Recent reviews by Jeba

oh whoops ohh, I dropped my MONSTER module that I use for my MAGNUM ship

poker 2 is finally out

step on me mommy, im an insect

this game is quite comedic if you speak finnish (and maybe even if you dont) on top of being a competent boomer shooter

there are several problems with it though that i feel overall contribute to its biggest issue: past the first level the game is a bit too easy and never really gets more difficult. pistol-starting (or knife-starting in this case) each level on the highest difficulty is a must i feel. these problems are:
-save for one enemy (who gives you several seconds to react) there are no hitscans in the game which is great, but projectile speeds are really slow. you can easily dodge everything from rockets to gunfire. which in itself doesnt have to be a problem except
-lot of the areas in the game are really huge for no apparent reason. they arent loaded with enemies or have projectiles coming from all sides, its just a bunch of empty space. most of your guns excel at medium to long range as well so you can sit back while dodging some really slow projectiles
-enemies deal surprisingly little damage (on highest difficulty), even from explosives. that is of course if you even get hit in the first place
-the powerup mode sisu is a great idea & execution but it really does trivialise the already easy combat even further. the game really doesnt have difficult enough, numerous enough or even bullet-spongy enough enemies to balance sisu out
-combining everything above the game lacks any seriously threatening enemies, there is one later on that you have to be careful around but nothing else comes close
-worst shotgun eu (or maybe not as bad as doom 3's, at least it sounds good)

but its not all bad, game has decent and sometimes even great level design despite the occasional huge area. some of the bigger levels took upwards of 30 minutes to complete and can be quite non-linear. secrets are all over the place and i probably didnt find even half of them. the rifle feels great to shoot with and is my favourite gun in the game, i only really have complaints about the shotgun (which is useless if you arent hugging the enemy) and the machinegun (sounds kinda bad and is very overpowered for the amount of ammo you get) but the rest are good. the only hitscan enemy in the game is a sniper which was really memorable, they are always far away blending into the snowy environment and you gotta watch out for a scope glint

as of 9/11 there are 9 maps in the game which took about 3.5h to complete, its not a huge amount but the more non-linear levels are probably the biggest selling point for this type of game. hopefully the game will get more of those in the future

this is not the kind of mommy roleplay im into

imagine playing a medieval cookie clicker for over 15 years

this game ruined my life 5/5

my item description has a sad story and sad music plays while i beat my sad boss

this is a very good game. i have never played a digital card game with such depth and strategy, much like dota2 there is infinite complexity to it. and valve did a very good job emulating dota2 in a card game, my only criticism of the gameplay is that there is some randomness similar to dota2 and heroes dont level up during a match. but overall its exactly what you would think dota2 would be like as a card game

unfortunately hearthstone and other similar games have warped some peoples expectations on what a digital card game should be like, as this game is not a skinner box to keep you playing as there is no way to earn cards ingame, only with real money. at first that sounds like a bad thing but if you understand artifact and understand other digital card games its really not. vast majority of artifact cards cost cents and you dont have to spend many dollars to build a good deck. if you would want to build a good deck in other digital card games you would spend far more money because you cant just buy what you want, you have to rely on luck. even a deck containing the most expensive cards costs far less on average than a top competitive deck in hearthstone for example. this game is for people who value time, but also value money. you cant grind yourself a top tier deck over months but you dont have to spend hundreds to obtain it either

however you dont actually have to spend any money to have fun with the game. the signature/competitive mode of the game called phantom draft has a casual version which is free to play and doesnt use any cards in your collection. this game mode is the most fun you can have in the game and i dont personally need any rewards or unlocks to play it, however if you need rewards for playing then artifact is definitely not for you. the reward is the fun you have while playing

i would say virtual reality is worth getting into just for this one game alone. i dont listen to music on my free time let alone play traditional rhytm games but there is something magical about the combination of accurate hand tracking to the beat of any music. and you can find loads of user-created maps for most popular songs. it even offers decent cardio for people who dont like moving around much, much better than those old nintedo wii sports games. simply a must-own for VR

its hard to find a game more deserving of a perfect 10/10 score than hollow knight. it has so much good quality content that even if the price was tripled id still call it good value for money. the game just keeps going long after you think youve seen everything with new areas and bosses. i am not a fan of these type of 2d games but hollow knight has the best 2d combat and platforming ive played. unless you absolutely hate backtracking this game is worth experiencing

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there are 2 different ways to judge a game in my opinion. one is a review, if something is worth your time and money. second is a critique, ignoring price and other outside context and just focusing on how successful the game is doing what it does. this weird distinction is important because while i would give hollow knight a perfect review score, its not a perfect game and some of the criticisms i have may sound absurd to someone who is more concerned about value for money

so now that we get to nitpick a 15 euro game indie game, one of the biggest strengths of the game is also the reason for its most obvious flaws. the game world is massive and you can go almost anywhere you want with just a few upgrades. its great but its also a problem for two reasons. i mentioned that this game has the best 2d combat and platforming ive played and while thats true, on your first playthrough before you know where everything is it takes a ridiculous amount of time to reach that level of enjoyment. its not padded with filler content, the game is still fairly enjoyable before you reach your full potential, but its the most obvious case of poor pacing i remember ever seeing in a game

the second problem is the openess of that world, when you can go almost anywhere the developers had to make sure you can also complete those areas with very few upgrades. youll struggle at first but as you gain more upgrades the game cant keep up with your progression and becomes easier as a result. even areas you visit for the first time a dozen hours later may be ridiculously easy because of this. there are only 4 areas in the entire game that take full or somewhat full advantage of all the moves you have available, 2 of those areas you might even miss because theyre secrets in order to get the true ending. the third, while very fun, is just an arena that keeps spawning enemies. only the 4th area is actually required to complete the game and that comes at the very end. these 4 areas are some of the best content the game has to offer and its a shame more areas werent locked off until later

the bosses suffer from the same problems. this game has tons of bosses most of them interesting, but in order to minimize taking damage that wasnt the players fault they cannot have very complex attacks and/or are very slow. nothing points to the potential this game has as the dream bosses, rematches against specific bosses that are essentially hard mode, as accessing those fights requires a mid-game item that most players wont realize can be used this way until later. the dream bosses are an excellent challenge that take into consideration some of the more powerful abilities you might have while not requiring for you to have all of them in order to not get hit. obtaining more abilities will make these fights slightly easier, but it wont make them pointlessly easy as can be the case with some regular bosses depending on your exploration

finally i think its worth mentioning just how much everything save for the actual combat seems to be inspired by dark souls. you even lose all your currency if you die and have to get it back but since theres no leveling in the game and only a very limited number of things to buy, death is only punishing early game and becomes meaningless later. the atmosphere and the world might remind you of dark souls but none so much as the supposed final boss, the hollow knight, who might as well be called 2d soul of cinder

dont buy the simple key at the start you wont need it