Never Alone - Review (PC, Xbox One and PlayStation 4 game)

This month we have another wintery game that explores ancient folklore only this time we’ll be delving into the beliefs of the indigenous Alaskan community, the Iñupiat. ‘Never Alone’ is one of those games that test the traditional boundaries of what a video game should be as it really is a vehicle for telling a larger story, one of the Iñupiat people and it goes about this in such a heart-warming way that it’s difficult not to enjoy it. The game itself is designed for two players, though can be played solo, and slots neatly into the category of a puzzle platforming game where you must navigate levels by controlling both a young girl and her arctic fox companion.

Developer: Upper One Games and E-Line Media
Genre: Puzzle platformer
Platforms: Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Microsoft Windows
Release date: 18th November 2014
ESRB: Unrated (mild threat)

The story of ‘Never Alone’ is presented as the kind of tale that an elder passes on to his or her grandchildren and even a few of the cutscenes are in a kind of scrimshaw style as though you are watching a living, breathing wall of cave art. It’s simple narrative that follows a young girl, Nuna, to find the cause of an unnatural blizzard with the help of an arctic fox whom she meets after narrowing escaping an angry ice bear. Together the two friends set out to find the source of an eternal blizzard which threatens the survival of not only the Iñupiat people but everything they have ever known. The story itself is pleasant, full of heart and somewhat magical in an ancient sort of way which really ties into the sense of the tale being told by an indigenous elder. What I particularly enjoyed about the narrative was that it offered up an insight into a culture that I was unfamiliar with and provided me with plenty of information in the form of cultural insight videos. These videos played like clips from a documentary and would discuss the relevant scenario, character or set piece that I had just encountered. Watching them as and when you unlock them can be rather distracting from the game however and I would recommend waiting until you had finished the game before going through them. They were a genuinely interesting watch though and you’d be missing out on some really interesting information by bypassing them entirely as they tend to make everything feel much more wholesome and real.

The game itself is quite clearly designed with two players in mind but, as I only have one controller, I only have a single player experience to talk about. That said, quite a lot of the game requires you to coordinate the movements of both the fox and Nuna so they work together in harmony but, with unpredictable AI, this is not always possible when you’re playing by yourself. Occasionally the character you are not controlling may perform actions that lead to their death and often they struggle to keep up with your pace which, inevitably, also leads to their death. The game is also slightly let down by the controls which can often feel sluggish, unresponsive and awkward to get right. Your ranged weapon, the bola, for instance can be very difficult to aim properly and this simply adds an additional problem to an already bothersome control system. On the positive side the mechanics of the game are pretty solid and generally revolves around a few basic ideas that become increasingly more complex as the game goes on. Whilst coming up against enemies is standard gaming-fare there are some interesting features such as the winter wind which can be both a blessing and an obstacle depending on where you’re trying to go or what you’re trying to do. Spirits that inhabit the game are similarly two faced and whilst there are plenty of good spirits who will help you there are also the not so good ones who may whisk you away at a moment’s notice. 

The game’s main premise however is the partnership between Nuna and Fox which is where some brilliant co-op gameplay would have come into play had I had another controller. Whilst Nuna can drag heavy objects and use the bola as a means of retrieving objects or clearing obstacles Fox’s expertise lies in his connection with the spiritual world, allowing him to work with the spiritual manifestations of animals called ‘loons’. Navigating levels tends to require you to switch constantly between the characters so that they may help each other along and there’s enough to interact with for this gameplay to not be boring or repetitive. However, the vast majority of the game does not have the same complexity that the final levels do which manifests not so much as a difficulty curve but more a great restriction on gameplay. In later levels your control over Fox is extended and you can do much more with him and, whilst the scenarios tend to be similar such as the chase scenes, everything is just so much more fun and challenging. It’s just a shame that it takes so long for the game to build up to this balance of play and before you know it the game has finished just as it felt like it was really picking up speed. What I am utterly grateful for after playing a certain similar game was the checkpoint system of ‘Never Alone’ as whilst death may happen quite frequently, dodgy companions aside, you are never put too far back and it never feels as though you are constantly retracing your steps.

What I absolutely adore about this game though is the art style which is so beautifully minimalistic with its soft focus and hazy wash of colours as though everything is thinly veiled with snow. Murky blues, whites and greys do wonders to make Nuna stand out in her fiercely bold furs whilst her Arctic Fox companion is both separate and a part of the frozen tundra that surrounds him. The simplicity but detail of the animations are also absolutely stunning and little idle animations like Nuna warming her hands or Fox pawing at the ground add a little subtle personality to their characters. The wind is flawlessly drawn and animated and you can visually feel the might of it as it throws Nuna backwards across the screen or sails across her shoulders when she’s ducked down, shielding herself from its buffeting power. The soundtrack as well is extremely well implemented, a soft chorus of piano that is only broken up by the shouts and grunts of Nuna and Fox as they struggle on with their task and overall the music has a very subtle and calming effect on the entire game. 

The prevalent issues that are present in ‘Never Alone’ are hardly even applicable at the moment as the developer has already announced that patches for both the PC version and the consoles will be released shortly. This is clearly a game with both substance and style and my only remaining gripe is that it takes far too long for the real action to get going and, with that in mind, the game is rather short. This aside it’s a wondrous little indie game that is well suited for modern day gamers who enjoy simplistic yet meaningful games with the capacity for a strong local co-op experience. Visually the game is stunning and I adored the focus on learning about Alaskan folklore as it is quite a rare culture to hear anything about, particularly in games. Treat yourself to something a little different this Christmas and check this out if it sounds like something you’d enjoy.

The Good:

• Lovely depictation and explanations of Iñupiat mythology 
• Adorable foxes always rank highly in my books
• Very well thought out narrative spoken in the indigenous language
• Engaging characters that develop a lovely relationship with one another
• Pretty solid puzzles that require some thought
• Stunning graphics and soundtrack
• Nicely animated for the most part
• Solid mechanics, particularly like the application of the wind and spirits

The Bad:

• Later levels much more enjoyable than the rest of the game 
• AI and ranged weapon issues (that are currently being patched)
• Polar bear has some odd animations sometimes

The Score: 9/10

Final thoughts: “A genuinely intriguing game that makes me cold just thinking about it, or maybe it’s because I don’t have the heating on and it’s December. I loved the whole concept of this game and knowing that the vast majority of things I found wrong with it are being patched makes me truly appreciate the developer’s dedication to this game. I won’t forget this one.”

