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iloveabunchofgames · 1 year

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Week In Review - 04/23/23

#JakeReviewsItch Week In Review Archives

This week's reviews:

🧡🧡🧡🧡🤍 Antecrypt⚡ 🧡🧡🤍🤍🤍 Antistatic 🧡🧡🤍🤍🤍 The Aquatic Adventure of the Last Human 🧡🧡🧡🤍🤍 Arachnopunk 🧡🧡🧡🤍🤍 Arcade Spirits 🧡🧡🧡🤍🤍 The Arcade Tower 🧡🤍🤍🤍🤍 The Archives of Evil Dr BA 🧡🧡🤍🤍🤍 ARGH-P-G 🧡🧡🧡🤍🤍 Arigatou, Ningen-san! 🧡🧡🤍🤍🤍 Arlo The Rabbit

Thanks to my unexpected hiatus, this is more like a Week-and-a-Half In Review. What does that mean for this column? It means there are 10 nominees for Game of the Week, but beyond that, it's going to be business as usual. Oh, actually there's one other difference today. Usually, I write both a Week In Review and a new review on Sundays. It's a lot of writing! I'm skipping the review today, just to see how that feels. Later in this post, I'll share my thoughts on former Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aimé's business memoir. A few weeks ago, I came across a 2021 presentation by Meghna Jayanth that raises fascinating questions about the default structures and values in game design.

Game of the Week

This crop of games contains so many that were almost onto something, but there's no question which one was best.

Antecrypt⚡ is a twin-stick shooter where movement stick works exactly the way you'd expect and the aiming stick does not. It drifts here and there, totally at random, landing in the right place about as often as a stopped clock. It's a weird, maddening hook, made all the more frustrating by a weapon that burns through its batteries quickly when fired, which can only be recharged by standing in the range of the aiming reticle. It's a skill-based game with the compellingly random highs and lows of a slot machine, all wrapped in a cool, confident package. Great visual design, great enemy design, great level design, great progression system—if you haven't already read the review or given Antecrypt⚡ a try for yourself, get on that. Special mention also goes to clever metroidvania Arachnopunk, which is an admirable effort, even if it's not so hot in execution. Arigatou, Ningen-san! is nothing revolutionary, but parents of toddlers should check out this interactive picture book.

Disrupting the Game by Reggie Fils-Aimè

The local library finally got a copy of my old boss' book.

Reggie leveraged key differentials to push messaging in new markets. This disruptive way of thinking, and his decisive execution, drove sales in categories that were not previously thought of as receptive to high-margin product. Disrupting the Game is not a tell-all from a video game insider. It's a book by a business executive, aimed at those who wish to follow a similar path. Reggie (he often insists on being addressed by his first name) is a man with an incredible breadth of experience, from hocking Crisco to nearly making Shigeru Miyamoto cry by insisting that Wii Sports be included at no additional cost with every Wii in North America. He's heavy on business buzzwords, which I generally find off-putting, yet there's no denying that the man is an efficient communicator. The major events of his professional life make for a breezy read. That's my biggest complaint, actually. The book is a bit too general and optimistic. I'm still not sure Reggie understands what Nintendo had with Wii U or what went wrong. He spells out the lessons aspiring business leaders should take away from each of his anecdotes, but even in the stories where he admits fault, he seems to come out ahead. I want the lessons that come from abject mistakes. I want details. But Reggie is a slick businessman, and big business keeps details close to the chest. Reading this book won't teach you anything about a typical day in the office for NOA's president. Instead, he focuses on events that have already been covered extensively, like E3 presentations, and console launches. That, and his relationship with the late Satoru Iwata. This is the stuff that makes Disrupting the Game worth reading, whether you care about business or not. It feels like the reason the book was written. While Reggie obviously cares very much about passing on his professional wisdom to the next generation, he needs to preserve memories of his late friend and colleague. I'm glad he has. If you just know the Regginator as the funny "my body is ready" meme guy, I'm not sure you'll get much out of his book. If, like me, you were closely following Nintendo news throughout Reggie's reign (and occasionally seeing him in the hallways at work), you already have a good sense of how he reshaped the company. And if you're really like me, you'll enjoy taking another condensed trip from the days of Bigfoot Pizza to the launch of Nintendo Switch. If you've already read the outstanding Ask Iwata and still miss that lovely man, Disrupting the Game is a must. I just hope the next book approaches all its subjects with the specificity and range of emotions afforded Iwata-san. There's a brief story in the epilogue about teetotaler Shigeru Miyamoto joining Reggie at a New York bar before losing his mind over the establishment's collection of pipes. It so wonderfully captures the magic of the man's curiosity that I now want Reggie to drop whatever he's doing and write Miyamoto's biography. I've always thought he was too shy to allow anyone to write such a book, but if there's anyone who could wear him down, it's Reggie.

