Recent reviews by Arkatox

Overwhelm looked really cool from the trailer, and I was thrilled by the game releasing at the same time as it was announced. However, after sinking an hour into it, the game does not hold up.

The number one offense of Overwhelm, which all other offenses are tied into, is that everything kills you in one hit. You have three checkpoint respawns, that can be refreshed (after much difficulty), but once they're gone, it's game over. Now, some games can pull off single-hit deaths. It's super easy to die in games like Celeste and Super Meat Boy, but each level resets immediately with no consequence. Insta-death and limited lives, especially in a game where everything kills you very, very easily, do not go together. It doesn't feel challenging; it feels annoying, and frustrating.

In Overwhelm, you traverse a relatively small Metroidvania-esque world. There are five general directions to pick from the start, and each one leads to a different area with a different gimmick (wind, water, stealth, darkness, and another that didn't seem to have a gimmick now that I think about it). At the end of each area is a boss. When you kill the boss, you get a crystal, which you then need to bring back to the room you start in. Additionally, every time you beat a boss, the already-annoying enemies (because they insta-kill you, and it rarely feels like player error) get a major upgrade and get a lot tougher.

Getting to a boss, killing it, and running back is already not necessarily an easy thing to do, but making the enemies able to kill you quicker and more easily is not fun progression. It's just annoying. In my play time, I was able to kill each boss (some taking multiple tries, meaning getting game overs and restarting the entire game from scratch) and return their crystals once each. I was never able to kill more than one boss in a single run, but I imagine that over time the enemies become more and more impossible to navigate or fight.

Additionally, there are no upgrades to obtain. Your enemies become more and more annoying, but you still have the same basic gun (with limited ammo) and melee punches (which are totally a perfect fit for a game where enemies otherwise kill you in a single hit on collision). The game's progression is the world getting more frustrating around you, and nothing more. The only way to refresh your lives is to kill a boss and collect its crystal, or to return the crystal to the first room. Even then, dying is super easy, and if you lose that final life it's game over and you lose all of your progress. Although, it should be of note that you can choose to restart just before a boss you've encountered. However, that's just shifting your starting position. You still need to do everything from scratch.

Overwhelm is not challenging; it's the antithesis of fun.

And don't even get me started on the constant noise that plays when you're on your final life.

Overwhelm should be re-titled as Frustrate.
3/10
Played it long enough to give it the benefit of the doubt, but in the end it wasn't worth it. I'm thinking of refunding it, and that's something I rarely ever do.

P.S. In full disclosure, there is a hidden Assist Mode, and I did not try it. I find the notion of requiring Assist Mode to make a game base-level fun infuriating.

TL;DR You should play LEGO Marvel Super Heroes instead. I enjoyed this game as a (forgiving) Marvel nut, but I would not recommend it to the average consumer.

When LEGO Marvel's Avengers was first announced I got very excited. LEGO Marvel Super Heroes was by far my favorite LEGO game, and I've always been a huge MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe) nerd. So when I heard a new LEGO game was being developed based specifically on the MCU and the Avengers movies, I was ecstatic. However, when I finally got my hands on the game, I was... rather disappointed.

The story mode is a pain to get through. While the first game had a fun and entertaining story, this game retold the Avengers films badly. They used audio clips from the actual films, and created cutscenes around them that just... didn’t work. Throughout the actual gameplay, depending on who you played as, you got to hear a mixture of badly-implemented audio lines from the films, and newly-recorded lines for the game. The game would've been much better if they'd just recorded new audio for all of the characters, even if it meant recasting most of the characters who appeared in the films.

To the game's credit, six actors from the films reprised their roles and recorded new audio for the game, and they were all fantastic. Clark Gregg (Phil Coulson) and Cobie Smulders (Maria Hill) were the largest contributors, but you also got to experience a fair number of Free Play side quests from Hayley Atwell as Peggy Carter and Ashley Johnson as Waitress Beth. Additionally, Ming-Na Wen narrated the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. DLC level as Melinda May, and Michael Peña narrated the Ant-Man DLC level as Luis. Hearing them all reprise their roles was an amazing treat.

Now, let's talk about what made the game worth playing for me: Free Play. That's always the best part of any LEGO game. However, you need to play through the entire story mode to get to most of the Free Play features (and if you don't poke around menus too much you might not even realize how to get to Free Play at all before completing the story mode). And playing through the story mode is tedious. The fact that you basically need to beat the entire campaign before you can really start having fun is why I don't recommend this game to the average consumer.

