As more and more classic survival horror adjacent action adventure games arrive lately, I keep being occasionally pleasantly surprised by the inventiveness of some of the projects. Even if the title ultimately disappoints, the creativity behind it can show new ways this genre can be done, as if it’s finally trying to break the mould it has been stuck in for decades. Broken Pieces is not a disappointment, however, even if it is a bit of a mess.
Tag: game review
Thoughts on: SIGNALIS
The revival of classic survival horror continues and it’s nice to see more games that call themselves “survival horror” actually be a title that at least somewhat adheres to the main pillars of the genre. SIGNALIS did not catch my eye when I first saw it, but the more I heard of it, the more curious I got. And since after release it has gotten a lot of praise, I couldn’t pass on the opportunity to play it myself. It’s neat to see the genre taken to other camera angles and controls and the top down (and sometimes first person) perspective of SIGNALIS, while not novel for the genre (see Heaven Dust), was seriously underrepresented. Plus, this title most certainly has style. Unfortunately, that’s the best it can do.
Disapprove: Q.U.B.E. 10th Anniversary
I can’t think of any other example of the series, where each following release is progressively worse and more pointless, but somehow Q.U.B.E. manages to do this over and over again. The original game from 2011 was, and still is, a fantastic in its minimalist simplicity first person physics based puzzle game that takes under 3 hours to complete and looks really cool despite its somewhat outdated visuals. And now, after a pointless Director’s Cut and terribly boring Q.U.B.E. 2 we have Q.U.B.E. 10th Anniversary which promises to be an improved and definitive remaster of the original game but in reality it’s… Oh boy…
O tempora: Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth
O tempora is a series of retrospective posts where I play games from ages before to see if they stood the test of time.
Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth has always been janky. Released in 2005 on the original Xbox and half a year later on PC it looked outdated, it had tons of problems and was ridiculously hard at moments. Nonetheless, it was also beloved by many despite its issues, because it created a genuinely fantastic atmosphere and was full of memorable moments and ideas unlike anything else in videogames. I liked the game when it got released, but always dreaded returning to it due to countless frustrating elements it had. But it was the time to finally take the dive and see how the game feels in 2022.
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Thoughts on: No one lives under the lighthouse (Director’s cut)
I’ve seen the entirety of No one lives under the lighthouse played 2 years ago out of curiosity and while it seemed like a cute horror title, it wasn’t my cup of tea and some of the questionable late game moments made it so I wasn’t interested in playing it myself. Recently, however, I was reminded of the title and have discovered that since the release the title was updated to the Director’s cut, which almost entirely remade the second half of the title. It got me intrigued enough to give the title a chance and… well, it’s still kinda neat, but I can’t say that it’s much better than it originally was.
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O tempora: Final Fantasy VII
O tempora is a series of retrospective posts where I play games from ages before to see if they stood the test of time.
After revisiting the first 6 entries in the franchise due to fantastic Pixel Remaster re-releases, I decided that it was finally time to revisit the PlayStation 1 era of Final Fantasy. Starting with the game that is incredibly influential and possibly still most famous and successful entry in the series – Final Fantasy VII.
Thing about FFVII is that while it has been my introduction to the series, as it had been to many, it was still years after it originally launched and after the experience with other jRPGs. And my original copy of the game was used with a highly scratched disc, so I had to postpone the completion of the game several times because my PS1 would occasionally stop reading the disc correctly and freezing during scene changes. It wasn’t the best possible experience and for a long time I thought it was the main reason why I didn’t care about this title as much as many others do. But upon revisiting it again, I have to say that FFVII is just not quite my thing, even if I got to like it far more this time. I can’t say the experience with the current PC version is pleasant, however.
Happy about: Prodeus
The classic FPS revival continues. And by now the market is so saturated, it’s hard to care about most of these titles, especially since so many of them end up being mediocre. Prodeus was announced when people still paid attention, however, and after a Kickstarter campaign and several years in Early Access it’s finally out. And while it’s most certainly not mediocre, it is a very simple take on the genre. The one focused almost purely on fast paced action and style. Thankfully, it does it really well.
O tempora: Red Faction and Red Faction II
O tempora is a series of retrospective posts where I play games from ages before to see if they stood the test of time.
It has been a very long time since I’ve played Red Faction last time. So much so that I’ve actually remembered the game being about twice longer than it actually is. Luckily, it isn’t and it still plays surprisingly well. With the help of a few mods, this title is still quite exciting. Unlike its sequel, but we’ll get to that.
Happy about: Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered
I tend to not care about open world titles that much as it’s exceedingly rare the whole “open world” bit isn’t there just for marketing reasons and to make the game pointlessly longer. And it tends to be that the best open world titles I play are great because they use the whole open world aspect as a backdrop to something that could, for all intents and purposes, have been done without the world being open. But there have been a few exceptions so far, where I enjoyed the open world game for the openness of the world. And my previous go to example used to be [Prototype]. Now that the 2018 PS4 exclusive Marvel’s Spider-Man (in its 2020 PS5 Remastered version) have been finally ported to PC, however, I think I have a new benchmark.
O tempora: Chrono Trigger (the PC port)
O tempora is a series of retrospective posts where I play games from ages before to see if they stood the test of time.
Chrono Trigger doesn’t need an introduction. If you’ve ever been interested in jRPGs, you’ve heard of it. If you’re not interested in jRPGs, I’m sure you are aware of it anyway. It is often called to be one of the greatest videogames of all time and, in my opinion, that title is rightfully deserved. And while I will continue on talking about what makes the game so great, I’ll spoil it right away – absolutely worth playing, fantastic soundtrack, great characters, exciting story, 10 out of 10 would time travel again.
But there’s a catch. For whatever reason, ever since its original release in 1995 on SNES, it has never gotten a re-release that a game of this greatness truly deserves. And this current PC port, despite numerous updates that fixed most game breaking issues, remains a rather poor, yet somehow the only, way to get and play the game nowadays.