Meghna Jayanth: White Protagonism and Imperial Pleasures in Game Design

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I'm going to skip the recap and just let Meghna Jayanth speak for herself, either through the above video or the written word. I am not opposed to "imperial pleasures" in games. I regularly commit atrocities in games, and I enjoy it. Conquering digital worlds and amassing absurd in-game wealth isn't hurting anyone, and it's not hard to understand why it feels rewarding. A good game designer, however, does not say, "Let's keep doing the same stuff we've liked in other games." A good game designer questions everything. What's been done before? Why was it done that way? What are the alternatives? Since listening to Jayanth's speech, I can't stop noticing imperialist measures of success in everything I play. It doesn't dampen my enjoyment. I'm just noticing. Noticing and questioning.

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Beyond Blue is one of this week's free Epic Games Store games. It's an Endless Ocean-style scuba game, produced as a tie-in with nature documentary series Planet Earth: Blue Planet II. I went for a few dives this weekend and immediately found it weird that my goal was to head beneath the waves and get everything. In fairness, you're not actually removing anything from the ocean. You're vaguely "scanning" animals, but the way it's presented is so aggressively targeting the need to tick every box and earn every unlockable that the splendor of our world and the save-the-whales message of the narrative are quickly lost to find everything, mark everything, own everything, and master the one place on our planet not yet 100% mastered by man. Um, in the name of understanding and conservation, of course.

#JakeReviewsItch is a series of daily game reviews. You can learn more here. You can also browse past reviews…

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studentofetherium · 1 year

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Are there any fictional characters who you think would get excited after misreading that Chumbawumba are an arachnopunk band and would any of them would still be down for anarchopunk music?

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communist-ojou-sama · 5 years

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arachnopunk replied to your post: crunchyroll award nominee selection is Bad n the...

The trans zombie girl was in the best anime girl category. So given the state of the discourse it could have been a lot worse imo

this is fair but imo that’s one of the Few upsides

#arachnopunk

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pumpkin-bread · 5 years

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Hello, for the song recommendation: Crepuscule by Vulta?

Has a late 80s pixel side-scroller game vibe, which is one of my more secret aesthetics. Sounds like it’d be great to draw to.

#little intense for me atm but def something to listen to again later #arachnopunk

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basiliskdragon · 5 years

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arachnopunk replied to your post: “i’m gonna check out original she-ra, cause i...

That was the style of the time I think. The original Transformers has weird season lengths as well.

probably so! i just think it’s funny

i had no idea what i was getting into, but i sure am there now

#arachnopunk #spidey

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catsnuggler · 2 years

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@arachnopunk might be a few days til I answer, because there's a lot of music I like but haven't listened to in a while, and I'm sure one of those songs more or less represents my aesthetic...but my aesthetic also varies according to my mood. 😅

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aviculor · 7 years

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arachnopunk is what i’m calling my aesthetic now, thanks markiplier

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iloveabunchofgames · 1 year

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March 2023 Game Awards

#JakeReviewsItch Game of the Month Archives

You know how this works: Every day, I review an Itch.io game, and on the first day of each month, I give prestigious awards to the previous month's games. There is no reason we need to acknowledge that I've been on hiatus for more than two weeks. We can just pretend that everything is normal. This month's award categories come courtesy of Steve Kim, whose Tweet was the first hit when I Googled, "1 like = 1 game". Thanks, Steve! He also has a long-abandoned Tumblog, which is pretty fun if you want some silly goofs about things that were happening on Giant Bomb 5+ years ago.

