game review – Page 18

O tempora: Syberia I & II

23/01/2022 23/01/2022

O tempora is a series of retrospective posts where I play games from ages before to see if they stood the test of time.

Twenty years ago in 2002 when Syberia was released, the point and click adventures were on a decline. It wasn’t like the genre didn’t have any recent fantastic examples, The Longest Journey being from a few years before. But otherwise, it felt as if nobody really knew at the time what to do with the genre and how to approach it. And to be absolutely frank, Syberia itself often times felt like it didn’t really know how to approach the genre either, yet it so elegantly stumbled through its beautiful locations with its wonderful magic realist story that it pretty soon became a critical darling at least in some circles. And also started a short, but pretty decent run of adventure titles made by Microïds that ended around the time of the Sinking Island.

While I have played both Syberia and its sequel when they were new, and did enjoy them (the original more than the second game), I haven’t replayed them ever since until now.

Read more“O tempora: Syberia I & II”

Thoughts on: Moncage

18/01/2022 18/01/2022

Puzzle games or sequences in games built around perspective and optical illusions are tricky to do well. You have to direct player view to the patterns you wish them to see, but without robbing them of the eureka moment of finding it, provide them with a goal without turning the process into just solving problems, keeping the joy of discovery intact. Antichamber, Gorogoa or even The Witness (for all of its countless issues) are great examples of titles that do that well, at least for the most part. Moncage isn’t. It’s not bad, but playing it isn’t particularly fun.

O tempora: Final Fantasy IV (Pixel Remaster)

13/01/2022 13/01/2022

O tempora is a series of retrospective posts where I play games from ages before to see if they stood the test of time.

Final Fantasy IV has not been the first Final Fantasy I played. But it is the only title in the franchise so far that I’ve played more than twice. In fact, this Pixel Remaster playthrough has been the… fourth playthrough, I believe. As I’ve previously played through the original “Final Fantasy II” release, the unofficial translation of FFIV, the Final Fantasy Chronicles release on PS1 and the Final Fantasy IV Advance version on the GBA. I’ve also attempted to play the 3D remake for DS, but extremely disliked the visual style and changes to the game. Hence, why I was so excited about the Pixel Remaster version coming – hopefully the “ultimate” remaster of the original version of the game, available for generations to come. And this version is pretty much exactly that.

In love with: Exo One

07/01/2022 07/01/2022

I remember seeing the Kickstarter for Exo One back in 2017 and being confused and inspired at the same time. On one hand, an idea about an exploration game where you use a spaceship marble to explore planets sounded extremely fun. On another – very limited and hard to imagine past the concept stage. Four years later Exo One is finally here to disprove my doubts. I mean, sure, it is still quite limited in potential. But what it does is still far more than I could ever expect.

In love with: Life is Strange: True Colors

31/12/2021 31/12/2021

I have a weird relationship with the Life is Strange series. I hated the original when I first played it and only after giving it a second chance three years later understood why people liked it. Even so, despite my newfound respect, I didn’t quite love it as much as I wanted to see it evolve and become as good as it could be. Before the Storm was also played late, mostly because of the reception the game got. And yet, I liked it far more and in fact, spoilers, it remains my favorite entry in the series as of now. Then there was Life is Strange 2 which had so many pointless and bizarre decisions and detours in the story that by the end it ended up feeling like a mess. So I was glad that True Colors was going to be handled by Deck Nine, who worked on Before the Storm, and had high hopes for this one. It didn’t quite stick the landing.

In love with: Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy

26/12/2021 26/12/2021

When I saw the announcement trailer for Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy and the gameplay it was showcasing, I immediately wrote the game off as something that I’m not going to play. But then the game got released to extremely positive reviews and even some people I know personally played it and praised it. So I decided to give it a go and see for myself what was so good about this game that looked so boring in the previews. And, well, the bits that were shown are indeed quite boring. It’s just that the rest of the game is shockingly fantastic.

Disapprove: Happy Game

22/12/2021 22/12/2021

Well, I suppose it was inevitable that Amanita Design would make a terrible game eventually. But I was hoping it wouldn’t happen.

O tempora: Final Fantasy III (Pixel Remaster)

18/12/2021 18/12/2021

O tempora is a series of retrospective posts where I play games from ages before to see if they stood the test of time.

Of the three NES Final Fantasy titles that I tried playing years ago, FF3 was the one that get me hooked. I still dropped it at around a quarter of the story in, but I was planning to return someday. I even gave the 3D Remake version of the game a chance, even though I really disliked the style and approach to those DS Remakes. But it wasn’t until now that I’ve finally finished Final Fantasy III. And I really liked it.

Ugly duckling: Enter the Matrix, Path of Neo

13/12/2021 13/12/2021

Ugly duckling is a series of posts talking about games that could’ve been great, but were not.

Some licensed tie-in games are loved, some are forgotten. Some are fun to play, some are not. Some are very budget minded and simple, some are ambitious. The games based around The Matrix were ambitious and quite curious. Though, perhaps, the most successful and arguably fun of them was The Matrix Online, that I won’t be talking about here. Still, both action titles in the franchise – Enter the Matrix and The Matrix: Path of Neo, – were games I was considering replaying for a while now. Intrigued if I will like them more than I did back when they just came out. And I suppose I did. Though, not by much.

Thoughts on: F.I.S.T.: Forged In Shadow Torch

09/12/2021 09/12/2021

I tend to prefer exploration focused action adventure platformers, aka metroidvanias, to be about the exploration. By now we’ve seen so many games of this type emphasizing one or several building blocks of the genre that there’s plenty of choice for everyone. F.I.S.T.: Forged In Shadow Torch, the first major release by the Chinese-based TiGames, is a metroidvania focusing on action, story and somewhat realistic architecture. So in a way it works like a mix of Shadow Complex and Guacamelee! and does a good job at it.