Gameglobe

Originally published on my HLTB profile.

Originally written and published on December 28th 2025.

 

Gameglobe was a game creation and sharing platform developed by Bigpoint and Square-Enix. Sort of like what people nowadays might call Dreams or Roblox. Except Gameglobe did that back in 2012. Since I am writing this essentially based on my memories, who knows if it's exact, but what can you do.

Honestly, it's not surprising the game shut down. Not only was it an online game, that ran purely in the browser itself, but there was also minimal monetization, which sounded great to my back then child self, until you realize that the game was pretty niche and made barely any money. Really, I don't think I heard anyone talk about this game ever, not even a mention of the name, which I find quite weird and sad considering how big this "game creation" or "game as a platform" genre is nowadays, with Roblox being big as it is and Fortnite going a similar way as well.

The game had a nice artstyle and graphics from what I both remember and can find online. Cartoony, but still a lot more detailed than what something like Roblox offered. Animations were solid too. All of that running purely in the browser, in around 2012. And free to play. That was great for me as a player back then. Not good for business, though. From what I could find, it was shut down in around November 2013.

Let's focus on the main thing though, that being the gameplay and the content. To be honest, I don't think the game had any special deep mechanics. I mean, you had your basic combat, basic platforming, and somewhat deep level editor. I don't really recall even any social features other than comments, and it was single-player only. Still, as a kid, it gave me countless hours of entertainment. Really, it was the variety which was great, even though that's mostly the players' achievement. You had combat levels, platforming, puzzle, story-based ones, driving, minigames and all kinds of other stuff. And if you wanted something different, well then you could just create it yourself. I think the editor was pretty good in itself as well, as you had the option to make pretty complex experiences, but I don't recall thinking that it would have been too hard to use. I think it might even be part of the reason why I never really gave games like Roblox a chance. It just looked worse and felt more complicated.

Other than that, really, there was not much. The meat of this "game" was the user-made content. If my memory serves correctly, there used to be some sort of short campaign, but it was pretty short. I would say like 3–5 levels short, perhaps. There was also a simple character editor, but I think it was mostly clothes, body shapes, few haircuts and other cosmetics. This is the only place that I remember coming across any monetization. I'm not so sure about the dates, but according to some stuff I found online, there used to be some sort of paid membership as well. Didn't seem to go too well. Also... there might have been some monetization in the level editor too. That's... really all I can muster. I suppose talking about in such a way makes it sound somewhat generic and basic, but back then, it felt all but that to me.

I wish I could talk about it more in-depth, but there's not much left in my memory, and that same can be said about what's left online. It's a shame that nowadays I can't even find videos with all the content that was added in later updates such as all the vehicles, mercenary themed stuff, zombies, suburban themed NPCs and objects and whatnot. It's like it might as well have never existed. The bulk of the stuff left is only from the original version, back when most of the content was mostly just either generic or pirate themed. There has been such a lack of archival of everything regarding this game that it is quite sad. Not even a Wikipedia page. When searching for it, you just get some old trailers and let's play's, unkept videogame databases, few old articles and the rest is a sea of dead links. The low player numbers and badly designed monetization, combined with almost nonexistent PR except for one E3 trailer, really did a number on it. I am not surprised that Square-Enix gutted it for the lack of growth. Although, not being satisfied with games' performances seems to be Square-Enix's modus operandi in general. Knowing about this game, while seemingly nobody else does, makes me genuinely wonder how many players it actually had back in the day. So, shoutout to all the 12 people who actually played this game, I suppose. 

Overall rating: 80%

Playtime: A lot, I think.

Played on PC, in the browser.

Big Mutha Truckers 2

Originally published on my HLTB profile.

Originally written and published on December 12th, 2025.

Big Mutha Truckers 2: Truck Me Harder is an arcade trucking game developed by Eutechnyx as a sequel to the first game. Now, I didn't play the original, so I can't exactly compare the games, notice its evolution or lack there of, and also I played this game as a child, which might have influenced me in thinking it is not that bad, but oh well.

If I really think about it, it is kind of interesting how this game manages to walk the line in-between being actually trashy, and a proper satire. I would not find it surprising if many people just brushed this off as shovelware, but I think those arcade roots make it a little bit more than that. A little bit.

