Seneste anmeldelser af ShelLuser

"Back in the day" I picked up 'Echo Tokyo: Intro' for free and although I couldn't recommend the title in my review I also stated that it wasn't a bad game or something, just lacking in several parts (and the dull narrating voice was in my opinion plain out annoying).

And here we have the full game. Both games are now normally sold and I couldn't help notice that 'Phoenix' sells for almost twice the price as 'Intro'. So imagine my surprise when I managed to successfully finish Phoenix in no longer than 20 minutes, while I've been busy with Intro for at least 40 - 50 minutes. That's just bizarre... And it gets worse: I own other visual novel games which sell for even less than 'Intro' does while they provide an easy 90 minutes worth of gameplay.


This is the part I plain out dislike... So the main protagonist (Shizume) is looking for a job and ends up as an escort, she even allows someone to grope her. However, the pictures themselves show absolutely nothing. Heck... even 'Intro' was more naughty than this game.

Why bother to bring up adult topics like escort services if you're not going to follow up on them with the animations? That's just bad... Keep in mind though: I'm not necessarily looking for b00bies here, but you (devs) opened the door to it and then you don't deliver.

And that's where my "wasted potential" comment came from, this could have easily been avoided. For example... instead of doing escort you could have made Shizume apply for job as a (semi-) erotic dancer. She'd had to dress up in a skimpy outfit (which could easily be displayed because it would be less revealing than her undies) and perform in public which could then embarrass her a little bit.

It seems to me as if the game wanted the 'adult tease' but without doing the work for it, and yah, I think that's the cheap and easy way out.


It's really a shame because this game honestly has a lot of potential, it really does. The drawings are very solid, some truly manage to create the right atmosphere for the story. I also enjoyed the music that's been used, very fitting for the genre.

But it's just bizarre that a game which easily costs twice as much as its predecessor (or demo?) provides a lot less contents, so much that it's easily noticeable.

I don't hate on this title, I also don't think it's bad or something, but I simply cannot recommend this to others for reasons shared above.

Thanks for reading!

Please be advised that I reviewed the early access game (at the time of writing!). I mention this because as a vivid participant of the Steam community I've noticed several players sometimes getting confused over this, so I figured I'd mention it explicitly.

Especially because at the 5th of August 2020 Eleon Game Studios (= developers of Empyrion) have made an impressive achievement: Empyrion - Galactic Survival is no longer an EAG game but has become a fully legitimate "finished" game.


You know what makes this such a great game (in my opinion obviously)? The fact that you can see that it has been carefully designed to provide a solid gameplay experience. For example... when you start the game your escape pod crash lands onto a planet. After the crash you get out and the computer systems reset themselves, detect that things are seriously bad and thus it initiates an emergency survival protocol; your PDA will provide you with steps to undertake in order to increase your chances of survival. Of course what's actually happening here is that the game has started a tutorial session to help us learn the basic gameplay. The thing is though: it makes perfect sense, also from a storyline perspective.

And the developers really thought this through... See, I'm a die-hard Minecraft player and discovering & collecting resources? Yah, I can enjoy that. So when the tutorial told me that I had to collect 5 flower instances (or something similar; please forgive my current inexperience) I was already way ahead! Apart from picking flowers I had already mined plenty of minerals (copper, silicium,...), tore down parts of an abandoned structure (which got me steel & iron plates and some small electronics), got a lot of crushed rocks, etc.

So would the game really force me to pick some flowers again? Nope! You can easily skip certain steps if you want to. Of course you do get a warning that its a better idea to carry on but if you insist: no problem. And that is proof of a carefully designed tutorial.


I really enjoyed some of the similarities between these games. For example: your personal 2x2 crafting grid (Minecraft) vs. your survival constructor (Empyrion). The crafting table (Minecraft) vs. the portable constructor (Empyrion). And of course the trusty pickaxe from Minecraft vs. the multi-use survival tool in Empyrion... Of course both games are nothing alike, don't get me wrong here, but for a veteran Minecraft player such as myself these small similarities really made me feel more confident about this game.


