Recent reviews by Quint the Alligator Snapper

This visual novel is one of three VNs in developer Pulltop's "coming of age" trilogy. As such, as you might expect (especially after seeing the store page), you'll be treated to a story about a boy and two girls, from the boy's perspective, with some romantic elements. This particular VN also features a few other things.

Most prominently, it basically also acts as half a tourism guide to visiting the real-life Ogasawara Islands, and specifically features multiple islands as settings for the story, depicted in richly detailed background art. (The cover art depicts the island of Minamijima, in case you were curious.) The VN also includes various facts about the islands that are relevant to the story. Furthermore, the characters go scuba diving, and one of them is a complete newbie to this, so you'll get to learn about scuba diving alongside her, too.

While these aspects may seem a little gratuitous, I've been enjoying them. On one hand they might detract a little from immersion, but on the other hand they fill in information that's actually useful to know for the story or otherwise interesting tidbits fleshing out the setting. It's a surprisingly educational experience, in a story set on a laid-back tropical island, with ample images of people in swimwear for your viewing pleasure. In the in-game gallery, you can review the geography facts that you've unlocked (though you'll have to remember the scuba diving tips yourself).

The music's also pretty nice; I'd say it does a decent job of bringing to life the story's atmosphere. This one track called "Open Water", which plays during certain important scenes, is especially gorgeously beautiful. If you like the music you can buy the soundtrack separately, but there's also a sound test in the VN itself. (Like the geography facts, the tracks are gradually unlocked as you play.)

The game has settings for a ton of things, including scrollback options, keyboard shortcuts, and even mouse gestures. And of course, volume settings, separately for sound effects, movies, and individual character voices. Everyone except the lead boy is voiced (in Japanese), and you can turn them up/down as you please.

I'm not yet done reading this VN, but so far I like it. I've heard that this VN has more than one route, but I haven't yet explored it thoroughly; I think I'm halfway through as of the writing of this review.

Edit: I've since finished reading this VN, including both endings. They're actually quite well done and I really enjoyed them. I'd just advise putting some time between reading the two endings so that you can keep their story paths more cleanly separate in your head; I think doing that enhances enjoyment.

The story seems well-written, and the English translation flows smoothly. The art is gorgeously crisp and detailed. I personally wish the two lead girls weren't drawn with what seem like somewhat oversized boobs, but if you're more into that than I am (and you can easily decide by looking at the store page screenshots), then I guess you'll appreciate it more than I did, but regardless, the art is quite polished, and the well-written characterization means that the characters don't merely serve as eye candy. Meanwhile, the interface style is decent, though the animations and scene changes occasionally lag a bit or otherwise display choppily. I'm running this game on a Win8.1 system with a 4th-gen i5 processor and integrated graphics, which should be more than enough. But, this issue really doesn't impact the VN much.

Edit: Running this now on a more recent Win10 system with an MX130 graphics card (one of the not-hugely-spectactular ones; this just came built-in), it does run smoothly now, albeit making the computer rather warm. For some reason this VN is rather processor-intensive. Not really sure why.

(Disclosure: I got this game for free when it was offered by the publisher to the group J-Indie Arcade, via Steam's Curator Connect feature.)

A whimsical, colorful two-button platformer, that is charming in its simplicity and gentle quirkiness. Not that easy, but not too hard either.

The story is pretty straightforward. It's about a crow, who manages a hotel. Run, jump, and shoot (and you can shoot upward), and find your way through the hotel. Meet a cast of quirky animal characters. Beat a few bosses along the way.

Unlockables:
* developer commentary
* a side story that's about as long as the main story, and sort of a prequel, and just as gently quirky

There are no-death and speedrun achievements for both modes, which are (naturally) more challenging than basic completion.

Keyboard controls use arrow keys for movement but can rebind jump and shoot to any letter keys.

Disclosure: I bought this game discounted on Steam.

If you've played Duke Nukem 1 for DOS, you'll recognize this game's interface instantly -- though this game is still a distinctly different experience, given the variety of weapons (compared to Duke's lone gun) as well as the ability to crouch (and to stomp on enemies, surprisingly).

If you haven't played DN1, you might still enjoy MURI anyway, since it's a pretty decent game.

The game is a 2D platformer, divided into four "episodes" of five levels each (like how DN1 was divided into three episodes of ten levels each), for a total of twenty levels. MURI levels are generally a little shorter than DN1 levels, and unlike DN1, you can always collect all the items and destroy all the enemies in every level -- the levels are designed so that you're guaranteed to able to backtrack through them to your heart's content. Furthermore, MURI even helpfully tells you when you've 100%'d the level! (No more worrying about miscellaneous secret bonuses! But there's a time bonus at the end of each level, based on how fast you got to the exit.)

