Recent reviews by joerice1979

On the one hand, this is presented well. The graphical style brings the baking heat and style of Italy to your screen., the music is bold and enjoyable but for me, that was about it.

Perhaps if I was more interested in late-70's Italian cultural movements, there might have been more for me here, but I'm not and there isn't.
Also that there is no control (that I know of) to confirm your dialogue choice instead of letting it time out, seems a curious choice and lets the conversations drift slowly instead of happen naturally.

Worth a try though.

A visual novel centered on having some more chances to meet someone you otherwise wouldn't have known.

Started slow, but the feels came in and some specks of dust were in my eye come the finish.

A very simple game, but effective.

A game about cooking and the experiences of Indian people in Canada. I'm forever glad we got past collecting 100 coins or getting high scores when it comes to video games.
Venba is a short and sweet game that tells a story through food, simply put.
The mechanics are solid, the sound track is excellent and the writing is good. Characters are as fleshed out as they can be over 90 minutes but the story and sentiment are very well formed.
On the downside, it might make you hungry.
Really good and really different, I'm very glad I played this game.

I've written this many times, but every time I step away from my console I am amazed at what breadth of experiences there are in PC gaming.
I was bitten by the colour palette of this game from the first time I saw it. That it is essentially a text adventure stoked my interest only further.
The gameplay elements here are few, but that's not what you should look for in this game. Its rich, expositional writing and soundtrack/soundscape is.

The writing is excellent; each step is described with scientific beauty so that your journey through these other waters builds in your minds eye like text adventures of old. Samples are collected, examined and ruminated upon, new areas full of life and mystery are discovered.
It all works so well within its 8 hour main story that, and I know I'm fond of saying this, this game is a work of some quality.

I've a feeling I'll remember this one for a while, if only through the colours, music and the glittering particles reflecting the suit-lamps in an alien world.

I knew very little of this game before playing it. I'd seen it on some lists of remarkable "indies" of this year and fancied it.

I played it this morning in a single sitting and am quite struck by how it, in turn, struck me.

It has quite a bold opening; stark horror that made me feel quite uncomfortable. But then, it started to lay out its soul and I was quite touched, then saddened, then elated, then horrified.

I've said it many times, but the medium of a video game is really quite something. A motion picture could do this of course, but the level of interactivity in a video game sets it, in my opinion, a few levels above. To feel what I felt in the early parts of this game and the relief tinged with sadness that I felt in the minutes afterwards is really quite special.

I don't want to give anything away, as I was lucky enough to experience this with next to no knowledge of the themes, but suffice to say this game is a short trip through the mind and memories of someone to whom those things are precious and fragile.

A remarkable work, all those involved should be very proud of themselves.

This is a bit of a one-trick pony, but it's a good trick and for its short (1.5 hours) running time, it doesn't outstay its welcome.

You reveal the environment around you using a scanner, then follow a fairly linear path. Occasional light threats and upgrades keep it fresh and on the whole, I quite enjoyed it.

Worth a spin if you fancy something short, visually unique and sweet.

This is a mature, thoughtful rumination on the life of a person and how, in that life, other lives intersected.

This is a slow and poignant story. taking its time. Might be a bit slow for some, sure, and the mechanics are just a means to cycle through the story, but it's a heartfelt one and that can only be good.

I'm brought to mind of an episode of the television show "Cucumber" of a good few years ago. In it, just before the untimely passing of someone, an entire episode is spent on their life leading up to this unfortunate incident. This plays much like that; a life in stolen moments, in fragments, by those around them.

If I am to be critical, I'd say the character models, well, the faces, don't really work. Of course these are the hardest to get right, but at times I really could have done with some eyes. It is a good attempt at "styling it out" though, so I do appreciate that.

All in all, an enjoyable way to spend a couple of hours, even with the heartbreak.

I'm sorry but no.
Heard many good things about this game, many, but 90 minutes in I'm not sold.