So here I was... on a regular planet (or so I assume) and I had just managed to build myself a small base: I set up a tent near a large construction (which I started salvaging), placed my portable constructor and portable heater (to help keep me warm during the nights) and slowly but steadily I was really making progress. I had collected plenty of resources, managed to craft myself a motorbike to make it easier to move around the planet and I even began constructing a little more advanced mechanics such as a motor in order to try and repair a nearby vehicle. All in all: having a good time.

And then I opened up my map and noticed that I could "zoom out" (sorta). The tab next to the map showed me the solar system I was in, cool! And there were multiple planets surrounding a main star. I'm pretty sure that I'll be able to visit those planets as well, once I managed to build some kind of spacecraft.

So then I noticed yet another tab next to the previous one... wait... is that.... the map of a whole milky way?!. Ayups! Who needs a single solar system if you can have several, each with their own collection of unique planets to discover and explore? (mind blown :) ).

This is yet another example why I came to admire this game so much: it doesn't tease. See... another "similar game" will show you planets in the sky as some kind of bait (that's my impression at least) in order to make sure that you'll be constantly aware that there is still more to discover in that "other game". I never understood that mechanic to be honest... why? The only reason I could come up with was that there's simply not enough to do on a single planet alone so the "other game" had to tease its players to try and lure them into seeking out more.

Well... Not so much for Empyrion, and definitely not on the starting planet. You're on an Earth-like environment with a normal sky full of clouds and visible stars at night. The focus is fully on the here and now, which I think is the way it should be.


I am convinced that this game can suck you in and keep you happy for many hours to come. That is... if you're into the idea of landing on a planet, collecting tons of resources, crafting your own gear, collecting more resources and enhance your exploration efforts, start building your own base and then... maybe.. expand your horizons towards other planets...

And that's not even addressing all the stuff you can do while in space.. like building whole space stations....

This game is seriously extensive...

I can tell you this.... I'm seriously impressed with Empyrion, for me it's like "Minecraft in space & on steroids" and so far I am having a great time. Awesome graphics, a very convincing & solid gameplay and crafting mechanics, friendly towards new players (so many games manage to mess this part up horribly!), and really... the sky isn't even the limit ;)

For me this game is a classic in the making.

On a strictly personal note... Forget about "No Man's Sky" (which almost costs three times as much!) and instead save some money (and tons of frustration) and get this game instead. That's just my personal and honest opinion on the matter.

Thanks for reading!

'Ghost in the Shell - Stand Alone Comlex' is an anime series which takes place in the GiTS universe but in a different reality than where the official movie(s) played out. Here the Major hasn't met up and merged with 'Project 2501' and instead leads Section 9 as they unravel a lot of mysteries. The series lasts for 2 seasons.

This movie, Solid State Society, takes place after the S.A.C. series. Therefor it's highly recommended that you watch S.A.C. before this movie, otherwise several plots may not make sense. But having said that... I also don't think you'll be fully alienated without it either.


Major Kusanagi has left Section 9 and she has been replaced by Togusa who is now leading the team. Section 9 comes across signs of "The Puppeteer" and as they investigate they discover a plot in which (somewhat) abandoned children have been kidnapped. For a brief moment Section 9 even suspects that the Major herself maybe involved!


Why buy videos from Steam? Well... ease of use (I can't find this movie on Netflix nor Amazon Prime and even if I could; now I don't have to worry about it getting removed again). And of course bragging rights; I can now share screenshots and such of my favorite Animes, what's there not to like here?

And this is a classic alright, I don't think you'll find animated movies which provide this high quality detail.

