Mr Shifty - Review

I have been slowly working through my 2017 games list, I only had two PC titles left; Mr. Shifty & Deadbolt ( the same studio that gave us Risk of Rain).   I was reminded of it recently as I saw a trailer advertising it coming out on Nintendo Switch.  Mr. Shifty has been heavily compared to Hotline Miami,  there are similarities but they are both I feel vastly different games.  I felt like spending some money the other evening so I purchased it on Steam.


Any fans of duck in the house?  I love duck, my favorite way to have it is with pancakes, cucumber, spring onions & hoisin sauce.  It works well as a snack or a main course (that is if you order at least half a duck),  you have tasty meat, a little salad & sweet hoisin sauce which compliments it all perfectly, all wrapped in a tiny pancake.  I have been unlucky on occasion & had a poor quality one where the meat is too fatty, the sauce is way too sweet & salad is almost dead.  Playing Mr. Shifty I found myself asking was I enjoying a succulent tasty snack or a cheap imitation?

The story for the game is cheesy but fun, you play as Mr. Shifty, can you guess what his power is?  He can shift from one area to another, fast!   Think of Marvel's Nightcrawler & they are pretty much the same, except he doesn't have a tail.  The voice in your ear is Nyx,  she is usually telling you how screwed you are or...wait no it's usually just that along with the occasional wisecrack.

Mr. Shifty's mission is to find a stolen plutonium core located in the most secure building in the world, Olympus Tower.   The villain in our story is Chairman Stone, a one-eyed madman who is also a billionaire (which are the worst kind of madman).  The story is a little James Bond & a little cliche but it works well.

I love the visuals in the game, they are that comic book cell shading art style which works really well.  I feel by doing this developer helped the game appeal to all ages, unlike Hotline Miami that has a much darker look more adult theme (just so you know I really liked that game, both of them).  While the layout of the early levels look very similar this changes quickly forcing you to adapt to new more powerful enemies & some challenging traps (frickin' laser beams).  The later levels in the game reminded me of the final level in Streets of Rage, long corridors & having to face off against every enemy you had taken on up to this point.  While you never see Mr. Shifty's face I really liked his vibrant outfit & the attention to detail with his jacket that actually moves rather than just being stuck to him.  

The music has a nice rock sound that works so well with the gameplay.  The composer for the music is Ack Kinmonth who is from Australia & mostly know for his work on films & TV series, his works include; Tender, Limbo, Texas Rising: The Lost Soldier, Sesame Street:  The Farm Animals Song & he also did the music for the mobile game Land Sliders.

The score is the shortest I have ever heard in game at just over fifteen minutes, but when it sounds this good it doesn't matter.  The music is at the core of the game & I feel it would have turned out be a vastly different had they chosen a different musical direction.  I loved all the tracks & even downloaded the soundtrack from Steam.

Onto the tender succulent meat that is the gameplay.  In short it is fast, high octane, adrenaline fueled fun (no I am not talking about the Fast & The Furious films).  The game has you playing from a top-down view which for this style of game works really well.

The combat can be challenging & shifting at the wrong time or using your ability too many times in quick succession can leave you riddled with bullets (of course in this game you only need one to kill you).  If you kill enough people you can charge your adrenaline gauge which gives you a few moments of slow-mo which is useful if you are close to catching a bullet, as all know slow-mo is never not a good thing.

Your two main weapons in the game are your shifting ability, which you can use to get bad guys to kill each other by timing things right & your powerful fists.   Have you ever wondered what it would be like to punch someone through a window out of a high rise building?  Well I am no longer curious, it was all I expected to be & more.  There are items in the game you can pick, for example tridents which can be used to pin enemies to the wall.  My favorite item has to be the mine, arm it by getting close to it, pick it up, shift to an enemy stick it on them & shift again,  I had so much fun making people explode it should almost be illegal.

While the game can be challenging I never found it to be unreasonable, the game allows use to get used to the basics & then ramps it up from there.  In terms of replay value I feel it is not only a great game to blow off steam but the speed run challenge certainly gives me a reason to try it again.  Overall great gameplay with no issues.

After just over 5 hours, how did I feel?  Joy, that may sound sarcastic so try to imagine Stimpy from Ren & Stimpy saying it.  I really loved the game & could not flaw it, I really enjoyed every part of it.  If Team Shifty made a sequel I would be really happy even if it was pretty much more of the same.  While I have played many great games this year, big budget & low budget, big worlds & small ones it is the first game this year I am giving the score of 5 out of 5

Not A Hero - Review

Last year UK based games company Roll7 released Not A Hero, the trailer blew me away & I was really eager to play it.  It was initially going to be released on PC, Playstation 4 & PS Vita, watching the gameplay I thought it would be really good as a handheld game but alas they cancelled it due '...technical hurdles..'.  It was only recently I remembered the game again & thought screw it, I will give it a go on PC.

There are many, many foods that I like, some of them are even good for me.  One thing I really like is cheese & crackers.  It is a great snack, simple, tasty & almost zero prep time needed.  If I had to pick my favorite cheese I would have to say...brie, probably because it spreads easily & tastes nice & rich.  Playing Not A Hero I found myself asking was I enjoyed a tasty, rich, snack or was I just eating Dairylea?

