It was fine I guess. I think the beginning of the game ended up being more fun than late game. An hour in and you've basically seen everything there is to see in this one. These vampire survivor clones, idk. I feel like they just don't do enough for me.

It has a great concept, limited movement pick a bunch of power ups till you get to wave 30 and die. I really didn't find this one difficult at all, but again, are these survivor games meant to be "difficult"?

The game also throws at you a bunch of other unlockable characters but give you no real incentive to use them outside of getting their specific achievements. Beyond that, you will end up using the default character more often than the others, just to have an easier time getting the cheevos.

Music was nice at least. It's very short. Lacking content. Really needed some extra modes here.

Oh it's $5.00 what's the big deal? I mean so is Vampire Survivor and look how much content that packs into that 5 bucks.

Best I can describe this game is, it happened and then it went away.

I'm gonna just give it to you straight. Sigh. It's not a great bundle. Look, did the devs do their job? Sure. They bought these lost "gems" back from the past and called it a day. Good job. The games themselves? Look... I'm not one that enjoys complaining about old games, but this pack really needed some love. I mean like, quality of life, maybe some nice borders, maybe adding the option to have some music (which has been made possible for some of the Gold Box games via Gold Box Companion). I don't know SOMETHING to make the experience of playing these games somewhat bearable.

Here is my breakdown of each game in this pack.

Heroes of the Lance: Just a really bad Battle of Olympus. Controls are sluggish and crappy, you have a bunch of characters that will never see combat and are basically a waste of space. Dungeon floors are super samey so easy to get lost, no music. Hell, the moment you boot up the game and try to attack and realize you have no idea how, that would be the end of most users experience with this game.

Hint: Hold enter and use the numpad directional arrows.

The game was bad back then, the game is horrible now. Nothing else needs to be said. Story you ask? The manual has a better story than the game itself. The manual actually is quite awesome. It's a quick beat so don't worry too much. Anyway, moving on...

Dragons of Flame: A slight improvement over the previous turd. And when I say slight I mean VERY slight. The combat has uh... improved? I use that terms really loosely because its still horrible. You're on a over world map this time and have to work your way to the dungeon.

World map exploration is horrid. Enemies can be seen on screen and interacting with them causes a battle to occur. After which they may either send a modest amount of goons at you, or an alarming amount your way decimating your entire party if you're not seasoned enough to handle the volume.

In other words, difficulty spikes all over the place. The over world map is super samey. There's an easy path to get to the main dungeon but if you don't know where you're going best of luck to you. You'll be lost in jiffy.

Once you get to the main dungeon you realize it's even worse than the original game. It's stupidly bland, mega confusing because pressing up or down anywhere in the dungeon will place you at another angle. The first game had a couple of "interesting" levels designs like a much more structured dungeon, traps and some healing fountains littered about. This? Ha... haha. A joke! Laziness doesn't even begin to cut the job they put into this one.

You have a couple of quests to complete in here in order to get a true completion score. That is, save the princess, the kids and the parents. So you'll be in here for a while and will experience for the first time, TRUE BOREDOM. The dictionary definition of it. Ugh. I hate this game.

By the way, for those who need to know. In this game you have to hold the numpad + and use the diagonals to attack. Yeah, they switched it up probably to make things easier. Spoilers... it didn't.

Completionist note: MAKE SURE you have at least one slot available to pick up the princess, if you don't and you enter the dungeon with your party full (you do this by talking to random people in the overworld map) you will not be able to spawn her and you will have to restart the game like I did.

Shadow Sorcerer: Ah yes, finally the game you were digging through the muck to get to. Is it worth it? Nope! It certainly has great ideas and is very immersive on paper. You escape from the Draconians along with a bunch of refugees and have to keep them safe while you find a bunch of keys that opens the final dungeon that gets you to the end of the game.

Cool concept right? So what they don't tell you is Shadow Sorcerer is a speedrunner game. You get punished for exploration as the game intends you to find the keys as quick as possible and feed the refugees and tuck them into safety as fast you can in order to get to the final dungeon. Once there the refugees no longer matter.

Time is your constant enemy. It goes by SUPER fast (even if you slow the gameplay down), and after 48 hours game time which isn't long, the draconians and a big ass Dragon named Ember storm the gates and chase after you. It is futile to fight them. Completely futile. You're supposed to run and quickly get through the gate, which again, GREAT concept, poorly implemented with all those random ass "chance encounters". i swear if I ever see that word AGAIN I'lll.... ERRR...GRRRR!!!

