Deus Ex: Human Revolution 9.5/10
A few hours ago it was finally done. I am seeing the end of Deus Ex: Human Revolution. The prequel to the, to this day, best game ever made. Achievements keep popping up like crazy. Apperently I managed to play through it all without setting off alarms and without killing any one. On my first playthrough. Oh wow.
Does it even get close to what the first game was? Yes it does.
Is it even better? No. It cannot be. No game can be better than the original Deus Ex. The down-sides are minor though.
° Orange. I hate orange. I want to be able to customize my colour sceme again. Why force orange on me?
° It's nice that they re-use some of the old music but I can't avoid feeling they only did it to make me like the game more.
° Huge frame-drops in the final areas. Seems the engine cannot handle the amount of enemies in the level. Playing without killing also means I cannot get rid of them...
° There is always a best way to do things. I collect passwords and access codes but for what? I unlock the "unlocking device" via DLC but for what? I'd still hack into everything because it gave me a huge XP, credits and item bonus. Every time. It was never not worth it to hack a keypad or PC terminal. XP-bonus for takedowns etc.
Well and then there is one really big downer: The horrible boss fights. Playing as a pacifist and running in your first boss is heartbreaking. Boss tactics:
Let's hope you still have the stun-gun with exactely 20 charges so you can stunlock him. Same works for the second boss. Resist pressing the takedown button. Just stun her.
Third boss can be taken down with a silent takedown while he is in the air. The stungun does NOT work on him. And the final boss can be almost completely killed via hacking a terminal. After that all you need to do is wait and unload 2 stun gun charges into her.
Finally finished this one today. The final challenges weren't anywhere near as bad as I thought they'd be - certainly not as hard as some of the missions in the previous level! (I was swearing away at some of those, let me tell you)
Aside from the obvious "WHY ISN'T THIS A PLATFORMER LIKE THE LAST GAMES" aspect, this isn't a bad game at all. The vehicle mechanics work well, the challenges are interesting and surprisingly varied, and the humour is definitely Rare. It's actually a really good game.
BUT this still really doesn't feel like a true successor to the series, which is why it's a 7 rather than an 8. If it didn't have the Banjo-Kazooie name, it probably wouldn't have sold as well, but it'd have been a LOT better received.
Kind of a shame that Rare stopped making their own games after this, they really did have a lot more to offer. Ah well, such is life.
If Blade Runner and Cowboy Bebop had a baby, you'd get-
Rating - 98%
I honestly don't know what to gush about first. The brilliant Dickian story, the Watanabe-esque characters, the Blade Runner/Minority Report-ish atmosphere, the brilliant voice-acting, the brilliant and detailed interface-
I really can't spoil anything about the story- it's one of those that you have to play without spoilers of any kind. Needless to say, the themes present deal with a new type of identity crisis- the question "Memories=identity?" I'll leave you with that. It's an intensely philosophical ride, but it never gets too heavy-handed. It does more with less. Dialogues are never too-lengthy, but they hit all the right notes. Here is a modern sci-fi action-adventure story that puts popular stuff like Mass Effect to utter shame. Here is a video game that once again proves that adventure games know how to tell stories that belong in novels. And even though the game takes place in a very localized area, the universe it inhabits is detailed, and strong.
All of the characters get time to get fleshed out in detail, even side characters. The way the game plays, with logs and databases that give you personal information, not to mention several instances of breaking into residences, basically feeds you everything you need to know about characters without taking hours to do so. If there were any plot holes, I missed them. The lead is a badass, and his voice actor portrays him as such better than I've heard since Spike Spiegel and Steve Blum. There is never a false note in the voice acting- even lines that should sound hokey and contrived are delivered with expert tone.
