Slash/Jump (PC) Review

 

Slash/Jump is a dexterity based Platformer. The game is available for free on Steam and reminded me a lot of 'Deepest Sword' (a game which I also reviewed on this blog: https://gamereviewnation.blogspot.com/2021/10/deepest-sword-pc-review.html). Both games have 8 Bit inspired visuals, which look quite good, and an unconventional method of movement. While in Deepest Sword the protagonist moves on his own and uses his ever-growing Sword as a jump bar or a lifter, the character in Slash/Jump can not walk at all and relies on his sword to catapult himself throughout the levels. Therefore you might also compare Slash/Jump to Jump King, where you can also only move through jumping. In Slash/Jump however you use normal and light punches to the ground with your sword instead of active jumps and there is no falling down and losing all your progress feature, which Jump King is famous for.

Movement is a lot of fun that way and figuring out the best paths for the different rooms is the real challenge. Your first playthrough might take around 30-40 minutes, but after that you should be able to beat it in around 10-15 minutes. There is a bit of challenge involved initially, but it never became really frustrating and is probably part of the easier physics based Platformer games. If I got something to criticize, than it would be, that the rooms could offer a bit more variety. Towards the end, some of them will feel quite similar. And as nearly always with smaller games, the game could have theoretically been a bit longer.

I have beaten the game with both Mouse and Keyboard, as well as with a Controller. While the game is definitely playable with a Mouse, it will be noticeably easier with a Controller, for which this game is optimized for.

 

Result:

I enjoy trying out Platformer games with unique movement systems. Slash/Jump delivers in that regard. Catapulting yourself throughout the levels is fun and I can especially see Speedrunners having a great time with this one. A bit more variety throughout the game and a bigger length and we could have seen a really great game. If you are looking for a charming 2D Platformer with a movement twist however, than Slash/Jump is a pretty good choice, especially considering it's a free game on Steam.

 

7.5/10

Almost Home Now (PC) Review

 

Almost Home Now is a short Horror Game about a little girl walking home late at night on her own.

Let's start with the positives. I really liked the concept of the game. Walking home alone at night through an empty city and a dark forest is probably something everybody can relate to and the developers managed to create an intense atmosphere. The soundtrack is ominous and the visuals quite fitting. The city and park/forest areas look like something you could actually experience anywhere. The visual style is very reminiscent of PS1 and N64 games and in combination with the tank controls, immediately gives you some flashbacks to Silent Hill or Resident Evil. The Lore of the game is also probably quite realistic. The girl seeing mysterious things on her path, could easily be explained with her imagination playing tricks on her. Who hasn't seen threatening shadows or heard daunting sounds in a lonely forest? Even a Game Over could easily be explained with having a panic attack.

Unfortunately the game doesn't manage to live up to its potential. For one, the game is super short. You can easily beat it in less than 5 minutes. Almost Home Now is also not frightening enough. Despite the intense atmosphere there isn't anything actually really scary going on. Part of the reason for this is, that you can not interact with anything going on in the background. Essentially the game is just a Walking Simulator with closed boundaries. The walking speed of the protagonist is also definitely too slow. She walks like she is both the most calm person ever and at least 85 years old.

 

Result:

Almost Home Now could have been a really good Horror Game, if they had kept working on it. Extending the length to at least 10-15 minutes, implementing some alternative routes for the protagonist to take and letting her actually interact with some of the Horror elements, and we could have had a nice Horror Game. Despite that, the intriguing concept may be worth a look for some, but Almost Home Now remains a game of wasted potential.

 

5/10

Radikal Fighters (PS5) Review

 

Radikal Fighters is an isometric Battle Royale Game with a twist. Similar to Pacman, the map of Radikal Fighters is packed with hundreds of little dots. Collecting these dots will allow you to purchase items and weapons from vending machines or purchase a respawn after an early demise.

Unfortunately that's about it with the interesting ideas in this game. The gameplay in Radikal Fighters is overall quite underwhelming. You can only move diagonally in the different lanes of the ugly map, which is quite limiting and gives the movement a disappointing feeling. Even worse however is the gunplay. On a gamepad the controls are unnecessary convoluted. You can for example not shoot directly by pressing the attack button, but need to aim with the right analog stick for any shot to register. Nothing in the game however tells you that and there is obviously also no tutorial for new players. Therefore around half of the very few players, I ever encountered in this game, were unable to fight back and just moved around weirdly while swinging their melee weapons towards the air. You can also not aim freely, but just in set degrees, which is of course also quite limiting.

The game features Solo, Duo and Squad Battle Royale matches and an additional Paint Royale mode, which plays like a mix of Splatoon and Pacman. The team which covers the most dots in their team's colour will win the match. It doesn't really matter however which gamemode you choose, since the game doesn't have anything that resembles a playerbase. The lobbies could feature matches with 50 players. The most players I ever encountered was 4 and that included me and a friend of mine. Most of the time you can't even play, since you will be the only player playing this game (despite Crossplay between Playstation 5 and PC). There are also no Bots in the game, even though you can encounter infinitely respawning Zombies during the matches, but they certainly can't save the game either.

