FreddeGredde Game Reviews

16 Jul 2020
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Donkey Kong Country

Donkey Kong Country | 16th July, 2020 | 2:05hrs | rating: 2.5/5

Donkey and Diddy go to get their bananas back.

GAMEPLAY: The controls are snappy and fast, but there really isn’t much variation. It’s all about reacting and timing your presses as things come at you. Strange difficulty spikes too, in a game that’s mostly quite short and easy.
AUDIOVISUALLY: Not as jaw-droppingly amazing as it once was, but the visual design and atmosphere is still great, and the audio adds a lot too. Too many caves though, and most importantly, the characters are so big that it feels claustrophobic at times, as it’s so hard to see what’s coming up.
STORY/PRESENTATION: It’s a little bare-bones, with few levels and a lot of environmental repetition.
MULTIPLAYER: You cannot play at the same time, but you can take turns with one character each… No, it’s just not fun.

I never really liked this game much, and this playthrough confirmed it. The sequel is much much better!

15 Jul 2020
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Rope Jumping

Rope Jumping | 15th Jul, 2020| 0:35hrs | rating: 2/5

Extremely simple app for Switch that tracks your virtual rope-jumping.

GAMEPLAY: You pretend to do rope-jumping with the joycon. The music follows your pace, so at least there’s a bit of challenge to keep it nice and steady.
AUDIOVISUALLY: Extremely simple, something that could be put together in an hour.
STORY/PRESENTATION: No story whatsoever, and it’s obvious why they released this for free.
MULTIPLAYER: You can be two players, but you then hold one joycon each.

All in all, a pretty nice app to add to your pandemic exercise repertoir while waiting until gyms and sports halls re-open.

11 Jul 2020
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Dead Cells

Dead Cells | 11th July, 2020 | 2:45hrs | rating: 2/5

Roguelike platformer, where you go through a few levels and then have to start over from the very beginning when you die.

GAMEPLAY: I like the controls, especially after customizing the buttons Smash Bros style.
AUDIOVISUALLY: Beautiful pixel art, but the music is quite forgettable.
STORY/PRESENTATION: Is there a story? Barely, you respawn and have to go through a few procedurally-generated levels. I suppose forcing you to restart masks how short the game really is.

I played for 90 minutes and died against the king’s hand on my first try, which is basically the end. Then I had to redo everything again?! I can’t for the life of me understand the appeal of this; I’ve already played it!
I gave it one more go, but had lost all interest to kill more enemies and collect things, so I was underleveled and died again. I’ll just consider this finished, and this is the last time I try a roguelike.

10 Jul 2020
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Super Meat Boy

Super Meat Boy | 10th July, 2020 | 5:30hrs | rating: 3.5/5

As a pack of meat, you navigate through one tough platforming challenge after another.

GAMEPLAY: Meat Boy is extremely floaty, and although I got used to it after a while, it’s far from a favorite. There’s also just not much variation. Some obstacles, like the anti-magnet and portals, help with that, but it’s not nearly enough.
AUDIOVISUALLY: Pretty ugly pixel graphics, mixed with “newgrounds” type of cutscenes. The rock music is competent but forgettable.
STORY/PRESENTATION: There are some cutscenes but I mostly skip them because I have no interest in them. This game is sometimes compared to Celeste, but in comparison, this one just feels immature and shallow.
MULTIPLAYER: There’s a competitive race mode, but unless you’re equally good, there’s just no point.

After having finished the main game in less than 2 hours, I was extremely underwhelmed. Interestingly enough, the “Cotton Alley” bonus chapter is where the game finally clicked with me and became enjoyable. I still skipped most of the Dark World levels since I felt they were mostly the same but more saw wheels, but I did go back to A+ the Light World levels and had a lot more fun than the first way around!

04 Jul 2020
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What the Golf?

What the Golf? | 4th July, 2020 | 7:54hrs | rating: 2.5/5

Initially hilarious Wario Ware-like micro-game collection that mixes a ton of other games with golf, everything from recent stuff like Katamari, Angry Birds and Portal, to real oldies like Elasto Mania and Lunar Lander.

GAMEPLAY: You aim with the analog stick and use the A button to shoot. So simple, yet it’s enough for all these different games. Although a majority is a ton of fun to control (and there’s some welcome challenge too!), some feel weird and confusing. I assume it’s intentional?!
AUDIOVISUALLY: Sometimes straight ripping classic game music, I don’t know how they got away with it. It’s fun though! The visuals are the standard modern indie-fare, Pikuniku/Goose Game style. It works but is getting a little tiring. It’s the “new 8-bit style” for indies.
STORY/PRESENTATION: There’s no story or logic to it, just a bunch of short levels connected by a pretty nice world map. It works at first, but it does get tiring halfway through.
MULTIPLAYER: There is a versus mode where you play 10 random levels and then it’s over. It’s fun, but feels repetitive quickly. I wish you could play the campaign mode in split-screen, but handing one controller back and forth works too.

At first I loved it, but I think they might have used their best ideas for the first half, because despite the constant variation all the way to the end, the humor and style just got too tiresome before it was over.

03 Jul 2020
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Underhero

Underhero | 3rd July, 2020 | 10:00hrs | rating: 1.5/5

An RPG platformer where you’re a random shy villain, chosen to save the kingdom when the hero failed.