Alright, so, how is the game? It is an arcade trucking game with an open world, where you deliver cargo and do some extra missions, of course, with a few gimmicks sprinkled in. The driving itself is not...bad, but it is not great either. I like the ability to control the movement of the trailer somewhat, but the fact is the driving is somewhat lackluster. Collisions and jumps can really mess you up sometimes, and this is not something you should excuse as realism in an arcade like this. It's not great. A single crash into a small car can make you lose control, turning at slow speed is just weird, and your truck sometimes just phases through destructible objects. And lastly, while the missions add a bit more variety, the driving controls on those vehicles are either very basic, and in the case of your truck without a trailer, it both oversteers and understeers depending on speed, and feels both too light and too heavy. So the driving is rather weak, all in all.

The graphics and the map of the game though are, I think, not so bad for the time, actually. The map is detailed and varied enough and includes a bunch of shortcuts. The biggest issue was its size, though. A delivery from one corner of the map to the other one takes about a minute and a half of gameplay. That felt a bit too short sometimes.

The gameplay loop itself, however, I somewhat enjoyed. It is a very quick one though. You buy cargo, check prices, drive to most profitable destination, sell, maybe do a mission or gamble if you want to. Although, the amounts of money you can get from gambling are chump-change compared to what you will need. It can get repetitive and grindy at times, but they did try to spice it up. I wonder if the grindiness could have been the point... the mundaness of driving a truck, of trucking away mile to mile to earn your pay, but... I'm probably thinking too much about it. Anyway, there are some nice gimmicks that make it a bit more engaging, like the bikers, UFOs, hobos, police, the vehicles you can destroy for extra boost or other bonuses and such. They force you to adapt your driving a bit, which is nice. However, one of the two things that made the game enjoyable is that, while repetitive, it wasn’t exactly easy to the point of becoming brainless. If you want to make the most money as quickly as possible, you'll choose the hardest difficulty, meaning little time, and this forces you to pay attention to the road and traffic, to the obstacles, to the gimmicks, look out for shortcuts, sometimes even having to choose an alternative route, away from the recommended one, otherwise you won't get your bonus. That optimization mindset, where you piece it all together kept me satisfied enough.

Finally, I want to touch upon the humor and style of the game. I mentioned earlier that the game walks between being trashy and a humorous satire. Well, in some ways, considering it was made in the early 2000s, I find it hard to say whether a few of these stereotypes were made more genuinely or as a satire. However, the vast majority of the game is obviously taking a piss. I think you'll struggle to find a single person in the game who couldn't be classified as some sort of stereotype. You'll meet all kinds of people from hillbillies, rednecks, world-weary sassy diner waitresses, Wall Street brokers, and gay sailors to Russian oligarchs and hippie vegan "neo-feminists". The humor is low-brow, but I don't think that comes off as a surprise to anyone who bothered to even read the title of the game. The other thing that kept me engaged was the radios. They opted out for the style of actual radios with talk hosts, guests and advertisements, and not just a playlist of music. I especially liked the talk radio, and it is one of the better attempts to emulate the likes of GTA's radios. Maybe the humor isn't for everyone, but I found it somewhat charming and campy enough to enjoy it. This line, to be honest, applies to the whole game I feel, albeit with effects of some nostalgia attached.

Overall rating: 55%

Playtime: 7h 56m

Played on PC.

A Summer's End - Hong Kong 1986

Originally published on my HLTB profile.

Originally written and published on August 23rd, 2025.

A Summer's End - Hong Kong 1986 is a short and sweet period piece visual novel. Lots of pinks, blues and purples, packed together with a great 1980s-inspired soundtrack and presentation. I'm leaving satisfied.

The art looks fabulous and relies heavily on the vibrant colors of the idealized 1980s aesthetics. As a period piece from an interesting, and in games not often seen, place like Hong Kong, I think the art style lends itself really well. I also really liked all the different outfits of the heroines. I'm not too sure whether that's a common practice in visual novels to have that many different outfits (especially for the game's length), but I wholeheartedly welcome it.

The writing was to the point. It doesn't meander too much on excessive fluff or overly describing the situation, but it's not too fast-paced either. It manages to strike just the right balance. At least for me. The protagonists written are believable and likable. And when it comes to the secondary cast, even then, all the characters add a worthy layer of complexity to the protagonists. Even if you disagree with what they have to say, you can still understand where they might be coming from. It managed to create just the right mix of emotions within me.

