REVIEW / A Short Hike (Switch)

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REVIEW / A Short Hike (Switch)

 

When I booted up Adam Robinson-Yu’s A Short Hike for the first time, I was hoping for a relaxing game that I could become pleasantly addicted to for a few hours. Wow did this game deliver. The story is simple. While visiting a relative on a small island, Claire is waiting for an important phone call and learns that the best place for cell phone reception is at the top of a mountain. Her journey to the top includes a number of memorable interactions with the other inhabitants of the island, leading to a number of pleasant distractions.

 

 

I was delighted to discover a refreshing twist while playing a mini game of “beachstickball.” After explaining the basic commands, the mini game simply starts. With 30 years of video game experience in me, I tried to figure out every way possible to spike the ball or outsmart my opponent in order to score a point. After eventually failing, it was revealed that this was actually a co-op game, with the goal of achieving a certain number of volleys. Not only that, but I then found out that we had already exceeded our goal. What a refreshing change of pace that characterized the overall spirit of A Short Hike.

Gameplay focuses on exploration and seemingly draws inspiration from The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Claire can run, jump, fly and climb, all of which are regulated by a stamina system. Claire increases her stamina by collecting golden feathers. These can be obtained by buying them, finding them and performing side quests. The player can only reach the summit after having found a certain number of feathers.

 

 

At first, I thought I would be annoyed by the absence of both a map and sidequest checklists. Within about a half hour of play, I realized that the lack of these systems encourages the player to more intimately learn about the island and its inhabitants. In this regard, the game is the perfect size, as the lack of these systems generally suits this smaller experience.

A Short Hike displays a unique art style that suits it perfectly. All of the island inhabitants are pixelated animals, reminiscent of Animal Crossing. The overall visual effect is simple yet charming and meshes nicely with the music and vibe of the game.

 

 

The audio design is outstanding. The soundtrack, created by Mark Sparling, has been perfectly crafted for the experience. I particularly enjoyed the audio effects. The sound of picking up coins and feathers freezing were a couple of my favorites.

The dialogue stands out in a big way. The conversations between characters are contemporary, witty and often hilarious. I actually laughed out loud several times and looked forward to each interaction. Speaking to the same character several times offers additional rewards, as they each have about 3-4 different pieces of dialogue before they begin to repeat.

 

 

Though not game breaking by any stretch, I did wrestle with the camera from time to time. The view is isomeric and I feel that I would have learned the ins and outs of the island quicker had I had full control of the camera. The isometric camera creates a more lateral feel for the island, while full control of the camera would have allowed for an improved understanding of where things are on one side of the island in relation to the other side. 

Also, the argument can be made that this game can be beaten rather quickly if the player were to rush through it, though I doubt anyone that enjoys this type of game would race to the top of the mountain anyway. Do I wish this game was a little longer? Sure. Though part of the charm is replaying the game, reliving the dialogue with the other inhabitants and learning the island inside and out.

 

 

A Short Hike is a wonderful experience that was clearly crafted with love and intention. It is one of the few games that I beat and immediately started replaying. Robinson-Yu has created sheer magic with this title and the experience is something I plan on reliving at least once a summer. A Short Hike begs to be played on a lazy Sunday with a nice glass of lemonade by your side!

 

 

 

This review is based on a retail copy of the game provided by the developer.

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REVIEW / BPM: BULLETS PER MINUTE (PC)

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REVIEW / BPM: BULLETS PER MINUTE (PC)

 

Rhythm games are a niche genre that seems to be clawing for survival here in the West. After the meteoric rise, slow fall, and failed attempt at the resurrection of the band simulating Guitar Hero and Rock Band, rhythm games have not been able to come anywhere close to reclaiming that level of popularity. To do so, they have attempted to innovate on the genre in various ways. Whether it be dancing, racing, top-down RPGs, VR, and, now, rogue-like FPS through BPM: BULLETS PER MINUTE.

 

BPM features great enemy design and very impressive AI all revolving around the beat.

 

After choosing from a handful of different Valkyries that function as different starting loadouts, players fight through seven procedurally generated levels to reach a gauntlet of bosses and final boss at the end. Each level has multiple variations that can be randomly applied, as well as a boss at the end with a similar selection of variations that modify their behavior, move sets, damage, etc. Throughout a run players build an arsenal of guns, abilities, and equipment while leveling up stats via donations to statues scattered throughout the levels. It all is pretty standard for a rogue-like.

