Posted on by Annie Gallagher · 4 Comments

Fangame Review: (Mario) The Music Box – ARC

(Mario) The Music Box - ARC | Title Screen

CW: Violence and Gore.

The (Mario) The Music Box series is just so insane and absurd that I can’t get enough of it. The first installment was a solid Corpse Party clone marred only by having button mashing prompts that will make your arms fall off before completing the game. I did have some other complaints about unresolved plot points and a lack of relevance to the Mario canon, and the sequel, (Mario) The Music Box – ARC, takes those criticisms into account… in the weirdest way possible.

The first (Mario) The Music Box was a fairly standard Corpse Party clone but the (Mario) The Music Box – ARC decides to abandon any semblance of sanity that remained in this series… if there was any to begin with. Read more

Posted on by Annie Gallagher · 3 Comments

Quick Review: Mad Father (PC)

I’ve talked about Misao: Definitive Edition a couple weeks ago. I did find that there was at least a marginal amount of appeal to that game, but it fell apart under close scrutiny and it becomes hard to recommend. Mad Father was originally released in 2012 as a freeware title and was the second game developed by Sen after the original version of Misao. Despite this, Mad Father received a remake for Steam before Misao did. After having played both games it is quite obvious as to why; Mad Father is an immensely superior title.

The reason that Mad Father is so much better than Misao can be chalked up to a much more consistent story with much stronger writing. I do not consider Mad Father a perfect game by any stretch and it certainly has its fair share of issues, but I will say that I found this one have much stronger substance in its content and there were at least a few genuinely scary moments. Read more

Posted on by Annie Gallagher · 2 Comments

Misao: Definitive Edition (PC): A Poor Man’s Corpse Party (Detailed Review)

Misao: Definitive Edition | logo

TW: References to Violence, Gore, and child abuse.

Lately I have had an interest in the “RPG Maker horror game” sub genre of sorts. The last one I covered was (Mario) The Music Box which I certainly enjoyed but my space bar did not. Prior to that the only other games I played of this type are Yume Nikki, LISA: The First, and Corpse Party Blood Covered (which wasn’t actually made in RPG Maker but probably could have been).

Games like Yume Nikki and LISA: The First are only tangentially connected to games like Corpse party, The Witch’s House, Ib, Ao Oni, Mad Father, and the subject of this review; Misao. The reason I say this is because those types of games aren’t explicit horror titles and are more so abstract walking sims with some very weird set pieces. I wasn’t crazy about Yume Nikki (although I can see why others are), I have quite liked the more straight up horror titles.

At the time of writing I have completed the Steam remakes of Mad Father and of its predecessor Misao. Despite the fact that Sen released their remake of Mad Father first, I decided to play Misao first because the original version was made before Mad Father. I am glad that I did so because it allows me to see how much was improved from one game to another. Read more

Posted on by Annie Gallagher · 9 Comments

Fangame Review: Mother: Cognitive Dissonance

I have been a fan of the EarthBound series for many years at this point. I first became a fan from watching various lets plays of the game back around 2008 or 2009, because at the time I knew nothing about roms and emulators, and I clearly could not afford a copy of EarthBound. After having been moved by both EarthBound and Mother 3, I was enamored with the series for several months to the point of near obsession. As such, the series was very influential to my experiences as a gamer, despite me having experienced them over a decade after EarthBound’s release.

I didn’t end up playing EarthBound on my own until I bought a cart myself despite the huge price, and I’m still glad I have a physical copy seeing as how it’s my favorite game of all time, and I only played Earthbound Beginnings last year when it was released on the Wii U e-shop. Hell I still have not legitimately played Mother 3 and am waiting until its inevitable e-shop release to do so (although as I said, I have seen let’s plays of it and know enough to say that’s it’s pretty much a masterpiece) Read more

Posted on by Annie Gallagher · 5 Comments

Fangame Review: (Mario) The Music Box

(Mario) - The Music Box | Title Screen

TW: References to violence, gore, suicide, cannibalism, child abuse, and murder.

Though I have yet to play many of them, I have always held a special interest in fan games. It is especially interesting to see what fans can do with an existing property with nothing other than their own money and free time, and it is especially noteworthy how many have managed to create an experience on par with or better than the original creators can.

