REVIEW: Intruder on the bridge on PC (Steam)

Review by GamingCouchPotato.co.uk

Intruder on the bridge is an adult, visual novel, but it does go a bit further than the usual visual novel in that it actually has a few mini games, the main one of interest being a Galaga like minigame.

Let's start with the story.

"Intruder on the Bridge tells the story of Captain Dyce, a Galactic Union officer in command of the largest spaceship ever built: the Ventura. He will have to face a mysterious conspiracy that caused his brother's death. Unfortunately, all leaders of the Union seem to be involved in the conspiracy. "

As with all visual novels, there will be a lot of reading and watching, so the story often needs to be very good to keep your attention, the advantage that adult visual novels have, is that they are adult in nature, so you will have nudity and sex scenes, and that adds an element of interest, since you will want to unlock all the scenes you can.

Now the game is not just about sex, in fact that is not even the main interest of the main character. So if you think you will just start up the game and see "action" straight away, you will be disappointed, you need to play through the story to get to the good bits!

You play as Captain Dyce, his twin brother has been killed, and you take his place, to try and solve the murder, you will need to talk to all the crew of The Ventura as well as cover up the fact you have switched places with your deceased brother. Along the way you will be faced with choices to make, different questions to ask, each in themselves will affect the story moving forward, this instantly gives the game that all important replayability factor. Especially if you want to unlock all the animations and scenes.

The game as a whole is very "Star Trek" like, the look of the aliens, the characters, the machinery, the space ship's interior. You can tell that there is a lot of inspiration from Star Trek from almost the first moment you start playing. You could argue that Captain Dyce even looks a bit like William Riker! As well as having his interest in the ladies!

There are a few minigames, the previously mentioned Galaga like shoot-em-up, this comes into play when your ship encounters an enemy, the mini game loads up, and you control the ship with your mouse, while shooting at waves of enemies, and eventually a boss. There are various weapon upgrades to collect as well as special weapons that last for a short period of time, rockets, lasers etc. You can of course skip the mini game, but where is the fun in that. Complete the level and you go back to the main game and the story continues. There is also a mini game which is literally a first person shooter, run around an alien planet, kill the aliens, rescue some crew. 

There is also a very simple combat mini game, whereby you are face to face with someone, and have to choose basic moves to fight with, this mini game is not the best, and you will get through it very quickly.

The game boasts 3000 HD images, that really are incredibly rendered, full HD, and very impressive. There are also 50 separate animations, these are mainly part of the story, but also include various scenes that are adult in nature.

I did read some complaints about the dialog from people saying the translations were poor. And as far as I can figure out, the developers "Space Samurai Studio" are Italian, however I thought the dialog although far from perfect, was fine, and nothing seemed particularly off for me. If you are playing an adult visual novel, and you are moaning about the grammar used, then you really are taking life too seriously.

The Good

The rendered images and animations are of a very high quality, everything looks incredible. The story is decent, and the mini game is a lot of fun.

The Bad

There is no voice acting as such, other than a few groans, so everything needs to be read, the sounds in general across the game are quite poor, and although I understand the reasons for not having voice acting, (Keeps the costs down), it can make a big difference in a game of this nature.

Overall

If adult visual novels are your thing, then I honestly don't think you can go far wrong with this game, the story is decent, the graphics, animations etc all look great, perhaps a little expensive at just under £12, but I am sure there will be a sale at some point.

I score Intruder on the bridge a solid 7.5/10 with the total understanding of the context and genre that this game sits in.

Out now on Steam (Over 18s only please)

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1700550

REVIEW: Pretty Girls Four Kings Solitaire on PC (Steam)

Review by GamingCouchPotato.co.uk Staff

I never thought I would be reviewing a Solitaire game, but here we are.

I recently reviewed another "Pretty Girls" release called Speed which you can see here, I gave that game a strong 9/10. Well, the good people at Zoo Corporation have asked me to take a look at their newest "Pretty Girls" release, this time it is Solitaire. Yes Solitaire, that game everyone gets free with their PC running Windows. So, what is different about this game that sets it apart from the Windows version?

Well, it is the "Pretty Girls" of course. But that aside the gameplay still needs to work for the game to be good.

There are a few different versions of Solitaire going around, slightly different rules. Since this game is from Japan, the rules are a little different to what I was familiar with, but in many ways, this is a superior version.

They also use more clear terms for the various parts of the game, in the classic version you have "Stock, Waste, Tableau and Foundation", in this you have "Deck, Hand, Field and Table". Much easier to understand if you are a newbie to this game.

The main difference I can see is that in the 4 Foundation lines or Table lines of cards that you need to complete to finish the game, is that each line has to be completed differently.