The story is...well...it's a little unusual but hell that is half the appeal.  Steve, an assassin turned campaign manager needs to help Bunnylord become the next Mayor.  Who is Bunnylord you ask, he in anthropomorphic purple rabbit from the future here to rid the world of crime.  It is a large undertaking but don't worry you have others people to help you including; Steve, Cletus, Samantha, Jesus, Mike, Stanley, Clive, Ronald Justice & Kimmy.

After a quick tutorial Steve & Bunnylord go for an average breakfast an Aunt Ruby's (who is a big supporter of Bunnylord's).  The story is ridiculous, fun & never takes itself seriously which I really liked.  One thing is for sure, the story is certainly original.

The game goes for a 2D pixelated art style which is really fun.  There are three districts in the game; Vodkaville, Bredrin Park & Sushi Central each with their own distinct look.  My favorite places in the game were; Bunnylords Fun Club, Aunt Ruby's Cafe & Roof Gardens in Sushi Central.  Bunnylords Fun Club is where all the characters you have unlocked hangout & relax (see above).  A cafe might not sound like the most visually interesting place but Aunt Ruby's place really is, after a mission has ended this where you & Bunnylord go for a little R & R, this is also when Bunnylord says the funniest  & weirdest things.  The roof gardens has that classic showdown look, the architecture has a nice Asian feel especially with the cherry blossoms.

The music used in the game has a very electronic sound & while it clearly has a modern sound it did reminded me of some of the older games I used to play (& still to do).   The score is made up of various artists that don't lend themselves to any one genre but instead create their own which is a cross between, electronic, chip tune & synthwave:

Dubmood is from Sweden & his albums include; Badlands, Lost Floppies Volume 2 & Chip tune 7.

Giant Big Circles (Jimmy Hinson) is from the US & has made contributions to video games scores along with producing his own albums, his works include; Mass Effect 2, Borderlands 2, The Glory Days & Impostor Nostalgia.

Zabutom is from Sweden & his albums include; Zeta Force, Lost Tapes 1 & Bad Television.

Sulumi is a solo artist from Japan & his albums include; Air Inhibition of Water, The Heaven, & Unconsciousness. 

Infinity Shred are from the US, the trio is composed of; Damon Hardjowirogo, Nathan Ritholz, George Stroud, Clara Warnaar.  Their albums include; Future Towards The Edge of Tomorrow, Even Further & Sanctuary.

Kubbi is from Norway & his albums include;  Circuithead, Ember & Transmittance.

Zircon (Andrew Aversa) is another solo artist who has worked on video game music along with his own projects, his works include; Mass Media Constant, Return All Robots, Unearthed & the video game soundtrack for Globulous.

Snild Dolkow has no albums but instead a collection of work that mainly focuses on chip tune, some of pieces include; Coding Blind, From Pixels Born, Radioactive Crypto Attack & Red-Black Trees.

There were two other artists featured, Corvox & Facteau but I was unable to find any information about them.  Almost all the artists feature on the website Bandcamp if you are curious to hear any of their work.

The soundtrack runs at little over ninety minutes & as a whole is a pretty good with only a few tracks that just seemed to go on a little too long.  My favorite pieces included; 'Bunnyman' 'Vindicate Me'

'Attack Vector', 'Psychic Youth', 'Cydonian Sky', 'Kepler's Star Catalog', 'Thrashers', 'Toaster' 'Easy Mode' & 'Colossus'.

Onto the meat!  I will start by saying the gameplay is a lot of fun, the controls may be simple but that does not mean it's easy.  You need to constantly slide, shoot, duck into cover & reload to stay alive.  There is no specific difficulty setting but trying to complete all objectives will certainly increase the toughness level.  There are four grades you can achieve per mission; Mayor, Prime Minster, King Of Britain & Global Megalord.

There are many powers to collect including; Fatboy & Drill ammunition & the Exploding Kitten.  Each character you choose has their own unique skills & weapons, my favorites were; Steve, Jesus & Clive.  Steve is a geezer & is pretty nifty along with being fairly accurate when firing.  Jesus is a Spanish ladies man who is constantly thrusting his hips & uses a machine gun, the reason I liked him was that when he is killed he raises a cocktail glass similar Jordan Belfort (Leonardo DiCaprio) in Wolf of Wall Street.  Clive is a cross between Hitman & James Bond, suave, bad ass, accurate & is able to dual wield. 

While the combat is good & the cover system works really well something that frustrated me was the number of times the game crashed.  In the time I was playing it had to have crashed about 10 times which I thought was a lot especially for this style of game.  But with the exception of this the gameplay was solid.

