Enter the Gungeon Review

Warning: We play every game until the end before making our review... That said, we couldn't beat Enter the Gungeon. =/

Enter the Gungeon is a pixelated bullet hell dungeon crawler following a band of misfits seeking to shoot, loot, dodge roll and table-flip their way to personal absolution by reaching the legendary Gungeon’s ultimate treasure: the gun that can kill the past.

Our best run, died on boss @4th floor!

Gameplay is very simple, you will move around shooting everything on sight and you can dodge roll to evade bullets. Also, there are tables around most rooms that you can flip for some temporary cover. Although straight forward, the game gets extremely chaotic, requiring fast reflexes, precise planning, resource management, and quick adaptation to ever changing conditions... It almost feels like life itself.

Chest with a rare double drop!

As you progress through the Gungeon you will find keys and chests. They will award you new weapons, items or passive buffs (like extra life). There are many, many guns in this game. Some more useful than others, but since you get them at random luck plays an important factor. Your goal is to reach the 5th stage and beat the final boss before meeting your doom. Easier said than done. Other than that, every time you defeat a floor boss you will get some cash that you can spend at the entrance of the Gungeon to unlock new weapons, items and passives. This unlocks are added to your drop table, you don't get them for your run.

Only a crazy person would run
a shop in a place like this!

As you clear rooms you will acquire what appears to be golden bullets. These golden objects can be used to buy some random resources at this crazy shop keeper that runs his business inside the Gungeon. His prices increase the further down you go, making early purchases more worthy while.

Great soundtrack, good art and non stop action is sure to keep you entertained. Unfortunately one of the things that we don't get to use as much as we wanted are the guns. Being random and requiring chest finds, you get little play time with your favorites. Item descriptions also varies wildly. Some are very descriptive, others not even close. We strongly feel like some auxiliary systems like the ones in Crypt of the Necrodancer that allows for temporary buffs would allow for more exploration while making the game easier for those that, well, just can't beat it.

That said, Enter the Gungeon is a great game with lot of flavor that is worth your time and money! Just beware that it is hard, and it makes no intention of slowing down for your own sake. There are also myths of legendary secrets that lie in the Gungeon, that only those who have mastered it will find... Well, hope you are that one!

May your gun be swift!

Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance Review

Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance is a third person action game, where you take on militarized cyborgs in order to bring justice with your sword.

Slicing cubes open in the Tutorial

Gameplay is not very complex, you can move and jump around while cutting enemies down with your sword. There are some combos you can perform, but nothing fancy. Most of the time you will be pressing the attack button repeatedly until the enemies hit the "K.O." point, where you can move into this slow-motion samurai style slicing to dismember your opponents. You can also block attacks if you time it correctly and once you have access to secondary weapons you can use them too, although they are not as effective as your sword.

Body enhancements.

As you progress through the story you will defeat enemies and acquire BP. With them you can buy power improvements to your own cyborg body. Depending on how fast you defeat your enemies, how much damage you take, how many times you sliced them open (a.k.a. Zan-Datsu) you will get a variable amount of BP.

Overall Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance is a weak game. Personally I try to always find good things to say about a game and the slow-motion slicing mechanic is pretty entertaining in the beginning. That said, that's where it ends. The game has a terribly weak plot, cliche characters and very shallow mechanics. The main system, the slicing mechanic, does not go any further than what you get from the start. Ending up being more in the way when you are forced by the designers to use it, than being integral part of an evolving experience. There are other games, like Bayonetta, that deliver a much richer content with a better constructed experience to the point that you'd better spend your time on them.

If you do decide to take Rising on, beware that it is not representative of the Metal Gear franchise. Also it is not a long game, if you cut out the cinematics time you should be able to finish it in less than 5 hours. Happy slicing.

Ori and the Blind Forest Review

Ori and the Blind Forest tells the tale of a young orphan destined for heroics, through a visually stunning action platformer crafted by Moon Studios.

Skills

Gameplay is more than just jumping around, you will have to use every skill to surpass the challenges ahead of you. With 9 different skills (11 if you have the Definitive Edition) you have a lot of room to play the way you like. Some of those powers will require you to spend your energy, which you can only charge by finding special energy crystals or defeating enemies. Every mistake costs you some of your life energy. If you reach zero, you will load automatically at your latest save point. Very interestingly, you are allowed to spend your energy to make a save point whenever you want. Except at very specific locations, like in a "boss room".

