Recent reviews by jippalippa

A mind bending adventure, for the ages.

Superliminal is one of those gems the indie scene gifts us with only each couple of years; It is a short but intense puzzle-riddled adventure that focuses on perspective shifting rather than mechanical or mathematical puzzles.
This approach gives the game an incredibly original and distinctive vibe without becoming unnecessarily hard; most of the puzzles involved require just a little bit of lateral thinking with the important benefit of never becoming too hard of frustrating, as you are never required to have any special memorisation or calculus skills.

What makes Superliminal impressive, other than its amazing physics-defying proprieties (which go beyond what even Portal manage to do back in the day), is the surreal quality of the whole experience....
Without spoiling the surprise, you'll will experience what almost feels like a dreamlike voyage enriched with numerous genuinely breathtaking moments, some of which even end up being quite unsettling (In a good way, similarly to how it is in horror films)
It is one of those games that, by the end, leaves you with so much more than the sum of its parts.

If you want to try a genuinely innovative experience in the puzzle world, I cannot recommend Superliminal enough, especially given how much credit the developers deserve for giving us this little masterpiece of a game.

In plain Kojima style, Death Stranding is a bold, memorable, intense and challenging gaming experience which will leave something greater than the sum of its parts, in your heart.
A one-of-a-kind videogame, an audacious narrative experience, a stratified gameplay experience which unfolds as the story goes.

Death Stranding is a masterpiece of a videogame, although you'll have to be in tune with the style and sensibilities of the author (Hideo Kojima in this case), similarly to how David Lynch films are well beloved cult classics, far away from the mainstream audience.

Death stranding is a game that requires patience, dedication and perseverance, but what will give to you in return it's well worth the price; I'm not saying anything more to avoid spoiling any possible detail, but if I had to give one warning to a potential player it would be that the story is very complex, detailed, rich and tough to assimilate, therefore do not approach this game if you don't intend to put the effort into following the narration with care and attention, otherwise you will miss some of the impressive work that has been put into creating this amazing universe.

I highly recommend playing DS if you want to try something different; if you like Kojima (like yours truly), playing this is a given.

Not much needs to be said about GTA San Andreas.
It is one of those seminal games, a breakthrough in open world building, a masterclass in game design.

GTA San Andreas is one of those games everyone who's interested in seeing the evolution of videogames should play, similarly to Half Life 1&2, Bioshock, Starcraft 2 and so many others.
A monumental effort in 2004, still tremendously fun today and in some aspects still unmatched, not even by subsequent Grand Theft Auto releases.

An epic tale set in a wonderous open world bathed in a tastefully funny satire of what the early 90s were.
Sure it's an old game, but 100% worth playing in modern times, just be sure you download the definitive edition patch (available in the guides here on steam).

See ya allin San Andreas, BUSTERS!

One of the finest 2D platformers ever made; if you're into the genre you absolutely have no excuse to avoid it.
Superbly refined gameplay, challenging difficulty, gorgeous pixel art, emotional story, evocative music and loads of content and variety.
100/100.

Jedi Academy is perhaps one of the best "more of the same" packages in gaming history.
It takes all that was good about its glorious predecessor (Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast) and wraps it up in an action packed, fast-paced package.

Where the previous chapter was focused on a few complex and large stages, Jedi Academy offers a huge variety of small bite-sized missions, each one offering a distinctive gameplay style, exploiting its potential and moving on before it has a chance to become boring.

Alongside the new mission structure, we get a very healthy selection of new and tasty force powers to play with, and this time the growth of the character is completely player-based, therefore you're able to be extremely powerful from the get go, if you choose to spend force points wisely.
The addition of double bladed and dual lightsaber set ups is also a nice variety boost, although their impact is not as remarkable as one might think.

Graphically wise the game shares the same engine and visual makeup as the predecessor but the work in updating the technology is frankly remarkable especially with regards to the lighting which feels much more natural and less blocky.
The most profound change, though, is in the complexity of the levels; where many surfaces were completely flat in the previous game, this time there's plenty of geometric detail, and the settings are way less corridor based.
The texture work is also much more impressive this time, with a huge variety of custom made surfaces which help each and every level to stand out from the others.
If you played JKII, you'll definitely notice the difference.

