Recent reviews by J5lx

First of all, if you expect a drop-in replacement for a PlayStation or Xbox controller, please don't buy the Steam Controller - I'm tired of reviews complaining about an entirely new kind of controller being different from previous designs. It's like comparing apples to oranges. However, if you think you are able to adapt to such a new kind of input device, the Steam Controller certainly is something you should look into. While it does take a lot of getting used to, it rewards you with the ability to play any game with a controller as well as an insane amount of options. I was among the first to order the controller, so I got mine on October 16, but after almost one month I still don't know what exactly every option does (at least when it comes to the advanced ones). Also, Valve keeps adding more of them such as the Touch Menu (which is really nice for games with many keyboard bindings). Luckily it's possible to share and use controller mappings with/from the community, so in most cases it's possible to find a nice scheme that needs little to no tweaking. In terms of controller ergonomics it is quite comfortable, and its size is perfect (at least for me).
Regarding OS support (as of 2015-11-12): Windows should work out of the box (but I haven't tried it), OS X needs the beta version of Steam for most features (but I haven't tried it either), Linux should work out of the box as well but some distros need additional udev rules (However, Valve is trying to get them included in as many distros as possible). Currently the Steam client needs to be running on all three OSes in order to use the controller, but there will likely be native support in Linux 4.3.

In one sentence: A fast-paced, reaction-based, endless runner with simple yet difficult gameplay that feels like a mix of Canabalt and Super Hexagon and is super addicting.

You should play this if you like: Canabalt, Super Hexagon, FOTONICA, Velocibox

In one sentence: A really hard but overall quite nice little shmup that isn’t all that special gameplay-wise but makes up for that with it’s absolutely loving mecha veneer, so overall it is definitely worth its five bucks.

Forget about Super Hexagon - VVVVVV is Terry Cavanagh's masterpiece!

~ German translation at {LINK REMOVED}https://git.io/teslagrad-review-deutsch / Deutsche Übersetzung unter {LINK REMOVED}https://git.io/teslagrad-review-deutsch ~

A very well-balanced and fun puzzle game with great artwork and storytelling that is definitely worth it’s money.

You should play this if you like: Portal, Portal 2, The Talos Principle


You are a little boy in a dystopian land who has to run away from home. On your way you get haunted by some sort of soldiers until you get into some sort of castle or something where you soon find a mysterious golden glove that allows you to change the polarity of certain metal boxes etc. which you encounter on your way, so they react magnetically to each other. This allows you to solve various puzzles to continue on your way. Shortly after you get to a tower containing a blue something which looks like an excursion funnel of Portal 2 but only moves you while you're of the same polarity as that thing. One way of achieving that (and at the moment the only one) is by touching a special flower on the ground of the tower. Then you're moved upwards by that funnel thing, allowing you to get to one of the entrances which are located at both sides (in terms of 2D graphics) of the tower's wall. Now you begin solving various puzzles to get higher in the tower and eventually reach it's top, while encountering various bosses and finding various other "helper items" (like the glove) on your way. And when you get higher, you also come across some theatres telling you about the history of the land.


As mentioned above you have to solve various puzzles, mainly using magnetics but also buttons, funnels like the one from the tower and small robots which can reach smaller places, press buttons and have other side-effects - all in all it's a bit like Portal without Portals and the 3D. The puzzles are all well-balanced in terms of difficulty - you have to think a bit about them, but you don't end up being frustrated and looking in the internet for the solution. The bosses are a bit harder, but basically it's just about figuring out how they work, and then you just have to try a few times until you get good enough to beat them, making them challenging whithout being frustrating.

The basic controls are A and D for moving left and right as well as Space for jumping. The various actions of the "helper items" are triggered by the arrow keys and can be directed to the character's top or bottom using W or S. You can also view a map (showing only rooms which have already been visited) by hitting Tab. All in all the controls are comfortable to use, and if you're dissatisfied with them you can also change them. The only thing that annoyed me is that the game did not really introduce the map as a feature, I just discovered it accidentally when I found a secret and the game displayed a little information together with "Tab" as the key to view the secret (they can be viewed by hitting the right arrow key while in map view).


As others wrote before, the game has quite beautiful, handdrawn graphics with fluid animations. And really, there isn't much more to say about this.