After eight hours was it Dairylea or Brie?  Well for the most part it was Brie, I wished the game was a little a longer & it had not crashed as many times but apart from that I was happy.  I know that in the future I am likely to play the game again just to see if I can help Bunnylord become Global Megalord.  I feel pretty lucky to play another good game, I am happy to give this one 4 out of 5

The Flame In The Flood - Review

One of the many games on the list I was looking to play this year was The Flame In The Flood by Molasses Flood,  I have always liked the idea of survival games but haven't really played many of them.  It had an interesting look & for little more than €10 I thought why not?


For me I think soup is one of those really underrated foods, it's warm, wholesome & healthy.  I won't lie I can be a little picky with the soup I like, some I find are a little bland & others just have too much going on.  I would say Minestrone is probably my favorite, I like the tomato base, chunky vegetables & pasta.  I usually add a little hot sauce to it & have a toasted sandwich or some soda bread with it - perfect.  Playing The Flame In The Flood I found myself asking was this something nice, warm & wholesome, something bland or just something overly complicated?

There is not an overabundance of story in The Flame In The Flood, normally I would say this is a bad thing but in a game like this it doesn't matter.  The journey is the most important aspect & in that way you create your own story.  You play as a young girl called Scout who is trying to survive in what is left of the world, your only companion is a dog called Aesop.


The game starts you in Camp Pinewood which helps provide you with a handful of supplies & some basics to playing the game before embarking on your journey into the world.  Despite the fact you meet very few people on your travels, all of whom are a little crazy or feral you never really feel alone.  The game is very heartfelt & I really liked the ending to the campaign.   The game having little story is one of it's real charms as I feel it helps not distract you from the most important part of the game - surviving.

The art style used in The Flame In The Flood feels very down beat & bleak which for an end of the world survival style game works well.   The only rays of hopefulness is when you see rabbits playing around or when you are travelling down the estuary with the sun shining.  I must admit I did not really like the human character designs, looking at them reminded me of the movie Coraline when she goes through the door to the other world.  I wonder like with the story was this done on purpose as not to distract from the gameplay itself?


The two regions I liked the most were the industrial & desert regions, something about seeing what the world used to be like & what it could all end up looking like was both interesting & grim.  The last area of the game was easily the most impressive & I felt it really added purpose to your journey.


The music has a very folksy, singer song writer sound & suits the style of the game really well.  I like the fact the music is not a constant in the game & instead is introduced as things change in the game.  I feel because of this it made the score more impactful.   The composer was Chuck Ragan & features The Fearless Kin:


Chuck Ragan is an American Singer/Song Writer who is also the vocalist & guitarist in the band Hot Music Water.  The band members are; Chris Wollard, Jason Black, George Rebelo & of course Chuck himself.  His solo work is vastly different from what he does with the band which have a more punk rock sound.  He & they have collaborated with many artists & released multiple albums including; Fuel For The Hate Game, The New What Next & Light It Up.


The Fearless Kin are made up of; Paige, Aimee & The Anderson Family. Curious & wanting to know more about them I looked them up & listened to a song called Stella Jane which I really liked.  They are a country family band who are really good, I listened to part of an interview with Aimee & hearing her talking about her passion for music really made me want to hear more of their work.  They have one album called Foxes In June which I would highly recommend listening to even if you are not a country fan.


The score is little over thirty minutes & listening to it again gave me pause & I could see that it was actually better than I had originally given it credit for, plus it got my interested in The Fearless Kin.  My favorite pieces included;  'The Flame In The Flood',  'Gathering Wood' & 'Land Sick'.

Onto the rabbit meat!  The game is a top down survival game, there are two difficulty settings; Traveler & Survivalist & the are two game types; campaign & endless.  There are five things that are really important & you must keep an eye on at all times; hunger, thirst, body temperature, sleep & raft condition - failing to be mindful of any of these will bring about your demise.  The game is a roguelike which means when you are dead you are dead, well sort of, certain check points throughout the game mean if you do die you can restart there with whatever supplies you had previously.


The only way to get clean water is by making a water filter or waiting for it to rain, you can take the risk & drink polluted water but it may make you sick & find you having to make medicine.  The best medicine in the game is tea & there is little it cannot heal.  Resources in the games are short but that is not the hard part, the hard part is having space to carry all the randoms things you collect, everything has value.  My biggest recommendation is make pouches to expand your inventory as soon as possible.


The animals are ruthless (apart from the bunnies), they can give you lacerations, break bones & even kill you.  The deadliest animal is the bear, if you see one avoid it unless you have lots of traps or weapons.  I once saw it kill three wolves & a boar without any real effort at all, terrifying.


You will spend a lot of time on your raft, it can be upgraded overtime & I would recommend doing this as soon as possible as it will pay dividends later.  Initially it can be tough to control, go with the currents, avoid the rapids or at least until you can make a rudder.


Overall some solid gameplay, while it can be tough at times it can also be massively rewarding, I will likely try the endless mode but I am not sure if I will ever truly be ready for survivalist mode.