In the classic game, you start with the Ace, and have to follow the order of the cards all the way to King. In this version that is only the case with one line. The others start with a 2, a 3 and a 4. And of those, each card has to be followed not by the direct next card in order, but in one line a gap of two, the next a gap of 3 and the last a gap of 4. This photo should help you understand what I mean.

You still have to end on a King, but getting there now needs a bit more thought. 

The cards you place in the field, can then only be moved to the table, unlike classic rules you can't move field cards around. So, when taking cards from the hand, it now becomes all the more important, where you place them on the field, because you may inadvertently block yourself in a future move.

I know this sounds confusing, but when you get the hang of it, this really does make this a superior game.

Throw in leader boards, with the fastest to complete at the top. Differing difficulty settings, which work as the harder the setting, the less space you can use in the field, and you suddenly have a really challenging game.

There are limited shuffles allowed for when the deck has been emptied, and a couple of cheat moves allowed, to take a card from any position in the field and automatically place on the table, all depending on the difficulty settings. Your usual achievements can be gained too, giving you something to aim for.

The beautifully drawn "Pretty Girls" can all be positioned with different backgrounds once you have unlocked them, great for creating wallpaper images for your PC. There is no nudity, just busty Japanese style girls to amuse you. Plus, the classic Japanese voices which always make me chuckle. 

The Good

This is the best version of a Solitaire game that I have ever played. The bells and whistles of the Pretty Girls are fine, but the game itself is well designed, and once I got use to the rules which were a little different to what I was used to, I am happy to say this is a superior rule set.

The Bad

There is a menu regarding the rules, which I found a little confusing, perhaps could have been explained a little better, but I think some of it was due to me being convinced I already knew how to play, and not really noticing that the game literally tells you what card you need "Next" and I didn't notice it.

Overall

Zoo Corporation have done it again, they have taken a simple card game and made it better. 

I score Pretty Girls Four Kings Solitaire on PC a super strong 8/10

Released 18^th March on Steam at

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1910020/Pretty_Girls_Four_Kings_Solitaire/

REVIEW: Dyna Bomb on Nintendo Switch

Review by Jon Donnis

Dyna Bomb is an arcade style linear platformer, run or fly (using your jetpack, that conveniently has unlimited fuel) around a level, collect diamonds, bombs and a key, then exit the level. Do this before the time runs out, and avoiding enemies. There are 8 worlds with 8 levels in each world. So, plenty of levels to complete. Throw in portals to move around a level too, and you have a decent little arcade platformer.

Your character will start a level with 3 bombs that he or she can throw at enemies, you can collect more as well, but use your bombs carefully as they are strictly limited. And if you touch an enemy, level over. 

Dyna Bomb plays as a true arcade game, pick up and play, the game is not about exploration, it is purely about completing the goals, and getting to the exit as soon as you can without dying. And for an arcade game, isn't that what you expect?

The Good

Bright colourful graphics. Cool music. Easy to play. Plenty of levels.

The Bad

It is sometimes hard to see enemies due to the way the screen scrolls, and there is no way to manually look around a level. 

Overall

As simple arcade games go, Dyna Bomb hits all the targets you would want, is it perfect? no, there are a few things that are frustrating, like as I mentioned above, not being able to see things as the screen scrolls, the hit mechanics when you come in contact with an enemy are very harsh. And it could be argued that the developers should have given more options, to play without time limits, to have the jet pack with limited fuel and so on. However, the game is pushed as an arcade game, it is a game you will pick up, play for 10 minutes, put down. And then the next day pick it up, play and so on. It can be challenging at times, there are plenty of levels and despite the problems, I do think that Dyna Bomb is a good addition to your Switch Library.

Review by Jon Donnis

Out Now on Nintendo Switch

https://www.nintendo.co.uk/Games/Nintendo-Switch-download-software/Dyna-Bomb-1565440.html

REVIEW: Demetrios The Big Cynical Adventure REPLASTERED for PS5

Synopsis:
Demetrios is a quirky adventure game packed with tons of humour!

Bjorn Thonen, a slob of an antique dealer living in Paris, is robbed one night after coming home drunk. Forced to conduct his own investigation with the help of his neighbour Sandra, he ends up involved in a murky, mysterious affair. Will these unlikely heroes be able to rise up and discover ancient secrets?

Review: By Jon Donnis
Originally released on Steam, PS Vita, Xbox One, now the game gets a "REPLASTERED" 4K release on PS5.

