Recent reviews by Animated_Imagination

I've been eagerly anticipating this game since I finished the second one (about a week after it came out- go figure). If you haven't played the others in the series- check them out first (the first one is free!)

I've played the series enough times to recognize when there were little "traps" laid down for me on my first playthrough, and though I was desperately hoping for a good ending with the girl of my choice, I didn't ultimately get one. I'm the type to replay and replay to optimize the story I tell for my first playthrough- but there was so much beauty in the pain of the ending I got that I'm not sure I would have wanted it any other way.

There are no major changes here, but this is my favorite entry in the series. I was a year or two too young for AIM, but I was just the right age to get into Facebook on the upswing, so I fell right at home here. Kyle does such a great job of writing dialogue the way we used to talk online. Seriously- there were times where I felt like each option represented the way I would have responded at one time or another in my life.

The addition of characters beyond the two love interests was a huge plus as well- and they were really likable! Mat reminds me a lot of my college best friend; at times I almost felt like I was talking to him!

At the end of the day, major changes are few and far between beyond the cosmetic differences of the interface, but more of the same is exactly what I was looking for! I was planning on hopping right into another playthrough, but I want to hold on to the way the first one made me feel for a little while. Countdown to Emily is Away 4!

It's a pretty substantial demo

A love letter to the early 2000s, Emily is Away 2 takes everything that charmed us about the original and improves it, giving us more options both in interacting with people and who to interact with

The main gameplay mechanic here is trial and error as you go about an endless series of Mondays in your quest to slowly but surely piece together the rather sinister activities going on behind the scenes of your school as well learn about the lives of your classmates and the faculty and staff of the school.

The writing is really quite good and it makes for an entertaining little dark comedy, and at a $5 pricepoint you will probably get a few hours of experimentation and a couple laughs.

Borrowing heavily from free online flash restaurant sims such as the Papa's Pizzaria series, Cook, Serve, Delicious! is different enough to make it worth its asking price.

First off, it's much more streamlined than those online games. Everything in the game can be accomplished with hotkeys, so there's no mouse work required if you don't want to use it. It also has controller support, but I found just as much if not more success with a keyboard. This lack of a mouse "decorating" stage also makes this game much less stressful than the Papa ones. From your main screen you can see everything that's cooking, chores that need to be done, and orders that are coming in, and you can tend to each of these with a simple button press. While it's very overwhelming and stressful (by design) nothing ever feels completely out of your control.

On sale you can't go wrong with this game and it's worth full price to anyoen who enjoys business/restaurant sims or time management games.

Even over a decade later, the remake of Sid Meier's Pirates! is still arguably the best pirate game around. Most of the main mechanics of the game have been copied over the years as flash games and freemium mobile games, but the 3D graphics and minigames in this version make it worth a few bucks if you like that sort of game. I wouldn't pay full price for it, but at $2.50 it's a good pickup and you're sure to get a couple of hours of fun out of it.

Just as a side note, this game really wants you to use a numpad. It literally BEGS you to do so. I have been playing without, and while a little clunkier it isn't awful. The game has an onscreen numpad that you can click on to achieve the same effect. However, the game does turn on NumLock without telling you, and since my laptop keyboard doesn't have a NumLock button, I was very confused when my "p" key started typing "*". I had to pull up the onscreen keyboard to turn it off. Again, not a big deal, just be aware that this happens.

Do you like old school platformers?

Do you like 80's and 90's Disney cartoons?

Do you like fun?

If you answered "yes" to any of these questions, this game is for you. I would reccomend it heartily at the $5 price range for anyone and at regular price for anyone who loved the original game or is a big DuckTales fan.