Here’s my thoughts on the last 4 of the 12 pack of games I bought recently. After this, there will just be the two I got via the grab-bag to review.
Hamsterdam. Yes, you read that right. Like Amsterdam. But with hamsters.
I had high hopes for this game. The art looked adorable and awesome, the premise of fuzz kung fu mastery always appeals to me, and I eagerly awaited trying it out.
And when I did, it seemed to be living up to my expectations…. fun, colorful, fuzzy, but…
But the controls are…. bizarre. This was clearly programmed to be an Androd/ioS type game and then ported to the PC, and the mouse is much clumsier than merely tapping and swiping on the screen.
As a result, I found the controls to be downright confounding. As far as I could tell, I was doing exactly what the onscreen instructions was telling me to do and nothing was happening, or the wrong thing happened.
And that was very frustrating, as the game seemed hella fun.
So I am not giving up on it yet. I will give it at least one more try to see if I can make the learning curve and play the dang thing.
Consider my verdict suspended until then.
Omen Exito : Plague. Here’s the official blurb from the Steam page :
Omen Exitio: Plague is inspired by the gamebooks of the ’80s and ’90s, mixing the alien and horrifying universe created by H.P. Lovecraft with an original plot and characters, all guided by your choices similar to the visual novel / CYOA genres.
Now nothing in that description said “this is a text only game” to me.
Maybe I’m just dense,. The whole “visual novel/ choose your own adventure” bit at the end should have been a pretty solid clue.
I might not have read that far.
What, me TL;DR?
However it happened, the fact remains that I had no idea it was a text game going in, and so there I was, getting increasingly impatient with this ridiculously long text intro to the game and wanting the game to start already.
Took me longer than I’d like to admit to realize this WAS the game. And when it finally dawned on me, I stopped playing.
Because that’s not a video game. It’s an enhanced eBook, and I don’t read books on screens. I read them as actual, physical books.
Screens give me eye strain. The great thing about a real book is that you are not reading it on a screen which refreshes a finite number of times per second.
You’re seeing it in reality, and its refresh rate is infinite.
And to be honest, I am old enough to be getting habit-bound, and I have read physical books for my entire life and am not looking to change that any time soon.
So, no thanks, Omen Exito. As far as I know, you might be a superb example of your genre, but it’s a genre into which I have no interest.
More after the break.
On Rusty Trails. And speaking of genres I’m not into….
You’re a cute little robot who has to navigate many dangerous hazards using only your puny little metal body and your ability to magnetize yourself to metal surfaces as you try to make it home.
There’s a whole backstory too, but whatever.
First strike against the game was that you are teeny tiny. Not just relative to your environment, relative to your screen. Your robot is squint-inducingly small, and I am not going to give myself an eye strain headache just to play your god damned game.
Secondly, it’s very visually monotonous. So, hard on the eyes more than one way. I get that all games re-use assets, but this was just screen after screen of environments made mostly of one generic brick texture, and it was so very meh.
To the point of almost being bleh.
Throw in the fact that I have played a lot of similar games and hence already done all the sawblade dodging and conveyor belt riding I ever want to do in my life, and this is a game that is definitely Not For Me.
I suppose it’s possible that it’s not as squinty on a mobile device. But I suspect it’s that way because they thought it would emphasize that he’s just one itty bitty robot in a huge dangerous unfeeling world, and screw that.
I am against all artistic decisions that make the thing harder to use.
Form follows function, dammit!
Last but far from least, Robothorium.
Humans made robots with artificial intelligence. These robots got sick of being treated like low-grade shit and sought their rights. Humans slaughtered them instead.
Man, humans suck.
This launched the robot revolution, and that’s where you come in. You lead a gang of various kinds of robots as they fight for their rights.
I’m down for that.
The game is a lot like a traditional JRPG. It’s turn based, action mostly consists of selecting an attack and a target, and the missions are all dungeon crawls.
But with the additional benefit of being science fiction and not more fucking elves.
I am enjoying this game. It has a surprisingly deep plot, the action is fun (if a bit repetitive… hello grind!), and I find commanding my robot army fun.
With this game and Super Panda Adventures, that makes two games out of the twelve from the bundle that I find to be good enough to keep playing.
Not bad for around $7 CDN. Plus I had the fun of trying out various games, and that’s fun even though I ended up not liking most of them.
Stay tuned for my reviews of Hue and Iron Fisticle.
Got to admit, pretty curious about that second one.
Did the bandage replace thing today. Still no freaking socks. Wondering if the lady who took my measurements was even paying attention.
Eventually I will just take this fucking bandage off and shower.
Right now, the only thing keeping me from doing it is the prospect of ended up having a stroke out of impatience.
But one of these days….
I will talk to you nice people again tomorrow,.