Seneste anmeldelser af Bassem

My main problem with this game, and it's a huge problem I think, is that it maps the playable area to your chaperone bounds exactly.

Couple that with the tiny size of the paddles, and this means you'll be swinging your Vive controllers - at high speeds - right at the bounds of your chaperone, which is usually where you have walls and floors and furniture and what not. I can't tell you how many times I've hit my controllers against stuff, and how many balls I've missed because I'm too afraid to swing at my chaperone bounds.

I can't believe the developers haven't thought about this. Look at Holoball, which does it right: in Settings, you can set a padding area from your chaperone that basically narrows down your playing field so you're not swinging at the edges. And the paddles are larger in Holoball.
In Cyberpong, the default paddles don't even extrude past the controller. No, for that you have to use an "ability" or select another character with long but extra narrow paddles. Utterly ridiculous.

Beyond that, it's... eh. It's way too claustrophobic. And the balls are slow, and the shape and position of the paddle makes swings awkward.

After just half an hour of play, I can already tell I'm in love with this game. It's exactly the kind of flying experience I like, and I took to it like fish to water, weaving and ducking between buidings and under bridges. The game is polished and well presented.

I have not yet played long enough to know if there's enough depth for the asking price, but I can at least say that the flight mechanics are excellent. I played in Free Flight mode so far, and loved hunting around for collectibles. To be honest I'd be happy with the game being just that if it offers many more locations. But it seems that it's one location with many game modes inside it.

Anyway, a word of warning, this game does require you to have very steady VR legs. And it's playable seated and with a gamepad, which makes sense for a flight game.

"Your system is performing well above what is needed"

feelsgoodman.jpg

A few minutes later, my Vive was ordered.

This game nails the classic WipeOut feel. I even suck at it just as I sucked at WipeOut.

The game is in active, heavy development and keeps improving with every patch. And it's free, and will remain free!

EDIT: it didn't remain free! haha lol.

oh sweet, they added VR support! Time to reinstall.

I'm sure Another Perspective will be compared with Braid, what with the side-scroll platforming, the way the player character looks, the introspective narration, and puzzles having to do with shifting reality in some way.
In this game, you swap between copies of you, in a form of turn-based co-op with yourself. It's mostly using your alter ego as a makeshift platform in order to move around each screen, collect keys, and reach the door to the next screen, with increasing complexity.

What I enjoyed

• It's quiet. You're not pressured for time. The platforming is mostly not punishing (except when it is - see Negatives), and the music and movement pace are calm. It all fits well with the introspective theme.
  
• At the same time, the complexity of the puzzles keeps ramping up. The swapping and platforming soon amplify greatly, but you can play as slow as you want, take time to think.
  
• It gets rather mind-bending as you progress. I like games that make me quit after a few puzzles because my brain is actually tired.

What I didn't like

• The narrative text is nothing special. I appreciate trying to add some framing to the actions of your character(s?) but it's mostly empty philosophising.
  
• The mechanics are simple, which is a plus, but at the same time your bag of tricks is pretty small and you find yourself using the same method over and over (e.g. boosting your alter ego upwards with repeated jumping and shifting).
  
• Many of the puzzles rely less on thinking and more on pixel-accurate positioning of your clones and split-second shifting between them, leading to fiddly gameplay and a lot of repeating the level because you missed a pixel and died.
  
• No Steam cloud sync - I reformatted my PC in the middle of a playthrough and would have had to repeat all my progress if I didn't find my old save file. A minor point, but annoying nonetheless.

I like games like this one: a small, focused scope, clear and engaging mechanics, all in a polished and good looking package.

Ported from mobile, this is a casual dungeon delver with timing-based combat. You manage a roster of characters, investing in their skills, collecting loot, and unlocking the map bit by bit.

Gameplay is very simplified. Right to attack, left to block, down to go one floor further down in the dungeon. Each floor has one encounter, enemy or otherwise.

Each enemy has their attack and defense pattern and you need to learn it to fight them most efficiently. Blocking is generous, giving you a margin of about a second.

Optional secondary objectives are given to you constantly, rewarding you with gold and points to invest in skills.

It looks and sounds very nice, with nicely drawn pixel art and cutscenes.

I'm not sure how long it will hold my attention: it's definitely very casual, and I can tell that it had microtransactions on mobile that were removed, but I can't see that they were replaced with anything, so the game feels rather unbalanced.

I'm kind of indifferent to the game. I'll give it a thumbs up for presentation, but it's not worth 5 dollars. Get if at 75% off. If they had bothered to rebalance it when porting to PC, it would be much better.
Or play it on mobile.

What I enjoyed

• Oldschool, pure HOG play, but with streamlined puzzles integrated in the scenes. (using found objects on the fly in order to unlock access to more objects.)
  
• A toolbox with items such as a dust brush and hammer that help you uncover more objects.
  
• A nice take on the ubiquitous HOG hint system - a metal detector-like item you move around your scene to scan for objects. The closer you get the faster it beeps. This also means you can just narrow down an object's location and then look for it yourself, so you can feel better about not (completely) relying on the hint system.
  
