Recent reviews by riningear (still this one lmao)

all my friends keep asking me but I need to write a fuller review later elsewhere so I'll just say "if you like survival games this is one of the solid ones" for now

imagine if ubisoft devs were given the freedom to make cool things— jk don't even imagine, that's literally what this game is

Overview: Honestly one of the best games of the year. If you like narratively high-concept interactive fiction, or if you just enjoyed any of Sam Barlow's other work, dig in. If you just like a good story, dig in. If you like combing through things to find details and love the wonders of new discovery, dig in. If any of this sounds like too much, this might be a bit much

I really enjoyed Sam Barlow-involved games in the past. This is no exception. The game asks you to scrub through footage of the actress they discuss, and you can click objects to jump to other clips with "match cuts," thereby unlocking those said clips.

It's been two days and I'm still sitting on this game. It's just outstanding art, and I haven't even unlocked all the clips, I'm pretty sure. I have a lot more to dig into, and I can't wait to.

PROS:
Outstanding story. There's frankly layers to this game in more ways than one.
The construction of the FMVs is outstanding. All the "films" and found footage feel like they're truly from their era. Kudos to the film team.
I cannot fathom the depth of either the narrative construction of this game, or the systems behind it. It's just a truly outstandingly-constructed game.
I'm terrified out of my mind, low-key.

CONS:
NUDITY. There's no option to censor it. Chests almost all the way out here, fam. Lots of sex. be warned.
It's hard to know whether something will lead into something you've already done; I had multiple instances of this. It did reveal some underlying themes, but still.
It's entirely possible to miss content within before you hit credits.
Some mild video lag on High video quality.
t's easy to get very deep into the game and, if you aren't playing the way they recommend, miss much of the gimmick they wish for you.

I know the "cons" look heavier than the "pros" but these are just weird personal nuances. The "pros" are just so outstanding on their own that these just feel like flyaway hairs on a well-styled head, you know?

The game does have content warnings, but I'll give a strong personal warning about a spoiler-heavy endgame theme: If meta, fourth-wall-breaking player engagement gives you the creeps for any reason, this game goes heavily into it.

smol. peaceful. free plant. 10/10

Overview: The best Christmas game ever, and basically the best small-shard shooter "MMO" of this scale. A good time-killer and a fun exercise. Gorgeous graphics at all levels. Mileage may vary - it doesn't fit traditional "Tom Clancy" labels, but it's very good at what it does. The developers are doing their best to keep it relevant.

First of all, I haven't done the new DLC yet. I'm just going off what I remember since there's a sale.

There's a lot going on in The Division. So I think the phrase we're going to stick to here is, "Mileage May Vary." What I'm saying is, if there's a PC trial or free weekend going on (and I'm pretty sure you can get a Demo via UPlay), give it a shot.

Everyone will find [/i]something[/i] they like, I promise. Whether it's just walking around a beautiful version of Christmas in NYC, or the story, or grinding for gear, or Survival, I think The Division does want something for all types of players.

That being said, I'm an extremely casual player in this game. So my scope is limited to Survival and Dailies, the latter with friends. And I think we have a lot of fun.

PROS:

• Fun to sprint around NYC and see what you find.
  
• Multiple levels of "endgame." There's "post-primary-storyline" endgame, "post-region-clear" endgame, grinding endlessly for loot for high-level PVE modes" endgame and "constantly being in the Dead Zone" endgame.
  
• In a similar manner, you'll find plenty of ways to enjoy the normal campaign and modes.
  
• Survival mode is fantastic.
  
• Character-driven main story. Fantastic narrative. Single-player story/RPG stuff is worth a solid $30 on its own.
  
• Game is GORGEOUS at all graphics level - very well-optimized game. If you just want to take a stroll into midtown NYC, you don't even have to leave your computer anymore, thanks to Ubisoft.
  
  CONS:
  
  
• You're clearly underpowered compared to many of your "elite" enemies. It can be frustrating when you don't know what you're getting into.
  
• Some people's textures do glitch up a bit. It's not the worst thing.
  
• Game will pester the ♥♥♥♥ out of you until you do missions for modes you don't want to do.
  
  MILEAGE MAY VARY:
  
  
• Every damn mode besides Survival.
  
• Tom Clancy affiliation. This isn't really "a Tom Clancy game" as much as it is a game with his name attached. That said, it matters to some people more than others.
  
• Gear system. I hate gear systems like this, but some people love it.
  
