Recent reviews by Mawral

Restored my faith in indie games.

Art setpieces, sound design and soundtrack (both vocal and non vocal) are consistently solid. The imperialist Bird enemies are stylized to be zany and uncomfortable in the best possible way, and the level design really compliments how you go about mowing through them. The setting and gameplay are both familiar yet distinct, and the writing manages to be sincere, entertaining and grounded all at once. I'd been waiting for another action trials-like game for years, and received a lot more than I asked for.

My biggest gripe was with visibility. A lot of foreground objects and smoke clouds obscure the player during vital moments, which is a big deal when landing the wrong way up means instant death. Many of the bosses are sharp difficulty spikes, and each 'dungeon' makes use of a unique mechanic which unfortunately don't get much use outside of them. Together, they make me wish that more of the later levels took advantage of the difficulty it had established. And while there's a lot to like about the story and setting, there's two particular scenes where the cartoony animal cast really clashes with the gritty human subject matters it's trying to tackle. I can still appreciate it for daring to be different in so many aspects.

Play the demo. You'll know instantly if it's a game you'll want to invest in.

I enjoyed it. The little allegories tied to the puzzles are a nice touch. Other reviews mention stumbling around for many of the solutions, but I didn't experience this until the last few levels.

A fairly fun, if reset-heavy, fighting game. Netcode just works. The art style isn't for everyone, but the meticulous moveset design of the characters (pre-Annie of course) grabbed my attention for a while.

Condolences to the fans. I'd hate for this to happen to a game I'm personally invested in.

A really competent 'puzzle-metroidvania', and some of the most impressive mechanical design I've seen. Only real drawback is that many of the later puzzles involve a lot of waiting in order to solve them. Recommended if you don't mind a puzzle game with a steady pace.

A stellar game with a very niche appeal. A high-fantasy 3v3 basketball visual novel isn't something I expected to exist, but Supergiant's excellent art, characters and dynamically-changing music (lyrics included) grants an experience that no other title compares to.

I can't recommend this to anyone strictly wanting a similar experience to Bastion/Transistor/Hades, or those uninterested in a lot of reading and exposition between gameplay. Otherwise I suggest giving it a shot.

Disclaimer: I backed this on Kickstarter.

As someone who hasn't had the chance to play the physical version of the game, BCO has just about everything I hoped for. The card pair mechanic simply works, and although the fundamentals of the game are rock-paper-scissors-esque, the number of creative ways you can counter an opponent's hand is pretty incredible in its own right.

As a downside (for me), the game's visual presentation is very faithful to the physical game. If you're a fan of traditional fighting games, you won't find any flashy supers or expressive animations, just moving card cut-outs that bounce across the board. Otherwise, the interface is clear and doesn't get in the way of the excellent card game underneath.

Despite that, the roster contains some of my favorite characters in videogames to date, with good still art, mostly-good music themes and highly talented voiceovers to match. The game not only does a great job at giving each character their own unique tools and quirks; each one also has a clearly-defined set of weaknesses, which perfectly fits both the character's archetype and their personality. I can't name another head-to-head game which ties theme and mechanics as well as BattleCon does, and I can't praise it enough for this reason.

It's free. Give it a try. At the time of writing, there's a few free character codes on the internet if you search for them.

A unique physics-based platformer with a stellar 40s setting and atmosphere, let down by its lackluster combat and flat storytelling. Recommended if you enjoy the game's visual appeal as much as I did.

the levels in Steel Rats are simply fun to drive around in. The buzzsaws have a really visceral sound and feel as you tear through pipes and jump from wall to wall. The game's setpieces and stages are pretty varied in the challenges they offer. The bikes could be considered 'floaty' at first, but start to feel natural within the first hour of play. the puzzle elements progress well, the difficulty curve is just about right (save for one section on the Rooftops level), and the majority of the platforming gets a pass.

