So Valiant Hearts:
I don't have a lot to say about that wouldn't spoil the experience so i'll do my best to break it down. First thing i'd like to add that i think most would appreciate: VH worked really well as a companion piece to the latest run of hardcore history, so if you want something to compliment your experience i'd highly recommend that you dedicate some time to listen to HH around (probably better that you do it before) the time you play VH.
Having to find a way to describe this to a friend, the quickest way i could get across how plays is to imagine if those old 2d Oddworld games were about WWI instead of, well, whatever the hell they're about. You rarely find yourself fighting shooting or doing anything other that trying to not get killed because, let's face it, WWI was a bloody fucking monster of a war.
The game takes an interesting approach to collectables in that they all have historical blurbs about each and every one of them. One of the issues i had with them is that i found myself jamming the A button all of the time because, more often than not, they would either be kinda hard to spot or you would find yourself running from danger and if you don't pick it up while running then you would need to replay the whole section to get it.
Given all of that, i felt like the collectables just as often took me out of the moment as it did adding any atmosphere to the game and i'm not sure they should've had those items in there at all in the end given that result. Last, the same button you often jam to pick up collectables is also your pet-your-dog button and your give-an-item-to-your-dog button, meaning that the game would halt until you were done showing affection for your pup during a just a bit too long (but cute) animation or you would accidentally give him an item and then have to ask for it back. With so many buttons on the controller going unused you'd figure they'd at least make the pick-up button something different.
The story is well told and the presentation of it is most likely inspired by PBS specials, especially some of the Ken Burn's documentaries. I don't wish to get into the story much other than to say that i found myself sighing at the end, both because i was relieved but also saddened by the events played out.
I really dug this game and can safely recommend it to those that are curious. Might be one of most informative 6 hour games you'll ever play and it's enjoyable, to boot.
I love both retro styled games and pixel art, but I never saw the attraction in Mutant Mudds. I watched some gameplay footage when it came out and it looked boring as heck. Maybe that's why it wasn't successful.
I got it for free through ps+ on the vita. Played it for about 15 minutes and found it too sluggish and not really appealing. Just deleted it. If i remember, the game had some buzz for it back in the day when it released on ios, but it might just have been due to that platform not exactly having a lot of quality games coming out during that early ios era.