March's Games:

Akurra 🖤 Akuto: Showdown / Akuto: Mad World 🖤 The Alabaster Donut Farm 🖤 Alfal's Grove 🖤 Alien Life Lab 🖤 All Haze Eve 🖤 All You Can Eat 🖤 Alone With You 🖤 Alt-Frequencies 🖤 Ambidangerous 🖤 Amelie 🖤 Amethyst Hearth 🖤 An Airport Game 🖤 An American Werewolf In LA 🖤 An Outcry, prologue 🖤 Anarcute 🖤 And All Would Cry Beware! 🖤 And Yet It Moves 🖤 Angry Video Game Nerd I&II Deluxe 🖤 Animal Lover 🖤 Annwn: the Otherworld 🖤 Anodyne 🖤 Anomalies 🖤 Another Lost Phone: Laura's Story 🖤 Antecrypt⚡ 🖤 Antistatic 🖤 The Aquatic Adventure of the Last Human 🖤 Arachnopunk

1 - Very first video game. Akkura

Ah, the first of March 2023. Who could the forget the day I played the mostly decent demo of a Sokoban game?

2 - Your favorite character. The cute cute cutey l'il aminals from Anarcute

Bunnies and froggies and foxies and even platypuses! They're all cuuuuuuute, and they cheerfully work together to topple fascism!

3 - A game that is underrated. Animal Lover

I went back and forth quite a bit before settling on Animal Lover's score. It's currently the highest-rated 3/5, but maybe it should have been a low 4/5.

4 - Your guilty pleasure game. Anomalies

There were quite a few big, worthwhile games in March; games that take a lot of time and effort to review fairly. Anomalies is a procedural generation toy that turns a bunch of numbers into a random mess of polygons. It took very little time and effort to review, and I feel guilty about how much pleasure I got from that.

5 - Game character you feel you are most like (or wish you were). The Angry Video Game Nerd from Angry Video Game Nerd I&II Deluxe

The character I wish I were? No. The character I feel most like? He chooses to play bad games and complains about it on the Internet. Hello.

6 - Most annoying character. Right Stick from Ambidangerous

Trying to play both characters in a two-player co-op game on one controller? "Annoying" is putting it mildly.

7 - Favorite game couple. A man and his diner from All You Can Eat

In a month with a number of solid dating sims, none touched me quite as much as the story of a man who'd spent ten years living in a diner to get the most out of an all-you-can-eat coupon. It's a love story for the ages.

8 - Best soundtrack. Anarcute

Its infectiously poppy sound fits the look and feel of the game perfectly, but I'm listening to it now, removed from the game, and this is working, too. It's music that's suitable for writing, dancing, or smashing the state. I must remember to bump these tunes in my headphones next time I go Rollerblading.

9 - Saddest game scene. Putting it together in Another Lost Phone: Laura's Story

A moment that will come to different players at different times, so I won't go into any more detail. I'm still feeling it, weeks later.

10 - Best gameplay. Angry Video Game Nerd I&II Deluxe

Originality is great. You know what else is great? Mega Man. Castlevania. Contra. If you're going to steal, steal from the best. AVGN does just that, and it's a blast to play.

11 - Gaming system of choice. Steam

In mid-March, I wrote about my beef with Steam. Here's the link, though you can safely skip it. I don't believe I made my point very well at all. In a nutshell, I think Valve's monopoly over computer games stinks. For all its frustrating issues, though, Steam's controller support is an invaluable tool.

12 - A game everyone should play. All You Can Eat

All You Can Eat is what indie games are all about. It takes one idea—What if an adventure game were presented as a newspaper comic strip?—and turns it into a funny little thing that takes, like, half an hour to complete. Short, simple, and totally ingenious.

13 - A game you've played more than five times. Alien Life Lab

I've played through Alien Life Lab twice, which is close to five times.

14 - Current (or most recent) gaming wallpaper. Anarcute

I used care about the background on my computer, but some time in the last decade, Windows gave me the default scuba diver image, and then I changed it to an image of my choosing, and then it reverted to scuba again, and after two or three times, I just gave up.