You have even more companions to choose from, again mostly all useless. So you'll just stick to one party (just make sure you swap Raistlin for Sturm... Raistlin is so useless). I just... so frustrating but won't lie, beating this game made me feel like a genius.

Certainly one of the best game of the bunch, but still awful.

War of the Lance: I can't believe I'm going to say this but uh... THIS game is the best game of the pack. In my original review I dismissed this game immediately upon loading it up. It just looked too ugly and too complicated for me to continue. My completionist condition got the better of me and I just had to do it, and you know what, it was a lot of fun.

So this is a 4X strategy game (my first one too), but pretty basic. You have 3 main phases: subversion, basically deploying troops to thwart your enemies from finding magical items. Diplomacy, where you send diplomats on missions to convince other kingdoms to join your party and then the battle phase which is standard turn based strategy.

Throughout the campaign a bunch of random events can occur that stand to aid either nation and these are the highlights of the game. You can get really immersed into this thing too, as you army depletes and you think there's no hope, all of a sudden you get delivered a vital item that can help turn the tide (of course the enemy has this as well).

Each side, both Whitestone and Highlords have their own strength and weaknesses, however I do think the CPU cheats a lot, or at least they know strategy better than I did. Anyway, THAT'S OKAY, because you can give yourseld a large advantage before you play the game by messing around with the settings.

It's highly immersive though if you let yourself get into the whole fantasy war thing, which I enjoy doing.

My only real complaint besides the obvious is well the subversion phase seemed useless to me, I don't know why I even bothered sending troops to do it, enemies still found items just fine and so did I. I just igored it. Same with Diplomacy, in the middle of the campaign once every nation decides who they're fighting for it just becomes worthless. Basically turning the game into a TBS.

It's ugly, it's rudimentary, it's quiet but yes it's fun. The rules of the game are very clear and the controls are super easy, use just use the diagonals and space bar, that's it! It's easy to learn so don't be intimidated by it. Just read the manual and you'll be fine... for the most part.

Conclusion. Had their been some bonuses the devs put together to at least make the games more manageable, immersive and fun to play, I would definitely give it a recommend, but unfortunately it's not the case. Skip this one unless you're a collector or something. It ain't worth it.

You're gonna take one look at this game and go no. No way. Pass. A dragon flight simulator made in 1990? Eww its probably way too hard, controls like crap and i have better things to do with my time. If you're thinking that you would be wrong about Dragonstrike.

The game still holds today. Yes it has its issues, its quiet, the controls take some getting used to and the enemies get a little repetitive but I mean come on, its 1990, you must have already known that.

I think the big question is, is it beatable today or is it one of those games that's an absolutely pain in the ass to suffer through. I guess the answer to that question is both depending on what kind of gamer you are.

If you are an impatient gamer and do not want to waste time to learn the mechanics of the game then immediately pass on this one. It ain't for you.

But if you a gamer that perseveres or like me, a completionist, here is what you need to know.

To beat Dragonstrike its all about messing with the settings and making sure your controls are as comfortable as possible. Make sure you set the dragons from pixel to polygon, much easier to hit them that way. Remove the lance and use a cursor instead. Change the environment settings to slow the dragon movement down.

Last but not least, set your controls to be as comfortable as possible flying around. I use WASD for movement and the diagonal keys for the lance movement and it worked wonders.

Once you get all that down, hop in there and lose, and be okay with losing and trying again. I promise eventually you will get used to it. The difficulty spikes here and there but you already knew that would be likely.

Otherwise to be honest the only thing that I hated is the gear you get, outside of that feather that stops you from falling to fast, is just absolutely useless and having to micromanage your health cause you don't heal in between missions sucks.

That said, Dragonstrike is great and very beatable for the average gamer. You just have to be someone who takes the time to do it.

While the poor critical reception of Shadowgrounds Survivor compared to its predecessor might lead you to believe it's significantly inferior, that conclusion wouldn't be entirely accurate. In several aspects, Survivor improves upon the original's shortcomings.

Positives:

Combat: Despite the auto-lock feature, the combat remains fast, fluid, and feels fantastic.

Graphics: The graphics showcase a significant improvement, featuring visually appealing environments and character models.

Characters: You have the choice of three unique characters, each with distinct weapon loadouts, traits, and voice acting that surpasses the original. The engaging performances breathe life into an otherwise lackluster story.

Modes: Beyond the main campaign, you can experience various modes, including the new and exciting survival mode.

