Method to my Madness...

Hows it going I thought I might spread a little information on my review process. I mainly review indie titles but I will review any game that is requested. I post reviews in the form of a recommendation with an ! after the game name, games without the ! are unrecommended. The mass influx of indies and other PC games makes it hard to find what is good and bad hopefully my reviews can shed some light on the pros and cons of buying certain titles. If you would like to see a game not listed reviewed please leave a comment and I will try to get to it as quickly as possible.
-Keep it retro

Defender's Quest: Valley of the Forgotten!

This excellent tower defense RPG hybrid is a great way to pass some time. The overall setting of the story is very original casting the main character in a role of being afflicted by a mysterious plague. The combat system evolves over the course of the story introducing new strategies for dispatching enemies and bosses alike. The colorful dialouge keeps the story somewhat fresh, but the real meat to this game is in the combat and preparation. Each town will have new items or characters to recruit, making the necessary arrangements before a battle are extremely necessary for your success. The way everyone in your party level-up and the skill trees associated with there classes adds a lot of depth to the character progression. Defender's Quest: Valley of the Forgotten is a great merging of genres and a complete gem to add to your game collection.

Sword of the Stars: The Pit

I didn't have a good time with Sword of the Stars: The Pit due to its slow paced combat and its often confusing set of controlls. To be honest I gave the game a chance trying to look past the bland environments to see if the core mechanics of the game could please me enough to continue the quest, sadly I barely could finish the tutorial before wanting to exit. The gameplay experience is bogged down by simple turn to turn game-play that should be (in my own opinion) part of a board game not because of the dynamic but because of the mediocre control. With that said one thing that really bothered me in the tutorial was the way they implement other friendly units making you stop every couple of squares for them to catch up to you makes me feel like im playing an Atari. With hopes high I came into this title hoping for the best and leaving with dissapointment, save yourself the trouble and play/buy another game.

Hack, Slash, Loot!

I have a soft spot for ole text games like Mysteria, which makes me really like Hack, Slash, Loot. The overall setting of the game can be changed with the quest in the beginning of the game, although you have the option of choosing your class and quest on the title screen you also have the awesome option of setting it all to random making your next quest and class a surprise. The mechanics of the game are somewhat light although the big picture of the game is to stay alive and make smart choices when it comes to battling monsters and maintaining your health points. The armor weapons and items you find in game offer tons of support and help you best the set of quests before you, but some items can also have cons associated with them. The random outcomes of the doors you choose can have a heavy impact on whether or not you die or make it to the next floor. I noticed that the ranged classes usually survive longer due to being able to bottleneck enemies in doorways and blast them from the safety of a long hallway. Overall Hack, Slash, Loot is an update of an older vision of games long lost in a crowd of easy shooters and games that play themselves.

Dungeons of Dredmor

The slow sometimes mundane combat speed of this game makes me want to wish it wasn't on my game list. I usually give most games the benefit of the doubt and barrell through sometime annoying or frustrating mechanics to see the big picture, Dugeons of Dredmor is not the case. The character art in my opinion is kind of bland and not that special. The combat was not very inticing making moving around the map a chore. I didn't spend much time on this title but what time I did throw away made me sure that I wouldn't pick it up again.

Teleglitch!

This excellent rogue-like blends the action of horror games with fast paced decision making. Teleglitch often laughs at your attempts to get further although that doesn't mean that you do not have a chance to succeed. The crafting system is simple to use and keeps you wanting to find more items to help you survive to the next teleporter. The story is what oozes from Teleglitch, a creepy undertone of experiments with time and space gone wrong. The mutants that prowl the corridors of the ship are experiments of war making it even harder to reach your destination. The ship's AI is even against you in some parts sending marines and personnell that have microchip implants to vanquish you. Overall the setting and difficulty of Teleglitch is what makes it shine as a great adventure game and an amazing rogue-like experience.

Paranautical Activity!

Paranautical Activity is a crazy blend of dungeon crawler and first person shooter. If I had to use other games to describe it I would end up using The Binding of Isaac mixed with Borderlands. With that being said the setting of this game pits you against every increasingly difficult enemies and bosses depending on the selection of your rooms. To mix the game up the rooms always have a random enemy spawn rate making it impossible to really prepare for what you will be facing. The bosses offer a great level of difficutly in exchange for an random item that will help you in your journey to clear all the rooms. Eventually you will find a elevator room that will take you to the next level of insanity increasing the spawn rate of enemies and the stats of boss characters. The fast paced action mixed with the frantic dodging of attacks mixes into a great rogue-like formula. The variety of items keeps you wondering what the next thing you pick up will do. Keep on your toes because if your not Paranautical Activity will suck you in and make you press Restart way too many times.

