The Valley Runes (The Valley Rule Review)

          It's been a while since my last review, hasn't it? Yeah, I'm sorry that you had to wait such a long time for a review, but I was kinda busy with 1.) procrastinating, and 2.) making posts for my brand new blog. Nonono, I won't abandon KCG; my reviews are here to stay, that blog will only contain ramblings about my homeland and other randomness. Well, later on, at least. But that's enough talk, let's get on with the reviews! Our next game up is Raiyumii's The Valley Rule, a platformer that takes everything related to physics, twists and turns them, and throws them out the window.

(Yes, the squares are just there to confuse you.)

          There's not much storyline to go with the game. For this part, I'll quote the description: "You are stuck “beneath the surface” and trying to find a way up. There seems to be only 1 giant door blocking your path." Now, here's the catch; the door can only be opened by activating the 4 runes surrounding it (thus the title of the review; I'm incredibly bad with puns, yes, I know that), with the triangles that can activate them scattered in 4 chests around the valley. And, of course, these chests are hidden in impossible places that require you to have near-perfect reactions, a sharp brain, and defiance of everything physics stand for.

Not so Dangerous After All (Dangerous adventure Review)

          As anyone who visited this blog in the past few months knows, activity has slumped in this blog recently, especially when looking at reviews. And now, I've finally decided to take things to my hands and publish a review after almost half a year of inactivity, and publish more in the near future. And what better game to begin this project with than one which is about an "adventure", and was also badged recently? Enter Dangerous adventure by MARTINIRosso, a good ol'-fashioned puzzle game, with a twist that I'm sure I've seen before.

(Hmmm... Probably it's just me. Let's move on.)

          Now, this would be the part of the review where I'd detail the story, but the thing is that there's none. Really, for all we know, 5 random guys just randomly went in a tavern and said "Hey, do you want to go risk our lives and hunt for treasure?" - "Yeah, sounds good." No one knows why they decided to team up and trust eachother so much that they all actually put their HP into a shared pool, and why didn't they go out of the tavern and perform a 5-way "last man standing" battle instead. (Come to think of it, that would be far more awesome than what actually came out of this game.)

The Last Door – Chapter 2: Memories [Walkthrough]

General information

Memories is the second chapter of TheGameKitchen’s episodic horror point-and-click adventure The Last Door. If you haven’t played the first chapter (The Letter) yet, do it! You won’t understand most of the story if you don’t. (And check out my walkthrough of the first chapter if you get stuck.) Chapter 2 features a little more adventure game puzzle logic and a little less backtracking. I try to do things in this walkthrough in an “ideal” order to keep backtracking to a minimum. That’s why some actions won’t make much sense at first.

The Last Door – Chapter 1: The Letter Walkthrough

General information

“Headphones and dark environment recommended,” the game tells you in the beginning. Listen to that advice; it’s worth it! The Last Door by TheGameKitchen is a simple yet creepy little horror point-and-click adventure, heavily inspired by the likes of Edgar Allan Poe and Howard Philipps Lovecraft. Its strong point definitely is the creepy atmosphere, thanks to some good writing, great music, excellent sound design, and pixel art which leaves more to the players’ imagination than it shows while still being explicit when it needs to.

           Of course, you can do most of the tasks in another order. But I tried to keep the backtracking to a minimum, and there is still a lot of it!

Controls

Classic point-and-click adventure: Left-click somewhere to make your avatar go there. (Prepare yourself for some seriously slow walking.) If an object is usable, the cursor changes when you move the mouse over the object. A magnifying glass mean you can look at something, a hand means you can use it or pick it up. Most stuff is only usable after you have examined it, so don’t forget to click some things twice! Your inventory is displayed in the bottom of the screen. To advance in dialogues, just click anywhere in the game screen.

          Also, there are some “accessibility options”: To enable a dyslexia-friendly font for in-game dialogue and descriptions, press 1. If you do that, the letters are “clean” and not pixelated, which makes them easier to read, but they don’t fit into the game that good anymore. You can add written descriptions of sound to the game by pressing 2. To go in and out of fullscreen mode, simply press 3.

Alter Ego [Parallel Levels Review]

          You ever try to draw the number six with your hand and make clockwise circles in the air with your leg at the same time? As weird as that may sound, Parallel Levels by Komizart will bring you that same feeling as to when you try to heavily multitask- But in a much more enjoyable way! Control your character, or rather characters, in this multitasking puzzle platformer as you navigate through the course(s) in order to reach the end(ings). You see, as the game progresses you will control more and more characters in their own separate levels, but as you control one character it affects them all. While one action in one section of the level may result in victory, you may very well end up facing a certain demise on another section of the level. Get ready to put your thinking caps on because this game will have you scratching your head in each level of this exciting new adventure.

          I had my doubts when I initially clicked on this game, I'm not going to lie. It only has slightly over 200 plays, and the developer's preloader in the beginning looked a little tacky. But then I noticed that this game was sponsored by Armor Games which means this game HAD to be of an at least decent quality. After all of the preloaders and what-not I was immediately sucked into this game. The very driving music started as I begun the first level and I found this game incredibly fun from the get-go. Any game that gets my attention so quickly isn't exactly your average flash game, I knew this game was going to be something special.

Here we go again... [Disposabot Review]

          And again, and again, and again... Don't you think that all those corpses, which are dismissed as garbage and thrown into the nothingness in other games, could actually be useful? If you don't, you'll probably have a tough time playing Unept's game, Disposabot, since dying is actually your friend in the game. A friend you'll meet at least once a level, since there's no way you're passing these ones without a help of one or more of your past selves. 

(So wait, I need to- but how do I- Dammit.)

         So, the story: you're a little blue bull-brick-thingy minding its own business, then suddenly you get abducted by a UFO controlled by a red umm... something-or-another, who is revealed to be "Dr. Nemesis", the founder of a company which creates all those rooms you despise in other platformers. I guess you know where this is going by now.

Pew pew pew! [Battalion Commander 2 Review]

          This is Sergeant Lugo reporting in, enemies have been seen just a few clicks north of here. Battalion Commander 2 by IriySoft brings the heat in the form of a bullet hell action shooter game. Gain experience through playing the game over again to unlock upgrades, and collect coins along the way to purchase those upgrades. The more upgrades you have the longer you'll be able to survive on the battlefield. Rise through the ranks and complete missions to receive rewards along the way. Put on your boots soldier, and get ready for a casual yet very fun and fast paced gaming experience.

          I thought it was a bit odd that the game didn't have a tutorial level or instructions of any sort, but after starting the game you'll also find that instructions aren't necessary. Besides, there's no instruction manual for war! This game is very easy to pick up and play and has several features in it that make it addicting. The upgrade system, XP system, ability to complete missions, and collection of money all make you want to keep playing until you've reached the rank of Colonel. The fact that the game's difficultly curve works well will also make the gaming experience enjoyable as a whole.