His Imperial Bodgeness の最近のレビュー

A wide variety of perfectly balanced puzzles, sprinkled across a deeply atmospheric and unsettling world. Every challenge feels like one but is always within your grasp, in the same kind of skillful balancing act I first came to love in The Swapper.

Normally a game being short (4h, and I was going at a leisurely pace) shouldn't be celebrated too loudly, but the high-quality espresso execution of Limbo was honestly refreshing - an excellent game all in all.

Bonus points for not being Saints Row IV

It's almost a triumph of game design that it took me 12 hours to hate it. Essentially a recycled Saints Row 3, littered with poor design choices: if your superpowers include super speed and flight why are there quests revolving around pathetic human vehicles? Why are you forced to go to the ship at the end of every quest? Why are there so few portals to get back to the ship? Why were clusters added to the game?

Same map from the last game, same activities only worse, overall more of the same, only worse.

Meet Kinzie on the ship, collect clusters, collect audio logs, collect mini-games, collect the will to trudge on, and then meet Kinzie on the ship. Don't even know what's happening in the main questline - the last game had a coherent narrative of gang warfare split across districts, with satisfying feedback for each territory you took.

The bombastic superhero powers can only hide so much. Other positives include Kinzie, and gun customization (of which there is plenty). Saints Row has only ever promised one thing: fun. It is a promise broken.

Well it's the best puzzle game ever made, and one of the best games ever created. A superb core mechanic is exploited to its fullest potential, and somehow that doesn't get in the way of telling an entertaining story staffed with colourful characters. It's hard to believe Valve could even improve so much over the original. An excellent co-op campaign adds a few extra hours of fun, and workshop support will keep you coming back for many, many hours.

It hits you so hard, all at once. I dropped my headphones and sat back in shock.
Tragic and uplifting, you can't describe it's brilliance without spoiling it: just know that this is one of the most beautifully crafted video game stories to date.
Play.

A neat little experiment, though with the air of an inaugural title. As the fly, swirling upwards through the sky with the goal of reaching space, you will only encounter a few simple mechanics, and the whole thing can be completed in minutes.

Really the experience is about the music (sweeping orchestral), the atmosphere, and teh pretty pictures (although the fly itself is not particularly impressive up close). The ending raised a chuckle too.

What a wonderful game. Brief and pithy, as narrative-focused games should be. I had a good laugh for about 30 mins, carried through the colourful sets by Simon Amstell's sublime voice acting.
Highly recommended.

It's still the best of the older TW games, where the differences between playable factions were more subtle. Lighter on diplomacy and economy than other grand strategy games, preferring to focus on its excellent combat mechanics (despite occasionally wonky AI), but what is there is enough to suck you into each playthrough, as whatever warlord you chose. The 'Medieval' series always delivers satisfying knightly strife, with some swords-and-sandals crusading action between the Arab powers and the more traditional European factions, with the Papacy featuring as a key player. Good expansions added many more hours to my playtime. I miss its' personality, which is absent in some of the newer entries, even if I am happy for CA to experiment with their formula.

This is best described as an RPG Maker adventure game told across about half a dozen different stages, where you (the struggling author) desperately try to make your way across the country to try and reconnect with your estranged fiance. It's... not for everyone. A charming retro aesthetic and soundtrack at times disguised some really dull game mechanics. What saved the game for me (and made me like it so much) is the overarching story, which was subtly told and well paced. Even more remarkable considering the characters are mostly forgettable, as is most of the writing.

Having said all that, the twist of the game is literally the title, and the entire 10 hour build up was so that when that line is thrown in your face at the end of the game, it has some impact. I'm not sure how to feel about that.

The price point is sadly far too high for this short an experience, and it really is an experience far more than it is a game. It asks you to play it thoughtfully, and savour the story.

In this kind of narrative, atmosphere and immersion are everything, and with great sound and visual design I'm happy to say the devs succeeded. I was particularly impressed with how the game initially pitches itself as horror, and shifted in tone as you explored more of the house. Voice acting was spot on, and provided you with just enough story to whet your appetite each time.

The story itself? It's simple, and that's what I believe makes this a masterpiece. It is a simple concept, perfectly executed. I felt some feels guys, even just when I found a story-related object lying around the house. Finding out little snippets of what are (really the quite ordinary) lives of the parents was somehow made satisfying. The plot is presented to you with perfect pacing, and perfect sequencing throughout the house.

Many thought this game set out to break boundaries and address controversial social issues. I disagree, but I think it shows the unique power that games have when telling a story: interactivity. The story is straightforward, but the magical atmosphere, the perfect pacing, the teasing exposition, all driven by the player.... that is what makes this experience so brilliant. That is something only video games can do.