Recent reviews by 4m0n

I cannot say in all honesty that I didn't like playing Return to Monkey Island, but at the same time I believe we're very far from Secret of Monkey Island and Le Chuck's Revenge. I didn't really dig the art style, the Flashgame-like animations, or the fact that even the Hard Mode is extremely easy. I finished the game in 10 hours without ever using the hintbook. Except for Act IV (which is by no means hard) you always have the solution to a certain puzzle 10 clicks away, and it's always extremely clear how to proceed further into the game. Some characters are there for no reason, way too many easter eggs/fanservice.

The writing is there. Dialogue is funny and witty, story is somewhat engaging and fun to discover. It might be the perfect entry point for kids or newcomers to the adventure games, but if you're looking for a true 90s experience... look elsewhere.

Absolutely brilliant!

Half point and click, half platform, completely funny. It took me about 10 hours to beat Lair of the Clockwork God and I feel completely satisfied by this little indie gem. Puzzles are mostly surreal and hilarious, just like the ones from the LucasArts era, the platform sections are ok (I'm not a huge fan, tho, I mostly wanted to play for the adventure stuff), but the game completely works as a whole. If you already played "Ben there, Dan that" and "Time, gentlemen, Please" you know what to expect in terms of writing, if not: a witty, funny, crazy, hilarious story, as you probably didn't see in a while. Maybe a little bit patronizing at the end, but overall a FANTASTIC GAME.

Just to see if it was possible I went through the whole game using a gamepad and the experience was almost flawless.

Between social media, the forums, and fellow gamers, you'd think it would be pretty easy to always be informed about all the interesting games that get released. So, how is it exactly possible that I only heard about this game a couple of days ago, 16 months after its first release?

DISTRAINT is a small side-scrolling adventure game, with a very interesting psychological horror theme, well crafted using pixel art. I won't reveal much about the story, to let the player discover what it's about, I'll just say it's about life choices, and how much of an impact we can have on other people's lives without us even knowing. The plot is not very complex, but it's well written and always coherent with what I think this game wants to be (just a "window" on a difficult topic, without judging really, just willing to say "hey, think about this sometimes") so DISTRAINT not being extremely complex is a specific design choice, in my opinion. Puzzles are very easy, more designed to keep the flow going than to give a real challenge to the player, and the italian translation is pretty good. Graphics and sound are extremely interesting, both contributing to create the right vibe, from despair to anxiety or even hope. The use of colors and the dosage of lights and dark spots give life to a couple of very powerful moments.

I would not say it reaches the heights of "The Cat Lady" which for me it's probably one of the best examples of deep, mature, complex psychological thriller story, but it's definitely in the same ballpark. Thumbs up.

Life is strange.. and sometimes gaming is weird. When I think about this game I get goosebumps, and yet, I cannot really say this is the masterpiece everyone is talking about. Just to be clear, this is a nice game, a gaming experience I'd recommend... but at least in my book, a masterpiece is something else.

Let's start with the mechanics: Life is Strange is the love child of all the Telltale games, a wonderful narrative experience but finally with a (little) bit of the good old puzzles. Nothing too hard to figure out, but it's definitely a start for all the graphic adventures fans out there. Maybe this is the step in the right direction we were all waiting for, maybe the future of graphic adventures starts here. I sure hope so. Max's power can be tricky, and the first couple of times it can be challenging to understand exactly what to do. Sadly, after that it's always the same thing.

About the setting: I hated the setting, but that's probably me, and it does not compromise the enjoyment of playing Life is Strange. Maybe I'm too old for these games, maybe I'm just an arid person, I don't know xD but I often find the game is trying way too hard to play the teenager/internet generation card, falling almost always into boring stereotypes. Or maybe it just does not resonate with me.

The story: Now this is different. The actual chain of events and the way they are fed to the player are very engaging. The narrative experience is well crafted and it flows naturally from the first frame to the last. The game tackles some of the most important and problematic issues of the newer generations, from bullying to euthanasia, and in some way even homosexuality and religion. Everything is always tasteful, even when extremely sad and making a choice becomes really hard, but to be completely honest I also feel that it never really adds anything to the table. Not that it would be a strict requirement, obviously, but then, remember what I said about masterpieces? Life is Strange succeeds 100% in creating an emotional bond between the player and the protagonists, to deliver a highly enjoyable, very well written, emotionally powerful (incredibly powerful) narrative experience.

The choices: another great thing. The game is full of choices, and even a small detail can have a huge impact down the way, creating a high re-playability value. Another big improvement from the Telltale games.