Free Play itself is a blast. As a major MCU nut I really appreciated a lot of the characters they included in the game just so that major fans would notice. The day I unlocked Lorelei I was overjoyed. They remembered Lorelei! I was so happy. I also loved the inclusion of the MCU lineup of the Defenders, although I'm pretty sure whoever wrote and directed Jewel's dialogue clearly never read Alias or watched Jessica Jones. That was about the farthest you could possibly get from any version of Jessica's personality.

Playing through levels and being able to switch between awesome characters at will has always been a major draw for Lego games. In recent years they’ve implemented overworld hubs as well, which is one of my favorite parts of the games. However, in this game you don't just get to explore Manhattan like you did in LEGO Marvel Super Heroes; you also get to explore seven other smaller hubs, including locations like Asgard and Tony Stark's estate at Malibu. Exploring them to find all of the secrets and unlockables is a blast.

That's something that's very interesting about the game: The inconsistency of quality. Some parts of development, such as the art department responsible for creating the environments in the game, completely outdid themselves in creating amazing and beautiful levels and hubs to play through. You can also tell a lot of work was put into the fight animation, as a lot of it is really cool. But sometimes you’re required to watch through an entire automated battle while mashing whatever button is on the screen, and this is especially tedious when you're in Free Play and just wish the story elements would go away.

Yes, some parts of the game, such as the environments, were impeccably well-made; but on the other hand, the game is a complete mess. Sometimes activating panels just doesn't work. Sometimes your map says you can collect something that's already been collected. Sometimes a vehicle will fall off a level in a way so that it never spawns on stable ground again unless you restart the level. Sometimes you can meet the requirements of an achievement, but it won't unlock because you exited a level the wrong way, and you might need to create a whole new save file to try and get it again. This game needed a much bigger QA team, far more than any other LEGO game has before it.

The hub side-quests are inconsistent as well. Sometimes a lot of work was clearly put into them. Others were just weird and sloppy. It really is strange how often this game flip-flops from fantastic to downright annoying. This can be said for some of the in-level puzzles as well.

Speaking of which, DLC. I'm not going to rage here about how the Season Pass doesn't include all of the DLC that it should, but... it really doesn't. The DLC levels themselves are fun, and I love the additional characters that come with them. However, that fact that we're given all of the characters from a DLC pack right off the bat is just sad. The best part of having so many playable characters in these games is the journey it takes to unlock them. Having all of the characters from a DLC pack available before you even play the level makes the whole experience… kind of lackluster.

However, I do briefly want to talk about how happy I am that they included an Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. level pack. To have a LEGO game based on the MCU and not at least include a sizeable slew of S.H.I.E.L.D. characters would have been terrible missed opportunity. My only complaint with the DLC is that Skye's in-game character is named as her (spoilery) real name, when the level takes place at the end of S.H.I.E.L.D. Season 2, when she still went by the name Skye. For how much detail they attend to, I felt it a shame that they forwent it for marketing purposes.

As a huge Marvel and MCU fan, the experience was worth it to me. Playing through the game in Free Play with a huge cast of Marvel characters both from the films and the comics is, frankly, a total blast. But in order to unlock most of that experience, you first need to play through a tedious and poorly-made story mode, that I would say makes the game not worth it to the average consumer. If you truly want to enjoy yourself with a beautiful marriage of everything that’s good about Marvel and LEGOs, I highly recommend you check out LEGO Marvel Super Heroes instead.

This game is immensely enjoyable. Hue is a platformer puzzle game based around altering the world around you according to color. It has a very philosophical narrative to go along with it, along with beautiful music and smooth, fairly cute visuals. The animation actually somewhat reminds me of one of my favorite games, Super Paper Mario. I didn't fully understand every aspect of the story, but I was able to follow most of it and it was profoundly interesting.

Hue is extremely polished. I can think of one or two things that will likely be patched, but you might not even notice on your playthrough. For example, there's one puzzle (and I do mean one puzzle in the entire game) where you can trap yourself in an area with no way out except to restart the room from the pause screen. However, you can only really trap yourself if it's at the beginning of the puzzle, so you don't even have to reset very far.