Although I knew about the horrible start of this game I've also seen plenty of comments and Youtube videos which explained how this game managed to "re-invent itself"; what was first a horrible game had evolved into a good game, or so they said. The Steam summer sale is upon us (yay!) and with a 50% discount I figured I'd take a gamble. Now I wish I hadn't because even at 50% off this game is definitely not worth it in my opinion.

So I start a new, casual, game. I end up on a planet and it tells me to scan the area but uh oh: my scanner is broken. Now I need to collect 'something' to repair it. But how I am supposed to do that doesn't get explained. What all the numbers and such on my HUD are telling me doesn't get explained, nothing gets explained. Assuming I must be on some kind of tutorial world I start searching my surroundings; having seen Youtube videos I know that you need to use your laser to gather resources so.. that's what I'm doing. Of course the stuff I'm after is no where in sight.

After 5 or so minutes I finally managed to find what I'm looking for. While the game hinted at "small yellow flowers" I'm actually shooting some kind of mineral and.... then I die, for reasons I completely fail to understand. Sorta... the game (or your suit?) does constantly warn about radiation damage and such, but it doesn't explain how I am supposed to avoid all that.


Yes, I am well aware that if you hit escape then you can open a tutorial section. The game never told me but I found out on my own. Was it really too difficult to add some kind of in-game pointer to this? It gets worse.. the tutorial pages I did read made no sense what so ever. And being a vivid guide writer myself I know exactly why that is so: because it was written by someone who knows the game inside out but doesn't even bother trying to keep new players in mind. You know... the kind of player who doesn't understand all the gameplay mechanics yet?

Survival basics: "Hazard protection is vital, carry Sodium or Ion Batteries". Just too bad that the game doesn't bother to carefully explain where I can get those and to add insult to injury the game also doesn't bother to drop me on some kind of starter planet where there's no immediate need for this.


Sure... a survival game doesn't have to be easy but why do I constantly need to sustain myself in an exploration game? As far as I know I am wearing a radiation suit and those are normally designed to keep radiation out. If I'm not wearing one then why am I even out here in space in the first place? It makes no sense other than: gameplot. The game needs this in order to make the gameplay more difficult than it should be.

But making things difficult just for the sake of it does not account for good gameplay, quite the opposite even!


"Click here", but in reality the game means: "Click and hold the mouse button here". I can somewhat understand why they did this, it definitely prevents clicking options by accident. If only.... if only they continued using this mechanic in screens where there's a real risk of clicking stuff by mistake; for example when you need to decide which parts of a device you're going to repair. Yah, but then it's suddenly "click, you're done!". Why?!!. Menu options which are seriously hard to overlook need to be confirmed by holding your mouse button and small options which can easily be clicked by accident... can simply be clicked.


It was worse: totally by design.

Just in case you're wondering "Shell, you were simply unlucky and if you had tried again you'd notice that things aren't all that bad!" then please think again.... I restarted my game 4 times[/i] and every time I ended up on some kind of radiated planet where I had to avoid radiation while the game never bothered to tell me how I was supposed to do that. Sure... it told me to seek shelter in caves, but when I tried to enter one it made my radiation meter go up.

I did eventually find a damaged ship, with a distress beacon. So when I learned that the "only thing" I had to do was to gather more resources to fix the ship I closed the game and started writing off my anxiety, you see the results before you.

Sure... let's gather resources to repair my ship while the game never did so much as to teach me some basic survival!


Even with a 50% discount... I can't believe this (old) game normally sells at triple A pricing, it totally baffles me considering the poor interface, the lack of any kind of tutorial what so ever, the risk of dying within the first 5 minutes of this game without even understanding why, a constant need to gather resources but you don't get any clue what you're collecting and what for, confusing inventory controls....

I could go on for a while but I got better things to do, I'm not wasting any more time than I need on this.

I highly recommend you stay as far away from this game as you can. There is no real gameplay here, let alone balanced gameplay (LOL!). For me it's just one huge frustrating mess of a game. The only thing I am thankful for is that I know Steam will allow me to request a refund, the first refund I've done in 2020.