The sound effects resemble the mechanics of the game well, but there is nothing special however. The music however is very beautiful and has a sad touch. During the boss fights I find the music to get a bit mechanical, and in other games this would probably be a deficiency for me, but in this game it actually works, mostly since most of the bosses are mechanical as well.


I found Teslagrad to work very, very well, at least here on Linux. Everything runs smooth and without flaws. I didn't discover anything to blame the game for in this category.


Teslagrad is one of the games which tell their story without words, and especially the intro does that very well, since this part in which you mostly run away and experience the story flows directly into the part in which you actually play the game. However the story is not the main focus of the game (which are the puzzles), and therefore it (the story) is not quite a big masterpiece. However the other parts - the well-balanced puzzles and the nice graphics and music - are all very good and together actually make a game which is a lot fun to play, challenging but not frustrating. Also I find the game to be very well-priced at ~10€, so all in all I’d definitely recommend it to all fans of puzzle games.

Anomaly 2 ist ein umgekehrtes Tower Defense-Spiel – Der Gegner stellt angreifende Türme und um zu gewinnen muss man sich „über Wasser“ halten, bis man im Ziel ankommt. Man selbst ist dabei ein Typ namens Simon Lynx, der eine Truppe aus verschiedenen Einheiten kommandiert und sich gewissermaßen um sie kümmert (z.B. durch Reparaturen). Das Ganze ist in einem futuristischen Theme angelegt – Aliens, genannt „Maschinen“ (ja, genau, die Aliens sind laut Spiel zwar Aliens, werden aber – laut Spiel – dennoch Maschinen genannt), haben die Erde weitgehend übernommen und der Spieler kämpft auf der Seite der letzten Menschen. Die Grafik bringt diese Zukunftsumgebung wirklich schön rüber und ist zudem schön detailliert. Die Dialoge, von denen man während der Story begleitet wird, sind sämtlich synchronisiert und obgleich auf Englisch zieht einen das noch weiter in die Geschichte. Ob es in dem Spiel Musik gibt, kann ich nicht einmal mit Sicherheit sagen, so sehr hat es mich in seinen Bann gezogen :) Innerhalb der Level zeichnet sich das Spiel durch recht viel Flexibilität aus, so lassen sich z.B. die Einheiten on-the-fly in jeweils zwei verschiedene Modelle mit unterschiedlichen Stärken und Schwächen transformieren und auch die Strecke lässt sich variieren, wodurch man teilweise auch den Schwierigkeitsgrad noch weiter anpassen kann, da die Teilstrecken mitunter unterschiedlich stark besetzt sind. Alles in Allem kann ich dieses Spiel wirklich nur empfehlen.

Dieses Spiel gefällt mir außerordentlich gut… Die Musik passt, die Story auch, und die Grafik ist einfach geil, sowohl die Effekte als auch die Grafiken, die wirklich sehr schön gezeichnet sind. Ich kann das Spiel wirklich nur empfehlen.

BTW, ein etwas detaillierteres Review kommt wahrscheinlich später noch.

Das Spiel ist mit seinen drei Leveln sehr kurz, allerdings macht es durch das Zusammenwirken von Grafik und Sound auch unglaublich viel Spaß. Nach den drei "normalen" Leveln gibt es dann auch noch drei "Hardcore"-Level, die gespiegelte Varianten der normalen sind, in denen es allerdings keine Checkpoints gibt. Alles in allem kann ich es für seine 5€ nur empfehlen.

Am Anfang braucht man einen kleinen Moment, um ein Gefühl dafür zu kriegen, wie man das Spiel spielt, aber danach macht es Spaß und eignet sich gut, um mal etwas zu entspannen. Zumal das Spiel auch noch kostenlos ist, kann ich es wirklich nur empfehlen.

Ein sehr rasantes Spiel. Am Anfang heißt es zwar oft schon nach nur wenigen Sekunden „Game Over“, jedoch versucht man es – ohne auch nur im Entferntesten darüber nachzudenken – immer und immer und immer wieder und wird dabei langsam, aber auch stetig immer besser, was einen zusammen mit dem energiereichen Soundtrack umso mehr anspornt, es immer noch mal zu versuchen. Auf diese Weise ist Super Hexagon das am süchtigsten machende Hexagon, das ich kenne, und gehört definitiv zu meinen Lieblingsspielen. 20/10 Punkte!