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Last Inua - Review (iOS and PC)

‘Last Inua’ is set in a frozen tundra and is an icy tale of a father and son’s journey to vanquish evil from the world in the form of a demon named Tonrar. The son, Hiko, is blessed with supernatural powers strong enough to defeat Tonrar but his frail, adolescent body is unable to handle these powers and as such he is too weak to embark on this quest alone. His loving father, the physically powerful Ataataq, opts to accompany his son and protect him in all the ways Hiko is unable to protect himself. Together this Inuit duo set out to save the North from Tonrar’s evil clutches and it looks to be a tale of fatherly love set in a tranquil, snow blanketed world. Unfortunately, ‘Last Inua’ faces a plethora of problems that spoil the experience. 

Developer: Glowforth
Genre: Platformer adventure game
Platforms: PC and iOS
Release date: 11th December 2014 (PC), May 8th 2014 (iOS)
ESRB: Unrated (Mild threat)

‘Last Inua’ is a form of platforming game where you control both Hiko and Attataq in order to navigate the different levels though each character has vastly different strengths. Hiko, the teenage son, is gifted with the ability to teleport between glowing points, create bridges of light to pass over danger and fly in certain circumstances. Attataq on the other hand is the physically stronger of the two and may climb sheer, icy walls, jump and smash through enormous ice blocks that may block the path. To complete levels the player must use each character is unison and, at best, the puzzles are a solid means of traversing the environment even if your options are extremely limited. What let’s this game down however is how incredibly slow everything is and, when combined with some very touch and go controls, the whole experience is easily ruined. Both characters move at a lumbering pace as though they were wading through the snow rather than skipping across it and it’s a fairly frequent occurrence for your button presses to go unrecognized. Attataq in particular does not always jump when he is told to, usually resulting in death. This quickly becomes extremely frustrating as each death sends you halfway back across the map leaving you to plod your way back over to where you just died. This would be somewhat bearable if death was infrequent but sadly almost everything is deadly whether that’s mistimed jumps, roaming Yeti’s, spurting pools of darkness or spike traps. The entire game feels unnecessarily drawn out when you have to constantly retrace your steps at an agonizingly slow pace and this is inexcusable, no matter how pretty the backgrounds may be. 

Special mention should be made of how absolutely gorgeous everything looks and the opening cutscene in particular looks fantastic. The animations are nicely detailed and, for the most part, smooth and well executed. Visually, the art style is very simplistic but also very elegant and I personally loved the sleek, stylish appearance the game boasted as well as the noticeable contrast in colour. The first few levels are by far the most stunning as the contrasts between the inky black night sky and trees and the bright, gleaming whites and blues of the snow and ice are quite beautiful. The characters themselves are well designed and the landscapes have enough detail for them not to feel barren. A lovely visual effect that I enjoyed is also connected to a gameplay feature in that if you stay too far away from a campsite containing a fire then you will gradually begin to freeze to death. When this occurs the entire screen begins to fill with translucent spikes of ice that crackle across the screen, reminding you to seek warmth quickly or else face the ultimate consequence. 

Unfortunately ‘Last Inua’ is one of those games I really want to like but just can’t. It looks fantastic and the story is really quite lovely but the controls are unreliable, the animations are oddly jumpy in places, the lumbering pace is unbearable and there’s a great deal of repetition that makes the entire experience mind numbing. There’s a great deal of trial and error in navigating this game and, when error puts you so far back, you’ll find yourself constantly re-treading the same levels that already lack variety. Despite this, I’m sure there are people out there that can look beyond these problems and enjoy this quaint little game but for me it’s simply a deal breaker. Overall this game could have been so much better as there are some really promising elements about it that would have been brilliant if not for the undue frustration the mechanics caused me. So for this one I’m afraid I’ve got to say it missed its mark by a long shot. 

The Good:

• It looks beautiful 
• An emotional and touching storyline 
• Nice animations, when they work 
• An interesting concept 
• Atmospheric, detailed environments 
• Running from camp to camp before freezing is a nice touch
• Some truly awe inspiring landmarks

The Bad:

• Inexcusably slow
• Puzzles are very scripted with limited solutions 
• Unresponsive controls 
• Frequent deaths that put you very far back from where you died

The Score: 6/10

Final thoughts: “What a shame, if only those kinks had been recognized and worked out prior to release then perhaps we’d have a real stunner on our hands. Sadly it’s just far too repetitive, slow and unreliable to enjoy properly.”

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Year Walk - Review (iOS and PC/Mac game)

'Year Walk' is a game set to divide opinion due to its slow pace and quiet, ambient atmosphere. The game revolves around an ancient Swedish ritual called Årsgång that required its partakers, called yearwalkers, to undergo a series of challenges that would allegedly result in visions of the future. These visions however may come at a grave cost as there is no guarantee the year walker will survive this ancient practice. As a lover of folklore the premise of the game was far too good to pass up and now, with the winter month fully descended upon us, I felt now was the best time to try it out. I wasn’t to be disappointed.

Developer: Simogo 
Genre: Puzzle, interactive fiction 
Release date: 21st February 2013 (iOS) 6th March 2014 (PC), 3rd April 2014 (Mac)
Platforms: iOS, PC and Mac
ESRB: Unrated (Horror imagery)

‘Year Walk’ is very much one of those ‘interactive fiction’ type games where it feels as though you’re playing through some kind of novella rather than an actual game and its strongest features are by far its chilling atmosphere, obscure storyline and sublime aptitude at weaving together horror, fantasy and folklore. You play as a mysterious person who has chosen to partake in the ‘year walking’ ritual in an attempt to predict your future and this starts out with saying alone in the dark, whilst fasting, during New Year’s Eve. When the clock strikes into the New Year you leave your solitary confinement and walk around the forest that surrounds the cabin, meeting strange and frightening creatures that offer up challenges in the way of puzzles for you to solve. 

