game review – Page 55

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.

O tempora: Gobliiins 1-3 (Gobliiins pack)

10/11/2010 28/06/2019

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

Gobliiins hold important memories for me. Along with the Kyrandia titles from Westwood they were the very first adventure titles that I’ve played. They were the games that somewhat defined my humor, defined my understanding of the use of voices in games, defined my visual style preferences as I was a kid. While people with powerful PCs played Doom, I was playing Montezuma’s Revenge on my Поиск-1, my friend played these games on his system. And I helped. Then we switched to Space Quest, to Leisure Suit Larry and other titles, because we realized how fun the adventure games could be. A few years ago we saw a very quiet release of Gobliiins 4. I played it only for a bit and it made me question myself – what if the classic titles were as tedious, as uninspired, as illogical? Was it all nostalgia and the original games weren’t that good anymore?

Late thoughts on: Demon’s Souls

18/10/2010 28/06/2019

Demon’s Souls… When hearing “difficult game” lots of people might think about the kind of difficulty that I call “fake difficulty”. Surprising deaths. requirements to know exactly what and where to do, which is only possible after countless attempts, impossibility to complete the game on the first go… Demon’s Souls is not like that. You can see any dangerous moments coming. Yet, it’s still difficult. But in the most enjoyable sense of the word.