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This user has reviewed 96 games. Awesome! You can edit your reviews directly on game pages.
Robin Hood: The Legend of Sherwood

Robin Hood: Punch-Out Edition

Robin Hood is Real-Time-Tactics game in the vein of Commandos and Desperados (the latter of which was created by the same developers). In fact, Robin Hood might very well be the real Desperados sequel, unlike Desperados 2. Regardless, RH stands as a solid game on its own. The pre-rendered sprites and backgrounds are detailed and lively, music is nice, albeit a bit too repetitive (especially the "tense" music you hear when there is combat or you get discovered, as some times it keeps playing even when you think you resolved the fight). The sounds are also more than adequate. The narration isn't the strongest suit or focus of the game, but it adequately strings the campaign missions together, and it hits on some of the iconic moments in the Robin Hood legend. Unlike most other games in the genre, you have a team of Merry Men on top of your named characters, allowing you to build your teams with a decent degree of freedom (the named characters though are generally better and have some unique abilities). If the mission requires a specific skill to be completed, the game will remind you of it when you assemble the team, so you don't have to worry about locking yourself out of completing the map. You gain more "generic" Merry Men by avoiding bloodshed during missions, and the men you don't bring with you on missions have some uses like creating consumables back at the base camp, or they can be used as resources in some events that require assaulting certain cities (using the Merry Men, money or completing extra missions before those make things easier) or during defense events (which offer the same options, but aren't actual missions, just a "resource check" of sorts, which delays the game if you fail). As for the meat of the game, you have a campaign made up of fixed missions, as well as some generic, repeatable ones (randomly made available for you at certain intervals). These generic ones aren't bad, actually, but the repetition does settle in eventually. Still, they are there as a release valve of sorts, as you'll need to gather money to advance the story at a certain point. The real fun comes from the main missions, however. While those also re-use the maps, the different enemy placement, objectives and what not more than make up for the lack of diverse environments. Your team has pretty wide range of abilities and items, although some are much better than others (Little John being able to knock out stronger targets with one hit, for example, outshines Robin in most scenarios, especially if you want to keep the body count low). The maps are mostly well-designed and well-paced, with lots of additional objectives, treasures, interactions and so on (gather all the special items in the game for a bit of an extra at the end). The game does have some issues in the gameplay department, however: your characters are pretty good in combat, which helps reduce frustration when things don't go according to plan, however this is also very exploitable. The AI isn't very bright at times, while at others it seems to be able to perceive you beyond its cone of vision (different heights and partial cover are also extremely annoying, as the game doesn't always do a good job at showing the cone in those situations). Some enemies are needlessly strong or unbeatable, slowing you down or forcing you to adopt the same tactics over and over, without adding much strategy. Some of the late maps have simply TOO many soldiers everywhere, which detracts from the experience. The final map also splits your party for no good reason, and the pairings are seemingly random, which might force you to kill tons of guards or exploit the AI if you don't want to "reroll". Archers are also a pain, as they can effectively stun lock you if you aren't careful. The game does give you some leeway with healing items or the ability to "resurrect" by consuming lucky clovers, and generally the game it's not TOO difficult, however executing a plan "cleanly" might be impossible, with how sensitive the AI is. Still, the game is overall very fun, and the melee combat being more of a focus compared to other games in the genre gives this one its own unique identity. If you like this style of games, Robin Hood comes definitely recommended.