Overall, Hue is a very enjoyable and unique experience, and I'm very glad I purchased it. I loved that when you reach the final puzzle there are multiple indications, such as the music changing, that let you know that you're on the final puzzle, and thus fill you with determination.

Hue is a fantastic play. Definitely recommended.

I fell in love with this game from the very beginning. I entered Remember Me knowing next to nothing about it, which was intentional because the game begins with the protagonist losing all of her memory. I love the amount of detail poured into the world, and the prologue immediately demonstrates what I mean. The story is unique and highly thought-provoking, and leads to unique gameplay and pretty fun combat. The soundtrack is among the greatest I've heard, with a superb blend of orchestral and electronically altered score.

The game has minor flaws, but nothing noteworthy, as otherwise I'd actually be able to think of them. I'm sure people whined about the linearity, but I honestly enjoy linear games, especially if they're intended to tell a specific story.

I got my money's worth. Some people probably wouldn't care for this game, but I loved it.

Okay, by now we all know this game is a scam. The first level is the only level in the game code, and there's literally no way to beat it. You can read all about it here: http://imgur.com/a/yceJt

Y'know, I was wondering, as long as you're planning on scamming people, why don't you at least make a good game build to convince people? Not something where you just wander around, with your sole ability being to turn all of the lamps on or off simultaneously. Seriously, that's not even imaginative. At least add a jump button.

Now, something that confused me is that if the developer didn't even bother making chapters 2-8, then why the hell did he release a soundtrack containing music for all 8 levels? Well the truth is, that's just part of the scam. If a Steam game has a soundtrack for sale, I guess it appears more legitimate. It also helps sell the idea that additional levels even exist. As it turns out, he puts as little effort into tracks 2-8 as he puts into the annoying and repetitive track of the first (only) level. And, as the album goes on, he tries less and less, with the final four tracks being only 30 seconds long each.

Additionally, the soundtrack tracklist reveals the titles of the supposedly remaining levels. They're listed as follows:
Chapter 1: Don't Go In To The Light
Chapter 2: In The Mine
Chapter 3: TheForest
Chapter 4: In The Cave
Chapter 5: Closer To Home
Chapter 6: Lost In The Woods Again
Chapter 7: What A Journey
Chapter 8: Reunited

...Is it just me, or does that list, as it goes on, sound more and more like somebody's just making up level titles on the spot in order to have a tracklist? This lameness culminates in possibly the most pathetic level title (or fake level title) of all time: "What A Journey". When I read that one I wanted to literally laugh out loud.

So, yeah. Scam game with scam soundtrack. Don't buy either.

It's rare to find a survival horror game that doesn't rely on gore or frequent jump scares to achieve "horror" status. Among the Sleep is an innovative experience with a great story, and I very highly recommend it. Truly a unique product.

The Next Penelope is an insanely fun racing game set in a futuristic version of Greek mythology. The gameplay, visuals and soundtrack are all top-notch, and the fact that they were all created by one man is just the icing on the cake. While the game is not particularly long, the difficulty curve and bonus levels definitely add enough challenge to keep you invested for a good several hours.

I love it. Spectacular game. My money was very well-spent.

Sneaky Sneaky is fun. It's a stealth strategy game with some RPG elements sprinkled in. It's not a long game, but there's a noticeable difficulty curve, so if you're not a quick learner you may have some trouble. The art style is really cool and rather adorable, and the music is both fitting and very well done.

This game is most definitely worth the price, and I hope the developers are planning an eventual sequel.

While Anodyne looks like a neat little 2D Zelda-inspired adventure game, it becomes considerably more disturbing a decent ways into the game. If you can stomach the game, it's a lot of fun and I definitely recommend it. There are some amateur touches here and there, but overall it's a very well-crafted game with great humor, and the soundtrack is exceptional.

$5 for this game is a steal. I paid a sale price of $1.69, and I feel like I not only stole the game, but I also shot an employee during the robbery. They could have listed the game at $20 and it would have been well worth the money.

This is one well-made and freaking fun game. People bash it because it's a Halo game that's not first-person, but those people are idiots. The gameplay is a ton of fun, the visuals and music are incredible, and overall it's just a really well-polished game. The campaign isn't all that long, but there are a lot of different optional things to do, so completion will take considerably longer than just playing through the game. And if you really do feel it's too short, there's a sequel in the works that should be coming out within the next few months. Really, though, for a $5 game, you get far more than your money's worth.