Recent reviews by Dulcey

Four years ago to the day, I first had the pleasure of reading Yooka-Laylee and the Kracklestone. Now, one leap day later, I'm finally writing up a review for it! Me? Procrastinate? Nah... I'm just a very intricate planner. Who puts off doing things. With style. But anyway, here we are... better late than never, eh?

This is my first time reviewing a graphic novel, but seeing as I enjoyed it so much - and was already a big fan of the Yooka-Laylee games - I figured this was worth a shot. Yooka-Laylee and the Kracklestone is a standalone story that can be read with or without playing the games first. In general, I would recommend it moreso to those who have already played at least one Yooka-Laylee game, as the story remains very loyal to the lore and atmosphere, and features a wide range of characters that you get to meet in the games. Having that prior knowledge will allow you to focus on what's going on in this story, instead of trying to keep track of who everyone is, and so on.

The presentation and artwork of this graphic novel is bright and bold. Every page jumps right out at you, and is bursting with energy and personality, much like the games. As a very character-oriented person myself, I was thrilled to see that the characters remain very true to their canonical selves. In addition to this, the style of humour is very suitable. The comedy in this book ranges from visual slapstick cartoon humour, to wacky visual gags, to complete and utter crude humour, to hilarious one-liners. I don't know whether I should feel ashamed about admitting this or even letting it happen in the first place, but I have laughed out loud multiple times when reading this. You're welcome, neighbours.
The text layout is logical and clear, making it easy to read. The book uses a typical comic book typeface (as seen in the games) and the text boxes and speech bubbles are not so huge that they obscure any of the gorgeous artwork. Text boxes and speech bubbles are opaque and, as a result, contrast wonderfully with the brightly coloured drawings and are very easy to see on the page.

Yooka-Laylee and the Kracklestone is the kind of book that makes you feel like you are "reading" a cartoon. I'd say this graphic novel is perfect for '90s kids, '00s kids, kids at heart, kids in general, and anyone who appreciates wacky, outrageous, cartoony goodness. At the time of writing this, the graphic novel is currently on an amazing discount too - so why not treat yourself? Wink, wink...

Made me laugh so hard I had an asthma attack.

Eh, eh-eh, eh eh, eh-eh! Psychonauts 2 has arrived! This long-awaited follow-up to the cult classic was eventually made possible thanks to Fig, a whole bunch of backers who thought it'd be funny to pummel Tim Schafer with wads of cash (again), and an incredibly talented team who have been far too good to us. Psychonauts 2 was a massive project for a not-so-massive development company.
So here I am on release day. Wearing my backer t-shirt, Raz figurine on the desk beside me, fan art I drew last year pinned up on the cork board above my computer, and having just spent the entire day playing Psychonauts 2.
I'm going to be honest; I've been a little nervous leading up to today, thinking about whether or not the game will be as good as we all hoped it would be. I can't imagine what these last few days must have felt like for the developers! That said, I am now thrilled to announce that Psychonauts 2 has exceeded my expectations with flying colours.

In case you missed out on the first game, or if it's been a while, here's a quick overview: you play this kid Raz, who is psychic and can go into other people's brains. While in there, he gets to explore what is going on in there, which might explain their behaviour and actions in the real world. Inside a person's brain, he can collect figments of their imagination, unlock their memories (kept in vaults), sort out their emotional baggage (which involves returning the baggage's tags to cheer them up) and other sorts of metaphors turned literal. It really is very cleverly designed and that, combined with its fantastic presentation, characters and dialogue, it's no wonder that it is still loved by many today.
But if you're worried about being unfamiliar with the story, you will be pleased to know that an opening cutscene on the game's first launch clears everything up. It even helped me! I know the first game pretty well, but I missed out on Rhombus of Ruin (the VR "midquel" game) and the introduction got me up to speed with what's happened since.
Psychonauts 2 has remained extremely true to the original, but - as you would expect from a sequel - it has been expanded on. Now, when exploring someone's brain, you have to watch out for bad ideas (which are very dangerous) and doubts (which slow you down). But if you keep your eyes peeled you might also find some valuable nuggets of wisdom. And if you find you have half a brain, you should be on the lookout for the other half.

