Rating of
4/5
Hatchwell
Variations on a Very Nostalgic Theme
“Hatchwell” is the inaugural effort by solo Philippines-based Indie developer, Adrian Corpuz, known by the studio name, AdeeCee. While AdeeCee has gone on to release a second game, with a third in the works, none of this Indie dev’s efforts are in the same genre. What caught my attention with “Hatchwell” was that it was a very deliberate homage to one of my personal all-time favorite games, “The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past.” So, how does a $10 Indie game compare with one of Nintendo’s all-time achievements? Fairly well! Though, better in some aspects than others.
Presentation
“Hatchwell” is a pixel-art game built, surprisingly NOT in Unity, but in Yoyo Games’ GameMaker Studio engine. From an artistic …
Rating of
4/5
Steredenn: Binary Stars
Funky little side scrolling schmup with a consciously retro feel. A little basic to look at (think more Phalanx than R-Type) but with 5 different ships each sporting 3 different weapons systems, a host of power ups and an upgrade system with multiple choices and every game feels a little different from the last. The levels feel more like a backdrop to the action than individual environments but as a whole, a strong old school shooter.
Rating of
3.5/5
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge
Back in the day, there were something called arcades where people of all ages would go... to play video games. Yes, well before consoles, computers, tablets and even cell phones made gaming easy, you had to seek out games. Even in my youth, arcades were waning but before they went out, they gave us some amazing experiences. Among my favorites were the huge four-player beat-'em cabinets that gave us The Simpsons, X-Men and, yes, Ninja Turtles beating down enemies before taking on the level's boss. Many, many, many quarters later, I can say that I beat every game at least once. You may be asking yourself "Why is this clearly senile middle aged man talking about arcades when he should be reviewing this game?" - first, get off my lawn you …
Rating of
3/5
Dark Souls
Death Comes Easy, Victory Comes Hard
You play the role of the Chosen Undead, a cursed undead human who escapes the undead asylum in the kingdom of Lordran, who embarks on a perilous journey battling powerful foes, and must decide whether to rekindle the flame and prolong the age of fire or embrace the coming age of darkness.
Presentation
Dark Souls presents a dark atmospheric world, with intricate level design, and countless areas to explore. The game came out in 2011 on console, and in 2012 on PC, so the graphics are quite dated. I installed a graphics update known as DSFix, that improved the graphics dramatically. Definitely a must to enjoy the game fully.
Gameplay
The gameplay in Dark Souls is challenging, rewarding, and unforgiving. Simple as that. I chose a …
Rating of
3.5/5
Demon's Souls Remastered
Difficult, Frustrating, and also Rewarding
Demon's Souls is a remake of a game with the same name on PS3. It's a beautiful, difficult, and rewarding game that lacks when it comes to controls and explaining things.
I had never played a game in the "Souls" series before starting this so when I began I only knew a couple things. First, the series is pretty popular and second, that it's viewed as extremely difficult. By the time I finished I understood both of these things very well.
The story of this game isn't that intriguing. In a land called Boltearia an evil presence is taking over. A fog is enveloping the area and there are evil creatures and demons strung about. Once you're in there is no escape and it appears there's a evil being making people like you kill …
