Recent reviews by BoomBamZam

Cozy vibes, fun urban-exploration-based environmental puzzles, beautiful art direction, and an interesting story that doesn't overstay its welcome, featuring positive themes like human decency, respect, and generosity. That description either IS your jam, or it isn't. I finished the game feeling inspired, rather than drained. Ten hours well spent.

Jusant is a rare gem of a game, likely going unnoticed by many but offering those who find it a highly polished and emotionally-rich experience with a simple premise: climb an immense tower one hand at a time. (On that note, I DO recommend using a controller, as the feel of pulling the triggers to "grip" with your character's hands has a nice synergy.) There is, of course, more to it than that, and the learning curve is expertly executed to teach the player more advanced techniques that will be needed to match the increasing complexity of the climb.

Crucially, Jusant is a game that supports the idea that less is more. This is most evident in the length of the game, which can be completed in 5-6 hours. This is, in my opinion, the perfect length for this kind of game: long enough to feel that you'e gotten your money's worth, but short enough to not overstay its welcome. There is no time-wasting filler to pad out the game's length, and reaching the ending never becomes a slog or grind-fest. Jusant hits the sweet spot, where you WOULD play another level because you're enjoying it, but another level doesn't feel necessary.

The "less is more" idea also carries into the visuals and story, with a lovely, minimalist aesthetic that forgoes unnecessary textural details to paint a believable world with a simplified design language and large blocks of color. The environment, which had me regularly slapping F12 to screenshot one amazing view after another, has a lovely sense of rhythm that balances detail and lived-in clutter with open areas where the eye can rest (a technique which is also echoed nicely in the pacing of the gameplay itself.)

The story is communicated non-verbally though found documents and an impressive display of environmental storytelling. Anyone with real-life exploration experience can tell you there is often a quiet, grief-adjacent beauty that accompanies the respectful exploration of an abandoned place filled with the discarded artifacts of those who used to inhabit it, and this is where the world of Jusant really shines. Rather than boring you with verbal exposition, the developers trust the player to read between the lines and gradually fill in the story yourself through context.

Perhaps the only knock I have against Jusant is that, as you climb, your character's arms occasionally become tangled/confused in a way that is unintentionally amusing. It is merely a cosmetic issue that doesn't prevent actual movement, and I'm sure the under-the-hood implementation is complicated enough to make a solution difficult, but I still feel it bears mentioning as a slight imperfection in a game that is otherwise near-perfect.

Lastly, for the achievement-hunters out there, you can reach 100% achievements without much additional trouble. I doubled my playtime from 6 hours to 12 in order to complete a 2nd run in which I gathered all remaining collectibles and reached 100% but this game is blessedly free of any unreasonable or difficult achievements that would otherwise leave you frustratingly stranded at 90+% completion.

The first thing you'll notice is the art style, and that is certainly worth noting. Gris is easily in the top 3 most beautiful games I've ever played. I couldn't help myself from taking an abundant amount of screenshots during my playthrough. But even beyond the lovely hand-drawn visuals and clean animation, the rest of the package is equally great.

Gris is one of those rare games where every aspect is polished to a high sheen, all working in harmony to create a unique experience. The sound design, minimalist score, and tight platforming gameplay (with plenty of clever puzzles) make for a stirring and aesthetically-pleasing journey. You'll definitely be rewarded for having a quality pair of headphones or decent set of speakers and subwoofer.

The story, presented without dialogue, is powerful if you take the time to look beneath the surface, but also unobtrusive enough that those with cast-iron hearts can still enjoy the gameplay without being too burdened by such things as "feelings" and "meaning."

Gris is relatively short, with a run-through clocking in around 4-5 hours, but the overall quality still makes it a solid deal for the price (under $20 as of this writing.) The brief length also dovetails nicely with Gris being a good spectator game. If you have significant others or family members who occasionally watch you play, this is probably one you can get them on board with.

For achievement-minded players (you know who you are) 100% completion is attainable without too much extra fuss. Some secrets are cleverly hidden or might require more than one attempt, but none of the achievements require superhuman feats to unlock.

I played to 100% completion in just over 7 hours and enjoyed every minute of it. Highly recommended.

It is the soft, colorful, family-friendly Battle Royale that might have you dropping F-bombs left and right. The characters are cute. The costumes are cuter. The levels are bright, padded areas that you wish you could visit in real life; a bizarre, fever dream version of the pads in your elementary school gymnasium. And the competition is absolutely cut-throat. Not that you'll mind because the stakes are blessedly low: when you get eliminated, (and you will, many, many times,) you can be back in the queue for another match within seconds with no penalty other than possibly a bruised ego. Post-release support is good, with regular updates to introduce new gameplay mechanics, levels, and costumes.