Psychonauts 2 has done extremely well in demonstrating exactly how a sequel of a game should be. So much of it is familiar, yet at the same time, there are so many new features too. And I really think that they managed to achieve this in all aspects of the game too. For example...
Graphics: Lovely quality with just the right amount of detail, while maintaining the quirky artistic style present in the original. Characters' visual designs have not been altered much (if at all), but the quality of the models and the animation is fantastic. Not unlike the first game, the animators are so good at showing the characters' personalities and emotions in all their actions.
Soundtrack: Not even kidding, the music in this game blew me away. The music features many of the same melodies we heard in the original, giving the soundtrack a strong sense of familiarity. However, just like everything else, they've been developed on, are beautifully arranged and performed and are very exciting and atmospheric to listen to. I am so pleased that I will be receiving a copy of the soundtrack as a backer because I really love it and can see myself listening to it a lot!
Writing: Okay, so I knew the writing would be gold. I wouldn't have expected anything less. Certainly not from the co-director of my all-time favourite game, that is! And I have to keep taking screenshots at hilarious bits of dialogue because it's just so good. But one thing I do want to give the writing a special shout-out for is that I love how it has remained loyal to the original game (same style of humour and everyone is perfectly in-character), while also giving us some exciting character development while also introducing new characters whose personalities fit wonderfully into the setting.
Design: Now this is really cool. I wasn't entirely sure how I would feel about the setting for this game, because this is something that is completely different to the original on the surface. This is no summer camp. This is the hi-tech, futuristic Psychonauts Headquarters. There's a fast travel system, but it's not a network of minecart tracks; it's a network of tunnels in the building. There's a shop where you can buy dream fluff, but it's not sold by Cruller in a cabin kitchen, it's sold at a talking machine. I bought a pin from it that makes Raz do his famous dance as an idle sequence. Awesome. There's a side quest where you have to look for items hidden all around the hub, but instead of a scavenger hunt it's a... actually, it is a scavenger hunt. Yeah okay. Moving on...
Gameplay: Psychonauts 2 feels a lot like playing the original Psychonauts with updated graphics, a new story and new setting. Raz remembers how to use his old powers, and we get reintroduced to these as we progress. But we also gain some brand new powers (many of which we backer type people have been fortunate enough to get the inside scoop on over the past few months). They are every bit as punny and as fun to use as the powers we already had. As mentioned earlier, we are introduced to some new enemies (doubts and bad ideas) while some familiar old nemeses return too (such as the censors). Ranking up works the same ways it did in the first game, and you can find psi cards scattered around the game. The currency used at Whispering Rock was the arrowheads; at Psychonauts HQ it is a material called psitanium. But it helpfully looks a lot like the arrowheads (glowy purple stuff that you can find in the ground and occasionally by smashing stuff).

I am so pleased that Psychonauts 2 surpassed my expectations (something that I did not know possible!) that I just had to give it a glowing review on day one. Double Fine have truly outdone themselves with this masterpiece. The only negative thing I can say about it right now is that they have really set the bar high for themselves and I will have to try not to get my hopes up for their next release! It's been one heck of a journey and the destination was worth the wait. I am really glad that I backed this game, and I look forward to getting hundreds upon hundreds of hours of gameplay out of this.

A massive CONGRATULATIONS and THANK YOU to the team. You are all amazing!

Imagine a Sokoban-style game that involves pushing blocks around and whatnot just like all the other Sokoban-style games. Now, imagine that the game's rules are written on some of those blocks. Imagine what you could achieve if you moved those words around and rewrote the rules. And imagine everything you could make possible...
... or, you could play Baba Is You and experience it instead of just imagining it.

There are two key things you need to get right when making a puzzle game:
1. Come up with interesting game mechanics
2. Design levels that make great use of said game mechanics
Thankfully, this particular game is one that fulfils both of these with flying colours. It's one thing to be able to manipulate the rules of a game, but it's another to present the player with such clever and crafty level design that requires hardcore outside-the-box thinking. The overall concept may sound simple enough, but the ways in which the levels use the game's mechanics so creatively are what make the entire experience truly incredible.
Now, I refuse to give spoilers in this review because I don't want to ruin the experience for those of you who haven't played this game yet, but one thing I will say is to expect the unexpected. There's more to this game than meets the eye. Everything's not what it seems. You get the idea. This is honestly the first puzzle game that has ever made me feel a real sense of exploration and excitement, as though I am "entering the unknown" and discovering things I'm probably never supposed to know. Parts of the game will leave you shocked and astounded. You will be confused, and believe me, you will enjoy this confusion immensely.

In addition to being a fun, exciting and rewarding game to play, Baba Is You is also beautifully presented. All the graphics have a playful wiggly outline thing going on (Ed, Edd 'n Eddy, anyone?) and, despite the art style being very minimalist, I find the sprites really cute! I mean, who in their right mind wouldn't want to hug Baba? The typography is also of a consistent style that compliments the art and animation perfectly, and the typeface is clear and easy to read. Which is especially important for a game that revolves around making and breaking the rules.
A simple yet absolutely charming soundtrack and suitable in-game sound effects go hand-in-hand with the game's visual aesthetics. I actually find the music quite calming. This is one of the few puzzle games I've played (right before going to bed, I might add) that hasn't lost me any sleep, which is surprising because there were times where I was stuck on a level for days. But this game never left me feeling anxious either. Confused, yes, but not anxious. Perhaps the sweet graphics and chilled music played a factor in this?

I am so passionate about Baba Is You that I just want everyone to play it and experience it for themselves! As I already said, there are no spoilers in this review, but for that reason I can't rave about it as much as I want to either. So play it, see for yourself what I'm all hyped about, and let's chat. It's that kind of game.

