Despite seeing a lot of talk about Whispers of a Machine for a while, I wasn’t planning on playing it myself. You see, the game was developed by two development teams, one of whom previously made Kathy Rain and the others The Samaritan Paradox and I’ve dropped both of those games after a few hours of playing. They just weren’t all that good, despite both having cool ideas of their own. Then, as it occasionally happens, this game landed in my library due to a game bundle so I’ve decided to give it a go. I’m glad that I have.
Tag: game review
Disapprove: Armikrog.
I was very curious about how Armikrog can turn out way back when the Kickstarter project for it got announced. Yet, for many reasons I didn’t have too much hope even then. When it was finally released in 2015 to mostly damning reviews I considered simply forgetting about this game. But recently, after seeing it go on big discount, decided to give it a go and see how bad things really were. Turns out, they weren’t as much “bad” as they were just “tedious” or “poor”.
Happy about: Heaven Dust
Usually when you think of knock-off games you think about something low quality, not particularly good and full of shameless ripping from source material. Well, at least that’s what I think of. And Heaven Dust is an unapologetic knock-off of Resident Evil games. Yet, it’s surprisingly well made, despite being cheap and is actually really good. It does rip stuff directly from its inspirations, though. To the “I’m not sure this is legal to do” degree.
O tempora: Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary (MCC)
O tempora is a series of retrospective posts where I play games from ages before to see if they stood the test of time.
I never played Halo on the “intended platform”. Never owned an Xbox, don’t plan to unless Series X impresses me with something exclusive and unique and even when I was borrowing one of the 360 from a friend of mine, I never ever played Halo on it. Yet, I did play Halo: Combat Evolved. The PC port done by Gearbox Software in 2003 which had some improvements and unique features, but also several bizarre downgrades. And back when I played it, I didn’t like it much. I did, however, feel that it was still a curious game to look at.
With the Master Chief Collection available and slowly updated with supported titles on PC, however, the Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary brings the newest remaster of the original game to PCs. And, being curious about the series for a long time, I’ve decided to give it a go and play the games in the order they were released. As usual for me, I don’t plan to play the multiplayer or even the coop in these games, which is an important point to stress since Halo has always been most loved specifically for those modes. Yet, I feel that even with coop, I wouldn’t have enjoyed this revisit of the original Halo. Because by 2020 its campaign is genuinely unpleasant to go through.
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Thoughts on: Life is Strange 2
Well, it hasn’t been a 3 years wait before I decided to play the next Life is Strange title in line this time. Only slightly over half a year since the last episode of the game. As with the original (and unlike Before the Storm), I wasn’t sure if I want to continue when I started the first episode and it took me a few months of convincing myself to continue. Unlike with the first game, I’m still not quite sure if it was worth it, though.
Disdain: Aliens: Colonial Marines
Ever since release I knew that Aliens: Colonial Marines isn’t a good game. Yet, in space no one can hear how curiosity kills the cat. And it’s almost a shame that despite playing it 7 years later, despite patches, despite other experiences and possible change of perspective, I feel like I still don’t have much to say about this game that hasn’t been already. Not because it’s that bad, but because it’s that mediocre in its poor quality. But, I’ll try to explore this game at least a bit.
Revisiting Crysis and Crysis Warhead
I don’t like Crysis series. I don’t know what is it about this type of an FPS that doesn’t quite click with me, but that’s how it is. Back when Crysis was melting PCs and Microsoft made their silly comparison of how DirectX 10 looks better than 9, I didn’t find the game actually fun to play. Visually stunning, truly an example of technology yet to come and very open-ended in its gameplay. But not fun. I did like Warhead a tiny bit more. Was bored throughout 2 and liked 3 a tiny bit as well. Now, with the Crysis Remastered announced (even if we lack details on the re-release), I decided that it was a good time to revisit the original and it’s spin-off. And now I understand these games a bit better than back 12 years ago.
Happy about: Tangle Tower
I like the pleasant surprises with games. When you’re seeing something that looks very unassuming and then it turns out to be much more than it first appears. While I don’t remember if I’ve ever played the very first original freeware adventure of Detective Grimoire, I did play the second game Detective Grimoire: Secret of the Swamp. It was a cute little thing that didn’t feel that much evolved over the freeware adventure titles you’d see back on Newgrounds, even though it had good visuals and voice acting. So I didn’t expect much from Tangle Tower either. Turns out, this time the developers decided to really step up their game. Even if it’s not all great.
O tempora: Penumbra series
O tempora is a series of retrospective posts where I play games from ages before to see if they stood the test of time.
The influence of Penumbra series is often understated. Overshadowed by the success of the next projects by Frictional Games. The original Penumbra tech demo from 2006 wasn’t the first horror themed title to be in first person. Neither it was the first to emphasize stealth and puzzle solving over action elements. It might’ve not even been the first to work like a first person adventure game with physically interactive objects, since Trespasser (based on Jurassic Park) exists. Yet, in many ways, this changed how first person perspective horror themed games would work from there on.
And I had very fond memories of the games, apart from respect. Returning to them was a bit scary. And the fears turned out to be justified.
Revisiting F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin
When F.E.A.R. 2 was originally released 11 years ago, I enjoyed playing through it, but the overall impressions of the game were mixed. I still remember being disappointed with some clear downgrades or weird changes in comparison with the original title so I was curious how different the perception of the game will be today. Years since we’ve seen the franchise effectively die, years since Monolith Productions were known and loved for making great FPS titles. I suppose, time mends the disappointments as replaying F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin was actually very enjoyable.