Recent reviews by PantzForHire

Simply a great puzzle game. Review is best kept short because the less you know the better

Not a direct upgrade in EVERY facet but it's really damn close to ticking every box and then some. I'll give this a full recommendation to wide audiences and mildly urge returning players from the PS1 version that it's a very easy game (so play on Universe mode) and that some of the later dungeons have had their gimmicks switched and it's not exactly for the best. Also the real time rendered backgrounds are great but I feel the camera work for them is a lot more sterile in comparison to the original for the PS1. With real time rendering you think they'd take the chance on making them even more crazy but nope, not here lol. But pretty much every other facet is upgraded directly and then some. User experience completely eclipses the OG. You're gonna need to do like 5% of the menuing to get the same amount of work done, and since it's much simpler to do, you find yourself more easily compelled to utilize the menus in powerful ways. This remake is a home run, and if you have any interest in the Star Ocean games you really don't have a more accessible, more quality way of playing it

A great game to appreciate from the confirmed perspective of a small dev trying to get his creative nut off. Mouse and keyboard focused platforming is executed really well and the time trial challenges really gave me an appreciation for the tight but reliable movement mechanics. The biggest problem this game has is simply being too short, and the overall level design not compensating for the lack of limits the gameplay incorporates for your character. But it's cheap too, easily within it's punching weight for the asking price. Pick it up, support the dev, and pray that you seem him working on even more great stuff in the future

As a longtime lover of Olli Olli 2 (and to a lesser extent, 1), I was initially a little concerned and intrigued when seeing the trailer for World for the first time. I think my cautious optimism served me right, because even though this game does a lot right, it also feels like it actively spits in the face of series die-hards like myself. To preface, if someone never had any experience with an OlliOlli game before, I would wholeheartedly recommend World. It's super packed with content, with every level feeling unique enough to earn it's place, and the amount of challenges to complete is rather insane. The addition of quarter-pipes and grabs makes a ton of sense and adds a lot of depth to level design, and additions like wall-rides help to really sell that sequel feeling. Another soundtrack of licensed songs is included, and while it definitely works, I don't think the energy is quite as great as with 2's soundtrack.

Onto why I feel burned. While this game does add a fair deal of new trick mechanics, some feel kind of out of place. Late-tricks are kinda unnecessary when grabs are already a thing you can do after a trick, and almost feel included to justify the existence of some challenges, which unnecessarily requires the player to start using a button that's never been a thing in these games. With some new trick types being added, it's weird to see things like grind-tweaks added, as grind switching is already a thing and essentially serves the same purpose, and revert manuals have been removed, which sucks as they'd be perfect for landing onto quarter-pipe slopes. Plus another big gripe (even though it was an issue from 1 to 2) is how a lot of the special tricks don't match up with 2's inputs at all.
The way I see the design approach is that they needed to move music skipping to the shoulders to allow the right stick for grabs and such, and since the shoulders are now taken up, trick modifiers can't be a thing anymore. But then you could ask, "well, why even have a skip music button altogether? Or why not just put it on something even more out of the way like the d-pad which isn't used at all in game???" The trick system in this game really feels a little 'one steps forward, two steps back' sorta deal, not to mention how terribly spammy one has to be to remain competitive on the leaderboards

I think this game's biggest sins is just having outright unreliable momentum mechanics, and a lot of challenges pertaining to keeping your momentum in check. Too many times a jump will feel perfect only for the player to completely miss the landing and need to restart the level. Some levels in the game are over 2 minutes in length for some of the riskier players, and having a full-combo run get trashed by one speed related mistake the player made earlier in their run can be frustrating as all hell. Also, while I appreciate a respect of players ability to take risks, requiring some jumps to be taken AFTER a grind rail ends feels so strange and poorly communicated. The timing can be finnicky and sometimes you'll think you earned a jump only to divebomb into a ravine.

Weird that I have so many things to bash on this game but still feel like it's worthy of a positive score. It's just a lot of fun to play from any angle, just goes against what my beliefs are when it comes to how to progress the franchise. This game is a challenge and it's harder challenges to complete really feel like a crash-course in advanced problem solving. Do yourself a favor, and if you're up for it, go try and 100% this game with no guides. It's a full-ass video game and well worth the price of entry. Let's just hope Roll7 returns to OlliOlli with a little more refinement of the core gameplay. I feel like they could have a new classic on their hands!

This game has some major problems in some key elements of it's design but even with it's glaring issues I wouldn't even think not recommending this game. Elden Ring is super dense and a real achievement for a company like From, showing that a different approach to a truly open world design is all it takes to put other western RPG developers on notice

Legitimately one of my all time favorite video games ever made. It's basically perfect, ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ buy it

This is seriously one of my favorite games on PC and is never leaving my SSD. I don't think any other shooter has the perfect middle ground between casual-friendly and sweat-city like the Halo games do, making it really easy to just piss a night away with the homies like you did back in the console days

It's literally Bomberman but online
"Oh but they made it a battle royale! That's bad!"
Bomberman has LITERALLY always been a battle royale you knuckle dragger
"Oh but you need to own a $10 premium pass to play private matches with friends!"
A lot of multiplayer games require you to buy them to even play them in the first place, you paste eater. Plus, only one user needs to own the premium pass. If you have any amount of friends for a lobby, and split the cost, you could legit be paying anywhere from $5 to $0.16 (cuz you can play with 64 players in private matches)
Literally the biggest short coming is that there is no way to play with bots in a private match.

Also, Konami and Hexadrive are mad dumb if they don't give the next Bomber pass some old-head fan-service, like Bomberman Hero/64 music and Max as a playable character

The game is Bomberman with very little frills, and the Battle 64 mode is legitimately fun with some of the cheap tactics you can pull off

Also they should probably put in the tutorial instructions on how to use the punch power-up and how to stop kicked bombs.

I hate sounding like a shill but the amount of absurdity I see in this review section is giving me a headache

Vampire mommy? Nah, weirdo magneto chad

I exclusively borrowed a friend's VR headset on my minimum-VR spec computer to play this. I had to deal with terrible load times, often frame-rate stutters and de-syncing a bunch. Upon closing all other programs and getting my base stations right, it hit me. This game DOES leave a lot to be desired (melee combat, two handed weapons, more enemies) but it's so insane that it just works with what it provides. I've never done VR before so I can't attest for it compared to Boneworks or Pavlov, but interacting with the world in Alyx was such a treat. Almost every object oozes with a high level of techincal prowess, and every encounter feels notably distinct, making replays very fun for memorizing enemy locations and experimenting. Linear games rarely have me desiring to play a specific level just because I like how it flowed, but HL:A just made it easy and fun. Plus, the feeling the ending (and the post-credits ending sting) leaves in your body is something I think no game will ever re-create. I wasn't too sure Valve needed to make this game in VR, but they made me into a believer