The graphics: I put the graphics in the end because I don't really care about it, generally. Graphics are nice, nothing extraordinary, technically speaking, more than once it happened to me to listen to dialogues without the model even moving its lips, but it's not that big of a deal to me. Art direction? That's a different matter, and Life is Strange does very good in it. The game art style, the composition of the different shots, everything contributes to deliver the right vibe in every situation.

To make it painfully short: Garden State meets Donnie Darko meets Telltale Games.

Recommended.

Ok, so... The Journey Down Chapter 2. Just like the first chapter this game is funny, well written, interesting to explore. Funny dialogues, a very peculiar visual style, The Jouney Down surely deserves a chance. Maybe a little too easy (I just got stuck on one puzzle, the last one) but it kinda helps the story to flow. A nice little game that will keep you interested for 3-4 hours, it's original, the voiceover is great, TJD2 is definitely worth a shot. Thumbs up.

Okay, so, if you are a South Park fan, this *review thingie* or whatever this is (but definitely not a review) will be very short: BUY IT. YOU'LL LOVE EVERY SECOND OF THIS GAME.

You also wanna know why? Well, okay... dialogues are AWESOME, the story is practically a huge interactive episode of South Park, it's full of easter eggs, references and little details about all the things you loved most in the show. I really don't want to spoiler anything but trust me, it's great. Gameplay wise The Stick of Truth is a fairly simple JRPG, if I had to say something I didn't like is that the game is a little too easy, so you don't have time to use all the party members unless you farm certain enemies at a particular point of the game. But let's be honest, you don't play a South Park game for the RPG mechanics (which aren't bad by the way, the game is fun to play), you play it for the story and the dialogues, and those things are GREAT.

A lot of achievements, collectibles, excellent player customization, good replayability, the whole package. Thumbs up.

If you had the chance to play Telltale's The Walking Dead you pretty much know what to expect from this game: a very well crafted narrative experience, maybe a little poor gameplay-wise but very compelling, rich of moral dilemmas and interesting views on delicate subjects.

Compared to The Walking Dead this The Wolf Among Us is probably a little less dramatic, you won't form with Bigby the kind of emotional bond you formed with Clementine, but it is much more mature in its main themes. The Big Bad Wolf is a very well written character, and you get to explore the way the others connect to him, who he really is, and what he has (wants?) to do to protect Fabletown from a strange series of murders with a very hard-boiled vibe. Secondary characters are a lot and very well diversed, interesting backstories, accents, generally well detailed (even from an aesthetic point of view). Just like in The Walking Dead series your choices hardly change anything in the long run, but the little details counts, because they affect the way YOU feel about all the characters, their motivation and their reasons to support or hate Bigby.

As long as you have very clear in your mind the gameplay (no puzzles, some QTE, heavily focused on dialogues) The Wolf Among Us is a game that I'll absolutely recommend. I loved it maybe more than The Walking Dead, and I really hope there will be a season 2. Thumbs up.

I read it somewhere and I completely agree: at the highest difficulty level Gods Will Be Watching is the Dark Souls of the adventure genre. Hard, frustrating, punishing, never tells you what you're doing wrong to fail the mission. And I like it for that, nowadays games always provide the exact explanation about what you have to do, reminders, hints and so on, as if the players were stupids or childs.

I wouldn't call it a point and click adventure game though, at least not a classic one. It's more of a puzzle game, with a very compelling narrative aspect (you'll face very delicate moral decisions) and gorgeous pixel art. So, if you're looking for a proper point and click adventure maybe this is not the game you're looking for, but if you're up for really challenging puzzles (not complex puzzles, but situation in which you have to control a very large number of different factors and keep all of them in balance if you want to succeed) and moral dilemmas, well, I can assure you you'll end up angry, but you'll probably love it. Thumbs up.

Good people + hard work = great product. As naive as it may sound, I strongly believe that. When people with the right ideas and enough love for their project show real commitment, failure is just not an option. And this is the case of Phoenix Online Studios and Cognition. Crowdfunded through Kickstarter, Cognition is a crazy good adventure game, and playing it you kinda wonder how this game could have been made with just 35k dollars.

Despite being pretty common the story is very interesting, it's a thriller story with a strong paranormal vibe and a revenge theme, but what is really good is how they managed to link all the investigations Erica will be involved in. Great work, cool plot twists. Characters are also well described, I loved Erica from the very beginning with all her flaws, fears, doubts. She's a very strong character, but at the same time someone you can relate with. Tridimensional. Puzzles are interesting, not very hard to crack but not super easy either, you'll probably get stuck a couple of times (at least it happened to me, and I loved it, getting stuck and having to think it's a big chunk of what an adventure game is about, for me). Plus, having Jane Jensen (yes, you heard, Jane Jensen *__* ) as a story consultant is a real added value.

So, to wrap it up, a very good game. Interesting, challenging, not a game you'll easily forget. Try it.