Of all the Halo titles, the one that always got me most curious was Halo 3: ODST. A very different approach to story and tone, the more open world like game design and even the uneven fan reception were things that got me interested and now that I’ve finally played it in the Master Chief Collection, I have to say that it was right for me to be intrigued. Maybe this will turn out to be not the best campaign in Halo games, but I’m sure it will remain one of the most unique ones.
Tag: Recommended
Happy about: Vaporum: Lockdown
Almost exactly 3 years ago a Slovakian indie dev studio Fatbot Games, s. r. o. released a grid-based dungeon crawler RPG Vaporum, which managed to exceed all of my expectations. Despite being openly influenced by the genre revival done by Almost Human with Legend of Grimrock titles and unapologetically “borrowing” the style and themes from Bioshock games, it had a voice of its own and played really well. Which is exactly why I bought Vaporum: Lockdown, a prequel originally announced last year, the day it launched. And while it’s not without faults, the game managed to exceed my expectations yet again.
Happy about: Terminator: Resistance
For the past 10 years or so the mid-budget game development has been considered, for all intents and purposes, dead. It used to be that magic range of titles that had a lot of the ambitions of the AAA titles, but on a much lower budget, yet also had a lot of that inventiveness and honesty that’s usually expected from small budget titles. And it could often do things that the indie scene often couldn’t – like working with a movie license. Licensed games, especially those tied to a movie release, also were due for a new “this is actually really great” release, if not on the Chronicles of Riddick: EFBB level, at least something like X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Well, now we have it. Say hello to Terminator: Resistance.
Happy about: Spooky’s Jump Scare Mansion: HD Renovation
Horror themed titles have truly exploded in the past 10 years. Lots of cheap or free indie titles appeared after 2012 with all of the Slenderman and SCP – Containment Breach clones and the original release of Spooky’s Jump Scare Mansion came at the tail end of that period. But what made it different back then, and still keeps it somewhat unique today, wasn’t even the random generation aspect of it. I’d say, that it was the mix of not taking itself seriously, while being a genuinely solid game and the fact that it’s an extremely simple game that is very easy to pick up and play. And even in its HD Renovation form, as a paid title, it keeps being simple, yet shockingly engaging.
Read more“Happy about: Spooky’s Jump Scare Mansion: HD Renovation”
Happy about: Journey
I remember how stunned everyone was by thatgamecompany’s Journey back in 2012, when the game was released as a PS3 exclusive. I didn’t have that console and missed it entirely, but knowing Flower and flOw, I planned to definitely play the game some day. Well, now that the game is on PC that day has come. Except, it’s 8 years later. Does it matter?
Happy about: Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy
Despite hearing a lot about the Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney series for years, and frankly how couldn’t you hear about it with how popular it has become, I’ve not played a single entry up until this point. Most of the world has met Phoenix in a localized version back in 2005-2006 when the original GBA title was ported to Nintendo DS and released worldwide. This original trilogy of games was already out in Japan, having been released in 2001, 2002 and 2004 on GBA, but it was at this point that the famous “Objection!” really took off elsewhere. And after years of popularity, different related media, sequels, crossover games and many direct and indirect imitators the original trilogy has finally landed on PC, worldwide (there were Japan-only PC ports of several previous titles) in its newest updated iteration. I was very excited to finally check it out.
Read more“Happy about: Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy”
Revisiting Dead Space 2
If Dead Space is a game that I get to love and respect more with each replay, its sequel seems to be the opposite. When I first played it, I liked it a lot. Yet, with each next replay, while my respect for it remains, I find more and more reasons to dislike it. Thankfully, they tend to be minor and most of them lie in the exact same problems that I’ve had with the game during my very first playthrough. More than anything, it’s the understanding that those exist as huge blemishes upon the game that make them more frustrating to re-experience each time.
But let’s get one thing out of the way first – I liked revisiting Dead Space 2 a lot and it’s still a good game worth revisiting. And all of the things it does are still incredibly smart and amazing. I just get wowed by them far less by now.
Revisiting Dead Space: Extraction
Dead Space was a well deserved success and remains one of the most amazing titles in videogame history. But it was an EA game and horror themed or not, niche however it might be, they were going to make a gigantic expensive franchise out of it. At the time of the Dead Space’s original release – “Dead Space”, the prequel comic book series in 6 issues and Dead Space: Downfall, the animated prequel movie were out as well. And Dead Space: Extraction, the prequel on-rails shooter for Wii, was already about a year in development. Oh, EA…
Yet, perhaps due to the passion behind the franchise and competent writing teams, this didn’t lead to some terrible disgusting shovelware. Dead Space: Extraction, which sadly remains exclusive to Wii and PS3 with Move controls, turned out to be a really fun on-rails shooter. Perhaps the only one of the kind that I’ve experienced that has a proper serious story and good storytelling.
Happy about: CARRION
CARRION made a lot of noise with its gameplay reveal. A “reverse horror-themed game” where you play as a monster sounded novel. Except for that Paradise Lost: First Contact game that has been Kickstarted years ago and hasn’t come out yet which had a very similar look and premise, if not the exact same gameplay. Either way, it looked curious, but not that exciting to me so I was planning to wait for the other people’s reactions before deciding on if I want to try it out myself. Now that it has come out and had lots of positive reviews, I decided to take the plunge. And yeah, my assumptions were spot on. It’s curious and fun, but not that exciting.
In love with: SteamWorld Dig 1 and 2
As a huge fan of “metroidvania” games when I first heard of SteamWorld Dig many years ago, I got curious. But then I saw that it focused on mining and my interest instantly evaporated. And even when SteamWorld Dig 2 got released several years later to extremely positive reviews, I continued ignoring the series. It wasn’t until very recently when I accidentally stumbled upon a playthrough of the game that I realized my initial thoughts about the gameplay were wrong and that I might enjoy the games. I love when lucky accidents happen.