The artwork is gorgeous, and a lot of neat tricks are used in the game- in fact the game presents some of the best looking rain I've seen in an AGS game. There is a segment where you use a computer to zoom in on an image that presents some gorgeous attention to detail in terms of how they present the program visually. There was only one flub in the entire game in terms of artwork for me, and that was the conversation portrait of the main villain. It doesn't fit his sprite, it doesn't fit his character, and it doesn't even fit the atmosphere and universe of the game. Luckily you only see it once, but it took me right out of the game. Also the copy I have had a ton of graphical glitches, all of which could have been fixed with better AGS programming, but otherwise the game was really well built.
The puzzles are tough, but not impossible, and you can never get stuck or die permanently in the game. There are even new puzzle categories introduced to the genre in this game, which I found very neat. Here we have a game that is actively trying to bring something new to the table. It even managed to implement a gunfight gameplay in an adventure game that I didn't absolutely despise.
So yeah, go play it now. This is a contender for best AGS adventure game, although there are a lot of contenders in that regard.
(Sodding internet. I just lost ten minutes of work on this, so I've had to type the first bit up all over again. APPRECIATE IT, BITCHES.)
Lego Batman 2: DC Superheroes - 5/10
If you've seen my post in the 'What are you currently playing?' thread, you'll know how I feel about this game. If not, then bear with me - I'm writing this after watching a bunch of JonTron, so god help us all!
-x-
So last month Travellers Tales decided to bestow upon the world their latest squeezings of the Lego cow, Lego Batman 2: DC Superheroes, and I, like the procrastinating douche that I am, felt it my patriotic duty as a citizen of BritainLand to play it. And so, one week later, I emerge, blinking, dazed and confused, into the real world with a crazing for originality, lightness of tone and ice cream. Then again, that is my usual reaction to sunlight, so what do I know.
Lib 2: Dics, or Lego World's Finest as it should really be called (TO GOOGLE!) is the 10th Lego <INSERT POPULAR FRANCHISE HERE> game to come out in 9 years, and if you've played any one of them, then congratulations! You don't need to play this one because it's almost the same, just way, way darker. Like SUPER dark. Hawkman dark. See, it's funny 'cause he's black.
Gameplay is boring. No, really. It's boring. You run around, find something made of Lego, and then you SMASH IT. You SMASH IT and then you SMASH IT AGAIN and then you KEEP SMASHING IT until there's nothing left, and then you find something else to SMASH. And if, like an idiot, you've played all the other Lego <INSERT POPULAR FRANCHISE HERE> games, then you'll probably have trouble staying awake as you keep... smashing... stuff... zzz...
Wah! New stuff! Yeah, there's new stuff! Every new Lego <INSERT POPULAR FRANCHISE HERE> game has to have new stuff, or it gets called 'tired' and 'unoriginal' and doesn't sell. And the new stuff in this one is flying! Yeah, Superman! The most boring superhero EVER. He can do everything! He can fly, he can make lazzzzzzzzers, he can breath ice, he has x-ray vision, he's super strong, he can...
...wait, x-ray vision?
...CAN HE USE IT TO LOOK AT WOMEN NAKED.
...great success!
Wait, what were we talking about? Right, game. Boring. Yeah, I remember now. I suppose I should talk about the story. So, you're [Gravelly Voice] Batman [/Gravelly Voice] and you're just cruisin' with Robin doing totally not gay things like beating up bad guys (who are all men. Again, totally not gay) when Lex Luthor breaks the Joker out of prison and blows up the Batcave 'cause... well, they're EVIL. It's kinda what they do, yaknowwhatimsayin? And then Supes shows up and Robin gets totally forgotten for like 10 levels, and then stuff happens, there's a giant robot ('cause there's ALWAYS a giant robot), stuff gets blown up, I think there's a presidemential race thing, and then the robot falls from the top of that map from Unreal Tournament with the really tall buildings in space, and then you win.
Or something. I wasn't really paying attention 'cause all the voices were distracting me. And not the ones in my head this time. NO I WILL NOT SET THAT BUILDING ON FIRE. It's a nice building. Doesn't wanna be lit on fire. Yeah, well, you've got big ears.
