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.

Motor City Online

Originally published on my HLTB profile.

Originally written and published on July 22nd, 2025.

Motor City Online is a spin-off multiplayer title of the Need for Speed series, or rather, was. From what is left playable with the offline launcher made by fans, it feels pretty interesting and ambitious, though.

The physics feel solid, the selection of vehicles is nice, and I was especially surprised by the details on the tracks and by their many moving pieces. There was also a surprising amount of destructible objects, especially considering that this game is build on High Stakes as its foundation. I don't recall even Porsche Unleashed, with its new own engine, having this level of detail in the movable objects department. And most importantly out of all, pedestrians, with multiple animation sets too. People such as the grid-girl, drunkards in the red-light district or the workers on the fields all have different animation sets. Maybe it isn't that impressive, considering Midtown Madness did it in 1999, but still worth the mention I think, when even nowadays this is not that common of a feature for racing games. I really enjoyed some of these tracks, like the Hall Homestead one with many destructible fences and objects, combined with the very old-school "foresty" environment or the ChemCo Processing Vats with the various hazards and split paths. You don't really see similar tracks with such track design in modern racing games anymore.

The car list is limited in scope, but I do appreciate that. Except for the exceptions of Supra and Eclipse, the list is composed of old, heavy American gas guzzlers and muscle cars. Many of the cars are actually rarely seen in any other racing games, like I can't remember ever seeing for example Chevrolet Nomad or Ford Galaxie in any other game, and taking a peek at IGCD, they really weren't in that many titles, especially any big-name ones. So really, this focused car list with its more niche inclusions is very nice to see, even for someone who doesn't really care for muscle cars or Americana in the first place.

The driving feel wasn't bad at all, and expectedly heavy and sluggish for the cars available, but I wonder what difference the upgrade system would have. From what I heard, the performance upgrade system was actually relatively in-depth, so it is quite a shame there's not a way to use it now. Also, the damage model is solid, but that is not that surprising considering I already mentioned it is based on High Stakes. I do feel like it looks slightly better than that one, or even the one in Porsche Unleashed, since even the paintwork is being scratched away.

It is quite a shame this was shut down so soon, in 2003 and only parts of it are playable nowadays. It seems interesting and ambitious, but sadly it got killed. Such a shame, as it is fascinating to think about what it could have been and how it could have evolved if it succeeded. And to be honest, I do kind of in some ways prefer this over the likes of Need for Speed: World, due to the usage of designed closed off tracks, rather than relying on an open world. Although, I would not be surprised if we have hardware limitations to thank for that. It would be very interesting to see a modern spiritual successor of something like this, but alas.

Kind of hard, and a bit pointless, to rate something like this normally and fairly now, given the circumstances, but I think it still ends up being a pretty solid game, worthy of a look even if only for the novelty, the history and its connection to the Need for Speed franchise. 

 

Overall rating: 70%

Playtime: 3h 25m

Played on PC.

Carmageddon: Max Damage

Originally published on my HLTB profile.

Originally written and published on July 1st, 2025.

 

Firstly, I want to disclose that I played this with the Overhaul mod 1.4 and the 80s' Car Megapack, adding many QOL improvements and vehicles, which definitely added to the experience. Therefore, a lot of what I say might not apply to the vanilla experience.

Now, this game can be fun, but at the same time it is very rough around the edges, a bit janky in places and trashy and dated in its presentation. I feel like you really have to be a Carmageddon or at least a vehicular combat fan to enjoy what it has to offer. The graphics are not great even for the time, some features can feel a bit convoluted, but the core gameplay of smashing into the other drivers, mangling their vehicles into pieces, running over the pedestrians and just exploring the maps can be really fun (especially with the overhaul). Yes, the original Carmageddon has more content, more variety and was much more revolutionary, but if you want a modernized rendition of a game like Carmageddon, with all of its components there, this really is your only option.

