Faris_V5 Reviews

  Nana, nana-nana-na-na-na~   For the third review in a row, Faris is playing a noteworthy and often talked about entry in a popular series. One who's positives and flaws have been analyzed to death, while the series itself has either altered entirely or not continued much at all. So uh, let's just talk about We Love Katamari real quick. The better of the PS2 Katamari games, (Sorry original, you never got a review) We Love Katamari frames itself as a sequel existing purely as a thank you to the fans. The plot is throwaway, literally a series of gags about fans requesting new Katamari levels and the King obliging to stroke his ego. Yet, I kind of love it. It puts me in mind of that sequel to Don Quixote that becomes simultaneously meta as hell while also giving fans exactly what they want. Because the gameplay is solid, in fact it's outstanding. Balancing a high skill ceiling with a moderate challenge and very accessible level design and goals. Where the original Katamari ha...

No Ma'am, this is Area 51 A Talk about aging like a fine wine. Deus Ex is quite possibly the most archetypical Immersive Sim one can play, and is a classic for good reason. But what shocked me most was how timeless the entire experience ends up being. First, to get it out the way, the gameplay is classic immersive sim. Stack boxes, crawl through vents, secrets and items and lockpicks and hacking and clearly tiered skill upgrades all around. If you've played any other immersive sim you know what to expect, partly because a lot of those games themselves took from Deus Ex. (Or from the games Deus Ex itself took from) It holds up incredibly well, if kind of janky. But the real magic is that the same can be said about basically the entire story. Sure the conspiracy theory stuff is a little on the nose, but discussions of surveillance, censorship, AI language algorithms, and classism hit just as well if not more so in 2024 as they may have back in the day. I played using the ZeroRand...

Tastes like 2010 I don't know that I necessarily have a point to make here for God of War 3. My main points remain from the God of War 2 review, except upon completing the game. I'm struck by how soulless it all feels as a complete package. The first two games didn't have that, they just had aspects that felt ordered by higher ups. This one, this feels like there were definitely too many hands in the pot, and too many stakeholders who needed to be satisfied. The combat didn't evolve in any grand fashion like God of War 2 managed to pull off, weapon variety is weak and every enemy is way too easy to take down even on Hard. Though that won't stop them from pulling out the old bullshit near undodgeable attacks or weird mechanics. It's not that I didn't have fun, especially for the first half. Being built on God of War 2 means this game was basically guaranteed a solid core, and it works well. But the game just can't keep up the pace, it loses itself in same...

It's not the Wurst unless it's Boarst Wurst There's something special about the Fallout style of CRPG ending slideshow. It seems so basic, almost like it's cheating. Just putting a big list of endings together with some half-hearted and occasionally buggy notes about the players actions. You know, ask the playtesters if they find a solution you didn't think of and squeeze it in at the last minute sort of energy. Maybe add some fun final notes on the lore and tie up whatever loose ends are left as the credits roll. Backed by nothing more than pure text, images, and the occasional pre-rendered cutscene. It's not even necessarily as an excuse for accounting for some hundreds of player choices you've hypothetically put in the game. Oftentimes each ending scene only has a handful of options, all pre-determined by the quest endings and 90% of the time the player will just be getting the good ending to everything, not even necessitating a difference in animation or...

A Devolver Digital game you say... Children of the Sun is another archetypical example of a short concept indie game well executed for an appropriate price and length. Which I say as, honestly, the highest compliment. Brought to us from Rene Rother, who I am admittedly unfamiliar with, it follows a girl with a sniper rifle and a single bullet. Trying to take down a cult. It's a very easy sell, gameplay wise. You have a single bullet, can analyze the level all you want before taking a shot, and when you hit someone, you can essentially "shoot" again from their head to hit the next person. This continues until you kill everybody in the level, with points awarded for distance, body part hit, and time taken. Alongside some fun achievements in each level that add a little bit of discovery to the experience. With both High-Score and Speedrun seeming like valid replay options if you really want your money's worth. All I'll say about the game to not spoil, is that it does...

A less edible but nonetheless lovely sausage roll. Ah, Pipe Push Paradise is a delightful little game. It's clearly wearing it's Stephen's Sausage Roll influence on it's sleeve. But that's okay. If you're going to pick an influence, you really couldn't ask for anything better. It's exactly what it says on the tin, and I'll keep this review as short and sweet as the game itself. It's another Sokoban esque game, except this time you're rolling pipes in three dimensions in order to connect various water mains to each other. It executes on it's ideas fantastically, and aside from a little irritating of a puzzle that plays very differently to all the others. (If you've played the game yourself, you know what one I mean whether you agree or not) I found myself loving every new addition. 10/10, highly recommended to anyone looking for a little block pushing puzzle treat.   Ah, that really was a delightful little snack of a game. Finished it ...