So after 18 hours how did I feel?  Warm & satisfied, the game could be tough but was very rewarding.  The game was full of heart & in many ways I was sad after finishing travelling the 40 miles to get to the final area but at the same time I was happy.  The more I played the more I enjoyed it & the constant battle to try & survive.  I am happy to give this game 4 out of 5

Until Dawn - Review

There are numbers of games I wanted to play this year & Until Dawn was one of them.  I am normally not huge into horror-esque games but this one caught my eye.  I think it was not only the visual aspect that intrigued me but also the setting that was chosen; a log cabin in the middle of nowhere, with no escape.  I saw it for under €20 the other day in CEX & thought now was the time to give it a go.


Curries are awesome, correction they can be.  If a curry is done right it can be the perfect blend of spices, vegetables & meat.  It is great for opening up your airways, especially if you have a cold or just need something nice & warm.  Throw in some rice, naan bread, maybe a cheeky bhaji & you have the perfect meal.  However, some curries are, well, just outright bad.  Some curries use cheap ingredients, the meat & vegetables are about to go off & then to make up for the poor quality & taste tons of spices are added to it.  The result is a powdery tasting mess.  Playing Until Dawn I found myself asking was this the perfect meal & cleanser that I needed or was I going to be left with a bad taste in my mouth, pain in my stomach & a tender behind?

Let me set the scene, eight friends (sort of) decide to go up to a mountain lodge for a weekend to get away from it all.  As you can imagine a bunch of teenagers out in the middle of nowhere, with no adult supervision is only going to go one way really.  Naturally, everyone loves everyone & there are no feelings of ill will towards anyone, okay maybe some ill will.   Eight high school teenagers + log cabin + badly thought out prank = grim beginnings.


Fast forward one year later, everyone one is trying to deal with the tragedy from the previous year.  Of course, the best way to deal with it is to go back to the cabin where it all happened?  This time around there is lots of melodrama & everyone has been playing relationship musical chairs.


So who are our eight characters? Ashley, Chris, Jess, Josh, Matt, Mike, Sam & Emily.  Each has a certain quality about them & until about 60%-70% of the way through the game I found it hard to find any of them that likable.  The two characters I liked the least were Emily, AKA Bitchy McBitch Face & Matt AKA Mr. Meathead which in fairness I thought was inaccurate - Mr. Fade into the Background was more accurate.


The story is pretty solid & is only spoiled by a couple of so-so characters & the games slight indecisiveness to decide what kind of story it wants to tell.

This game is visually impressive in so many ways,  the snow effects look great & it really feels like you are on a winter getaway in the mountains.  Normally I would reserve this next statement when discussing the story but I feel the two are intertwined in this case, I won't discuss the look of the different parts of the game as I feel it would spoil the experience of it.


The character looks amazing if not slightly generic, let me clarify.  The facial expressions of the characters look very realistic even down to their eye movements. The outfits worn by the characters look real & actually look like they are being worn rather than simply imposed onto a model.  While they are visually impressive the characters themselves are not.  Supermassive Games decided to go with an atypical Hollywood view of teenagers; pretty, similar weight, height & it is not believable that any of them are under the age of twenty.


While I may have ripped on the studio's lack of character diversity I cannot flaw the overall visual impressiveness of the game.


The music used in the game is eerie & very atmospheric, bone-chilling use of strings & startling use of brass create a very claustrophobic feel.  While listening to the score it made me reminisce about the work performed by James Horner & Jerry Goldsmith on the movies Alien & Aliens.


The composer for this score of darkness is Jason Graves, some of his works include; Far Cry Primal, Order 1886, Dead Space & Fear 3.  Listening to the score you can certainly hear influences from Dead Space & Fear 3, sounds designed to make you feel a sense of dread which was perfect for this game.  Outside of this a rendition of the traditional American folk song 'O' Death' is covered by Amy Van Roekel which is used in the opening & ending credits of the game.  She has mostly worked in Operas & Concerts including ; Lost Childhood, The Marriage of Figaro, The Telephone, Midsummer Night's Dream & The Machine to name just a few.


The score comes in at just over an hour which I found to be the perfect considering the length of the game itself, my favorites pieces include; 'Final Confrontation', 'Shadow of the Mountain', 'Run or Hide' & 'Chris & Ashley'.  Overall a great score which really helped create a chilling atmosphere.

It's that time, onto the meat!  The first thing you need to know is you will have to make lots & lots of decisions, due the butterfly effect being a big part of the game even small decisions can have major ramifications later on.  There are useful collectibles that are actually relevant to the gameplay rather than just being there for the sake of it.  Something I really liked were the totems which help give you a glimpse into possible things that could happen depending on decisions you make, you never know how these actions can be triggered so stay vigilant.


The games constantly has you playing as each of the eight characters which makes it feel like you are part of a movie rather than a game.  While for the most past I liked this I did feel it stopped me a little from fully engaging with some of the characters & feeling perhaps more attached to them.  Decisions, decisions & more decisions, your actions don't only effect the story but how you are seen by the other characters.  Some actions will see you becoming closer with them while others will push you further apart.  There are multitude of character traits including; bravery, romance & honesty, each can be of major benefit in the short & long term.


'Don't Move', was one of my favorite actions in the game, at certain points your character will need to remain perfectly still.  The only way to do this was to not move the controller even a little, if you do then someone may just lose their life.  It added a great amount of suspense & even had me holding my breath at certain points.


