Recent reviews by strange_hero

Aesthetically, this game is top notch.

Love the music, the visual style sold me on the game--and I'm not the only one--and the Metal Gear Solid presentation (codec calls, character designs, 'super weapon' concept) had me eagerly awaiting the full release. I even played the demo, which I rarely do for games I'm looking forward to! Here I just wanted to make sure I'd enjoy the gameplay loop, after all I'm not much of a shmup fan. Demo passed my test, and now I'm writing this review. Unfortunately, I don't recommend the game.

Right off the bat, the narrative is pretty disappointing: DO NOT buy this game if you're only in it for the story. While that sounds obvious enough for shmup fans, this game has a 'story rich' tag so it's worth a warning. You can tell the developers love Metal Gear Solid and the characters reflect that, so much so that the antagonists mimic FOXHOUND or similar special forces units found in the series. However, they lack any sort of compelling backstories or characteristics that made their MGS counterparts work so well. BIRDCAGE's world is intriguing until you start learning about it, there's extras to unlock which provide narrative context to the setting and background lore for the world but it's littered with acronyms and fantastical names which don't stick in your mind. Expect to reread paragraphs several times to memorize the names of wars, organizations, and historical events that don't give you a reason to care--amateur writing all around. Let's say you're willing to experience the story for yourself, it's worth noting that a single run lasts about ~30 minutes on easy, and you need to beat the game on normal/hard to get the full story which is completely fine... except I have a lot of issues with the gameplay loop.

Sometimes you're walking around your friend's new apartment only for them to stop the tour to show off the chinaware they inherited from their late grandparents, and while it looks good from afar, you take one more step closer than you should and realize the design on the plates has faded somewhat. What's worse, it looks as though the printing is off center between the two plates they have displayed. You're not even sure you should point this out to your friend because it might mean these plates they're treating as rare and valuable antiques, talking on about turning them into family heirlooms for their kids, are cheap knockoffs. BIRDCAGE lacks gameplay cohesion; there's enough jankiness within the core mechanics that I lost motivation to continue playing on normal to improve as a player. Unfortunately, this makes BIRDCAGE feel like a lesser experience than its inspirations.

A previous reviewer (Iced Cactus) nailed my gripes with the gameplay before I could take a swing at them--since I'm a less experienced shmup player I'll defer to their write-up for a detailed explanation as to why the game doesn't click like it should. However, I found that your main attack--standard bullets--lacks power compared to your sword and special attack. Obviously this incentivises you to use your sword more and make good use of your special attack, except the sword feels unwieldly and the special attack lacks gravitas. Ultimately this leads to your entire offensive kit feeling off. Your main attack is genuinely weak, your sword is great at dispatching foes when up close but the auto aim caused several misses and ended up more frustrating than helpful, and the special attack doesn't do enough to feel special. Blend all of this together and it feels as though nothing has weight; defeating enemies isn't as satisfying as it should be. Yet, that's not the worst of this game's problems.

Levels are a bit too generic for my liking, they all blend together when it comes to how you play them. Several levels have obstacles that you avoid by flying left and right, a few moments in a few levels have enemies coming from the sides or below the screen, and that's it. Visually there's enough flair to distinguish the locations each level takes place in, but there's not enough gameplay feedback to reinforce that you're in a new area. If it weren't for the game telling me "Now you're at [location]!" with a screen/level transition I'd have thought I played through one massive level. Pair this with the gameplay feeling lackluster and you're left with a rather bland experience once the charm from the aesthetics wears off.

Overall, this was a disappointing experience and I might end up refunding the game as I find myself uninterested in continuing to play. I'm not motivated enough to get better at the game to beat it on harder difficulties or rack up my score, and the narrative did nothing for me. Truly, the soundtrack and graphics are the highlight, but I can enjoy the art and music separately from the game and probably will throw on a few tracks while walking around or doing work. BIRDCAGE has compelling aesthetics but lackluster gameplay, and unfortunately shmups live and die by their tight gameplay loop. There's better offerings in the genre for you out there, especially in the narrative department.

Sadly, I do not recommend the game, but I don't think this game is awful by any means, just disappointingly average when you consider the whole game instead of its individual elements.

Throw out your Ambien, Dead Island is here to save the day!

Don't want to spoil myself on the full game, just got a taste, but HOLY what a delectable bite.

Feels silky smooth, bullets are absolutely SLAMMING across the screen and every kill feels earned and satisfying. There's projectiles everywhere but you've got just the right amount of mobility to squeeze through them, and the sword is such a sick tool. For someone like me who loves getting in close for kills, there's a delightful risk/reward factor to using that weapon that I'm sure will get me killed far more than it should... only for me to use it again. Do I learn? No!

Wish Steam, or the games industry, had a refund system in place for when greedy corporations, or publishers enact a fundamental change to a game years after you purchased it.

How is this legal? Why would anyone defend this? Over a decade after release, and Starbreeze decides to add a subscription to their game? This doesn't benefit your experience as a player, this doesn't show you're a valued customer--you're a financier. This is a product disguised as a game.

No thanks. Stand up for yourself, don't allow corporations to turn a game you paid for into a monetization machine. This isn't normal. If a business pitched a subscription model to you years after your purchase, you'd think it was a scam or you'd be upset. Nothing different here.

This game is the Sorcerer's/Philosopher's Stone game on PC, but a chaotic immersive sim.

Surprisingly good so far, there's a healthy amount of content that'll keep you playing for a while if you're into exploring and experimenting with game mechanics.

Spells are fun, and the amount of interaction you have with the environment is impressive. My favorite element of the game is its emergent gameplay potential: at one point I knocked over a giant object, which fell on a bounce pad and then flew out a window. I would likely have not known about the window if this didn't happen.

