Recent reviews by LordArchantos

Arcade rallying hampered by flaws in every area. Physics and handling are not only not even remotely realistic, but they don't feel good in general. Audio is meh at best, and track design features very unrealistic amounts of hairpins in addition to clear copy & paste sections, making stages boring and samey. Visuals are passable but also very bland.

There are so many more passable and decent racing games available, I wouldn't recommend this even at a discount. Except maybe if your only other alternative was WRC 3.

The first eXceed is a decent danmaku (aka bullet hell, manic) shooter. Although it pales in comparison to its sequels, by itself it is enjoyable, and has challenging boss fights.

Scoring mechanics are pretty simple, with a bullet grazing system to charge up your special attack. The game has an automatic death bomb option, which triggers a bomb (as long as you have one) when you're hit instead of you losing a life. It's a good option for those inexperienced with the genre. Controls and gameplay in general are tight and work as they should. Boss battles are entertaining and challenging, but the levels feel a bit too easy in comparison.

Visually, the game is a mixed bag. It runs only in fullscreen, at 640x480. The presentation is pretty basic, and the game way overuses the colour red (red is my favourite colour and I still feel this way). This overuse is also my main gripe with the game. As all the enemy bullets are the same shade of red, along with many other effects sometimes filling the screen, it sometimes feels like my eyes are twisting themselves in a knot and it's hard to distinguish the tons of bullets flying around for a moment, resulting in a lost life. The UI is also annoyingly hard to read for the same reason. The backgrounds vary from boring, to nice but the same smallish picture scrolling over and over. Certain effects, like explosions and boss phase switches, look good.
The soundtrack is awesome as is often the case with bullet hell shmups.

For replay value, the game has three difficulties, plus three characters with completely different weaponry/abilities requiring different tactics to clear the game. The game can be played in Story, Arcade (i.e. with or without dialogue/story), or Practice Mode, but sadly there's no high score or replay saving.

tl;dr, eXceed - Gun Bullet Children is a solid, fun danmaku shooter covered with a flawed presentation. The original game is only in japanese, however there is a patch to get the official english script into the game ( http://steamproxy.net/app/207370/discussions/0/792924412090333459 ). It's also more newcomer friendly than many other titles in the genre, thanks to the auto-bomb and relatively simple scoring mechanics. Recommended for both veterans and beginners of, and anyone interested in, bullet hell shmups.

Fun 2(.5)D platformer with beautiful art, awesome soundtrack (x2), and tight controls. Gameplay is solid, and levels are fun. For those who, like me, find the game a bit on the easy side due to the plentiful checkpoints and no lives, there are two hardcore modes to provide a challenge. Though, sadly, they need to be unlocked through normal mode. All in all, Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams is a solid, fun 2D platformer.

One of the most underrated JRPGs ever. The battle system has a bit of a learning curve, but is actually pretty great once you get the hang of it. You actually have to think in every battle, since no matter how much you grind (or avoid leveling up), to the very end, you can lose your entire group in one turn in a battle against the weakest enemies in the game.

For those who like to grind and search for hidden stuff, there are plenty of rare monsters to hunt, which can be extremely difficult to find and beat. There are sidequests, some of which are even missable. Some are decent, some are dull fetch quests. All in all, there's a pretty decent amount of content outside of the main quest.

The main storyline is nothing to write home about, and is pretty predictable unless you're new to (J)RPGs, but it's not the worst I've ran into. Recommended to all turn-based rpg fans.