On the other hand (also unlike DN1), you can't save after each level. The game was designed with an arcade-ish experience in mind, so plan to stay for five levels at a time. Thankfully, the levels are pretty short; I just clocked myself at 18 minutes to 100% all of episode 3 (and taking a number of wrong turns in the process).

The levels gradually get more difficult/complex as the game goes on, providing a difficulty curve, alongside the four difficulty settings. Each fifth level is a boss level. On the other levels, you may find collectibles that can help you get better weapons for the bosses, but they're not required to beat the game.

Also the game lets you choose between 16 ("authentic") and 32 ("smooth") for framerate. (I guess DN1's framerate was 16 fps?) It controls pretty much like what I'd expect of a DN1 homage, aside from the fact that you can jump higher, and a handful of things seem to be missing sound effects at times. (There is no music, except the title screen's simple theme.)

There's also a pretty dark sci-fi story to go along with this game. It's told through cutscenes, mostly between levels, but it takes a back seat to the action.

WARNING: there's a strange bug wherein this game starts the print spooler (splwow64.exe, on my system) but doesn't close it on game close. Steam may think you're still in-game after you've exited the game. To "officially" exit the game by Steam's standards, open up Task Manager and kill the splwow64.exe process. (Keep this in mind if you want to refund the game. Though, for me, this game cost less than US$1, and it's otherwise well-done enough that I can overlook this odd flaw.)

Disclosure: I bought this game discounted on Steam.

The game is a collection of stages and bosses from Azure Striker Gunvolt, Gal*Gun, and Mighty No. 9. You can beat the stages using any of the three protagonists -- Gunvolt, Ekoro, and Beck. And conveniently, there are three save slots!

There's not much plot (there's some intentional Engrish in short epilogues), and it's just nine stages, the last of which is just a boss fight. (It seems the four stages hidden by the warp were DLC stages in a previous version of the game, but are included with the base game here.) Different characters have different abilities -- such as hovering or dashing -- which may let them access parts of a stage that the others cannot, and may change the difficulty that the player experiences in a given stage, but all three characters can beat all the stages. The game saves your best scores and such.

In the absence of more stages, or more plot, it does feel kinda like a disconnected set of levels, particularly if you haven't played any of the games that this game references. If you have, you'll probably appreciate the shout-outs.

The controls are solid and responsive, playing kinda like Mega Man run-and-jump-and-shoot but with other abilities. (The Mega Man influence is obvious, of course, though there are no master weapons nor castle stages.)

The game seems to have keyboard and gamepad as control options. Keyboard controls provide a choice of WASD or arrow keys for movement, and JK/KL/ZX/XC/space+enter for action buttons, though I don't think they can be rebinded. (See manual for controls details.)

The music is solid, quality chiptune work, resembling the best of NES offerings. Some of the music is remixed from the music of the referenced game (e.g. "Doki-Doki School Days" from Gal*Gun Double Peace).

If you're reasonably good at Mega Man style platformer gameplay (including stuff like learning boss patterns), all the achievements will be pretty easily obtainable. There's not that many either, so you can perfect this game in short order if you're an achievement hunter.

This game probably won't sweep you off your feet, but it is certainly enjoyable if you're into this sort of platforming action, particularly if you're okay with it basically having no plot, or if you just enjoy NES-style chiptunes. I certainly do, and I like this game.

Disclosure: I received this game as a perk for having backed the Mighty No. 9 kickstarter campaign.

This split-level metroidvania is an archaeological adventure, but rather than resembling La-Mulana it's more akin to Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia (albeit shorter). Also, it's a distant sequel to the developer's freeware game Return of Egypt.

