Nice review, brother. I've dived in and bounced off this one so many times, and sometimes I wind up with cognative whiplash as a result. Bonk is one of those games that has a limited appeal to me thanks to its poor controls. It is not a laggy game--or series--but has never felt suitably responsive to make Bonk, and me, feel powerful. The times I have attained any skill with the controls, the levels bore me and I move on to something else that gets it right.

It was a really good time. Technically, I think I played the Eldritch Edition version that was on PS Plus for a while. Got to it in the month before it got removed, so I only had time to go for one ending. The one where you go full Elder God and kill your humanity at the end. Because there was no way I could turn down those sweet Nyarlathotep powers!

Think the main (maybe only) real difference between the two versions was the Enhanced one added three puzzle-heavy areas a person could do in order to access an optional boss. And I only did part of one before deciding to focus on the main game. Best part of it all was just how chaotic things could get. Gong rings and a million creatures just converge on you and things get crazy. Right now, I'm near the end of Code Vein and it has a similar feature where, in certain locations, invasions get triggered where wave after wave of enemies come at you. And when one gets started, it's on until either all of them or you are dead. You can run all you want, but they'll follow you for as long as it takes and even warp to your location if you try climbing ladders to get away. Not quite the same, as Sundered is more pure action and Code Vein is more classic Souls in its action, but the same philosophy.

I played this on the PC back when, and adored it. I went through it enough to get two of the three endings and always meant to go back and get the third. It's good stuff, this; glad you enjoyed it.

Thanks both for reading. Ultimately, I didn't mind my time with Andromeda, though replaying the original trilogy just before didn't help hide its flaws any, but it was open enough for me to make my own stories, and, turns out, I'm better at it than modern day Bioware.

Hasty - Actually, mod support for this game is lacking. That never used to be the case, but various engine updates have made previous fan efforts stop working, and no one cares enough about the game anymore to fix it. Which is a shame, because I modded the hell out of ME3 when I replayed, and the experience was much better for it.

The Mass Effect series was a distinct...experience for me, and I should probably review the original trilogy. I'm glad that my instinctive aversion to this one proved to be correct. It's just not one of those things I can get into if the story is so weak and affected by a buggy world that will never be officially fixed. I'm sure the fans have patched the heck out of it, though, just as they did the OG Trilogy.

Really liked this one. You did a great job of showing how this game is really good, but shoots itself in the foot by stupid dialogue and how it peaks with the first planet. But the whole "sense of exploration" is so addicting to, at least, me when it comes to games that I can easily see how a person can endure the stupid crap to play through it.

By Kemco standards, this was really good. Kind of in the class where you wish one of their teams had legit money and more time to make their games just to see what they'd come up with. At least this game made efforts to do some different things from what I'd expect to see. All the little stat bonuses you get as items scattered through towns and dungeons and how the plot basically revolves around your party simply looking for a source of near-limitless wealth and everything else in the world is kind of just background information.

Reading this review, it's difficult to imagine how anyone thought they were shipping a game that worked. The text does an excellent job of pointing out exactly how this particular 3D version of Tetris stripped the simple premise of those components that make it so irresistible. I wouldn't mind playing it someday, but now I know better than to expect something that will entertain me for more than a couple of minutes at a time. Compare that to Tetrisphere, which I quite liked, and it's easy to see what a difference a few years make!

I'm glad you found another Kemco RPG you enjoyed. Given how many of them you play, it was bound to happen sooner or later! This one sounds pretty sweet, actually.

It was an interesting game! All of its parts were good, but the longer I played, the more things just dragged on to where I just wanted to be done. And, like I said, that desolate fourth island just felt like padding. And it was the sort of padding that made me thing I had to be about over, but then there was another, full island to get through. At least I had enough tokens to fish my way to getting all the collectibles I needed to breeze through it!

Timely review, Overdrive! This one is the featured title in this month's Humble Choice bundle. I'll get to add it to my collection on the cheap! Which sounds like the way to go, based on your impressions with the game. I hate it when lackluster acts in the middle or near the end of the game burn through the momentum the game had going up to that point.

Maybe you can get back to it now and see the rest of what you've been missing this last decade or two! Or three. Something like that...

I remember starting it a couple decades or so, but for some reason I never finished it. It was a good game, so quality wasn't the issue. I think it was because I'd just discovered emulation, so I was literally downloading and starting every single retro game I had anything resembling interest in, so most of them wound up getting abandoned at some point because I was always picking them up and realizing that I didn't remember what I was doing because it'd been months since I'd last played it.

Jason:
Ignore the "mark." My hand slipped and I hit that instead of "reply." Anyway, I'm cautious when approaching cozy anything because some cozy stuff is just boring. However, this and Creatures of the Deep have proven that the concept can be done right. I'm still searching for a cozy builder similar to Minecraft. I thought I found that in Terraria, but the game does come with an implied time limit of sorts that I don't feel like abiding. That and I want one that's first-person. Dragon Quest Builders might end up being what I want, but finding the time to devote to it is another issue.

Hut:
I fault no one for not like this one. I enjoyed it because it was just what I was looking for, but I can see how it might either grate someone's nerves or leave something to be desired. I, too, want to play the sequel, though some folks have said it's not as good as the fist one. This means it'll either be more fulfilling for those who weren't impressed with the original, or it'll further leave them desiring something.

Thank you both for reading!

Hi again, I just went to submit reviews for a couple of smaller indie games, but noticed they’re not yet in the database.

The first is below:

Title: Choice Chamber
Platform: PC / Steam
Developer/Publisher: Studio Bean
Year: 2015
https://store.steampowered.com/app/359960/Choice_Chamber/

And the second is:

Title: Simmiland
Platform: PC / Steam
Developer/Publisher: Sokpop Collective
Year: 2018

https://store.steampowered.com/app/932850/Simmiland/

Both added

Thanks so much in advance!

I can't believe we've had all these retro reviews over the years, and still no one has reviewed Crusader of Centy. It looks like it might be a great game!

Well, you certainly enjoyed this more than me! But that's good, glad you had a good time with it. I can see why you saw this as a comfy title to play as a stress relief.

I've been meaning to play the second game, but since I'm waiting for the physical release, I'll just have to wait a little longer to see if it sees any improvements over the first game.

Cozy is big right now. It has been for some time, but especially now. I see it in fiction a lot. Even genres you wouldn't associate with cozy at all now have cozy variations. I think we're a few months from someone producing cozy grimdark fantasy at this point. But cozy can be really dull sometimes, if there's not some sort of tension (in fiction) or a sense of satisfaction (in games). I'm glad to see Slime Rancher manages to walk that line you mentioned.

Sorry for the late reply!

I was very curious about Syd for the longest time based on the graphics, so I was in the same boat as you.

Shame how it turned out, though it seems the gameplay for the series seems all over the place, especially depending on what system they're played on. On the PC Engine, the games were more known for their anime-esque cutscenes and CD quality music and audio dialogue, so a lot of that stuff didn't carry over when brought to the Genesis; Valis III's Genesis port had a TON of missing content due to limitations.

It does make me curious to try the Valis Collection PC Engine versions, but I've heard mixed things about the Steam edition. Apparently the Switch versions are the way to go regardless of the quality of the games themselves.

Thanks for reading!

This game looks so good in the screenshots, like it might be a standout entry in the Genesis library, but your review makes a strong case for... otherwise.