Where BPM is different is in its rhythm based mechanics. Each level has a metal track that accompanies and dictates the rhythm the player needs to obey. Through a HUD element that collapses towards the player’s reticle at all times marking the beats and off-beats of the music, players must time all of their actions with it. Most guns can only shoot on the beat or off-beat, while players can also only dash and use other abilities on the beats. Even reloading requires a number of well-timed button presses to complete the multiple stages of each reload.

 

BPM also has various challenge runs to unlock with a variety of different implications, like super pixelated visuals.

 

This injection of rhythm mechanics proves to be a breath of fresh air. The added layer of keeping track of the beat on top of the DOOM-like arenas and the required tight dance of inputs adds a thick layer of difficulty and newly required skill that is very rewarding to learn and become familiar with. To help with this there are a few settings to balance the learning curve. Not only is there an easy and hard setting for each run, but players are also able to adjust how lenient or harsh the restrictions on matching the rhythm are, even going so far as to let the game automatically time their inputs with the rhythm, although this disables the score multiplier you build for consecutive well-timed inputs.

And the score is the main feature encouraging multiple playthroughs. While playing through to try and discover everything available to the player is rewarding enough on its own, BPM seeks to be a high score chasers happy place. With the score constantly shedding points as player’s navigate the levels, a prominent emphasis on building the multiplier, a high skill ceiling, and a variety of ways to race through the levels with different builds, BPM is built to be practiced towards the goal of mastery. High scores, fast completion times, runs with stringent limitations are on the field, and there is plenty of potential here for a dedicated community to flourish, especially if future updates are in store.

 

BPM has some great atmosphere supported by the great soundtrack and solid aesthetic.

 

Where BPM is lacking is in the layers above the core gameplay experience. Admittedly able to be added in through updates post launch, BPM suffers most in the area of its absent story and lack of statistical information. Other than the brief description stating that the player is attempting to prevent monsters from escaping the underworld and invading Asgard there is nothing as far as any world or story. Even that basic description is absent in the game and only found in the marketing.

The lack of any meaningful stats tracking also leaves a noticeably large hole in BPM, especially when it seems so determined to appeal to those who want to play it repeatedly in pursuit of out performing their previous bests. A simple stat page in the main menu that displays various information about best runs, aggregate numbers of a player’s performance, and other tracked tidbits of information would go a long way to make the repeated runs through the game feel a bit more fruitful since there is nothing more to unlock after getting all of the Valkyries. It would be more than possible to add in a post launch update, but it is sorely missed here at launch.

 

A boss fight that you will become very familiar with, featuring one of my favorite weapons in the game.

 

BPM: BULLETS PER MINUTE accomplishes what it sets out to do remarkably well, especially with the limited resources that its small development team undoubtedly had. While it may not be for everybody, and there are some pieces missing that would go a long way to flesh out the experience, BPM will service a very specific audience exceptionally well. Offering a new way to play with a highly rewarding learning curve and a skill ceiling above the clouds, I only hope that it will find the audience that will appreciate it as much as it deserves.

 

 

 

This review is based on a retail copy of the game provided by the publisher.

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Dark Fracture is looming

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Dark Fracture is looming

You can always tell when it’s coming to that time of year again. We slowly start seeing news about horror games popping up all over the place. If you’re a horror fan, this is will obviously put you right in your element and you’ll no doubt be calling for more. Being the kind soul that I am, I shall endeavor to quench a little of that thirst for the scary and macabre. The game is called Dark Fracture and it’s due to enter Early Access next February. It’s nice to have a bit of advanced info, though, so let’s give you something to look forward to.

 

 

What instantly makes Dark Fracture appealing is it’s a psychological horror game. Psychological horror is usually the stuff that’s devoid of jump scares but makes you wet yourself, have night terrors for months, and end up in therapy. I am not even a bit of a horror junky but if I really want to torture myself I’m going to pick up something like this over say … Five Nights at Freddy’s any day. Cause why give myself a nasty scare when I can do some really long-term damage?