Jedi Academy is an absolutely must-play videogame for every star wars fan and it carries on an obsolete, yet super fun way of designing games which is a true delight to experience in these "cinematic" times of "scripting-based" videogames.

When it comes to classic Star Wars videogames, it doesn't get any more classic than Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast.

Considered by many the best of the old school action Star Wars games, Jedi Outcast embodies all that's good about classic gaming; sure, it might be extremely obsolete when it comes to game design and it's impossible to appreciate in modern times it if you don't have an eye for nostalgic titles and old school gaming, but what this game lacks in fancy scripting, cut-scenes, and flashy graphics, more than makes up for it in raw good old fashioned gameplay.

There's something so visceral about playing as a Jedi in this game (and its sequel, Jedi Academy) and even if "The Force Unleashed" and "Jedi Fallen Order" gave us unlockables, combos and generally a more structured gameplay, Jedi Outcast simply makes you feel much more powerful as a Jedi and it's a lot of fun to decimate enemies (for example here you can literally smash enemies around with force grip, or throw them into pits), especially if you enable the dismemberment (a feature which is absent from Jedi Fallen Order).
It's also useful to know you get to use some dark side powers in this game (such as force lightning), which you cannot do in Jedi Fallen Order.

Perhaps the best thing about the game is the map design, which carries on the philosophy of DOOM (1993) and requires you to explore the maps in detail to discover hidden areas, key cards to open doors and so on.
It makes you connect much more with your surroundings as you need some basic exploration skills to figure out the right way to go, where so many modern games provide you with an almost corridor-like structure which makes getting lost almost impossible.

An other delightful thing about this game is the classic Retro Star Wars vibe it gives you.
I understand modern games wanted to branch out a bit when it comes to new locations, but Jedi Outcast features all the classic settings we all loved so much seeing in the old trilogy.
Imperial ships, military installations, temples, Cloud City om Bespin; the music also is takes straight out of the old trilogy, therefore it's a bit of a lazy solution but absolutely amazing, as we all love John Williams' score so much.

A surprising thing about this game is that, for being released when it did, it aged remarkably well.
Of course it is still extremely dated, especially in the polygon count which is laughable for modern standards, but because of the terrific art direction and incredible texture work, it looks much better than other games released roughly at the same time, like Max Payne, Deus Ex and so on.
Anyway any classic PC gaming enthusiast cannot resist that lovely Quake 3 Engine look.

If you want to rediscover the classic Star Wars videogame history you simply cannot miss this beloved and cherished milestone.

Teribbile

Great game for Steam Sales minigames.
Small download size, easy to install, easy to uninstall...what else could we ask for!

Portal 2 is not just a videogame, but a lesson in game design.

The game picks up the somewhat lost tradition of groundbreaking games developed by Valve, walking in the footsteps of milestones such as Half Life 2, and to this day remains one of the absolute best games I ever had the pleasure to experience.

Portal 2 should be played and revered by every person considering a career in game design as it represents a superbly balanced mix of all the components that make a gaming experience great.

Exploration, Humour, Set-Pieces, Narration, Atmosphere, Difficulty; all these aspects are balanced with a care and love that only legendary developers such as Valve have, as a results we get a game that never gets dull, repeats itself or stumbles the player with overly difficult puzzles (which are still available in the many additional bonus maps).

One of the finest pieces of digital entertainment ever conceived, and one of the few games that managed to transcend the notion of videogame, permeating into the general pop culture and achieving the status of legend.

More than recommended; almost mandatory.

A criminally underrated gem.
A tastefully made narrative experience dissecting the troubled mind of a deeply traumatized character
A refreshing take on the classic linear game experience, with some hugely creative explorative gameplay.
A life lesson to those who say videogames are all the same and unoriginal.

The only downside of this game are a couple of instances where the exploration-based puzzles follow a logic which is hard to grasp immediately, but this happens rarely and it doesn't compromise a production that deserves all the praise in the world.

Highly recommended as long as you don't expect an action oriented game a la Devil May Cry or Bayonetta.