Design-wise, I'm glad they returned to the sci-fi dystopian theming from the first game, since I think it helps to give the game more character and makes the visual design of the levels more interesting. Similarly, the design of the vehicles is pretty nice too, with all the blades, spikes and fans chopping, impaling or disintegrating the pedestrians accordingly this time. Then there is the wide variety of the power ups, from useless to overpowered, from classic expected ones to unique and funny ones, which can influence the game in multiple ways. These power-ups are, together with the pedestrian violence, what makes Carmaggedon unique, so I am quite glad that many of these power-ups are here, and they make the game that much more fun. Pinball mode, Solid granite car, Instant handbrake, Dancing pedestrians, Wall climber, Body slammer, Spinnertron... It's all quite stupid, but fun, and in some game modes it can also add a layer of strategy.

Now for the negatives. You have the technical side of the game, which is not perfect, with the lackluster graphics and occasional crashes. Then there is the lack of more content (especially maps) and the repetitive career structure. The maps can feel a bit barren, unpolished or unfinished in some places, while nicely designed with interesting hidden spots and shortcuts in others. However, the core gameplay loop in the career can get repetitive, especially if you don't care for the actual race routes and prefer the wrecking (as do most players). In that case, the different events just end up differing only in their weather, time of day and pedestrian placement. I wish I could recommend this game more, but as it stands, it is rather suited for the current fans, who wanted to see a modern version of Carmageddon.

For what it is, Carmageddon Max Damage is fun when all you want from it is just some dumb, satisfying fun with unique vehicles and blood-shedding slaughter, but you shouldn't expect much more from it. In many ways, it feels like a game stuck in the past, not made with the modern video game landscape in mind. 

Overall rating: 65%

Playtime: 32h 51m

Played on PC.

Emergency 2

Originally published on my HLTB profile.

Originally written and published on October 4th, 2024.

Emergency 2 has similar gameplay to the original game, just more in-depth. More units, more quality-of-life features like the very useful satellite map and keybinds for game speed, but otherwise it's the same RTS gameplay with some puzzle elements.

While some missions can be rather confusing to solve, hence the puzzle elements, most are much more straightforward and those were the better ones in my opinion. I especially enjoyed the missions, where all the services had to complement each other, like the highway pileup, the prison on fire or the airplane hijacking crash. But the game does offer some tips, so that's at least something.

The graphics, this time, are much nicer and aged pretty well. All the sprites and backgrounds were full of charm, and it was just lovely to look at.

I do have some gripes, though. One being how frustrating some missions can be with their restrictions. You are 45 minutes in, but one person dies. Oh well, better restart the whole mission, because you weren't aware of them, saved only recently, and now it's too late to send any units! The entire time during these missions, I was just thinking how some kind of ranking system would work wonders for this. You did it perfectly? S. You barely managed to save anybody and you were slow? E. I had to reset some missions so many times because of this. It didn't feel so needlessly annoying in the first game (if I remember correctly, that is). Simply, I wish the game would let me mess up, without putting a fail screen in front of me.

Another thing that is worse is the crowd control. It's just not as easy and simple to use now, as it was before and requires more clicks and fiddling, which can become really annoying, especially in busy areas and when not zoomed completely in.

Lastly, I also encountered some bugs, like vehicles getting stuck in tight spaces or on some objects and just staying stuck, missions not ending, non-translated text and crashes. (But then again, it's an old game, so the crashes might just be a consequence of that.)

In the end, I still think it is a pretty good and unique game, but some of those changes made me not enjoy Emergency 2 that much more than the first game. 

Overall rating: 75%

Playtime: 39h 58m

Played on PC.

Emergency Police

Originally published on my HLTB profile.

Originally written and published on September 5th, 2024.

 

I liked the first game, but this stand-alone expansion felt a bit buggier and some of the missions felt too constrained in some aspects. The focus on the police units specifically still does not feel like a great idea to me, as it feels more limited by design than the first game, which focused on all of the three emergency services, nicely complementing each other in the gameplay. The rest of the gameplay and the graphics in this expansion are pretty much identical to the first game and this was released 3 years later, so I expected it to be a bit better. Nonetheless, it was still fun.

 

Overall rating: 60%

Playtime: 14h 26m

Played on PC, Emulated on PCEM.

