CatShow is one of those WTF games you sometimes find. Actual gameplay is somewhere between a VN, Warioware, and a lot of QTEs. The game is made in Gamemaker Lite (at least the version I played was), which means there is an annoying watermark on the upper left hand corner and you get a popup asking you to buy the full version after closing the game.
My opinion: Umm, I don't really have one. The only word to describe the art is shitty and the soundtrack consists of one maybe 20 second loop that's both annoying and slightly disturbing. Gameplay is odd and kinda bad, since it really is all QTEs and microgames with no chance to replay after failing them once. However, all that shittiness (including the annoying watermark and barely readable text) come together in a way that, while it doesn't make any of it any less shitty, makes it amusing to play. Nothing except the soundtrack sticks around long enough to become annoying and the game's attention span is just too short to let any of the awfulness start to stink. I'll have to give this one a recommendation, if only so you'll play it and try to form an opinion yourself.
CatShow is by NoxiousHamster. You can find it here.
Tuesday, April 1, 2014
BunniesBackInYourCage
BunniesBackInYourCage is a 2D block based puzzle game where you need to lure the bunnies back into their cage. You do this by constructing a path to the cage with blocks then holding a carrot block to get the bunnies to follow you. The challenge comes from your inability to interact with anything that isn't touching one of the sides of your character. You can also only jump one block high. When you pick up a block you must hold it over your head, which when combined with gravity makes digging tunnels impossible.
My opinion: This game isn't hard, but it's also not as easy as it sounds. Dig wrong and you might find that you won't be able to access enough dirt to complete the path to get access to the carrot, cage, and bunnies. I quite liked it and think that while it isn't particularly original it's loads of fun and all difficulty comes from your own stupidity instead of arbitrary bullshit thrown in by the dev.
BunniesBackInYourCage is by Friedrich Hanisch. It can be found here.
My opinion: This game isn't hard, but it's also not as easy as it sounds. Dig wrong and you might find that you won't be able to access enough dirt to complete the path to get access to the carrot, cage, and bunnies. I quite liked it and think that while it isn't particularly original it's loads of fun and all difficulty comes from your own stupidity instead of arbitrary bullshit thrown in by the dev.
BunniesBackInYourCage is by Friedrich Hanisch. It can be found here.
Blockman gets More
Blockman gets More is Pac-Man with a twist. instead of trying to eat all the pellets in a level you're trying to reach a quota of pellets eaten, but if you move into a space without a pellet for you to eat you die.
My opinion: The concept is both interesting and my worst nightmare. It's as simple as the summary makes it sound and I'm awful at it.
Blockman gets More is by AGameAWeek.com. You can find it here.
My opinion: The concept is both interesting and my worst nightmare. It's as simple as the summary makes it sound and I'm awful at it.
Blockman gets More is by AGameAWeek.com. You can find it here.
Bullet.Collect
Bullet.Collect is a bullet hell game where you have very, very, very limited ammo. However enemies also shoot out ammo alongside their bullets.
My opinion: I am simply awful at bullet hell games, so I can't say if this one is any good as I can't even survive the very first section. The concept interests me, in a sort of "That sounds cool but no way in hell am I touching that with a ten foot pole" kinda way.
Bullet.Collect is by Edit Mode Games. You can find it here.
My opinion: I am simply awful at bullet hell games, so I can't say if this one is any good as I can't even survive the very first section. The concept interests me, in a sort of "That sounds cool but no way in hell am I touching that with a ten foot pole" kinda way.
Bullet.Collect is by Edit Mode Games. You can find it here.
Blockage
Blockage is a game where you play as a snake in a box. As you move towards the exit you leave a trail behind you. In the next room, that trail will still be there, only it will be made of solid blocks and is one of the tools you need to navigate your snake to the next room. You can backtrack to the previous room at any time if you find you need to redo old work.
My opinion: The concept here is pretty cool, but the game itself is very frustrating. The game shows you the layout of the next room so you can plan for that, but what it doesn't show you is the layout of rooms ahead. This means that more than once you'll find out that you need to completely redo 4 or 5 levels because otherwise you're not able to get to the exit. There's no real way to plan for this and there are quite a few puzzles where you essentially have a completely open room with no obstacles where the trail you leave only really matters a few rooms down the line, which is quite frustrating since it's simply not possible to figure those out on the first try short of a lucky guess. The other big issue I have with this game is it's controls. I understand that its hard to make decent controls for a grid based game as seen diagonally, but none of the options are really any good. Using the arrow keys is frustrating because you'll probably go the wrong way plenty of times since your brain has trouble reassigning "up" to "up and to the left". The default keys are E, R, D, and F, which have the benefit of actually being in the right alignment for the game but have the disadvantage of being super cramped and really hard to use (at least on my keyboard). I think I'd love this game if I had the option to try out different key bindings until I found one that worked and if they showed me all the rooms ahead of time so I could plan properly, but without those features the game is too frustrating for me to really recommend.