No, the voices in the game. There's voices in the game now! And they're WEIRD. Not bad weird, cause they got good voices. At least I think they do, most people only get like 2 lines. I mean weird in like THEY DIDN'T HAVE VOICES BEFORE AND IT'S WEIRD THEY DO NOW. See, you remember the first Lego Batman that you should totally play over this one 'cause it's way better? Yeah, NO VOICES! Like, AT ALL! And now everyone's like "Blah Blah Blah Hate That Guy". It's WEIRD!
But at least it's not boring. Like the hub. Oh GOD, the hub. You remember how in previous Lego <INSERT POPULAR FRANCHISE HERE> games you had a nice little hub connecting all the levels? Do you? DO YOU? Well, sod that! Here you get a great big city to play with! And guess what? No really, guess. Go on. Guess. You'll never get it.
It's BORING!
See, the thing about cities is that they're HUGE, like, SUPER big (ha, I did it again, go me), and there's so much stuff spaced around this really big city. There's like 180 things to find. And it's so BORING, cause that's literally ALL THERE IS TO DO in this city. See, let's go to Saints Row 2. LET'S GO TO SAINTS ROW 2, cause that had a great big city too, right, and Saints Row is TOTALLY the same as Lego Superstar Tag-Team Wrestling. But Stillwater? Was it called Stillwater? I dunno, name's not important, but it had STUFF in it. You could do STUFF. You could go streaking. You could fling poo on people's house. You could pretend to injure yourself for fun and profit. There's was SO MUCH STUFF TO DO.
In Gotham, you just find the thing. You-you find the thing. And that's it. You find the thing. 180 times. And that's it. You just... find the things. YOU FIND THE THINGS. You-that's the worst part of a sandbox! Y'know why? CAUSE IT'S BORING! And it's not even easy! 'cause there's no minimap! There's no- you gotta pause the game, go to the map on the pause menu and there's your map! And it doesn't even show the things! You gotta press a button, make it go 'DOOT-DO' and it shows the things for like 3 seconds. And then you gotta make it go 'DOOT-DO' again so you can place a marker. And then you gotta make it go 'DOOT-DO' again so you can make sure you placed it properly. And then you gotta find it using a compass. It's just... it's so bad. IT'S SO BAD.
And that's Lego Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious. You find the thing, and you smash the thing. You find thing... you smash thing. FIND... SMASH. DONE! There ya go. Review's done. DONE!
Deus Ex: Human Revolution - The Missing Link DLC 7/10
As the title suggests Link, the hero of the Zelda games is nowhere to be found in the levels. That's a real downer. What else was bad:
I didn't like the loading screens which were presented as "scanning Adam". That was actually quite clever but the real loading screens would have taken a lot less time.
Wasted time seems to be the real problem of the whole DLC. I finished it in 7 hours and that was with all achievements.
Reusing a lot of the levels felt really cheap. Half of the game needs to be traveled through 3 times. At least once is completely stupid and should have been avoided. Also after getting rid of the final boss I still had to knock out all of his men to continue the game. To stretch time again I guess.
I really liked the achievements in the game even though they are designed for several playthroughs since you need to use praxis kits for at least one of them and are not allowed to use praxis kits and guns for another one. clever use of the save system let's you get them in one playthrough though.
The Walking Dead Episode 2 - 7/10
I will not start liking zombie stories... and I'd like an itty bitty more open world. If all the great things of this series were only applied to a genre I liked!!
The Journey Down - 8.5/10
Struck a chord. This will probably be the longest drawn out episodic gaming ever.
Jack Keane - 7/10
Aged well, but still naive parody to the core. I'm really anticipating the sequel in September though.
I remember how at the very beginning of Jack Keane there was a shot out to Monkey Island games, with it's 'Somewhere on the Indian Ocean...' line... set me in the right mood straight away Well, I dunno, I personally think that's a shot out, it instantly reminded me of 'Deep in the Caribbean'.