Worth noting that you will die a lot. The game's trial and error heavy as of now, there's a lot of things in the environment that don't warn you of the fact that you will die. But everything's snappy, and you can revive friends in multiplayer. The net code is strong, I had no issues playing with a friend hundreds of miles away.

Right now the game's immediate needs are a world map--hopefully with the ability to take notes or mark points of interest--and an invisibility potion nerf. It's almost too easy to get away with stuff once you're invisible, and it lasts until you die.

Had to refund this game because I'm pretty sure Dr. Eggman is keeping it from running properly. When the game minimizes itself the first time, it's funny, when it happens four more times when you're actually trying to win, you begin to question the game's functionality.

And sure, you can play the game hoping it will work, but that's the kind of gambling that turns you insane.

A little bundle of joy with pretty interesting lore and fun weapon variety--both of which were wholly unexpected.

I found myself genuinely interested in the environments, characters, and overall plot of the game despite that not being a selling point. Furthermore, there's creative visuals, and some of the weapons are truly inspired from a thematic perspective, even if they don't function substantially different than a generic sword or shield.

That's not to say the gameplay is bland: limb dismemberment is satisfying and the ability to parry and knock down stunned enemies with a swift kick never gets old. There's a fun gameplay loop here, though it is simple.

What makes this game lovable is its charm. FlyKnight isn't reinventing the wheel, it's bedazzling it and using it as a chair. There's something captivating about this project, and I largely attribute that to its earnestness. A humanoid fly taking up arms in a medieval setting comprised entirely by humanoid insects is either a self-aware silly idea or a soon-to-be lampooned sequel to DreamWorks' Antz, but FlyKnight plays it straight. Characters are genuine, the premise of a villain intentionally restricting a population from growing a necessary appendage is inspired, and the graphics are both aesthetically pleasing and communicative: you immediately know this is an Old School First Person Dungeon Crawler.

Play FlyKnight, it's the kind of fever dream you'll lick doorknobs to experience again.

This is the kind of game you play for 10 minutes, think to yourself "If this was all life was, I'd never want again." only to realize it has actually been 4 hours and it's now too late to go out and grab that burger you enjoy so much.

You sit there, realizing that you have food at home, and haphazardly slap together some bland white bread, nearly-rotten bologna, and stale american cheese for dinner. Your stomach's grumbling despite you knowing that the food you've prepared is horrifically substandard to the point where you're sure leaving it on the floor would attract no insects. In fact, the insects who would be attracted to such a miserable meal are months deep into a self-improvement program dedicated to impoverished, disenfranchised, and otherwise downtrodden insects. The knowledge of the bizarre intricacies sewn into everyday life for the insects we dare not think twice about as we notice a few underfoot comes to you all at once. You realize, then and there, as you're three bites deep into this ten bite large sandwich that you're not dreading these next seven bites as you once did the first three.

What surprises you is that those first three bites have come and gone with no negative aftertaste. The gloom you were so sure of feeling after routinely compiling your sandwich ingredients is lodged in the back of your psyche alongside your long forgotten, but ever present schoolyard memories of ladybugs and dew dancing around the grass around breakfastime. The beams of sunlight bounce off the drops of moisture as the stabbing sunspot in your eye blocks out your vision for a second or two, and the slight sting that accompanies your temporary inability to see--at least out of that one spot you've now grown fond of after having lost it--mixes with the sugary sand caked on your molars. Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal, that bit of food left in your mouth, would normally disgust you and yet here you are hoping this final kiss from a simple meal lasts longer. Alas, the instinctive swallow pushes down that last glob of deliciousness until you're left sitting there, amongst the ladybugs and grass, unsure of when the first classroom bell will ring, hoping it never will.

And now you look down at the crumbs on your hands, the absent sandwich a reminder that all things eventually pass. You stare at your monitor, a purple and black cat wearing a green buckethat, a pink sweater, and blue pants stares back at you. It's smiling and holding up a fish. The last remnants of your sandwich wash around your mouth along with the water you sipped. Perhaps it's best to admit that the meal you just enjoyed is exactly what you just thought it was: enjoyable. Yesterday, you might've frustratingly choked the sandwich down along with the depressive and vitriolic thoughts that swim around when consuming something so disgustingly basic. But today, after having enjoyed your long WEBFISHING session, you realize the beauty and flavor of your go-to sandwich.

It's kind of like that.

Gearbox is the game developer equivalent of syphilis.

Extremely promising showing from a very fun demo. Gameplay is great, combat has enough depth to keep it from feeling repetitive, and the aesthetics are enough to show the developer's reverence for the Game Boy Advance and Super Nintendo games which inspired this game. The hour I spent on this demo felt like 5 minutes.

My main concern is with the storytelling. I haven't completed Save Me Mr. Tako yet, which is this developer's other game, but the deft storytelling from that game left me expecting a similar subtle but captivating plot here. I know this is just a demo, but one of the characters' stories feels a bit too heavy-handed, and if I'm to assume this is the start of their arc, it leaves me wondering about how the rest of their arc is going to play out. However, the second character featured in this demo--as well as her companion--caught my interest right away. Just to clarify: I'm along for the ride here, I do think the game's story will be good based on what I've seen from the demo, but I really hope things aren't explicitly said as bluntly as they were for one of the character's story.

Simply put, telling me that a character is cowardly, depressed, or just feels like they're useless is not as powerful as showing me through gameplay or a cutscene, for example. I understand the limitations of this game's style and genre, and how some things are next to impossible to convey without just outright stating it, but the way it was done here just took me out of the story.

But here's hoping all these flamboyant and bodacious characters have strong stories to match their unique designs.

And quite honestly, if this game isn't as good as this demo hints at it being, I'll be pretty disappointed.