Inventory and Progression: Unlike the overwhelming inventory of the original, weapons are now categorized by character.
Additionally, a new progression system lets you level up both characters and their weapons individually, unlocking new perks like before. This streamlined approach is commendable.

Negatives:

Stages: The stages are disappointingly short, and some characters possess overpowered and exploitable special attacks (though admittedly fun). The story feels inconsequential and merely serves as a setup for the emphasized survival mode, suggesting it was an afterthought.

Boss: Even more concerning is the presence of only one true boss encounter, occurring near the beginning of the game. Everything else consists of regular stages and the survival arena. This design choice feels like three steps forward and two steps back, which is unfortunate.

Enemy Variety: Enemy variety hasn't significantly changed since the original, and some enemy types may even be missing.
While the game throws large waves of enemies at you, which is enjoyable, new enemy types aren't introduced effectively.
If you're new to the game, some enemy mechanics might initially be confusing.

Flashlight: Lastly, my personal pet peeve, the flashlight remains underutilized. While functional, it retains the same functionality as the original without the need to charge it. In other words, it feels somewhat redundant.
Overall:

Despite its brevity and shortcomings, I found Shadowgrounds Survivor enjoyable. While I can't wholeheartedly recommend it, I wouldn't dissuade someone from trying it either. Ultimately, I wish it offered more content than what's currently available.

I mean what can I say, this is Frozenbyte's first game so a lot can and should be forgiven about it.

However, at the end of the day its just a generic shooter.

- The story is crap and totally insulting to extraterrestrial life (we humans are so arrogant sometimes), and voice acting is atrocious. Worst offender being the guy you control. He literally was given a script with no context and just delivered his lines, got his check and went home. Easy day for him.

- You can't actually aim with the mouse you just turn Tyler in the direction you want and he'll take it from there (there is a free form camera mode but it's abysmal).

- Enemies are cool, but lacking in meaningful variety. Yes some of them have different mechanics but there not all that interesting.

- Exploration is only rewarded by more enemies, yes sometimes treading off the beaten path will get you a new gun, but those instances are too few.

- Bosses, while decent, were too few in number (I only counted three, as far as I can recall?).

- There's an interesting flashlight mechanic in which your light actually loses battery and needs to recharge overtime. Issue here is that you really do need that flashlight and waiting for it to recharge actually ends up slowing down gameplay. Also there is an enemy that requires the use of the flashlight to effectively defeat them, that's cool, I just wish there were more mechanics to make use of this feature.

- The most frustrating issues are the bugs that cause you to have to start over a mission like failing to even load the next event and it's incredibly frustrating having to replay an entire, already tedious mission because the game took a day off.

- The weapons selection was fairly interesting but didn't encourage much experimentation save for a few instances. Still it's the best part of the game so I'll give them that at least. Oh, also the upgrade system was decent but again, I barely found use for most of the upgrades.

Overall, essentially, you get what you pay for, a $6 nostalgia trip, don't have any greater expectations for it.

UPDATE 1: Changing my review to positive with a bit of a CAVEAT. This is going to be a long review so only read if you’re serious about purchasing the game as a NEW PLAYER. I don’t believe this review applies to veterans of rhythm games.

UPDATE 2: Added extra notes mainly for new players (and the devs if they even read this stuff).

TLDR: If you’re new to rhythm games and are scared that this game will be way too hard for you, don’t be. The game gives you all the tools you need to get better at it even if some of these options are a bit obscure. The music is superb, the game modes are awesome and it’s very forgiving in many aspects. It’s a well-made game overall but I do have some serious gripes which I get into in my longer review.

I’m going to begin by explaining my initial experience going from Rock to Hard Rock mode and the reason why I gave it a negative review at first.

I'm new to rhythm games. In fact this is my very first one. So I started in Rock mode as all noobs ought to. The game opened just fine. They start me off with the drums, gave me a nice tutorial, then they took the tricycle wheels off and away I went, and it was a damn blast to play. Challenging but very fun.

The issue is (and what almost broke the experience for me) was when I had beaten Rock mode and jumped into the next difficulty, Hard Rock. It starts out the same exact way as Rock mode so I'm thinking okay all is well, a little bit more difficult, okay having fun again.... then Stage 2-2 happened. In this stage, out of nowhere, they throw at you a new button. The snare button or grenades.

This new button may seem trivial to hardcore rhythm gamers but for noobs like me I had no idea how to incorporate it into my finger flow. I was already using two hands for the left and right guns so where the hell do I add a third button?

Now this would have been fine if A. They introduced the button in the beginning of the campaign with a tutorial just like they did in Rock mode and B. Started me off on Stage 1-1 so I can readjust my finger placement and slowly work the new button into my flow.