Sadly, I think the game's combat aspects fall flat, and is the main reason I can't recommend the game for most. A lot of the visual and visceral polish that you'd expect from a combat-focused game just isn't there, in contrast to the great feedback that driving around gives you. Ripping through an enemy with a buzzsaw on a motorbike should be the coolest thing ever, but... 50 seconds into the Launch Trailer? That's exactly how it is for the entire game, and I'm surprised the developers saw no issue with it.

The enemies have great visual designs, but all of the larger enemies (other than Screamers) are a slog to deal with, and the bosses and minibosses are the most unenjoyable parts of the game. The four characters' special abilities don't have any standout differences, synergies or interactions with said enemies, largely due to the lack of feedback from using them. The gun pickups in the game's various levels also lack anything interesting about them, but they're the easiest way to take out most smaller enemies in your path. They feel more like a 'quick-fix' for the combat than anything else, but they do succeed at making the combat more passable.

The world design is fantastic, the cutscenes really well-drawn, but its story doesn't do it much justice. From the antagonists to the main characters to the stakes in play, everything is so cliche and surface-level that it feels like wasted potential. The timeline and events are there, and the level structure does a good job of conveying this, but nothing meaningful ever comes from it, and none of the questions I had were answered by the end. Luckily it's still enjoyable enough to breeze through.

Graphically impressive, particularly for its price, and some of the better sound design I've encountered (despite the issues mentioned above). No slowdowns experienced on a GTX 770. 6-8 hour campaign. No gamepad remapping - L3 and R3 buttons are required. No major glitches, but a handful of minor ones (some wonky physics moments and rare soft-locks) at the time of playing. All in all, a game I really wanted to love.

Game cleared with all secret collectibles obtained. Game key received via a promotional raffle.

Easily one of my favorite games, and deserving of my first review. Well-designed levels, fluid controls, incredible weapon feedback, and the game oozes with visceral polish everywhere you look.

The campaign took me around 6 hours as promised, granted I tend to take my time with them. The setpieces and challenges were imaginative and frantic throughout. A story is there, though thankfully it isn't the focus; I enjoyed some of the characters' comradery towards the second half, but a lot of the pop-culture references admittedly went right over me. I played on hard difficulty (originally 'normal' difficulty when the game released), and didn't encounter any moments that felt too unfair. A couple sections in particular took me a good half-hour each, but after a second playthrough (on the updated hard-mode), I think both of those areas have been adjusted to fit the difficulty curve better.

If I had to name it's biggest flaw, it's that the game struggles to stand out in areas beyond its core gameplay elements. While the environments are pretty, and the gameplay setpieces are great, the visual setpieces aren't especially interesting to look at -- well-drawn backgrounds and vague machinery all about, but no strong aesthetic that draws interest to it all. The spider-mech you spend the whole game looking at isn't the most appealing thing either, although it sounds great and gets the job done. For all the fun that this game's bosses were, they were also incredibly plain-looking -- one of them is aptly named "Mega Smashbot", to give you some idea.

RIVE includes three survival modes, gutted from the most intense 'arena' sections of the campaign, and the latter two are great for the adrenaline factor. The 'Challenges' feel a little more tacked on, with a couple that feel outright daunting to score above a Bronze award for -- hell for achievement hunters, but welcome as extra content. Its soundtrack suits its levels perfectly, and changes dynamically as you progress through; this along with its sfx is almost flawless, and it made several sections of the game far more tense and impactful as a result. But in line with the issue mentioned above, very few of them are songs with interesting melodies, and I didn't find them as great to listen to outside of the game. It's an old-fashioned way of doing things, but it didn't take away my appreciation of the title as a whole.

All in all, RIVE is a swan-song title that delivers hard-as-nails explosive gameplay in spades. It feels old-school, not just old-school-inspired. I bought it on release day, and felt it was worth the purchase. I recommend this game to anyone looking for a solid challenge, and those with a passing interest in twin-stick shooters should certainly take a look.