Recent reviews by blaine

Random thoughts on the game...

I loved "MadTV" (the old PC game - not the TV show). I always thought that, as a formula, it was a really compelling game. So much so that I'm often surprised no one has taken the concept forward.

Granted this version, Empire TV Tycoon, is almost 10 years old at this point but... it scratches the itch.

There's a few things about the game that I don't think work versus the original.

The big one is ads. In the original, ads were always based on viewership. In this version, it's based on percentage of your audience. That might not sound like much of a difference but when you're setting up new antenaes to increase your broadcast range, you shouldn't have to worry about not hitting the new audience goal for contracts you already negotiated. Sorta annoying.

They also took out the whole romance angle, which I kinda guess, but it was somewhat charming.

Also they entirely took out the terrorism angle where you could send a suicide bomber to a rival station (the 80's were a weird time). Again, I get why.

But yeah, it's a good game!

Okay. As a game, Hive is fun. It's a really cool take on the whole ancient genre of tile placement games.

As a video game? I think this is actually kinda awful.

To start, putting the Pillbug, Ladybug and Mosquito as paid DLC is utterly asinine. I can't believe they did that. Like, not even in my wildest dreams...

Once you get that bad taste in your mouth, the quality of the product just turns all the more sour. Game looks like it was created in Macromedia Director in 1997. An odd and annoying soundtrack... it's just... bad.

If you're genuinely going to spend $25 on Hive, just go ahead and buy the boxed copy. I don't know if that's the point they're trying to make... like this was somehow a process to intentionally make a bad video game version or what.

Eh...

So, in no particular order... just the thoughts.

Having played a lot of VS, I'm guessing that matters? I unlocked a 44% of the achievements on my first run, with the first character. Picked up 2 of the Guardian Hearts before I ever even learned what they were for.

The pre-rendered sprites I'm guessing they're going for the "intentionally bad", but I could see how it might be off putting to some.

Forced full screen mode is just stupid. No part of this games needs the entire monitor, and this can/should probably be a game where you're spending 15% of your attention on something else.

I could see an argument for "It's just $5" but lots of things are only $5.

Is it bad? No, it's not. End of the day, Steam's rating system isn't "good vs bad", it' s just "would you recommend this".

There's quite a few reviews that describe this game the same way. I think the primary reason behind that is The Legend of Dark Witch 2 is 100% an homage, if not a 'love letter', to the Parodius and Megaman franchieses.

It starts with the base mechanics... You have in level upgrades that you can select as you accumulate 'Tres'. This is the Gradius/Parodius mechanic. A bar along the bottom of the screen grows as you kill enemies, the farther along the bar you are, the more powerful (relatively) the upgrade is. You can activate the power-up at anytime with a button press (B on an XBox controller). 100% the Parodius power-up system.

Each level has an end boss with a specific weapon that you learn once you beat them. To get to them it's a side scrolling, run and gun platformer. You can play the levels, for the most part, in any order. This is 100% the Megaman modality.

The two styles mesh perfectly together. Playing through on Casual, the game was simple enough but it had sufficent challenge and I'm looking forward to tackling the harder levels.

I do see this as more of a Parodius X Megaman than Gradius based on the beautiful, charasmatic and cartoony characters and environments. Several of the stages are just full of detail and really harken back to the 32-Bit console days. TLoDW2 feels like a Sega Saturn game.

Even better, the mechanics aren't limited to just choose your power-ups and choose your path. There is also a light RPG mechanics where the Tres you accumulate is carried over. You can then exchange Tres, and the hidden Syega crystals, for upgrades to your weapons and power-ups. I horded Tres probably a lot longer than I should, mostly just upgrading the increased Tres drops by enemies (always take your XP multipliers when offered) and increased base damange. I strugged a bit on the final boss until I really committed to increasing my overall health (which was a mistake to hold off on) and unlocking at least the recovery magic item.

I was enjoying the game up until that point, but I realized I loved this title when presented with the new game plus and mini-game options. For New Game+ you unlock the bonuses you want with another form of the Syega currency. Things like higher jump, simplified blocking and increased health. Even better, you not only earn Syega by completing the game but by playing the mini-games! Spending some time with the video poker mode, I was able to unlock more bonuses. And while it's just video poker, I loved having a way to unlock power ups in a relaxed, low key manner.

Clearly a ton of thought and heart went into this game.

Like my review of The Houchi Play, don't let my Steam play time fool you. I spent a great deal of time playing Maid San back on XBox 360 Indie Games.

Maid san's Caving Adventure feels like a lost Turbo Grafx 16 game to me. Back when platformer titles were king and game developers were still trying to figure out different ways to approach the subject. Maid San has two strengths available to her; the ability to jump really high and the power to cower in fear. She does so traversing a series of caves, as the title might lead you to believe, while collecting stars and avoiding the Benar - a subterranian humanoid race with a penchant for wooden clubs and cigarettes.

Avoid the Benar when you can, and tremble before them when you can't. Collect stars and clear the stage as fast and efficiently as you can (scoring is based on a myriad of factors including the number of steps and jumps you've performed).

In that regard, there is a optimal playthrough for each level.

All told the sprite graphics are very well done and serve their purpose nicely. For $2 you really can't go wrong. Its a fun, pleasant, retro game with some unique mechanics.

Oh man. This will be part review and part manifesto. Does Steam have a limit to the length of reviews?!

While you may only see a few minutes of me playing this game, I've actually logged hours with The Houchi Play when it was on the XBox 360 Indie Games store. Pretty sure I paid $2 there as well, or whatever the equivelant in Microsoft Points was.

