Recent reviews by Johan Erickson

You know those games you play that just exemplify bad game design so well that you recommend it to budding game designers as an example of how NOT to make a game? Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams is that game.

It starts out fun enough, and then almost immediately makes you realize the game has zero tricks up its sleeve to keep the player interested. You play as two sisters, one with an air-twirling ability and another with a roll dash. You alternate between them and finish levels with standard platforming challenges by jumping on enemies that feel straight out of the 80’s game design playbook. There are some moving platforms and blocks that change based on which sister you use, and a couple of enemies that change behaviour based on the same thing. The game starts off easy in world 1, and it ramps up the difficulty in world 2 and by world 3, it starts to get hard. They’re still doable but here’s the problem… You need to earn a minimum of 3 stars on most levels to open the ‘boss lock’ which lets you progress to the next world. To make matters worse, the game rewards you based on the number of gems you collect in game, most of which need you to do more platforming gymnastics. Now, this would be okay if the platforming is fun, but it isn’t. EVERY SINGLE platforming challenge in the game just comes from obtuse asset placement and that’s about it. There’s no thought for fun factor as much as there is just a level-designer who thought he only had one job and that was to make the levels challenging. The controls are air-tight which is the only positive I can say for this game. Unfortunately, the levels are as bland as they come, whether it be the dull world of one sister or the vibrant world of the other. There are literally 4 music tracks in the entire game and even that is just an electric guitar thrown on top of the alternate track. Hearing the same music over and over again does little to alleviate the samey-samey feeling you get throughout the game. The environments get old quickly because the game has very little 3D assets and you immediately notice that it’s just the same thing over and over again. It’s just mediocre through and through and I found myself just rushing to the level exit.

Ah, and then, there are the boss fights, which feel like someone’s stuck a toothpick in your eye by the time you’re done with them. It's as if someone designed the bosses and someone else designed the player movement. That’s how annoyingly uncoordinated the player movement is with the bosses in the game. The one-hit death does this no favors. It’s manageable if you’re patient enough… until you get to the final boss.

This final boss is… well, let’s just say you’ll remember him for the rest of your life. It takes a full fifteen seconds for the fight to start, and between every move he makes, the animation is so slow and overdone that you have nothing to do while he pauses and surveys the environment. There is a good 10-second gap between every move he makes and it completely stalls the momentum of your movement. The second and third phases of the boss throw in wild projectiles, insanely difficult platforming, annoying “the floor is lava” tricks and just horrendous pacing. When you die (and you will, many, many, many times), you need to start it all over again and guess what? The slow animations and the ponderous frame programming repeat all over again. It took me HALF A DAY to beat the guy and honestly, even the sight of him trigger ungodly, violent thoughts in me. I’m going be traumatised by him for the rest of my life.

I thought I’d try this game while I was combing through some underrated titles. If I’d known it would make my blood boil, I would’ve gladly skipped it. Don’t play this game unless you’re willing to be schooled in bad game design and want to learn how NOT to make a game. If you haven’t played this, count yourself lucky and run away.

Final verdict: A big ‘stay the heck away’. 5/10.

Every now and then, there comes along a game that just flies under everyone’s radar because the critics didn’t deem it worthy enough. Singularity is one of those games. The criminally low Metacritic rating doesn’t do it justice. It does so many things as well as any other top-rated shooter in the market and then adds to that with its' own mechanics. The first thing you will notice playing the game is its time mechanics. Granted, it’s been done before, but Singularity has a harmonious way of combining its time-bending mechanics with its shooter tropes in a satisfying way that makes combat fun. The puzzles in the game are barely there but they do well to break up the pace. The story isn’t anything to write home about but the rest of the game does everything well enough for the plot to not be a bummer. The enemy variety is constantly being changed and the weapons/powers you keep getting do enough to keep every encounter fresh. Throughout my roughly 10-hour playthrough, I never felt like the combat got stale and the game was dragging on more than it needed to. I got this on a sale after combing through some old, underrated gems and I’m glad I didn’t skip this one. The game doesn’t have Xbox button prompts for some strange reason but once you figure out the controls, it’s not really a problem. And then there’s a weapon that fires ball-grenades you can control with a remote – that deserves a mention. The level-design isn’t the best I’ve seen and the muted color palette can feel drab, but nevertheless, it still delivers on other fronts. I had a lot of fun playing this game and if you’re a fan of shooters even remotely, you should give this a try. If you like Bioshock and the Metro series, this will be right up your alley, though not with the production value of those games. Still, this is a gem that didn’t deserve its low sales and unrecognition. I would easily recommend this without a hesitation and honestly think it deserves more attention even in 2021.

Final verdict: A solid 7.5/10. Easy recommend. Underrated. Don’t believe the critics.