The gameplay was really good & the only minor thing that bugged me was the constant story recaps which made little sense as the game was not being told in an episodic way unlike Alan Wake or Tell Tales The Walking Dead for example.




So after little over 8 hours how did I find my experience?  Very good, surprisingly so.   The game started with me feeling really annoyed by each of the characters but as time went on I slowly started to like some of them.  Sure the game has it's flaws but the good things in the game far out weight this.  I was tussling with what I would score this game but when it comes down to it the decision is not that hard to make, I give this one 4 out of 5

Shadows Of The Damned - Review

I was recently in GameStop, which is something generally I try not to do as playing 20 questions with the staff when all I want to do is buy a game is not my idea of fun.  Anyway, I wanted to see what they had on offer & also to check the pre owned XBOX 360 games to see if they had Resonance of Fate - which they did not.  However, I did come across a game I played before by Suda 51 (Killer is Dead, No More Hero's, Sine Mora) called Shadows Of The Damned.  I remembered how much fun I had playing it first time round & wanted to give it another go.  So I brought the game to the counter, answered the many questions, gave over €6.99 & off I went excitedly with my purchase.


I have really been in the mood for cake recently, one, in particular, is a strawberry jam, clotted cream buttercream Swiss Roll.  I know that is very specific but what can I say, I have very discerning tastes. Why do I like it?  Well, I love cake, strawberry jam & buttercream, so simple yet so tasty & with a cup of tea it is simply heaven.  The only downside is before you know it, it's all gone & you yearn for more.  Playing Shadows of the Damned I found myself asking was I left wanting more or was I satisfied with my lot?

The story in some ways is very simple, your girlfriend is kidnapped & dragged to the underworld, your mission; save the girl & kill every demon that gets in your way.  The protagonist is Garcia Hotspur; demon hunter, killer, all round tough guy & with a name like that he almost definitely worked in porn at some point.  There is your partner in crime Johnson; an ex-demon, smart ass who has more uses than a Swiss Army Knife.  Then there is Garcia's girlfriend Paula; beautiful, a little scary with a pinch of crazy & really likes lingerie.  The Villain of the game is Fleming; ruler of the demons, not a nice guy & from the massive coat he wears really feels the cold.


The story is; dark, funny, crazy & filled with sexual innuendos.  There are some great characters in the game & one my favorites is Christopher who is a merchant.  I don't if it's because he sounds like a redneck, or because he is part man & part beast, or if it's the way he almost bites your hand off eating the white gems you give him but I just really like him.   The plot is pretty solid as are most of the characters in it.

The visuals are pretty dark which suits the game perfectly, almost all of the game is set in the underworld, gruesome & freaky imagery is everywhere.  There are; skeletons, demons, blood & gore, dolls attached to trees & a creature that poop's when you get too close.  Some of my favorite levels in the game were the 2D paper animation ones which were a lot of fun & the library that was not only huge but also featured some interesting enemies.  In terms of character designs I really liked; sushi lamp as he looked both cute & fun & bird man who looked really cool & made me think of Anima from Final Fantasy X.


While I don't generally make mention of the specific designer(s) when doing reviews this time it felt important to do so.  Shinji Mikami worked on a multitude of titles including; The Evil Within & Resident Evil 4 (which is easily my most favorite in the series).  If you have played any of the games he has worked on previously & enjoyed them there is a high chance you will really like this game.


The music is very varied in the game, which with some games can end up being a mess but this is not the case with Shadows of the Damned.  The score features musical styles such as; love songs, goth rock pieces & a sound that reminds of something like the band U.N.K.L.E.  There were many people that helped create the sound for the game including:


Akira Yamaoka is a composer who works include; all the music for the Silent Hill Series, Black Knight Sword & Killer Is Dead.

The Damned is a UK Goth Rock band formed in 1976. They have released multiple album & changed band members & musical direction over the years.

Mary Elizabeth McGlynn is a voice actor who has worked on both games & anime, including; Cowboy Bebop, Drakengard, Naruto & Resonance of Fate.

Joe Romersa is both a voice actor & musician, he has worked on many projects including; Akira, Ghost in the Shell,  Outlaw Star & Resident Evil 5.

Troy Baker is a hugely talented voice actor who has worked on many many games including; Bioshock Infinite, Uncharted 4, Persona 4, Batman Arkham City & Far Cry 4.


The original album is little under an 90 minutes but there is additional music outside of this, my favorite pieces included: 'The Big Boner', 'Ghost Hunter', 'Justine For All', 'Twelve Feet Under',
'Different Perspective', 'The Castle Of Hassle', 'As Evil As Dead', 'Take Me To Hell (Broken Dream)', 'G-Drive', 'Entrance At Hell's Gate' & 'Sushi Lamp #2'.  I have to give an honorable mention to Johnson who performs a freestyle rap used in the post credits which is hilarious.  As a whole a good score with some great music.