1 gamers found this review helpful
Forbidden Solitaire

Solitaire With Monsters

Forbidden Solitaire is a simple twist over classic solitaire games, using a 90s adventure look and some horror trappings to make the playthrough a bit creepy. The atmosphere overall works, and it helps push the experience a bit higher. I wish the messages from your sisters were less frequent, especially later on, but it's honestly never to the point of being a nuisance, and it's one of the ways the game tries to push the horror angle, so they are more or less a necessary evil. The gameplay is split between fights and "puzzles", the difference being in the way the cards are used to deal damage to opponents, while for the puzzles you mostly just have to remove all the cards before you "deck out". Note that the game is fairly easy, and you have infinite retries, so despite the horror elements, you don't have anything to worry about. The gameplay starts very simple, and gradually introduces new mechanics to work as obstacles, as well as powers (usually in the form of consumable cards) that you can use to move things along when the cards don't line up. It's nice to get a long combo going, and it's one of the best realized aspects of the gameplay. The game has a store, but it feels a bit pointless: at no point did I have a tough choice, and I rarely ever had to leave anything behind (by the end, I had bought everything that was on offer). If you like solitaire games, this one offers enough unique elements to warrant a playthrough. It's a bit on the short side (I finished it in 3 hours and 30 minutes) and there are no alternative paths or side-content to go for, as far as I can tell, so bear that in mind if that's important for you. I had fun with it, although I wouldn't have minded if the mechanics went a bit deeper, and it never felt really repetitive for me, so I recommend it!

6 gamers found this review helpful
FINAL FANTASY IX

A decent FF, but far from the best

Let me say this upfront: this is not a bad game. It has a lot of flaws however, even when compared with the games from the same generation (FF 7, 8 and 10 are all superior, in my opinion). I would rate it a 7, but since I am forced to round the score, I'll round it down. If you don't know Final Fantasy, it's a famous series of JRPGs, with turn based combat, fairly long, involved stories, with each entry being its own story and world (with a handful of exceptions over the years). FF9 in particular is mostly a fantasy setting, although you'll find some steampunk elements thrown in the mix. The story begins with a group of thieves planning to kidnap princess Garnet of Alexandria. Somewhat surprisingly, the princess actually wants to be kidnapped, and although this is the start, the story quickly moves to bigger stakes, involving wars, powerful magic, and eventually saving the entire planet as you meet new companions and win through the "power of friendship" more or less. The plot has a lot of problems: especially early on, it mixes comedy elements with serious situations without much grace, but beyond that it's constantly moving at a fast pace most of the time, while also not progressing the main plot forward. Tangents are abundant, often plots come and go in the span of an hour or two, contrivances are frequent, and generally there is a sense that no progress is being made. The amount of times your characters go to a city/country, you get an unwinnable fight and then the place gets destroyed or badly damaged is astonishing for a single story (at least 4-5 times, sometimes back to back). We move from villain to villain, often with poor or non-existent character arcs for them (which is a real issue, given some of the connections between them and our main cast), and several members of our own party are little more than caricatures. The story isn't completely devoid of cool moments, interesting characters or ideas, but there is too much fluff and as a result there isn't enough time to make the good parts really shine. The writing isn't great either, but I don't know if it's an issue with the italian and english translations (which made me pause when I briefly compared them, since they even say opposite things at times, at least for minor dialogues). The gameplay is solid, building from the foundation of the other FF games, but it also has a few issues and bad ideas thrown into the mix. The thing you might notice if you played other games in the series is how slow the combat is. Animations queue very slowly, which is a big issue in a game using the active turn based system like FF. This is especially obvious with some skills like "auto potion" which automatically allows hurt players to use a healing item when they are damaged, but it's generally an issue that afflicts most of the combat, meaning that the enemies often end up taking more actions than you (unless you disable the active system). The bigger issue is how skills/abilities are unlocked. You are forced to equip certain items, as each item has skills attached to them, and you need to "level up" said skill until you can properly learn it without having to rely on the related item. this causes you to have to give up on certain skills at times, or to use sub-par equipment, or to grind whenever you can until you have everything you want. It's a stiff system, that is not particularly fun and it doesn't really allow players to make real decisions, for the most part. Certain abilites are powerful and fun to combo, at least. These two problems do not fundamentally break the gameplay or how enjoyable it is, if you like this kind of back and forth tactical battles. The game is a bit on the easy side, but I wouldn't call it a problem. Outside of the main gameplay loop, the game features several minigames. Those aren't great either, but taken together they still add more than subtract to the game. The best mini-game is a "hot and cold" game, where you dig for treasures with your Chocobo (a brightly colored bird which you can ride around, like a horse). The card game in FF9 is also a bit weak. The rules aren't explained to you immediately, but even once you learn them, the game has a lot of issues, being a bit random and unpredictable. It's not hard (the AI is supremely bad) but it's also not very satisfying in the long run. Some of the other mini-games are dull and involve tapping buttons quickly enough or with the right timing or chasing and grabbing frogs, of all things. The music is nice overall (although, again, I think it's a step back from FF7 or 8). The visuals were good for the time (I don't love the style, but it's a personal preference, rather than an issue with the game itself), and this version updates the 3D model without straying too much from the PSX release. I do think they didn't do a perfect job with the backgrounds, but once again it's a minor issue overall. All in all, it's a game I am happy to have played, but I also don't think I'll touch it ever again (I played this as a teen and now as an adult, and my opinion didn't shift much despite so many years passing). The story simply doesn't hold my interest nor does it tug at my heart strings like other entries, and the gameplay alone isn't enough to justify the time investment, at least for me.

