Recent reviews by Corporal Parts

Insanely cool game. It might be the most interactive game I've ever played, despite not really having an "interact" button beyond "pick up" and "kick." At this stage in Early Access it's a little light on content, but it's 100% playable and you'll definitely get $18 worth of fun out of just how spectacularly each run descends into chaos.

Just as lovely as the first game, but not nearly as difficult.

I'd say this sequel improves on almost everything from the original. Movement and shooting is a lot faster and feels more responsive - playing through the original now feels like you're playing in slow motion. The levels are also shorter, which I personally like because it makes the difficult ones feel less exhausting. They've made restarting levels when you die a lot quicker. And the music is still great.

That being said, it's just not as "♥♥♥♥ you" hard as the original. I've played the original Lovely Planet for around 4 hours and still haven't been able to beat the fourth world. I was able to blast through this one, though, beating every stage in the main game with 3 stars in about an hour.

Once you do beat it, there's a more challenging "☯" mode that remixes all the levels to be harder. I actually really like this, because at least you get to see all the worlds before you might get stuck. But even still, while I haven't beaten ☯ mode yet, and it has definitely already put up more of a challenge than the main game, I can tell it's never going to be as hard as Lovely Planet 1.

If what you liked about the first game was how rock-♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ difficult it was, you'll probably be disappointed by this one. If, however, you got enough enjoyment out of the world and music, and/or you just want another precise shooter/platformer, I think you'll still enjoy Lovely Planet 2. Either way, I think it's worth $10.

And if for some reason you got to the end of this review without having played the first one, just get them both!

If you're looking for a tactical mutliplayer FPS that strikes a balance between fun and realism, you'll probably enjoy Insurgency: Sandstorm. It's not as slow and unforgiving as Red Orchestra, but not as fast and arcadey as Call of Duty. For me it hits the sweet spot, where I feel like tactics are rewarded but just dropping in and having fun isn't punished.

For me, the main selling point is the gunplay. Insurgency has a really interesting way of handling hipfire that I can't believe more shooters haven't stolen yet: even if you're not aiming down sights, your gun always shoots straight. The wrinkle is that it moves around the screen a bit when you move your mouse, so it's not always pointing at the exact middle of the screen. The result is that the guns feel like a physical presence in the world, and hipfire kills are all the more satisfying. Plus, laser sights now serve a real purpose: they let you know where your gun is pointing.

Beyond that, the guns have a satisfying recoil, and feel powerful. It takes only a couple bullets to kill you, so firefights are fast and intense. I'm honestly not that good at it so I end up dying a fair bit, but it never really feels frustrating. It's not too often that you'll die from random guy across the map you can't even see *cough cough Red Orchestra cough*.

Performance isn't amazing, but it's way better than it was back in September. It was actually originally supposed to come out back then, but there were too many performance issues so they had to take some time to work on it. And they actually did a great job: it runs a lot better now, and the devs also put in a ton more graphical options so you can more easily fine-tune it. The devs do a great job of listening to user feedback.

So yeah, I'd recommend it. To come up with another game comparison, Insurgency: Sandstorm is like a larger scale Rainbow Six: Seige without all the CONSTANT STRESS. Honestly, just watch that Gameplay Overview video the devs posted here and if you think that looks cool, you'll probably like this game.

This game is as difficult as it is lovely, and it's pretty ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ lovely.

It starts out very simple, doing an excellent job of teaching you the basics of the game. The movement, jumping, and gunplay are all very tight and satisfying. The whole game's based on speedrunning and accuracy, so you think you'll go back and try to perfect your scores later on. Plus, the music is, dare I say it: lovely. All in all it seems like it'll be a pretty relaxing, easy game.

Then you enter world 2. And there are spikes, and jump pads, and apples you have to shoot before they hit the ground. And you'll think you know what I was talking about it being difficult.

Then you enter world 3. A world of pain. You'll be shooting projectiles out of the air, only to have an apple hit the ground and you have to start all over. So you shoot the apple first, but then you get smacked in the face by a projectile. You wonder how someone's hands can even do this.

Then you enter world 4. ♥♥♥♥ world 4.

Great game, though. Easily worth $6.