Recent reviews by Gunter

A little bit short, but an excellent Point 'n' Click Adventure with that signature Homestar Runner flair. Definitely worth picking up, especially if you're a fan of SB Emails or the wider Homestar Runner world.

If you ever played the old DJMAX games on PSP or are interested in Beatmania or other similar games, this game is excellent. It has all the songs from the old DJMAX games, but only the songs from 1 & 2 are included alongside a set of new tracks for this game. The rest need to be bought separately.

If you never played the older games in the series, this game is still definitely worth picking up if you like rhythm games at all. Almost every song is keysounded (exceptions including a few western licensed tracks) and the engine is tuned for PC. The soundtrack is mostly K-Pop and other stuff you've likely never heard before if you're not already familiar with the series, but there are some real bangers on the OST with even more available through the DLC.

The price tag may be a little bit on the high side for Rhythm games available on Steam, but it's seriously worth it for the wealth of content and continued support the game has received.

It's the manliest soap opera ever and there's so much to do. It's hard not to like once you figure out the combat.

If you like -any- of the classic IGAVania titles, you will enjoy this. Any fan of Metroid/Vania titles needs to pick this up.

This is a fantastic game marred by some significant flaws. Thankfully, they don't really interfere with the gameplay except in a few small spots. It's an extremely immersive experience and is surprisingly adept at preventing the player from feeling disoriented. Overall, here's my breakdown:
Overal: 6.5/10 (5 being average)

Sound: 8/10.
The sound design in this game is nicely done. The voice actors don't sound super rigid, the sound effects give subtle clues that can help you when you're in danger, and the music that plays is perfectly atmosperic. My only complaint in this department is the fact that with the exception of the main theme (Still Alive) there really aren't any songs that would be good to listen to in any other context.

Visuals 9/10:
Art Direction is beautiful and extremely cohesive. The use of strong colors contrasting against stark white makes for a very pleasing aesthetic. Additionally, it's the only game I've ever played where I had to turn the brightness down instead of up for me to be able to see things clearly. Textures are appropriately high for things that you will be looking at closely, and with the texture setting on "Very High" never saw a texture that took me out of the experience. Biggest complaint is that everybody's faces are very rigid and feel a little out of place with the world. I feel as though a bit more stylization on this front would have been extremely beneficial overall. 2D Cutscenes that occur between chapters aren't what I'd call incredible, but it's a nice way to handle incidents that are focused on interaction or that don't work well with the standard first-person perspective.

Gameplay: 6.5/10 (Averaging 9/10 and 4/10)
Free Running gameplay and Art Direction are the two biggest places where this game really shines. The free-running/Parkour is a unique gameplay concept executed well, and contrasts extremely sharply against most modern games that give you the option of looking around, strafing and ineffectually jumping. You really develop the sense to see where you need to get to and exactly how to get there. Executing the perfect set of moves to get where you need to go is extremely satisfying.
Unfortunately, Combat mechanics severely detract from the overall experience. Faith has the ability to defend herself by either countering melee attacks by armed enemies, picking up dropped weapons, or simply punching/kicking them into submission. Unfortunately, the combat mechanics in this game feel extremely tacked-on. While playing through the game, I constantly dreaded the sections where you are forced to fight "Blues," the in-game slang for Police or Security. Early on, it's not that difficult to counter somebody swinging a pistol, but in later levels the fights are painfully unfair and just not fun at all. The game seems to think that players will play Mirror's Edge as either a stealth-based combat approach or a run-and-gun approach. Sadly, the stealthy approach simply doesn't work. There's no measurable capacity for sneaking as enemies will autmatically become aware of your presence should you wander closer than 6 feet regardless of any other circumstances. Going for a no-kill run in this game isn't a fun and unique way to beat the game, it's pure masochism. Using dropped weapons becomes the only viable option for a lot of the game if you don't want to have to restart the segment 10 times or more.

Level Design: 7/10
Again, later areas of the game begin to suffer relative to earlier portions. In the beginning, runner vision helps guide you around levels without heavy-handedly walking you through an entire level. In later segments, Runner vision will highlight maybe three objects the entire chapter, and typically only in absurdly obvious configurations. Instead of being helpful, it becomes a cruel taunt. There are also several obstacles that have to be overcome using a specific move (Wall jump-reversal-wall jump) in a context that was never revealed to you, you're expected to just figure it out. In the final couple of chapters there are challenges that completely disregard the natural flow that has been established up to that point and instead force you to take random long jumps and blind swings. It feels unnatural and out-of-place. And that's only when you're not stuck in a generic room ignoring Parkour moves and fighting off an obscene amount of the police force opening fire on you with infinite ammo.

Story: 3/10
Falls flat on its face. Several major plot threads are introduced over the course of the game, but only one of them has any sort of resolution to speak of, and an unsatisfying resolution at that. I'll avoid spoilers for those that haven't played yet, but the way the story plays out really feels like the development team had gotten to the climax of the story and then was forced to ship it. On one hand, it leaves a lot of threads open for a sequel, on the other hand it leaves those who care about the story and are playing now with what feels like a cop-out. The best way to play this game is to completely disregard the story in its entirety, at least until a sequel comes along that addresses the four major unresolved plot threads.

Overall, Mirror's edge is a great game that feels undeniably rushed in the end. The average person could play up to chapter 7 and be done with it and then check out youtube videos of the ending scenes if they really want to know what happened; they wouldn't be missing anything significant. I still recommend it due to the unique assets the game contains, despite its drastic shortcomings.

Liked it a lot more than I thought it would. Plus, gives you a chance to become a better marksman in other FPS games. Really helped me with TF2. Plus, the game itself is just a lot of fun.

The most atmospheric game I've ever played. If you can get it, do. You have never experienced immersion such as this in anything else before, and it's actually got a pretty good story. Play alone, in the dark, with good headphones and it's fantastic.