Recent reviews by Halliburton

Finally decided to load it for the first time last night, after reading about it and downloading the demo *months* ago. It's astoundingly well fleshed out, and INSTANTLY hit me with nostalgia for 1990's VRML environments -- it felt like Cybertown or anything running on Blaxxun Contact in the early 2000's, and it was achingly lonely but bursting with potential.

There's so many touches that scream "procedural generation" but at the same time "thoughtful design" -- like the ripe banana on a plate on counter of the 15th story apartment I dropped into randomly. Or the low-fi pretzel impage used on a random food cart a block away. Obviously textures must be kept to a minimum for something like this, but as I rode about 3km in a taxi all I could think was "ONE PERSON MADE THIS?!?" And that I hope the human behind it gets a team and funding, in short order.

I crave this experience, as a social space, more than anything Horizons can ever aspire to be.
I look forward to exploring it so much more.

The difficulty ramp wasn't too fast, the title is arcade-y and easy enough to pick up when you find a few minutes to whittle at the next puzzle, without too much punishment for failures and without an obnoxiously exploitative/overly-addicting core game loop. The physics on the ball feel satisfying, even when just stumbling through the first ten stages ("I get a double jump? But hitting some surfaces resets to quad jumps? But then some sidewalls don't reset the counter and I'm limited to just the double jump?") and the sound design really ties it all together for me, making the thing feel satisfying and giving weight to the movements.

Soundtrack was charming and felt like it egged on the gameplay. I would DEFINITELY recommend playing with a controller. Mechanics were just a slight bit wonky when starting with keyboard and mouse, as the game could autonomously reset my angry-birds-slingshot-style (rear aiming and firing) back to the forward-facing-trajectory-style (front aiming and firing). That or I compulsively mash my spacebar. Either way, controller felt more natural.

This was the sleeper hit of the year, for me. Built on a GameMaker engine, with the most nightmarish netcode I've ever seen, but it is addicting and rewarding. I've been able to play this one coop with my young child. I've been able to reconnect with high school and college buddies (across the world ... ) to find time for this simple sidescroller, with cleverly balanced item-hoarding and gameplay.

I refer to it as "my favorite roguelike bullethell platformer."

I've come back to this game and replayed it a few times. I insisted my wonderful (non-FPS-playing) girlfriend give it a try. I wanted to see if the story-telling that's packed into this silent, swift adventure was as rich an experience for someone completely uninitiated.

I have enjoyed each of the Blendo Games I tried, and I'm absolutely glad I bought this one. It's low-tech, and it's unpolished, and it's raw talent. Take the few bucks and the few minutes to enjoy this distraction.