Onto the flesh, the gameplay.  Where to start?  The game heavily features sexual innuendos which is part of Suda 51/Grasshopper Manufacture Inc. charm, if you are easily offend this game is not for you.  The save points are created by a creature that poops when you approach him.  There are story books in the game that both Garcia & Johnson read which are are always dark & often funny if for no other reason than for their commentary.


The are some great weapons like the Dentist which fires teeth & the big boner which can grow to enormous portions by letting Johnson ring a sex hotline.  The negatives for me would have to be the accuracy of the weapons, getting head shots could be tough & some weapons were slow to fire even when you bought all the upgrades


Johnson's dialogue throughout the game is brilliant & if things ever seem to bleak he will always say something to lighten the mood.  The game is dark but the crass comedy really helps balance it out.  In all honesty I had very little to complain about in terms of gameplay.



This time around I played for about 10 hours & last time I played for about the same but did I leave satisfied or did I finish wanting more?  Overall I would have to say I was satisfied, although if there were to be sequel or prequel I would be very interested in playing it.  I had a lot of fun playing the game & I have no doubt I will play it again in the future.  This one is an easy 4 out of 5

The Wardrobe - Review

Recently I got curious about all the games that had been released in 2017 (big & small) & wanted to see had I missed any potential gems.  Lucky enough GameSpot had created a fairly comprehensive list, I went through them all, I checked trailers & gameplay & from it made my own list of games that I wanted to play.  One of them was a PC game called The Wardrobe, it seemed kind of quirky so I thought why not.


Any one ever had one of those giant gobstoppers?  They are so big you cant actually fit them in your mouth, they are almost the size of a tennis ball.  When I was kid I remember seeing them in Woolworths for £1, they were colourful, would last for hours & looked like fun.  So I bought it, tried it & got quickly frustrated with it.  It felt like it would never be small enough to fit in my mouth, so I tried to force it & split the inside of my mouth (all of you with dirty minds keep quiet).  Little to say shortly afterwards it went into the bin & I nursed my sore mouth.  Playing The Wardrobe I had to ask myself was it colourful & lots of fun or a giant pain that I wanted to throw in the bin?

The story is strange & unusual, but I am not exactly averse to stories like that. The game starts with Skinny (you) & your friend Ronald having a picnic.  During the picnic you get handed a plum & it ends up killing you due an allergic reaction.  Ronald decides to run away & not try to help you at all (some friend, how did he know you were dead?).  Skinny comes back to life, sort of, as a skeleton.  But why you ask?  To save you friends soul, if he does not admit to someone what happened (even though it was an accident) within five years of the incident he will die & lose his soul.


The characters in the game are not very likable, even the ones that are supposed to be. Skinny is basically an obnoxious kid with some funny lines.  Ronald is basically a blank slate. The hippie stoner character wore thin really quick, I am not sure if it was his voice or simply the dull dialogue but I was not amused or entertained by him.


That is pretty much the whole story, I found it to be a little flimsy & like I said earlier strange & unusual is fine but if you going to do it maybe add a few extra layers to the story pack it out a bit or have some likable characters.  Overall the story is meh & the ending is no more fulfilling.

The visuals are the big draw of the game, they are fun quirky & remind me of those old jigsaw puzzles I used to see when I was a kid with lots of crazy stuff going on in the background.  There are literally tons of pop culture references, the picture above is a great example of what I mean.


The art work is all hand drawn which I really liked & made it stand out from many other games released this year.  Overall I felt the visuals were well done & for me is what really stood out about this game.


I have to admit guys this is a first, I will not be doing a review on the soundtrack.  While the music in the game is not great & a lot of pieces seem to be on a constant loop that is not the reason for not reviewing it.  For the first time ever I was simply unable to find anywhere I could listen to the soundtrack.  Don't know why it is not available but as they say 'it is what it is'.

Onto the meat..kind of.  The game is created by  C.I.N.I.C Games, it draws from 90's classics point & click adventures such as; Monkey Island, Day of the Tentacle, Sam & Max: Hit the Road & Tony Tough.  Okay I am just going to jump right in, the puzzles are for the most ridiculous.  I am going to give you an example & see what you think.  There is dust monster who wants to take over the world, he tells you this & that's it. From this you are supposed to work out that you need to steal a tankard, fill it with sewer water, add pills to it & feed to the dust monster.  This makes him strong & he can now remove a bed knob, naturally you have to take it, use a blow torch on it to remove the wood & be left with the screw.  Which you then add to a drill to help out a gangster alligator with a toothache.  The fuck?  Really how does that even follow any kind of logic?  No hints or indication is given to almost any of this.  There are many puzzles in the game just like this & it really sucks.


While the pop culture references have a certain appeal, it feels like someone has just engorged themselves on it & the puked it up everywhere.  There is an overload of stuff that it ends up losing its overall intended appeal.


If the gameplay was the meat & that was your dinner you would go hungry.



