Recent reviews by apocalyptech

TJD Chapter 3 is a pretty great conclusion to Skygoblin's adventure game trilogy, and I'd certainly recommend it to fans of the other two games. Anyone new to the series would probably be best off starting with Chapter One -- the game does summarize some of the previous plot points but it's definitely not a completely self-contained story. The visuals continue to be quite gorgeous (though a few scenes seem a little under-detailed), and the voice acting is, in general, fantastic as well. As with previous TDJ games, there's occasionally some poorly-recorded bits from secondary character dialog, but it's pretty minor in this one. A couple familiar minor characters from previous games unexpectedly pop up, which was great, and the new characters are generally fun and well-written.

One of the most immediate changes from the previous games is the overall tone, which is noticeably darker. The series has always had things like violence and government corruption lingering at its fringes, but setting this story in the heart of that corruption has definitely altered the tone. There's actual profanity in this one, reasonably common in fact -- being verbally threatened in-game by an angry Armando Power Company employee feels a bit more dangerous when he's also swearing at you. Your main allies in the game are armed revolutionaries, and St. Armando is beset by crowds of angry protesters. I found myself wondering if the real world's recent politcal upheaval and unrest has influenced this shift. It says something about Skygoblin's writing chops, though, that a puzzle involving a repeatedly-tasered protester comes across as funny rather than disturbing.

Another reason for the tone shift is in part due to the passing of their original two games' composer -- the jazzy afro-carribean grooves have largely been replaced by 80s synth and rock. It took me awhile to get used to it, but It was probably wise to pivot rather than try to imitate the previous games' scores with another composer. The change is even well-integrated into the story itself and makes thematic sense, both by the game's setting and the characters you meet. By the end I'd fully come around and it was nice to see the change pay off for the final scenes.

In the end, this is a very satisfying conclusion to the series. There's some elements I'm not as fond of -- I'd have appreciated much more time spent in the Underland, for instance -- but it's impressive that Skygoblin's created an ending for the series which delivers. Definitely give this a go!

As just about everyone else has said, this is a quite enjoyable little puzzle game - quite short, and not too difficult, but you're introduced to new mechanics pretty frequently, and the game remains fresh throughout. There's a few very nice moments where the game purposefully messes with your sense of perspective, which was rather pleasing.

The Linux version worked great for me, so thanks for the port! (Apparently the dev is currently addressing an issue where the Linux version won't run in fullscreen, but it works fine windowed.)

InfiniPicross is a fun little Nonogram/Picross game which randomly generates all its puzzles, to the user's size specifications. It's worth pointing out that there are NO curated puzzles on this one - it's literally all just random puzzles, but the game's solver ensures that all puzzles generated are solvable, and I've found them to be enjoyable to play through. There have been a couple of issues at launch which the developer's been extremely responsive about fixing, so I have no qualms about it from that angle!

The implementation is basic but very competent, and it's nice to be able to alter the game's "theme" to suit, as you can see from the screenshots. There's also an editor to alter the theme however you see fit. I'm unlikely to switch them around now that I've got one set up to my liking, but it's a clever feature.

If you're in the mood for a Nonogram/Picross game on your desktop which will never run out of fresh puzzles, I'd definitely recommend this one.

(My play time is rather long due to accidentally leaving the thing running in the background overnight a few times)

Pictopix is another great addition to the nonogram/picross type puzzle game genre. Nothing too crazy or surprising in this one! The puzzles are quite enjoyable, and can all be solved without resorting to proof-by-contradiction. There's a handy "mark" feature available with the middle mouse button which can aid in counting out squares, and there's a superb feature called "smart slide" which restricts click-and-drag marking to a single row/column, which is quite handy for not accidentally making marks you hadn't intended. All nonogram puzzle games should include that feature!

The in-game puzzle editor works great, and the workshop/community integration lets you upload your own puzzles, and play other users' puzzles, if you're so inclined. Works great on Linux as well! The game is well worth the money if you enjoy this kind of puzzle.

There are two minor things I don't like about it, neither of which should discourage anyone from checking it out, but I'll mention 'em for posterity:

1) You get "crown" ratings for each puzzle based on some criteria (mostly to do with what "hints" you have enabled in the options), but the third crown can be missed if you accidentally misclick too often (which would require re-playing the puzzle if you want the third crown). The threshhold for losing the third crown has been increased quite a bit in the most recent version (to the point where I never ran into the problem again after the patch), but it still feels wrong to punish misclicks in a puzzle like this, especially if you're able to recover from them and solve the puzzle anyway!

2) It's a common convenience in computer nonogram puzzles to mark rows/columns as "complete" once there's an appropriate sequence of marks on the row/col (regardless of whether it's correct or not). Pictopix considers that a "hint," though, and you'll be unable to get all three crowns if you have this enabled. In practice I didn't miss it too much, but it's something I always appreciate in other nonogram games.

Still, those are quite minor, and the game's quite enjoyable. I'd definitely recommend it!

