Reviews Spotlight: A Kick to the Balls, Lessons in Life, and 255 Players Too Many

Do you sometimes feel as though life is pointless? Do you suffer from spells of anxiety and sadness? Well, have no fear — it’s Sunday, which means the Bitmob Review Spotlight is here to quell your depression and bring joy to your day! From Flash games to MMOs, no game goes unturned as the Bitmob community rates and reviews the hell out of everything in sight.

Chas Guidry gets things started with his impressions of Every Day The Same Dream, a free-to-play flash game which takes the player through the ordinary day of a nameless salary man. As painful as it is pleasing, Every Day is bathed in several layers of agonizing social commentary. Moving toward the lighthearted, Alex R. Cronk-Young gathers his thoughts for a review of Meat Boy, a Flash game with a twisted premise.

Paul Mullin joins us on the Spotlight with a review of MAG, and he’s quickly followed by Rushan Shekar, whose impressions of Vigil Entertainment’s Darksiders are austere, yet fair. In keep with the established “dark” theme, Nathan Thorell investigates the ruined space station in Dead Space: Extraction. Lastly Ryan Conway makes an obligatory appearance with another edition of “For What It’s Worth,” while Andrew Hiscock sheds light on the artistic side of gaming with his review of The Company of Myself.

Groundhog Day: Every Day the Same Dream By Chas Guidry
I stumbled upon this short Flash game a few months back and was immediately enraptured by its intentional sense of dullness. You would be doing yourself a disservice by not looking into this title, and Chas Guidry probably agrees with me. Every Day eschews convention in favor of more simplistic and to-the-point mechanics. Why? Because it does its best to drill a lesson into your head. But you’ll have to read Chas’ review to figure out what that lesson is.

Meat Boy: A Charming Kick in the Balls By Alex R. Cronk-Young
Alex sets the bar for “style” with his review of Meat Boy, a game which puts you into the amorphous, bloody body of the eponymous character and encourages acts of self-harm. While the protagonist’s gelatinous body shakes and wavers, this reviewer’s opinions do not. Alex loves this game, flaws and all. If you’re curious how such a weird game could curry favor with one of Bitmob’s best writers, be sure to read Alex’s complete review.

MAG Review – Just Another Haze By Paul Mullin
Massive Action Game, often shortened to simply “MAG,” pits you and 127 allies against an equally sized opposing army on an enormous virtual battlefield. Upon hearing the game’s concept, most of our imaginations jumped with excitement at the prospect of large-scale skirmishes and a realistic sense of scale. Indeed, MAG offers all these great features — unfortunately, the MMOFPS lacks a certain something. Paul Mullin keeps his thoughts short and punctuates his review with the slogan, “Better is Coming.” I’ll leave you to figure out what that means.

Review: Darksiders By Rushan Shekar

If you’ve played a God of War or a Legend of Zelda game, then you’ve basically played Darksiders — at least, that’s the opinion of Rushan. Regardless, he explains that Vigil Entertainment’s debut title “doesn’t come off as the result of uninspired developers.” Darksiders’ action-adventure mechanics seem less like cheap rip-offs and more like homages to the best franchises of yesteryear. As a freshman developer, Vigil has made its mark with this more-than-mediocre post-apocalyptic slash-em-up. While Rushan doesn’t shy away from poking fun at Darksiders’ protagonist, he seems to have enjoyed this game. If you’re on the fence when it comes to Darksiders, click the link above and allow Rushan’s review to help you settle down on one side.

Dead Space: Extraction (Impressions) By Nathan Thorell
We all loved the original Dead Space. The teeth-chattering anxiety it produced and its daunting atmosphere earned EA’s first survival-horror foray a comfy spot among the legends of the genre. But when the publisher announced an on-rails port for the Wii, most of us felt our hearts stop. How could such a jarringly creepy story make its way to Nintendo’s family-friendly console? Puzzled by the same conundrum, Nathan picked up Dead Space: Extraction and decided to review it. After bearing through the poor controls and irritating quick-time events, he found a genuinely fun experience beneath all the blood and gore. I’m surprised that the likes of Dead Space could translate easily into a linear, controller format. What’s next — Half-Life on-rails? How about Resident Evil? Oh wait…

For What It’s Worth: Bust-A-Move 2 By Ryan Conway

Ryan Conway casually strolls back into the Spotlight with this week’s edition of “For What It’s Worth.” This time he analyzes the price-value correlation of Bust-a-Move 2, a simple arcade puzzler with a long history in the industry. You can find this title on WiiWare, the Xbox Live Arcade, and on mobile devices — but is it worth the $20 which some retailers demand? Ryan’s review will fill you in.

The Company of Myself Unveils Its Art Through Gameplay By Andrew Hiscock
As Andrew puts it, The Company of Myself is a “short Flash game and can easily be played in under 30 minutes.” Andrew warns us to play it before reading his review — so before you finish this Spotlight, I encourage you to do the same thing. I’ll wait…

Now that you’re finished with The Company of Myself, feel free to peer into the deceptively perceptive mind of Andrew Hiscock for a very thorough analysis of this free game.