DeVuego ES_COR

WILL JETMAN: ASTROMONKEY’S REVENGE more or less checks all the boxes of a fairly entertaining experience. The 2D pixel art is on point with a classic RGB color palate and pairs nicely with quirky arcade music to carry you through this space adventure. However, in an oversaturated genre, this doesn’t quite make the cut. Nothing about the title makes it stand out in a grand capacity that is going to encourage me to rush home through traffic to play it. It is inexpensive enough that a casual playthrough would be worth your time and money, but to expect astronomical fireworks would be remiss.

Since this game review has basically turned into a dissertation, I’ll just say this in closing: Do Not Feed the Monkeys is a game that makes you question why you play video games. It makes you wonder what those stories and those experiences mean to you. It makes you doubt what constitutes a game, and whether we should even be playing. And that is a good thing. They are meaningful questions that make us, as gamers and people, better. And if nothing else entices you, then you should at least know that the pizza delivery guy looks like a badass ninja.

The one critique I would make is the limited game controls. To begin, there is only multiplayer gameplay, and you can only play with other people by using the same laptop, not other people connected to the online server. Also, the second player controls are mostly on the number pad, which is not included on a lot of laptops. This severely reduces the number of people who can play Oh My Godheads. Some solutions to this may be including a single player version that lets you fight computer-generated enemies, or changing the controls of the second player to keys that appear on more laptops. Besides that, though, Oh My Godheads is a rollicking joy ride of fresh challenges and visually appealing design that has the potential for enormous popularity.

Sound and graphic design are merely serviceable, and the game is aware that these elements are just garnishes. The text screens and cut scenes have a unified feel, but lack any semblance of intentional design. Menu navigation and layout takes on an odd trifold format that needlessly segregates elements. Animations have a quirky liveliness, but are ultimately quite limited, which is unfortunate since you watch these miniature soldiers for hours upon a time. Numantia has the in-game girth of many turn-based giants, but fails to expand on the genre. An intriguing historical dive into desperation, Numantia delivers a strategic tour of domination or just plain survival.

The two main characters, Anton and Thomas Clerval, are fascinating foils. They are very fleshed out characters which interact with the world nicely. The events in the story are almost always exciting or shocking, if not a little convenient at some times. Most importantly, the themes of the tale are carried with reverence. In a world where the dead can be revived what separates the recently dead from those who have not fallen? In a war can you spare any combatant, even if that person is your own family? Can you trust your own allies, even if they hold different ideals then you? All of these question are explored, but like any good story, it does not force you to accept any one answer. Instead, The Frankenstein Wars uses its medium ingeniously. You make the decision and choose what the two brother’s should believe in. You may not decide some of the game’s larger plot points, but you do get to choose something far more important: the meaning of what these events mean.

I want to give kudos to Team Gotham for creating such a wonderfully stimulating, challenging and FUN first-person puzzler. It is hard to believe that it’s their first game so job well done!

Overall, we’ve found Red Goddess: Inner World very rewarding and fun and would recommend it as a BUY.