Brutal Legend
My rating: 7+/10
Based on: one 100% complete SP campaign on Brütal difficulty + MP boosting with a partner and solo grinding
TL;DR: An homage to heavy metal and a peculiar, if mediocre blend of a 3rd person hack-and-slash with a sandbox world and RTS-lite mechanics. Excelling in art direction and soundtrack, but bogged down by the gameplay design choices and console controls, it can make you hum, finger drum and fist pump in a mosh-pit-like excitement or bang your head in gloomy frustration. Fun enough to play on your own, but the MP is pretty much dead without friends. Brutal, perhaps, metal, definitely, but not enough to rock my world.
– Real player with 48.2 hrs in game
Read More: Best Great Soundtrack Open World Games.
Brütal Legend, a game about Jack Black being Jack Black in a fantasy world full of metal. Metal as in, the musical genre, and the element as well (since there are many metal-based things on this world!). Now, for a more serious introduction, Brütal Legend is an action-adventure game (of the hack and slash variety) mixed in with some slight RTS elements. While at first it might seem like an odd combination, actually makes a pretty entertaining game.
The story follows Eddie Riggs, a roadie for a metal band who, after a terrible accident, gets transported to a fantasy world inspired by heavy metal, with fantastic creatures, and an evil overlord attempting to dominate it. Along the way, Eddie discovers not only that he gets awesome powers through music, but meets up with many interesting characters, some of them based on real-life heavy metal legends (and even voiced by them). Even though I wouldn’t call metal one of my favourite genres, this game certainly manages to create an amazing world from it (and it actually made me enjoy metal a lot more!). Anyway, the main goal is to put a stop to Lord Doviculus' plans, who wishes to enslave humanity and dominate the world.
– Real player with 47.5 hrs in game
Mindless Running
Mindless Runner in a really hard and frustrating endless runner where most of the jumps has to be pixel perfect.
I am personnally a huge Endless Runner player, but this one was something else..
It took me around 2 hours to complete and it was a real pain in the arse.
The game is also filled with bugs of every kinds. For example: There’s a level in the endless run mode that transformed me into the pig character several times. Or that when I die, I somehow return to the character selection screen. There was also that weird thing that happened to me two times; when I select the story mode option, it asks me in which language I want to play the story mode, but at first I couldn’t choose the English language, I was forced to play the first chapters in Russian.
– Real player with 13.2 hrs in game
Read More: Best Great Soundtrack Difficult Games.
EDIT: I GOT ALL THE FUCKING ACHIEVEMENTS
If you thought Geometry Dash was hard…..think again. This game is hard but satisfying. I nearly broke my controller on several occasions playing in free mode.
Thoughts.
The game for it’s price is well worth it, it gives you the choice of playing in free mode or in story mode.
In freemode you play for points in an endless level which is quite difficult, everytime you die you respawn in a different level, this gives freemode some variety.
In storymode you have to find the character’s grandma through different worlds. 5 levels(I think) which all have a unique “HARD” obstacle which will probably require a few tries to perfect.
– Real player with 12.6 hrs in game
Armikrog
This game is actually not as bad as most reviews state it is. Though coming from a Neverhood fan, it has its pitfalls.
First off, let’s start with the game’s artistic features. The claymation style is rather wonderful to look at, fitting with Armikrog’s whimsical style (like the Neverhood). It was pleasing to hear Terry Taylor return to make the soundtrack, albeit taking a more “earthy” and electronic turn than the blues and Dixie soundtrack he wrote for the Neverhood. Despite the musical shift, the music is still great to listen to through levels. Last but not least, the return of the near-entire staff who made the original game. Tennapel and several of the original members coming on board again truly helped make this game amazing. Most of the quirky humor was still prevalent with the characters and situations, from many of the game’s writers. Those aspects helped shape the experience to be enjoyable.
– Real player with 16.1 hrs in game
Read More: Best Great Soundtrack Puzzle Games.
This review contains spoilers, mostly from The Neverhood
I don’t know how many attempts at writing this review I’ve had before. And to be honest, I still don’t entirely know how I feel about this game - but I’ll do my best to express all that comes to my mind.
Let me start by saying that The Neverhood is my ultimate favourite game. As in, for me it’s an absolute perfection, a masterpiece among games, my favourite game ever since I first played it as a ~6-year-old.
The Neverhood has everything.
– Real player with 8.1 hrs in game
Far Cry 3 - Blood Dragon
grant bought me this game for my 3rd birthday and i just recently learned to type so thank grant for the game goodnight
– Real player with 13.4 hrs in game
better then the actual far cry 3
(gottem)
– Real player with 11.1 hrs in game
Orion Trail
I have left the original review below. As the game has now been released, this is what I now think of it:
It’s really good!
All the extra content added since I last played it (life has been busy, so over a month ago!) really shows. The game is far better balanced, more polished, and it feels complete. The devs are still on top of things, making changes based on feedback, which is an extra point in my book. I am especially loving the added random encounters, which really add flavour to the game.
– Real player with 9.7 hrs in game
This game is a riot. I was unsure about it at first due to the early negative reviews, but some of the more recent positive ones indicate that the developers are taking public criticism and suggestions to heart and improving the game. So, I decided to buy it and I’m sure glad I did.
The game is very Oregon Trail meets Star Trek, minus the educational aspects OT and with lots of humor that (at times) pokes fun at ST. Basically, you fly through space as the captain of a ship, exploring the galaxy and encountering lots of interesting challenges. Unlike some space games that are mostly combat, Orion Trail is more of an adventure game and the challenges you face can be anything from problems with your ship and crew to encounters with other ships and space born life to planets that need exploring. The randomness and variety of encounters and ways you can try to deal with them add to the fun and replay value. The writing is very clever and funny and is full of hilarious Sci Fi inspired things. There are a few typos, but nothing too bad.