 
What I particularly liked about the game was how it drew you in with just enough mystery to peak your interest but then made it quite difficult for me to find out what was going on. Initially the game is quite frustrating as it feels as though you’re just walking around in circles and getting nowhere. Everywhere I turned I found myself locked out of somewhere with no obvious way of getting in and it took a while for me to realize that I really needed to pay attention to the smallest of details in order to navigate not only the twisting and turning woodland but the game itself. A pen and some paper turns out to be absolutely essential for this game as jotting down everything from landmarks, patterns, symbols and even your path through the forest as its very easy to get turned around and find yourself lost, despite the presence of certain key landmarks. What really struck me however was the actual appearance of the game as there’s just something about its very simplistic artistic style that reminded me of a hand crafted Christmas card where everything is rather whimsical and ethereal. Spindly, silver skinned trees stand boldly against a velvety backdrop, the snow crunches beneath your feet as you are inexplicably drawn deeper and deeper into the dark, mysterious world. ‘Year Walk’ has such a fantasy feel about it that it feels as though you are exploring a gentle winters scene in some pure and innocent fairytale but the creepy imagery and frightening jump scares drop you back into reality with a bump. The constant clashing of splendor and viciousness keeps you on your toes and is very effective at maintaining the emotion that comes with an ever changing, ever evolving reality where nothing is as it seems. 

This is one of those games that sticks in your mind long after you’ve finished playing it, haunting you as though there’s something else in the snow blanketed world that needs to be revisited. Its haunting storyline, horrific scares and utterly immersive atmosphere all amount to an extremely unique experience that, for the modest price tag, is worth diving into. I should mention at this point that you may sink rather than swim in this grim tale as it’s a puzzle game with a whole new level of difficulty. In fact, I found some moments of the game utterly unbearable not because of its poor quality but of how frustrating and obscure I found the puzzles to be and there was plenty of time spent struggling on through things I found could have been made a little clearer. Now, don’t get me wrong, I love a challenge and I admit that games have become significantly easier in recent years but when you spend a good ten minutes on one puzzle a little resentment does start to build. It’s not until I was fully absorbed in the ‘puzzle game’ mind frame where I started to take note of every tiny detail and utilizing my ‘companion app’ guide to learn more about the folklore that I really started to make headway. 
 

The companion app is an unusual addition but, after initially dismissing it as an added extra for those who enjoy reading in games, I realised it had a noticeable effect on the game itself. At first it appears as though the companion app is simply detailing the ritual of year walking in full detail, providing additional information on the symbols and characters you come across, but towards the end you find that you may enter a passcode into the journal. It’s not until you have ‘completed’ the game and come back to that journal that you find the game is far from over as the full story is revealed to you through additional gameplay and scenes. 

Something I found slightly problematic about Year Walk was the controls as it was originally made for touchscreens. Several puzzles require you to move your mouse in the same way you would a finger which, for me, felt really strange and I was glad there were no reaction based puzzles as this would have been pretty hard to re-enact with a mouse. Whilst the controls are nicely interactive for touchscreens, for instance using your thumb print to activate certain stones, there were times when the game was unclear about what kind of user input was required, leaving me to paw helplessly at the screen until something worked. Translated onto a PC what this tended to result in were plenty of puzzles that you didn’t know how to even begin tackling them due to the zero amount of guidance from the game.

‘Year Walk’ is sadly a very short game that, provided you knew all the answers to the puzzles already, would take a pretty meager 30 minutes to complete. The only thing that really extends the length of the game is the difficulty of the puzzles and I would have loved additional gameplay and more storyline as the game is such a unique experience it seems a pity not to extend it with additional content. That said, the pacing of the game is fantastic and nothing is rushed and, whilst the slow nature of the game may annoy some, I enjoyed the softly softly approach to exposing the mysteries that this game held. The emphasis on audio appealed to me, from the audio based puzzles to the enchanting music but this may necessarily prove to be problematic for those with hearing difficulties. The game has no spoken dialogue, everything is text based, but the requirement to hear for the audio based puzzle may stop many people from progressing in the game and it’s a shame there’s no alternative. Minor niggles aside, ‘Year Walk’ is all in all a pleasantly surprising game that is very sleek and very intelligent in its design and the way in which everything plays out and slots together. I adored this means of learning about Swedish folklore and I enjoyed the complexity of the story that, when you get around to completing it the first time, only gets better and better. I can imagine this game is not for everybody due to its slow pace, emphasis on atmosphere and frequently frustrating moments but for me it was a delight to play and I highly recommend it.

The Good:

• Very stylish game
• A constant uneasy atmosphere that something's wrong
• Beautifully artistic
• Genuinely creepy with plenty of scares
• Inclusion of the companion app is a nice touch
• A unique way of learning about folklore
• Intelligent, well pieced together, good pacing
• A story that keeps you guessing, even after it ends
• The kind of game that stays with you after you've finished it

The Bad:

• Audio puzzles
• Zero guidance when solving puzzles results in a lot of guesswork 
• The controls for solving puzzles are frustrating 
• Rather short in length 
• Slow pace may annoy some

The Score: 9/10

Final thoughts: “I’m so glad I finally got around to playing this in time for Christmas, it’s an absolutely stunning game with so much creativity and thought poured into it. It was such a twist to find out its horror elements but the creepy imagery worked really well with the dreamy nature of the game.”

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Machinarium - Review (PC and Mobile game)

It was love at first sight. From the moment I first saw ‘Machinarium’ sitting in the list of recommended games I knew it was to be mine. For a price so meager it was almost an insult I downloaded an exceptionally tiny game of around 200MB and proceeded to be astounded by a puzzle game that was bursting with personality, story and beautifully hand drawn artwork. 

Developer: Amanita Design
Genre: Adventure, puzzle, point and click
Release date: 16th October 2009 
Platforms: Microsoft Windows, Linux, Mac, Android, OS X, iPad 2, Windows Phone
PEGI: 7+ (some violence)

'Machinarium' is a point and click puzzle game where you take control of a small, unassuming robot in a robotic society that’s victim to a gang of antisocial thugs. What pulls this game aside from the competition is most certainly its art style, just look at those screenshots, it’s a beautiful game that perfectly portrays a crumbling, rusting city and citizens living on the brink of existence. There’s so much detail and so many little touches to the environments and animations that you can only truly appreciate it by playing it yourself as the screenshots alone don’t do it justice. Your nameless, noiseless robot protagonist is quite obviously a character who’s lived under the thumb of others his entire life and in the first ten minutes you see him discarded in a rubbish tip, turned away by the authorities and then plummet into a grotesque sewer system. His somewhat bullied ‘childhood’ is hinted at in the same primary communication that all other characters utilize; soft, inoffensive thought bubbles that either reflect on past events or communicate what they want from you. Even without words it’s easy to empathize with your humble robot character as he totters about, helping others and trying to do some good in a corrupt and rundown city where crime is king and the mechanical officials are about as helpful as a robot bathhouse. 

