Game #909: The Sexy Brutale

 All bets are off.

 I was enamored by The Sexy Brutale's premise the moment I heard about it: A giant casino in which every guest is murdered in the span of 12 hours... sans the main character, who has the power to rewind time, which he'll use in order to save everyone. If that isn't captivating I don't know what is!

 The game is a pseudo puzzle/stealth game. The only stealth comes in the form of having to avoid guests and murderers, but even if they see you you have ample time to evade them. The rest of the game involves tracking the person you need to save, seeing what they do, figuring their schedule and then finding how to save them.

 I found the game's pacing incredibly slow, to the point that I very quickly realized this wasn't a game for me. After I saved the second guest I just went to a guide and used it throughout the entire game. I don't mind though, the puzzles got incredibly hard and tracking the guests would've quickly grown too boring for me. 

 But that's alright, because I really enjoyed the story, and having my hand held through the game wasn't half-bad! I had fun seeing how you are supposed to save everyone.

 This is most definitely not a game for everyone, but if the premise sounds even a little bit interesting, I suggest doing what I did: Get a guide and enjoy the story.

 6.0

Game #908: Tony Hawk's Underground 2 Remix

  As fun as it is ugly.

 I've been meaning to play Tony Hawk's Underground 2 Remix for a while now, I mean, THUG2 is my favorite Tony Hawk game, and this version is supposed to add new levels to the story mode? Sign me up!

 Well.... the grass isn't always greener. The Tony Hawk games were never quite the lookers, but this game has visual glitches everywhere, the textures are muddy to the point that some cutscenes falter because you can't read what you're supposed to. Audio has always been a huge part of these games, but audio quality here is that of a potato. Audio lines have a nasty clicking on them at times, although the music is passable enough at least.

 Controls are as good as they can be. There's no R2 or L2, so the R and L button have to work for both trigger buttons and... it can be messy at times. Camera control is terrible because there's no right analog stick, so good luck with that. While on foot you can use the analog stick to move alongside you, and while skating you can use the left analog stick, the thing directly below the directional pad which you are using to move, to look around. No bueno.

 The new levels are.... alrightish. Only one of them is mandatory, which goes directly after the tutorial, something I don't necessarily agree with because the next level is much easier. The other three new levels are optional, as you get branching paths. The new levels are... mediocre. I'm not a fan of 'open' levels because it's easy to drive out of bounds, which sucks. The final new level, Vegas, was pretty good though. So 3 mediocre levels and 1 good level... I'd say nobody is missing much, plus, these levels would later reappear in American Wasteland.

 In the end, Tony Hawk's Underground 2 did what it could. I'm grateful I could play this game on the go if I so wished it, but this is no substitute for the console original. Having more levels is fine, even if most of the new content is mediocre, and I can take a loss in graphical fidelity, but it's the controls that that makes this version of the game infinitely inferior to its console release. It's still a good game though!... but I'll stick to the original release.

 8.0

Game #907: My Friend Pedro

 The tale of a man and his banana. And no, that is not a double entendre. 

 My Friend Pedro is super interesting, a 2-D sidescrolling shooter that feels EXACTLY like the flash movies and games that populated Flash portals in the early 00s, things such as Xiao Xiao, Madness and Thing Thing, the animations, the speed, the acrobatics, the mechanics, it's all on point and it's glorious.

 For such a simple set of mechanics, the game is a beauty to play and look at. Your character does all sorts of flips and jumps with ease, and your dodge move is a flippin' spin. And you can shoot while spinning! When dual wielding you can even shoot at separate targets, and like every and any game from the 00's, you get bullet time!

 It can take a while to get used to the controls because there are so many different functions, but when everything goes your way it's a sight to behold.

 The game is fairly short, clocking little over 2 hours, and the game is made up of 40 bite-sized stages, perfect for a handheld system like the Switch.

 While it's a relatively violent game, the story never takes itself too seriously. I can't say it ever made me laugh out loud but I appreciated the wackier levels.

 My Friend is Pedro is a fun time for anyone that digs action games in which looking cool is the main prerogative.

8.0

Game #906: The Missing - JJ Macfield and the Island of Memories

 50% platformer, 50% horror, 100% Swery 65.

 A game that took about as long to get a physical release as it takes you to say its title, The Missing: JJ Macfield and the Island of Memories is a game that caught my eye the moment it released because it was another game by Hidetaka Swery.