Gliding

As you progress through the story you will unlock new abilities. Being able to do more than ever before, new forms of challenges will emerge making full use of the new mechanics. The developers did a great job drawing the line between letting you practice your newly acquired powers and pushing your comfort zone. Making for a very entertaining experience from beginning to end. Once you unlock all the abilities, you fell like a true badass!

Ability Tree

And as you face the challenges of the world and uncover its secrets, you will be gathering Spirit Light, a sort of experience if you will. Once you acquire enough of it you will be able to unlock an even higher potential in three different ability lines: Combat, Utility and Efficiency. Combat is self-explanatory, utility is for resource gathering and energy usage, while efficiency makes some abilities more efficient.

All of it come together in a beautifully crafted experience, with an amazing eye for art style, outstanding music and great control. Ori and the Blind Forest is a perfect example that platform games can be as polished and mechanic rich as any other games. We are looking forward to Moon Studios next release, Ori and the Will of the Wisps.

May the light guide your adventures.

Uncharted 4 Review

Uncharted 4 is a third person shooter action adventure game. Hunting for lost treasures you will travel the world, climb every conceivable surface and fight against those that try to stop you.

Gameplay is quite straight forward. You have a set path to follow that will be blocked in a variety of ways. In addition to the characteristic climbing of the franchise, this game has a new rope tool that will allow you some more extreme jumps. The shooting remains the same as any other third person shooter game, with a lot of destructible cover.

There should be no surprise that the game progresses exclusively through the story development. Uncharted has always been a very straight forward movie like game. With an amazing blend between gameplay and cinematics, staple of Naughty Dog animation power. Not just that, but the level of graphic detail they manage to pull from a inferior system like the Play Station only makes you wonder how much better they would achieve in a high end desktop environment that does not have the same limitations.


Uncharted 4 is a great adventure game. It manages very well to break that strong stereotype that Indiana Jones left us with, using great story and outstanding character development. It brings to and end Nathan's Drake journey as the last of the quadrilogy. For now, at least. Great soundtrack and full of amazing sight scenes with vibrant colors, Uncharted 4 does not disappoint in capturing an audience attentions. And if you are a long time fan that has been playing since the first game, be ready for many memories of those adventures. On top of one of the best easter eggs that only a company that has been in business for decades can pull. look forward to it!

Enjoy the ride, and watch your step.

PS: Thanks to my great friend for allowing me to play it on his console. Unfortunately because of that I was unable to retrieve the screen shots for the game. My apologies.

Crashlands Review

Crashlands is an outlandish story-driven action-adventure game, set in a world of hidden magic and high technology. Tame and milk alien beasts, craft resources into menacing weaponry, befriend the locals, and go toe-to-chin with a maniac. All in the name of on-time delivery!

Not the coolest base out there...

Gameplay is very simple, you move around the map interacting with the wildlife, crafting structures and items. You can build everywhere, literally, EVERYWHERE. Can't reach that enemy? Build a bridge! Some mean creatures are threatening your beautiful garden? Wall it up! The creative space for the game is enormous. On the combat side, you have your melee weapon to kill said wildlife while using and abusing from a plethora of trinkets to increase your destruction power. From bombs and pets to laser beams and bladed boomerangs, to mention a few. Unlike most games where you just slam the buttons and kills creatures, every enemy in Crashlands has an attack pattern that you need to understand in order to defeat them.

That is a LOT to explore.

Progression in the game happens mostly through the story, which is directly attached to increasing your crafting options. The more recipes your discover the further you go. There is an enormous amount of side quests to explore, as well as a vast diversity of structures and furniture to build and explore. The map itself is realistically infinite, so you can build to your hearts content.

The creative space and crafting for the game is impressive. Unfortunately you will go through killing, harvesting and building over and over as you advance through the game. Every new level of gear require new parts, making all older resources almost useless. Some very interesting mechanics, like the gear upgrade, will save you a lot of re-crafting. Crashlands is a great game, with some amazing integration and portability. On top of a unique sense of humor, it provides a very enjoyable experience that we definitely savored for more hours than we should.