Fine, I get that it's good to set the scene, but upwards of 30 minutes walking (SLOWLY WHEN SOMEONE IS TALKING) is silly.

OK, there's a cube, and someone named Frost or something is something. I'm coming to this cold, I don't know who Frost/someone is and much less do I care.

Yabber on, yabber on, keep walking, occasionally slowly because someone is talking. Then I use a gun, once. Then there's some palace thing I've seen in the media and OK, maybe it'll start. No. More walking.

I like walking sims, I really do. But this isn't one of them, definitely not. They tend to lay the story, the characters, the events out nicely, so you can follow what is happening. It's the reason you're here, right? The story? None of this was apparent in Echo.

Long story short, I get to something happening. Shoot a gun, avoid some nasties, keep going. There is a cycle happening; light, dark, reset, light, dark, reset, etc. Some nasties appear and you press B. You can shoot some of them, etc. There is a limit which you can collect something to extend, I don't know. Sometimes you press X on something that looks like the extension but it does something else, it's difficult to care.

Then you're into some other environment that looks much like the last and you have to collect some orbs for a cube on your back which had a cutscene. OK. You do enough of this and you're let on to the next stage which feels a lot like the previous. Not there is water which slows the nasties down until it doesn't and blah.

Maybe this is like the TV program that your friend eulogizes about. "Once you get to the third series, it really hots up!!!111". Nope, I've played hundreds of games that caught me in the first thirty/sixty minutes and this isn't one of them. Maybe it's the video game Citizen Kane once you get to five hours, maybe, but I'll never know.

On the plus side, the art direction is good, if repetitive.

I was looking forward to this, but it completely failed to land. A shame.

Having played the sublime "Station to Station" a year or so ago, I thought I'd give this a try.
Similar kind of thing, as you might imagine, but a little less forgiving.
Lovely presentation, music is perfect for this type of affair and the building is satisfying and the prompt sounds are perfect.
The only thing is, while "Station to Station" pulled you in with ease and slowly presented challenges. "Train Valley" was a much steeper curve and unless you have a mind like an octopus' many gracious tentacles, you may easily be stumped, as was I.
The last level of the first page was impossible for me, so a few more levels and I gave up. That said, I had a great time for those two hours and may pick it up again when my mind is a little sharper.

I'm not usually one for puzzle games on a PC, but I'm glad the art style of The Pedestrian made me make an exception; it's really good.

It's a simple premise, as most puzzle games are. You're a stick figure trying to get to the exit. Of course things change, more and more elements are added and that's the challenge.

The rules are simple (you can not undo a path once travelled without a reset, etc) and the puzzles tick along nicely within them. Rules later get changed, or rather you're able to apply an exception to the rules and at this point my brain started to hurt and I stared blankly at some of the later puzzles, but I never gave up or used a guide.

I guess that's one of the best things about puzzle games, the feeling when you're absolutely stuck and can't see a way out or even forward, but then it *clicks* and you get it. It's a good feeling. Such care has been taken with the level design here that even after the click, there's a gotcha, but it never feels cheap, just that the designers were one step ahead of you and for a puzzle game, that's good.

The visuals on this are amazing, your stick figure goes through various well-observed street furniture which always nail the aesthetic, but what is truly amazing are the backgrounds. I could only think of the sheer amount of time and effort to put into the street scenes, or a factory just occasionally whizzing by in the background. You don't play within these scenes, but that such care and attention to detail has been paid to the background only speaks highly to the care that was taken with this game.

The soundtrack is perfect, pure background music and even though I heard a lot of it while stuck, it never grated and was always welcome.

Special mention goes to the finale, no spoilers here but it's worth working for. Only a few times in my many decades of video gaming have I felt what is quite a bold decision was so well judged and fit absolutely perfectly. It was quite a thing to finish this very fine game on. Don't look it up, just play this brilliant puzzle game.

Well done to all those involved.