Recent reviews by KKiONI

tl;dr:
[~] Ghostrunner 1 is the better entry of the two.
[+] Gameplay is tight as it was in the first game
[+] New gameplay and upgrade mechanics are a welcome addition
[+] Soundtrack does well at setting the mood
[-] Level design can be hit or miss, mostly miss outside Dharma tower
[-] Story is largely uninteresting

Overall: Decent game on its own, but not a good Ghostunner sequel. Worth playing if you're really itching for more after Ghostrunner 1.

----- The Rant'y Portion Below -----


Ghostrunner 2 is a conflicting game to review. Overall, I would describe the game as "okay", but dive into the details, and it becomes a balancing act of a lot of good versus a lot of bad for a sequel that didn't fully live up to the expectations of Ghostrunners 1.


One area this game did very well in was its gameplay mechanics. To sum it up nice and quick:

• Movement feels good -- just like the original. Crouch dashing still works!
  
• Rail riding auto snapping can be a little too aggressive
  
• New ability upgrade system is well designed and fun to find a personalised and optimised build. Good upgrade over the previous game's "Tetris block" system
  
• Tweaks to ability system allow for more frequent use, which offers some variety to approaching situations. Parkour segments also take advantage of this frequent use, which is also welcome
  
• Bike mechanic works well most of the time, but it frequently got stuck on geometry in the open'ish world segment
  
• Wing suit mechanic feels amazing to use, but was introduced way too late into the game. Definitely underutilised.

The level design is a mixed bag. Many of the opening segments were fantastic and had a good mix of parkour and combat to keep things fresh and satisfying to play. Other segments felt a drawn out where it was just some light traversal put to dialogue. Then some segments are just outside Dharma tower.

This part of the game was by far its weakest portion and felt like a major departure from the level design that made Ghostrunner good. The vivid cyberpunk colour palette of Dharma tower was traded out for a drab wasteland colour palette, which made all these levels feel the same. While not initially bad, this portion of the game carried on for far too long and I found it to have the least interesting combat and parkour. Thankfully, the end sequence for this chapter redeemded itself a little with a killer bike obstacle course.

That said, where the game was its strongest was when it stuck to its roots in Dharma tower. When the game did that, it meshed very well. Using the environment to efficiently parkour around, slash enemies, and dodge attacks to clear through rooms is where this game thrives. They are the kind of levels you want to go back to and replay to see if you can beat your time or reduce your death count. The majority of levels outside of Dharma tower did not offer that feeling, which made those levels feel a little alienating.


Part of what made Ghostrunner 1 mesh so well was the synthwave soundtrack it was all set to. Ghostrunner 2 continues that trend and does a good job at setting the vibe in its levels. Nothing beats entering a room full of enemies just as the beat drops to get you in the zone.


Ghostrunner 2 puts a much greater emphasis on story than its predacessor. While not necessarily a bad thing, its execution unfortunately fumbles pretty quickly.

World building is rushed and what is there is monologued to you from a character. Despite big story moments between running missions and returning to the hub, there is not a very strong sense of impact or urgency. You do a mission, get some story, return to the hub (sometimes) and get some more 1-1 dialogue with characters then repeat.

The characters themselves pull from standard architypes, which did not make hearing their backstory particularly rivotting. The one exception I found to that was Kira -- her personality, backstory, and voice actor's delivery easily made her the most interesting character of the crew.

The game also tries to flesh out Jack's character, which I thought was just okay -- if not contrived. I can tell they were going for a "machine tries to become human" angle, but unfortunately most dialogue sequences where Jack shows his human side felt stiff and awkward.

If I could give this game a neutral rating, I would. When this game hits the right notes, it can be a superior experience to the original game. However, a significant portion of the game strays away from a proven good forumla, which ultimately hampers the overall experience -- especially when compared to the original. I applaud the game for trying new things, but I think it is best to remember what got people hooked in the first place: a cyberpunk-themed fast paced hack and slash parkour game set to synthwave. Is this game worth playing? Yes, but only if you've played Ghostrunners 1 and are itching for more to play.

First time experiencing the Portal: Prelude mod and overall I was a little disappointed.

First off, however, I do want to commend the mod team for their work on the art design, scripted sequences, and dynamic level design. I was very impressed with that part. The music in the game was well suited, however, there was one track at the end which totally did not fit the style or the mood.

Now onto the bad stuff...

Puzzle complexity was very low for the most part and those that were more complex were not very satisfying to solve. There were some neat puzzles, but they were all towards the end of the game. Some puzzles broke design convention such as a cube button being permanently pressed only after 2 others were pressed or doors closing simply because you left the designated area.

