Recent reviews by MapleTyger

You can't be a simple concept executed elegantly. In my opinion, it's the enemies that give Lethal company its strong replayability factor. The way enemies' strengths and weaknesses compliment each other and force the players into tough situations is well executed. Different combinations of enemies beget different experiences each time.

An example: eyeless dogs react to sound. If you talk or move too fast, they hear you and pounce. So it's best to be quiet and crouch walk. But there are two other dangerous enemy types that can spawn outside: forest guardians and earth leviathans. Forest guardians can spot the player from quite a distance and will book it to your location. Earth leviathans are giant worms and will detect so much as the slightest vibration: standing still or crouch walking will do no good. If you encounter an eyeless dog and either of those two enemies, the player is suddenly forced into a tough situation. Either stay quiet and slow to avoid the dogs, or book it and pray for the best. And that doesn't touch what's possible inside the facilities.

There's plenty more to Lethal Company, like the atmosphere and ambience, but the enemy design is what really makes Lethal Company lethal.

Ghost hunting games as a niche have really taken off over the past few years, especially in the wake of Phasmophobia. While by no means a saturated genre, there is some competition. Most follow a pretty similar format: you go to a location, find evidence of the ghost, then leave. While it does follow this format, Conrad Stevenson's Paranormal P.I.'s sets itself apart in a few critical ways.

First, the ghosts aren't random. You aren't just going to a random map with a randomly generated ghost. Every map has their own unique ghost(s). In this way, CSPPI is very akin to ghost hunting TV shows like Ghost Hunters or Ghost Adventures: you travel to a haunted location to look for answers. The magic of CSPPI is slowly piecing together the history of all the ghosts. Who are they? What happened to him? You conduct your own research in game, using notes recovered to learn more about each ghost and make it more active. This encourages revisiting the same location(s) to uncover more, even when you get a "perfect" investigation.

Second, survival isn't a focus. If there's anything I've disliked about the direction of ghost hunting games, it's how heavily they focus on survival. CSPPI instead focuses strictly on emulating what a "realistic" ghost hunting experience would be. The primary focus is on the investigation and experiencing each locale and all their undead residents to the fullest. Focusing on staying would be a distraction.

Third, it doesn't pull any cheap tricks. There is a "jumpscare" sound but I highly recommend turning it off. Scares are often authentic and not the result of a ghost sneaking up on you. One of the first experiences that sold me was when I turned a corner and a shadowy person was looking right back at me before quickly vanishing. After investigating the same location, I determined that the shadow has a preferred area it walks between, and I simply got unlucky and rounded a corner as it followed that route. It wasn't trying to scare me, it was just doing its thing. But that's how most ghost sighting in real life go, right? You just happen to see something out of the corner of your eye, hear something you normally don't. It's subtle and not overt, and that's what makes it so creepy.

CSPPI is definitely worth it for anyone that thought starring in Ghost Hunters would be the coolest thing ever. Plus, you can't go wrong with supporting a small developer's passion project.

Certified hood classic

is good

The game was surely afoot

10/10 masterpiece of writing. A game has never made me go through such a rollercoaster of emotions before. One second you're laughing, then you're crying, then you're amazed, then depressed. Simply exceptional.

I picked up this trilogy after seeing some gameplay on YouTube. The cross-examination I watched was ridiculous (no spoilers) but I couldn't help but see if it was possible for me to play this game. Lo and behold I found out it was available on Steam.

Here we are two weeks later. I was hooked right from the beginning: the characters, the contradictions, the OBJECTION!s, it kept me so involved. I never thought I was one for puzzle types or visual novel type games, but Ace Attorney proved me wrong. Each time I found new evidence, met a new person, I HAD to keep playing. These games do an incredible job of leading you on in the cases: you learn more, little by little, and you can start to piece it together. And then when you finally realize the truth, it's an incredible sensation.

Simply put: I recommend this trilogy. If you've ever heard anything at all from anyone you know saying Ace Attorney is worth a play, believe them. Like I said, I thought this genre wouldn't be for me, but I must say, that idea was thoroughly turned around on its head. I'm hoping that Capcom remasters and releases more of the past games so that folks like me can enjoy them for the first time. Playing the original trilogy for the first time was an incredible experience, I absolutely want to play more!

Some of the best FPS gameplay I've had in years. Exceptionally fun little mechanics make the overall game a blast. The new weapons in Infinite are a treat to play with. I adore the Mangler and love the shoot melee strat. Arcing shots with the Shock Rifle is really cool. Banking shots with the Heatwave makes me feel badass. And the equipment items are so simple yet can make so much difference. Better movement is just the icing on the cake, really.

I only started playing Halo within the past year, and I've had more fun with Infinite's online than I did in the MCC's online. Definitely worth giving a shot, especially since the multiplayer is free.

Every year or so I update my review as the game changes. The improvements towards custom difficulties and progression has really helped Phasmophobia. I am of the belief Phasmophobia shines best as a ghost investigation first and a ghost survival game second. The use of tools and knowledge of behavior to locate the ghost is the joy of this game to me. I'm hopeful they focus more on the ambient and passive horror elements rather than survival horror going forward.

10/10 would pass whiskey again


On a serious note though, the game is great. It has flaws of course, but it's a free western shooter, with a good number of CS and TF2 reminiscent game modes and voice commands. The intricacy with weapon accuracy and game controls is also great. A lovely little game that one can always come back to for some gun slinging fun.

Team Fortress 2's greatest strength is its community. There's a lot to love from this game. The classes and their personality, the maps and their flexibility, the huge number of mechanics to learn and master. But the reason I keep coming back to TF2, so many years after its release, is the community. Even though Valve hasn't invested nearly as much into TF2 as they used, the community continues to make new servers with new modes, refining past mechanics, adding new maps, and whole new gamemodes to capitalize on the wacky nature of TF2.

I want the bot problem resolved for good so that casual servers can be a place for fun again, but the community is alive and well. Community servers are fantastic and are, I would say, the lifeblood of this game.