I was extremely frustrated and at this point wrote a negative review because I went from having a good flow to jumbling my fingers everywhere. Stage 2-2 is not an easy stage for beginners to start using this new mechanic. So anyway I whined and complained and ranted but I'm a Completionist, so I blew off my steam and gave the game another shot.

I had to drop using the controller because it ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ sucked and opted to use the keyboard which was infinitely better than the controller for me. Once that was done, I needed to figure out a way to practice.

At first I thought that there was no practice mode, but there IS. CHILL MODE. In this mode you can turn off the zombies and just work with the music, then I needed to slow things down a bit. You can’t slow the music down but you CAN slow the musical bar so that you can hit the notes easier.

These two things alone not only helped me get better in a big way but it improved the fun I had with this game and then the addiction set in. I wanted to play more and more and I did. Every stage in fact. This is aided tremendously by the musical score which is just incredible. More on that later.

Eventually I worked my way up to Violence mode, and oddly enough this mode had the exact thing I wanted for Hard Rock mode. The mode opens with a tutorial for this second button, same as the drums. I sat there thinking what the hell, why didn’t you DO THIS EARLIER!!?

So then I worked my way through Violence (it was tough as nails) and landed myself in Extreme and guess what? They add a FOURTH frickin’ button. The sniper, which is FINE okay but I mean you add a new button on the hardest difficulty? Ugh…

This is the only real issue I had with this game. The arrangement of the difficulties. The fix for me is quite simple even, just put a tutorial in Hard Rock mode for grenade button and start us off on stage 1-1.

In Metal mode give us a tutorial for the sniper rifle and start us off on stage 1-1. Then for Violence and Extreme feel free to increase the difficulty in whatever various ways you may like.

That’s it. May seem trivial but it seriously almost ruined my experience and just might do so for a new player that doesn’t have the patience that I do to get better at this game when they can just play another one.

Don’t increase the difficulty by adding new buttons on top of heavily penalizing us for missing notes. Of course we’re going to miss notes. We need these buttons added earlier so we can practice and prepare for the harder difficulties.

Also yes some tracks are ridiculously hard and near impossible to achieve without being a pro level player. You will be able to get all the steam achievements (barely), but there are in-game achievements that are only available for professional drummers or anyone who uses a drum kit to play this game. If you're using your fingers you're screwed. It's not happening.

For example, to get one of the hardest achievements in the game, (Mobula Extreme), I had to straight up ignore the snares completely and focus on the drums and cymbals. Okay so I got it, but did it feel good to ignore one of the game's mechanics just to do so? No, but that's the thing. The game KNOWS its brutally hard so it throws us a bone every once in a while by not severely penalizing you for dropping the snares or cymbals focusing only on the double kicks.

Why exactly the devs thought it was a good idea to include songs that the average gamer couldn't do in a million years is beyond me. Funny thing is the game would be SO much better if songs with difficult note placement were included versus songs where you have to have the finger speed of the FLASH! (Mobula isn't such a bad offender here, but 66B6 and Gojira? Seriously though... great songs but what the ♥♥♥♥?)

If a sequel is in order please don't include these songs. I know super fast double kicking is a drumming staple but it is not fun to play in practice, especially with your FINGERS AND NOT A FRICKIN' DRUM STICK!!! The type of stuff serves as a barrier of entry for new players who veer away from this sort of thing.

Only other issue I had is sometimes when explosions happen the notes get all jumbled and I have to reset the run. However, I’m thinking that’s mostly because my computer is crap. Also the game crashes sometimes when you do multiple resets. Other than that everything else is perfect.

The music is FANTASTIC, some of the best metal I’ve heard in any video game (including Doom). It’s also very thematic and gradually changes in tone the deeper you get into the game, starting really chill then becoming darker and darker until you’re in death metal territory. It’s extremely well done.

The pixel art is fantastic! Loved the character designs and the diversity in the characters emphasizing that no matter you’re race and ethnicity, we all love and rock to Metal. This was great. Story is kinda dumb though but you can just ignore it by playing Arcade mode.

There’s even guest tracks that are all just so damn well done and gives you a break from all the Metal with a variety of different types of music. LOVED IT!

And the icing on the cake, the best mode in the game, the Fury Road mode which turns the game into a Rogue-like. This, in my opinion, is the future of this series. I would throw money at a full game that incorporates this mechanic into the main gameplay.

