Recent reviews by Stupid McNoheals

[Edit after a few more hours]
I've uploaded some screenshots to demonstrate what I thought was AI-generated, just in case I was actually imagining things. Find them here:
https://steamproxy.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3399929310

https://steamproxy.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3399929862

I wound up playing for a little while longer to see more of the campaign, and the gold heist storyline is actually pretty interesting with a few missions that require the Boss (who, if he dies, loses you the campaign) to go practically solo. Even with that, though, there's enough for me to keep my rating negative. The stealth is very silly in that you can run up to somebody's face, slap them, and then watch as they just kind of give up and let you tie them. Compare this to Payday's need for the player to surprise a target first, and you can see that this is maybe a little underbaked (albeit forgiving for those who suck at stealth, like me!). The starting heisters available are lacking in character compared to the colorful cast in other Left 4 Dead-likes, and the enemies are also wanting for distinctive personality. There's certainly SOMETHING here, but not enough to recommend, especially with my initial findings below.

[Original review]
I got this through a Humble Choice bundle, and despite other reviews claiming that it was just Payday 2 but worse, I was curious enough to give it a go. Some initial resolution issues cropped up on startup which made for a near-constant blurriness, but setting scaling to 98% (but not 100%, since the next step up is 101%, for some reason) and disabling supersampling seemed to help after relaunching the game. The tutorial was fine and serviceable, and the early part of the campaign was the same way. A lot of Rockay City's development budget went to actor likenesses and voiceover work, as well as licensed music, but to a certain extent, that's part of the appeal. Hey, look, it's Danny Trejo! Listen, that menu song is from The Hu!

The thing is, I'm one of those folks who hate AI-generated stuff, yeah? And one interview with Ingame Studios' development lead (https://fandomwire.com/crime-boss-rockay-city-developers-ingamestudios-di/) asks him whether this game has any of that slop, to which he responds: "We don’t use AI to create content (if you don’t count automatic LODs for 3D models). During the development, we have been using generated voices from text, so we are able to play with sounds before the final VO is recorded." Sounds good to me, but while playing, I came across an advertisement stand for a fictional soda. Upon further inspection, I found a set of extra teeth and a fingertip sticking out if a closed fist right where the other fingers curl under. This made me do some more digging, which lead me to a comment thread (https://www.reddit.com/r/CrimeBossGame/comments/1gfqpjq/was_ai_used_in_the_latest_update/#lightbox) pointing out at least one other instance of AI-generated stuff. Now, maybe this got slipped in by someone without the rest of the team's notice, or maybe there were some edits made so that technically they didn't need to inform Steam and update their page to announce their use of AI-gen, but as it stands, it's there, and it sucks.

For someone like me, even one drop of AI-gen makes me question how much care and attention was put into the rest of a product. If you're of a similar mind, then maybe stay away for now.

A delightful 2D romp with exploration for those willing to put in the effort. That being said, there's a bit of backtracking to be done if you want to explore, primarily in the form of replaying older levels, and the act of traversing those older levels can add some tedium. Even with full exploration, though, my own playthrough was a little less than 5 hours, and so you won't be spending too much time no matter how you want to play Arzette.

Wario Land + MS Paint + pizza + just a pinch of anxiety. Just don't get discouraged by the final results screen; you'll get roasted in a variety of ways unless you perform very, very well.

Italian Castlevania but many much characters and many much enemies and numbers go many much up up UP

(I like it)

A delightful little experience. At only three stages, a successful run can take around eight to ten minutes to complete, which makes this great for bite-sized, coffee break entertainment. On top of that, the animation is charming with a friendly, comic-appropriate aesthetic, and the music manages to be electronic enough to evoke the chiptunes of yesteryear's shmups without relying entirely on nostalgia for appeal. The game does start over from the beginning if you run out of hearts, but considering the already short length, this isn't necessarily a detriment. I definitely recommend it, and at a price point of zero dollars, there's little to lose by trying out Tadpole Tales.

A bit tricky beyond the first strata - I keep falling in front of enemies that I want to jump off of, and those flying chicken heads are brutal - but a delightfully beautiful infinite runner all the same.

A massive improvement compared to the first game, especially in regards to how perk leveling is handled, and a mighty fine romp on its own, too.

Delightful art, amusing writing, and perfectly enjoyable solo.

The challenge in this game comes not from some AI (with the exception of the final boss), but rather from one's own self. Each run in a given stage involves killing some ghost, with the first run being against a generic, non-combative AI spirit. Each run thereafter, however, uses your previous run as the ghost to slay, with successive runs adding further spectral enemies to avoid and slay. Certain powerups exist to erase these ghosts enitrely, but for the most part one has to plan ahead and utilize wise pacing to stand a chance. Extreme Exorcism isn't too terribly long, but the experience is well-worth the price.

The animation is largely superb, barring that of the town NPCs, who appear very clearly to have their limbs rigged to a skeleton instead of uniquely animated. The music, too, is quite nice and fits the atmosphere well with its various piano arrangements, but Dust: an Elysian Tale's combat is where the game truly shines. Said combat is combo-heavy, both when grounded and mid-air, and bears a strong resemblance to what can be found in Capcom's Devil May Cry series, albeit on a 2D plane. There is also a strong metroidvania element, but without a dense, labyrinthine structure to get frustratingly lost within, and I found the voice acting to be satisfying from all performers, especially Kimlinh Tran (who is perhaps more well-known for her work as Ms. Fortune in Skullgirls). I won't spoil the story here, though it isn't particularly complex, but I will say that I was applauding as the credits rolled. Dust: an Elysian Tale is truly one of my favorite titles on Steam, and is likely well worth your time.