Blockage is by Gabo Gaete, John Nesky, and Ashley Zeldin. You can play it here.
My opinion: The concept here is pretty cool, but the game itself is very frustrating. The game shows you the layout of the next room so you can plan for that, but what it doesn't show you is the layout of rooms ahead. This means that more than once you'll find out that you need to completely redo 4 or 5 levels because otherwise you're not able to get to the exit. There's no real way to plan for this and there are quite a few puzzles where you essentially have a completely open room with no obstacles where the trail you leave only really matters a few rooms down the line, which is quite frustrating since it's simply not possible to figure those out on the first try short of a lucky guess. The other big issue I have with this game is it's controls. I understand that its hard to make decent controls for a grid based game as seen diagonally, but none of the options are really any good. Using the arrow keys is frustrating because you'll probably go the wrong way plenty of times since your brain has trouble reassigning "up" to "up and to the left". The default keys are E, R, D, and F, which have the benefit of actually being in the right alignment for the game but have the disadvantage of being super cramped and really hard to use (at least on my keyboard). I think I'd love this game if I had the option to try out different key bindings until I found one that worked and if they showed me all the rooms ahead of time so I could plan properly, but without those features the game is too frustrating for me to really recommend.
Blockage is by Gabo Gaete, John Nesky, and Ashley Zeldin. You can play it here.
Rising Angels Reborn
Rising Angels Reborn is a sci-fi visual novel about Natalie Puccile, a Special Investigations and Tactics Officer who has just been given her first real assignment. She must go after a group of researchers who were hunting a relic from a lost empire. This is also a romance story, although it is not a dating simulator. There is only one possible romance and it will play out pretty much the same regardless of which of the five endings you get. Additionally, dialog choices that do not directly result in getting a particular ending have no effect on what ending you receive, although they will change various dialog that happens later in the game. The story isn't branching. Each end will happen as soon as you make the choice that locks it in, although there will be some screens of dialog between the choice and the ending.
My opinion: I liked this VN. I found the romance sweet and I'm looking forward to seeing what happens plot-wise in the sequel. The characters weren't bad (ranging from very good to cheesily predictable), although it was blatantly obvious who the love interest and main villain were around as soon as you were introduced to them. One thing I will say was that there was a strong sub-plot around 3 supporting characters that I still can't say I understand 100%, but I think I know the general gist of it. This game did have a predecessor (and also apparently a few novels the author wrote and has publicly called bad) and when I found out a little about it a lot of things became clearer and I can way with confidence that I understand at least one of the things that happened in the 10 years between the two games. There are still some things that are unexplained but for the most part you can get a general understanding through some dialog lines they drop. However there are some things that people do towards the end that don't make all that much sense without the exact context, which is something I don't think you'll ever get. All in all the game is quite excellent, with better art than some full price VNs I've seen for sale and writing that's not half bad.
Rising Angels Reborn is by IDHAS Studio. You can find it here.
My opinion: I liked this VN. I found the romance sweet and I'm looking forward to seeing what happens plot-wise in the sequel. The characters weren't bad (ranging from very good to cheesily predictable), although it was blatantly obvious who the love interest and main villain were around as soon as you were introduced to them. One thing I will say was that there was a strong sub-plot around 3 supporting characters that I still can't say I understand 100%, but I think I know the general gist of it. This game did have a predecessor (and also apparently a few novels the author wrote and has publicly called bad) and when I found out a little about it a lot of things became clearer and I can way with confidence that I understand at least one of the things that happened in the 10 years between the two games. There are still some things that are unexplained but for the most part you can get a general understanding through some dialog lines they drop. However there are some things that people do towards the end that don't make all that much sense without the exact context, which is something I don't think you'll ever get. All in all the game is quite excellent, with better art than some full price VNs I've seen for sale and writing that's not half bad.
Rising Angels Reborn is by IDHAS Studio. You can find it here.
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