Serial Experiments Lain

Originally published on my HLTB profile.

Originally written and published on December 26th, 2023.

 

A very moving experience, which I now actually prefer over the anime.

It has barely any elements of an actual game – no puzzles, challenges or anything like that. The closest you can compare it to is probably a visual novel. Like the anime, this game touches on the same subjects, though I have to say, it manages to present them in a more real and authentic-feeling way. There is less of a focus on the sci-fi elements than in the anime, in exchange for the focus on the psyche of Lain and Touko, her counsellor.

They are both well-written, believable and they do not feel one-dimensional, which is good since they are essentially the core of the entire experience. You explore the story in a non-linear fashion, which forces you to piece the story together yourself. However, even with the non-linear storytelling the story is still more coherent than its anime counterpart, which focuses more on the surrealistic, avant-garde and sci-fi elements. I like this though, as it really allows the whole experience to feel much more impactful.

The atmosphere, together with the sound effects and the OST, is very charming. After some parts of the game you really just stop, listen, take in all the atmosphere and think about what you have been hearing and witnessing, while the soothing sombre tune plays in the background. Perfect execution for a game like this.

The only problem is the controls, which can sometimes feel clunky and slow, having to wait for animations to finish and such. You just have to bear with it. Thankfully, you can at least jump multiple levels of the menu without having to go one by one.

 

Overall rating: 90%

Playtime: 14h 42m

Played on PC, in a browser.

Gran Turismo

Originally published on my HLTB profile.

Originally written and published on November 4th, 2023.

 

I have to say, I was pretty surprised with how this game turned out to be. I was not expecting to be this satisfied with it. (I did play on an emulator with a 60FPS patch, however.)

The car selection is big (for the time) and features not only sports cars but primarily focuses on normal road cars. Throughout the game, it was quite satisfying to get credits, upgrade your cars and receive new ones as a reward for the championships. This worked well within the progression which was also nice — albeit the endgame with the endurance races feels a bit too dull.

The graphics were also something I enjoyed, but I get that this is more of a personal preference. It definitely gives the game more of an identity, looking at it from a modern standpoint. It feels like they really got the most out of what they had to work with regarding the hardware of the PS1.

Now, for the most important part, the driving physics. They are still pretty good for most of the time. They can freak out a bit after you drive over a curb quickly which can send you flying into a corner if you're not careful, but other than that, they aged pretty well. I don't have anything to complain about here that much.

As for the negatives, some of the licence tests were ridiculously hard to get gold in. (It doesn't have to be easy, but it just felt like a bit too much.) Next, the track list is solid, but it would be nice to have just a little bit more. The tracks can get repetitive later on and this is made worse by the fact that if you, especially in the early game, don't spend your money wisely, you might need to grind for some time.

It isn't for everybody, but I do think that if you are a fan of racing games and can appreciate older ones, give the original Gran Turismo a try. 

 

Overall rating: 80%

Playtime: 26h 9m

Played on PC, Emulated on Duckstation.

Lugi's Mansion

Originally published on my HLTB profile.

Originally written and published on October 13th, 2023.

 

Luigi's Mansion is a truly unique and atmospheric experience. It's also not too long or short and offers a decent challenge if you want to go for the higher ranks.

It comes with some flaws, like sometimes a bit of annoying controls or the final boss fight, which, in my opinion, was probably the weakest part of the game.

It's still a really charming game though, that felt pretty satisfying to play.

Overall rating: 80%

Playtime: 10h 27m

Played on PC, Emulated.

Dirt: Showdown

Originally published on my HLTB profile.

Originally written and published on September 29th, 2023.

Dirt: Showdown is a decent and different entry in the Dirt series.

There is a pretty good variety of event types and also cars. I was honestly pretty surprised by how they managed to put a spin on the typical races and demolition derbies. The driving and crashing physics are satisfying and come with a decent damage model. The graphics are nice, the soundtrack is alright and the (Advanced) difficulty was challenging enough to keep me engaged.