GAMEPLAY: Unfortunately this really feels like an old “home-made” game from the early 2000’s. The game-feel just isn’t good, the camera movement almost makes me dizzy when jumping, the level design is long-winded and pointless, as if they’re just so happy with their lighting effects that they want you to pass 20 candles before the hallway ends. The timing-based battle system is quite fun, but it doesn’t come close to saving the rest of the game.
AUDIOVISUALLY: Occasionally a pretty game, but I dislike many of the animations, along with the inconsistent sprite resolutions. The music and sound effects are… pretty bad? Again they feel extremely home-made 2000, even though some tracks are catchy. Text bubbles occasionally overlap so I miss dialog, there’s some music glitching when walking between rooms, and audio samples blend in dissonant ways.
STORY/PRESENTATION: I suppose the story and humor is the focus of this game, but it doesn’t do anything for me when the actual game isn’t good.

Bad audio design and pointless level design is one thing, but the regular game-breaking bugs put it firmly at the top of my “worst gaming experiences in 2020” list.

01 Jul 2020
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Clubhouse Games: 51 Worlwide Classics

Clubhouse Games: 51 Worlwide Classics | 1st July, 2020 | 21:00hrs | rating: 2/5

51 classic games, from card games and board games to toy curling, darts and air hockey.

GAMEPLAY: Most games work as you expect, whether you use touch screen or the joy-con. (Though air hockey and a few others are weirdly clumsy with the latter.) When playing alone, beating the CPU’s difficulty settings is the goal, and although a majority are very easy even on “impossible”, others are impossible for me and pointless to even try anymore.
AUDIOVISUALLY: Very nice visuals for this kind of game. All the audio sounds like it’s ripped straight out of Mario Party, which isn’t a bad thing.
STORY/PRESENTATION: There are some “skits” where voice actors tell a little about each game, and best case teach you how to play. It seems nice at first, but it ends up being quite useless and I started skipping even the ones I had not seen. At least the overall presentation is very slick.
MULTIPLAYER: Obviously the entire point of this kind of package, and it works well enough playing 2 people on one Switch. It stops there though, as barely any of the games support 3 or 4 players, and the online is a laggy mess. The heck Nintendo, even the 15 year old Nintendo DS predecessor worked flawlessly! Also, I can’t find any online statistics or ratings whatsoever, which makes it nearly pointless.

Some games, like Mancala and the original 6 Ball Puzzle are a lot of fun, and I learned several new classic games, but overall this is a disappointment. I looked forward to playing online reversi/renegade on my Switch, but browser versions on the phone work much better. It just has to be better than this, and it doesn’t deserve a high rating.

30 May 2020
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Gris

Gris | 30th May, 2020 | 3:00hrs | rating: 3/5

Run through beautiful artistic environments to bring color back to the world.

GAMEPLAY: Not as bad as I had heard people say. The controls are simple but feel good, and you gain a few new abilities along the way. Rarely ever challenging though.
AUDIOVISUALLY: One of the most artistically appealing games ever, both when it comes to the visuals and the audio. It’s simply beautiful.
STORY/PRESENTATION: I suppose it’s all a metaphor for fighting depression. Some cut-scenes really moved me on a subconscious level.

I just wish there had been more to the gameplay, because despite its beauty, I struggled to play more than 30 minutes at a time without getting restless.

22 May 2020
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Super Mario 64

Super Mario 64 | 22nd May, 2020 | 5:35hrs | rating: 3.5/5

Mario’s first step into 3D, and they got so much right from the very beginning.

GAMEPLAY: While you’re running, the controls are incredibly fun to this day. Only while walking slowly, Mario does this half circle turning which isn’t great. The camera would be extremely frustrating to a new-comer, but I’m so used to it that it’s not a big deal.
AUDIOVISUALLY: Simple but timeless. The music is alright but among the weakest in the series.
STORY/PRESENTATION: Collect stars to open doors in Peach’s castle until you reach Bowser. Doesn’t need to be more than that. Some levels are better than others though. I got frustrated by the ghost house and the water levels, as I didn’t have the patience for slow-paced exploration. The more straight-forward ones are easily the most fun, like the lava level and the Bowser levels.

Hadn’t played this since the DS version in 2004, but it was a lot of fun! It’s so focused, no waiting times, just straight to the point. A slightly lowered rating due to uneven level quality and somewhat janky controls/camera.

07 May 2020
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Murder by Numbers

Murder by Numbers | 7th May, 2020 | 20:00hrs | rating: 2.5/5

Solve murder mysteries with picross puzzles.

GAMEPLAY: The picross gameplay is as you’d expect, and what’s in-between is mostly dialog trees and occasionally presenting evidence. Sort of satisfying, but mostly plain.
AUDIOVISUALLY: I don’t like the paper cut-out style of the characters, but the music is VERY catchy!
STORY/PRESENTATION: I like the characters quite a bit, but the four chapters all feel like uneventful filler episodes. The very ending is where it picks up, but I felt kind of done at that point.

To me it’s okay as a relaxing time-waster, but far from making a real impression on me. Not much replayability either, because it’s way too easy to get an S rank. They should have given speed bonuses or something!