Recent reviews by InsrtCoins

As far as riffs on Picross 3D go, this one is perfect. Elegant, engrossing. I can't put it down. I wouldn't change a thing about it.

Just magnificent. Nothing big and flashy, but it sets out with a great, well-scoped concept and executes on it perfectly. Expertly designed. Every action feels great. The sound design is wonderful. Perfectly paced. Doesn't interrupt action with cutscenes or text. Just polished to perfection.

I don't understand the apostrophe in the title, though. The only thing I can think of is that the devs thought the apostrophe in "shoot 'em up" belongs to the "shoot" and not the "em". But if the only criticism I have for a game is an out-of-place apostrophe, that's not bad at all.

Beautifully presented, well-written story. Quite innovative combat supported by a great level-up and companion system. All of this on top of what will probably be the best soundtrack of the year.

An interesting twist in the "I commissioned..." series. A cool new idea, but it really is just one new idea. "Abstract" is such a wide-ranging concept -- it could be inkblots, fractals, marbling... This game has one set of shapes that it hides in a number of functionally similar images. Very enjoyable as a hidden object task, but feels like it could have been more.

An astounding game. Confidently and stylishly directed; distilling its gameplay to its essential core while indulging in just the right amount of aesthetic excess.

One of the finest 3D platformers ever made. Every action -- from the smallest jump to solving the grandest puzzles -- is utterly satisfying and superb.

This is a comedy game that spares no expense or detour to land a joke. The wild, winding paths that it goes down to even set up *minor* blink-and-you'll-miss-them jokes *hours* down the line comes across as incredibly confident. It breaks the rules of the types of jokes you're supposed to tell in video games -- not in an edgy, pushing-the-boundaries-of-political-correctness kind of way (it airs of the side of decency in matters of real-world concerns) -- rather, it is unafraid to plant setups that may frustrate the player or give highly-targeted aspects of the game an unpolished feeling only to reveal that these are, themselves, gags paid off *hours* down the road. Given the high percentage of players that drop-off mid-game in any experience in this medium, I find it incredibly ballsy that they're willing to sacrifice initial impressions for pay-offs that many players likely won't experience (again, only in targeted and specific aspects; as a whole, the game feels very polished and mechanically sound).

It's a game that is less concerned with keeping a high laughs-per-minute count than intricately weaving its wild and off-beat humor through the entire timeline of its playtime, with even minor jokes receiving hours-long set-ups and hours-later callbacks. It's a feat of comedic planning and rule-bending that feels like it leaves no avenue unexplored. Again, the apparent high level of effort put into even low-impact jokes is fascinating with its "show your work" style of writing and planning.

As a gameplay experience, you can feel the stretch-marks of its ambition. Platforming is a bit ropey and the occasional puzzle can be a bit of a moon-logic stumper, but it was never enough to dissuade me from the game. It is impressive how well it overcomes the challenging tasks that it set for itself. As a genre mashup, it seems like it would be unsuited for any control method -- platformers want to be played with controller, and point & click adventures want to be played with a mouse -- but it elegantly bridges that gap by using clever methods to make point & click adventuring comfortable and intuitive to play with a controller. It's a very impressive game in all regards.

"Real-time stealth-based old-west action CRPG" is a bit of a mouthful, but the game is effortlessly accessible to new players and seasoned veterans alike. Each and every stage is a lovingly crafted diorama of seemingly impossible stealth challenges that, after some thought and whittling away over time, are conquered utilizing the vast array of useful and unique abilities and tools the devs provide.

Though definitely following pretty closely in the footsteps of Shadow Tactics before it, the Desperados legacy can be felt, even by new players, as it elevates the proceedings with unique and beautiful miniatures of the old west.

Part Hitman, part board game; it's great fun through the campaign and has a generous offering of extra challenges that are, honestly, more fun than they even need to be.

From the perspective of someone who enjoys fighting games but not *good* at fighting games. A great blend of being fairly easy to pick up and play and having a fair amount of depth

Characters all have the same set of controls. X, Y, and B are weak, medium, strong attacks. A is an elemental attack. Everyone has a non-meter special move, a 100-points-from-the-meter special, and a 300-points-from-the-meter special that are performed with the same button inputs regardless of who you're playing (quarter circles with different combinations of attack buttons. The odd thing is that the meter maxes out at 200 at the beginning of the match. At any point during the match, you can trigger an explosion of magical energy to boost the meter up to 300 capacity. I'm not exactly sure why you wouldn't just do this at the beginning of each match to start earning towards your ultra special move, but I have a couple of theories: the magical explosion serves as a one-time get-out-of-jail-free pass to break combos and send the enemy flying backwards. Also, it may reward you with additional points if you have more points in your meter banked before triggering it. The ultras are all pretty fun to watch and easy enough to perform to make the fights pretty fluid. I don't feel like I'm struggling to remember specific combos for each fighter, which I've always disliked.

Another interesting system is that you can pick three support fighters in each battle by way of a card loadout system. These supports can contribute attacks, like in MvC, but you can't play as them. They're just for support. There's a separate meter that fills over time. Each support costs a certain number of those auto-filling support crystals to summon. They can really turn the tide of battle. And there are quite a few of these support fighters to memorize. Each does something entirely different.

The cast is pretty good, but it's pretty small compared to some other fighting games (like BlazBlue or KoF). There's a lot of variety; medieval themed fighters, futuristic fighters, a woman who rides around on the back of some kind of giant golem, a werewolf girl of some kind... It's not the most variety I've ever seen, but it's a fair amount. And it also has Iori from KoF for some reason. Haha.The tutorial is really easy to follow and doesn't waste a lot of your time.

The Story mode is just a quick arcade mode. Difficulty is perfectly tuned to where I like it to be, but it might be a bit easy for veterans. Overall, I'd recommend it. I'm having a lot of fun with it. I just hope that the small cast doesn't mean that it loses its appeal.

A really exciting experiment in non-linear storytelling. It's amazing that, despite giving the player the option to take the clips in any order that he or she wants, the author was still able to construct a story wtih a tight arc. It's like the game knew which terms I would be searching for next. How easy would it have been to just stumble upon one of the most important videos way too early? It's just part of the magic that makes Her Story so special. Strongly recommended for those interested in interactive storytelling.