Yet it’s not just its unending charm that’s there to impress, graphical style and personality can only carry you so far after all, ‘Machinarium’ thankfully manages to bring in a solid compilation of puzzles, smooth and thoughtful storyline additions and overall a fair bit of bang for your buck. The game’s by no means long but there will be times you’ll be held up trying to advance as the puzzles usually require some thought and not everything is immediately obvious. Whilst the puzzles generally rely on some good old item combination then using items in the world environment there’s a decent spattering of originality in the form of its unique ‘stretching and shortening’ feature of your robot friend.

In a traditional ‘Bender’ fashion you can lengthen your robots legs to the point where he can access previously out of reach areas or shorten him to a hobbling, squashed up little robot that can do all sorts of things in this new, skirting board level territory. It’s different and its interesting and what strangely appealed to me is the influence of retro gaming that makes its appearance in old, disused arcade machines and the in-game walkthrough that can only be accessed by playing through increasingly difficult levels of a spaceship game. I liked this allusion to how everything is old and past its time and I also liked the option to use a walkthrough in-game but by earning it through a rather difficult mini-game that didn’t feel out of place at all in the overall scheme of things.

With ‘Machinarium’ there’s just this feel that everything slots together and everything’s very well thought out and crafted from tiny animations like the slurping up of a coil of string when you pick some up to the slow, measured teetering movements when you’re tall. Everything you do has a special animation that will make you squeal with excitement, well maybe not squeal, I do get a little overexcited with indie games, but you get my point, it’s cool stuff. The game is incredibly cheap for what you get and quite honestly I can’t think of a game quite like this one from its design to the way it plays out it’s most definitely an experience and one I applaud for both its squeal-inducing ability and its confidence at portraying a silent hero in a rusted world. All in all, I loved it, even if I am five years late to the party. 

The Good:

• Very well animated, lots of attention to detail
• Beautiful, hand drawn graphics that constantly impress
• Interesting areas to explore
• Full of personality
• The lack of dialogue surprisingly pleasant
• Pretty decent storyline with room for a sequel
• Challenging puzzles that will keep you guessing
• Extremely atmospheric

The Bad: 

• A little slow in places
• Some puzzles are extremely difficult

The Score: 9/10 

Final thoughts: "I genuinely struggled during this game as the puzzles are pretty damn hard, and frankly the walkthrough mini-game is no walk in the park either. Regardless, the game is well worth playing as its beautiful, full of personality and presenting quite a unique experience and premise."

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The Cat Lady - Halloween Special Review (PC game)

Susan is no longer with us; she’s gone to the world and, even before her suicide, she’s been gone a long time from society’s apathetic eye. But even after taking copious amount of sleeping pills Susan is still unable to escape her miserable existence as she awakens in a field, unsure of whether this is life, death, or somewhere in between you take control of her life and guide her staggering footsteps through the world, searching for a way out; of where, neither you nor Susan truly knows. Whereas death is supposed to be the end of a story for Susan Ashworth, it’s the beginning.
Developer: Harvester Games
Genre: Adventure/Horror/Point and Click
Release date: December 1st 2012
Platforms: Microsoft Windows
ESRB: M - Mature

‘The Cat Lady’ follows Susan’s journey back to life after she meets an old woman who wants to strike a deal with Susan to allow her the peace she longs for. Susan is instructed to seek out and destroy several monsters that lurk in the world of the living on behalf of the old woman. Despite Susan’s misgivings she finds herself powerless to resist and, after a brutal and bloody way of sealing the deal, finds herself transported back to ‘life’ but with a catch; she’s now temporarily immortal. For many, this would be a wondrous gift but for an exhausted, suicidal woman it’s an ironic curse that points and laughs in Susan’s face as she treks on with her journey and seeks to complete her task just so she can rest her weary soul and finally be allowed to die. 

It’s a cryptic, surreal and often disturbing journey that encourages you to lose yourself in the darkness of depression before guiding you out of it again. This is a game where the monsters are not aliens with guns or gloomy figures lurking down the other end of a corridor, this is a game where you are the monster in the dark as Susan is flung between anger, doubt, regret, fear and anxiety as she longing for death yet craves revenge. The creatures you encounter are reflective of the demons of Susan’s soul that, as anybody who has suffered from depression will tell you, are not easily vanquished. There will be a blood, and not just a little bit, the game is unashamedly macabre and Susan is forced to undergo several brutal deaths only to be cruelly resurrected again. The imagery of the game is morbid as well and at least every single chapter has a way in which the player may allow, or actively encourage, Susan to kill herself. There’s plenty of black humour in the game as well which I found appealing as, though this game touches on very serious subjects, it’s easy to become jaded to the horrific nature of things when you’ve lived with them for so long. Whilst the game has some extreme scenes of gore these tend to be offset by slower, storyline focused cutscenes so it’s not just a blood-fest, it’s a very well written and intelligently explored blood-fest. If anything, I would describe this as a game that is beautifully horrific. 

Whilst the narrative is by far its strongest point the puzzles are actually fairly good, though not extremely difficult, if anything they are there to provide you with a means to an end rather than as something to frustrate you and slow your progression. Since the game is mostly about atmosphere and storyline I didn’t mind that the puzzles were a little easy but, saying that, they were no walk in the park either and I had several moments of backtracking and getting confused as to what I had to do next. Importantly, the puzzles didn’t feel repetitive and the constant switching of environments helped in this aspect as nothing ever felt like a chore to proceed and it was all very much necessary and interesting. Some puzzles feature some obscure clues about how to complete them that are not just restricted to visual ones, there’s a fair few aural cues which are great for the atmosphere of the game. Generally, I found the audio very good even though the voice acting came across as a little stiff now and then and there’s a very irritating sort of static noise that’s quite loud and intrusive yet entirely intentional. I would have preferred that to have been either non-existent or with the option of turning it off as it was distracting and often made the characters hard to hear. The musical score is brilliant and I have no complaints there and, whilst I said the voice acting could be a little wooden at times, it occasionally did suit the atmosphere and I get the feeling that the developers wanted everything to be very drab and unemotional. Unfortunately at times this style did not suit the on-screen events. 