 The game deals with hot topics such as gender and sexuality, so, y'know, if you're afraid of 'hidden agendas' this is not the game for you. Also, it's a game from a Japanese auteur, so even if you are into these topics bear in mind that this comes from another culture, from a guy that tried his hardest to understand people very much not like him.

 The game is as pretty as it is gruesome, JJ Macfield must mutilate her body in order progress, think Wario but without the slapstick. While JJ turns into a black silhoutte whenever she loses a body part, gets bisected or catches fire, there are plenty of disgusting fleshy sounds to accompany her screams. 

 The game is a nice blend of platforming with puzzle solving, but man, some of the puzzles are obtuse to say the least. There's a train you have to move by throwing logs into the furnace, but there's no way to realize that you should use the furnace for anything other than catching on fire. Another puzzle has you matching cardboard cutouts with images in the background, but there are no proper hints to aid you with which cutout goes with which background.

 The platforming does have a few frustrating bits, while JJ is close to immortal, as she needs to be down to her head and take a hit then for a 'true' game over, the game is very slow paced. Regenerating your bits, having to trigger 'states' while you figure out what to do... It can feel like you are wasting more time than necessary.

 The plot has some neat twists, and I think is as tasteful as it can get from a Japanese viewpoint.

 You can collect Donuts to unlock test messages with JJ's friends, further developing her character, as well as alternate color palettes, pretty nifty, although I think something as important as JJ's interactions with her friends shouldn't have been tied to optional collectibles.

 Not my favorite Swery65 game ever, but it was a fun little adventure that didn't overstay its welcome.

 6.5

Game #905: Gris

  Girl's feeling blue.

  As someone who really used to like the Knytt games, Gris was right up my alley. Not a Metroidvania, but a short, linear platform adventure with a captivating water-color art style joined with a simple minimalistic aesthetic makes for pure eye candy.

As with most indie games of its ilk, the game focuses on conveying emotions rather than a plot, with not a single text line spoken by anyone.

 While most puzzles were pretty simple, some had my noggin' joggin', but nothing I couldn't solve after a few attempts.

 The game lasts 2 hours, so it's very short and sweet. I can't say the game's themes of depression and sadness resonated with me, and I'm someone that loves sad stuff, but playing the game itself was good enough for me.

 8.0

Game #904: Unruly Heroes

  No more monkeying around.

 Journey to the West is one of my favorite books of all time, so waiting for a physical release of this game was pure torture, but thankfully, even though Limited Run Games skipped it, Pix'n Love decided to pick up the slack and give Unruly Heroes the release it deserved.

 The game is pretty lengthy, a bit too lengthy if you ask me, I think I would've cut a couple of stages. The game introduces new mechanics and gimmicks frequently, so it tries to keep things fresh, although sometimes I felt like it didn't quite manage it. The third world changes how the game plays completely, and I wasn't much of a fan. The other worlds are alright.

 The platforming is pretty neat, the game offers a decent amount of obstacles to clear, and it feels relatively tight despite how floaty movement is. and I like how you can purchase skins for your characters. The game offers a decent challenge, but offers you quite a bit of leeway in which to recover dead characters, so it's more than fair.

 I think the game faltered a bit in the combat department, you have plenty of moves but few reasons to shake things up, and basic enemies can take too much punishment.

 While the game doesn't follow any particular set of chapters from the original novel, I like how they brought the universe of Journey to the West to life, it felt like how I had always envisioned it.

 Unruly Heroes is definitely a fun time, as a fan of the source material, I commend it wholeheartedly.

7.5

Game #903: Ion Fury

  Duchess Nukem 3D.

 If you used to game on your PC in the '90s then you're surely familiar with Duke Nukem, Shadow Warrior, Blood or Rise of the Triad. Doom clones at their core, these games were what people thought of when you talked about first person shooters. Loads of gore, loads of weapons, loads of fun.

 Ion Fury uses the same engine, albeit slightly modified, these old games used, so not only does it look the part, it also plays the part.

 The game is tough. Thankfully you can save anywhere, my normal difficulty run required a TON of save scumming. And it felt like I was constantly running out of ammo, which forced me to play with the game's entire arsenal of weapons, make of that what you will. Oh, and the basic gun? Its alternate fire makes it the most useful weapon in the entire game against basic human-type enemies.

 The game has a wealth of content, there are a ton of levels, in my opinion, way too many. I was a bit bored by the end of game. On the other hand, people that love these games will love the copious amounts of levels to go through.

 The Switch version of the game runs at 30FPS and has some slowdown every now and then, but I'd say even when it was at its slowest it never felt unplayable.

 7.5