VIDEO GAME: Minit (2018)

by benmweilertNo Comments
MinitYear: 2018Rating: ETime Played: 3+ hours I love it when simple games take common aspects of gaming and explore them as a key gameplay mechanic. For most games, a timer doesn’t necessarily force me to play in a certain way. Sure, I might not spend a ton of time exploring if I know there’s a time limit to get through the level. But what if you’re only given one minute before your character dies? How much can you do in that time? That’s the premise behind Minit. With a gameplay loop that resets every minute, you start to realize just how much you can do in 60 seconds. The strategy in a game like Minit is finding ways to move faster or using the knowledge you gained in one life to get through a section in less time. Like a time loop (or micro-roguelike). Of course, this limitation also makes exploration difficult when you get stuck. If you only have a minute...
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VIDEO GAME: Figment (2017)

by benmweilertNo Comments
FigmentYear: 2017Rating: E10+Time Played: ~5 hours With a name like Figment, I knew I was stepping into a world filled with imaginative elements. Exploring the mind in an action-based puzzle platformer was definitely the safe choice genre-wise and allowed for plenty of creative worlds to visit. I went into this game thinking it was just going to be a pun-filled series of levels that drew heavily from Inside Out (2015). However, the twist near the end elevated this game to something deeper and darker than I expected. This was despite some of its other, more annoying flaws. Visually, Figment looks great. Despite how everything moves, it doesn't quite have that "Flash game" feel because all the art is so well done. Of course, it also makes navigating around the world a little challenging at times because it's not clear if there are places where the character can go or not. Game-play wise, Figment isn't too difficult. The combat is simple, but just...
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VIDEO GAME: Golden Sun (2001)

by benmweilertNo Comments
Golden Sun Year: 2001 Rating: E Time Played: ~22 hours After the initial rise in popularity of Role-Playing Games (RPGs) in the 1990s, there was a bit of a lull in the genre. Square had established itself with hits like the Final Fantasy series and Chrono Trigger, and Game Freak had slightly reinvented the genre with Pokémon. With some of the “golden era” games from this genre coming from the Super Nintendo, it made sense to see the next notable RPG come in the form of Golden Sun on the similarly powerful Game Boy Advance. Using some tropes of the genre, Golden Sun felt original in its combat and class structure. The introduction of the Djinn mechanic made Golden Sun a blast to play. As pseudo-onetime spells, the Djinn were fun to find in the Overworld and powerful to use in battle. I wasn’t necessarily a fan of how they’d randomly seem to change the class of the characters. The elemental mixtures sometimes made it...
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