• Each location, once finished, allows you to return to it for more object hunting. This I think is better than what most games do - leave the extra hunting mode for when the whole game is finished.

What I didn't like

• Occasional obscure items ("density detector"?)
  
• Occasional obnoxious way to hide an object. Sometimes I find myself using the hint system and when the object is revealed I know there's no way I could have found it.
  
• A couple very difficult locations. Oldschool HOGs tended to really blend the items in the scenes, but this one goes overboard sometimes.

Valve still has the ability to show others how it's done. To set the standard. To raise the bar. This time with VR.

Another Valve "game" that leaves you hoping for more.

The Lab is a collection of short VR experiences that serve as a showcase of what VR in general - and room scale VR specifically - can do. Valve made sure there's something for everyone, gamers and non-gamers alike.
These experiences range from games to sightseeing to scientific displays, and are all accessed from a central hub (the titular Lab) that is itself a lively and fun place in which to to hang out.
With every experience you access, the hub gets populated with mementos for you to toy with.

Everything is refined, detailed and oozing with fun, in true Valve fashion. The experiences may be short, but they are very polished and all offer repeat value. The games especially (Longbow, Xortex and Slingshot) will keep you coming back.

Like all the reviews say, this is one of the very best VR content you'll find.

I love this game. The sense of discovery, the varied gear and styles of playing, the combat system.
But I see its flaws too. And its passionate fan base hails it as some sort of perfect game. It's not. There's a lot of ♥♥♥♥ in there. But it's still one of the best games I've ever played.

It's known for its lack of handholding. I mean, it's not easy, but it's not unfair either. You just need to know how everything works… and this is where the game's obscurity can be a major flaw in places.

Dark Souls starts you off with a few pointers, and then leaves you to learn everything else on your own. And I like that. I liked it in older, similar games like Ecstatica 2 and Severance Blade of Darkness. What I don't like is when devs take it too far and fail to explain basics of certain systems.

What I enjoyed

• Satisfying, weighted combat. Every hit, every dodge counts. Timing is essential, and so is observing how enemies move and attack. Everything they can do, you can do. And everything you can do, they can do. And sometimes it's best to run away until you're better equipped.
  
• Large locations with a sense of verticality and intricacy. Hidden shortcuts and paths that reward exploration. And without a map of any sort, it's enjoyable to map everything in your mind.
  
• A true RPG with many unique weapons, items, enemies and other things to pore over and discuss with your friends.
  
• The level design really is marvellous. Not just the layout but the placement of enemies. Both elements lead to each other and hint at each other. With so many games today relying on random level generation and enemy placement, it's nice to play a major game where everything is carefully and masterfully placed, just like in DOOM back then.

What I didn't like

• The PC port is just… well it's a piece of ♥♥♥♥. Thank goodness for DSFix, but this is a review of the game itself. And the port seems as if the people at From Software have never laid eyes on a computer in their entire lives. Utterly ridiculous.
  
• There is a story, yes. I don't mind that it takes a back seat, but the fact is that it's just not compelling lore. This isn't a game where you really find yourself caring about the backstory. Or the story.
  
• Terrible, horrible interface, even for a console port. Then again. Japanese games are mostly known for their ♥♥♥♥♥♥ UI.
  
• Your character stats don't matter all that much. What matters is how well you play. Which is all well and good, but the soul-gathering and leveling aspect could have had more impact.
  
• I see some bad game design here that people seem to defend as part of the design choices. Obscurity is sometimes simply a result of lack of effort.

Dark Souls is special… it's been so long since I felt this way playing a game. The mystery of a huge open place, with things waiting to kill you around every corner. So many unique things that make it seem real. Beautiful look to the locations and characters. And the way the game world gets etched into your mind as you play. You don't even need a map screen, everything is memorised as you play. (I haven't played the game in months and I still remember every corner.)

This was made by Avalanche Studios, the same guys who made Just Cause 2 & 3, and it shows in how pretty the game is and also how explodey.
Renegade Ops is a top down vehicular shooter. You select from a roster of characters - each with their own vehicle and ultimate ability and skill tree - and set out on.

The cheesy action campaign feels like a GI Joe episode: simplistic plot, "action hero" good guys, megalomaniacal villain, lots of shootybangs and tacky narration and comic book panels. It's pretty great.

Gameplay-wise, you are a zippy vehicle with a gun turret on top that you can rotate in any direction. You can choose "tank mode" controls or not for how your vehicle handles. Your turret has your machine gun - unlimited ammo and upgradeable power - and your switcheable special weapon (flamethrower, missiles etc) that runs out of ammo. And you get an ultimate ability on cooldown - some defensive, some versatile, some just destructive - depending on your selected character.

I played the main campaign and the DLC. Each campaign is made up of lots and lots of missions, and each mission is pretty long. Thankfully you can "chapter select" those you've played, and there's plenty of checkpoints inside each mission.

You can play in co-op in a group of up to… four people. It's even more fun in co-op. Consider getting a 4-pack and giving copies to your friends.