Set in an isolated forest in rural USA at some point in the 90s, Dark Fracture is a first-person experience that will have you treading the fine line between reality and utter madness.

You will be placed in the shoes of Edward; a body farm employee with a pained past. The only thing that helps you get through the day is the medicine you have to take. Living in isolation is not doing anything for your mental state or your ability to deal with your personal issues, either. The only other thing truly anchoring you to reality is your job, but things are simmering and you may well be nearing the breaking point.

One night while working the midnight shift Edward encounters a series of events that threaten to tip him over the edge. As he feels reality beginning to warp and twist, the cruel hand of fate might just be pulling him towards disaster.

In Dark Fracture, your choices will be all-important as you try and escape a horrific past that might not be as far behind you as you thought. Trapped between a world of horrors inspired by the works of ones such as H.R. Giger and the unkind reality of the body farm, madness might not be too far away.

As it’s so early on, we’re not being given a massive amount of info on what to expect of Dark Fracture as of yet. As I mentioned earlier, this little trip down terror lane will be a first-person affair. We also know decision making will be vital, so this is going to tax the old gray matter. Lastly and very importantly, you can expect procedurally generated events. Not knowing what to expect on any given playthrough is always brilliant for a horror game, so plenty to look forward to there.

This could be a really good way to punish your underwear and screw with your nerves. If you think you want a new reason to meet your therapist, Dark Fracture might be an excellent way to do it.

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REVIEW / Samurai Jack: Battle Through Time (X1)

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REVIEW / Samurai Jack: Battle Through Time (X1)

 

Samurai Jack is a cartoon unlike any other. With four seasons rated TV-Y7 from the early 2000s and a fifth rated TV-14 from 2017, the show takes a visually beautiful approach to telling the story of a samurai sent to the distant future when the known galaxy has been conquered by the god of evil Aku. Told through visually beautiful and creative episodes, subtle writing that explores themes of morality, justice, kinship, destiny, and many others while sprinkling in plenty of moments of levity, every episode of Samurai Jack is something special. So, how does the new game, awkwardly released three years after the show’s sudden resurrection, fare?

 

Battle Through Time attempts to span the entire breadth of the series while adding in a few new locations as well

 

This is not Samurai Jack‘s first foray into the world of gaming. With the underwhelming The Amulet of Time for the Gameboy Advanced, the clumsy The Shadow of Aku on GameCube and Playstation 2, and the barebones Back to the Past board game, Samurai Jack‘s efforts have been unsuccessful to say the least. So, as an obvious fan of the show, I waited for the release of Battle Through Time with bated breath. And I am happy to say that it is, for the most part, a successful translation.

Developed by fledgling studio Soleil, developers of the Nintendo Switch Splatoon look-alike Ninjala and Naruto to Boruto: Shinobi Striker, Battle Through Time aims to deliver a canon story told in a Devil May Cry-esque action game. Unfortunately, the story is Battle Through Time‘s weakest component. Awkwardly sandwiched in the middle of the final episode of the series, players follow Jack as he is forced into a place between time by Aku where he must combat iconic adversaries across nine levels set in familiar locations.

 

You will come across plenty of familiar characters, although they may not be the ones you would expect

 

For a show that explores as many concepts as it does, the game’s story is a terrible disappointment in how little of it there is. Each level has a small narrative within it that is comprised of Jack fighting through an area to find an amulet to break and move on to the next level, and that is really it. Most of the classic characters one would expect to come across are woefully absent, and the short interactions the player does have with familiar characters are short and unimpactful, seemingly only aiming to wink at players familiar with the show and say “Ah, remember this episode don’t you?”

This is worsened by the second worst aspect of the game: the cinematics. Battle Through Time‘s graphics are nothing revolutionary, but while in motion it serves its purpose well enough. The environments and many of the animations feel faithful to the source material and are visually interesting even on subsequent playthroughs. However, once the cinematics rear their heads, usually at the start of a level and before and after the obligatory boss fights at the end, the uglier aspects of the game’s composition become dogmatically apparent.

 

Battle Through Time manages to stay faithful to the source material as much as possible

 

The facial animations are shoddy at best. Scenes are often awkward due to a lack of music or backing track. Animations seem stiff and dated. It is almost enough to send the player reeling from the whiplash of quality difference between the gameplay they were just engaged with and the cutscene they are tapping their foot to try and hurry it up.