  If you're going to ask around about the game, try to get a sense of how you play shooter-types versus how those you're asking play. Get an idea of what you're looking for in a shooter, then see if The Division will accomplish that. It's likely that you'll find someone, but if you can't, just try the demo.

Booted this game back up, got curious and read the reviews, saw the guy *replying to reviews* like it's his fetish to be humiliated over his free indie game, and sort of sighed.

It's a good thing my DLC money was spent in 2017, because I certainly wouldn't do that now. And now that I say I've spent as much, this dev who spends his days rage-replying in the reviews of his otherwise-free reflex game will still act like he's cruising off of the $2 purchase nearly 9 years later.

Overview: Wait a few episodes to pick this one up and see if others say this has improved. The story is alright, but everything else is underwhelming. They've gotten sloppy.

I've played a few Telltale games so far, including TWD 1 and 2. So I went in kind of knowing what to expect. I'm not all that much of a point-and-click adventure type of person to boot; I have to push my standards really low to work through the story of TWD games out of a love for the zombie genre.

Unfortunately, TWD:ANF actually manages to amplify many of the issues I've had with Telltale games in the past - and some of my fears about TV drama cliches. See below.

NOTE: Some of these, specifically graphics, could just be my laptop. However, I've never had issues with other Telltale games like I've had with this one, so...

PROS:

• It's a game of The Walking Dead. I love this ♥♥♥♥. And if you've loved their past games, at least you'll like this.

CONS:

• The visual performance is atrocious. I've had glitches, including a "green spot" in young Javier in all of his cutscenes.
  
• Takes FOREVER to load in some parts. I thought the game had crashed when I first booted.
  
• Camera angles are worse than ever. If you've played past Telltale games, and this has bugged you, I've got bad news for you. Even the cutscene choreography is worse than usual.
  
• The "fast walk" is actually... not fast. At least in past games it's been understandably slow, but there's virtually no difference in walking speed.
  
• Choice boxes are disgustingly small and too close to each other.
  
• The story is just... Okay. I understand why they gave two episodes to boot; the first episode's ending is lackluster, and the second's feels pulled out of the ass. Just a bit, minus light-as-a-feather foreshadowing.
  
• If you've played past games -- SPOILER: Clementine's introduction and presence feels extremely forced. It might make sense later, but for now it's very weak, which disappoints me because I love her.

I'm giving it the thumbs-down because I really expected better. If you like TWD's past iterations, you'll be okay with this. But I dunno what to tell you about this. It's just underwhelming for all the wrong reasons. And Telltale needs to give up the ghost and just revamp their engine(s).

EDITED TO ADD: It seems like I avoided a plot concern that a lot of other people hit. My story choices when I left off last season were: Kill Kenny, walk off alone. I was extremely satisfied with my choices, but hearing that others are hitting a different issue based off of different choices - oh boy.

Also, if you sincerely like Kenny, I don't trust you.

Literally can't recognize the game every time I restart it. This is a good thing. Runs better on my potato than Defense of the Toaster 2, still looks gorgoeus. 10/10 would early access again.

Overview: An addictive, glorious, intense and intensive child of the chaos aesthetic and oppression of action games and the rhythmic precision and flow of music games. If you like either, or if you're curious, dig in. Gameplay, environment, and cue are intense and relentless, but they also make it feel satisfying. Don't play if you have motion sickness or get frustrated.

Bought it full price tonight (an hour after it was released), played for five hours straight and got through four and a half "levels." Thoughts so far.

This is a rhythm game for people who hate the cheery cliches of rhythm games, and an action game for rhythm game players who hate the clutter of action games. If you don't like rhythm games nor action games, pass on this one, because you'll just have a bad time. And if you don't like AudioSurf, maybe you should pass, but it's not just "copying AudioSurf." It's an action game that looks like AudioSurf from the surface. It's more oppressive, more hectic, and overall more satisfying.

If you're willing to make the dive, consider Thumper less of an "innovation" on the rhythm and music genre as much as it is on the action genre. Yet, that makes it even more interesting. Like, imagine the most intense boss battle music you can think of. Now, imagine becoming that music. In other words, it's less that you're playing the song and more that you're acting as the song, or maybe the song's acting as you? That's what Thumper is. Because Thumper on its own could be another action game, but they incorporated rhythm game features, and in doing it so well, that mentality becomes most of the experience of this game. I might expand more on my own in a more extensive talk/review about what this means and why I love it, and I'll update here if I do, but that's the gist of it.