It's a fun little game..that really plays on the nostalgia bone. The music is some of the best from the franchise. However it does get a bit repetitive and some of the audio for the game isn't up to snuff and it kind of pulls you out. Not a bad game, and not one of the greatest but fun.
It's a fun little game..that really plays on the nostalgia bone. The music is some of the best from the franchise. However it does get a bit repetitive and some of the audio for the game isn't up to snuff and it kind of pulls you out. Not a bad game, and not one of the greatest but fun.
I'm getting my copy on Monday.
(And you'll probably be right, but I bet its still a nice game to pass the time with. (until something big comes out at least! XD))
Second opinion when you get it please! I'm a sucker for rhythm games as well, especially on DS.
If you like Elite Beat Agents, then chances are you probably will like this.
I played the demo, and enjoyed it. One of the very few 3DS demo's I played more than once.
From the reviews I read, its more of a jump in and play game than something thematic like EBA was, but with 70+ songs (and DLC songs), I'd argue that it probably doesn't need to be.
Oh, and each song has 3 difficulties in the demo. The third one was insane on the FFVIII song.
It feels quicker than EBA thats for sure.
(Though EBA on its hardest setting is actually pure masochism. I STILL can't beat Jumping Jack Flash, and I have only seen one person do it. His DS was scratched to hell with practice! XD)
EDIT: That said, my opinion may change when the full game is in my hands!
Any game that has choices and those choices actually mattering is a good game to me(I think I ended the game with Earth taking leadership of everyone...)
Combat is all right once you get used to things.
The majority of your squadmates were actually pretty well thought out, assuming when I get to ME2 that I get to see more of them.
I love the direction of the story so far, hoping the ending isn't too crappy now with the extended cut
Bad
Ok, I only have one major complaint(anyone that has read the "Which game are you playing" thread should have read this) and that is the checkpoint/autosave feature. It has put me back on hours of gameplay whenever I die for whatever reason. This would be all right since you can save manually, but there are times whene you cannot save, and it claims to just be during combat sequences only(which makes sense), but there are just random times when I can't save at all for no reason. One time I was just in the Normandy wanting to save the weapon loadouts I gave everyone and I couldn't. The game flat out forced me to rely on this system which didn't work.
This game is REALLY buggy. This could just be because I had to get the 360 version, or because it was a rental copy that's been used too much, but I had scene way too many glitches in this game such as
Me dieing for no reason(usually in the tank at full health)
enemies becoming invinsible
enemies after their death animation, not vanishing, but still attacking me and since they are already dead, I can't fight them and my allies ignore them.
doors not working until I reload
Texture popin(blaming the 360 on this one)
Meh
Vehicle segments. I personally wasn't a fan of them, but they didn't really hurt my experience, so I'm fine with them. IIRC they are removed from ME2 anyway.
it's certainly shorter than the other half life games as evidenced by the fact that I beat it in apparently 3 hours, minus whatever amount my break from it for soup was.
I thought that the change in armor system from the other games would have made it more difficult, but I don't really think it did. It was amazing how many Barneys had perfectly good armor after they had been killed. The Xen segment of the game was short, which is good, and pretty damn easy. I was out of there pretty quickly.
The best part of the game to me was any time I got to blow people up with the RPG. That was nice.
I shot Dr. Rosenberg when I first met him. I was pleased with the results.
Rosenberg seemed to have a problem following me. He would be two steps away from me and say I was going too fast at points.
In the end it was worth it. Got a glimpse of unconscious Gordon, Helped a bunch of Scientists actually escape black mesa, and made Barney Calhoun a hero.
I hate decimal scores, but I have to say 3.5 out of 5, as 4 seems just a bit too good, and 3 doesn't do it justice either.
That's not always a bad thing. I got so sick of doing the same shit over and over in the Assassin's Creeds.
Well, in all the Assassin's Creed games to date the combat is actually fairly different. Similar at the core but changed and updated with every game, adding new types of enemies with their advantages and disadvantages, and new ways to dealing with them (plus the overall move set is actually not the same in the series).
