Bone Robot Games

 Momodora:  Reverie Under the Moonlight is a delightful entry into the side-scrolling, action-adventure genre.  I play as many as I can, and they are usually bad.  Having played through so many mediocre titles, I wasn't expecting much from Momodora, but I was happy to have been proven wrong.  A "Metroidvania-lite," Momodora makes the case why maybe more Metroidvanias should be this way. There isn't too much to this game, and that is its biggest strength.  Everything about it is simple, but executed brilliantly.  It has a retro feel with its graphics and art style. The story is told in very short quips from a small amount of NPCs.  It deviates from basically every other Metroidvania I've played, and I welcome it with open arms. Pixel-style  graphics are usually a style choice I don't enjoy, but after the initial disdain, I found myself enjoying it quite a bit.  The lack of imperious elements on the screen gave it a quaint spectacle. ...

  This style of game never sat well with me.  I played Wasteland 2,  and it had a myriad of problems.  This installment also felt jilted, slow, and janky.  The  movement was blocky and stuttering, combat was not intuitive and overly punishing, and the game design and story were both sub-par.  Wasteland 3 makes  some improvements on the base formula, but keeps all of the flaws of its  predecessor.   The opening of the game got me excited.  It started off promising, removing some tedious aspects of the game, and streamlining other bits.  Simple quality of life fixes, like not having to switch to a separate character and interact with an object to use their specific skill.  Instead, no matter who you are controlling, the person with that skill uses it.  These fixes are far overshadowed by the lackluster gameplay and, in general, how the game spread itself too thin.  There are a lot of areas of focus, but none g...

*This is a reupload of my original article from BoneRobotGames.com May 29, 2020 We all want him to be cool.  We all desperately want the games to be good.  The unfortunate truth is they aren't.  Each time a new Sonic game comes out, it's like a bait and switch from whoever developed it.  Our ears perk up, and we collectively think "This is the one. They've done it. Look everyone, a new Sonic game.  This one has GOT to be good."  All of us Sonic fans are waiting, eager, frothing at the mouth for the feeling the original trilogy back on the Sega Genesis tricked us into having.  Even though every installment before was garbage.  We never learn our lesson.  We're all in an abusive relationship with Sonic, and I'm here to give us all an intervention.  It's time we accepted the truth.  Sonic the Hedgehog sucks.  This feeling was brought on when I recently replayed Sonic Mania.  As I neared the end of the game, I was still h...

 Turbo Kid is an example of a game that does just enough , and that is okay. Better than being horrible.  Games are often too ambitious for their own good, and by the end of the game, I'm sick of it.  Turbo Kid is closer to a standard entry in the genre, with some flaws, but some really cool thing, and it excels for that. Not every game needs to be genre-defining, generational, or upper echelon. It is enough to be competent and fun, and that is where Turbo Kid succeeds. If you have played a handful of search/action games, they all start to blend together for the worse. This game starts strong with removing itself from the cliches of the genre. I wish it would have leaned into these ideas even more. To get away from the classic movement traps like dash, wall jump, and double jump, they give the player a bike to ride.  This is a really interesting movement mechanic that functions like a lite version of the Trials bike game.  It's cool for traversal, and for quicke...

  Before the review, I want to briefly touch on the fact that I hate the term Metroidvania as a genre.  It's meant to help categorize games easier for players to understand. It is a deservedly high honor for Metroid games to be the keystone of that definition.  Unfortunately for all other games, being compared to Metroid is a death sentence.  Super Metroid was the greatest video game ever created until Metroid Dread was released.  To classify yourself in a genre that is known for perfection is a tall order.  Furthermore, every game that comes out in this genre seems like it was made by someone who played Metroid a decade prior and is trying to make a game like it from memory.  Perhaps they never played Metroid at all.  I have not played a single game that I felt warranted being compared to this game in any other way than "side scroller with interconnected levels and ability-led progression."  Genres should be broad.  From now on I will r...

Jan 8, 2021 Repost Throughout the Speedrun Spotlight series we have established some common variables. Speedrunners often have a strong online presence, interacting often with their chat and twitter userbase, and forming bonds and friendships with other runners within their game. Discord is the main driver of discussion and knowledge sharing, and helps to amplify the resources of anyone getting into the intricacies of running specific games and categories. Now that we have a focal point and understanding of speedrunning, I want to begin to examine some of the complexities of the pursuit. My goal with this entry into the series - Dark Souls speedruns by Catalystz - was to gather some depth more acutely about the runner themselves and the distinct games and methods they use. There are four main categories of Dark Souls speedruns: Any%, Any% No Wrong Warp, Any% Force quit, and All Bosses. For Catalystz, Dark Souls has been his main speed game for three years, and he has run each category...