Being honest after 8 hours or so I felt underwhelmed, I wanted to like it I really did but by the end I was just glad it was over.  The story wasn't great, gameplay was bad & music was meh, the only solid thing about the game were the visuals & even they had weak spots.  I am sorry to say I am giving this one 1 out of 5

The Stanley Parable - Review

Over the past few months, it has been suggested that I play a game called The Stanley Parable (big shout out to Nolls).  It is a game that has an interesting if not simplistic sounding premise, looking to take a short break from console games this seemed like it might be a bit of fun.

I have a bit of a sweet tooth, one thing I like in particular is a chocolate tart that Marks & Spencers do.  It is small in size with a deep base filled with soft smooth chocolate & sprinkled with nuts.  It is sweet, tasty & goes great with coffee.  Playing The Stanley Parable I found myself asking was this the tasty sweet nutty treat I wanted or just some tart?

The story is about a man named Stanley, a man who sits in an office pushing buttons all day who one day realises there might be other options.  The best description for the game is the one used on Steam, 'You will play as Stanley, and you will not play as Stanley.  You will follow a story, you will not follow a story. You will have a choice, you will have no choice. The game will end, it will never end'

The whole game is narrated by Kevan Brighting, who tries to 'help' lead you where you are supposed to go but that doesn't mean you always have to listen or do what you are told.  The writers for the game Davey Wreden & William Pugh have created 19 multiple endings.  Most can be obtained in a few minutes, others can take a few hours, my favorite endings were; whiteboard, out of map, confusion & museum.

To say any more than this would ruin the story for you but in terms of story I cannot recommend it enough.

Visually the game is simplistic but that doesn't mean it looks bad, you are in an office building & most of them have a slightly generic feel.  That being said as you can see from the image above there are some very interesting areas to see.   It may sound odd but visually one of my favorite things was the start menu,  you are looking at an office desk & on it is a monitor with the start menu also showing the office desk while you look at it most likely on an office desk - it just made me smile.

The music is fleeting & moves between many different sounds including; whimsical, upbeat, dark & contemplative which is impressive for a score that is not even an hour long. 

There a few artists who helped create the music for the Stanley Parable, they are:

Blake Robinson - who created the Stanley Blake Orchestra who performs orchestra versions of video game music.  Some of his work includes; Dexter for Orchestra EP, Duke Nukem 3D Mixes,

Chrono Trigger: The Last Day of the World & he is also the composer for the game Portal Knights.

Christiaan Bakker - composer, 3D artist, computer programmer & technical artist who created a number of interesting works including; Estranged Act 1, From Earth & Jaykin' Bacon Episode 3.

Yiannis Ionndes - composer, sound artist & audio programmer but with exception of his work on The Stanley Parable I struggled to find information on what his other works were.

While there is not a lot of music I don't think it is a game that requires a lot due to the narration used throughout the game. That being said I did have a few pieces that I really liked, they are; 'Introducing Stanley', 'Following Stanley' & 'Stanley was Happy'.

The gameplay, where to start?  The story is the gameplay & the gameplay is the story.  I think only someone who played this game will be able to make full sense of this statement.  The narrator is Kevan Brighting who has a fantastic voice & has also worked on; Black Messa  (voice of the scientist), Procrastinathan - (narrator) & Ocean Horn - (voice of the Hermit).  His voice is always present as you play, sometimes to praise you, other times to scald you & sometimes to sing for you.

The gameplay is simplistic & uncertain, one choice might cause something minor to change or something major.  Some of the details in the background are fantastic, one of my favorites was the slide show in the board room.

While it is or was once was an over used phrase The Stanley Parable could be compared to the Matrix, 'unfortunately no one can be told what the Matrix is, you have to see it for yourself'.  This statement could not sum up this game better & I would highly recommend anyone play it no matter what kind of games you normally play or how much or how little you play games, everyone can appreciate this game.

Well I played the game for less than five hours but I had more fun with it than I have had with many games over the years.  It is an instant classic & definitely worth the €11.99 I paid for it.  My recommendation would be to buy it, play it & just try to tell me you don't like it.  Another easy game to score, this one gets a 4 out of 5

The Last Of Us Remastered - Review

Back in 2014, a new game was being released by Naughty Dog, it was getting an amazing amount of attention & positive feedback.  Now, whenever anything gets this much attention I find myself sceptical & feel it can't possibly live up to all the hype.  So when it was released I gave it some time before picking up a copy & playing it.   I have to admit it the game blew me away, in the same way, Bryan Cranston's performance did in Breaking Bad.  This is the studio that made Crash Bandicoot, this isn't a slight against the studio or the game but to go from that to The Last of Us was simply inspiring.  Naturally, I was pretty excited to play the remastered version of the game & lucky enough my favourite technician, work colleague & friend Siniša loaned it to me.


Have you ever tried a battered potato pie? What is it you ask? Well simply put it is a lump of potato that has been deep-fried - something like a giant chip.  It is something that is really popular down here in Cork, when I heard about how good it was I found myself shrugging my shoulders & thought 'meh, how good could it be?'.  When I did finally try it I could not believe how nice it was, soft potato battered to perfection it was so different from what I thought it would be.  I guess as I have already revealed I enjoyed the game I can't use my 'when I was playing The Last of Us I had to ask myself....' spiel, I will just let the review do my talking for me.