However, ironically enough, the biggest problem of the first AC game (and that's incredibly passive AI paired with one-hit kill counter move... well, counter actually wouldn't be so bad if the AI wasn't so incredibly passive anyway) stayed in the whole series, which makes it really hard to experience the full potential of the combat system.
Not that it matters now, since in AC3 they're revamping both the combat system and enemy AI.
That's not always a bad thing. I got so sick of doing the same shit over and over in the Assassin's Creeds.
That is why I'm hoping Assassins Creed 3 really does change things up. Removing Ezio's weaponry for new stuff is a good step as long as the new ones play differently.
The Walking Dead Episode 1 10/10
Buying this game and playing it on Steam prevented a huge data loss by a mean virus I cought about an hour ago. 10/10
Okay since checking my system for remains of the Trojan takes a lot more time let's try to do a serious review.
The WAlking Dead 101:
Good:
° this game is quite gory. I like it.
° After the first hour the game finds the right balance between QTE's, cutscenes and gameplay.
° I do actually care for the characters. That's one thing Jurassic Dildo did not achieve.
° I think the story is great so far.
° I managed to make my decisions carry over to episode 2
The bad:
° The first hour. Not enough interactivity / 70-80% cutscenes that run without any interaction by the player. If any interaction is required it isn't important. The game will progress even without it too many times
° Introducing characters to kill them off or desert them after a few minutes. Especially in the first hour of the game.
° The game makes me choose who to save and who not to save. And either the choice does nothing or one of the two choices seems to be pushed by the game.
° weak puzzles.
° The game has so few interactive moments that I didn't react in the final scene (I didn't realise I had to run away from the zombie. Stupid me...) in the shop and got killed. The savepoint before that was a little bit too far away.
So let's see. In total this makes: 7/10. I enjoyed my time overall. At least the second hour of the game. Extra points for being a huge step forward after Jurassic Dildo where the characters cannot even cut a path without me getting the QTE right.
The second episode in the series actually improves on the first episode in almost any way.
The QTEs are actually a little challenging now and failing does not set you bach several minutes.
The writing was really good even though the outcome was obvious to me. Still I enjoyed it a lot. The characters are still making me care for them but again too many of them get introduced and will never be back again.
What I think is really bad still is that this time my coices don't really matter. I can choose one of 2 options but the outcome will be the same or at least similar. I didn't even realise I had a choice in the first situation I supposedly could make one.
The puzzles are still weak and one of them made me even a little bit angry. I can choose to search for things to fix a swing, gather all materials but If I choose a wrong dialogue option I will be sent to another place first and after the scene there the swing will be fixed by someone else and I magically lost the items I collected. That's just bull$#!|!
Final score: 7/10 again. A lot better than episode one but that swing puzzle lowers the score.
If you like good stories I can recommend the game. If you want an adventure game this is not what you are looking for.
I had a plank and a rope. That should have been all that is needed to fix that thing. I had no chance to try it though. Someone else did it while I was away for a while.
In conclusiuon: The puzzle is so easy most players don't even notice it is there.
I think Ringmaster said it all already.Get this on sale (at least 66% off) and the price is fine. The full price is a stretch.
Playing as Robin is fun but since he never sees the outside of the Steel Mill it's a bit of a waste. I am convinced he could navigate through most of it.
I played it twice because I forgot 3 achievements but that was it. If the next one comes out and you haven't played this one you will not have missed out on much...
Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet 0/10
Oh don't get me wrong I enjoyed the game but it has one huge flaw: The save files are ceckpoint based and there is only one slot. So after 6-7 hours of accumulated playtime the game crashed after defeating the "electro zone boss". Okay. Let me do it again. Well spoiler: it will not. The save game is corrupt now and the only way to solve that now seems to be: start over.
Thanks but no!
Hint: after you got the final upgrade get to the next save point and backup your savegame before playing the electro zone any further.
The Dream Machine... so far.
The puzzles are getting better and better every episode, the story is great and getting more and more interesting as episodes go on. While the game looks amazing.