I couldn’t recommend this game more. I love all the features, am madly in love with the soundtrack and would happily throw money in for a sequel IF the issues I brought up are addressed, otherwise I'll pass on it. I just hope the next game is more inviting to new players and doesn't solely cater to hardcore ones. We all want to play.

$15.00? You charge me $15.00 for a 3 hour game!?

Alright so first of all, the remaster is superb. Love the transition feature, artwork is fantastic. Story is old school but great. Great dialogue, great humor.. I mean just great.

It's Full Throttle, the pretty edition, and I get the love for the game, but come on now $15.00? I'd pay $5.00 for the original and an extra five for the remastered features. So $10.00. That seems fair to me. Where does the extra, extra $5.00 come from? You know how many classic games on steam I can get for less than this with tons of game play and story?

Anyway if the price is the only complaint about the game then I really don't have much of an argument to make here. Obviously it's old so don't expect modern point 'n' click mechanics in here. There's a cool hint system to help the kiddies along, cheevos, you know, all the stuff a remaster in this day and age should have, so no complaints there, but it is an extremely short game for a price tag I simply don't agree with.

So catch it on sale if you really need to play this one. It's worth it for the fans, but not sure if I can recommend for anyone else.

Note: I did not play vanilla Evil Genius (for very long), I used an unofficial patch alongside a vanilla friendly gameplay overhaul mod, which amongst other things, cleans up the graphics. Read with this context in mind.

For the life of me, I could not understand how Evil Genius failed to spawn multitudes of sequels like Civilization, or Tropico, or even the more closely related Dungeons series. Yes, a sequel is on the horizon (or already released by the time you've read this), but it's been a long time coming, and this game more than deserves one. So the question shouldn't be, "Is it a good game," because it certainly is, the question should be, "Is it worth getting it now with all these other base builders available alongside this sequel on the horizon." Short answer, yes. Long answer, maybe.... but yes ;).

Here's what you get if you purchase the original game.

A humorous plot with some genuinely hilarious and fun moments. You play the role of a villainous Evil Genius, hell-bent and taking over the world, and there are just not that many games that put you in this position. The game does not take itself seriously and is a better experience because of it.

A charming and fun art style that perfectly complements the lighthearted tone of the game. The character interactions and animations are so rad and you will get a lot of joy seeing your minions interacting with the environment and other NPCs around them whether friend or foe.

You get to familiarize yourself with its innovative gameplay mechanics. It's all about building an impenetrable fortress designed to thwart the plans of those do-gooder spies from around the world whether that be via a winding labyrinth of hallways, a base teeming with traps, cunning coercion via your valets, spin doctors, and the like, or devastating them with heavy artillery.

The soundtrack is great, but I just wish there were more choices in music as there are so few of them. Don't get me wrong it works well for the theme and tone of the story, but more was definitely needed. Where the game shines in the audio department are the sound effects and character voices. There is no actual speech in the game, only Sims-like grumbles. The rest of the expressions are shown through exaggerated body language and it's just... it's just so great!

Incredible replayability. There are just so many ways to approach this game, so many ways to build your base, and with the option of choosing three different Avatars to be your genius, each with their own unique look and buffs, alongside three different evil endings (no good or bad endings... just EVIL) you have tons of excuses to give this game multiple runs.

There are a few downsides, however.

There are a few reported glitches and inconsistencies, but once again, I suffered very little of them because of the aforementioned patches I installed.

The game can be quite slow at times, and this can drag down the experience. Remember its age though, you're playing an almost 20-year-old game.

The difficulty varies depending on your adeptness in building bases. If you're terrible at it, then you'll have a very frustrating experience with this game, but if you are excellent at it, the game will offer you little challenges. Neither of these makes the game any less fun.

The game is relatively short, but expect to pour many hours into just learning the game's mechanics and exploitative tactics. It could also have had a larger campaign, with at least a few more locations, perhaps even some expansion packs, but alas, it wasn't meant to be.

So on to pricing. At a $10 price tag, the game is a steal. Hell, it's even been sold in bundles many times and has gotten some free promotions. The devs go out of their way to make sure you experience this game and you should very well take them up on their offer.

So once again it's not a matter of if it's good, it's a matter of is it worth playing it now that the sequel is on the horizon (or has already arrived). I'd say yes on two grounds. A.) If this is a true STORY sequel and they somehow successfully tie in the events of the original game. B.) You want to get your feet wet to prepare yourself for the awesomeness that is to come (or has already arrived). If you said yes to any of these, then my friend, it looks like you're about to get this game. Don't worry. It's worth it!