The game starts off in the grips of a deadly virus outbreak, we are introduced to Joel & his family who are trying to escape the madness.  After a heartbreaking & tragic beginning, we fast forward to 20 years in the future & we see Joel is now a smuggler in what is left of humanity.  This time he & his partner have to smuggle something very different, a girl named Ellie to a resistance group called the Fireflies.


The two central characters in the game are Joel & Ellie.  Joel is a man who has become hardened due to a troubled past & hasn't got much time for other people.  Ellie is an obnoxious teen with a mouth on her that & no problem standing up to people.  Naturally, the two don't get on together at first but as time goes by they become reliant on each other & form a partnership.


While there are differences with the remastered edition versus the original one of the biggest is that it comes packaged with the DLC Left Behind.  Which adds another 3 hours of content & not only helps to fill in some blanks from the main story but also allows us to see a little of Ellie's past.  The flashback storytelling method worked well & helped at times to make for some tense storytelling. We get to see Ellie & her friend Riley hanging out together & having fun rather than just fighting to stay alive.


One of the biggest & in some ways the best part of this game is the story, it is an emotional roller coaster. I like that it makes no qualms that things are not always black & white.  The ending of the game made me have some mixed feelings, the DLC helped give me a bit more perspective & made me more settled on some of earlier thinking.

The visuals in The Last of Us always looked great but the overhaul on them for the remastered edition changed them to stunning.  There is so much more detail & definition in everything.  The characters look more defined & make them look more real.  The world itself looks more post-apocalyptic, the way wooden floors looks more beaten up & rotten, the paint on the walls is peeling & chipped off & all help to show that humanity is at its end.  The wilderness is lush & green but always manages to carry a slight undertone of darkness.  There are horses in the game that look great, it reminded me of my lovely horse, with its fetlocks blowing in the wind (I have to watch Father Ted again).


I really liked the music in the game, it uses a lot of moody guitar solos which helps to create a downbeat sound which suits the atmosphere of the world you are in.  While the sound is more simplistic than other games it makes everything feel more poignant & that much more important.


This sound is created by Gustavo Santaolalla, who is from Argentina & has a very rich musical background.  He has been part of a number of bands including; Acro Iris, Soluna & Wet Picnic. Outside of this, he has worked on a number of films & TV series including; 21 Grams, Brokeback Mountain & the series Making A Murder.


Also accompanying Santaolalla is session violinist from Nashville Alan Umstead.  He has worked with many musicians including; Bruce Springsteen, Garth Brooks & Elton John, along with many others.  He has also worked with composers such as; Austin Wintory, Jason Graves, Bear McGeary & Jesse Harlin.  If this wasn't enough his contribution to the video games industry has been massive & has worked with all the big video game companies.  Some of his works include games such as; Ratchet & Clank, Unfinished Swan, Dragon Age Inquisition & Mafia III.


The score is just under an hour long but that doesn't mean it isn't good, in fact, it is very much the opposite & would have to be one of my favourite soundtrack that I have listened to this year. My favourite pieces included; 'Quarantine Zone', 'The Hunters', 'The Choice', 'Last of Us (Never Again)', 'Infected', 'Last of Us (New Dawn)' &' All Gone (No Escape)'.

Onto the meat or lack thereof as it's a post-apocalyptic world...anyway onto the gameplay.   Something that has always struck me with The Last of Us even when I played it on the Playstation 3 is that the game gives you time to enjoy your surroundings rather than feeling like you are being rushed through it.  That may seem like an odd observation to make but I feel when so much time & effort has gone into something I want to take the time to take it all in.


The combat has plenty of high points, the gun-play & cover system for the most part work well. Upgrading your weapons feels worthwhile, especially the flamethrower.  Shotguns are loud & proud, Shivs are sharp & stabby - you can't ask for more than that.  On occasion when Joel is being overpowered by an enemy Ellie helps you during combat by jumping on their back & stabbing them -which is handy.


The enemies can vary in difficulty. Clickers are still a pain in the ass if they get too close to you & the cut scenes are a harsh reminder for you to be more cautious next time.  Occasionally the human enemy AI can be a little dumb, they will stand facing a wall not moving just asking to be killed. There is a strange 'glitch' where enemies can see you but they can't see the people you are with, it is something I hoped they would iron out from the original as it throws off combat/stealth sections.


The sections where you get to play as Ellie are really good & help flesh out her character.  It helps her & Joel feel more like a real partnership, rather than her just being his sidekick as some other games tend to do.


The gameplay itself didn't feel largely different from the original but that's not necessarily a bad thing although it would have been great if they knocked out a few the kinks that the original had.  Overall though solid gameplay & the additional content really made it feel like a more rounded game.


Warning - There are spoilers in the trailer below!



So after nearly 20 hours how did I feel?  Pretty damn good, I probably enjoyed the game more this time not only because of the overhaul on visuals but also because of the additional story content.  A really solid game & still one of the best titles released on the Playstation 3, I am looking forward to The Last of Us 2 next year.  This one was easy to score 4 out of 5