This is very disappointing as a huge fan of the series, but the gameplay makes up for what the story and cinematics lack. Like the large majority of action games, a level in Battle Through Time is constructed by a series of delicately planned encounters of a steadily rotating ensemble of enemies. To combat them, Jack is equipped with his iconic magic sword as well as a handful of different spears, clubs, hammers, and his fists. Any weapons other than the magic sword and Jack’s fists have durability meters, which are important to deplete in order to get a small dropping of bushido spirit – one of three currencies used to progress through Jack’s three skill trees.

 

 

Each class of weapons have certain enemy types or situations that they flourish it, but any of them are more than capable in any situation. This arsenal is supported by a surprising addition, ranged weapons. Through a selection of throwing weapons such as shuriken and throwing knives, bows with different types of arrows, and, perhaps most surprisingly, guns. However, ranged weapons will not become a staple in your arsenal until playing on the higher two difficulty levels samurai master and master of masters.

The difficulty levels, of which there are four with the fourth being unlocked after being the game on its hard difficulty equivalent, can be punishing towards the end of the game but facilitate multiple playthroughs excellently. With each difficulty changing the encounters at a compositional level while also adding more advanced moves to each enemy’s move set, allowing players to cherry pick levels to replay and continually work on their builds and inventory, and the satisfying combat, playing through the healthy ten hour story multiple times is consistently engaging and invigorating.

 

There is a variety of locations you will travel across, mixed up even further by the game sporadically changing between third-person and side-scrolling

 

As I mentioned earlier, Jack has three skill trees that players can progress through at their leisure. To do so players gather spirit, which is dropped by enemies, rewarded for completing challenges, and can be found by smashing everything in every room possible – a bona fide videogame staple. However, progress through the skill trees is hampered by most higher level skills requiring the previously reference bushido spirit and different gems as well as the base spirit to unlock them.

For the most part, the unlocks are meaningful with some being absolutely necessary, here’s looking at you ‘counter’ and ‘jump good’, while only a few are not very useful. The skill trees are very well designed. They steadily increase the player’s options when approaching combat scenarios while granting more than mere invisible stat upgrades that makes bigger numbers appear on the screen.

 

 

It is incredibly easy to recommend Samurai Jack: Battle Through Time. For both fans of the show and fans of action games, Battle Through Time offers a package that generously matches its $40 price point. The combat is satisfying, the experience is universally enjoyable, and the game offers a high skill ceiling that gives the player plenty of room for expression and offers a ton of game to experience. It may not be a perfect game, but it is more than a huge fan of the show like me could hope for.

 

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REVIEW / Helheim Hassle (PC)

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REVIEW / Helheim Hassle (PC)

 

Limbs are useful things. They make life easier when you want to get around, pick things up, or remove them, and throw them at people you don’t like. No? Well no, maybe not the last one but you have to admit if you could pull your arm off and use it to get to those spots that are just out of reach it would be a bit handy. In Helheim Hassle, the slightly mad-cap puzzler I’ve been playing of late you can do just this. You can also remove your head. This creates its own set of questions about your mortality that we’ll hopefully be answering in just a little bit. The more pressing query for the moment, though, is as to whether it’s any good. Let’s see, shall we?

 

Who needs clever tools when you can just toss your own limbs around?

 

So being a Viking means battle and lots of it. All of these tussles and downright bloody brawls are leading to one thing; your spot in Valhalla. Valhalla isn’t your average heaven. If you don’t like fighting you’re screwed because you’re going to be doing a lot of it, forever. If you happen not to have psychopathic tendencies and might want to have a bit of a rest when you die, or even better just not get hacked to death in the first place; being a Viking probably isn’t the best vocation.

In Helheim Hassle your protagonist, Bjorn, is facing just this predicament. in his case, running in the opposite direction to everyone else when the giants come knocking seems like a great idea. What is less of a good idea is falling to his death. Even worse, killing a bear on the way down means he’s defeated it in single-handed combat and is bound for the eternal battlefield anyway. All he want to do is to go to Helheim. When the Viking hell is a better choice than the Viking heaven your life is pretty tragic.

