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Velvet Crowe

velvet_crowe
Member Since
03 Jun 2010
N/A
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1209
ratings
1209
Games
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collections
2
Recent ratings
3214
Minireviews
113
Starred reviews
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1209
Games
See all ratings
2
Recent ratings
3214
Minireviews
113
Starred reviews
Bio: Former journalist, invested in humanities, fitness, and consuming garbage. Probably one of the few Criticker users who actually read comics and plays competitive video games. Subtlety is overrated. https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/176986912-drew https://twitter.com/DrewStr56396515
Recent Ratings
72 63%
The Bunker (2016) - Rated 01 Oct 2026
A lot of people seem to hate this because its interactivity is low and I do think that's a valid criticism. The only time you really have to engage with it is the numberpad at the end and the solution to that is extremely tedious. I'm not above appreciating "story games" like this but I also think this game is overly limited in what you can actually interact with or discover through exploration. It's extremely railroaded in a way that makes the... - Full Review
57 41%
Judero (2024) - Rated 01 Oct 2026
I'm a pretty big fan of Jack Spooner, but I also come at this acknowledging that his strengths aren't really in making fun games. Judero is his attempt at making a more conventional game as opposed to his usual glorified walking sims with maybe a light gameplay element here or there. This game I do think displays some talent for game design but I feel it's a case of Spooner being more interested in his quirky aesthetic and thematic vision than... - Full Review
57 41%
Divinity: Dragon Commander (2013) - Rated 23 Aug 2026
A lot of neat novelties but god if this isn't tedious to play. Most maps start off with you running away from enemy swarms until you get enough resources to nuke them. EVERY map plays out the exact same way and there isn't any diversity in units in how they can utilize terrain or map layouts. But man, it's weird how much I like the in between the battles and boring map screen. Really makes me wish there was a better game built around that because it's the one thing I actually enjoy here.
58 43%
Paper Perjury (2024) - Rated 16 Aug 2026
Paper Perjury is interesting in that it never dwells much on its establishment. It takes its cues from Phoenix Wright and its inspirations, but those titles typically spend a lot of time establishing their overarching hook before it gets going on their mystery. Phoenix Wright needed to nail how important Mia Fey is, Danganronpa had to establish its cast and death game, Aviary Attorney had to weave in its setting, etc. Here the establishment barely matters; the only thing that matters is the base - Full Review
72 63%
Overboard! (2021) - Rated 12 Aug 2026
Kind of a trial and error thing to piece together the optimal routes and I do think it gets kinda tiring to go through the same steps every time to figure out a new piece of the puzzle but I feel it's eventful and short enough to not over stay its welcome.
90 95%
Fire Emblem: Illuminated (2025) - Rated 01 May 2026
What makes this incredible is that on top the maps having a lot of cool gimmicks and playing with a lot of cool setpieces it also a phenomenal narrative. The lead characters relationship lands but the supporting cast all have a solid narrative beats that make the whole party have value. Limiting the party to 16 units is rough for iron man runs but I feel if you're willing to accept playing this without doing so it's possibly one of if not the best romhacks for hte game you can find.
64 51%
Fire Emblem Call of the Armor (2021) - Rated 01 May 2026
The most interesting thing about this is the novel way it was produced. But it's also GBA FE at its bare minimum mechanically, and the level design was all over the place. Levels could have some obnoxious reinforcements that are poorly telegraphed while others are at best passable route maps. Units are poorly balanced which is probably to justify itself trying to be iron man friendly but over compensating for iron man runs is just really lame in my view. Story is forgettable.
71 61%
Pokemon Odyssey (2025) - Rated 01 May 2026
The narrative is too obvious and cheesy that it somehow manages to only illicit apathy from me at every corner. But I think I do like this despite the enemy ai being dumb and the game being overly generous on what it gives you because the novelty is neat! I just wish there was more done with it. The balancing is good, but it feels like there isn't much strategy in your opponents. The structure is novel, but it's too self-contained in the dungeon and could do more with the side plot stuff.
53 33%
Anodyne (2013) - Rated 20 Jan 2026
Anodyne is perhaps the best title to give this game because that's how I felt playing this. It almost lands in terms of gameplay. The main issue is that enemies rarely pose much threat to you on virtue that none of them can hurt you more than one health piece, including the bosses. The only exceptions are two enemy types that you can't hurt anyway and are designed for the purpose of avoiding. The ghosts are placed in wide open spaces so avoiding... - Full Review
38 17%
Nantucket (2018) - Rated 17 Jan 2026
The general gameplay loop is boring. There's a lot of dead air moving from place to place, so much so I actually took out my phone during this. Sometimes you get an event to break up the pace which come in two flavors; a combat encounter and an event with mild consequences. The former is pretty bland. Combat is entirely based on RNG and you don't have any means to really manipulate it beyond out stat checking failures. You can get unique skills... - Full Review