Chapter 1 7.5/10
This is the start of your adventure and doesn't rely on puzzles too much. It's more important to get to know Victor and Alicia Neff here. The chapter ends with a shocking discovery.
Chapter 2 9/10
The puzzles are getting trichier, but are sometimes a little illogical according to Rather Dashing. You find out what is behind it all and start the battle.
Chapter 3 10/10
This whole chapter was just as messed up as I want adventure games to be. Talking to
multiple versions of Victor
was special. At the end the whole thing turns to pure horror. I really want to know how this goes on.
If you are thinking about getting this: do so. 100% recommended. Just remember: it isn't finished yet. And it takes some time.
Rockstar excel at re-envisioning Max for 2012. He prowls Sao Paulo and socialite parties protecting his clients whom he can just about contain his disgust for. These environments feel genuine, the people who inhabit them are disgustingly real, the way they move, interact, dance and ingest designer drugs. All the while Maxs' inner monologue keeps you entertained, he's more grumpy old man than noir leading man these days, but it's a transition that works well. The other side of Brasil, the favellas, is just as well imagined. Samba, two-tone and hip-hop punctuate the gunshots. As Max approaches houses the occupants look out their windows and hastily close the shutters, Rockstar are typically making statements both subtle and not so subtle about Americans in foreign lands.
The game is refreshingly challenging as well, so it's annoying that its checkpoint system is very locked down (no manual saves) and will make you repeat quite large sections of action because you fell at the final furlong. The plot is generally quite muddled, Max says as much constantly blaming his alcohol and painkiller addiction on his lack of comprehension. It may have been intentional but frustrating to me as a player nonetheless.
Combat changes for the most part are for the better(have some complaints, will say them at the bad list)
Story is once again excellent
Love the new "interruptions" you can do during cutscenes to continue the story.
The autosave system doesn't suck anymore.
Can't say too much more beyond that, not too much has changed since the 2 games.
Bad
Cover system. What idiot thought it was a good idea to have "run away" "Get behind cover" and "Jump over cover like an idiot" to the same button? Sometimes I run when I want to go to cover, sometimes I jump over cover instead, Sometimes Shepard just jumps into cover while I'm still running!
Sometimes the game will have a "hard-choice" but then have third option if you are paragon/renegade that is clearly better than the 2. For instance
On Tali's trial, I could choose to exile just her and keep her family name safe, or save her, but give her the embarrasment of everyone knowing her father is probably one of the worst war criminals of her people. OR I can just use the paragon option that frees her without using the evidence and everyone is happy ever.
boo!
Nitpicky here, but at the final battle
you are forced to pick one person for basically a suicide run to open the door. I thought this would be a tough choice in that that specific person will die. Until I read about it later and found out that you can pick a specific person(I think Tali) who will live no matter what! What kind of tough decision is that if there is a right answer? And the right answer being completely random? Now Thane is dead because of that!(He was dieing anyway, that's why I picked him, but still!)
The game seems to have the same glitches I had with the first game, plus some more! I've had enemies become invincible, enemies vanish but I still couldn't go on because I needed to kill it, Shepard take cover in the air(as in no cover at all) and my allies flying off.
The "I don't care about but needs to be noted" section
Ammunition... I see no point to this as you get loads in the missions so you can't really ever run out. I can't say if its a good/bad thing as it feels exactly the same with how much is given.
I still massively enjoyed this game and can't wait to be completely disappointed by ME3's ending
I'm afraid to say this, but the last game I actually finished was before Christmas, which was the Blackwell Deception, and we all know what I think about the game.
For those who don't know, it's probably the only thing involving ghosts that I will keep playing.
Comments
A few hours ago it was finally done. I am seeing the end of Deus Ex: Human Revolution. The prequel to the, to this day, best game ever made. Achievements keep popping up like crazy. Apperently I managed to play through it all without setting off alarms and without killing any one. On my first playthrough. Oh wow.
Does it even get close to what the first game was? Yes it does.