I'm pretty sure my last desktop wallpaper was a picture of Synergy, the hologram computer that allowed Jerrica Benton to become Jem. What would everyone think if I gave up on writing about video games and turned this into a full-time Jem fan site? Anyway, Anarcute is cute. I don't think I have to explain this.

15 - Post a screenshot from the game you're playing right now. Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl

"Has anyone ever successfully copied Super Smash Bros.?" I asked in my Antistatic review. Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl answers that question: Yeah. I guess?

16 - Game with the best cut scenes. Alone With You

You'll see them 10,000 times, each, and get sick of them long before that, but there's no denying that this game's a looker.

17 - Favorite antagonist. Conservative politics and corporate overreach from Alt-Frequencies

If only such powers were confined to sci-fi video games.

18 - Favorite protagonist. Laura from Another Lost Phone: Laura's Story

The entire game is built around empathy for a stranger who's lost her phone, and it succeeds. I don't love Laura. I don't hate Laura. I don't want to be Laura. I understand Laura, and that is powerful.

19 - Picture of a game setting you wish you lived in. The level based on the Crossfire commercial from Angry Video Game Nerd I&II Deluxe

You'll get caught up in it!

20 - Favorite genre. Let's treat this as an excuse to talk about how much interactive fiction I played in March

Another Lost Phone: Laura's Story and Alt-Frequencies easily top the list, both of which are discussed elsewhere in these awards. If you haven't gotten the message yet, allow me to be direct: Play them. Now. Animal Lover is sweet, funny, and well-written. It's not at all what I expected from a dating sim about people who have been cursed to spend eternity as animals, only returning to human form when a clumsy, anxious young woman gives them a kiss. Amelie is a bit shallow and underdeveloped. The plot is unoriginal, it seems visually incomplete, and calling this fiction "interactive" stretches that word's definition to its limit. In spite of all that, I actually had an okay time with it. Amethyst Hearth is a cheesy Christmas rom-com turned visual novel by way of RPG Maker, and also the love interest is a robot. It's such a bizarre novelty that I couldn't help but give it a passing score. My review of An Outcry, prelude was so negative the game got pulled from Itch.io, and yet, it's stuck in my mind more than most of this month's games. "Kekekaykaykikikoo" and "they got a visit of terrific birdness" are powerful phrases. And finally, there's Arcade Spirits, a dating sim that takes place in an alternate-near-future video game arcade. I was severely messed up by a bad antidepressant prescription toward the end of the month. Is that the reason I didn't like this game? I don't think so. I could revisit it and update my review with new, sober opinions, but that period was a miserable experience, and I'd rather leave it in the past.

21 - Game with the best story. Another Lost Phone: Laura's Story

These categories are a little heavy on story, no?

22 - A game sequel which disappointed you. Akuto: Showdown

It's a bummer that it stripped features from Akuto: Mad World. It's cool that it focused on one mode and made it better. The best part is that you get both games for the price of one on Itch.

23 - Game you think had the best graphics or art style. Anarcute

No, but really, where is the merch? These characters need to be toys. And key chains. And erasers. They need to be printed on shirts and folders and... Just put them on everything. Who do I need to call to set up a meeting with Sanrio?

24 - Favorite classic game. Angry Video Game Nerd I&II Deluxe

AVGN contains remasters of two games that are, themselves, homages to classic games.

25 - A game you plan on playing. There Swings a Skull

And if that goes well, I might have a date with An Outcry. Oh, plus the hundreds (thousands?) of games that are already sitting in my Itch library.

26 - Best voice acting. Alt-Frequencies

Alt-Frequencies is played by switching between radio stations, recording and playing back snippets of speech. It wouldn't work without quality acting. I don't get the impression this game had the budget for top-tier vocal talent, which makes its accomplishments even more impressive.

27 - Most epic scene ever. Angry Video Game Nerd I&II Deluxe

28 - Favorite game developer. Accidental Queens

I will follow the developers of A Normal Lost Phone, Another Lost Phone: Laura's Story, and Alt-Frequencies wherever they want to take me. The Lost Phone games follow the same format, telling worthy stories in a lightly interactive but effectively non-linear format. Then Alt-Frequencies comes along, trading the phone interface for a time-looping, call-in radio sim, and that's brilliant, too. I can't wait to see this team continue to stretch and grow.

