Recent reviews by rowtechshio

pie :)

woohoo

Absolutely worth the time. Short, sweet, interesting narrative but not so complex it makes you feel stupid. Satisfying movement, great gunplay, awesome level design. If you're unsure, the main story does not take that long to complete. It focuses on replayability over jamming as many levels in as it can.

I am absolutely in love with this game. TLDR: gameplay is the best in years, absolutely addicting, but the outside-of-game features are lacking, such as playlists and customization/progression.

I think it's important I point out that I hold no nostalgic tie to the Halo franchise. I played 4 around when it came out and didn't play any others until this recent summer when I played through the Chief Saga on the MCC. I hear both sides often: that the game plays like Reach but better, and that the game sucks because it isn't as good as Reach.

My personal opinion of it, though, is that despite its current problems with progression and customization, the gameplay is so engaging that I completely forget about its problems. The gameplay is smooth, tactile, and kickass. Kills feel so satisfying. The weapons are all deeply complex and crisp. The maps (besides Launch Site) are phenomenal. The equipment, grapple hooks and repulsors, are game changers. If it tells you anything, I'm jaded, and solely play FPS games these days for the grind, as I find it rewarding, but with this, I completely forget about progression and just have a ton of fun in every match. That's a feeling I haven't had since I was in high school playing Black Ops 2 with my buddies. And the fact that I'm having this much fun in a BETA with it's own problems should tell you how much fun the game is.

Being said, the game has its bugs and problems that new players or returning Halo fans should know about. It crashes every 10 or so matches for me. There isn't nearly as much content as previous Halo games at launch, so I'm told. The customization is pretty trash, since, rather than customizing one spartan, all your unlocks are split into three different armor "cores", where pieces can only be equipped on that "core", so you only really have access to a third of an already small pool of armor pieces, at one time. This problem is only compounded by the fact that the progression is EGREGIOUSLY slow and unfulfilling, one of the worst levelling systems I've seen in years. I have faith that 343 will turn this around, though. They've already made some small changes and plan to change more in the future. Also, all of the three or four gamemodes are pooled into one playlist, so you can't pick and choose what you want to play. I'm assuming this is for beta testing purposes.

All in all, it's free. That doesn't excuse its problems, but do give it a try, I think you'll find the gameplay worth it. If there was a button to write a "middling" review I'd do that, because the problems listed above are certainly valid, but since I'm given two options, I'd positively recommend rather than not.

This game slaps me across the face and calls me a ♥♥♥♥♥, and yet I continue to come back to it, like a dog to its own vomit. Great experience.

This is one of THE best movement shooters to date. The movement system alone is a game in and of itself. Highly, HIGHLY recommend

VirtuaVerse flew under my personal radar until release. I only learned about it from the twitter buzz it generated at launch. It was receiving glowing reviews from the gaming community, from Cyberpunk enthusiasts especially. As an enthusiast myself, I decided to give it a try. And I absolutely loved it.

I'll start out by noting the most important aspect of the writing. This game was obviously written by those with a passion for computing and it shows, blending modern tech enthusiast themes with a future, dystopian atmosphere. These guys know what they're about. If you're passionate about cyber-security, the future of virtual reality, and retro hacking, you're going to love the references and themes in VirtuaVerse.
Secondly, I absolutely love Master Boot Record's soundtrack. It's almost like he was meant to write the music for this game. Makes for good casual listening outside of the game.
Thirdly, the art is amazing! It pushes pixel art past what you normally see in games like this. The pixel art rivals Hyper Light Drifter and The Last Night (unreleased).

I only had one gripe with the game, and it stemmed from me just needing to git gud, but the path forward to progressing further in the story was muddled in tiny details and things you'd have to have a very, very keen eye for, and some ingenuity to solve. I am neither a detailed oriented person, nor good at puzzles, so I am chalking this up to a personal opinion rather than a critique, as I'm sure there are a lot of players who will enjoy the hunt, but I had to spend the last half of the game with a walkthrough up on my second monitor to get to the end. I did not feel that this was a significant drawback, as the story was so interesting that I didn't mind missing out on the puzzle-solving.

Absolutely pick this game up if you're looking for a good story, love cyberpunk, or love point-and-click adventures.

9 fidgety trucks/10

Would recommend this game. Short playtime, but I found it to be replayable with all the combinations of abilities. It feels like a 3d Super Meat Boy, in a way. A lot of community maps to try, and a robust editor reminiscent of Beseige. Has the ability to create levels on par with the incldued ones. Overall fun experience, and can be for anyone looking for a challenge as well (decent cheeves).

I have only 2 complaints.

1) Truck are fidgety, and sometimes they will jump a little to the left or right, which a lot of times screws up a well-timed jumps and dumps you onto the floor. Could do without the random pops here and there on flat maps.

2) The boss battle is uneccesarily hard. Half of my playtime was spent trying to finish this level. Touching the walls of the boss should not count as a level failed, as the hitboxes for the walls stick out in random places.

Oh, and let's not forget this games intriguing plotline. The ending will definitely have you in tears.

Boy oh boy...

*Note: for all those that look and see that I only have 3.5 hours into the game, let me say that this is a short story game, not some massive JRPG that takes years to beat. 3 or 4 hours is PLENTY to finish the storyline*

I couldn't recommend this game enough. It was a huge success in storytelling, with story twists every and a large variety of emotions conveyed. There were no loose ends or unexplained mysteries that were not solved in the end (except for one deliberate cliffhanger after the credits). The world was immersive and made sense. Every character had a set backstory and had much to be learned about. On top of all this, the soundtrack is absolutely immersive, one of the best since...well...ever. Up until now the Halo franchise has held this spot.
Of course, I'm not just some fanboy ranting on all the positives. For one, the gameplay was a bit repetitive for about 3 quarters of the game (it livened some towards the end) but this was most likely to put more focus on the narrative. Still, would've been nice to see deeper interaction. The scenery was lovely, but apparently small tufts of grass or flowers are just as tall as a lighthouse because I could walk through neither, which got very frustrating seeing how the landscape was littered with flowers. Turned into a maze wherever I walked. And with all RPGs, the movement was a bit sticky, being based off of a grid-like moving system.
But for a game like this, I could almost call it a work of art. For those looking for a relatively quick sit-down and want a deep story experience, this is your game.
I rate 10/10 moons.