If you want to know what a below-average game looks like, look no further than "Shank". From start to end, nothing about this game feels worth playing. Combat is one-dimensional where all you do is just mash a button and connect with enemies. Bosses all feel the same, requiring the same approach over and over again. The story is trash, the enemies are more or less the same and even the music is repeatedly dull. Level design and backgrounds feel like someone did it in MS Paint. I thought I'd just buy this for a short, mindless romp and got nothing out of it. There's nothing good to say about this game. Even the gore feels forced. Shank 2 might be better hopefully but after this, I'm not too sure I want to give that a go. "Mark of the Ninja" remains Klei's best work, especially in stark contrast to this. There are way better games out there. Even 20 years ago, this would've been entirely worth skipping.

Final verdict: The lowest I've ever given a game. A tasteless 4/10.

A Boy and His Blob could've been one of those games that you remember fondly. Unfortunately, some jarring issues outweigh the sum of its good parts.

The concept is straight forward. There is a blob companion that morphs into many objects and you use them to solve the levels. The concept is good but the execution is really not all that good. While the game does keep you engaged at every turn with new blob mechanics, it quickly crushes the excitement with puzzles that never really give you an "a-ha" moment.

The game is a puzzle-platformer, or so it tries to be, but frustratingly unresponsive controls, amateurish level design and poor animation lets it down (right from the get go until the end, the game only makes it clear that it wasn't done by a professional studio. Even the animations look like they were just outsourced to an animator who didn't really know how to animate for videogames).

The platforming sections need good, well-timed jumps. Unfortunately, the clunky controls, unfriendly hit boxes and the way the boy moves like he has 10 tons of iron strapped to his shoulders make platforming a chore. This is especially mind-numbingly frustrating when you have to do this platforming/puzzle-solving all quickly during boss fights where the bosses don't give two hoots about how badly the boy's movements are animated, etc... This seriously is the worst part about the game. I clocked in 24 hours with the challenge levels. That would've been 10 hours less if the boss fights were designed properly. I spent sometimes more than an hour on a single boss simply because of rubbish controls, poor animations and just plain, bad level design.

Even in the normal levels, the levels are designed with only puzzles in mind and little to no attention is paid on making it aesthetically pleasing. You always feel like you're just moving from one puzzle to the next instead of actually traversing a world.

Where the game does shine is in its enemy design and blob mechanics. Every enemy has his own quirks which needs the blob's quirks. Unfortunately, these moments alone cannot hold up the entire game nice as they are.

At the end of the day, I still wouldn't recommend this game even if you're looking for diamonds in the rough. There is a good game somewhere in there, but it's buried under a lot of annoyances to make it worth the hassle.

Final verdict: A very unfortunate 6/10.

World of Goo is a masterpiece. The hallmarks of every puzzle game is innovation, a good learning curve and freshening things up every turn. World of Goo gleefully succeeds in all those departments and then some more. Also, this game is the kind of unique you will find nowhere else. I can explain the game mechanics but trying to sum that up would be doing the game a disservice. Also, it's VERY addictive. I bought this on full price and have no regrets. As old as the game is, there's just nothing like it. It's a must-play.

Final verdict: An easy 8/10.

Let me first get this out of the way. Binary Domain is an underrated game. It certainly doesn't deserve its low Metacritic rating. Unfortunately, though, it doesn't belong in the "good game" category either.

Binary Domain tries a lot of things, but succeeds in none of them. The storytelling is flat from the beginning and never really picks up until near the endgame. The shooting is fun at first, watching the way the robots crumble, but soon, it gets old because of how many times you face the same robots over and over again. The game never really lets up throwing these enemies at you. Also, there's always the same pattern with the way levels play out. Shooting gallery - big, mechanical noisy boss- shooting gallery - big, mechanical noisy boss- it just goes on and on with that same pattern. The weapons in the game are severely limited and all the characters pretty much play the same. There are RPG sort of upgrade elements in the game but they don't really excite. The protagonist is bland, uninteresting and can pass off for a can of meat and nothing else. For me, the biggest problem with the game was its pacing. It just doesn't let up with the action. It becomes mind-numbing when you can't breathe and all you do and hear is gunfire and explosions for 10 hours straight. And then, there's the level design. I'm yet to see blander level design in a shooter than Binary Domain. It's basically tight narrow corridors with uninteresting environments that all feel like it was bought at a 3D asset store. There was not ONE environment where I felt like I just wanted to pan the camera and look. That's how boring it is. Enemies just come at you wave after wave all game, all levels and all the time. And they only exist as padding till you get to the boss. It's like shooting through cheese for an hour till you get to a piece of meat for 10 minutes and then rinse and repeat. Also, the AI companions you have are right next to useless. They just run around like headless chickens randomly shooting here and there and barely figure in anything notable during combat.

All this said, where Binary Domain excels is in its boss battles. The mechanical, hulking bosses are all well-designed and fun to fight. Except that they don't vary too much in the way of variety because you basically don't fight even a single non-robot enemy. The story is just cliche about evil corporations, sentient robots, blah, blah, blah.