2 gamers found this review helpful
Super Woden GP 2

A Fun Core, A Myriad of Issues

Super Woden GP 2 is an (isometric? Top down?) driving game. The mechanics are reminiscent of the arcade game World Rally Championship, and like in that game, you get on screen warnings about the incoming curves, since the camera angle limits your view considerably. The game is then structured like the old Gran Turismo games, where you buy the best car you can afford at first, and then try to make your way to the top using the prize money and cars to race in increasingly harder and faster competitions. The core idea is solid, and so is the driving: different cars will behave very differently, even if the gameplay (especially steering) is definitely arcade, allowing you to turn impossible corners if you just let go of the accelerator for a split second before entering the curve (assuming you aren't driving one of the less responsive cars). Weirdly enough, the collisions feel fairly realistic at times, although that means crashing can be extremely detrimental. The game has adequate visuals, and a banging soundtrack, to top it all off (although if you don't like the style, you might have to resort to using your custom soundtrack, which the game accomodates). Despite the good points, though, the game also has plenty of issues: several races have hidden restrictions on what cars you can use for them. There is a list of "recommended" cars (sometimes they are "mandatory", though) you can see if you cycle to the right tab, but you can't see your garage from the race menu. In fact, for some baffling reason, you can cycle through your cars with the "L" and "R" bumpers on the gamepad (I don't know the keyboard bindings) pretty much anywhere EXCEPT for the race menu. If you bought a car that you don't like, it can be a mess: cars resell for a pittance, and money can be hard to save up to get the top tier cars. The game also autosaves, so you can't try a car and reload if you don't think it's good. The game uses a "star" system to unlock new races (you gain stars by completing any event you have available, to a maximum of 3 stars per event if you get first place). In theory, that's not a terrible idea, but the requirements are a little too steep (you'll HAVE to take part in events you might not care for, as a result). The on-screen warning for the curves feels like an enemy at times: in some instances, the warnings are chained, leaving you little time to react to the important one, or they hit you too early/late (more late than early, especially when you start driving the faster cars). As a result, the game can be VERY frustrating at times, and you'll need to memorize the tracks, if you hope to finish the high-speed races. The other thing that is an issue with the controls, but that only becomes an issue near the end, is that you can't use the d-pad for steering, only the analog stick. Since the controls aren't analog, as far as I can tell, this simply adds an extra element of imprecision, which is a big deal given how hard the game can get. Despite all this, I had fun with the game. I don't know if I would try again the final races, but I had a good time overall. The game clearly shows the amount of effort the dev put into making it, and with a few refinements it could have been a real masterpiece.