Or you could be like (Mario) The Music Box and have nothing to do with Nintendo’s flagship series aside from having Mario and Luigi in it. It’s quite fitting that “Mario” is in parentheses in the title of this game because this game is not really about Mario. Of course one can get the impression that the last type of game that would be appropriate for Mario is a Corpse Party clone, but even still there is so little that has to do with the Mario series involved. Read more

Posted on by Annie Gallagher · 3 Comments

Amazing VGM: All American Badass (LISA: The Joyful)

LISA: The Joyful | Big Lincoln Sends you to Hell

As great as the soundtrack to LISA: The Painful was, its DLC episode LISA: The Joyful fucking OWNS it! My favorite boss theme from The Joyful is the final boss theme Brokentooth March, but the subject of this article is a pretty close second. The title is kinda weird since America doesn’t exist in Olathe but I suppose “All Olathian Badass” just doesn’t have the same flair to it.

Read more

Posted on by Annie Gallagher · 6 Comments

Top 25 Saddest Video Game Songs (25-13)

Top 25 Saddest Video Game Songs

I’ve made it clear that I have a very strong appreciation for video game music in the past, enough so that I have done multiple countdowns before in addition to my Amazing VGM series. My Disturbing video games song countdown was a nice way of showing off a variety of different game songs, so this time I will talk about game songs that make your eyes wet and not your pants.

This countdown is precisely for video game songs that make you cry. Game music can be very powerful and emotional, and the following 25 tracks are among the best examples of how. Of note is that I am also sticking to games I’ve played or am remotely familiar with given that context is an important element. Anyway, make sure you have a clean Xbox on hand for this one.

Also there will be spoilers for most of these games to fully describe the context.

Read more

Posted on by Annie Gallagher · 16 Comments

LISA: The Painful (PC): Crushing, Depressing, Brilliant (Detailed Review)

LISA: The Painful | Gore

LISA: The Painful is newest addition to what I consider to be the “elite” class of games that I have played. As a critic, I have been known to go into meticulous detail about the games that I review AND to be very thorough in explaining why something in a game does or does not work. The reason for this is that I don’t view games as mere “products” like most do. I don’t think that creating an experience that aces the test of time can be propped up to doing the exact same shit as everything else but with better graphics.

My contempt for most professional game critics comes from the fact that they often claim that games are art, yet treat them like products. True works of art are those that break the mold and that put quality and artistic vision over profit. Contrary to popular belief, the game industry is not so stagnated that there are no games with new ideas; they just don’t sell well. Read more

Posted on by Annie Gallagher · 5 Comments

Amazing VGM: Brokentooth March (LISA: The Joyful)

LISA: The Joyful | Dr Yado

Sorry there has been an absence of game reviews and or related content as of late. I recently became rather bogged down with the amount of content to write about that I needed to take a break. If one couldn’t tell, my next review is going to be of LISA: The Painful. I just got done playing it as well as its DLC expansion LISA: The Joyful recently, and I found them both amazing, although I don’t consider The Joyful to be a separate game due to its short length.

Anyway LISA is probably my 4th favorite RPG at this time behind Earthbound, NieR Automata, and Undertale. I really like how it refuses to shy away from a lot of seriously dark subject matter the same way most games do, and I even think it has a lot of advantages over the previous three games I mentioned.

Read more

Posted on by Annie Gallagher · 2 Comments

Bottom 5 Games Reviewed on Guardian Acorn in its First Year

I have covered the best games reviewed on this site in its first year and now it is time to look at the opposite side of the coin. The bottom of the barrel, the cream of the crap, the digitized disasters, etc. While I tend to focus more on the critical analysis of games that are remotely decent or substantive, I certainly have not been any stranger to tearing terrible games a new one. Hell that’s basically the entire point of my  Steam Greenlight Landfill series.

As a reminder, the entries on this list are only including games I reviewed between January 1st of 2017 to May 6th of 2018. The reason for this specific time frame is to include the titles I reviewed for Brash Games before starting up this blog in the running since I like having more material to work with. However I also prefer to be working with stuff I actually reviewed remotely recently as opposed to four year old GameFAQs edits. Anyway,, without further delay, let’s revisit five terrible Steam releases you never heard of an will promptly forget about after you finish reading this! Read more