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Showing posts from January, 2022

Gunfire Reborn - PC Game Review

 Gunfire Reborn is an interesting rogue-lite FPS, where you accumulate "talents" (upgrades) and unlocks guns/characters/etc between runs. The art style is very distinctive, and the enemies are very generic after a while. The main loop is fun, and the shooting feels nice. There are a few weapon types. It is heavily compared to Borderlands, but the biggest shared elements between them are, well, elements (guns can shock/burn/corrode/etc) and the fact that guns can have extras, just like Borderlands. English is a little broken, but it is just annoying, not a problem. Overall, nice and enjoyable, but feels a little grindy.

Delver - PC Game "Review"

 Delver is a FPS dungeon crawler roguelite, in a very Minecraft style. I have played for a short while, but I didn't get it at all...

Quantum of Nightmares - Book Review

 Quantum of Nightmares, by Charles Stross, is another book in the Laundry series universe (Lovecraft horror/fantasy), as it carefully points out in the cover, but it doesn't have what used to be the main characters - which I imagine are harder to use now that Bob is super powerful. The Eater of Souls is  only mentioned once in the whole book, as a major threat the government dangles. However, as in the last book, that doesn't make it worse, just different. The gang from the last book is back (Eve, Imp, Doc, Game boy, Wendy, Deliverator, etc), and they have to undo a gigantic mess that was started by Rupert, before he disappeared in the end of the last book (it is still unknow if he actually died). I really like the big plan - feels a little silly but pretty grandiose use of the author's rules for the reality.  Overall, pretty much great.

Vampire Survivors - PC Game Review

 Vampire Survivors is a shooter like Llamatron, except that the graphics are worse than the early 90s version I used to play - and it is not a twin-stick shooter, some guns work on their own, and the others follow your last move (on the keyboard - maybe it supports controllers, I didn't try). But for some weird reason, I like it. Sure, it is not chock-full of content, but then I paid like US$1.50 for it, so I can't complain.  There are at least a couple of levels (not sure if more can be unlocked), a lot of guns that you can upgrade inside a run, persistent upgrades you can buy, and quite a few unlocks, including different characters, each with their own default gun and powers. Overall, pretty nice, specially considering it is on early access and super cheap.

Nemesis Games - Book Review

 Nemesis Games is the fifth book in The Expanse series. As in the fourth book, it starts kind of slow. The Rocinante crew is back on the solar system, and it will take months for the ship to be fixed. Everyone suddenly has their own errands, and they all spread throughout the place. We get a little background on everyone, and it is nice but a little slow. Eventually, all their errands connect (well, in a sense) and major disasters strike the whole of humankind.  Naomi got a lot of action in this one, including some major McGyvering. Bobbie comes back, too. Overally, really good, specially towards the end.

Nova Drift - PC Game Review

Nova Drift is a shooter, with a ton of upgrades and unlocks. Never heard of it, it was on a Steam sale (and pretty cheap, too, I think about US$2.2 in local currency). I really like it! Graphics are pretty much great, the variety of weapons and enemies is amazing, and not just graphical variety, completely different behavior, attacks, etc. You also get a ton of possible strategies, you can have a stronger, slower ship, turrets, drones, mines, auto-homing missiles, and more. I'd never guess this was in early access.  The only thing I miss is side thrusters, my left hand keeps going to WASD to control from the keyboard...

Vesper - PC Game Review

 Vesper is a platformer/puzzle. The art style is very interesting. It can be quite confusing. It seems to focus on someone that downloaded into a robot? There are bits spread across the landscape that seem to explain the story. The game doesn't feel like most, and have some interesting mechanics. It is a platformer, but seems very forgiving on jumps. Mostly you go around while being hunted and avoiding being killed by several kind of robot sentinels. Story start was crazy slow (like several minutes without almost any action). Even the game itself is a little tiresome, probably a bit because the landscape barely changes, and music is a bit minimalist.

The Dispatcher - Book Review

 The Dispatcher, by John Scalzi, is a fantasy (or SF, depends on your point of view) novella, which takes place in a world where people who are murdered almost always pop out of existence, and back in a place they think is safe. I had already read the sequel (unknowingly), and I wanted more. They are both pretty much as good - relatively simple fantasy novellas where something changes in the universe, and the author explores the consequences in a story, playing with the rules he created. Pretty good, and very short.

Love, Death + Robots: the Official Anthology: Volume One - Book Review

Love, Death + Robots: the Official Anthology: Volume One, by John Scalzi, is a collection of the stories used in Love, Death + Robots, the Netflix series. I actually had read quite a few of those before the series, but there were quite a few more here. If you like short SF, you really should check this one out. There were several excellent ones. And if you like SF at all, you really should check out the series. Not only are the stories excellent, the animation is beautiful, and the style changes from episode to episode. 

The Part about the Dragon was mostly true - Book Review

 The Part about the Dragon was mostly true, by Sean Gibson, is a fantasy-comedy book, which tells the story of an epic (supposedly) fantasy quest, as viewed by the bard. It was pretty funny, and I liked the silly characters. My main complaint is that there is a literal pulling the ending out of your a** finale. This is not that unusual, and one of my favorite authors (Peter F. Hamilton) did pull this a few times, but not the literal part. Still good, but not great.

Cibola Burn - Book Review

 Cibola Burn, by James S.A. Corey, is the fourth book in The Expanse series. I actually stopped reading the series because they decided not to have it available for Brazil, for whatever reason. But recently I saw the release of the series final, and decided to try again, and all books are available (and much cheaper, of course!) in the BR Kindle store. It starts kind of slow, in the first colony after the gates were opened. It then gets much better and has plenty of stuff happening with the protomolecule creator's tech. Overall, strongly recommended for fans of the series.