 

Demetrios is a self proclaimed "Quirky" adventure game created by Fabrice Breton, and one look at the credits and you realise that Fabrice pretty much made the entire game himself, which is really impressive in this day and age. Well now the game is back once again on PS5 in stunning 4K, and I got my hands on it a week before release, because, you know, I am special. As a man in my early 40s, this is the kind of point and click adventure game I grew up on, back in the days of the Atari ST and Amiga. Where as kids of this generation will always prefer the instant gratification of blowing someones head off, I much prefer a little bit of work in a game before I get such gratification, well that or making my character put his fingers in an electrical outlet.

Unlike many other games, dying in this game is actually something you want to do every so often, as collecting the "game over" screens is very much part of the game, as is collecting cookies. Starting to sound quirky enough for you yet?

When you first start the game you get to choose your level of "toilet humour", of course I chose the highest setting. Although the game does have a fair amount of toilet humour, it also has quite a decent story, and although the game won't take you very long to complete, (8-12 Hours) there is an instant urge to play it again to see if you can find all the hidden cookies (3 hidden in every different screen/location) as well as find out all the different ways you can die. But that is only one part of the game, at the heart of it you are trying to solve a crime.

Bjorn is the main character you control, and it is him who has been robbed, he teams up with his neighbour Sandra, and they end up travelling to various locations looking for clues, and seemingly Bjorn gets into more trouble the more he investigates.

You will examine the screen and click on various items to learn more, you have an inventory whereby you can use and combine items you have collected to hopefully solve a puzzle. There are countless people to talk to, mini games to play, and more. So if you want to get through this game quick you can just quickly click through conversations, and get to the next puzzle, but by doing that you are really missing the hard work put in. This is a funny game, if you rush through it, then you are wasting the experience. And if you get stuck, then you can eat a cookie and you get a hint, bit like the coin system in the Professor Layton games.

And once you do finish the game, there is a nice little "extras" link on the main page, whereby you can unlock songs from the game, as well as exclusive artwork.

I understand this game wont be for everyone, but very few games ever fill that requirement. This is a classic point and click adventure game, an "old school" type game, that me and my friends loved in the late 80's/early 90's. If you are old enough to remember those games and you like the odd vomit joke, then you will love this game. Maybe this game wont appeal to younger gamers, but to people my age I think it is perfectly placed.

I give this game a solid 8/10

I will be going back and trying to find all the cookies and game over screens. In fact I am going to do that right now!

Available now for $9.99 on PS5 (or $1.99 for PS4/Vita version owners)

£7.99 for UK PS5 Owners.

https://store.playstation.com/en-gb/product/EP1762-PPSA06666_00-DEMETRIOSPS50000

You can also purchase other versions of the games from Amazon using the following links.
PC/Mac - Amazon UK
PS Vita - Amazon US

PREVIEW: Batora: Lost Haven on PC (Steam)

By Jon Donnis

I was asked to take a look at Batora: Lost Haven on PC (Steam), although not officially released, the version I played is something of a prologue, or demo.

"In Batora: Lost Haven, players will take on the role of Avril – an unlikely young hero and the last hope of a dying Earth, as she travels between planets, meets an eclectic cast of characters, and explores a range of colourful and diverse sci-fi fantasy environments. Along the way, players will be faced with an array of important decisions, the consequences of which can be far-reaching and shape Avril's personality for the rest of the game. For Avril to survive, players will have to fight, think on their feet, and master the 'Nature Switch' ability to balance their mental and physical fortitude while solving unique environmental puzzles."

Batora is an isometric type view, sci fi adventure game. Twin stick shooter meets hack and slash type gameplay.

The main gimmick of the game seems to be the ability to switch from physical (Sun powered) to mental (Moon powered) characteristics which in turn affects the way you play, from which enemies you can attack, to how you attack them. Physical (glows orange, power of the Sun) has you slashing at enemies with a weapon, and mental (glows purple, power of the Moon) as shooting from further away.

The enemies are also powered by the Sun and Moon, so you need to choose which state to attack them under, as each one will affect attacks depending on the state of the enemy.

You have two health bars, one for each state, and regardless of which state you are in, you can take damage to both, and if one goes to nil, you die.

But this can also affect how you might solve a puzzle or as the game calls them "environmental challenges". Sorry guys, its a puzzle.

The landscapes are very colourful, everything looks great. Which fits well with your character Avril, who has had bestowed upon her powers by two powerful aliens. She will play as their champion and save everyone.

As it is right now, the game has a long way to go. There are moments of greatness, but also moments of failure. No release date yet, so I assume they are seeing how people find the game, listen to their complaints and hopefully improve things.

The Good

Bright and colourful game, and fun to play if completely unoriginal in it's presentation, (outside of the switch between Sun and Moon mode)

The Bad

Quite a few bugs present in the version I played, but hopefully these will be fixed.

Some of the dialog is tiresome.

Overall

The game has potential, but there is a long way to go. I hope they do not release an unfinished version of this, as people might be disappointed.