Recent reviews by Agent J

FLUSH FIVE

help. i have all the achievements. i can't stop.

dad. dad? NO DAD PLEASE

Been dancing since early access, and still play it. There's a large cast of characters each which their own playstyles, so it's worth playing the game multiple times on that alone. Add to that daily challenges, and you've got something you can keep coming back to.

You can dual wield two different kinds of magic wands and blast people with both of them at the same time.

Shadow Warrior is a high speed shooter with a rather high emphasis on melee combat. This makes for incredibly satisfying swordplay for sure, but it unfortunately leaves some of the weapons feeling lackluster. The shotgun, for example, is rather meager in terms of feel even when it has been fully upgraded. It is technically possible to go through the entire game with just the katana, save for the bosses, though the weapons do come in handy. The sword is VERY satisfying, and I recommend using the 'advanced' melee weapon setting for maximum control. The swings feel natural, and you get into a fluid state as you carve through enemies with naturally chaining attacks. By far one of the best melee experiences from a first-person perspective.

The game has one or two 'platforming' segments, but the jumping is more than sufficient to make it. You won't have your patience taxed by these.

I played through the game on Hard, and am a fairly proficient player. I found there to be difficultm moments in the game, but nothing so punishing that I ragequit. There are two difficulties higher than hard: Insane, which turns everything up a notch in terms of number of enemies, damage, etc; and Heroic, which is a difficulty unlocked after beating the game and is a more 'oldschool' way to play, limiting you to autosaves and upping the brutality even more.

There is a 'new game+' sort of mode that lets you play through the game again on any difficulty other than Heroic with all of your upgrades that you had purchased before already unlocked. For people who like being completionists, the score is tallied at the end of each level that tells you how well you did in terms of secrets found, damage taken, efficiency.

The protagonist is amusing, though he is a walking stereotype. The game constantly combines etymology and mythology from both Japan and China. Due to the tongue-in-cheek nature of the majority of the game, this can be overlooked. The writing for the character is subperb, if you're into simple humour.

Keep in mind the game is single-player only.

The presentation is top notch, though I did run into some graphical glitches here and there. I noticed that the faces of human characters seemed to have visible black seams on them, but that could just be my setup. It is otherwise a very well optimized game, and ran well on a modest setup on high graphics. There were times of slowdown when there were a particularly high number of enemies on screen, but it never got to the point of being unplayable.

Bonus points: There is an FOV slider for those of us who suffer from motion sickness when confronted with the typical default.


--Slight spoilers below--

The story follows the quest to gain three pieces of a legendary sword, an artifact that is able to kill the otherwise immortal ancients of the shadow realm. The story is presented mostly through cinematic snippets at regular intervals, particularly before confronting major bosses. At first, the story seems very 'backseat' to the gameplay, and this is true. However, the final act of the game still manages to leave one satisfied as everything falls into place. The writing definitely took a risk at the end, considering the tone for the rest of the game.

-- End spoilers --

Overall, I highly recommend this game to any action fans that just can't recreate the feeling of actually having fun in a shooter these days. Satisfying combat combine with good writing to give us the game, and more than make up for what few faults it has.

Also, it has a lot of ♥♥♥♥ jokes.

Words cannot describe this. If you're going to play it, and you should, do yourself a favor and do NOT spoil anything. It will test your patience, but leave you immensely satisfied.

Easily my favorite release this year. It doesn't have the best gameplay, nor the best story, or even the best aesthetics, but the mixture of what it does have is too perfect as a whole. The feel of the game is almost impossible to describe. Neon lights and a pounding soundtrack fuel levels of minutes-long planning phases followed by split second decisions as your plan falls apart. Difficult at times, but entirely possible, and not punishing.

The most amazing KickBoot McStomperstein simulation experience on steam to date. Kick orcs, zombies, spiders and people off cliffs, into boxes or off cliffs or into spike racks. Great fun for the whole family.

-- Really though. Solid singleplayer experience for fantasy style combat. Stupidly difficult of the unfair variety at times, but the first half and the last quarter of the game is satisfying.

It's Cave Story with updated graphics and sound. It has translation errors, but that doesn't detract much from the story that you probably already know. To the uninitiated, cave story is a sidescrolling, high difficulty shooter with a whimsical style that makes it hard to get mad at the game for filling you up with bullets. It has a bit of replay value with three endings that, for the most part, are determined through the second half of the game.

Dying would be punishing by today's standards, with no lives system and only the ability to reload. It's a small thing to overlook considering how spoiled we are by quick loads.

BIT.TRIP RUNNER is an oddity, particularly because it's a Wii port and that's a bit on the strange side to begin with. There are three levels divided up into eleven stages and a 'boss' stage, in between each stage is a challenge stage where the real high score hunting comes in as it's relatively easy to unlock each one through normal play, as the path the game takes puts the gold blocks required right in your way.

As a game, it's relatively simple. You automatically run forward and have to duck, kick, block and jump through a stage full of obstacles. This sounds very shallow in depth, but the patterns introduced can be a bit of a shock to encounter at first, but are satisfying once conquered. The game is all too aware of how long you hold the jump button. This belongs among games such as Super Meat Boy and Jamestown - Difficult without being punishing, but satisfying when finally beaten