The game also included cutscenes, which I thought was a weird design choice given the design philosophy of Valve games typically not doing that (save for endings that is).

The final boss battle was definitely one of the weakest parts. It was incredibly simple to the point where one can finish it in under a minute with little effort and oh my god it had the weirdest music choice that did not fit Portal aesthetic let alone the mood of the boss battle.

I only played 30 minutes of it and I already love it. Gameplay mechanics feel tight, responsive, and satisfying to use. The level design so far has been clever with shortcuts quietly available to those with keen senses. All topped with a vibrantly unapologetic 80's wireframe aesthetic and an amazing soundtrack to go with it.

If you like time or score attack kind of games -- specifically the ones where if you screw up, you immediately restart -- you will definitely like this one. It feels like Cluster Truck with a grappling hook with a Geometry Wars coat of paint and I totally dig that.

From Software, please fix the Dark Souls servers and bring them back online.

Me: Has 19 hours clocked in the game.
Also me: Spent most of that time downloading the game.

In all seriousness though, this game needs to learn how to use the native content update method of each DRM to distribute its updates instead of its janky in-game downloader. The downloader itself has the following issues:
- Cannot hit max speed of your Internet connection and is subject to frequent fluctuations.
- Despite it only downloading data, my CPU is at 25% usage and GPU is at 55% usage. Like come on, Chrome doesn't even use that much by comparison.
- It is an in-game downloader. That means I cannot let Steam auto-queue content updates and bug fixes.

So why spend all this time fixating on the downloader? You spend a considerable amount of time in it and during that time you contemplate how asinine it is and how much better it would be if it just downloaded through Steam.

P.S. Writing this review while the 111 GB update plugs away at 60% of my total download speed.

To preface all the review, I went into this game completely blind. A friend had originally purchased this game as a joke, but we ended up being pleasantly surprised. While rough around the edges, the game had a certain charm that kept me playing and kept my friend watching.

An unordered list of thoughts:

• Randomly generated dungeon kept it fresh and unpredictable
  
• Dungeon enemy attacks felt fair and had some stradegy, especially the snakes if you were using melee combat.
  
• Audio indication of combat was a nice touch. Ambient tracks were very unsettling in a good way.

Some ideas that could make the game better:

• Variety in ways to get some of the keys. The level that had fire obstacles was a nice change.
  
• Traps. Make your player crawl the dungeon with trepidation!
  
• There should be an achievement for playing the game different ways. One example: not killing any of the regular dungeon enemies.

And now let me share my first experience... Being that I went in blind, I had no clue what to expect. I found my way through the first level, but level 2 caught me off guard because the enemy's attack was longer range and my hachet was ineffective at taking them down swiftly. I eventually found myself at 6 HP and the game suddenly transformed into a round of Slender where several enemies were pursuing me. As I weaved through the dungeon, I was frantically trying to avoid enemies, collect keys, and find some health. After several hilarious and scary encounters, I fell to the flames of the key.

All in all, I enjoyed the 1.5 hours I was playing this! For best results, randomly gift this game to a friend and order them to play it. Fun for both will ensue!

Hyper Light Drifter checked off all the right boxes in my books. With its rewarding combat system, satisfying hidden collectables and pathways, and mysterious world to explore, this game is hard to pass.

First and foremost, let's talk about the controls which feel tight and responsive. It almost seems silly to say "I felt like I was in control of the game", however, it's also about the tools you give the player in the game to make them feel in control. Out of the box, your character has the ability to dash and is equipped with a sword and pistol. Ammo is accumulated by hitting enemies with your sword, which often leads you to mix up your attacks patterns.

The game offers a small, but varied selection of additional abilities and guns you can unlock over the course of your playthrough. Moves are unlocked in the hub world and are automatically applied, but guns you need to find yourself and are limited to two equipped at a time. Chances are there is one to suit your needs varying from pistols to shotguns to laser beams.

All that said, these controls and gameplay mechanics come together to form something that feels truely fluid. Nothing feels more satisfying than dashing up to a fleet of enemies, perform a little hack and slash, dash back and take out another with a gun blast. And the game wants you to know that too with a little animation that triggers when you flawlessly clear a room that makes it a little more satisfying.

Scattered throughout this world are various collectibles -- gearbits for upgrades, keys to unlock doors, and modules to advance to new areas and bosses. A handful of these are hidden in plain sight, however, there are many carefully hidden with only minor visual queues. Discovering these locations was a pleasure in itself and usually followed with one or two collectibles.

