McKay Review

Siphex's Rating: 3/10

Platform: RL

I'm rating my friend, McKay, this time. He has most of the same features as your standard friend: arms, legs, and probably a forehead. He exhibits most of the same behaviors too like: lack of reasoning skills, odd sleeping patterns, and limited gaming prowess.

One of the main reasons he received such a low score though is his lack of control. He has trouble recognizing or acting on voice commands. McKay also lacks expansion slots for improvements. Modifying his behavior is time consuming and uninspiring at best. One atypical behavior he possesses is his extremely delayed response time to messages. Let's face it, if he was a computer he would have been disposed of by now. 

He does have a few merits, such as the ability to entertain me with foolish ideas. He, of course, presents them as possible actionable ideas, but that's what is so humorous about him. He requires little investment so if you have low expectations you might not be too disappointed. 

Transistor Review

Siphex's Rating: 9/10

Platforms: PS4
                  Steam: Windows, Linux, Mac

This is a great game and I recommend it. It has the great story telling elements of Bastion but with a whole new story. The game was developed by the same people who made Bastion so this wasn't too surprising. The game play is also unique and well thought out. It keeps you immersed with a simple on screen display that provides enough information without getting in the way.

The story is really well narrated in a similar fashion to bastion but is a little more upbeat. Transistor is the one narrating as you progress because the main character, Red, has lost her voice. The art style is incredible and unique while the transitions between areas flow just perfectly. The futuristic setting of the game appealed to me as well.

The game play is separated into two parts. You can either move and attack with functions you collect or you can activate a turn based option. It may not sound exciting but it's done a unique way that I found to be impressive. You can customize the functions that Transistor utilizes to suit your style of play. The turn based mode really shines when you are low on health. It can help you evade danger and/or position you to attack better.

The only reason I knocked a point of my rating is because of the difficulty. There isn't any difficulty options. Some people play games for the story and some people play them for the challenge but not everyone has the same skill level so some difficulty options would have been nice.

Developers Website for Transistor: https://www.supergiantgames.com/games/transistor/
Wikipedia Page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transistor_(video_game)

First

First!!!