My personal favourite game of 2019!

Goal: To stop an evil triangle from taking over the world.
Method: Travel back in time to the day before so that you can stop the triangle from becoming evil in the first place. However, the majority of the story revolves around blowing a large sum of money on a shopping channel product, and finding sources of electricity that you can plug toilets into.
Heroes: The true heroes of this game are a metalhead who has zero book smarts, a trainee doctor who cannot be trusted with her own scalpel, and that nerd from the first game who used to be a coward. This trio receives help along the way from an ex-villain mad scientist, the founding fathers, a hamster and a dead guy.
Events: This game lets you rob a vending machine, strike up conversations with historical figures, break out of jail, play numerous practical jokes on people, set off a fire alarm, throw a dead man down the stairs, throw a live woman down the stairs, cause it to rain at your own will, have way too much fun in a beauty pageant, and seek revenge on an inflatable clown.

Day of the Tentacle is my favourite game of all time, so I guess ever since this remaster was announced I've had something of a positivity bias towards it. Why do I love the game so much? Wow... where do I start? The game is set in a cartoon world with fitting art and music, where slapstick humour is abundant. It is one of the few games that truly makes me feel like I am "playing" a cartoon. Combine that with everything you can expect from a LucasArts adventure game (y'know, stealing various items, getting creative with how you use items together, doing terrible things to NPCs just to get closer to your goal), and you are in for a treat.
Despite its Saturday Morning Cartoon setting, the puzzles are actually logical and very well thought out. What really makes the puzzles special in this game is its time travel element; most of the game deals with the three protagonists separated from each other in different time periods. Hoagie is stranded way back in colonial times, Laverne has ended up in a tentacle-ruled future, and Bernard is back in the present (well, the '90s). Naturally, your actions in one time period could have a direct effect on a later one. For example, Hoagie can change a significant part of American history in order to make Laverne's life (four hundred years later) much easier. See where I'm going with this?
Like I've already said, the graphics and music fit the game's cartoon atmosphere wonderfully. Even the original version of the game is fully voice acted (well, the CD-ROM version... those voiceover files wouldn't fit on the floppy disk version!) and that was a big deal back in 1993. The voice acting is done to a professional standard, and stars Richard Sanders (from WKRP in Cincinnati) as Bernard. Sound effects are typically cartoony, dialogue is well written, it's great fun exploring the mansion in three different moments in time (which is very well designed), and the characters are just amazing. I love them all.
Oh, and get this... the original Maniac Mansion (DOTT's prequel) is included and fully playable. So you're basically getting two awesome adventure games for the price of one.

Those pixelly graphics from the '90s have all been redrawn - but not redesigned - so they look exactly as you remember them, except much cleaner! This has allowed artists to pay certain attention to detail that couldn't be done back when working with so few pixels; signs and other items have additional text on them now. One of my personal favourites is what the sign above the lobby door says. Also, smoother panning when the screen scrolls. Music has been digitally remastered too, for a more modern sound. Higher quality sound effects are in place, and the original, uncompressed voice over recordings have been used. The interface has been remastered too, and you can now play the game with a verb dial that has excluded the verbs considered "useless" on the item you are interacting with.
However, if you want to see the old graphics, hear the old music, or use the old interface, all of those options are there too! Unlike other remasters and special editions I've played, this one has a much more customizable experience. You don't have to use all the original settings at once or all the remastered settings; instead you can mix and match. You might want to see the new graphics, but hear the old music. Or perhaps you want pixel graphics while using the new verb dial. You can select each setting separately, letting you play exactly how you want.
When playing for your first time, you will unlock concept art as you progress further into the game and enter more and more scenes. Developer commentary is available; when starting a new game, you will be asked whether you want commentary on or off, but you can toggle it at any time in the main menu too. The Steam version also includes a great set of achievements, as well as trading cards and all the perks that come with those. Also, as can be expected in any modern computer game... autosave.
The first Maniac Mansion is playable like it's always been, but instead of the C64 version included with the original release of DOTT, the remaster includes the Amiga version, so the graphics and audio are notably better quality.
For newcomers, controls are displayed at the start of the game, and can also be found on the options screen (something the original didn't really have). Back when the game was first released, you were expected to read the manual. Or not. Whichever came first.

Am I recommending this game? Of course I am! The only nitpick I could come up with originally was that the new sounds aren't as funny as the originals, but since then they have added an option to play with the original sound effects. The punches are punchier. The clown honk is sharper. Hoagie's belch is funny again. Awesome! And that's not all. Remastered graphics that make the game more appealing to a contemporary audience without losing the original's charm, concept art and developer commentary for the hardcore fans, and perhaps most importantly, an accessible way for new customers to get their hands on the awesomeness that is Day of the Tentacle.

An excellent remaster of a most excellent game!