Πρόσφατες κριτικές από τον constantcompile

What does it mean for a game to be "original?" If you were really, really determined to dismiss the widespread praise for Katamary Damacy's originality back in the PS2 era, you could make strained comparisons to Super Monkey Ball. You could, but that would be completely missing the point.

Snakeybus shows its most obvious influence in it's title, but to call this game "derivative" would be ludicrous. AFAIK, there has never been a driving game (emphasis!) where you are pitted not against the clock or against opponents, but against the growing constraints of your own ever-growing tail of trailers.

It's great fun. The achievements can be completed in about 2 hours, but I don't agree with the reviewers who say it's "too short" - you could spend dozens of additional hours chasing the top leaderboard spots if you were so inclined. More maps and game modes are also on the way; I look forward to trying the "aerial" mode when it debuts.

Snakeybus has all the features of a fantastic indie title. Novel and fun, without being grindy. Highly recommended.

Despite the vitriol you'll find in the other reviews, this DLC is absolutely worth re-installing the game and spending two-ish hours running through. What you have to remember is that - like the challenge maps - this DLC is an experiment, pushing the boundaries of what gameplay can emerge from the game mechanics.

The Rocky Hills map has two major differences from every(?) other map in the game: There are no garages, and there are no log koisks. This means you need to use your GMC Semi as sort of a mobile garage, albeit one with finite repair points, and to use your scout vehicle (the Chevy) as your lumber hauler. This is new. This is different. The base game does not feature any scout vehicles that can haul lumber at all, let alone over rocky mountainous terrain. The roads and terrain in the base game are typically so flat that you will always run two trucks at a time; one attached by winch to the other. In this map, I actively decided against that in places because of how risky it would be.

In my review for Mudrunner (base game) I wrote the following:

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But frankly, my biggest gripe with Spintires right now is its community. This is the most toxic type of internet pessimism and negativity that you will find outside of a moba. Practically every announcement by the developer has been met with jeering and venom, even after two free DLC content packs, an upcoming expansion, and a sequel announced. The idea that the Spintires series is somehow getting worse, or that the current(!) publisher is simply looking for a quick buck, is patently ludicrous if you have been paying any attention to the behind-the-scenes hell this game has gone through.

This free(!) DLC for an almost two year-old game is sitting at 69% positive reviews at time of writing. First off... nice. But more importantly, it's ludicrous to me that roughly one-in-three people who review this DLC are either insulting it or totally missing the point.

The Old-timers DLC mixes up the gameplay, introduces two new vehicles, gives you a new map with novel terrain, and is available for the low low price of free.

I highly recommend it.

Took me about 9 hours to complete, with no achievements that were unreasonably difficult.

I do recommend, though, that you try to open the scarabs as you encounter them, if you plan on the 100%.

Great gameplay, wholesome story, nice soundtrack. The "Metroidvania" tag is a little dubious; there are only two or three items that actually impact your ability to traverse the environment. Still, this game ticks all of the boxes for me.

Highly recommended.

There are parts of this game that are so good, it makes the parts that are terrible that much more irritating.

Let's start with the good: Everything in the main character's animation, especially facial animation, as well as VO is very well done. This game is more than five years old, and the quality of Monkey's facial animations is comparable to any modern release, if not superior. The combat is challenging and fair-ish even on hard difficulty, and it will feel like a breath of fresh air if you're sick of Arkham-likes. Certain parts of particular levels are very picturesque and well-constructed.

Now for the middling: Trip's dinner plate-sized eyes. The plodding story, contrived bios, and plot beats that stretch on too long. The overly-scripted boss battles. The incredibly railroaded platforming sections. The "Cloud" sections that are a pleasant surprise but don't actually do very much. The visuals of the character design leaning in way too hard on the motifs of each character (IMO, obviously). The reliance on deus ex ammo drops.

And that leaves us with the bad: A completely anticlimactic ending. The off-putting inclusion of live-action video and photography. The useless serum pickups. Everything about Pigsy. The intentional inclusion of mandatory backtracking sections (they opened up shortcuts twice in the entire game; I know they could have done it more often, why didn't they?). And WOW, THE COLLECTIBLES. WHO THOUGHT THIS WAS A GOOD IDEA? You're having to run around like an idiot picking up red orbs while the other characters are saying "uh, we're going this way." Going into all the nooks and crannies of the level to grab them is tedious and exposes you to how ugly the textures and polygons are up-close. Seeing a mask during a level completely eliminates any sense of urgency or immersion in the story, because you know you're going to take a few minutes to go grab it, and wasting time doing this - wasting any amount of time, really - will have absolutely no consequences. Tomb Raider 2013 came out the same year, and I cannot believe that game gets collectibles so right while this one gets it so wrong. And while I'm at it - the robot costume for Trip is garbage.