What a horrible disappointment this was :(

I didn't expect a brilliant game, but I also didn't expect things to be this bad; overpriced, non-existent gameplay, highly unfriendly towards new players.... this game is a total mess.

I've played Heavy Rain back on the PS3 using the "Move" controller and it was one of my favorite titles. This game truly is an experience in itself; an interactive story that plays out for you and where (some) of your actions may have consequences for the story outcome. If you're looking for a game which provides a solid atmosphere then this is definitely be something worth considering. However... as much as I enjoy playing this title again on PC it's only fair to mention that this title has some (serious) issues...


Heavy Rain tells the story about the "Origami killer"; a sick freak who abducts young children and then drowns them. When their bodies are found they always have an orchid placed on their chest while they hold an origami figure in their hand. You'll be playing the role of 4 main protagonists who all have their own motivation to find and expose the Origami killer...

• Ethan Mars' son gets kidnapped by the killer and he has to perform a series of tests to discover where his son is being held.
  
• Norman Jayden is an FBI agent that got assigned to the local police force to help them solve the case using some advanced FBI equipment.
  
• Scott Shelby is a private investigator who took personal interest in finding and exposing the Origami killer and is working out his own investigation.
  
• Madison Paige is a photographer / journalist who becomes involved with the case by accident and tries to follow up on an investigation of her own.

The game is divided into chapters and each chapter is played out by one of the main protagonists. You move through a 3D environment where you can interact with the world by performing certain gestures with your mouse. For example: holding the left mouse button and moving the mouse downwards is a motion which can be used near doors so you can open them, but also to pick up (or examine) objects lying on the floor. As soon as you come near an area where you can interact with something the game will show you an indicator telling you so.

With a regular PC you'll discover that the gaming world looks gorgeous. Not perfect, sure, but it looks realistic enough and the player models are also very well made.


If you play this title for the first time I wouldn't be surprised if you'll get swept up in the gorgeous sceneries, all the stuff to do and discover within each chapter and basically by the game as a whole. It truly is an amazing and impressive experience.

But although the game does an amazing job to try and give us a full "open world" impression the facts are different. If you let the game take the lead and simply follow along with the given choices you may not even notice it, but the moment you start to think about your options and choices you'll come to discover that you actually don't really have that many....

For example.... While playing as Norman (the FBI agent) you'll soon discover that your assigned partner doesn't really care too much about the rules. So when a doctor refuses to tell you the things you want to know, well.... then you simply beat him up a little. There's a childs live at stake afterall! Obviously this is completely wrong, we all know that, but.... what if you don't want to care? What if you want to be that douche who keeps the suspect in check while your partner beats some more sense into them? Well, then you'll discover that you can't! Not really anyway, any action that you'll take (an aggressive approach, an assault, some accusations, etc.) will all be directed against your partner but you can't do anything to support or approve of his actions, unless you simply let the timer expire.

And as you get deeper into the story you'll start to notice this limitation happening more and more often.... that is: if you want to play "out of the box", if you simply follow along with the story and are happy with the choices that are presented... all the more power to you. Note that I'm not claiming that the game isn't enjoyable because of this, but you will (eventually) discover that this limits the replay value quite severely.

Poor and inconsistent controls

As I mentioned earlier you need to perform mouse gestures in order to make your characters "do" something. All good. But once again it becomes annoying when you notice the inconsistencies. "Perform the action until the indicator disappears" the game tells you. So in one scene you're told to move your mouse in a circle. You start doing so, the indicator disappears, you stop and then the game tells you that you failed the action because you were suppose to continue moving. That can become annoying at times, especially because you can't back out of an action. I play with a trackball and had a few occasions where I had no other choice but to grab a USB mouse to perform a certain action, and even then things didn't go very smoothly!

I also don't always enjoy the interactive cutscenes where a specific control pops up which you then need to press within the time limit. It's not really bad, especially because you can try again, but... it's something you either like or dislike.