Fear Effect: Sedna

Fear Effect: Sadness

Disclaimer: I didn't finish the game, I firmly believe it's not worth the time. Fear Effect: Sedna is an isometric third-person shooter and a sequel to two (now fairly old) PS1 games. The original FE games were certainly campy, but they were also fun and tried to bring some "cinematic" spectacle to the table. Both games started pretty well, but the final sections were not as good, as they tried to wrap up the stories after the supernatural elements started to tangle the plot points a bit too much. Sedna, however, is boring from the start: the characters in FE used to have GOOD one liners, jokes and retorts, but the script here is absolutely dull. While the cutscenes look much better than the old games, due to technological advancements, the scenes aren't directed extremely well, and there is often a lot of talking to say very little. It's like they picked the weakest parts of the series, and amplified them, in a way. The change from tank controls to pseudo twin-stick shooter surprisingly sees the tank controls come out on top (although I have always been fine with tank controls, I find this shocking, regardless): not only is the movement a bit slow, and the combat sloppy, but at least in the previous entries you could master the roll to avoid most of the damage, or be the first to shoot to overwhelm the opponent. The old games had a slower pace, which helped compensating for the slow controls. In Sedna, you have very large maps, you are very zoomed out, and there is a ton of elements that cover your characters plus a very annoying fog of war effect outside of the protagonists line of sight, which pairs very poorly with the already sub-par controls. In Sedna the lack of feedback from shooting and being shot results in a system that is both unsatisfying and messy, which devolves quickly into "just out-heal the opponent". Enemies are numerous and they swarm you, while the ai companions and the ability to pause the game to give orders simply don't provide the support you need to make things functional and engaging. You can (and whenever possible, should) stealth kill the enemies (another thing superficially in common with the old games), but it's a little too easy in an isometric game where you can see their cone of sight, reducing the satisfaction (the game is also lacking the systems that other games which feature these mechanics usually have: there isn't a proper alarm system, and enemies quickly return to their regular patterns after seeing a body). The puzzles also feel like something that reflects the worst aspects of the originals, instead of taking inspiration from the best examples in the series. Several of the puzzles are fiddly, obtuse or illogical, which doesn't pair too well with insta-death moments. All of this to say that Sedna should disappoint old fans and newcomers alike. I am not a HUGE fan of the originals, but I certainly like them, and this was a terrible sequel to saddle the series with. It feels like there are constantly rumors about remakes, sequels and the like for FE, and I can only hope they either do justice to the originals, or leave the series to rest. Not every IP needs a sequel, and certainly no series deserves a bad game 10-20 years after it's been dormant.

1 gamers found this review helpful
Cairn

A Good Game With Some Frustrating Issues

Cairn is a climbing game where you'll play as Aava, as she tries to climb a mountain (Kami) that nobody conquered solo before (I think: There is some backstory about people that used to live on these mountains and I am a bit murky on whether or not they actually did accomplish the feat before). In the game, you'll control your limbs individually (either manually, or by allowing the game to pick the limb it thinks is best next) and you have to navigate the various holds, fighting the mountain, its climate, as well as your hunger and thirst to make it to the top. The game is suprisingly fun. Finding a path and conquering it feels great, Aava is flexible and that allows you to perform intricate maneuvers to climb tough spots. The mountain looks great, and it's full of places and secrets to find and explore. The music is atmospheric and some tracks are really outstanding in my opinion. The game clearly had a lot of love poured into it. The story, however, leaves a bit to be desired. On paper, it's okay to have a grumpy protagonist, and the idea of following the adventures of someone making history as a climber is certainly appealing, but the execution isn't quite there. Frankly, Aava is too annoying, and for a good portion of the game, she'll come off as selfish, and spiteful. Not that most of the other characters fare much better: Aava's girlfriend is borderline unhinged, in my opinion, picking the time when Aava is climbing a dangerous mountain to unload some psychological baggage on her. This feels all the more annoying because we don't KNOW these characters, so they appear petty and irredeemable. Our protagonist gets a bit of a character arc, but honestly it's not great or fully developed, in my opinion. I eventually started skipping through some of the cutscenes, as I really don't think they are worth your attention, at times. Aava is also annoying in the gameplay. If you fail (and you will, most likely) she has a selection of desperate cries, angry yells and other exclamations to badger you with for your incompetence. It's genuinely painful, and enough to ruin a good time, if you ever get stuck or fail a few times in a row. The automatic selection of the limbs is the one mechanic that will screw you over the most. If you are trying to do a quick maneuver, you'll find it picking the same limb multiple times, or leaving your arms/legs stuck, anchoring you to a spot until Aava loses her grip. Whenever there is a hold that isn't 100% unambiguous, you have a 50% chance the game will pick the worst position/posture/angle, forcing you to re-adjust the same limb multiple times. You can perform the same maneuvers and holds back to back, and sometimes things will work perfectly, while other times you'll plummet to the ground, without enough feedback to understand what went wrong. The hunger/thirst/cold system can also be annoying. While the game is very forgiving (and near the end, it basically gives you infinite free passes), It's extremely upsetting how Aava grunts and how the screen changes colors whenever you get close to passing out (or pass out). If you waste your time or don't find enough of the items in the map, food and liquid can suddenly be extremely scarse, turning long climbs into real slogs. If you can look past the frustration, and get a good grasp of the mechanics to reduce your failures, the game actually offers an interesting challenge and a satisfying journey + conclusion (although I really wish Aava's angry persona didn't ruin the culmination of the game with her angry screams, seriously). The game has a lot to offer, and I'd like to play through it again, especially now that I have better understanding on how to minimize my mistakes, but at the same time the lows were just infuriating enough that I might want to wait, so I think your enjoyment will greatly depend on how much frustration you can tolerate (unless you immediately pick up on the mechanics).