 

Meet Baldur. Bit of an ego but a fairly nice guy … oh … and he owns a gym.

 

Helheim Hassle is genre-bending in the most excellent way. Firstly and foremost this is a puzzle/platform game. You have to use Bjorn’s disassembled body parts to throw switches, mount pressure pads, and surpass a series of other clever brain-teasers. Bjorn’s body can’t get everywhere so you’ll need to throw his limbs and head to reach those areas in its stead.

If it were just this premise Helheim Hassle would be fun and novel but not necessarily enough to warrant huge review scores. What makes this title really stand out is it’s point and click elements. Now, this isn’t a point and click adventure but some of the puzzles you face seem to require a bit of the same sort of thinking you’d apply to one and this really ramps up the experience as a whole. Add a brilliant story and you’ve got a neat little package.

 

You’ll need to think creatively to surpass all the challenges.

 

Helheim Hassle is a very plot-heavy game. Not in the visual novel sense but more in the way that point and click adventures of old relied on a good story to carry them. The characters you meet are likable and the script is funny. If you have a dark sense of humor I really think you’ll get a kick out of the antics that you and your friend Pesto will be getting involved in.

The character’s in Helheim Hassle are very well written. Whether it be bureaucratic goblins or egomaniacal gods there is a lot to fall in love with. There’s also a talking door. She’s less likable but being the guardian to the underworld is going to make you salty at best so there’s a good reason. Lastly on this point don’t expect the obvious. This game is Norse mythology if it were brought bang up to date. Odin, as an example, is a bit of a dick whatever timeline you put him in but in the current one, he’s picked up quite a familiar hobby.

 

 

My biggest (and only real) bugbear is the control system. This is a mix of WASD and arrow commands, and it can feel a bit unwieldy at times. The WASD keys are for your movement and those of your various appendages whereas the arrows select the appendages you want to detach and use. The problem is it’s rather easy to forget what’s moving.

A number of times I found myself doing the wrong thing because the wrong bit of Bjorn was selected. This isn’t a major gripe because you can’t die in Helheim Hassle but it feels a bit fiddly and clunky trying to get everything to flow which can make what should be a really fun experience frustrating at times. To make a fair comment, I was playing with the keyboard. I think that the controls on a pad would probably feel more comfortable and this is a console release too so I’m trying not to hate on them too much.

 

These two will do anything for a song.

 

The puzzles in Helheim Hassle are varied and well thought out. In essence, there is a theme of getting part A to point B but this is needed for flow. The levels make the puzzles feel different enough to make you want to keep going. One said conundrum, for instance, has your leg bouncing about in Fafnir’s stomach. It’s still puzzle/platforming but it’s very cleverly implemented.

Speaking of clever, this isn’t just about how you interact with your limbs. In Helheim Hassle you’ll need to use your limbs in conjunction with each other to pass various obstacles. To give you an example … your leg might be able to move fast and jump high but it isn’t going to be doing any climbing. If you use your leg and arm together, however, suddenly you can run, jump and grab onto things. Getting the right combination of extremities is going to be the key to victory. Something else you need to remember and this should be obvious but is relatively easy to forget sometimes, is that to talk you need your head. Your head, however, doesn’t necessarily need to be attached to your body to accomplish this task.

 

The levels are cartoony and beautifully drawn out

 

Graphically, Helheim Hassle is beautifully drawn. The scenes and characters are colorful, cartoony and retro for all the right reasons. The 2D style that’s been chosen has a very 90s feel to it and anything that evokes fond memories gets a great big “A” in my book. There’s something a little bit Monkey Island to the visuals and I mean this as a massive compliment.

If you love a good puzzler there’s absolutely no reason why you shouldn’t enjoy Helheim Hassle. I’ve just been playing through the main story path but aside from your quest, there’s lots to pick up, find, and collect. I could see other areas I couldn’t get to or just deliberately skipped for time reasons. Knowing that there’s more to this game than the primary objective, (which is great by the way,) adds replayability and elevates Helheim Hassle further. It’s definitely getting a dismembered thumbs up from me.

 

 

 

This review is based on a retail copy of the game provided by the publisher.

