme Hospital. Gameplay is sufficiently deep for a turn based game and incorporates a simple 2 AP system which makes the game flow nicely. Menus and action are understandable and there is enough amount of micromanaging to have variety. The story of the game is humorous and well written.

On the negative side:
There are some minor bugs which have been addressed and worked upon by the developers (a lot of communication from their side)
They main story itself isn't that short but by the end I felt it could go on more and the game could evolve more with more special missions. They are planning other cities so I guess I'll have to wait for those.
The mechanics and variety of enemies and maps are just at the edge - if the game would get any longer the variety should step up in the future.

All in all:
Sound: 10/10 - Very fitting for the style and found myself humming the themes later on.
Graphics: 8/10 - Clear style and fitting, some problems with UI.
Game-play: 7/10 - Very polished, balanced and quite fun. If there would be more mechanics and moves and tactics the score would be higher.
Story: 8/10 - Love the story, dialogues and setting. A longer story and a more rewarding ending would get a higher score.

Will look forward to additions and improvements to the game. It has style, nice feel and seems to have potential to be even greater.

You carry around a teddy bear that you can hug :)

Among the Sleep is a well polished indie horror game which has an interesting concept. You are a two year old toddler and the world you see is from the perspective of a child. A lot of ordinary items and rooms seem much more scary and the developers have nailed it. The graphics are decent but feel sometimes unoptimized. Gameplay is nice and and the game does not sail on cliches. The story is very good and rather than leaving you scared it draws it all nicely together in the end. Personally, the length of the game didn't bother me because the experience was intense.

Graphics 7/10
Story 10/10
Gameplay 8/10
Concept 8/10

Update 26.11.2016

After two years I decided to update this review to not recommended and make it public again.
This game as a turn-based game is a average game with some unpolishness is ok if you don't any better titles to go for. As a JA game it's quite poor and sadly a failed attempt to create something close to JA and JA2.

Update 22.10.2014

tl;dr version - A Jagged Alliance spiritual successor, some new features and mechanics, new graphics, some old features missing, a solid game (bugs as always with new releases), kickstarted game, indie game developer, low budget, unity, pewpew etc.

So to start off with the most important question: Should I buy this? Is it worth it? etc.
If you are a Jagged Alliance fan then my answer would be yes. (and if you have no clue of the previous titles the answer is still yes - scroll down)

And the reason is:

Well the answer isn't simple to give, so hear me out. If you are expecting a JA2 scope game you are bit optimistic - huge budget differences and development time. I know I know excuses excuses, but it is the main problem with the game that there was JA2 before it with a large budget. JA2 has set the bar pretty high (even vanilla - not talking about 1.13 mod - that's years of sweat and blood). This game was kickstarted by a indie dev looking to revive it with a low budget so comparing it to JA2 isn't entirely fair.

The reasoning is - this is the first game since JA2 and JA2:UB that really is close to a true jagged alliance game. So killing it off here means no more JA titles, Right now the game isn't as complex or advanced as we hoped, but the game isn't bad on it's own. It's below JA2 in my opinion in terms of depth, but the core is there. If this thing takes off the next iteration will be probably the thing we are hoping for.

However, not saying the development was entirely transparent or well though out (the devs probably know as well where they made mistakes), but they were open with the fans in the forums and listened to the community and they still listen. I think the main mistakes came from that they thought of new features that would be cool to add (features that were not really requested from the community) and they kind of spend too much time on them and that cost them time to implement the other features.

But what is done is done, time to look into the future and keep the JA spirit going.

Enough of the introduction and the game itself:

If you are are familiar with JA titles this title it will feel like a pretty JA title, but the depth of something in between JA2 and JA and added value. It's still enjoyable and fun, but it has some new things to get used to.

If you are not familiar with JA, this is basically a turn-based strategy game with a touch of RPG. Right now you can comapre it to Shadowrun Returns, XCOM: Enemy Unknown, Arma Tactics etc. BUT what sets this game apart from those titles is that this has more strategic and tactical depth, options, guns, characterized mercs and freedom.

The graphics are nice mostly and the art style is up for debate as always - in other words a matter of taste.

The gameplay is mostly fluid and fun, but I can't really say this to newcomers to turn-based strategy games - maybe I'm used to getting killed easily at times.There are some things that need to get used to - for example the Interruption systen which I personally do not fancy.

In terms of depth there are sufficient amount of weapons which degrade over time and need fixing (same goes for armor and other equipment). A lot of guns means a lot of ammo as well, different types of it. Also grenades, flashbangs. Characters have their own responses to different things and actions, also a lot of stats that show how useful a merc is at something (or is not). Different firing modes burtst, full auto, single shot and option to choose between firing prone, crouch and standing. Cover system, targeting different parts of the body etc etc. Island economic, train militia in squares and manage pays of mercs while earning income. For JA fans this is pretty standard, but compare to other modern TBS games this is sufficently complex

You can create your own merc based on a questionare! And fill out hes/hers stats and give a custom name.

So far the story looks solid, will update it when I'm through the game entirely. Same goes for the lenght of the game.

Replayability is pretty decent - pick new mercs, new strategy, complere all side questes - same as for older JA titles.

The game has a good modding community - mods are already in the making (the game was built open mindly to modding). There is already fan made sector in the game and junk items.

Will update in the future.


Early Access review:

tl;dr version - Early access, listening to community, feels like JA2 already, old die hard fans supporting.

At this stage don't expect a full game. Expect to play little by little while they improve the game based on feedback and input. Right now everyone who wants to support and help build the game - jump aboard. People who want a full ready game have to wait until it is finished, there is a lot to do.

Honestly saying Full Control is devoted to making a fine addition the JA series (JA, JA:DG, JA2, JA2:UB) and this can be seen from the actions before the early access. They have managed to get the very grisly (yes, this pun) skeptic fans of The Bear's Pit (Longest standing and active Jagged alliance community) and different modders (1.13!) to jump aboard and support this cause.