I suppose you could point out that it could have been a bit longer, offer more, or nitpick about the perhaps slightly exposition dump-ey beginning. But that didn't bother me at all after I was invested, which really didn't take long.

Oh, and the music was great too. Fitting, fun to listen to, and accommodating for both the upbeat and somber moments. It's one of those soundtracks I can definitely see myself returning to, just to casually listen to it. So, yes, consider me a fan. 

 

Overall rating: 90%

Playtime: 8h 12m

Played on PC.

I Love You, Colonel Sanders! A Finger Lickin’ Good Dating Simulator

Originally published on my HLTB profile.

Originally written and published on August 19th, 2025.

I Love You, Colonel Sanders! A Finger Lickin’ Good Dating Simulator. What a lengthy title. Almost certainly parodying the often so made fun of titles of manga and anime.

Well, how do you rate this... Okay, I understand that you're not exactly supposed to take this seriously, and I will try not to, but I also don't want to write this off as only a joke or a meme. What you have here is a simple visual novel, published by KFC themselves, about dating Colonel Sanders. It is short, linear, and to be honest, not even that funny. I will admit, it did give me an amused snort here and there, but the majority of the text is not that entertaining and just too nonsensical. For less than a 2-hour-long game, it didn't feel as short, and I sadly don't mean that as a compliment. Its text is essentially composed of ridiculous scenarios, characters and absurdist jokes. Some might like it, some might not. I did not.

Even for a visual novel, though, it felt like it lacked features. I'm not asking for anything revolutionary, but even such small things like the lack of any text rollback or proper save system annoyed me. Maybe it seems dumb to complain about that in such a short, joke game like this, but still. A simple RenPy project would have that baked-in, if I understand correctly. Since it's so short, I decided to try to get all the endings, and the lack of these features kind of annoyed me.

The art and music are alright, but there really isn't anything worth playing this for, other than being able to say that you played a dating sim with Colonel Sanders. I get it, I get it, it's just a simple freeware dating sim, that's essentially just an elaborate advertisement. In the end, it just wasn't as funny as I thought it might have been. For some reason, I cannot stop thinking that it is more fun knowing that this thing exists, rather than actually playing it.

Overall rating: 40%

Playtime: 2h 41m

Played on PC.

Horizon Chase 2

Originally published on my HLTB profile.

Originally written and published on July 31st, 2025.

I have mixed thoughts about Horizon Chase 2. As a player of the original Horizon Chase Turbo, there are both nice surprises and new inclusions, together with disappointing omissions and annoying issues. It ends up being a pretty good arcade racer, but with some annoyances on the way.

I have experienced both these titles in co-op, and I think I can safely say that the fast-paced arcade gameplay works really well for 2 players on the same screen. The original title was clearly inspired by the likes of Top Gear for SNES and OutRun. With this sequel, the developers are diverging a bit further from their original inspirations than before, while still preserving the unique flair of their original game. With these inspirations straying further away, the sequel feels like a step closer to a proper evolution of this subgenre of racing. This on its own is great, I think.

The gameplay itself feels generally smoother and more polished than its predecessor. The simple act of controlling your vehicle just feels a bit more satisfying. However, the core gameplay loop stays generally the same as the original. The only exceptions being the new point to point races and the gas mechanic, which was left out of this sequel. While I enjoyed it, I also don't feel particularly strong about it to pity its removal. As for the point to point races, they don't really make any difference. The collectible tokens are back, together with the nitro ones in the tournament mode, making the gameplay pretty familiar for players of the original. As for the driving, the only difference I found to be noticeable, to the point of differentiation, is the possibility to grind on guardrails and not crash, losing a lot of your speed in the process. A small, nice improvement, helping the flow of the races. The core gameplay is simply strong and fun.

However, there is a problem with the progression and economy in the "World Tour" mode, which makes this campaign feel frustratingly unfulfilling in one way. The rewards for races were just simply not enough. This becomes a problem, because Horizon Chase 2 adds another layer to the upgrade system. Currency and XP. Without grinding, I found the game to be quite stingy with the currency and XP to the point that if you want to stay competitive to earn somewhat consistent winning positions, you pretty much have to invest your performance upgrades into purely just a few cars. This is easily the worst part of this system. They don't carry over to other cars. You are forced to keep using one or two cars for the majority of the campaign, and this doesn't work for such a simple arcade title like this. The only reprieve being the fact that the few new unlocked cars will be matched to your current car's performance with already installed upgrades. The visual customization ended up feeling rather expensive too. At the very least, this system has gotten an upgrade, being able to change not only your paint-job, but also the rims and even being able to choose in-between 3 presets for the body of the car.