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TVGB Riftwatch becomes divine with Journey of the Gods

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TVGB Riftwatch becomes divine with Journey of the Gods

 

I’ve played as a lot of things in the many episodes of TVGB ViveStream and TVGB Riftwatch: a giant monster, a robot repairman, a spy, an eagle, and a space pilot just to name a few. But in this episode, we’re going a step beyond all of that, because we’re playing Journey of the Gods! This VR action-adventure game lets you take on the power of a god for a limited time, adding tree growth and lightning strikes (just as a start) to the typical sword/bow gameplay we looked at Vanishing Realms in one of our earliest episodes. The unique art style stands out most, but you’ll have to watch the video to see if it’s actually fun. You can check it out below:

 

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REVIEW / Battletoads (XO)

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REVIEW / Battletoads (XO)

 

I never played the original Battletoads back in the day; it was before my time. And when I did eventually learn about the series, I didn’t give it much thought. That is, until the closely-timed releases of Rare Replay and Rash’s appearance in Killer Instinct. With the former including the much better-looking arcade game, this is how I learned about the appearances and personalities of the toads, and I really liked what I saw. Now the Toads are back with something a little bit different.

The original Battletoads was a side-scrolling beat-em-up, and the new game is the same…sort of. This time, developer Dlala Studios took the series’ history of unusual levels to the extreme, to the point that you really only spend half the game (maybe even less) brawling. But before I get to that, the beat-em-up sections are excellent. There are enough moves and variations to keep combat interesting, without it becoming too confusing. Even more importantly for me, though, is that the characters and environments are interesting enough to motivate players; it isn’t just an endless throng of enemies until you reach the end. Each Battletoad also plays a bit differently, and you can easily swap between them as part of a combo if there aren’t three players. More or less matching the arcade game, Zits is quick, Pimple is slower but packs a more powerful punch, and Rash is somewhere in between. Their different morph moves makes it fun to use all of them, as each one is unique and fitting of the character. 

As with previous games in this series, the action is broken up by a number of different types of levels beyond the basic brawling. This is something I particularly appreciate, as I tend to get bored of this sort of game pretty quickly. Rare and Dlala Studios have outdone themselves in the modern version of Battletoads, including non-combat platforming levels, bullet hell levels, vehicle levels based on dodging obstacles, and several more. I was excited about this at first, but my feelings changed when I learned that the game is surprisingly short; it only took me a couple of afternoons to finish. The second half of the game features not even one regular beat-em-up stage. While I love the variety, Battletoads fans are expecting a brawler with some fun alternate level styles, and that is definitely not what we have here. To be clear, all of the game styles are fun (though some get a little bit tedious after a while), and the difficulty options mean that I was able to get through the game without dealing with the punishing difficulty of the original. But I would have liked the game to be at least a bit longer, and with more “traditional” stages, especially as there isn’t that much replay value here. The only reason to replay it would be (if you’re playing co-op) to try a different character.

Speaking of the characters, it’s the Battletoads themselves (and the writing in general) that really elevate this soft reboot and give it any sort of replay value for a single player. This is the first game in the series with voice acting and animated cutscenes, and the developers used them super well. I actually laughed out loud a few times while playing, as not just the ‘toads but all of the characters show off their over-the-top personalities. Even the Dark Queen, the relatively generic villain from the classic games, is now a much funnier and more interesting character. The bright, cartoonish graphics fit well with this setting, though sometimes all the different sorts of aliens get a bit confusing. There’s also not much story here, but the point of the writing is to focus more on characters and interactions than on the plot. The game is self-aware about this (and a number of other things), so I appreciate that, at least. Rash, in particular, seems not to have much of a fourth wall.

Whether you mastered the punishing NES version or have never heard of the series before, Battletoads is a something new, and so it won’t affect your experience too much. If you have Game Pass and a less than subtle sense of humor, you should play Battletoads. The gameplay, while not exactly what anyone hoped for, still works very well. The story justifies each style of play, and the visuals are more enticing than you’d think. But given the short length of the game, it’s hard to say whether it’s worth your $20. To me, it definitely is, but I’m also the kind of person that this sort of comedy and variety significantly appeal to. Even if it isn’t for everyone, though, it’s still a triumphant return for the long-dormant series, and I hope we see more full-on Battletoads games in the future. After all, these cameos are killing Rash.

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