Quick Game Reviews 2020
Hey, I had this saved in my drafts and even though itâs only a fraction complete I figured I should publish it anyway cuz why not. Thereâs only 8 reviews here and theyâre a weird selection so itâs not relevant, but ye.
Runner3 (Steam)
The third game in the Bit.Trip Runner Series, the first of which was the 4th game in the Bit.Trip Complete pack. Iâm a big fan of these games; the first and second ones were really tight and fun, a very difficult yet fair romp through several wacky worlds and each had their own unique look. I was excited to try this one out for sure, though I admit I took my sweet time getting here (Itâs $20, so I wasnât in that much a rush)
I hate to say that Iâm a bit disappointed. It builds off the crazy, gross but in a good way, wacky the-narrator-is-actually-just-the-voice-actor-Charles-Martinet-as-himself vibe that Runner 2 made and I love that so thatâs good. Where it fails however is in its gameplay. Itâs fine; by no means terrible, but the ânormalâ levels have you replaying the same level multiple times to accomplish different goals after passing alternate routes the first time around, some of which lead to some pretty weird and wacky geometry youâre not clear how to handle, which is a bad thing for this. I kinda which they had elected to the alt paths being equally optional instead of adding a second âgem runâ to it thatâs essentially a whole new level. And really shouldâve been.
The double jump opens up new possibilities but makes the game feel a lot more loose since you can do it at any time and thatâs a whole new angle to run into obstacles with. The vehicle sections similarly rely more on placement than on timing your actions (the core gameplay of the series, since you time the result of your actions to the beat otherwise).
The worst offender is the unlockables and the Retro mode. See all those wacky characters up there? I couldnât figure out how to unlock any of them while I was running through. It was bizarre beating the final boss just over 3 hours in, and then going back to the title screen to still not have unlocked anything. The retro mode returns from Runner 2 as well, though in Runner 2 it was supposed to look like an NES game, in 3 it looks like an old cartoon mixed with Newgrounds Flash animatorâs first game. And plays like it too; itâs clunky, it isnât even timing or music based, enemies behave very strangely and even unfairly at times, and it just felt like I had been conned into it; There appear to be just as many normal levels as Retro levels as well, so after playing a few I just stopped and zoomed through the rest of the game. Honestly, the Bit.Trip series has a lot to offer and Iâd recommend giving each title a try, but for this one? Runner2â˛s a more solid experience, and you can definitely skip 3.
Gris (Steam)
This game is gorgeous and lovely and charming, play it.
Itâs a fairly simple Indie 2D platformer, but where it stands out is itâs artstyle and how it winds that into the gameplay and narrative. Itâs not a hard game, nothing really can kill you and none of the puzzles or platforming is difficult, but thatâs fine. Thatâs not the point; Think of it like Journey, but with a different theme which necessitates the lack of other players. Itâs beautiful and sounds great, and is definitely worth the praise it got.
Honestly I went back and looked at some of the reviews to see what everyone thought about it specifically, and was pretty surprised about some of the criticism it got. People saying it was too easy, or that the game shouldnât deal with the themes it does; varying wildly from âwhy are there no enemiesâ to âwhy canât this just be a pretty game I just run throughâ and everything far between. And I could try and say games donât have to be inherently fun or challenging in order to be enjoyable, but I donât even need to go that far. This game is fun, a nice 3-hour run through some unique and amazing scenery with a bunch of random secrets to collect if youâre so inclined. But this game was made with a specific theme and narrative in mind, and complaining that itâs overdone for an indie-platformer to focus on that in the same breath as saying it shouldâve done something more challenging with itâs gameplay very much misses the entire point of the game, and Iâd argue even playing it.
Soviet Jump Game (Steam)
So I played this only a couple times; once when it first came out (very buggy, virtually unplayable), and then again a month or so later. Itâs in Early Access at this moment and theyâre constantly adding features and improving it. Itâs also free. Honestly, itâs definitely not a bad game; thereâs quick fun to be had here and thereâs enough variety in power-ups for re-playability, but itâs also a Battle Royale and I am not a huge fan of those so. Worth a pick-up just to see if you like it though
Sonic Adventure 2: Battle, Modded (Steam)
So I had the urge to replay this game and see if I could go for the 100%, but knowing that the Sonic community is really big on fan games and mods I decided to go on and try them out to see if I could get rid of its famously bad jankiness. I got them all of Gamebanana, and they built their own mod manager so I used:
Character Select Plus:Â https://gamebanana.com/guis/35023Â (Allows you to select any character, including MP only ones
Chao World Extended: https://gamebanana.com/gamefiles/6336Â (adds back a lot of missing/new features to make Chao raising less tedious and more varied)
Amy With Shorts:Â https://gamebanana.com/skins/169559Â (sheâs 12, SEGA wtf)
A variety of other Chao and visual improvements, including HD gui, textures, no model tinting, etc.