29 - A game you thought you wouldn't like, but ended up loving. Alien Life Lab

It's so janky. It seems bad. Maybe it is bad. I've played through the whole thing twice and loved it both times. I don't understand.

30 - Your favorite game of all time. Donkey Kong

This has nothing to do with the Itch games I reviewed in March. I've just always loved playing Donkey Kong on a proper arcade cabinet.

Thirty categories, and I didn't find a single place to mention Antecrypt⚡. Let that be my parting thought. Antecrypt⚡: It's worthy of mention.

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iloveabunchofgames · 1 year

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#JakeReviewsItch by Rating

Every 3/5 review for #JakeReviewsItch, roughly sorted from best to worst. I'm not overthinking that, and you shouldn't, either. You can also sort by name or genre.

See this month's ranking, or check out other reviews by score: 1/5 2/5 3/5 4/5 5/5

🧡🧡🧡🤍🤍

Animal Lover A Sketchbook About Her Sun 9 Till Void Arigatou, Ningen-san! A Forgetful Loop A Light Long Gone A Mortician’s Tale A Planet of Mine Akurra Arachnopunk And All Would Cry Beware! Alfal’s Grove A Wish Upon a Star 2064: Read Only Memories Amethyst Hearth 2 9 0 1 / / FREELANCER Amelie

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iloveabunchofgames · 1 year

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#JakeReviewsItch by Genre

Every review from #JakeReviewsItch, sorted by genre and arranged alphabetically. Genres provided by developers/publishers on Itch.io. A lot of developers/publishers seem very confused about what kind of game they've made. You can also sort by name or rating.

[4/25: Phew! I've cleaned up the broken links and the clutter on the name and rating pages. Now to get genre sorting back in shape. Should be done by the end of the week.] Genres on this page, alphabetically: Action / Adventure / Card Game / Educational / Fighting / Interactive Fiction / Platformer / Puzzle / Rhythm

See Page 2 for: Role Playing / Shooter / Simulation / Strategy / Visual Novel / N/A (No genre tag)

Action

// Down to Earth // 10 Flights of Ballooning 10s A Lullaby of Colors Aerannis Akuto: Showdown / Akuto: Mad World Alfal's Grove Alien Life Lab Ambidangerous An American Werewolf In LA Anarcute Angry Video Game Nerd I&II Deluxe Antecrypt⚡ Antistatic The Aquatic Adventure of the Last Human

Adventure

// Down to Earth // 10mg: Sealed Estate 10mg: SNAAAK 1,000 Heads Among the Trees 2064: Read Only Memories 2000:1: A Space Felony A Magical Tale: Cavern Crawler A Normal Lost Phone A Short Hike Adventure for a Bit Adventures of a Radish After the first station Akurra Alien Life Lab All Haze Eve All You Can Eat Alone With You An Airport Game Anarcute Anodyne Another Lost Phone: Laura's Story

Card Game

9 Till Void

Educational

The Archives of Evil Dr BA

Fighting

Antistatic

Interactive Fiction

12 Labors a new life. A Normal Lost Phone A Sketchbook About Her Sun Adventure for a Bit The Alabaster Donut Farm Alt-Frequencies An Outcry, prologue

Platformer

8 Bit Space (ZX Spectrum Inspired Platformer) 1365 A Hole New World A Short Hike Abomination Tower Above: The Fallen Adventures of a Radish The Adventures of Elena Temple: Definitive Edition Air Dasher And Yet It Moves Antistatic Arachnopunk

Puzzle

A Day In the Woods A Forgetful Loop A Game of Changes A Good Snowman Is Hard to Build A Kishoutenketsu in the countryside A Normal Lost Phone A Snake's Tale A Wish Upon a Star About Love, Hate & the other ones adjacency Affinity Akurra Alt-Frequencies An Airport Game The Archives of Evil Dr BA

Rhythm

A Dance of Fire and Ice

#JakeReviewsItch #Itch.io #computer games #video games #reviews

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