Now, my complaints. The optimization is not perfect, because of the framerate dips. There is a lack of a custom race mode, excluding the multiplayer, which is nowadays dead anyway. Another thing is the campaign, it is just a collection of events put together with nothing in between. I will give them that, they tried by reserving some of the environments for later in the campaign and by naming the opponents, but it just didn't do it for me. The whole campaign just felt really uninspired.

It is a solid game. While it doesn't do anything really new or special, it can still be fun, especially if you're looking for a demolition derby racing game.

Overall rating: 70%

Playtime: 18h 21m

Played on PC.

Back to Bed

Originally published on my HLTB profile.

Originally written and published on September 10th, 2023.

 

Back to Bed is a short little puzzle game with elegant graphics, inspired by the art of M. C. Escher and Salvador Dalí.

The art is nice, and it is definitely the main draw of the game, but the game’s difficulty is a bit iffy. Your objective is to guide the character to his bed using items to influence his path. This is however not very challenging, except perhaps for a few levels in the main story.

The levels get fun and challenging mostly in the New Game Plus “Nightmare mode”, where you must collect additional pickups, which make the levels more complicated. It is however shame that you have to basically beat the game for it to get challenging.

The narrative could have also been improved, as it acts more as a context for what is happening, but I suppose it is not really the most important thing in a puzzle game. Other than this, the art and the difficulty, there really isn’t much to talk about. It is one of those games where what you see, is what you get.

In the end, it is just a little puzzle game with cool visuals, but not much to offer otherwise. If you stick around though, which isn’t that long to the game’s advantage, it can be pretty fun and satisfying for what it is. 

Overall rating: 60%

Playtime: 4h 2m

Played on PC.

Emergency: Fighters for Life

Originally published on my HLTB profile.

Originally written and published on September 5th, 2023.

 

Quite a fun and unique RTS centered around emergency services. It provides a solid challenge – though me not being a proper RTS player means it could be easy for those more experienced in the genre.

The pixel-art isometric graphics aged nicely, and the missions are also varied enough, and make you use your head. However, there are a few similar missions in this mostly varied selection. Also, I don’t think the game is necessarily deep mechanics-wise, but I didn’t feel like it needed that to be enjoyable.

The only real downsides were probably the clunky vehicle control in some situations, weird AI decisions regarding their pathfinding and the awkward control of individual people in the few missions with bigger areas and bigger amounts of enemies.

I have also experienced a lot of crashes on certain missions in some compatibility modes or without them, but that is most likely just due to the age of the game and because of my computer being too modern at this point.

 

Overall rating: 75%

Playtime: 28h 12m

Played on PC.

 

 

 

Azutama

Published on my HLTB profile.

Originally written and published on August 29th, 2023.

 

Short but sweet and satisfying arcade action for the fans of the anime. It reminds me of those old-school '90s and early 2000s freeware games included on CDs in gaming magazines. It also has pleasant sprite artwork and powerups. 

Overall rating: 80%

Playtime: 2h 13m

Played on PC.

Grand Theft Auto V

Published on my HLTB account.

Originally written and published on August 25th, 2023.

 

Grand Theft Auto V can be breathtaking and includes some amazing details; however, it is also a regression from Rockstar’s previous work in some aspects.

The game features an amazing presentation, open world and world-building full of details, which makes it seem like a real living place. On the other hand, the characters felt quite unlikable for the majority of the story, police AI is not good (because of their omniscient presence and their knowledge of your hiding spot even when out of their sight), some side content was buggy, there is a lack of interiors when compared to the previous games, and vehicle damage, hand combat and the control of the character are regressed.

I have also faced numerous small bugs during my playthrough such as cars phasing through small walls and fences, a pair of invisible NPCs during switches or missions, peyote plants failing to trigger, a broken steering wheel during a switch cutscene and some minor clothing clipping issues.

Even with all these mistakes and imperfections, I still think it’s an awesome game, especially because of its amazing world-building and humour, but also relatively satisfying gameplay.

 

 

Overall rating: 85%

Playtime: 121h 41m

Played on PC.

Crash Time: Autobahn Pursuit

Published on my HLTB profile.