As for the content, if I were to summarize, the developers settled for the philosophy of quality over quantity. On one hand, both the car models and especially the tracks feel so much more detailed and beautiful. The tracks now properly feel like actual places, without resembling those retro empty plains with some objects planted by their waysides. They are detailed, with many unique models around and with charming and vibrant textures. The disappointing part comes from the realization that about the half of the locations from the original are not present, making the sequel feel a bit barren in terms of the variety of the countries available. However, the number of tracks is also halved. Be it considered expected due to the more detailed levels or baffling due to the lack of more variety, I am honestly still not entirely sure.

It's along the same lines for the car line-up. The original had 35 vehicles, excluding the Senna DLC, while Horizon Chase 2 presents only 12 cars. They do come with customization now, but it was a bit disappointing having a sequel regress in numbers this much. This is especially annoying combined with the grindy upgrade system, which incentivizes you to keep using the same upgraded cars you have been using and avoid the other, now uncompetitive ones. Thankfully, this issue is at least nonexistent in the tournament mode, where your car is automatically upgraded.

I'm still quite conflicted how to feel about this game. While still great on many of its own merits, I can't help but to keep comparing it to its predecessor in the amounts of content and modes. It makes some weird decisions too, but it still ends up being a great arcade racer with fun gameplay and fitting music with its retro throwback vibe otherwise. In a way, most of the bad comes from what is not in the game, rather than what is in it, and that what is in it, was pretty fun for the most part.

Overall rating: 75%

Playtime: 12h 57m

Played on PC.

Split Fiction

Originally published on my HLTB profile.

Originally written and published on July 29th, 2025.

Split Fiction is, once again, a great co-op experience, that is worth the play for anyone who's looking to enjoy a polished, fun and unique game with a friend, partner or a sibling.

Every level is well-designed in terms of the co-op experience while also being a sight to behold, with all of its very detailed environments. The gameplay is varied and swift, with the movement itself being fun on its own. A lot of the abilities are unique and creative, and they complement each other really well most of the time. The side stories are also a great idea, further spicing up the variety even more, sadly though, at the cost of replacing the fun minigames from the previous titles. However, they are great anyway, and I understand that there might have been a desire to do something different. Overall, the pacing of the gameplay is quite dynamic, without dwelling on any gimmick or gameplay type for too long. The developers clearly let their creativity run wild when it comes to the mechanics in the gameplay, especially at the start and end of the game. There's also a sizable amount of easter eggs and references to Hazelight's previous works or to other gaming hallmarks that many will find recognizable and fun.

One of the most surprising things to me was not actually the abilities, though. It was the technical state. I found it amazing to see a game, a split-screen game nonetheless, running on Unreal Engine to perform so smoothly. From my experience with other games on Unreal Engine, it was pleasant to see basically no stutters, FPS drops, graphical glitches or artifacts. In fact, it seemed to be using many of its capabilities for even useless details, like sheets of paper reacting to fire and the wind accurately. Perhaps it was easier to spare time and budget for details like these, since it is a linear game, but it's still praiseworthy.

It's not all great, though. I found the writing to be a bit boring and filled with just a bit too many clichés to be taken too seriously. On the other hand, it's not really that silly either, and in fact, wants itself to be taken quite seriously. At least in my impression. This all just results in most of the character interactions feeling kind of superficial and not deeply connecting. As for the humor, the jokes are not that funny either, and in my opinion, they were able to hit the mark with the humor in It Takes Two much better.

To add to this, I feel like it is quite strange, and a wasted opportunity, that in a game based on stories, there really aren't that many characters in the levels at all. There are some antagonists for most of the levels, and some mini-bosses, but other than that, there isn't much. I personally didn't find any of the secondary characters memorable at all. Considering this is supposed to be a game about stories, I found it disappointing that even It Takes Two had many more memorable characters. I suppose there might have been a possible intent to make this story a bit more introspective in-between the two heroines, but it just doesn't really work that much with this writing.

