game review – Page 52

DmC: Devil May Cry. Anger versus cockiness

22/02/2013 13/02/2020

When I first heard about Capcom developing a game based on Divine Comedy where Dante Alighieri is making mincemeat out of demons I rolled my eyes. “This is so stupid, why would anyone want this?” Then the demo of this weird game that was to be called Devil May Cry was added as a bonus to the PS2 release of the new entry in the super popular (and much loved by me) Resident Evil series – the Code Veronica X. I still remember the longstanding joke that most people who got that version spent more time playing the DMC demo than RE: CVX itself. The game became a forerunner for a new genre of action.

When DmC: Devil May Cry was announced people started rolling their eyes and hitting tables with their heads for more or less similar reasons. And yet, just like the last time, the results are pleasantly surprising.

Thoughts on: To the Moon

29/09/2012 30/05/2019

To the Moon, review, обзор

This indie project To the Moon, developed on the lately popular for creation of story-driven and lacking any sort of RPG elements game tool RPG Maker, was released about a year ago and praised by everyone and their cats. For the past year I was constantly hearing about how To the Moon is “the game that will make you cry”. Well, I’ve played it myself now and while I haven’t shed a drop, can confirm that the game is indeed good.

Quick thoughts on: Thirty Flights of Loving

21/08/2012 30/06/2019

Trailer to this tiny game uses a quote from PC Gamer: “Tells a better story in 13 minutes than most games do in 13 hours.” And yeah, this game will take about 10-13 minutes to complete total. It’s a very short story, with broken chronology of events, weird style, emulation of the movies from the 60s (especially the spy and caper movies) and it uses the old Quake 2 engine. It’s a continuation of the Citizen Abel project that already saw a release of a similar in style and background, yet completely free, title called Gravity Bone.

As with Dear Esther, or a better comparison here would be The Graveyard or Fatale, only the customer can decide if they want to pay for this kind of experience. Talking about titles like this is actually quite difficult, so I’d rather say that – I really liked Thirty Flights of Loving, yet I don’t feel like it had any lasting impression on me. Though, the soundtrack here is really good.

Happy about: Max Payne 3

28/06/2012 21/09/2020

Max Payne 3 has looked like a controversial game ever since the announcement. From the start, it had people who refused to believe in a game with Max without NYC and Remedy. It was clear that this franchise, that originally taught early 00s gamers the word “noir” (without explaining what it meant), was to become something else entirely. But change is never just bad or just good.

O tempora: Zork: Grand Inquisitor

07/06/2012 26/04/2020

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’ve never played Zork games. Neither did I ever like Myst-like adventures. Yet, Zork: Grand Inquisitor is one of the best adventure titles I’ve ever played. If this sounds familiar you may have read this wonderful retrospective by Richard Cobbett last year. I’ve decided to give this game a go specifically due to that retrospective. And I’m very glad that I have.

Ugly duckling: Martian Gothic: Unification

06/04/2011 26/10/2019

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

I’ve talked about my love for Dead Space many times. When it was released in 2008, lots of people were excited about the first [RE-like] survival horror in space. But that’s not true. Dead Space was the first good (I’d say great) RE-like survival horror in space. 8 years before it, though, another survival horror in space was released, first on PC, then on PS1. It was called Martian Gothic: Unification, and it was, unless I’m mistaken, the first. Curiously, Dead Space even shares some concepts with this game. But the main difference between them is that unlike with Dead Space, it’s playing Martian Gothic isn’t that fun.

O tempora: Dino Crisis series

02/04/2011 04/07/2019

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 Dino Crisis franchise has a weird spot in Capcom catalog. On one hand, the first two games were really popular and apparently sold well. On the other, the company has been obviously unsure about making a new title, especially after the failed experiment with the third game. And besides, if they do make a new game, what type of game would it be? All three games in the series were so different.

Ugly duckling: T.R.A.G.

31/03/2011 28/06/2019

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

You probably never heard of T.R.A.G. (T.R.A.G.: Tactical Rescue Assault Group – Mission of Mercy or Hard Edge) until seeing this post or, at least, until listening to the collections of top worst videogame voice acting. But hey, since you’re here, check this: T.R.A.G. is a bizarre mix of survival horror, jRPG, beat em up/slasher/fighting and lots and lots of stupidest anime tropes imaginable. I mean, even if its most likely stupid, at least it sounds intriguing, right?

Thoughts on: Dragon Age: Ultimate Edition

27/01/2011 28/06/2019

A bit over a year ago one of my most long awaited RPGs was released. BioWare promised to make this “spiritual successor” to Baldur’s Gate since 2003. And after how pretty boring Neverwinter Nights was, it was something to wait for. Yet, years later and several releases from the studio that haven’t tried to be BG, there were no news on what was to become Dragon Age. Only about a year before release we finally got some new info. It was all exciting apart from the announcement about the change from being PC-exclusive, which made me worry that the game will get postponed again. And, of course, it was.

Yet, even with an extra year of development the game was pretty buggy when I played it the first time. Though, there was plenty to criticize the game for apart from the bugs too. I didn’t write a “proper” review in hopes that later patches and updates can turn the game into something far better than the game originally was. Dragon Age: Ultimate Edition is the most complete the game will ever be, so it’s time to talk about Origins, Awakening and a bunch of DLCs included in it.

Happy about: Kane & Lynch 1 & 2. Dead Dogs an’ all sorts

03/12/2010 28/06/2019

I finally got to playing Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days – a game that I wanted to play ever since it was announced. I’m a bit slow with this, perhaps, but at least I can do something I’ve planned from the start – make a double review. I played the original game when it was released, so with this one out, I wanted to make a kind of a comparison of games. Now, with both of them completed, I can talk about them without fear that I misremember anything. Are the games as bad as some say? Are they as good as fans say? Why is the camcorder in 2 never running out of battery? Okay, I’ll skip the last question, but will try to answer the first two.