The beautiful horror of this game is wrapped up in its storyline but enhanced by the unique art style that is a cross between animated newspaper cuttings and old Polaroid photographs giving the entire game a gloomy yet striking appearance. Just like Susan’s life, everything feels a little pasted together but despite this the animations are smooth, the facial expressions are detailed and everything just flows so perfectly. Visually, the game feels very much like a 1990s game which for a point and click puzzle game is just the perfect era for me, especially with it being a horror game as it reminds me strongly of much beloved games such as ‘I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream’, ‘Sanitarium’ and ‘Phantasmagoria’. Amusingly, the game also feels quite 1990s due to the very low resolution that it plays in but this doesn’t bother me so much. There are a couple more problems with ‘The Cat Lady’ though that does tend to spoil the experience a little; the controls for instance are fairly unresponsive, especially during dialogue when you’re trying to skip lines you’ve already read. Susan also does walk incredibly slowly and at one point I was quite sure I had time to go make a cup of coffee in the time she walked from one side of the screen to the other. When you’re lost and backtracking to find things, this is extremely irritating though it may just be my own impatience. Simply, a ‘double clicking to skip to the next screen you clicked on’ feature may be good as I recall several point and clicks doing this in the past. 

Complaints aside, I was utterly entranced by this game and it’s by far one of my favourite point and click adventure games, even with the huge spattering of horror and gore that’s been slapped all over the place. It’s a brilliant example of mature themes that have been done right in a way which is thoughtful, sensitive and intelligently where it doesn’t shy away from controversial issues yet doesn’t make a mockery of them either. If themes such as suicide, mental illness, depression and death offend you then this is not a game you’re going to get on well with as it is utterly unashamed in its approach to the reality of how some people want to die and will go to any length to do so. Whilst the gore side of things can be sometimes a little over the top I found it shocking yet, oddly, refreshing as there have been plenty of these sorts of games that never go too far and tend to pull back before things go too far. ‘The Cat Lady’ never pulls back, it’s in it to win it and I love that about it. The story is fantastic, full of emotion, suspense and drama that will keep you on the edge of your seat and second guessing yourself the entire way through. Susan herself is a brilliant character with genuine character development as you see her go from shy, meek and weary to a woman with a purpose, confidence and strength and quite simply it’s a pleasure to guide her through these changes. If there’s one game you play this Halloweeen, make it ‘The Cat Lady’, you won’t regret it.

The Good: 

• Strong character development
• Interesting, captivating storyline that keeps you guessing
• Mature themes done right
• Striking yet low-key appearance is very appealing
• Decent inventory/dialogue puzzles that challenge but don't frustrate
• Very surreal and disturbing atmosphere

The Bad:

• Some audio issues such as hit and miss voice acting/distracting static
• Some may find the use of gore over the top
• Controls can sometimes be unresponsive, Susan walks too slowly

The Score: 9/10 

Final thoughts: "This has definitely become one of my most beloved point and click games, everything about it feels a bit 90s adventure game which I love and frankly it's been too long since I played something this surreal and this creepy."

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5 Unusual But Memorable Escape Games (Free browser games)

There are quite literally hundreds of room escape games out there on the internetz but many of them are nothing but bland, unoriginal pixel hunts through plain, 3D rendered rooms with no semblance of story or purpose. Now, after a while of trekking through the same sort of scenario; you’re in a room for some unknown reason, find a way out of it, I had completely fallen out of love with the genre so decided to look for something a bit different. As it turns out you can still find that addictive escape centered gameplay but without the constraints limiting it to just one or two rooms. Here I’ve compiled 5 escape games, rooms or otherwise, that set themselves apart from that ocean of key hunting, door handle wrestling and keycode hunting so you can experience something that’s a bit different, creepy, funny or just downright weird. 
 

Loom Dawn

You begin this game in a completely dark room and your main objective is to illuminate this space, piece by piece, uncovering more and more of your surroundings as you advance. For much of the game you’re unable to see where exactly you’re trapped and this element of the unknown adds a slightly spooky atmosphere to the game as you find another little light source here, uncover a small area there, and the absolute silence generated by a lack of music is all the more unnerving. As you light up pieces of the room you’ll uncover puzzles and these are most definitely not easy ones to the point where you may find that you spend a good hour or so fumbling about in the dark though, thankfully, you can save your game should you want to come back to it later. Loom Dawn’s challenging nature borders on the frustrating but it really is an exceptionally well crafted game that offers up a very satisfying feeling as you solve each little puzzle and get a little closer to finding out its intriguing secrets. If you fancy a challenge and something that’s more like your traditional ‘room escape’ game then Loom Dawn, part of a large series of ‘Loom’ escape games, is something you certainly cannot go wrong with. Just remember to settle down with some kind of caffeinated drink and sustenance as you’ll be stuck here in the dark for quite a while. Try playing the game on its original website here.
 

Samsara Room

Samsara Room is Eastern in its philosophy as Samsara tends to refer to the endless cycle of reincarnation and, with this in mind, Samsara Room is about breaking this cycle, escaping the room and achieving enlightenment. What this translates into is a very surreal and disorientating game where you must travel through the same room but in different perspectives, solving a puzzle here and there in the form of collecting things and using them in the appropriate ways. The game is not particularly challenging once you understand the logic of the game but it may start out being rather confusing as everything is just so unusual. There are some very unexpected moments and you’ll find the whole experience rather dreamlike but with a definite, logical pattern to the way in which you do things so it’s not unapproachable. Overall I loved the stylish simplicity of this unusual game and as room escapes go this is definitely a memorable one. Try it out by following this link here.
 

You Find Yourself In A Room

The title may sound simple but this is anything but, to begin with you interact with the game by typing in the commands you want to perform similar to the old text parser games from the 80s. Unlike most other room escape games this one has no graphics and instead everything is done through text on an otherwise blank black screen. This may sound boring but the draw of this game is that the game itself is self-aware and doesn’t really like you. What starts out as the passive-aggressive chiding of a game descends into a full scale aggressive onslaught on your feeble puzzle solving abilities and generally inferior existence as a human being. It’s absolutely hilarious and most definitely not for minors but this is a rather unforgettable, utterly unique game that will change your outlook on the genres of not just text games but room escape games too. The game takes not much longer than 5 minutes but it’s a 5 minutes well spent and can happily be played by following this link here. 

