If you’ll do me a solid and give me a moment of your time to make my case, you’ll see why your money would be better spent on lotto tickets or bribing bums to fight (actually please don’t do that it’s really not that entertaining… I mean, uh, nice. Right.).

While the premise is played out, you could argue that it still works on the whole.

Basically, these kids open up Pandora’s Box (in this case, it’s a staff and a malicious entity) and it’s up to them to right the wrongs they’ve unleashed, saving daddy or resident shaman Jambee by collecting the broken pieces of the staff on four separate planets.

You’ve seen this in everything from Finding Nemo to 28 Weeks Later – idiot kids can’t follow instructions, shit hits the fan for everyone in the land and then hopefully someone learns a lesson or two in the process of cleaning up the mess.

The animation looks like it’s straight out of some b-rate children’s cartoon, but I’d hazard a guess that it’s kind of the point.

It’s rather apparent how the game’s targeted at a younger audience, considering how everything from the opening cutscene to the enemy critters try to come off as cute. I suppose you could say they succeeded to that end, but last I checked not all munchkins are exclusively into warm fuzzies. Some of them might enjoy a more stylistic aesthetic, better characters or even some degree of artistic depth.

I could be wrong though, maybe they still watch that Dora The Explorer like there’s no tomorrow.

Credit where credit’s due though, I suppose. Let’s put the be-rattle to the side for a quick moment to highlight the few things that this game does right.

Considering that the targeted demographic for this game is targeted at ankle-biters finally done with the hundredth re-run of Blues Clues, the gameplay is accessible and easy to pick up for beginners.

The controls are by no means clunky, responding accurately and how you’d expect them to.

JUJU also offers co-operative play, where a parent or playdate can take on the role of Peyo and share the screen with Player 1. This provides the opportunity for bonding and shared experiences, and the idea of gaming bringing people together is one I’m totally on board for.

The sounds aren’t particularly terrible, which is a saving grace. If you’re not dashing into or jumping on top of objects or critters in this game, you’ll probably be unleashing a song which functions as the general ‘interact’ button.

I’m all for the idea that music can change the world, beating baddies and converting creatures as you go about your merry way. The soundtrack itself isn’t great by any means, but not exactly cacophonic either. Make what you will of that.

A full play-through of the game only takes a couple of hours, but there is a decent bit of replay value in JUJU.

After your first run through, you unlock greater difficulty modes and a time attack variant. There are hidden rooms and collectables scattered across each Level, alongside lots of achievements to unlock.

You can witness the birth of an achievement obsessed perfectionist in action as they replay the Level over and over to find that one goddamned panel that leads to the secret room where the final handful of this game’s coin or gem equivalents have been hiding. I still haven’t made my mind up as to whether or not that’s a good thing.

Boss battles are definitely some of the high points that this game has to offer.

There’s a reasonably steep difficulty curve that rears its ugly head as soon as you start developing new skills and abilities, making the game surprisingly tough for what you’d assume would be tailored at  junior or casual gamers.

On co-op though, it’s a welcome challenge.

You do have to essentially beat every boss twice though, as your first encounter gives you a taste before they run off and pick up a couple more tricks to bash you over the head with later.

It takes a bit of pattern memorisation to go toe-to-toe with those bastards, but it’s by no means impossible. Granted, the final boss is tough enough to give seasoned players a run for their money, taking three or four tries before you finally get it down pat. Perhaps this is where the kids start picking up all the rage and swearing.

Ultimately though, overall this game is pretty bad. Alright, I think I’m being unfair – at best, JUJU is average.

But given the fact that the realm of gaming is more saturated today than it’s ever been, average may as well be crap. When you borrow as heavily from other games as this title does – and worse yet, don’t match up to the quality that your influences possess, why would anyone pick your game over the originals?

Save yourself the twenty bucks you were going to waste on this title and pick up an old copy of Mario, Zelda or Mega Man and show your kid, nephew, niece, kidnapped child how it’s really done.

The post JUJU – Review appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

This War of Mine reminds you that not everyone is a soldier. Struggling to survive in a city under military control, your ragtag civilian collective has to scavenge, create and trade for the things they need to stay alive. This is, of course, a lot easier said than done.

The first thing that you notice is that the command to start the game isn’t ‘play’ – it’s ‘survive.’

From the get go, this point-and-click title clues you in on the mess you’re about to stumble into. You’re thrown in the deep end, sans the standard hand-holding tutorial.