From here, I'll just do a bare-bones review of the game's major mechanics/gameplay points.

PROS:

• Easy to learn. Not disgustingly hard to master. Extremely intuitive once you get the hang of it. But I'm only in level five and I've given up for the night so we'll see how that holds out.
  
  
• The soundtrack is intense. Like I said, it feels like a giant boss battle, except you are the music.
  
  
• Extremely responsive environment and interface. The game has excellent non-verbal audio-visual cues that make every hit feel so satisfying while making you regret just "scraping by." With every hit, you add to what you hear, and that's an extremely fulfilling part of this game, as much as completing stages and levels and beating your own scores.
  
  
• Rewards rhythm game mechanics and instincts, without forcing you to feel like it's a rhythm game. If you're a rhythm game player, you'll get what I mean when you get into it. If not, you'll hear what I mean as you tap your keyboard/controller.
  
  
• Extremely addicting. Once you start, you just keep going.

CONS:
(I know there are as many "cons" as "pros" but they're extremely minor -- consider it constructive criticism rather than "reasons why this game isn't worth your time.")

• If you have motion sickness issues or can't handle "psychedelic" aesthetic, take a pass. Warning you now.
  
  
• The music and rhythmic style gets over its own head sometimes, which is sorta expected from such a heavy industrial percussion-ambiance style of music. Some stages are extremely difficult to follow rhythmically, which is an issue, given it's a rhythm game, coming from a rhythm game nerd. You can survive just on visual cues alone, but as a rhythm game, this becomes a frustration.
  
  
• The game's tighter "tunnel" points are unnecessarily and annoyingly difficult -- that is, it's difficult to see the next part coming often, especially when the environment causes parts to blend in. You will NOT finish the game without dying at least a few times.
  
  
• They really don't instruct you on things. Again. Do not expect to go through this game without dying a few times. There will be a lot of trial-and-error.
  
  
• Needs an audio-visual calibration system. Badly.

One note that's extremely neutral is that the game doesn't punish you until about halfway through for "just getting by." That is, it doesn't detract if you aren't doing perfect combos of the square taps, except in boss battles. I'm split between whether this is a good or bad thing for the game, but as a player, you can absolutely tell the game gets irritated for being lazy.

Also, it feels intense as hell. If that's not your thing, skip it; if so, go wild.

Basically, the gameplay is perfect, the execution isn't, you know? Like, they have a system perfected, but it gets a little bit over itself sometimes. But if the "pros" sound even remotely good, it's worth picking up.

Overview: Edgy metafiction worth its price tag and a try.

Congrats! You're stuck in Pony Island forever. Not on Pony Island. In it.

That's literally the premise of the game. You're playing a game.... about being stuck in a game. The game made by probably the literal devil or..... something demonish like that.

The gameplay overall is repetitive. Most gameplay is jumping or doing a little puzzle, that's consistent. At least it lets you get used to it in that sense.

There are definitely some cool parts. This game has lots of homages to older games and genres, and there are some interesting scenes.

The plot itself is kind of forced. I really dig the premise, but I feel like it's trying too hard.

Pony Island's atmosphere is like if you walk through a front lawn on Halloween. A good scary lawn has some neat, creepy ambient effect, maybe with some music, fog, a few tombstones, and an animatronic or few. Pony Island is like the whole lawn is full of really interesting animatronics, but they're pretty cheesy and constantly moving, and it ruins the mood.

Don't get me wrong -- the implications of much of what happens in the game is really interesting. For instance - and the following isn't a "spoiler" so much as it is something that's better to think about after you finish the game - it's slightly implied that every time you mess up, you die and you continue on as someone else. The game has its own world and lore that's pretty neat.

But if you're like me and can't stand "edge for the sake of edge," then the spiel gets a bit annoying fast. Especially the main character who guides you through.

Now, I'm not saying this game isn't worth playing for that reason. I definitely think it's worth some time. It tackles gaming in a "metafiction" sense -- that is, addressing itself as a game. The genre has a lot of opportunities for metafiction narrative, and this is one of the better shots at it. But if that's not your thing, then you're going to absolutely loathe it.

Overall, Pony Island keeps you entertained the whole way through, but much like the souls in the machine, you might be just waiting for it all to be over.

Is Pony Island worth it? I mean, why wouldn't you buy a $5 game? It's extremely good for its price tag. It's well-programmed and a fun challenge that'll take you on a journey. I'd say, if you're still interested despite my long rambling, give it a shot.