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video game reviews

Crumbling: The Unique VR Hack and Slash

January 21, 2024 josechurape Leave a comment

I was sent Crumbling for free to review for my blog. While I am very grateful for the opportunity, I will not let it sway my opinions. This will be my honest review. If you enjoy my reviews, please leave a like, comment, follow, and share this with your friends. If you’re looking for accessories for your VR headset, like magnetic prescription lenses or a high-quality charging cable, get it at ZyberVR. Use discount code CHURAPE for 15% off. You can also always buy me coffee.

What is Crumbling

Crumbling is a cute 3rd person hack and slash action roguelike available now on the Meta Quest and Steam VR. Take control of your favorite adorable Crumbling and fight through a unique fantasy adventure. Can you collect them all?

Gameplay

Like any roguelike, players will repeat each run fighting against unique enemies and earning randomly generated powerups and new crumbles to play with. What makes Crumbling unique is its combat. Players move their crumbling around like one would an action figure. Crumblings have access to a light attack, a heavy attack, and a dodge. The game gets incredibly creative with its spatial mechanics. Players can move the crumbling anywhere within the map space.

While the game is adorable from top to bottom, the game is harder than it appears. Players have to think about attacks and positioning in a 3D stage, taking players back to a nostalgic era when we fought with our action figures.

Thoughts

The game is cute and has a surprising amount of depth. I am impressed by how they can use 3D effectively to create its unique combat system. That said, my issue with Crumbling is with the gameplay. Moving through the toy shop to set up between each run feels cumbersome, and combat is tiring. My reach felt insufficient, and it put me in awkward and uncomfortable positions during combat. I couldn’t play this game for long because of the discomfort it caused, but I might be an odd example.

This game isn’t for me, but I can appreciate the unique attempt at the genre. The combat has enough depth to be engaging, and it runs well. Dodging enemies from every direction is such an interesting concept. If you don’t mind waving around your Crumbling wildly through combat, the game isn’t bad.

Conclusion

The game is cute, and the combat is interesting, but it felt like too much work. It is a bit too complicated for a kid’s game, but the neat nostalgic gimmick might be enough to satisfy the small niche it is meant to fill. I don’t think it’s a game that will get much play after the novelty wears away, so I can’t recommend it. Try the demo first before making your decision.

You can pick up Crumbling for $19.99 on Meta Quest and Steam VR.

video game reviews

The Foglands Review: the VR Roguelike That Fails to Deliver

November 18, 2023 josechurape Leave a comment

I was sent The Foglands as a review code. While I am very grateful for the opportunity, this will be my honest review. If you enjoy my reviews, make sure you leave a like, comment, follow, and share this with your friends. You can also always buy me coffee.

The Foglands is a western-themed action roguelike VR game out now for the Meta Quest and PlayStation, and will be coming to Steam next year.

A toxic gas now ravages the world, forcing the few remaining survivors to live underground. A brave few must brave the foglands and its dangers to run supplies for these settlements. You must go out on one of these missions, but can you make it back before the fog swallows you whole?

This game is awful, don’t waste your time or money on it. It’s been a while since I’ve given up on a game, but The Foglands managed to break me. This game looks and feels generic and unfinished. While the concept and pitch are interesting, the execution lacks everything that would make this game playable. Levels are poorly designed, combat is slow and dull, and the game is broken and unplayable. I got to a point in the game where the game broke, and the only way to fix it was to start over. I didn’t have it in me.

As far as VR games go, The Foglands is ugly and rushed. I don’t expect high-quality 4K graphics from a VR game on the Meta Quest 2, but I’ve played enough good-looking VR games to know when I am being cheated. Some assets were broken or missing, or walls that didn’t properly connect. This game is unstable, and I find it ridiculous that they charge $25 for something that clearly isn’t finished.

I am not a snob. I could have excused the bugs and the ugliness if the game was fun and playable, but it isn’t. Players crawl the dungeon and fight monsters with pistols and improvised weapons like rocks or bottles until they die and do it all again. As they progress, they can unlock upgrades to make the runs easier. The problem with this loop is that combat is clunky and boring. There really is no reason to pick up this game when there are other games in this genre that do it better.

The Foglands is a waste of time and money. It is clearly unfinished, and no amount of updates or added features is going to make it any more playable. You can pick it up now for the Meta Quest for $24.99 and PlayStation for $34.99, or wait for its release on Steam, but I wouldn’t bother.

video game reviews

Dance Dash, a new unique VR rhythm game you play with your feet

September 27, 2023 josechurape Leave a comment

I was sent Dance Dash and the remote straps for the Meta Quest 2 to review for my blog. While I am very grateful for the opportunity, I will not let it sway my opinions. This will be my honest review of the game. If you’ve been enjoying my reviews, make sure you like, comment, and share this with your friends. I’ve got a bunch of games lined up for future posts, so don’t forget to leave me a follow as well!

While you don’t necessarily need the straps to play Dance Dash, the experience is better with them. The straps are a solid build quality and are sturdy. They both held the Quest remotes snugly and securely to my feet without incident. It did take some time to become comfortable with having the controllers on my feet, but even at my wildest, there wasn’t much danger. That said, be careful when using these accessories and playing this game. I recommend you use shoes as instructed for added security. Playing barefoot didn’t allow enough clearance to between the sensors and the floor to play this game safely.

The only real issue I had with the straps was when the game made me jump over obstacles. While the remotes were secured safely, there was always enough of a shift during the jumps to make me uncomfortable. Investing in dedicated feet trackers might be the optimal way to play this game, but I only recommend that route if this becomes the only game you daily drive. Otherwise, the straps (or something creative like it) will suffice.

