game review – Page 39

Happy about: Blood: Fresh Supply

13/05/2019 24/01/2025

In the mid to late 90s I didn’t have a “modern” PC, so a lot of games were experienced at friends’ places. And somehow, despite loving Wolfenstein 3D and Doom, everyone in my circle was far more into Build Engine games. Duke Nukem 3D was the obvious choice, but we also played Shadow Warrior, Redneck Rampage, Witchaven and, of course, Blood. Every game in this list was unique, going for a specific mood, using the engine capabilities to create something memorable. And Blood, the first project of Monolith Productions, was going for horror. Back than, it was a dark, yet extremely stylish and explosive FPS with all the best Build features. Lots of scenery could explode, levels could change based on player input and despite having a rather horizontally-focused design, levels could have a lot of vertical depth as well.

Today… Well, despite being available for a while on GOG in its most complete official release (One Unit Whole Blood), I was waiting for a good engine port of the game, which could introduce at least some of modern quality of life features. For the longest, BloodXL looked most promising, but then the project went quiet. Thankfully, Nightdive Studios, who has already proven themselves in reviving classic FPS titles, announced their take on the project. And Blood: Fresh Supply is the result. For all intents and purposes, the game is as good as it was back in 97, making this an “o tempora” category post, yet the additional features are so good that Blood can be enjoyed as a completely fresh FPS, without the need for a lot of tinkering.

Thoughts on: Final Fantasy XV (with all DLCs)

06/05/2019 04/06/2019

Out of all games in the series, Final Fantasy XV had the most confusing and difficult development history. Originally announced as part of the “Fabula Nova Crystallis” series within the FF series back in 2006 it was supposed to be a spin-off title called Final Fantasy Versus XIII. Released 10 years, several complete overhauls, team changes and story rewrites later a lot of people still found it a bit rough and unfinished. Yet another 3 years later, with its final piece of content released, Final Fantasy XV is as complete as it could be. And a bit of a mess. Though, an enjoyable one at that.

Thoughts on: Wandersong

30/04/2019 24/01/2025

Ever since the indie game development scene exploded 10 years ago I’ve seen quite a few projects that were not simply amazing but also easily rivaling games made on a much higher budget by much bigger teams. Quite a few games, however, felt like their budget, being fun and serviceable, yet ultimately rough, unrefined, clunky and often forgettable. There’s been a share of absolute stinkers too, of course, which either never had any passion put behind them or that passion was simply not enough to make the game any good. Wandersong doesn’t fit any of these. It’s a deeply flawed and unrefined game that has so much passion and heart put into it that it’s anything but forgettable.

Thoughts on: Get Even

18/04/2019 24/01/2025

When The Farm 51, a Polish studio originally founded by some of the ex-People Can Fly people, announced Get Even, I expected it to be more or less a straight action game. But the game turned out to be something very different from their previous work and incredibly ambitious. Sometimes to a fault.

Disapprove: Resonance of Fate 4K/HD EDITION

13/04/2019 28/06/2019

Many years ago I had a chance to check out a few hours of Resonance of Fate (also known as End of Eternity) on my friend’s PS3. I didn’t get too far but told myself that I must return to that game someday, simply due to how amazing the combat system in it was. Well, now I have. It wasn’t as pleasant of an experience as I’ve hoped for.

Thoughts on: Minit

02/04/2019 02/04/2019

Minit is a curious little idea for an action adventure title (with clear Zelda influences) that manages to both successfully achieve what it wanted to do, and yet also be a slight disappointment.

Thoughts on: Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden

28/03/2019 28/03/2019

It’s (sadly) rare to see a mid-budget release in this day and age, but Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden, based on the newest variation of the Swedish tabletop franchise Mutant called “Mutant – År Noll”, is exactly that. It’s a game made by a rather small studio with the support of Funcom on Unreal Engine, that tries to do a lot, while also clearly trying to be very smart with budget planning for every little thing. It’s also a curious mix of a turn-based action RPG with tactical combat similar to the XCOM reboot, a stealth game and light survival elements in regards to very tight resource planning. And it succeeds more often than it fails.

Thoughts on: Yakuza Kiwami

22/03/2019 22/03/2019

For years I have been curious about Yakuza series. Last year I finally had the chance to experience it with Yakuza 0 and it was quite a trip. After finishing Yakuza Kiwami, a remake of the original Yakuza from 2005, I have to say – I’m actually glad Zero was my first Yakuza experience.

Read more“Thoughts on: Yakuza Kiwami”

In love with: killer7 (on PC)

14/03/2019 28/06/2019

Writing about something like killer7 new PC port is a bit weird. On one hand, this is very much a revisit of a game from 2005, originally on GameCube and PlayStation 2, that I have played (though never finished) back in the day. Making this a bit of a retrospective post, like my O tempora series. Yet at the same time, this new PC port of the game, despite not bringing big changes, can play so much differently, that it’s hard not to approach it as if it was a new game entirely. So I will try to look at the game from both perspectives – as a replay of a cult classic game from 14 years ago, and as a completely new title you might’ve never heard before and might want to check out. May the lord smile and the devil have mercy.

Quick thoughts on: Late Shift

07/03/2019 07/03/2019

I remember when the idea of an “interactive movie” sounded like something absolutely amazing. What we got instead were barely interactive and rather poor in quality adventure games with questionable Dragon Lair-ish design. After a while, even rather well put together proper adventure games built on live action scenes stopped happening and after the late 90s there were almost no games based around the idea of using FMVs as a basis. That is, until several years ago when “FMV games” started popping up again here and there. They were mostly traditional FMV adventure games, like the return of Tex Murphy or Contradiction, and as such it wasn’t surprising to see them learn on the mistakes of older titles of the similar sort. Imagine my surprise when I learned that Late Shift is very much that “interactive movie” idea that you’d see with Dragon Lair and dread to remember. And that it somehow works this time.