Mystery of Time and Space

Fondly known as MOTAS this is the room escape that will truly challenge your puzzle solving abilities and is, for those unfamiliar with room escape games, supposedly the original in this genre. What sets this game apart from the others is not only its function as a blueprint for future generations but for its intelligent, logical puzzle system that doesn’t degenerate into a pixel hunt where you click in every conceivable portion of the screen. There are over 20 levels with a variety of different puzzles that pleasantly follow an intriguing story about parallel universes and unlocking the mysteries of time and space. Whilst the ‘storyline’ of a room escape game tends to focus around some sort of hazy back story MOTAS’ story evolves as you play and keeps you wanting more. The puzzles all vary in their style and difficulty level so whilst in some cases you’ll be using lateral thinking to advance you’ll find that, in later levels, you must travel back in time to earlier levels to acquire the items needed to continue in the present. The game boasts quite a few features you don’t normally see in flash games; you can save your game, which is a brilliant feature as the game is so long and difficult, switch to full screen mode and chat to others in the online forum it supports. MOTAS is possibly my favourite of all the room escape games and is a definite recommendation for those new to point and click escape games and hardcore puzzling veterans alike. You can play it here via the developer’s website. 

Daymare Town

Daymare Town actually consists of a series of four ‘room escape’ type games with three spin-off titles and rather than escaping a room you’re trying to escape from Daymare Town, a place that’s both haunting and fascinating. Daymare Town appears to be deserted and you’ll go through the usual motions of finding items, piecing together puzzles and clicking around the place in an effort to escape this eerie, black and white sketched town. The atmosphere is perhaps its most notable feature and there were a few times where I was genuinely creeped out and jumped a few times which I found to be unusual, in a good way, for this genre. Whilst room escapes tend to have a subtle ‘how did you get here’ vibe there’s usually nothing creepier than a pool of blood or a bit of knocking on a door but Daymare Town ranks it up a notch and there were several times I was genuinely convinced I could die if I lingered too long. The puzzles are, in my opinion, pretty damn difficult especially when compared to the creator’s, also excellent, Submachine series and I struggled to get through it without a walkthrough. Everything tends to be very well hidden with very specific locations you must click on that can be easily missed especially considering the art style of the game. Whilst the Daymare Town series is no pixel hunt there’s still a definite need to scour every area thoroughly before moving on. As an added bonus, you can pay a small fee and get any of the Daymare Town games in fullscreen mode with HD graphics, enhanced sound effects and a sneaky hidden extra. Of course you can always play any of the free versions online by following this link. 
 

Hopefully you enjoyed this post of my 5 top escape games, be sure to +1 and comment if you did, feedback is always appreciated! Happy gaming and watch this space for more of my Top 5 lists :)

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Broken Age, Act 1 - Full Review (PC/Linux/Mac, Android and iOS Game)

'Broken Age' seemed like the perfect game for me to play but, upon completing Act 1 in its entirety, I was left with a confused, almost guilty, feeling of disappointment and frustration. What made it worse was that reputable, professional websites had glazed the game with sickly sweet praise and admiration, hailing it as a fantastic example of point and click adventure games. I rather strongly disagree, as you’re about to find out, and though I admit the storyline is fantastic there are far too many basic elements missed out for this game to be considered as ‘one of the greats’. That said, this game is certainly a steal at its low price and overall the game is very good value. 
 

Developer: Double Fine Productions 
Genre: Point and click adventure 
Release date: 26th January 2014
Platforms: Windows, Linux, Mac, Android and iOS
ESRB: Not rated (some mild threat, no blood/gore)

The backstory behind the development of this game is far from ordinary. To begin with, 'Broken Age' is one of the most crowdfunded video game projects as it acquired a whopping $3.45 million from more than 87,000 backers. The project began in 2012 and the game marked Tim Schafer’s return to the point and click genre after his fantastic game, Grim Fandango which is being re-released for PS4 and Xbox One and which was originally released in 1998. Despite its extreme backing though it appeared that this may have actually lessened the quality of the game. The end result is, whilst visually polished, wrongly suited to the originally intentioned audience and, quite simply, an inadequate addition to Schafer’s portfolio. As a standalone indie game this would be fantastic but unfortunately it failed to live up to the hype.

Gameplay and storyline

'Broken Age' Act 1 is made up of two different stories, that of a girl named Vella and of a boy named Shay and each story has vastly different settings. Regardless of which character you start with you’ll likely find that the game comes across as very cutesy and perhaps even a little too sickly sweet but this is simply a façade. Without going too far into the storylines the characters have in common a desire to break traditions in their lives that have, up until now, gone unquestioned. The gruesome realities of what is actually occurring strips away that initial sweet demeanour and instead the cheerful nature of the characters and environments take on a whole new form, one that is much darker and much, much more unnerving. 
 

It’s here where 'Broken Age' truly excels as the storyline is quite fascinating and will draw you in with its twisting story and cheerfully disturbing atmosphere. The ever present, in your face, indication that something is wrong but nobody else seeming to notice it is a constant source of fascination and you will desperately want to find out what’s going in in the two strange realms that you’ll inhabit. The characters too are likeable though, admittedly, quite unemotional and rather bland despite the famous voice actors. Whilst the storyline is interesting enough and with brilliant twists there are some key issues with the game that are very difficult to ignore. To begin with, it feels as though it’s being aimed at a much younger audience and not at those who would have previously enjoyed classic graphic adventures such as Grim Fandango and the Monkey Island series, both of which Tim wrote for previously. The complex puzzles, standard ‘pick up everything you can find’ mentality, vast environments and wry sense of humour that typically lift a standard point and click to a successful one have all been stripped away leaving something quite superficial in its wake.

Overall there’s a genuine lack of content and substance as characters have very few dialogue options and the environments are very limiting so there’s simply not much to discover in what could have been sprawling worlds of characters, places and puzzles. The few characters that are present are quirky and interesting but you can never just chat to them and waste away a couple of hours getting to know their unique personalities so, in this sense, the game feels a little sparse. There’s this strange, unfinished feel about the game that’s reflected in not only the lack of character development but the small, limited environments. These rather simplistic environments quickly become a problem when you’re faced with one of the many puzzles in the game. Often, a point and click adventure game would have you picking up random bits of, seemingly pointless, tack with plenty of red herrings thrown in there just to screw you up. Large locations or, in the very least, a broad variety of areas where the solution to your puzzle may lurk is key to making a puzzle difficult as often you’ll be searching doggedly for more items, racking your brains to figure out what kind of obscure combination you need to come up with. Broken Age lacks this, entirely so. At one point I had to find a particular, very important, item that had been lost but I found it sitting out in plain sight on just the next screen. Another puzzle simply consisted of getting to end of a conversation. It’s almost as though the developers didn’t trust their players to continue playing if they found the puzzles too challenging and this lack of faith in players is evident in the huge amount of hand-holding that takes place

  
When important plot elements have been stripped away of challenge it’s not just frustrating, it’s disappointing. I find it hard to imagine this game ever becoming ‘one of the greats’ and instead it sits as something which is nice, different, but nothing special. The lack of puzzles and choices meant that the length of play was disastrously short and far too easy for seasoned graphic adventure gamers and, whilst some hail this as a return to the 'nostalgic' era of point and clicks, it feels painfully modern with a strong focus on visuals and not enough on actual, substantial, gameplay.