What binds this all together is the game's artstyle. For a pixel artstyle, the game manages to pack a hefty amount of detail into the environments. The game is split into 4 areas plus the hub world. Each area has its own look and is brimming with atmosphere that tells a story of a battered past. Who knew pixellated games could look this amazing.

The game does have a few flaws -- not many, but a few worth bringing up. The worst being that some ledges appear to be walls, but actually lead to a pit. While minor, it did lead to some confused moments. The other gripe is that the new ability instructions can be a little vague on how they are executed. I'm looking at you chain dash. Fortunately the second one is remedied slightly with an area in the hub world to test our your abilities.

As a whole, Hyper Light Drifter definitely gets my recommendation. I later found out that one of the game's inspirations was Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past and it definitely shows it, albeit faster paced. This game has got a solid and satisfying combat system, collectibles that feel good to collect, and a great world to explore. Pretty sweet package if you ask me!

In summary...

The good:

• Fluid gameplay
  
• Fun enemies and bosses
  
• Satisfying collectibles

The bad:

• Some ledges are not clearly defined and appear as if they are walls

Grand Theft Auto V is certainly a very enjoyable game, however it has a few flaws that may make or break it for people.

With most of the post-launch issues ironed out, there are still a few anomolies such as high CPU usage causing world streaming problems. Anisotropic filtering also appears to be a bit off as surfaces at oblique angles can appear very blurry at times despite having it at 16 samples.

The game also has extremely poor mod support, which is unfortunate considering the creative inventions people devised in the previous iteration. As I abstained from it till I heard feedback, many players are getting banned for simple (albeit necessary) mods like an extended FOV option. This sort of response to mods is considerably counter productive towards the community as it was a driving force of the last game.

Whether they approach these issues is still up in there air, but till a satisfactory response is made the verdict stays.

- - - - -
June 2017 edit

How is it that more than 2 years have passed since I wrote this review and the game still has broken anisotropic filtering and poor mod support? The former can be fixed with tweaks, but unfortunately the latter can only be solved by firing Take-Two interactive executives. I have spent many fun hours playing this game, but I cannot forgive a game for a spiteful approach to mod content creators.

When it comes to twin stick shooters, it doesn't get any better than Geometry Wars. As a past player of all three games, Geometry Wars 3: Dimensions hits the mark and goes a mile beyond offering a very solid game on all planes. Gameplay, visuals, music and all, it has risen to my top pick of the Geometry Wars series.

The gameplay is snappy, responsive and most importantly: intense. The contents is the same as per Geometry Wars -- shoot varius geometric shaped enemies with defined characteristics in a given plane. The number and diversity of enemies increases as you fend yourself off, which will have you clenching your input device as you weave yourself around the plane. As well as an array of classic modes found in past games, Dimensions has also included a story mode.

The nature of story mode might seem a bit head scratching at first, but its execution makes it feel like a natural extension of the game's experience. Each mission tweaks the contraints of the level and offers a unique twist to the game's original gameplay. What kind of plane you play on, the enemies you may see/how they spawn, and other quirks vary from level to level, which offers some good variety. Also seen is a feature called drones which is little bot that assists you in story mode missions. This feature is a neat addition as it allows the player to change its behaviour and upgrade its abilities using points accumulated through playing missions.

Leaderboard support is also well implemented. Every mode in classic has a leaderboard as well as every single mission in story mode has its own leaderboard -- both global and friends. For anyone who loves to score attack and compete with friends or others around the globe, this game has you covered.

All in all, Geometry Wars 3: Dimensions is absolutely amazing. It takes the elements of what makes Geometry Wars immensely enjoyable then builds upon it and gives it a refreshing polish.

Notable features:
-Addictively intense gameplay
-Responsive controls
-Loads of leaderboards
-Great visual polish
-Music that fits the mood
-Online Multiplayer and Local 4 Player

Shortcomings:
-Many story mode gameplay mechanics and enemies are exclusive to that mode
-Leaderboards are not available through Steam Community web interface

Rating: pineapple/10 (aka RTFR: Read the fine review)

Source Filmmaker is an extremely powerful and extrodinary tool. It provides a wide variety of features allowing very precise control over how you want to set up your shot, varying from lighting to camera positioning to animation to sound to special effects. SFM has got all the tools needed to make a cinematic masterpiece.
The volume of buttons, sliders, and other UI elements may appear daunting at first for a sheer beginner, but learning the ropes of SFM is certainly rewarding and not fairly complicated either. Tutorials and wiki pages are aplenty and extremely helpful and informative in broadening your knowledge of SFM.