by Ack Fri Mar 20, 2015 11:48 am
1. Renegade Ops (PC)(Multidirectional Shooter)
2. Borderlands 2 (PC)(FPS/RPG)
3. Gunpoint (PC)(Puzzle Platformer)
4. Robotrek (SNES)(RPG)
5. The Tick (SNES)(Beat 'Em Up)
6. Alien vs Predator (SNES)(Beat 'Em Up)
7. X-Kaliber 2097 (SNES)(Action Platformer)
8. Metal Slug (MVS)(Run and Gun)
9. Shadowrun (SNES)(RPG)
10. Quake II (PC)(FPS)
11. The Twisted Tales of Spike McFang (SNES)(RPG)
12. Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number (PC)(Action)
13. A Story About My Uncle (PC)(Platformer)
This is a first person platformer from the guys who brought us Goat Simulator. It has some issues, but it certainly wasn't a bad way to spend a few hours(just a few. I beat the game in under 4 hours and had found all secrets within 6). But it nails that sense of speed and free falling that it needed.
The premise of the game is a man is telling his daughter a bedtime story about his uncle, Fred. Uncle Fred was an explorer and inventor, but he vanished one day when the man was still a boy of about 12 years old. So the boy checks his house and finds a special suit and a machine that Fred was dumping garbage in, which promptly sends the boy to another place...it's never established where that other place is, be it another planet, universe, dimension, etc. But the boy ends up there with the suit, which allows him to jump higher, fall long distances, and even grab hold of distant objects to pull himself forward. Which is great, because the world he has to traverse is full of floating rocks and inhabited by frog people and at least one monster that you see.
There aren't many controls, but they have to be combined in certain ways at certain times. There is a normal jump and a pulse blast to launch you higher. Both of these jumps change a bit when running, particularly the pulse blast, which launches you forward a bit instead with no control. The boy also gets the ability to eventually fire up to three grappling shots without hitting the ground and short-burst rocket boots. The rocket boots are possibly the coolest part of the game, once you have them mastered, as they become necessary for both exploration and saving your ass when you fuck up. The game is also generally forgiving with its checkpoint placement, which gets farther and farther apart over the course of the game but is never so far that you rage quit.
That said, the path is not always obvious, and you will fall to your doom a lot, particularly as you get the hang of your various equipment, the combination of controls(sometimes one type of jump is absolutely necessary while the other gets you killed). Even when you know exactly what you are doing, the game steadily ramps up the challenge. The final level is a nightmare at times, particularly in a sequence near the beginning where you have to race across falling blocks. The falling block sequence is the hardest part of the game, but even once it's over, the final level is no cakewalk.
The only other real issues with the game are the often unskippable story sequences where you can move around but can't use your abilities, and the problematic voice acting. Certain actors and actresses are great(the lady playing your daughter did a wonderful job), but others fall flat. Unfortunately the lead male happens to be one of the worst ones of the bunch, which sucks since he's also the one you hear the most from.
Bottom line: A Story About My Uncle is a short but entertaining romp with some excellent first person platforming(those of you who like puzzle-based FPS may get a kick out of this), and there is a sense of freedom to the movement that I think most folks would enjoy, even though it has some issues with presentation. I liked it. I wouldn't spend full price on it, but it's perfect sale material on GOG or Steam. And the unlockables are actually pretty entertaining, especially Goat Mode.