Electronic Super Joy!

Electronic Super Joy is an intense platformer with wildly hilarious themes to back up its rediculous story. First of all your butt has been stolen from the beginning of the game making it extremely far-fetched and funny. The platforming is to the wall hard consistantly challenging you to keep up with the flow of the level or use your powers to barrell through it. Most of the frustration that I encountered was the missiles THEY FOLLOW YOU EVERYWHERE! The overall setting of the game makes you want to play the levels fast, the music attributing to this concept since its usually a fast techno/dubstep beat. Electronic Super Joy is definately worth checking out especially if you were raised on Mario like myself.

Antichamber!

The extremely enjoyable part of Antichamber is the sureal world that it creates for you to explore or simply understand. The mind blowing concepts of going down hallways to find yourself at the very beginning of where you started can be a little frustrating, however finding the solutions to these puzzles are very self rewarding. The gameplay mechanics are top notch introducing new concepts into each and every turn. It very much seems like once you think you know what is going on it throws you for a loop forcing you to rethink or re-evaluate how you approach a certain puzzle. Sometimes it is how you look at a problem and your self perception that makes it hard or easy, only one thing can be for sure that this game will bend the way you approach problems and make you see things from a different light. Antichamber is an amazing puzzle game and an exciting experience.

Kentucky Route Zero!

The eerie tales of ghosts and hidden routes litter this excellent point-click adventure. Kentucky Route Zero does not spare on the atmosphere keeping you hooked in to an amazing journey of a man trying to find his way. The spooky somewhat overcasted setting plays very well with the mood of the characters and helps to keep you wondering what will happen next. Currently the first two episodes are available, at the time of this review I have completed the first four acts of the first episode. With this game having 3 more episodes to go I have a great feeling that this story and atmosphere will only get richer. I will steadily review the rest of the episodes as they release and eventually after the full game has released launch a comprehensive review on the entire game. Kentucky Route Zero's setting and overall story narrative is something that shouldn't be missed or overlooked.

The Binding of Isaac!

The Binding of Isaac is one of the greatest Indie titles I have ever played. The top notch action of the game mixed with the randomly generated rooms and item drops keeps you coming back for more. The over the top story keeps you wondering if Isaac is really going to be safe from his mother's rath. In a traditional sense of getting stronger most of the items have a mass variety of effects. The thing that makes The Binding of Isaac special is the fact that its very hard yet extremely rewarding. You don't feel cheated out of dieing due to the fact that its a rogue-like and the possibility of the next play-through holding some excellent items to create a build that will take you to the end. Being able to decipher what the items pros and cons are is an essential skill that grows over the length of the game. The Binding of Isaac is interesting, hard, and rewarding a definate indie title worth checking out and mastering.

Gone Home!

The first impression of this game was pure mystery, I couldn't tell if it was a ghost story or a murder or something even darker. The only information you are armed with at the beginning is the fact that you have been gone for awhile and just returned home from a trip from Europe only to find your family missing and an empty house to explore. The themes and atmosphere of Gone Home will captivate you forcing you to find out what happened to your family. The use of audio logs on top of being able to investigate was a very nice mechanic. I often found myself listening to the audio logs while reading things in the environment a real sense of story immersion is obtained through this. When you finally start to put things togethor and explore more of the house you begin to understand the motive for some of the actions of your family. Gone Home is a narrative masterpiece keeping you in a constant state of wanting to know what happened to unravel the mystery.

Nuclear Throne!

This excellent rogue-like is a must play for any fan of the Binding of Isaac. The mutations are helpful and hilarious on top of an increasing difficultly and perma-death it will keep you on your toes. The concept of all the mutants battling for the throne is also very funny. With this game still in early access and not even done with the development process I see alot of potential for it to become a very great game. I will review Nuclear Throne again after the full release.

Rogue Legacy!

Hilarious traits spice this titles up to the max. With the limitless amount of character builds this game is a must play for any fan of the rogue-like genre. Reminds me of the classic Ghost and Goblins for SNES, hard yet very rewarding.

The Stanley Parable!

Great use of humor and choices, the narrorator is basiclly a male GlaDOS which adds an amazing tone to the atmosphere of the entire title. Playing it over and over again will make your mind spin with all the possible outcomes of your choices. Even the most simplest choices can weigh heavily on the outcome of your playthrough. You will laugh check this game out!

Risk of Rain!

Quick to let you into the action Risk of Rain spares you nothing in the later portions of gameplay. The perma-death really takes its toll, however the character classes and item variety make this a must play title. Excellent choice for co-op online or local.