Originally written and published on April 1st, 2023.

 

Pros: 

 + Surprisingly good driving and damage physics
+ Quite a few unnecessary details, like usable blinkers and character models in the car changing depending on the context
+ World design - feels lively, includes hidden routes
+ Well-balanced hard difficulty - challenging but not unfairly hard
+ Vehicle Variety

Cons and nitpicks:

- Objectives can become repetitive
- You cannot continue the cases where you left off but have to complete them fully in one go
- If you fail a mission, the retire button is first, and you might accidentally choose it instead of retrying, therefore having the repeat the whole case
- No ability to choose colours in the single race mode (even though the cars support different colours in the career and for other racers)
- No Free-roam
- Some dialogues before missions are unskippable, making it tedious if you fail the mission

 

Overall rating: 75% 

Playtime: 9h 30m

Played on PC.

Burnout 3: Takedown

Published on my HLTB profile.

Originally written and published on July 18th, 2023.

 

One of the best arcade racing games of the 2000s. Awesome soundtrack, fun handling, Crash Mode and a lot of variety in the locations that still feel significantly unique nearly 20 years later.

There are some minor flaws like the boring color selection on most of the cars, the sometimes-annoying camera angle in the impact mode and the traffic in Europe and Asia could use a bit more variety since the game uses American-style cab-over trucks in these regions.

But other than that, it’s pretty much a perfect game at what it’s trying to do.

Overall rating: 95%

Playtime: 26h 12m

Played on PC, emulated on PCSX2 Nightly 1.7.4687.

Game version: USA version 1.0.

Need for Speed: Shift

Published on my HLTB account.

Originally written and published on July 5th, 2023.

Pros:

+ Great feel of speed
+ Detailed car models for its time
+ Good driving and crash physics
+ Good performance customization
+ Interesting racetrack selection

 

Cons and nitpicks:

- The career is just a collection of events, it would benefit from having a sponsor and a team feature à la GRID for example.
- In some races, with certain cars, the AI feels unfairly fast and stable. The difficulty is mostly fine, but some races can be infuriating if you're going for all the stars.
- Unbalanced and poorly designed side objectives in some events. Like spinning out the opponents when the game just refuses to let them spin out and in a way, it is easier to flip them.
- Physics can sometimes freak out, such as when the cars bump the ground a lot on slopes, and sometimes it feels like the cars purposefully pull themselves toward the barriers if you hit them and are still on the grass.

This is a solid simcade racer, especially for the time. It has inconsistent difficulty in some places and lacks polish in some areas, but I have enjoyed it altogether.

Overall rating: 70%

Playtime: 55h 14m

Played on PC.

Katawa Shoujo

Published on my HLTB account.

Originally written and published on August 18th, 2025.

Rewritten and extended on July 1st, 2026.

The extended text is based on notes I made after finishing the game, but just took me forever to finally incorporate into the text.

WARNING: SPOILERS!

I decided to go with Katawa Shoujo as my first proper dive into the world of visual novels. And after the experience I think it works as a nice introduction to the genre.

I started this with no knowledge of this game or its characters, and only basic knowledge of how visual novels work. It took me a while to warm up to some of these characters, but in the end, I did end up liking them all. On the technical level, the game is a bit outdated and inconsistent in its art-style here and there. Despite that though, it still manages to produce feelings of artistic consistency anyway, at least for me. Besides, it is a visual novel, so you don't need cutting edge features or graphics anyway. Seeing that the game itself is set in what I would guess to be mid-to-late 2000s, the 4:3 resolution and other quirks help give it its vibe anyway. I like to think of it as a small period piece.

The writing was pretty good overall, but you can tell it differs in quality slightly per route. Though, no surprise there. I already knew that each route was written by different people. If I were to complain about certain aspects of the writing, then the main takeaway would be that sometimes it feels there is too much descriptive fluff, and it starts to feel like filler. It depends on situation, but it is something noticeable. Some moments were simply just a bit too much.

