Chasm

The objective of this game is to lead Joe, a strange purple-duck-thing, through the cliffs of the Chasm to fix the water system leading to Chasmton, a town which relies on this water from deep inside the rocks to grow their plants and give them electricity.

You'll defnitely love this game if puzzle games are your thing. I hardly believe I finished this (It took me about an hour to complete), or even took the time to. It's very difficult an confusing, but that's how puzzle games should be.

The graphics/animation are fine, though the 'size' of Joe (i.e. how far away from the screen he is) is off at times. Sometimes he's huge when he's far from the screen, and sometimes he's small when right up to the screen. Sometimes the game will glitch slightly and he'll go from big to small within a millisecond, but it's very rare.

I don't mind that the game is Point-and-click, since the puzzling gameplay makes up for it.

The soundtrack really fits the game. It's not bothersome at all, and plays at the right moments. I especially like when the harmonica slowly builds up to more intense as you climb the water pipes, which represents how close you are to getting washed out of the system.

(Yes. You have to climb that. While water runs down the pipes every five seconds or so. And no, I don't mean that slide thing. That's how you get down.)

I'd say this is an excellent game for any puzzle gamer. The flaws are minimal and not noticeable if you don't pay attention and look for them, and Chasm can really keep someone entertained for a while.

Difficulty: 5/5

Gameplay: 4/5

Sound Effects: 5/5

Graphics/Animation: 3/5

Storyline: 4/5

Tork

You crash-land on a foreign world and don't know the language. The objective of the game is to learn the meanings of each symbol you find and get the help of the aliens inhabitting the planet to repair your ship and return safely home.

Again, another interesting concept, and the gameplay was a bit better than Kafkamesto. Instead of just using the mouse, you use the kayboard to move around and talk (Or the mouse for talking. Whichever you prefer).

The animation was nice and smooth, and the graphics fit the theme rather well. I was actually enjoying the graphics and animation until I found a glitch, where Tork would not move, whichever way I pointed. He was stuck.

Never the less, the game was fine. It's quite difficult finding out where to go, but luckily, the creators added an option where Tork's little green companion tells you hints, or, if those don't help, you can cheat and spoil what a word means without having to guess. It keeps the player from quitting because the game is too hard, but the story is not easy enough for someone to finish the game too quickly.

The sound effects weren't great, but not bad, either. The music (When it was there) fit the theme, and Tork/the aliens' voices sounded alien enough for me.

Overall, the game is, in my opinion, a good game. If you're looking for a challenge that isn't insanely hard, I suggest this game, since it provides both amusement and some difficulty.

Difficulty: 3/5

Sound Effects: 4/5

Gameplay: 4/5

Graphics/Animation: 3/5

Storyline: 4/5

Kafkamesto

Kafkamesto is a mystery game, where you play as a man who has no idea where he is (We know it's Kafkamesto), who he is, or what his name is. The objective of the game is to find these things out, with the help of the people around the strange city and the items that he finds in his room.

At first, the game seems interesting. The concept is creative, but it's greatly brought down by the gameplay and other elements.

The way the game is set up makes it rather boring after about 5 minutes of clicking on the screen to go into different areas, pick up items, and click on people/things that seem important. It's very repetative, and the player can get lost in the city quite easily. Another problem is that the items you hold in your suitcase disappear after using them, so if you use the wrong item, you can't get it back (Which means you'll have to restart the game often.) It's to repetative and complicated for such and interesting idea.

The sound effects are also a factor. The haunting music really fits the theme and gives the player a feeling of what the man in the game is thinking, but this is abruptly stopped as soon as you hear the babbling of the landlady outside his apartment.

The voices are very amateur-ish and make the game less dramatic than it should be.

Overall, I'd say I wouldn't play this game again after stopping a few minutes after starting.

Difficulty: 5/5

Storyline: 5/5

Gameplay: 1/5

Graphics/Animation: 2/5

Sound Effects: 2/5

Baxter's Biotech Bargain Basement

BBBB really has no storyline to it, but generally, the game is about a scientist who experiments with animal body parts and hands out specimens to the strange customers who want these creations. If you don't create the exact 'animal' they want, they'll get mad and throw the box containing the animal onto the lab floor, which suddenly mutates and crawls towards Baxter to try and 'eat' him as he continues with the other customers' orders.