Nelly Cootalot: The Fowl Fleet is a delightful adventure game with fantastic humor, a surprisingly large cast of characters (with great voice acting), and puzzles which are, indeed, quite fair. What difficulty there is generally just comes from the game's "main" middle area which is the largest, and simply has an awful lot to explore and look through before you can get a good handle on what your goals are. If you ever do feel at a loss for what to do, the game thoughtfully allows you to ask your sidekick Sebastian, who will provide some pointers. It's a great touch. The game follows the Lucasarts philosophy of adventure games, so it's impossible to get into a no-win situation.

The main draw really is the humor, and the excellent delivery with which the lines are generally given. Tom Baker, as Sebastian, is of course great, but Nelly Cootalot herself is voiced flawlessly, and it was a treat to have her as the protagonist. There were many times I laughed out loud (for real!), and many lines I couldn't resist sharing with friends.

Anyway: highly recommended if you enjoy this kind of adventure game. I'm looking forward to any more Nelly Cootalot adventures which may find their way to release!

The short version: if you dislike bullet hell, and aren't fond of JRPGs in general, this game probably isn't for you!

Slightly longer: I know I've only got the 1.3 hours, but the combat/battle system just didn't do it for me, I'm afraid. I should have predicted it - I've never been super fond of JRPG-style combat, and I really dislike anything that smacks of "bullet hell," and having random encounters pop up constantly just made me not want to play any further. It's absolutely a personal preference kind of thing, and given my preferences I probably should've just given it a miss to begin with. Ah, well!

On the better side, the story was doing a good job of drawing me in, and I liked the characters I'd encountered. I was sad when I accidentally killed a monster early on, when trying to just wheedle down its health! I also felt I probably screwed up the encounter with Toriel and felt bad about that. From what I'd read online, the rest of the story and overall mechanics remain intriguing to me, but I'm afraid that the combat is likely to keep me away.

One more: The Linux port runs great! Thanks for that!

As just about everyone else has said: quite short, but also quite good. The atmosphere is extremely well done, and it leaves you wanting more. Well worth the download and the time!

The main draw in this DLC, for me, is that it enforces a rather different playstyle since you're playing as Celebrimbor rather than Talion. Ranged combat is quite different, you have less health and fewer elf-shot, your weapon runes are limited to three, you've got extra branding options, and you've got a much bigger sense of creating your Orc army. In the main campaign, you'll have branded orcs spawning occasionally as you move around, but as you control areas of the map in this DLC, you'll have to start venturing outside of your controlled areas to find hostile enemies. The new One Ring power was fun - some folks might consider it overpowered, but I thought it was a nice balance to counter the rest of the combat, which is more challenging in general than that found in the main game (at least once Talion's mostly all levelled-up). In short, the combat felt quite different from the main game, which was a welcome change. The ending battle was satisfying as well, though it got a bit button-mashy and lengthy.

The main downside for me is just that Udun was drab and not terribly visually interesting to begin with. The DLC adds another layer of grit on top of it, as well as a perpetual sort of twilight, so it's constantly this rather oppressive atmosphere. It's fitting, certainly, but once I got to Nurn in the main game, I never once felt compelled to head back to Udun - it was kind of a drag to be back there again. The Nemesis system is also largely absent, which is sort of unfortunate, though I honestly didn't mind that too much given the overall different feel.

Overall, I actually had more fun with the Lord of the Hunt DLC (shocking, I know!) but I'd recommend this one regardless. Whether it's worth $10USD or not is a question, of course - I'd gotten this via the GOTY edition while it was on sale, so I personally had no concerns from that angle.

I had a fun time in this DLC, and appreciated that it was set in Nurn, which I find far more fun to inhabit than Udun. The new beast variants are interesting, and I found that I actually wanted to ride around and use them more often, as opposed to mostly ignoring them in the main campaign. The Wretched Graugs in particular I found far more fun than the Graugs from the main game, mostly because of the ranged and AoE attacks. I liked the Beastmaster personalities, and enjoyed having some more optional weapon-quest-like things to do. I was also quite happy that I could finally brand Ghuls, making them something to enjoy in the game rather than an annoyance to avoid.

The DLC IS short, certainly. It's also disappointing that none of the extra content carries over into the main game. It'd have been nice if we had the new variants popping up randomly along with the others, back in the main game. Whether or not it's worth $10 USD might be a difficult question for some. I'd gotten this as part of some GOTY pack which was on sale, so the price was certainly right for me. Questions of price aside, though, I definitely had a great time in this one.

This is a very light puzzle game which probably needs something extra to become actually great, but it's enjoyable enough for what it is. There's a single mechanic which remains unchanged throughout the game, so once you've solved the first puzzle, you're set for the rest. The game gets slightly more difficult in the "Genius" level set, though once you've made the correct initial moves, the rest of the level tends to just fall into place.

Still, it's a relaxing experience, ran quite well on my system, and is priced appropriately. Good for an hour's amusement or so!

Also, thanks for the Linux port - it ran great!