11.14.17

Ricky J. Hamilton

Bulbware has brought us a creepy point and click adventure title that delights as often as it scares.

You play as the titualr Bulb Boy, a scrawny youngin' with a bulbous light bulb for a head. Thankfully (horrifyingly?), your light bulb head is removable. This will come in to play later. So, how does a horror puzzle game play out? Is it an illuminating experience, or will it leave us in the dark?

We start the game off with Bulb Boy listening to a story from his dear old grandfather. whom nods off while mid-sentence. At least, we'll assume that it was mid-sentence because the characters speak in gibberish and word balloons that hint at what they are discussing. Sometimes, they word balloons will pop up as hints to completing a puzzle, so pay attention if you become stuck. Anyways, once Papa Bulb nods off, Bulb Boy indicates that he also wants to sleep by saying (imagining?) a bed... with a conveniently placed arrow pointing to the right. So, we head to the door to the right, but it won't open. OK, so like any other point and click adventure game, we need to interact with things in the room to figure out our puzzle. The first room throws you off a little by giving you some things that you can do that aren't directly related to the puzzle itself, but are also fun ways of interacting with the environment (hint: pick up the glove on the floor while the television is on).

This first puzzle also shines a little light on what will be a lot of the charm behind this game- and that is Bulb Boy's maniacal glee that belies his youthful innocence. Beyond this weird quirkiness that we find in not only our protagonist, but also his pet and grandfather during later flashbacks...we also exist in an obviously green world with an interesting, nostalgic cartoon art style. It calls to mind early cartoons, but what they would look like under direction from David Fincher and smoothed over by an HD filter. The game not only has gorgeous visuals, but entrancing music, and creepy sound effects sure to keep you on edge. The game is full of little pop culture references that will bring a smile to your face. 

After you go to your room for bed, you will be treated to a little cutscene that sets up the story of the game. Some dark matter floats into your light bulb home, and kidnaps your grandfather. You now must explore your home to discover what the dark matter is, and how to rid your house of it.

Controls are simple, and intuitive. The left stick moves Bulb Boy back and forth, and controls the cursor when investigating drawers, cupboards, and under furniture. At the appropriate moments. you can unscrew your head and toss it on to chandeliers hanging from the ceiling, which can be used to avoid obstacles that would otherwise block your movement. There will also be other opportunities for you to place your head in other advantageous positions, but I'll let you explore and discover those for yourself. A is your default action button, and you use the left and right shoulder buttons to navigate your collected inventory. The puzzles themselves are just as intuitive as the controls. You click on anything around that room that lights up, and if you can't leave the room yet, it usually just takes a little bit of poking around and experimentation to get yourself unstuck. The puzzles are satisfying once solved, and there are even a few occasional boss fights that are reaction based to keep things a little more interesting as you traverse your house and solve the mystery. 

There are some genuine jump scares to be had, and there are lots of weird moments that will leave you laughing, creeped out, or just feeling uneasy. It is a great experience, although somewhat short. There isn't a lot of replay value, but it's an excellent amount of content for the price.

You can find reviews for more video games at my personal blog.

Developer: id Software                            Publisher: Bethesda

Release Date: 11.10.17

This isn't a game you can camp out in. No, you need to run around and stun your enemies, perform a glory kill to get some health before moving on to the next 6 guys trying to kill you. The action is non stop and drool worthy. 

While you don the well known Praetor suit, you will find that throughout the game you can purchase upgrades for it. But not only that, you can also upgrade weapons that you find on dead bodies. Many of them offer multiple upgrades that you can quickly cycle through to use the one you most need for any given situation.

You begin the game in a facility on Mars that has clearly been fairly destroyed. Doomguy has been continuing to find his way in to Hell, so you will be doing just that...finding your way to Hell (probably the only time in your life that you will actively do so). 

This game runs smoothly on the handheld platform and really, the graphics are just breath taking. While you run around, slaying demons, don't forget to take a moment to take in the beautifully rendered scenery around you. Take a screencap or two so you can look back on it later and realize that while, yes, you are trying to fight your way in to Hell, you're really in some very beautiful areas.

When id made this game for Switch, they definitely had it in mind to play as a handheld game rather than a home console game. The game runs at 720p, so it looks incredible when you are playing it handheld. However, when you dock the game the quality is a bit lost. My biggest issue was that playing the game docked on a 55" TV, I had to squint to read the text. IT was so tiny that I felt it took away a little bit from the experience.

Overall, I am incredibly impressed by Doom. The campaign is incredible, the multiplayer is really fun, and the arcade mode gives it a fun twist. I recommend this game to anyone that has been looking for a shooter game on Switch.