6/10. Without the collectibles, it would have been a 7 or 8. If they had also taken out Pigsy and focused on Monkey and Trip, it could have easily been a 9.

There's good here, but with too many lumps for a thumbs-up. Not recommended.

Bad stuff first: The story is terrible compared to the admirably restrained and self-contained plot of TR 2013. "Extreme Survivor" mode was a mistake. Trying to earn all of the achievements for this game is so time-intensive that I don't recommend attempting to do so.

That said - in just about every other way, RotTR is a substantial improvement over TR 2013. The different game modes, conveniently bundled in the 20 Year Celebration edition, each put a different spin on the formula: Blood Ties is TR by way of Gone Home, Endurance is TR by way of The Long Dark, Score Attack is TR by way of speedrunning, Cold Darkness is TR by way of Survival Horror, Lara's Nightmare is TR by way of Horror Grindfest, and Baba Yaga is TR by way of acid trip.

The level of innovation on display is really quite remarkable. Crystal Dynamics found many, many different ways to spin the base gameplay while reusing as many assets as possible in modular ways. This appears to have been a very efficiently developed game, and it is mostly worth your time.

Mostly. I think that Extreme Survivor was a mistake, Score Attack isn't fun enough for how difficult and arbitrary it feels, and Endurance wasn't well-balanced for the longer-duration challenges.

Still. Recommended.

I'm not sure I've ever played a game with as much absolute positivity, optimism, and hope as this one.

Recommended.

"Zup 3D" isn't quite right, but it's close enough.

Like Zup, this is a decent way to spend 5-10 minute increments where you don't have time for something more involved.

Recommended.

I'm a few games into the "Relaxing Puzzle Box," and I have to say - so far, it looks like truth in advertising.

Scalak is a straightforward puzzle game that provides a modest challenge without being frustrating.

If you're looking for low-key ways to keep your mind busy for 5-10 minute increments at a time, this will do nicely.

I had fond memories of this game on Xbox, and decided to try it on PC. Boy, do I regret it. To start off with, it's optimized terribly. I run most games on Ultra and I had to take Mirror's Edge down to 1600x900 just to avoid screen tearing (even with vsync on!) and low FPS.

Gameplay-wise, it is so much worse than I remember. The game cannot allow your running and jumping to last for more than a minute or two before any number of these things bring your flow to a screeching halt:

• needing to scale a ladder or pipe (who thought these were a good idea? No, they don't make it more realistic),
  
• hitting a hidden loading screen in the form of an elevator or a sloooooowly turning wheel on a door,
  
• ending up in an area where it is not at all clear where you're supposed to go, so you have to play "spot the exit" (no, it isn't always marked in red), or
  
• coming across an obligatory forced combat area where making for the exit without taking out the baddies first will result in a dozen bullets in your back.

Oh boy, let's talk about the combat, next. Mirror's Edge has two playstyles: The most inconsistent, difficult, and infuriating first-person brawler you've ever experienced, or a totally bland dakka-em-up with no challenge whatsoever, because your character can still sponge more bullets than any enemy you'll encounter. Top it off with in-game collectibles that you may as well not bother with because there are no achievements and no cloud saves, and what you have is a total waste of time, effort and frustration.

This game does one thing well: open-ended first-person parkour. This occupies a TINY portion of the actual story, is broken up far too frequently, and the narrow FOV means that it isn't even as satisfying as you would expect, because it's so hard to see where the hell you're going or what's around you.

Thumbs-down. Not recommended.

Tomb Raider 2013 tries to be a disempowering gritty survival tale against impossible odds, but it also tries to be a typical one-(wo)man army power fantasy.

These things tend not to work very well together. It results in gameplay that seems at odds with the experience your character ought to be having within the fictional universe. If only there were a term for the incongruity that results from these two different narratives.

However, to the credit of Crystal Dynamics, the entire thing never "falls apart." Tomb Raider accomplishes very different goals at the same time - not gracefully, but it does accomplish them. The result is one of the better third-person shooters I think I've ever played. It's not flawless - there are a few grindy achievements, in particular, that were wholly unnecessary and detract from the experience overall. But most of these have savegame exploits available in the Guides section.

Recommended.