I picked up this game because I was looking into underrated games that flew under the radar. I was hoping Binary Domain might be something that was worth looking at in hindsight but it did little to convince me.

Bottom line: I can't recommend this game unless you're hellbent on going through a bucket list of underrated games. There are better games out there even in the "underrated" category. Check out the boss battles on YouTube and if you like it, then I would recommend a play-through. Otherwise, Binary Domain is just one of those random shooters that will fade away from your memory the minute you finish it.

Final verdict: Just about above average but not nearly good... An unfortunate 6/10.

Escape goat is a nice, unique puzzle game. You control a goat that needs to escape from a prison solving various platforming puzzles with the aid of a mouse companion. Most levels are logic based with a few execution based platforming bits in between. It's got a good learning curve but the level of difficulty can be uneven at times. It can give you some "a-ha" moments that keep you playing though there are some rooms which you can cheese by exploiting game mechanics. Looking forward to the second one.

Final verdict: 7/10.

P.S: Don't bother trying the post-game special dungeons unless you have some masochistic death wish or want to be sent to the insane asylum.

Sometimes, I just don't like Steam's binary recommend options. Because games like this need a bit more than a "yes" or "no". Since I thought it would be harsh to give a negative review, I'll leave a positive one. But that by no means tells an accurate story.

LostWinds is cute and charming. That's what made me buy this game. It was over in a few hours but boy, did the controls make this a pain to play. The wind mechanic with a mouse is nice at first but as it goes on, it just starts to feel really weird. You'll feel like it was never meant to be controlled by a mouse but only specifically for the Wii Remote. It gets particularly annoying when there are enemies, objects and the little boy on screen because the mouse/wind movement will affect all three. But if you are patient (I wasn't) and get a hang of the controls, you should be able to manage better.

Either way, there's a good game buried underneath the weird controls and the dated game design. The levels are charming but they leave much to be desired in terms of being memorable even by older standards. The game is pretty easy and should be a "breeze" (Hehe, see what I did there?). The graphics hold up well considering how old it is. Enemies are pretty much pointless and are only there to slow down progression of the levels. There's no enjoyment in fighting them, you'll mostly just push them out of the way and move forward.

Still, I think there are a lot of better games now and this really pales in comparison. If you're a fan of the cute aesthetic and a sucker for charm even if it's not much, then this game will please you. I like stuff like this. I will hand it to this game and say you won't find another one like it now.

This is a hard recommend but it's a recommend nonetheless. It manages to be just about above average and did enough for me to give the sequel a try.

Final verdict: 6.5/10.

Don't believe Metacritic. Don't believe the big voices. This is a little hidden gem that just flew under everyone's radar. I went into it skeptical after reading all the reviews. I was pleasantly surprised.

It's a decent puzzle game. It's not going to blow you away with its puzzles, they are pretty no-brainers. The gameplay can be janky and the graphics a bit repetitive with its level design. But underneath it lies one of those games that will stay with you long after you're done because of the story it tells and the way it tells it, especially towards the end of its short 4-hour playthrough.

The story is about a boy and a monster. I won't tell you more. However, though the plot is very predictable because the game gives it away in the start, the way it is told will keep you playing.

I don't know why it got such low scores everywhere. I'm guessing it's because of the numerous bugs at launch. They're all fixed here on the PC for the most part except a couple of ones where the either the boy or the monster got stuck in the geometry. Had to restart a checkpoint but that only happened a couple of times.

This game is a good reminder not to overtrust critic aggregate scores.

Play it. I recommend it and you don't really lose anything because it's barely an afternoon's length. If you like games as an art form like I do, this one will be up your alley.

Final verdict: 6/10.

Thomas Was Alone is a pretty unique, platforming/puzzle-driven, minimalist game. But despite the minimalism, it was still fun to play. The levels were pretty easy and puzzling/platforming was pretty simple to the point of even being overly obvious. It won't challenge you but there is definitely a good time to be had. The story is pretty interesting and you'd be surprised to hear a good story narrated with good voice-acting about a bunch of AI rectangles. There are 10 levels and 2 extra ones (most levels are well thought-out). Though it didn't take long to clear the game, I liked it.

Only few quips is that the controls were not tight enough especially on the Xbox One controller and the levels were a little erratic in their difficulty. The latter isn't much of an issue but the controls do get a little unresponsive especially when you're trying to platform or race against obstacles. This stands out more in the 2 extra levels where you're given a jet-pack that doesn't seem to have pressure sensitivity for its controls and this caused me to die more than I needed to navigating obstacles. There was also one level where there were restarts required when you make a mistake in the puzzle. Also, sometimes, the collision physics are wonky between jumps, and sometimes, obstacles like spikes kill you even if you didn't exactly touch them. Cycling between the rectangles is often in only one direction. These things are small but together, they give the game a unprofessional feel.

Still, I'd say the game is worth playing 'cause I had a good time and the positives far outweigh the negatives. I recommend this and supporting indie developers is something I like to do.

So, final verdict: 7/10.