– Real player with 8.4 hrs in game
Race Race Racer
Played 4 hours in this game. In principle, a very fun toy. Adds a couple of hours. Your main task is to drive on a bibik.
– Real player with 29.2 hrs in game
It’s like a really good, really fun, colorful, loud 80’s arcade game, complete with “period” electronic arcade music. You would have blown at least $50 in quarters on this one back in the day. The game is so old skool that you can practically smell the stale smoke, the cheap perfume of the mall ratz, and the foul hygiene of the arcade attendant. Turn the lamps low, switch on some black lights, and have a HUGE amount of fun.
– Real player with 7.0 hrs in game
The Journey Down: Chapter Three
I’m not entirely sure where to categorize this and thus got very mixed feelings about the game in and of itself.
The Journey Down: Chapter Three starts off very strong (in my opinion). It’s the same characters we know and love, doing silly things and having a laugh at it. Just like in the previous episodes.
We finally find our ‘heroes’ in the Underland and about 20 minutes later, we’re back in St. Armando. Considering that the game is about 3 to 4 hours long, being in the Underland for this short is kind of a shame. Ofcourse, the player goes back there after a while, but again… It’s very short and feels more of an afterthought than an actual part of the story.
– Real player with 8.5 hrs in game
I first discovered The Journey Down back in 2010 when the first chapter was released. I absolutely loved the story and plot set up, Bwana and Kito were loveable and adorable characters, and I was so disappointed that I had to wait for the continuation. Then comes 2014 and Chapter 2 hits Steam. I’m beyond excited and eagerly make my way through the entire game, absolutely thrilled by the plot, fantasic soundtrack, and wonderful gameplay. Watching the credits roll for Chapter 2 made me so excited for the conclusion to this epic series. Sometime after playing Chapter 2, life took over, and I fogot about the series…until Steam notified me that TJD3 was available from my Wishlist.
– Real player with 6.9 hrs in game
World’s Fastest Pizza
As an Australian, I feel that it is my solemn duty to leave a review for this game. World’s Fastest Pizza is an entertaining game with a fun gameplay loop of delivering pizzas amid all kinds of chaos and destruction. It depicts some of the often ridiculed aspects of contemporary Aussie culture, but even if you don’t get all the references there is plenty of over the top action to fall back on. If you enjoy the work of The Chaser and other Australian satirists, then you will probably get a kick out of this game – see the trailers on the store page for what I mean. World’s Fastest Pizza has a crude sense of humour that may not be for everyone, but it doesn’t punch down.
– Real player with 2.3 hrs in game
This review may be read in full below or you can view the review with glorious formatting and pictures in the Early Evaluation originally posted on Vox Ludicus - Review: World’s Fastest Pizza
Key provided by the developer
I know what you’re thinking. A serious review on this game? That is a recipe for disaster, kinda like electing Tony Abbott. ‘World’s Fastest Pizza’ is a high speed rogue-like comedy game about delivering pizza to the hungry customers of a sleazy fast-food restaurant. Developed by Oscar Brittain, you play as Tortoiseman, who also works under the alias of Cornelius Pretorius. Aside from winning the naming lottery, the game’s protagonist also has the prestige of working at fast-food restaurant in the outbacks of Australia.
– Real player with 2.2 hrs in game
A Vampyre Story
A starting note that the play time does not reflect game length or completion time as I often leave games running whilst off doing other things.
A Vampyre Story is a fun point and click game that whilst not breaking any moulds of the genre it’s characters and dialogue I thought were witty and memorable and had me laughing out loud a fair few times. It also looks good, but the animations can sometimes ‘stick’ shall we say, although this is not a big issue.
Any fans of P&C’s will not be diasapointed in what this has to offer, although not the most challenging game out there, the puzzles aren’t ludicrously obscure as they can be in some other titles and range from simple to medium difficulty.
– Real player with 46.4 hrs in game
I picked this game up when it first came out on disc and I regretted never finishing it. I was thrilled that it showed up on Steam and I’m very happy my memories of the game weren’t just nostalgia, it’s very fun and polished. The tone and puzzles are reminiscent of classic LucasArts games and the art is top notch, even by today’s cartoon game standards.
Some have not liked the voice of Mona, the main protagonist. It is high pitched and I can see how it could annoy folks but I thought it fit and didn’t mind.
– Real player with 18.3 hrs in game
Full Throttle Remastered
I first knew about Full Throttle back in its release year of 1995. I thought it would be an interesting game to try because I was aware that it is an adventure game about bikers. However, I never got the chance to play it. In 2017 Full Throttle Remastered was released on Steam, so I had renewed interest in this game.
The 1995 version of Full Throttle was pixelated point-and-click adventure whereas the remastered version is 3D, but you can switch between the pixelated version and the 3D version at any time. The game is an interactive tale told through a biker’s perspective; a biker named Ben. From the start, I felt like the game was a great way to experience gaming in the point-and-click adventure genre.
– Real player with 14.4 hrs in game
My rating: 8/10
Based on: one full playthrough
Full disclosure: As with many LucasArts adventure video games, I played the Windows original around the turn of the century on my first home PC and I still have fond memories of it.
Pros:
(+) a high-octane main story set in a gritty near-future alternate-history universe, following Ben, a tough and gruff biker gang leader, as he gets mixed up in murder, corporate and vehicular warfare, and other manly exploits
(+) a motley crew of larger-than-life and memorable supporting characters like the elusive love interest Mo and the fiendish antagonist Adrian Ripburger
– Real player with 6.6 hrs in game