The second issue is about the levels themselves. While they are indeed very well-designed from the gameplay perspective and look magnificent, their variety in terms of their visual repertoire is a bit lacking. When I have seen that the game will combine genres of fantasy and sci-fi, I have thought that this might leave the developers with almost boundless opportunities to create visually distinct environments of almost any kind. Fantasy and sci-fi are such flexible genres. Here, however, it feels as if the creators were leaning too much into the prototypical aspects of these genres. That results in the fantasy levels always having the thematics of forests, with big mushrooms, trees, cliffs and castle ruins. Meanwhile, the sci-fi levels always end up having metallic architecture, industrial-looking machines and lasers. I just feel like these genres can be so much more than that. Where are some other environments like some creative medieval villages, deserts, dwarfs, goblins, demons, paranormal and more. As for sci-fi, some deep-space horrors, time travel, apocalyptic scenarios, aliens and who-knows what else. In fact, you could get even much more by mixing these two genres together. But, alas, what is there, is not bad by any means. I just couldn't help but think about this during my play-through.

Still, in the end, Split Fiction ends up being an incredibly solid co-op experience, which doesn't have any sort of competition other than the previous games from its own creators. If you've liked It Takes Two, you will most definitely have a lot of fun with this one too.

Overall rating: 80%

Playtime: 14h 10m

Played on PC.

Blbej Den (a Half-Life total conversion)

Originally published on my HLTB profile.

Originally written and published on July 28th, 2025.

First and foremost, in case you want to play this for some reason, I think a SEIZURE WARNING would be a reasonable thing to advise!

This Half-Life mod is apparently the creator's first creation, and it shows. I appreciate they were able to create something, but this isn't it. The first part is composed of recreating what's essentially the actual beginning of the original Half-Life, except in a much, much quicker pace and in a smaller location. What ensues is the second part, which is a dream, or rather a nightmare, sequence, which is just not good. Finally, the last part after the dream is just a pretty short escape, after which you get an ending cutscene and that's it.

The whole story, despite being rather short, simple and iterative to the original game, manages to sneak in an exposition dump and a bunch of useless text-boxes. I feel like these text-boxes should ideally just not be there at all. I understand that just because it's a Half-Life mod, it doesn't need to follow its entire design philosophy to a T, but do you really need text-boxes to say that the door is locked, when I clearly see that it doesn't open? It is a small thing to complain about, but I still couldn't help it.

Let me say something about the nightmare sequence. It doesn't feel like there is any reason for it to exist rather than to pad out the playtime of this 1.5 hour long mod. The worst part for me were the awful high-contrast, nauseating textures, though. So, even in the first part, there is a lot of amateurish recoloring and simple texture edits, which is fine I suppose, but in the dream part, this is turned up to eleven. Every enemy is reskinned to have simple, flat, bright, ugly and almost eye-hurting textures. The environments are not great, and regarding their colors or art style, it's a similar story to the enemies. High contracts everywhere. In fact, it starts out with a sequence, which I think could genuinely make some people have a seizure. It definitely did hurt my eyes. In fact, it reminded me of Cruelty Squad. I suppose I can at least appreciate the attempt to create the candy-land aesthetic in one part of the dream.

As a whole mod, it's not that good. The only original part is bad, the rest is imitative of the main game, and even the training mission is very basic and is riddled with small game design issues. Seriously, why did there have to be a dark blue, barely translucent marker for the end of the maze, that obstructs your view of the enemies in the fort in such a way that the only way to get them, is to stand out in the open, barely being able to shoot at such high angle, like you're trying to get killed? The bit of "humor" that's there is mostly profanity, dumb sound effects and sexual references, but seeing the author was apparently only 15 when he made this... well, it explains enough. If something, then at least the level design in the first and last part of the mod was decent enough for being a first-time project, I think.

I appreciate the effort and I certainly wouldn't want some stuff I made for free, in my free time as a teenager, to get criticized. It's not like I didn't have any fun, and the content from his cancelled mod, that is shown as a reward for completing the training, looked pretty interesting. However, to put it simply, the best part of this mod is still that the core experience is good old Half-Life.

Overall rating: 25%

Playtime: 1h 47m

Played on PC.