A couple level specific fixes, like Crazy Gadget but fun and a fix for random crashes
And a few cheat codes built in that let characters use other charactersâ power-ups
I then proceeded to painstakingly 100% the game. What did I learn? Unless the mods mean to completely redefine the game, theyâre not going to make it a whole new experience. Itâs still Sonic Adventure 2, and that means the game is 80% jank. Itâs also not worth your time to 100%, since itâs a whole lot of insane, glitchy jumps and looking for invisible springs and all kinds of nonsense. If youâve not played SA2 since it first came out and remember liking it, itâs worth looking through the Mods on GameBanana if you want to relive the experience slightly improved, but really this gameâs age shows through either way.
Ty the Tasmanian Tiger (Steam)
So I bought the whole quadrilogy not realizing theyâre making an HD remaster of this one.
Whoops.
Anyway, I was on a 3D platformer kick I guess and decided to indulge myself of these games. This first one is definitely like âOh this is early GC platforming.â Itâs not bad, but itâs a lot of random things scattered around the level kinda nonchalantly and then telling you to go find it. Itâs kinda buggy, but they put a lot of effort into the characters and theme, so thereâs points to it there at least. Itâs not particularly noteworthy for what it is, but itâs a fun 3D platformer to kill a few hours with. If you havenât played other, more notable 3D platformers though, go ahead and give this a pass; Iâd honestly recommend New Super Luckyâs Tale first.
Ty the Tasmanian Tiger 2 (Steam)
You know that 2000â˛s era thing where a bunch of game companies turned their mascots and franchises into edgier, âcoolerâ versions of themselves and added guns and cars and made it GTA like in aspects? You know, Shadow the Hedgehog, Bomberman, Jak II, Ratchet & Clankâs focus on combat, etc.?
This did that. Hard. I could only play through the first level where I went from idly throwing boomerangs in a warzone to piloting a mech that was manning a turret to destroy giant mechs, and like, I have no idea how to recommend this one because that age of edge was a pass for me.
Chibi-Robo: Clean Sweep (Emulated DS, Fan Translation)
I have a big beef with the Chibi-Robo series that people who have read previous review from me would get. Mainly the first GameCube one was amazing, and then theyâve been degrading in quality ever since. Queue this game, the actual one to one sequel both gameplay and plot wise to the GC one that never got localized because ???
Itâs really good, not as good as the GC one, but does an excellent job of scratching that itch. The toys are interesting, the storyâs funny but has some genuine compassionate moments, and it plays pretty well. All in all, for a portable vision of the GC this knocks it out of the park so I still donât get why they went pure gimmicks from here on out.
Mousecraft (Steam)
One of my beefs with a lot of the steam games that I own is that theyâre just ported phone games. That really shouldnât be a beef, but when I start up a game Iâm a tiny bit interested in and I see a level system with 3 Stars ad ideal solutions to collect the bonuses and all the typical phone stuff Iâm just like âI can do without this tbhâ
That being said, I played a bit of this one, and itâs fine. Kinda like Lemmings or the Mario Vs. DK series, you guide the mice to the cheese while making them run into things, but you only have tetris blocks and various powerups to do it with so you canât do it directly. Itâs a fun puzzle game thatâs fine in micro-doses, but Iâm not terribly into that on my PC so I only played half the first world. There seems to be a lot of content in it though.
Other games that I played in 2020 but never got around to reviewing:
Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition Animal Crossing: New Horizons Chex Quest HD Divinity: Original Sin 2 Helltaker Hakoniwa Explorer Plus Picross Touch Shantae and the Seven Sirens nullpointer Eat Girl ART SQOOL Pokemon Shield: Isle of Armor Anodyne Beglitched Bleed Fall Guys BRKĂUT Curse of the Crescent Isle DX Data Loss Democratic Socialism Simulator JUMP GRID Lennaâs Inception LOOK at the PALACE OF WOE Micro Mages Mobius Oh Jeez, Oh no, My Rabbits Are Gone PikuNiku Puzzle Puppers Speer Switch âNâ Shoot Task Force Krampus DATA LOSS TEN_S Your Future Self WATERSFINE Witch Thief Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn -> Shadowbringers Muse Dash Super Mario 3D All-Stars Among Us Hades
