I don't want to always criticize the visuals of low budget games, but for a Playstation 5 game, the character designs are rather embarrassing.

 

Result:

Radikal Fighters has an interesting twist, but the Pacman concept doesn't manage to save this game. If you take the dot collecting aspect out of the game, than you are just left with a noticeably under-average isometric shooter without players. Movement and gunplay are too weak to carry this game.

 

3/10

The Great Fleece (PS5) Review

 

The Great Fleece is a F2P Point and Click based Stealth game. This game is available on the PSN Store for PS5 owners and on Itch.io for PC users. This is a student project and while I respect that, if you release your game on the Playstation Store, than you have to live with being compared to all the other "real" games out there.

The Great Fleece can be beaten in less than 3 minutes. The gameplay is the most simple form of a point and click adventure possible. Stealth might be the setting of the game, but doesn't actually play a role. You can just walk past the guards without a worry in the world. The AI is pretty awful. I tested walking straight into one of the security guards and he wouldn't notice me, until he finally moved his head in my direction. There is neither a challenge involved nor any satisfactory to be taken out of the gameplay. Before you even realize what is going on, the game is already over. There are fun and interesting Point and Click adventures out there, but The Great Fleece is certainly not one of them.

I haven't even talked about the visuals yet. Comparing them to PS2 games would be a grave insult to every low quality bargain-bin PS2 game out there. PS5 trophy collectors might give the game a chance to gain 5 easy gold trophies in under 5 minutes, but otherwise the game can not be recommended to anybody to actually play. This is fine as an early student effort, which with months more work could turn into a prototype of an actual game, but it is not a game that should have been released.

 

1.5/10

Lasers (PC) Review

 

Lasers is a Platformer based Battle Royale Game. The special twist of the game is, as the name already suggests, to dodge all kinds of Lasers in the process. Every stage in the game is filled to the brim with extremely deadly red lasers, which will penetrate flesh and bones, like a knife through butter. This reminded me a lot of the Lasers in Resident Evil 4 or the first Resident Evil movie.

Every match consists of a couple of stages, which all have a strict time limit to complete. The amount of players reaching the next stage is therefore theoretically not limited, but the demanding time limits will ensure natural selection. The only exception is the final stage of a match, which will end with the first player passing the finishing line.

Lasers consists of 30 different levels, which offer a good challenge. A lot of people might even say too much off a challenge, since some of the levels are just crazy difficult to beat. It took me multiple hours to beat all stages in the game at least once. Some of the levels are probably too hard, if you experience them the first time in an online match, with the very tight time limits. The frustration also gets extended by slippery controls and occasionally inaccurate character hitboxes. Sometimes the hitboxes will help you, to dodge an otherwise lethal contact and sometimes they will kill you for no reason. For a game that requires this much precision in movement, it can definitely be rage inducing from time to time. Nonetheless, the gameplay remains mostly fun, in my opinion.

A nice aspect is, that all stages can outside of online matches (which are limited to 10 players) also be played in singleplayer mode. This helps keeping the game relevant despite a dwindling playerbase. A potential map editor would have been greatly appreciated, but it doesn't look like we will ever get one.

The 30 stages can certainly not be accused of feeling completely identical. There are some different elements in all of them. They however all share a similar style. A lot of other games would have probably tried to at least offer different environmental elements. Lasers however only offers one grey greenish level style. The visuals in general are just acceptable, but nothing more than that. The music is also okay, but not really memorable.

Lasers is a game from Straight Back Games, who have previously published the popular game 'Devour'. Lasers only released in January 2024 and has got its last content update in early March 2024. Till this point the game received regular updates, which increased the amount of stages and fixed smaller issues. Since march however there has only been radio silence.

A big point of controversy was the removal of F2P and switching to a buy-to-play model in late February. The price may be relatively low with 3 Euro/Dollars, but truth be told, I can't remember a single game ever successfully switching from a free-to-play to a buy-to-play model. The playerbase of Lasers was never massive, but it at least had a couple of hundred players in its first two months. After the pricing change however the playerbase collapsed and the daily player peak now varies between 10 and 20. It looks like the developers gave up on the game and put Lasers into a maintenance mode. 

 

Result:

Lasers is a fun, but frustrating experience. The different levels offer a good challenge and it can be quite satisfying to finally master a difficult stage after dozens of tries. The not always precise enough controls and the lack of updates however hold it back significantly. The buy-to-play switch on the other hand is really what ultimately killed the potential of the game. If they had released with an asking price, it would have still been a tough sale, but it at least might have been possible. It is a shame, since I think there would definitely be a market gap for a Platformer Battle Royale Game, especially with the fun Laser twist. Lasers can still be some good fun, even in single player mode, you should just prepare for plenty of frustrations along the way and not expect a large online community.

 

7/10