3 gamers found this review helpful
Mirror's Edge™

A fun, fresh game even in 2026

Mirror's Edge is a first person parkour game. We'll play the role of Faith, a "runner" (kind of couriers/freedom fighters in a dystopian city where order comes through tight surveillance and an iron fist). The genre is still somewhat rare to this day, and despite all the time that has passed since ME original release, it remains one of the best. The presentation is striking, both in the gameplay sections (the bright city, with its very saturated touches of color gives the game a unique identity) and the cutscenes (2D animations which also have a certain flair to them). While the game is definitely old now, I think it holds up pretty well. As for the music, I think it's solid work, although the only track that really stuck with me was the main theme. The gameplay is exhilarating: jumping from rooftop to rooftop, running on walls, landing on an enemy from above... When it works, it feels amazing. The gameplay is not without blemishes, though: occasionally you'll lose speed or miss a jump and feel that it's the game fault's, rather than your own. Combat can also be a chore, when you are pitted against several guards showering you with bullets, while you have no ranged attacks until you take one of them down first. I wish they had worse aim, so you could run more easily from bad guy to bad guy and dropkick them like a lunatic. The story is okay in concept, but not so great in execution: some plot points feel contrived, like Faith suddenly wanting to investigate a certain security company and immediately stumbling upon their "big secret". At least the story is not overbearing, keeping things short and to the point, so it doesn't overstay its welcome. Speaking of which, the game is on the short side. Honestly it could have been twice as long and (assuming it didn't feature much more combat) I would have played it without feeling bored. All in all, I'd recommend the game to anyone interested in the concept. If you can grasp the controls, you are in for a good time.

1 gamers found this review helpful
Tomb Raider GOTY

Bland TPS with Tomb Raider branding

If you really liked the methodical platforming from old TR games, know that you won't find it here. You also won't find anything resembling Lara Croft, for that matter. If you can get past the bait and switch, what you get is an admittedly decent, modern third-person shooter, with some minor Metroidvania and platforming/puzzle elements to break the monotony of mowing down bad guys, all wrapped in a poorly-written and poorly thought-out story, filled with clichès. The combat (which admittedly is featured quite a bit) is not bad, especially as your arsenal expands. The platforming and puzzles feel like after-thoughts. Very often they are either absurdly easy, or extremely obtuse as to HOW the puzzle even works. They are usually still easy to complete, but it just leaves you wondering how Lara actually thought it was going to work out (if they weren't scripted in a game, there is no way someone could expect things to end so conveniently). The game also can't help but make you slide on your ass repeatedly, force you on slow-walking "you can only move forward" situations over and over, QTEs or pseudo-QTEs, very scripted sequences and so on. Basically, the game foregoes meaningful interaction whenever there isn't combat, and you are stuck watching a movie which requires you to hold down the play button, or press the right button at the right time to keep it going. The story is painful to sit through: people talk on and on without saying much, everyone acts like emotional babies (the amount of purely emotional arguing, often without any good reason, is astonishing), plot points are often extremely contrived, and there is a general worship of Lara that feels a bit distasteful when it's brought up. At the same time, the story loves to try and squeeze some emotion out of anything the protagonist does, beating Lara like a punching bag and generally it does everything it can to keep things not fun and overly dramatic. You or Lara have effectively no agency in the plot, and very often she has to hold the idiot ball during the cutscenes, so that the murder machine that kills hundreds of people (you) can't save her from giving up stealth, missing shots and generally being a dunce to move the plot forward. Visually, the game is a treat: I especially like the sea and the skyboxes, but generally everything looks good. Art direction COULD be a bit better here and there, but there is only so much you can do with forests and caves (the "scrapyard" areas are just dreadful, though, looking messy, ugly, and making barely sense when you think about the kind of manpower and material it would take to build and maintain those structures). I have tried multiple times to enjoy the game, and while I can do it if I completely ignore the Tomb Raider branding and the story, in favour of thinking about it like a dumb action-shooter, it's not a really good game. I am very surprised by how highly it's rated, considering its best feature (the shooting) is also its most generic aspect, and everything else is hardly engaging.