Graphics and audio

The artwork of the game may not be to everybody’s taste but it truly is quite beautiful with a strong hand painted, fantasy appeal. The style and design of the worlds and its inhabitants does nothing for its childish feel however and overall it’s all a little bit too cute and quaint. Despite this, the worlds are gorgeous with a stunning array of colours and details that make each and every area feel bursting with life. The contrast between the two storylines is very apparent, not only in its gameplay content but in the design of the environments. The differences between the smokey oranges and dreamy pinks of Vella’s world to the moody blues and vibrant preschool colours of Shay’s world simply add layers onto the, already distinctive, atmosphere. A curious feature present within the game is its ability to be played in a ‘retro’ graphical mode which makes the game appear in an slightly pixelated, pre-renovated 'Monkey Island' 1 and 2 type design. Whilst usually I would have been extremely interested in this it’s clear that the game was not designed to be played in this format so it comes across as a very low quality conversion. If anything, it looks as though you’re just squinting at the HD version. 

The audio is, overall, very good and I liked almost all of the voice acting except for several occasions where I found the protagonists to have a lack of emotion. Despite pushing the budget out and employing the talents of very talented actors including Elijah Wood as Shay I felt as though Shay’s emotion was completely out of context with what was occurring in the scene. When his dialogue was supposed to indicate frustration the voice came across as depressed, when he was supposed to be confused he sounded passive. Though this is partily intentional as Shay is fairly a depressed character this uninterested tone persists even in moments of great peril where what he is saying suggests he's feeling emotion. The voice of Vella too had some inconsistencies between script and the voice acting and overall I felt there to be a lack of emotion when faced with action packed, highly distressing scenes and this tended to ruin the scene’s atmosphere. Aside from this, the game sounded as good as it looked and there was plenty of general chit-chatter in the background and little comments from the protagonist which gave you a better insight into their character.

Overall

It would be easy to simply look at the game, its history and its origin and stamp it with the mark of ‘fantastic’, ‘ushering in a new era’ and things of the such but upon closer examination, Broken Age does none of these things. It’s boringly simplistic, painfully unemotional and with very, very little build up to anything that happens. I found the storyline enjoyable, gripping even. My attention was constantly drawn to what was going on on the screen and Shay's story in particular was a mixture of fascinating and hilarious. My desire to find out more about the strange world I’d been dropped into was what primarily kept me going however as the gameplay was rather simplistic and, generally, the more I progressed the more let down I felt. 

The game had a lack of depth, a lack of real challenge and, also, a lack of something else, something I can’t put my finger on, it’s as if it very much lacked the heart, soul and dedication you’d have expected from a game with so many backers, so much time poured into it and so many people working with it. I don’t know what happened to render this game so disappointing and it’s a great shame to say that about what could have been one of the greatest modern age point and clicks. I hope wherever Tim Schafer is now that he looks on this game and thinks to himself, ‘I could have done better’ because if he doesn’t then I’m not sure what happened to his creativity in that sixteen year hiatus. Whilst my disappointment is evident I’d like to finish by saying that I will play the upcoming Act 2 to 'Broken Age' but, truly, it’s only to find out what happens in the end. I can only hope it presents something more appealing to lovers of classic point and click adventure games.

The Good: 

• Different, original storyline
• Attention grabbing with its odd premise
• Beautiful, hand painted graphics
• Lovely animations
• Nice variation of environments
• Likeable, personality filled characters
• Great cliff hanger

The Bad:

• Far too easy, a lot of hand-holding
• Not enough puzzles
• Voice acting can be off in places
• Limited, small environments
• Not much to explore or discover
• Very little to no item combination
• Feels superficial and focused on its graphics

The Score: 6/10

Final thoughts: "I'm looking forward to playing the next part of this but only because of its storyline. The game is far too easy with limited environments and, generally, it just doesn't feel like a traditional point and click."

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Kill the Bad Guy - Full Review (PC game)

This monochrome game looks and feels as though it has more ambition than it can handle and, whilst it has some decent moments, tends to come across as pointless and repetitive. Unfortunately, a sleek look and some tongue-in-cheek humour is just simply not enough to elevate this game to the status it desires as an intelligent and imaginative slaughter fest. 

Developer: Exkee
Genre: Puzzle, murder simulation
Release date: May 28, 2014  
Platforms: PC, Mac and Linux
ESRB: T - Teen

‘Kill The Bad Guy’ is an indie puzzle game that revolves around assassinating targets using objects in the environment whilst remaining undiscovered and is generally depicted in a simple, understated artistic design with plenty of dark humour. Though the game suffers from some key issues you’ll still manage to squeeze a few hours of good old fashioned puzzling fun out of it even if it is an incredibly slow starting game. This is a puzzle game that puts you at the heart of revenge murdering individual targets who are more often than not based on real life offenders.

Gameplay

The objective of the game is rather self-explanatory; for each level you must kill a bad guy in various, unusual ways. The game comprises of 60 of these bone shattering, blood splattering levels and for every level there will be some way in which you can manipulate objects within the environment to bring about the doom of your target. At the start of every level you read a fairly amusing profile about your intended victim which tends to include details of their crime and a name that vaguely points towards somebody in real life like ‘KimDotKom’ in reference to Kim Dotcom or ‘Oscar’ in reference to Oscar Pistorius. After reading your target’s profile you’re then dropped into a white environment with black objects such as cars, ropes hanging on walls, steam vents and pianos that you can pick up, rotate and combine. You’re given very little guidance on what to do from here, except on the first few levels, so instead you have to work out what it is you can do that will result in your target’s death. By selecting dark coloured objects you’re shown a large array of arrows that point to where you can place objects, be that on the top of buildings or just simply anywhere on the ground. Objects that can be combined are coloured green after you pick up one of the constituent parts so, in this sense, it’s not particularly challenging to work out what goes with what. 