Gameplay features:
* split-level metroidvania design allows the player to freely revisit completed stages to get stuff that was out of reach before
* This particular version, Pharaoh Rebirth +, includes a bonus stage with extra plot, and a boss rush.
* Keys are rebindable in the launcher. You can also use a gamepad with this, it seems (I haven't tried this because I don't have a gamepad though). I found the controls to be tight, intuitive, and responsive.
* a variety of subweapons (including a particularly special one that gives you a different main weapon... :D)
* a handful of consumable items (nonreplenishable though, so I never used them, haha. Thankfully the game doesn't autosave, so you can reload your save if you've used one by accident.)
* a large number of collectible items -- most of which offer minor increases to stats (and some of which have rather amusing descriptions)
* required and optional abilities, with the latter offering more secrets to find and easier ways around some obstacles
* You can refight bosses as much as you like. You get to decide when you want to re-fight those bosses or pass through their arenas harmlessly. And like Ecclesia, there are prizes for beating some of the bosses without taking damage.
* a quick-exit feature that retains the items you found (you'll have to save you game separately to make them permanent on your file though)
* Some gameplay features from Return of Egypt may be familiar if you've played that game.
- one missable item, obtainable in the first chapter of the game
- (somewhat of) an autoscroller stage, which looks spectacular though can be frustrating. Thankfully, continues are infinite and there are checkpoints.
- only one save slot?

A basic completion of the game is reasonably easy, which in combination with the variety of gameplay features means you can apply your choice of challenge conditions to increase difficulty (alongside the difficulty selector). Meanwhile, getting 100% completion is a lot tougher, and will require you to scour nooks and crannies for secrets (conveniently, the holy ash subweapon also reveals hidden passages) and also complete some challenges.

The story is quite entertaining, starring a spunky (albeit somewhat dimwitted) adventure archaeologist with a rabbit-form curse, a rival treasure-hunter (with his own animal curse too), engaging in a variety of exciting adventures. There's a pretty generous amount of dialogue (so don't expect blank-slate characters), some of which are rather amusing reactions to stuff you do. Expect some sass in the script.

The music is quite entertaining as well. It isn't just generic "sounds Egyptian/Middle-Eastern" stuff; the pieces actually sound distinct and fitting for their usage. And those of you who've played Return of Egypt will appreciate some familiar tunes, now in a higher-quality remastered form.

All in all, I've quite enjoyed my experience diving into fantasy Egyptology as a (literal) bunny-ears adventure archaeologist.

(Disclosure: I bought this game discounted on Steam.)

This is the second pack that adds new cards to the game, and like the first (and any others that may arise in the future), definitely a very important DLC to pick up -- as with the first card pack, I'd argue it's more important than the character packs, because it allows going into greater depth in the strategy aspects of the game.

I'm not sure there's much more to say, unless I go into detail about the cards, but feel free to ask me about them in the comments.

Disclosure: I bought this DLC discounted on Steam.

This is the first pack that adds new cards to the game, and like the other (and any others that may arise in the future), definitely a very important one to pick up -- if anything I'd argue it's more important than the character packs, because it allows going into greater depth in the strategy aspects of the game.

I'm not sure there's much more to say, unless I go into detail about the cards, but feel free to ask me about them in the comments.

Disclosure: I bought this DLC discounted on Steam.

Quick and enjoyable. Just a scene where you get to explore an island. The info screen has "recordables" for when you pass by each of the strange inhabitants of the island.

Eat the foods you find for amusing dialogue. The English translation could use some grammar cleanup but it's clear enough.

By the way, you can move around in the info screen to. Use that to check out the entire info screen.

Use mouse to move the characters faster than with arrow keys/WASD/numpad. Dunno why I can't find a run button on the keyboard (in order to move as fast as with mouse). The game will auto-path for you if you click with the mouse, though it can sometimes be a little silly about it.

Not the most interesting thing because it's so short, but it's kinda fun, and it's free. Nice pixel art, nice sense of the seabreeze with some guitar music, neat time-of-day effect, quirkily cute.

Disclosure: I got this game for free on Steam. You can too!

Bite-sized Pokémon-like JRPG starring characters from other Orange Juice games (i.e. Suguri, Sora, Flying Red Barrel, QP Shooting, 100% Orange Juice, etc.), with turn-based battles with teams of up to 3, an amusing excuse plot, a fun 8-bit chiptune soundtrack, an extensive but not too long single-player campaign, and multiplayer (with level limit options if you so choose). And there's a twist in what you can do with the characters!

Like Pokémon, you'll be collecting characters and using their abilities to battle. Characters have three types in a rock-paper-scissors scheme, and each character has generally two or three attacks which may be of any of these three types (there is no same-type attack bonus), and maybe a support/debuff move. Differs from Pokémon in that speed is determined by attack type -- so dual KOs are actually very common, and the strategies to consider are quite different. (Specifically, the fastest-acting type tends to be least accurate and relatively weak, while the strongest type is the slowest.) There's really a surprising amount of strategic depth in this game.