The writing of the main protagonist, Hisao, is good and believable for the majority of the game, but sometimes, it frustrated me. Especially in Emi's route. But other than that, it was great. The best pieces of the writing were unsurprisingly at the ends of each route. I particularly enjoyed Rin's and Shizune's routes. I found the message they had the most emotionally hitting for me. Part of the reason may be the fact that they were the first and last routes I've played, respectively. However, I still think that their progression and development were the best. At the end of the day however, I have enjoyed all of them.

Shizune 9/10:
What I liked about Shizune's route is, ironically, the fact is that it isn't just about her. It isn't just about romance either, but you also get to see the mutual friendship between Hisao, Misha and Shizune, which is as important as it is charming. There was a bit of that growth and friendship in other routes, but here it felt like an integral part. Compared to some other routes, I felt like you really interacted with a much bigger repertoire of characters, which was a nice change of pace. I like that it felt more slow-burn, but still with stakes. Apparently many people consider it dragging, but I didn't have that problem. Nor did I feel like it needed more drama. I personally found her to be an interesting character to observe and interact with, but others' mileage may vary. I do somewhat understand some disdain she gets based on her introduction, which does make her look inconsiderate. But even though the story, I admit, can feel more mundane than others', I still see it as a route that covers much more than just romance, with multiple characters with a satisfying development and depth, including even backstory for others. Not for everyone, but I found it great.

Hanako 6/10:
I mean, I think I do relate to and understand Hanako. That being said, I found her route to be quite frustrating. In a way, most likely because of this exact reason. I don't think I find dealing with a person who represents my most disliked qualities to be that charming. It's just exhausting. At the same time, I do recognize what she needs, but it seemed the protagonist does not, which just annoys me in this case. I just couldn't bring myself to care for her that much. Nobody will love them all, and this is such a case. However, I do actually really respect the message the route is trying to say.

Rin 10/10:
I really enjoyed this one. She was the first route I got to and maybe for that reason I may be biased. In my eyes, this one is one of those pieces of media, which is able to combine all the elements of relatability, humor, charm and sadness. Compared to Hanako, I didn't just relate to Rin, I also found her to be a deeply intriguing character. I get that some people might think she's too cryptic or too meandering. And yes, the route can feel "meandering". Be that either a positive or negative, depending on your tastes. I think Emi is also a good contrastive foil to Rin, as they are really just so different, and in my eyes works better as a side character anyway. Ultimately, it was Rin's route, which made me feel happy that I gave this game all this time and was the most emotional for me.

Emi 6/10:
The thing about Emi is that, I was never going to enjoy her to the fullest potential. I don't find her character to be relatable or funny, nor do I find her cheery, extroverted personality to be interesting or appealing. I mean, I really enjoyed how Misha's cheery personality was used in Shizune's route, but here I just couldn't bring myself to care for Emi. I think I get why others like her so much, since the message isn't bad at all, but it just didn't hit emotionally. And Hisao? His writing in this route felt really dense regarding a certain topic. I mean, I get he is a teenager and that he's his own character, but this was just frustrating.

Lily 7/10:
This one is fine. Lily is nice and likable, but I just miss something that would make me feel like I need to learn about her. I'm not sure how to describe it, other than good. I know the time span of this route is longer than Hanako's, but it is interesting, and kind of funny, to see Hanako get more character development than in her own route, but it did kind of make sense, so I think it was sweet to see that. My problem was that Lily as a person just felt too good, too nice, too calm and collected to be somewhat interesting. I know, I know, not everything has to be filled with conflicts and drama, sometimes the simple pleasure of warmth and comfort is nice, but this didn't work for me here. Especially the ending was just a bit too much melodramatic and saccharine for me. I mean, if I were to be mean, I would say that it feels like it was ripped from some B-tier romantic movie or soap-opera. I mean, a desperate run to the airport to confess your love to your girlfriend before she leaves the country for good isn't exactly the most subtle or unique way to approach this. Does that not sound fitting of such a description? Am I too mean? Now, it is not that bad in the context I think, but it still feels rooted in clichés. Lily's good, but not for me.

Overall rating: 80%

Playtime: 50h 43m

Played on PC.