But apart from some of those issues this game does so many things right. What I personally really enjoy is its mature approach (or "no nonsense", as I like to call it). Whether you're playing with a male or female character you can get yourself into a huge heap of problems and sometimes the outcome can be quite icky; the protagonists can actually die if you're not careful, and sometimes you may never see it coming.

This game also doesn't do censorship. So if a protagonist finds themselves in a bath or shower then you can expect to see some nudity and I think it really fits the game and its atmosphere. This game doesn't tease, this game provides you with the real deal.


So yah... trust me when I say that this game has issues. Heck, mine even managed to crash one or two times completely out of the blue. Nothing too serious, starting it again did the trick, but it's something to keep in mind. The controls can be annoying at times but in the overall you'll manage. The lack of character choices though.... once you start to notice then it could become a bother. The game is more linear than it may seem at first.

On the other hand you'll get an amazingly good looking gaming environment, there are lots of things to do (and to miss!) within the sceneries and I personally really enjoyed seeing how 4 different characters manage to cope with solving a puzzle, but all in their own unique way. Sometimes it really feels as if you're playing in some kind of movie.

If you've never played this title before then I definitely recommend doing so. Issues or not, this game is a classic.

This game is one of the best out there in my opinion because the storyline is very straightforward and it tells a story which might even be possible in real life. Sure, the game has its flaws and it's not perfect, but the way everything plays out is in my opinion brilliant!

You are Nico Bellic, you escaped your home country in Eastern Europe and went on a boat to go to the US, Liberty City in specific. Illegally of course ;) You hope to join your cousin Roman who has been sending you and your mother tons of stories how he managed to really make it in the US... He owns his own business, a luxury penthouse, etc. Prepare to be surprised, but not for the better :)

And so here you are, in the city of dreams where anything is possible. You literally start as a low life but as you help Roman with his cab business (and spoiler: without the luxury of a penthouse) you'll meet some interesting characters who may have a good paying job for you. If you're not afraid of getting your hands dirty :)

It also doesn't help that Roman is being shaken down by some loansharks who use force to "persuade" Roman to pay them back. Well... Nico isn't the kind of guy who backs down from all that.


Say about R* what you want (most of it is probably true anyway) but when they released the DLC for GTA IV 'back in the day' they provided something brilliant to the franchise (or so I think). See... once Nico's story comes to an end you have the opportunity to play as another character from one of the two additional DLC's.

But guess what? The stories of Johnny Klebitz (vice president of the Lost motorcycle club in Liberty City) and Louis Lopez (co-owner of the Hercules & Maisonette 9 nightclubs) will actually intertwine with that of Nico's. For example.... At one point in the game you're going to help to set up a coke deal (what a surprise, eh?). One of your contacts will be a member of the Lost MC and you meet up at the location of the sale. Spoiler alert: it's a police setup and you'll end up fighting your way out across the roof after which you won't see the biker for a while.

So here's the cool part: if you play the Lost & Damned DLC you'll be playing the role of Johnny, the same biker who was doing that coke deal. So after you met up with Nico (who is now an NPC) and the deal goes bust you'll be trying other ways to escape from the cops.


This is what makes this game's storyline so brilliant in my opinion... during the intro movie you'll see the ships cook mixing some diamonds with a bunch of food in order to try and smuggle them into the country. It's but one single scene and very easy to overlook. Yah, but those same diamonds will actually be the main topic for most criminals in Liberty City and the one thing all DLC storylines will have in common: the diamond deal.

I really love it how something so insignificant (at the start of the game anyway) will turn out to be a major part of the plot.


If you're used to playing GTA 5 then you may need to adjust to the GTA 4's engine. Seriously, most cars will behave as if you're sailing a boat across the road. It's definitely not as smooth as GTA 5 is. But then again, it also has some fun advancements. Cars will get much more damage and you can even set your car on fire if you keep crashing into things.