The battles are very quick compared to pokémon battles, partly because there are fewer units, and partly because attacks deal pretty significant amounts of damage compared to the size of HP pools. This makes the game great for quick play, and even mindless grinding when you're doing something else like listening to a podcast.

You get new characters by drawing from an in-game gacha machine, using in-game currency. Thankfully, no real-world money is involved! Also you get to sell back your unwanted cards to get some money back, and besides, the probabilities are actually not that bad, particularly considering that you'll probably end up with piles of stars to blow on the gacha. It may take some time to get those last few characters in the postgame, though, just because you need really specific draws.

The game can require a little grinding, particularly in the lategame, to make it past some bosses, because you start to need more strategy. If you're just fighting everything without much strategy, as I first did, you may find your progress increasingly rough. But once you start paying attention to strategy, you'll have an easier time -- though you may need to level up characters you hadn't used much. Grinding is actually pretty quick -- in the endgame, the mook opponents are around level 20, and most mook battles will give you enough XP to make level 1 characters jump several levels, and even level 12-20 characters will tend to gain levels about once every one or two battles (depending on which battles you pick).

I won't spoil the big twist, but...hmm, I wonder if you can make pigs fly by mixing pigs with pilots...?

Disclosure: I was given the game as a gift, via the Humble Store, from a friend, in return for me previously doing a favor for them.

I wanna give this game a neutral rating (rather than positive or negative) but as of the time of writing this review, it's forcing me to give an up/down recommendation.

Anyhow, TL;DR: this game would be a lot more fun if it weren't for its overdone horizontal momentum effects.

EDIT: I've gotten to what I think is the last world of the game (world 6) and 6-1 has other forms of punishing difficulty. I enjoyed the earlier levels, thanks to their whimsical atmosphere, but the game doesn't feel fun anymore.

Basically, this is a platformer wherein every level you get to take powerups from enemies based on the abilities they use, and use them to your advantage. This includes attack abilities (e.g. a fireball), movement abilities (e.g. jump higher and fall slowly), and accessory abilities (e.g. a light, for dark places). You can have up to two of these powerups with one active at any time.

This is a really neat idea, honestly. Trying out the different abilities, and playing through the levels using them, is actually a lot of fun. Or it would be...

...if not for the fact that its implementation leaves something to be desired:

• Horizontal momentum effects make the movement feel less responsive than I'd like it to be. This goes doubly so in the ice area, of course, but even outside it, I don't feel I have a very precise control of Tobari's positioning. (I wanna call the movement "floaty", but honestly, the jump being floaty is not the problem, it's the horizontal momentum.)
  
• The difficulty isn't entertaining; it's just frustrating and tedious. With just 3 hit points, the player is afforded only two mistakes before being forced to repeat a level or section thereof, and these aren't just quick one-screen affairs of the sort that you might find in Meat Boy or other games reputed for their difficulty. These can be complex things that take a whole minute or two to get through. In some levels you can expand your HP pool to 6, but this gets reset when the level is over.
  
• Actually, you lose all the magic medals you picked up, at the end of every stage. They just get turned into a miniature slot-machine-like prize pool, where you can get one-ups or extra coins for example, but that's not as useful. This by itself wouldn't be a problem, except...
  
• Not having the right spell can mean a turning a mildly annoying situation into an extremely frustrating one. The boss of stage 4-7 is an example: You can steal a few abilities from her, but none of them are particularly useful, with the best one being throwing rocks in a parabolic path starting at a horizontal speed that varies with your own momentum, and needless to say it's rather awkward to use. One of the best abilities to use against her is the ground-hugging spark, but that requires getting it in the beginning of the level and then not dying in either the tedious second section of the level or the hectic autoscroller third section (both of which have instant death pits) -- both of which have checkpoints before them, as does the boss. If you happen to take any of those checkpoints, this means you might start off with far worse abilities, or even none at all, going into the bossfight. So ironically you might be better off NOT using the checkpoints.

This one stage was horribly annoying, but other stages also have similar annoyances, albeit to lesser degrees.

Aside from these criticisms, I have no others. The game runs smoothly without bugs, the controls are decent and reconfigurable, the music is generally pleasant (though not necessarily particularly memorable), the graphics are clear, and the script/story makes sense and uses proper grammar, and so on.

If the gameplay weren't so frustrating, I would love to explore the stages for the alternate exits. But it's just that after playing it I feel burnt out on the gameplay, particularly the movement. If the movement weren't as annoying, trying out the spells and playing with them would be so much more fun.

(Disclosure: I bought this game discounted on Steam.)