game review – Page 55

Thoughts on: Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs

10/09/2013 29/06/2023

Three years ago Amnesia: The Dark Descent took everyone by surprise. When all big budget games decided to ditch the “slow paced” genres and bank everything into the “cinematic” and explosive, a tiny studio called Frictional Games did everything differently and finally got the recognition they’ve deserved ever since Penumbra. After a slow start and very niche horror success it exploded in popularity due to the rise of the “scare cam” let’s players, who loved to scream like children on camera and pretend to be very scared. What once was a niche evolution of horror adventure for a smaller audience became a well known huge hit, something to play on a bet, “the scariest game of all time”.

It’s not surprising then, that after a while a counter reaction followed. “The game isn’t even scary”, “why is it so popular”, “this is so lame and overhyped” and etc. It’s in this climate the “sequel”(not actually a sequel and from a different developer) Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs got released. The game has been just released and already there are thousands of people disappointed in it without even trying it and being shocked that Pigs isn’t The Dark Descent 2 (which will never happen and wouldn’t have happened). Which is especially funny, since in many ways A Machine for Pigs is exactly the kind of game Frictional wanted to do in a while.

O tempora: Condemned: Criminal Origins

18/07/2013 12/05/2019

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

Of course, I couldn’t replay F.E.A.R. without additionally replaying another great release from Monolith Productions of 2005 (PC version was released in 2006). Especially since both F.E.A.R. and Condemned are similar in several regards. They’re both set in minimalist run down locations, both mix realism and supernatural, both have shockingly good enemy AI and highly interactive environment (for 2005, though, not a lot of games attempted to do similar things since then) and both tell the story in two ways – via a conventional narrative and via notes, messages and other items that piece together the narrative. But F.E.A.R. was a cinematic bombastic FPS first, so its approach to horror was far more in your face, far more shock-focused to go along with its fast gameplay. Condemned does things differently – it’s careful, brooding and slowly swallowing you into madness.

O tempora: F.E.A.R. (with expansions)

02/07/2013 28/03/2020

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

Monolith Productions has remained one of the most important studios for me for the longest time. I liked Blood as a teen, but my own proper PC wasn’t a thing until 2001, which was just about the time The Operative: No One Lives Forever got released. That classic, which is still sadly not re-released due to rights issues, was just the beginning. Fantastic Aliens versus Predator 2 followed with its 3 story campaigns that constantly cross over – something that is still a rarity for games. Then, of course, a long expected sequel No One Lives Forever 2: A Spy in H.A.R.M.’s Way. Then one of the best movie license games ever – Tron 2.0. And then, in a single year, two amazing games got released – F.E.A.R. and Condemned: Criminal Origins. I am not listing a couple of other games they developed, just due to not playing them myself (though I did play Contract J.A.C.K., which isn’t worth mentioning), but point is – Monolith never disappointed me.

F.E.A.R. was the point where everything started changing. With the game itself, as it was a unique blend of ideas from classic FPS titles and the more “modern” ideas for the genre. For the company, since after this year their projects started getting less praise. And even for the company focus – a switch from their PC-centric development (LithTech engine was specifically designed to be a showcase of DirectX), to a far larger emphasis on consoles. 8 years after F.E.A.R. was originally released, a lot of its faults are more obvious. Yet, it still never fails to amaze.

Quick thoughts on: Resident Evil: Revelations

25/05/2013 25/09/2020

rerev

Revelations is a rather interesting part of the Resident Evil series. On one hand, it does feel like a side-story, not part of the main series. On the other, it often plays more like what Resident Evil used to be, than the newest entries. It feels like a more focused and better put together game, than Resident Evil 6 (released same year). But at the same time, doesn’t evoke the same feelings, RE6 does, feels like designers lacked confidence and built the game by the checklist, not by their inner desires.
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Tomb Raider. Third birthday

07/03/2013 11/12/2021

Almost exactly 10 years ago Tomb Raider series was meant to be “refreshed”. Add characters, make it more story-driven, include RPG elements and make it about Lara Croft learning to become Lara Croft (again). It was called Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness and it failed miserably. It became the last title from the original TR developers Core Design and the studio was closed soon after. And the main reason for the failure was brutally simple – the game was only about 60% finished on release and played horribly. Ten years later, the new development studio currently responsible for the series Crystal Dynamics (a studio I admire a lot) approached the “refresh” in a very similar way. Except, this time they had a chance to finish the game before releasing it. Happy birthday yet again, Lara.

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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.