Honestly though, it was pretty refreshing, and fits right in with the dire vibe this title pushes out. It doesn’t take too long to realise what the different actions are though, and the decisions you’re forced to make escalate in terms of importance and severity very quickly.

During the day, you control a group of war-torn survivors who upgrade and manufacture items through your safehouse. By night, it’s scavenging time.

This War of Mine is equal parts resource management and stealth point-and-clicking.

You have to scavenge or steal to upgrade facilities like water purifiers, workbenches and even furnaces – if it’s not the snipers that get you, it’ll be the cold.

Your characters have varying skills like fast running, better cooking, and better scavenging (really handy as you start off only being able to carry a handful of materials at a time). It’s a constant battle to make sure that your people are fed, well-rested and healthy. It only takes one fruitless scavenge before everyone begins to starve.

The graphics aren’t cutting-edge flashy, and they’re not there to show off.

Don’t get me wrong though – they’re nothing short of beautiful. They’re stripped down, bleak and bare, not too far off from the state of your crew. As a storytelling medium, it more than does the trick.

Fans of the Sin City franchise will feel right at home with the monochrome visuals. This game artfully captures a city in a state of decay, as peripheral elements like flames on the roof of bombed buildings have an almost mesmerising glow.

Under the cover of nightfall, the character of your choosing will skulk through various buildings around the city, pilfering essentials anywhere they can be found. With a limited amount of time, your scavenger needs to scour everything from wardrobes to rubble, all the while evading hostiles and making it out before the sun rises.

Heavier moral questions get asked as your equipment and your needs escalate. Will your moral compass allow you to steal from, or even slay other survivors to stay ahead? And if you do, will you be prepared for the retaliation ahead?

In case you haven’t picked up on it yet, this game is tough.

Expect to starve, get robbed and just generally die a lot. A fair bit of the chaos comes from random chance events.

Do you help that injured man at your door? Or is his posse waiting around the corner to rob you blind and stab your crew? Any wrong turn could be your last, but that is part of the appeal. You’re always on the brink of dying, and you often will, making you revisit choices on new playthroughs and forcing a re-evaluation of your principles in order to stay alive.

As you progress through the game, your needs evolve as you move from surviving to thriving.

While basic items such as timber and scrap electronics are essential for setting up your safehouse, they give way to luxuries such as the moonshine still, allowing you to manufacture precious trading goods.

Your garden can grow herbs that eventually become the tobacco in your home-rolled cigarettes, which in turn can be traded for weapons and ammunition. While your outpost develops, the more you have the more you stand to lose as thieves and threats step up to stifle your advancement.

In terms of tunes, This War of Mine has a very sparing soundtrack.

It’s pretty much just a handful of suspenseful tracks that are on repeat til oblivion. While it does the job (I suppose), it’s pretty bland and unremarkable. While this is arguably the weakest element of the game, it doesn’t exactly impair all that much.

There’s a respectable amount of detail buried within this title. Other survivors in the city have specific needs, such as medicine for their injured, giving you more of an edge when bartering for necessities.

The radio in your safehouse provides a continuous narrative, broadcasting tales of other civilians and their struggle with the military lockdown.

Twisting the tuning dial lets you pick up on different channels, adding snippets to your logbook such as “You’re listening to radio Pogoren. We regret to announce that our colleague, Jovan, died this morning. He was shot by a sniper on his way to work. He will be missed.”

There’s also a practical element to it, as warnings of looters or military raids hit the airwaves before the threats reach your door. Plus, there’s always the classical music station that provides just about the only semblance of ease.

One of the most poignant elements of this title is the human element it expresses in various shapes and forms. Characters feel remorseful for stealing or killing, and their consequent sadness actually affects how they function in the game.

Other characters can console them, but the emotional trauma can cause them to spiral into a full-on depression, leaving them broken and defeated. There are other idiosyncrasies that members of your group will have, such as an affinity for reading books, or the desire for the comforts of a cigarette.

You can try, but you’ll never be able to completely satisfy all of their needs and wants. At some point there will be someone you won’t be able to help. Try as you might, there isn’t always a solution – the best you can do is minimise their suffering.

Ultimately, This War of Mine is more than just a game.

While it is enjoyable and challenging entertainment, it’s also an artful representation of the bleak and terrifying realities of war. The decisions you make are never easy, and every choice carries weight as you do whatever it takes to survive.

The post This War of Mine – Review appeared first on Shane the Gamer.