3 gamers found this review helpful
Foolish Mortals

An Above-Average Affaire

Foolish Mortals is a point & click adventure, featuring some rather gorgeous backgrounds, solid music and great voice-acting. As much as the presentation is polished (minus how the characters don't always gel with the backgrounds), however, the same can't be said for all aspects of the writing and the gameplay. The game has admittedly several funny lines and jokes. The problem is that there are also a decent amount of jokes that don't land quite as well, or conversations that are ponderous, going into trivial or completely pointless tangents at length. If you are like me, and try to explore all dialogues, you'll be bored out of your mind at times. Unfortunately, some conversations are also unskippable, leading to some frustration. This excessive verbosity extends to the jokes themselves at times, ruining the comedic timing of otherwise good ideas (or sometimes running good jokes into the ground). The gameplay begins well, having mostly easy tasks with some less-obvious puzzle solutions to keep you from breezing through the game completely, however in act 2 you can already start to see more far-fetched puzzles and in act 3 reasonable puzzles have to share the scene with rather annoying busywork or absurd puzzles in equal measure. It's not difficult for the most part, but the way things work together ends up being not very satisfying. Your tasks are either easy, require some backtracking and multi-objective chasing to progress (because of long series of "you need item A to get item B to get Item C to get Item D to solve problem 1") or just have ridiculous solutions. The plot would be perfectly fine, but the poor pacing kind of ruins it. Expect musical numbers and plot dumps back to back at times, or to hear 2-3 times the same info from different people in different ways. There are effectively too many characters with too many things to say, some used only in very specific scenarios, or providing the most bizarre limitations or backgrounds just to be another obstacle in your way. Is Foolish Mortals a bad game? I don't think I can say that, but it's not the experience the other reviews would have you believe. If you have a somewhat critical eye, you'll find plenty of flaws which won't sink the game, but definitely can limit how much fun you'll have.

3 gamers found this review helpful
Clock Tower: Rewind

Amazing game, imperfect port

Clock Tower is an amazing horror game. Despite the point & click controls and the age (originally released on the SNES) it manages to create a creepy atmosphere and has plenty of scares. While a handful of situations are perhaps a bit goofy due to the technical limitations, the game is a true gem. Some of the death scenes are masterpieces, and will live vividly in my memory for a long time. This version has a series of cool bonuses: a well-made, animated intro with an alternative version of the main theme; interviews with the creator; common features for emulated games like saving anywhere and rewinding, option to play the original version or the rewind version (which features a mix of minor gameplay changes, content from the PS1 release and some unreleased content as well, I believe). There are a few other extras, but I figure theses are the most important ones. The emulation isn't the best, but it's hardly a show-stopper (although I do wish they had given us access to the roms as well). For a pre-packaged deal, it's perfectly functional, despite not being the ideal emulation setup. You get options for CRT filters, what to show instead of the black bars on the side of the game, and a handful of other minor features. The Clock Tower series has had its ups and downs, but this first entry is really something special, so hopefully this version will introduce the game to more players. Personally, I had fun checking out some of the PS1 content that I had never played before, as well as the interviews. I am sure there is at least something for most of the fans in this version.

15 gamers found this review helpful