Dance Dash is a solidly built game. It runs fine for a rhythm game, but make sure you play in a well-lit room to ensure proper tracking. I also recommend turning off-hand tracking. I found that the game would often confuse the controls and stop tracking my feet. This would turn the game into a sort of drumming game which can also be fun with a bit of tweeking. The graphics are fun and good enough, the hands-free controls work well, and the mechanics left me breathing a little harder than Beat Saber. The music is fine, but you can always use the free Dance Dash Beatmap Editor to make and upload your own.

Dance Dash is fine if you are looking for a new rhythm game and don’t mind buying into the accessories. They aren’t required, but they make a difference. You can pick up Dance Dance for Steam VR for $19.99. You can also pick up the bundle with accessories for Meta Quest 2 ($29.99), Vive (49.99) and Valve Index ($29.99)

video game reviews

Game Review: Breachers

May 7, 2023 josechurape Leave a comment

If you have been enjoying my content and want to support what I do, please consider buying me a coffee

I was sent Breachers as a review code, and while I am very grateful for the opportunity, I will keep my review honest.

Breachers is the Rainbow Six: Siege VR port you’ve been waiting for. It is a bit more simplified, there aren’t any classes, but it certainly scratches an itch. Games are 5v5 matches where you either play team death match or bomb maps. Games are played on tight quarter maps where the emphasis on victory is teamwork.

The community for Breachers seems less toxic Seige, at least from the games I played. My general performance was average, but I never got kicked out of a game or flamed for being bad. Kids are playing this game already, so prepare yourself for some high-pitched screaming. It never got so bad that I needed to mute players, but the option is there if you need it.

I only recommend muting if it’s absolutely necessary. If you want to win games in Breachers, you need a strong understanding of the game’s mechanics and clear and effective communication with your teammates. Games where teammates communicate strategically about loadouts, traps, and enemy locations will go a lot smoother than those where the lone wolf goes for the highest kill count. I recommend unmuting your mic, but there are buttons you can press for nonverbal communication if you prefer.

Breachers are easy to pick up, but some mechanics aren’t intuitive. Make sure you complete the tutorial to gain the required foundation, and maybe do a couple of bot matches if you need some added reinforcement. I was fortunate enough to find teammates who would give me tips, but the mileage may vary. FNH8iT has a nice video on his YouTube channel if you need an additional resource.

If you are looking for a good VR first-person shooter, buy Breachers. There is a lot to like about this game. If you care about performance, the graphics are nice, the matches run great, and the gameplay is a lot of fun. It has cool maps, interesting mechanics, and a healthy community. There are also the standard features you find in any FPS like the ability to make private matches and clans.

You can buy Breachers for $29.99 on the Meta Quest and Steam. If you like FPS games, it’s worth it for the number of hours you’re about to sink into this game.

Make sure you follow the Breachers socials to stay up to date on all the news: Discord, Twitter, Facebook, TikTok

video game reviews

Game Review: Demeo

April 2, 2023 josechurape Leave a comment

If you have been enjoying my content and want to support what I do, please consider buying me a coffee

I was given Demeo at GDC to review for my blog. I would like to take the time to thank the Devs for taking the time to talk to me and answer all my questions. I am very grateful for the opportunity to try this game more thoroughly. That said, this will be an honest review of the game.

screenshots and video taken from the pc version

Demeo is a co-op dungeon crawler tabletop game that you can play on PC and VR. You choose from seven classes and move them through different themed dungeons to clear their objectives. Demeo has a minor deck-building mechanic. You use abilities, items, and spells by casting them from cards you buy, find, or earn throughout the dungeon. On each turn, each character has two actions. A character can move, attack, or use an ability. The goal of this game isn’t to clear the dungeon of its monsters but to complete the dungeon’s objectives. It is easy to get caught up fighting monsters only to be overrun by them when you take too long to clear a floor. There is strategy to this game, but it is manageable if you are thinking about your turns carefully.

I love this game because it gives me the perfect board game experience without having to spend time on setup and cleanup. I came into this game already infatuated by the limited experience I got at GDC, but I wasn’t prepared for how dangerous this game was for my time. One more turn easily turned into hours later, so I had to make sure I at least ran my sessions with a timer.

The game runs and looks great. I love the different aesthetics of the adventures, and you can earn cosmetics by playing the game. I did try both the PC and VR versions of the game and have no preference. I love how immersive the VR version of the game is, but the PC version is a great alternative when I don’t want to put on the headset. There is cross-play between the versions, so you don’t need to buy a VR headset if you don’t need one.

The game is meant to be played with other players. You can team up with your friends, or play online with strangers. I keep the strangest gaming hours, so I wasn’t able to play with others. If you are like me and don’t have friends, the solo experience is fantastic. You can run dungeons with a single hero, or you can run them with four. I liked that I was able to try different characters at once. Both experiences felt vastly different, and they kept the game fresh. The difficulty of the dungeon scales was based on the number of characters in the party, but I felt the scaling was fair.

Demeo is a ton of fun and a must-buy if you like playing board games. The game is available on Steam, PlayStation, Pico, Meta Quest, and Epic Games for $39.99.

Make sure you follow them on Twitter to stay up to date on all the news.

If you have been enjoying my content and want to support what I do, please consider buying me a coffee

If you have been enjoying my content and want to support what I do, please consider buying me a coffee

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