Which is actually one of my favorite things to do: park a burning car somewhere very busy (where many cars will drive through) and with a little luck you'll set up a chain explosion... so: your car explodes which sets another car onto fire which will then eventually explode, which will set off another car on fire, and so on....


Whatever you're going to do in this game please be sure to visit the Perestrojka theater at least 2 - 3 times. I am sure you're going to love it, especially the performances of Kleinmann (and his assistant Lorel) and of course... Ms. Bluesy St. John! ;)


I picked up GTA IV ('Episodes of Liberty City'; so all DLC in one buy) on PS3 and it was actually the first GTA game I've played. And now, after many years, I still think it's one heck of a game. Dated, for sure, but this is the kind of game you play to experience the storyline, the absurdities and just to have some fun out there.

This is the kind of game where you steal a police car, only to realize much later that you can actually use the radio to track down crimes which gives you more stuff to do... the game is loaded with small tricks like that.

Most definitely... 2 thumbs up from me.

And the worst part.. within the context of this game they're even getting paid to do all this ;)

This is a really cool game and for me it's once again solid proof that good games don't require HD life-like graphics. So.. you get into a situation where you need money and find yourself taking on a job as 'watcher' (not an official term) where you get paid to watch other people and learn more about them and what they're doing.

But be careful... there is also real life to attend to. Not paying your rent, not getting enough sleep and not eating are sure ways to end up in trouble. But.. you also need to observe so you don't miss anything because the more you learn the more chances you get into making money and unlocking more options for observation.

This game has strategy written all over it so I can imagine that it won't appeal to everyone, but.. it's well worth a try I think. Definitely something different from what you're used to.

Deep Space Waifu is a series of games where you, a bear character, fly off into space where you'll find giant anime girls. Unfortunately several hostile aliens attack so you have no option but to kill them. And yeah.. it's not your fault if some of the girls clothes get in the way between you and the bad guys, eh? ;)

So while you're shooting hostile aliens you can also shoot pieces of clothing and by doing so try to undress the girl. It's totally silly but also very satisfying at the same time.

As you may have guessed by now this version of the game features catgirls. So.. it's basically more of the same as the original game but this time featuring catgirls.

This game is fun

Basically... combine space invaders with anime girls and then replace the anime girls with catgirls ;)

This is a visual novel kind of game where you follow a family of catgirls around on their daily activities. Getting up, arguing with each other, havng breakfast, going out... and probably more but that's how far I came ahead in the game so far. Funny thing is that even though I'm not really into visual novels myself I still got grabbed by the (sometimes silly) story and the overall voice acting which was really pretty good!

The girls are also drawn very well and yah, they're plain out cute.

So... cute catgirls in a fun storyline which also uses good voice acting. This is definitely a good game and I honestly think that even if you don't necessarily enjoy visual novels like me then you might still be entertained with this.

In the overall this is a fun game; you're a bear character riding a flying bike which can also shoot lasers, and you use this to shoot invading aliens while you're flying over a huge girl. And ey... it's not your fault that your lasers can also "accidentally" destroy some pieces of clothing ;)

This is a fun game. My problem though is that in comparison to some of the other titles the gameplay has become a bit too chaotic for my liking. You're shooting enemies and all of a sudden you get a text pop-up "there go my clothes", also briefly pausing the game. It doesn't add anything but unneeded distraction.

I also think that the laser particles shot by the enemies are a lot harder to see here, which can become annoying when there's a lot going on; stars to collect, particles to avoid, aliens to kill, clothes to wear down.... bombs to avoid?


If you're a "waifu veteran" then this is a good purchase; more girls to undress errr: rescue, a new interface and more aliens to kill.

But if you're new to the series then I think you should consider to grab some of the older titles first before getting this one. Hence my rating, even though I think the game is fun. Just not as much fun as the others are for me.