ROSS’S GAME DUNGEON: HALLOWEEN SAMPLER #1

That first game looks like it was made with a RPG marker with the graphics it uses.

Don't interrupt me.

No, Ross. The intro is iconic and should never be glossed over.  This is pavlov's dog: you ring the bell and bring out the food. We're all still eating but also experiencing acute mental anguish. 

hey so, here's something that might help with the gamepad stuff - Steam has built-in controller support that supports most PC gamepads, where you can rebind buttons and keys to anything on the controller. might help solve the problems you have with Xinput and 3rd-party controller emulators. its a huge, super in-depth thing that i feel like almost nobody knows about, and it works with essentially any Steam game, too.

Thanks a lot Ross, you are the best!

Btw, the new page seems very good.

I don't object to you using an old controller, but I do weep to see anyone using a controller with one of those disgraceful blob d-pads.

Good to see you're back Ross. By the way, I think you should do more episodes like this, where you quickly review more than one game. Because I feel that there's a lot of games that deserve to be in the show, but at the same time don't present much material for a full Game Dungeon episode.

Anyway, here's my thoughts on the games you covered:

1. Camp Sunshine - Somewhat reminds me of Ao Oni, maybe due to the fact that you can hide to avoid the monster/killer, big difference is that in Ao Oni that CAN backfire if the monster is right behind you. Anyway, this doesn't look like a bad game overall, but not one I'm interested at the moment.
2. Lakeview Cabin - I think the main problem with the Xbox controller is that I think they designed it more with analog sticks in mind, especially because not only the D-pad is in a awkward position, it's not as good as far as D-pads go. I've tried to run Fusion (a Genesis/Mega Drive emulator) using one, and I find it awful to imput directional commands. As for the game itself... Well, looking on the bright side, it doesn't look cryptic like a Sierra adventure game. (or the Pumpkinhead game)
3. Halloween Harry (a.k.a. Alien Carnage) - Good to see a game that I suggested, even if it is for a short time. Despite me not considering it a bad game, I have to agree that it didn't aged well. One problem is the "fake" secrets that Ross mentioned, but I also would add that this game suffers from "Duke Nukem Syndrome", just like MANY PC platformers, in which the levels are maze-like but the game gives you very little to help you navigate and don't get lost.
4. Still Not Dead - Since you liked this game, I think you should try Ziggurat. It's a Rogue-like/FPS hybrid, and everytime you level up you choose skills randomly. It has a different approach, since it's more about exploring randomly-generated level to find the Boss and proceed to the next one (like a regular Rogue-like), but that's the game that came to my mind when I saw this video. My only complaint about it is that EXP is dropped as a item that CAN disappear, instead of being instantly earned. On the plus side, this game has evil carrots.

On 10/27/2018 at 7:51 AM, Presence said:

I don't object to you using an old controller, but I do weep to see anyone using a controller with one of those disgraceful blob d-pads.

That's a issue I have with the XBox 360 controller.

On 10/28/2018 at 1:23 PM, RaTcHeT302 said:

(...)

Eh? I don't find the Xbox controller to be that awful, it's just the D-pad that sucks balls and it's on an awkward position.

The N64 controller on the other hand... Yeah, I will not argue that.

On 10/28/2018 at 3:18 AM, Kaiosama TLJ said:

1. Still Not Dead - Since you liked this game, I think you should try Ziggurat. It's a Rogue-like/FPS hybrid, and everytime you level up you choose skills randomly. It has a different approach, since it's more about exploring randomly-generated level to find the Boss and proceed to the next one (like a regular Rogue-like), but that's the game that came to my mind when I saw this video. My only complaint about it is that EXP is dropped as a item that CAN disappear, instead of being instantly earned. On the plus side, this game has evil carrots.

 

Although I have never played Ziggurat, I would recommend Immortal Redneck, which is a game in the same genre (and from what you say uses the exact same formula) but where the protagonist is a redneck. That would also tie up with the game Ross reviewed for moon gaming, although the character is not really interesting. It has inspiration from Serious Sam also.

Subs up!