In "The Houchi Play" you play as Taro Heibon, an IT engineer in City X. A family man who secretly desires to be treated like a pig, a dog and otherwise humiliated by girls in cosplay outfits. To accomplish the goal, you engage in a butt-scooting simulator punctuated by brief drinking games (with a boost power-up for perfect chugging). Do so to creep up on the ladies when they're not paying attention. Different girls have different patterns and behaviors. It's kinda a stripped down sneaking version of Punch-Out. You have to learn the different character's (somewhat limited) tells and sneak around based on that. The pixel graphics a great and harkent back tot he NEC PC titles of the 90's. Solid soundtrack and the controls feel good. The depth and difficulty is on par with an arcade game, replayability only for novelty or highscore hunting purposes.

Kohei Gallery had a few titles on that marketplace and the one thing they all had in common was irreverant charm. There's something about wacky ass, Japanese video games that the world is currently lacking. It might just be me on my old man soapbox, but there was a time where a small team or a single person could create a game. That offered unparalelled freedom compared to what you'll find today. Games are big business. When a publisher is spending hundreds of millions of dollars, they're not likely to take a lot of risks. It saddens me that you just don't see bizarre Japanese games like the days of old. Games like The Houchi Play give me hope that the world hasn't given up on making weird video games.

I'm thrilled that Kohei Gallery is now on Steam and can't wait for more.

I just don't get the appeal. For a game that is so widely lauded, I must be the one in the wrong.

While I'll absolutely grant you that the puzzles are hard, they're just not interesting (to me). The mechanics are constantly battling you, and while some may find it appealing... I'm simply not one of them. I felt as much enjoyment and accomplishment at solving a puzzle as I do at untangling a massive knot of cables and wires. I kept coming back, trying it, assuming I'm mising sometihng, but whatever it is I never find.Take my view with a grain of salt, as so many people seem to enjoy Stephen's Sausage Roll.

There's something to be said for a game that is set in Akihabara. You'd be hard pressed to argue against it being the center of Otaku culture. It's not the first game to choose this mecca as it's location, but it might be the best effort to date.

Akiba's Trip goes an extra step by licensing a huge variety of actual stores and properties, creating a love letter to Electric Town. You have Club Sega, Taito, Super Potato, GAMERS, Go Go Curry and more. You can fight with a stuffed Prinny or Sonico's guitar. Load screens are filled with actual shops and real anime ads. Wandering around you can collect flyers from geunine businesses. Granted it's not an all encompassing effort, as the "Hon Quiote" stands out in stark relief next to the sofmap, but the overall effort is laudable.

The gameplay itself is a fairly competant and fun action beat-em-up with a unique 'stripping' feature. Stripping of your enemies is more than just basic titliation. In an almost 'Fighting Vipers'-like system, you're attempting to defeat your opponents by removing clothes. With the chain mechanic, there's an element of strategy to when you execute the stripping maneuvers. Thanks to the large variety, and upgradability, of weapons in the game the fighting stays fresh despite there being only 6 primary moves: High, medium and low with a 'charged up' version of each.

Wrapped around the action portions there's a semi-open world structure. Not in the Skyrim or GTA sense, but in a more compartmentalized manner. Segments of Akiba are accessible by walking or (thankfully) fast travel, but are remarkable small for a modern game. Essentially one city block on average, with load screens separating each block. While it does detract from the fun a little, you do have enough freedom about going where you want and participating in side quests.

There's something inherantly Japanese about this limitation. You wouldn't mistake this for a western open world game. Another telltale sign of it's origin are the lenghty at times cut scenes. The between mission story beats borderline on visual novel length. Not necessarily a bad thing, but, wasn't my favorite part of Akiba's Trip.

All told the game has a nice sense of humor, some loot and customization, good fighting mechanics and a lovingly crafted view of Akihabara.

If you can get it for a price that makes sense to you, I can suggest it enough.

A thoroughly solid and faithful version of koi-koi.

To be honest, I can't find any faults. Everyhing is well designed and animated. Simple, but catchy soundtrack. Single player gives you a nice set of options to keep the game interesting. In game, the system does a very good job of showing you what you can and can not play. Online multipayer is great with the very welcome ability to play single player while waiting for a multiplayer match.

Top to bottom an excellent game!

A good poriton of this review will be singing the praises of the port of this game, more so than the game itself.

Baseball Stars 2 is a solid, albeit basic, 16-bit baseball game.

This version, however, is unique as it is more than a simple rom/emulator combo. The devs have taken the time to build a custom front-end menu. More importantly, they've actually changed the nature of the timer in the game.


Normally, you will see the timer counting down. As this was originally an arcade game, you only had 3 and a half-minutes of gametime. At which piont you would need to add another quarter. This behavior carried over to the home verson on the Neo Geo AES system.

With this port, thee timer starts at 0:00 and counts up. Maybe a minor rom hack, but a significant one that makes this the best possible version of the game. This minor tweak converts a game that was designed to eat quarters and turn around players quickly, into a more relaxed home experieence.

Utlimatelly, while I like the effort of the remade menu, I don't feel it's necessary, but the tweak to the timer is invaluable and really brings the game in line with what you'd expect from a console game.

The value proposition of spending $3-$10 for this game (regularly available in bundles and sales) is a personal call. Having lived through the days of the $200 Neo Geo games (not the console, but the actual game itself. One cartridge. And they couild cost over $1,000. Not adjusted for inflation), I find value in picking it up at one of the lower price points.