Note: This review covers the Japanese release of the game.

Humorist Lore Sjöberg on Pong:

I keep praising Ben Croshaw for his technical prowess, but, man, is Trilby's Notes one polished title. After two installments that frequently impressed but whose chinks betrayed their homemade origins, AGS developer and acclaimed smartass Croshaw has delivered a Trilby game that's wholly professional - and fun to play. Its storytelling choices render it not for everyone, but it's a grand showcase of independent programming.

And I was so looking forward to this. Coloris is renowned as one of the better Bit Generations titles, a color-matching game where you live or die by the refinement of your visual palette. Gameplay videos looked almost avant-garde in their busy little squares of light shifting and pulsing and phasing out of view; a Japanese musician had even made a music video from the material. Game as art! Art as game! This is what I want!

Golden Axe attracts a lot of flak nowadays, so perhaps it takes a lesser game to demonstrate all it did right. King Arthur to Axe's Conan, The King of Dragons differentiates itself with a supposedly brainier RPG approach to the genre, but its paper-thinness in other areas short-changes it as anything but an occasional dumb-fun good time.

For a bit, I was on the fence as to whether Dialhex was a worthy puzzle title. Then I looked up during play one evening to discover that it was now 2:30 a.m. and I had neglected my very imminently-due Accounting homework. The title has a low-key depth that quietly draws your in.

Contact has drawn strong comparisons to a few other games, but it reminded me most of Secret of Evermore - of that 16-bit Mana substitute's Frankenstein-like attempt to construct an RPG story without the slightest charm or spark of life. Evermore, though, had Jeremy Soule's evocative music and an inspired idea here and there, like the giant chess board with malevolent pieces or a uniquely sad cameo by Cecil of FF4. Contact, by contrast, boasts a development...

7 Days a Skeptic is a Jason X tribute. That's one genre for which life is simply too short. It was produced by Ben Croshaw, maestro of the AGS adventure game-creation program, and as such boasts many admirable technical achievements. They just don't come packaged in a very enjoyable game.

You haven't read Nodame Cantabile either, have you? Conceived as a manga, adapted for both animated and live-action drama, highly praised as all three, yes, but that's not the point - any import gamer interested in the DS version is probably intrigued instead by the idea of an Ouendan with classical music, happily willing to ignore or endure any license-related distractions to that gameplay. Indeed, the title's good for some fun and has the rhythm genre's inherent addict...

I feel a bit dirty reviewing 5 Days a Stranger, it having been brought to my attention via a tiresome fan board-spamming campaign.