PARENTING ANGLE: This game is pretty safe for kids. All of the sounds, visuals, and music are bright and upbeat. There is essentially no violence, other than of the "cartoon" sort, with characters occasionally being smacked by giant (soft-looking) hammers. There is no blood, or injury, or even any depiction of emotion other than irrepressible optimism. There is no built-in voice or text chat for strangers to harass your children, and player names are randomly-generated from pre-built lists, so you don't have to worry about seeing characters with racial slurs as their screen name. The controls are simple enough for most children to pick up within minutes. The only potential pitfall for your kid might be the frustration of being eliminated, (which is quite unavoidable) but this can present an opportunity to teach resilience. Also, the dual in-game currencies (the common "kudos" coins and more rare "crowns) can both be earned without spending real money, and can be a good way to introduce your child to the concepts of long-term goal-setting and budgeting, as they learn to save up their earned loot in order to purchase items from the shop.

Dear God...

In terms of raw, visual storytelling, "Inside" throws down the gauntlet. A completely riveting 3 hours.

From art design to audio, from animation to the tiniest technical details, everything here is executed to perfection. "Inside" manages, without a single snippet of text or spoken word, to create a more emotionally-compelling experience (with more effective world-building) than other games with hundreds of hours of dialogue.

This is a must-play. If anyone has spoiled it for you, I am so sorry; you deserve better. But you should *still* play, and you should absolutely do it with a decent set of headphones in a darkened room, preferrably with a gamepad.

With its bright colors, cute characters, and bouncy soundtrack, this might the perfect game to play with your kids if you want them to learn the F-word. No, not due to any spoken dialogue by the characters, but because you will likely repeatedly desecrate the charming ruins of Snake Pass with some downright salty language as you'll often struggle to get Noodle, the snake you'll play as, to do what you're trying to get him to do.

That's not to say there is anything wrong with the controls. They're actually quite ingenious/enjoyable, once you get the hang of it. The difficulty lies in the fact that the inherent complexity of even the basic controls (a stick for direction, a button to "constrict," a button to propel yourself forward, and a button to raise your head up) are, if not as complicated, certainly in the same ballpark as Surgeon Simulator and QWOP, in the sense that they're the equivalent of the proverbial "walking while chewing gum while patting your head while rubbing your belly." There will be times when you'll need four of your fingers to work perfectly in concert together, but instead of skillfully nabbing a shiny gold coin while hanging impressively from a bamboo shoot, you'll find yourself nabbing a gold coin as you fall stupidly to your death. Again.

Of course, as you watch Noodle fall into that endless void, his mouth open in terror, some part of your brain may actually feel relief at the thought that that's one less huge snake in the world. You know, silver linings, and all that! Because for all his cuteness, he's still a big-ass, heavy snake who will, with your help, demonstrate his ability to get absolutely EVERYWHERE. If this game was set in a suburban neighborhood instead of floating ruins, with a slightly-different soundtrack, it could have easily been in the horror genre. Maybe that's an idea for the sequel, actually. "Snake Pass 2: Baby Eater."

In all seriousness, though, this is a well-constructed platformer that feels both familiar (particularly for those feeling nostalgic for bright, 90's-era collect-a-thons) and refreshingly unique. You've probably never played anything quite like it, and for that reason it's worth a look. The controls are unique and the visuals and audio are well-executed. My only real complaint so far is the inability to skip cutscenes on your second playthrough, when you go back to hunt for collectables you missed on your first run, but that's an easy fix that I fully expect will be addressed in a patch, so depending on when you're reading this review it might actually no longer be a problem. And, assuming you have more control over your language than I do, sure, your kids would probably really enjoy watching you play.

You should know, right up front, that Refunct is a very short game. Depending on how you, personally, break down your own "price vs. entertainment" metric, this may or may not be a problem. If you're an achievement hunter, and I tell you you'll have 100% completion in less than 30 minutes, you're probably already skipping the rest of my review to go buy it. For everyone else, you'll just have to decide for yourself.

And really, "decide for yourself" is sort of the underlying theme of the game, if there is one.

For example, it would be technically accurate, though perhaps not entirely fair, to say that Refunct is simply about hopping on platforms. Personally, I would say it's more about taking a drab world and giving it color, which tickles my brain in a way that it might not do for you. So even just in describing the mechanics, we find two perspectives that may be at odds with each other.

Do you play for achievements? Do you play for enjoyment? What DO you enjoy in games? Can you enjoy something that is only running and jumping, and no shooting? How do you assign value to your own time spent in games? I've spent more time thinking about these questions, and indeed more time writing this admittedly short review, than I spent reaching 100% completion in this game. (Yes, you'll have to idle a bit afterward just to collect your remaining trading cards.) I'm okay with that. Are you?

Decide for yourself.

“In Between” is a gem I unearthed during the Steam Winter Sale. I had never heard of it before, and judging from the presently fewer than 70 Steam reviews, you probably haven't heard of it either. But I think we need to change that.

I was drawn to the hand-crafted visuals right off the bat. “In Between” has a very strong sense of individual style and presentation that feels very personal; diametrically opposed to the almost antiseptic feeling you can sometimes get from an ultra-polished AAA title. This game is a bit like flipping through someone's sketchbook come to life.