During gameplay there are very few controls other than picking up, rotating and combining but after you have managed to pull off your mission you can watch, cinematic style, as your target is killed over and over again in a replay mode. During replay you can switch the angle of the camera to get the best shot but, though not a particularly offensive element of the game, it does come across as a rather pointless. During actual gameplay you can, rather helpfully, pause the game and look around the area but you cannot manipulate anything whilst the game is paused meaning that, when you decide what you’re going to do, you need to do it quickly. This is fairly useful as in the later levels there are usually so many elements to contend with you need to give it a few moments before you figure out what it is you’re going to do. It’s not a simple matter of strapping a spear to a glorified slingshot and flinging it halfway across the map into the poor sod’s chest though, oh no, you have CCTV and the police to be concerned about. The real challenge of the game comes with doing everything undetected as these obstacles, and later on bodyguards, all have lines of sight. If you’re caught doing any of your dastardly assassinating then its mission failed and you need to try again but with less probability of your assignment being plastered all over YouTube.

As you progress through the levels you’re not just exposed to new challenges like the police and cameras, there is also a pretty significant increase in the variation of objects you’re given and thus the ways in which you can assassinate your targets. It must be said however that the first ten levels of this game are by far the worst of them all. Truthfully, I was amazed that I even progressed beyond them and discovered that the game did actually contain something challenging and interesting. Although these first few levels are intended to be tutorial levels that ease you into the mechanics of the game what you instead experience is something painfully dull and excessively lengthy. Never has a ‘tutorial’ chapter dragged on so slowly and so uneventfully and, worse still, it doesn’t even feel like a tutorial as there are very few instructions on what to do or how to do it. Instead you must trawl through what feels like a rite of passage before being allowed into the real game as you suffer through level after level of repetitive music that sounds as though it’s been put together by two thirteen year olds, deaths that all look the same bar one electrocution and one screaming guy on fire and an incredibly limited set of tools to experiment with. Now, whilst I’m of course glad that’s not all there is to this game I doubt many people enjoy the feeling of suffering for somebody else’s art.

Thankfully the game opens up after a couple of hours play and you’re exposed to more than one way to kill your target with these methods becoming gradually more complicated. The animations of your dying target do become a tad more varied in that they fall over when they are electrocuted but overall there’s not much difference between driving a spear through your target’s head, dropping a car on him and crushing him with a wrecking ball as, either way, he ends up as a bloody smear on the pavement. In a game where the method in which you kill your target is designed to be the be all and end all of the gameplay I would have expected more death animations such as a crushed, flattened body or some pierced limbs. 

The game has some degree of re-playability as within each level of the game there are ‘secondary objectives’ which include the same basic tasks; catch the tooth of your fallen victim, kill them on the first day and find a hidden passport. The only interesting additional objective is to kill your target in a specific manner as the rest are repetitive and restrictive. The passport tends to be in locations like beneath cars or objects and hidden within buildings that become transparent as you pan over them. By completing these unimaginative challenges you gain stars which count towards unlocking a bonus level at the end of each chapter. These bonus levels are, ironically, quite a bit more interesting than the main game as they tend to have more varied objectives like killing 30 zombies before they hobble over to the other side of the screen. Despite the fact that the bonus levels are pretty fun it’s still a shame about the ways in which you must unlock them as repeatedly clicking on a tooth that bounces away from your target after he dies is extremely dull. Searching for a passport in the environment is also very boring as, due to the unfurnished nature of the area, it’s very easy to spot them. Even though they are sometimes hid under an object this really adds in little to no depth and, frankly, I don’t know why they wouldn’t offer up different objectives. 

As a final note I found that the game’s humour often borders on the tasteless as there are sometimes very graphic descriptions of real life crimes such as those perpetrated the Columbine killers that some, if not many, may find uncomfortable. Generally the profiles of your targets are humorous covers of less invasive crimes such as fraud and embezzlement but when the game describes in graphic detail the crimes of the monstrous Albert Fish then the vibe of what is supposed to be a carefree, slaughter orientated romp is very quickly killed and is instead turned into something much darker and not at all light-hearted. Questionably dark humour aside the profiles still do offer good, immersive introductions to the start of every level and are relatively engaging. Besides, since all the targets look the same it’s good to offer up some way of distinguishing between them.

Appearance and sound

The game is decked out in a very simplistic design of pure white backdrops and solid black interactive objects. This professional feeling environment comes across as clean and crisp and, overall, it’s all very pleasant. The simply designed streets and parks never feel too plain however as, once your assassination attempts start, the landscapes are quickly cut through with bright red blood, fiery orange explosions and piercing blue water. Your targets also stand out vividly in comparison to their surroundings as they each support a yellow jacket and massive red bull’s eye target on their faces so there’s no chance that you’ll mistake a regular pedestrian for them. Unfortunately all of the targets look identical to one another and any kind of variation, even if it was just the colour of the jacket, would have done the trick but, regardless, I enjoyed how apparent they were in their surroundings.

I’ve already mentioned that I didn’t like the music and, whilst initially I enjoyed it, it quickly grates on you as essentially it’s just a sort of rap lyric of ‘kill the bad guy k-k-kill the bad guy’ over and over again to a beat. Thankfully the music only plays at the start and end of every level and not during gameplay as it would quickly become unbearable. Aside from the music the game has very good sound effects with plenty of appropriate noises for almost every action you can perform. There are

Overall

Whilst the game starts off slow and simplistic it quickly develops into a more robust murder simulation with some fairly imaginative solutions to the dilemma of how to discreetly kill your target. I particularly enjoyed the rather difficult task of luring your target to a particular spot or changing the path they were following by quickly putting obstacles in their way without them noticing. The level of difficulty scales as you play but even when the game becomes more complex there are moments where it comes across as pointless and repetitive. The secondary objectives are uninspiring but add in a reason to replay the previous levels and the bonus levels are a nice change of pace if you’re tired with the base game. Currently the game feels incredibly overpriced at $15 as it feels very much like a free, online game that’s been bulked out with additional levels and a couple of added in features. I would recommend waiting until the price has dropped but if you enjoy flippant murder simulation games with stark graphics and environmental manipulation then perhaps you’ll enjoy this more than I did.

The Good:

• A good concept
• Cool bonus levels
• Achievements are always fun 
• Nice looking map area
• Quite challening in later levels 
• Sometimes pretty amusing
• Nice use of CCTV and other obstacles to put more pressure on player

The Bad:

• Boring and uneventful
• Very under-developed
• Overpriced, feels like a free game
• Repetative and unexciting
• Lack of varation in death animations
• Pointless challenges

The Score: 4/10 

Last thoughts: "Thank god I don't have to play any more of that dreary rubbish..."

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