I found this game rather amusing, despite how disturbing it sounds. The graphics and sound effects give the game a comedic feel, and the cartoony drawn characters and animals make it childish (But still fun to play for anyone of any age). The way Baxter walks and throws the box to the customers, and the giddy, ragdoll-like smile of the characters when they get their order makes the game amusing and entertaining, more than it already is.





Though the animation and graphics are great for the theme of the game, the gameplay does get boring after a while. It's very repetative, and after a while you start wondering if anything interesting is going to happen (That is, until a mutant appears. They're slow, but they give the player a foreboding feeling as soon as they appear, since you only have one life. And... it probably would have been more amusing if I tried the game on hard).





Overall, Baxter's Biotech Bargain Basement is very entertaining, at least for a little bit, if you have some time to kill. It's a very creative idea, and I honestly doubt the other games on the site will beat it(In my opinion).





Gameplay: 2/5


Sound Effects: 4/5


Animation/Graphics: 5/5


Storyline: There is none.

Greymond

This game was generally about a small grey creature that lives in a grey world, and is sent out into the world of colour as the 'chosen one', to return colour to his own land. The game consists of a large variety of gameplay, from racing to rock climbing to spraying butterflies with some kind of sleeping powder.





When first starting up this game, I could already tell that the game had a childish feel to it, which should be expected after reading the instructions/summary. Though obviously made for children, the voices are disturbing, and the music kind of distracts the player from the game. When you first meet the creature-thing sitting in the cloud and he starts to talk, the music suddenly gets louder, and you can hardly tell what he's saying. Plus, the music doesn't fit the game at times. During the racing portion, to save the 'yellow speck', the music is rather depressing and mello, where it probably should be something hyped up.





The animation was nicely done and the difficulty was about a level three out of five, only because the game suddenly jumped into harder levels after a certain point (in the level where you have to save the 'blue speck').





The game suddenly took a turn, though, after the purple speck, when all of a sudden the creature in the cloud comes out of a 'restroom' with a... yellow stain at the front of his poofy self.




Somehow I don't think that this is a very childish theme, even though it's unrealistic.

Overall, though, I'd say the game is alright. The gameplay is entertaining, and the kid-ish animations are bearable, as long as you keep the sound muted (The dialogue isn't really important.)

Gameplay: 4/5

Animation: 3/5

Difficulty: 3/5

Sound Effects: 1/5

Storyline: 4/5

Themes: 2/5

My Game Rating Blog

The blog I have created will consist of critcisms and ratings of specific computer games found from the site http://abc.net.au/gameon/

I wouldn't say I'm new to gaming, but I'm also not a professional. I'm a casual gamer that tends to play games that look like they could be interesting.

My preference for gaming, I think, is rather undefined. I'm more of a roleplay gamer than a problem-solving gamer, and more of an action gamer than mostly anything else.

I've been playing video games for quite some time now; at least 5 years, at the casual level. My family is a vivid gaming family, so we own many consoles, such as the PS3 (2 of them), the Wii, and a few PSPs.

My opinion of video games is that they are a great way to keep yourself entertained, but not so much so to pass a lot of time. Video games usually consist of eye strain and back problems from sitting improperly, and you could use your leisure time a bit more effectively, such as hanging out with friends or, if you want to get that thing you've been eying in the store for a while, help your family out with a couple chores to get some money. Games are amazing, but not so much so that you should make it your life.

There are SOME educational factors in video games, depending on what game you're playing. Roleplay games usually have some kind of theme or lesson that the player learns by following the characters through their journey. Puzzle games are... puzzle games. You solve something with knowledge. Not so much a lesson, really. And action games, with guns, fighting and violence? I doubt anyone would pick up a lesson from that, unless it was something like 'hitting someone will solve all your problems', but obviously that's not what action games are meant for.

Anyway, now that you know a bit about my preferences and my gaming history/thoughts, I'll get started with the reviewing.