That “personal” feel for the art is especially fitting, as it dovetails nicely with the story: a journey of grief imparted in the first-person by a man dying of cancer. Both the writing and voiceover narration are top-shelf. Weighty topics are half-whispered to you by a solemn voice that is like a warmer version of Tom Waits.

Of course, the real meat of the game is the puzzles, and ultimately that is what will make or break the experience for you. Regardless of your thoughts on the audiovisual aspects, if you're someone who hates puzzle-platformers you may not enjoy it to the extent that I have. On that note, I'm going to mention the game “Braid.” Not to suggest “In Between” is a Braid-clone, but because just about everybody played Braid and has an opinion on it, so it's a convenient mental shortcut for me to use here: Did you enjoy Braid for its hand-drawn aesthetic, emotionally groundbreaking non-traditional game story, and sometimes maddening puzzles? If so, I feel pretty solid about this recommendation. Or, did you hate Braid, label its story “pretentious,” and despise its sometimes maddening puzzles? Well, then maybe you should keep walking, and go be wrong somewhere else.

A particularly nice touch here is the way each set of levels introduces a gameplay mechanic that alludes to one of the stages of grief. It works, and feels clever and appropriate, rather than gimmicky. Well done.

I haven't mentioned the music yet, but it fits in nicely with everything else and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Final thoughts: I urge you to try... and I mean really try, to finish the story without looking up solutions to any of the puzzles. There are a few optional achievements that you'll want to use a guide to knock out afterward, and that's fine, but try to stay guide-free until the credits roll. Yes, you will get stuck sometimes. And, if you use your brain and continue to experiment, you will get through just as I did.

Playtime for the main story was a relaxed 3.5 hours for me, spread across a few lunch breaks and taking periodic breaks to ingest food. If you're a mad puzzle genius, I'm sure you can do it faster. Your mileage may vary. Enjoy.

EDITED: I'm changing my review to "recommended." Autodesk has continued to improve LT with updates, and I no longer feel my old review accurately reflects the product. The lack of Python scripting support is still a major inconvenience (see below) but I feel that in the current version of Maya LT, the good aspects definitely outweigh the bad.

If you want a solid, reliable 3D modeling and animation package with nice UV unwrapping tools and automatic updates at a price you can afford, this will get it done.

Original review follows:
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Maya LT is almost a great piece of software, but is currently held back by the exclusion of one vital piece.

First, THE GOOD:
* Having an affordable, subscription-based version of Maya is fantastic, and is way past due considering that Maya's usual price (currently $3,675 USD) may as well be a million dollars as far as most indie studios' budgets are concerned.

* Having Maya run through your Steam account, with auto-updating, is actually really convenient!

* Autodesk have been listening to feedback and gradually unlocking some of features which were (seemingly arbitrarily) removed from LT, compared with Maya proper. However, this is still only a half-measure, and they've not yet gone far enough. Which brings me to...

THE BAD:
* No Python support. This is the single biggest problem with Maya LT in its current incarnation, and is the primary reason I cannot give a positive review at this time. Ostensibly, Maya LT's sole purpose is to cater to indie developers who simply cannot afford Maya's premium price, but the lack of Python scripting betrays Autodesk's worst assumption: that indie devs somehow have less complex art pipeline needs than "real" developers. That may have once been the case, but with so many great engines (Unreal, Unity, CryEngine, Source 2) now catering to indies, the playing field has essentially been leveled. Or, it would be, if Autodesk wasn't making indie devs work with one proverbial hand tied behind their backs.

Particularly in light of the fact that Maya LT now has support for working with Unreal, it is unfortunate that some of that engine's key pipeline features (such as the Animation and Rigging Toolset) simply cannot be used in Maya LT due to the lack of Python support. The same goes for the auto-rigging script from Mixamo, which many indie developers might be using in tandem with FUSE.

* There are several other random things missing, which can be worked around. For example, they've removed the ability to create quick-select sets which would, for example, allow an animator to quickly and efficiently select different sets of controls for keying. Sure, you can still create sets which more or less do the same thing in 4 clicks that you could otherwise do in one, but... why? What is the process for deciding which features to disable?

I understand the desire for Autodesk to maintain a wall between the "lite" version of Maya and the full-cost version. Honestly, I really do. I can respect why they would want to withold certain features. By all means, keep MentalRay and all the rendering features locked away in the full-price version, so we can't use LT to make feature films. But if you want indie game developers to use your software, you must, at minimum, give them access to the Python-based tools which are vital to their development.

It is remarkable how powerful a story Kan Reives Gao manages to tell within the constraints of a Final Fantasy 2 caliber engine. "To the Moon" is relatively short, as games go (my playtime to completion was around 4 hours) and that is the right length for the experience.

Gaming may still not quite have its own "Les Miserables" equivalent, in terms of emotion and scope, but Kan Reives Gao is on the right track toward that end. This is an ambitious game, and one of the better-written stories in games right now, and is absolutely worth a few dollars and a few hours of your time.