Is it even better? No. It cannot be. No game can be better than the original Deus Ex. The down-sides are minor though.
° Orange. I hate orange. I want to be able to customize my colour sceme again. Why force orange on me?
° It's nice that they re-use some of the old music but I can't avoid feeling they only did it to make me like the game more.
° Huge frame-drops in the final areas. Seems the engine cannot handle the amount of enemies in the level. Playing without killing also means I cannot get rid of them...
° There is always a best way to do things. I collect passwords and access codes but for what? I unlock the "unlocking device" via DLC but for what? I'd still hack into everything because it gave me a huge XP, credits and item bonus. Every time. It was never not worth it to hack a keypad or PC terminal. XP-bonus for takedowns etc.
Well and then there is one really big downer: The horrible boss fights. Playing as a pacifist and running in your first boss is heartbreaking. Boss tactics:
Third boss can be taken down with a silent takedown while he is in the air. The stungun does NOT work on him. And the final boss can be almost completely killed via hacking a terminal. After that all you need to do is wait and unload 2 stun gun charges into her.
Finally finished this one today. The final challenges weren't anywhere near as bad as I thought they'd be - certainly not as hard as some of the missions in the previous level! (I was swearing away at some of those, let me tell you)
Aside from the obvious "WHY ISN'T THIS A PLATFORMER LIKE THE LAST GAMES" aspect, this isn't a bad game at all. The vehicle mechanics work well, the challenges are interesting and surprisingly varied, and the humour is definitely Rare. It's actually a really good game.
BUT this still really doesn't feel like a true successor to the series, which is why it's a 7 rather than an 8. If it didn't have the Banjo-Kazooie name, it probably wouldn't have sold as well, but it'd have been a LOT better received.
Kind of a shame that Rare stopped making their own games after this, they really did have a lot more to offer. Ah well, such is life.
Rating - 98%
I honestly don't know what to gush about first. The brilliant Dickian story, the Watanabe-esque characters, the Blade Runner/Minority Report-ish atmosphere, the brilliant voice-acting, the brilliant and detailed interface-
I really can't spoil anything about the story- it's one of those that you have to play without spoilers of any kind. Needless to say, the themes present deal with a new type of identity crisis- the question "Memories=identity?" I'll leave you with that. It's an intensely philosophical ride, but it never gets too heavy-handed. It does more with less. Dialogues are never too-lengthy, but they hit all the right notes. Here is a modern sci-fi action-adventure story that puts popular stuff like Mass Effect to utter shame. Here is a video game that once again proves that adventure games know how to tell stories that belong in novels. And even though the game takes place in a very localized area, the universe it inhabits is detailed, and strong.
All of the characters get time to get fleshed out in detail, even side characters. The way the game plays, with logs and databases that give you personal information, not to mention several instances of breaking into residences, basically feeds you everything you need to know about characters without taking hours to do so. If there were any plot holes, I missed them. The lead is a badass, and his voice actor portrays him as such better than I've heard since Spike Spiegel and Steve Blum. There is never a false note in the voice acting- even lines that should sound hokey and contrived are delivered with expert tone.
The artwork is gorgeous, and a lot of neat tricks are used in the game- in fact the game presents some of the best looking rain I've seen in an AGS game. There is a segment where you use a computer to zoom in on an image that presents some gorgeous attention to detail in terms of how they present the program visually. There was only one flub in the entire game in terms of artwork for me, and that was the conversation portrait of the main villain. It doesn't fit his sprite, it doesn't fit his character, and it doesn't even fit the atmosphere and universe of the game. Luckily you only see it once, but it took me right out of the game. Also the copy I have had a ton of graphical glitches, all of which could have been fixed with better AGS programming, but otherwise the game was really well built.
The puzzles are tough, but not impossible, and you can never get stuck or die permanently in the game. There are even new puzzle categories introduced to the genre in this game, which I found very neat. Here we have a game that is actively trying to bring something new to the table. It even managed to implement a gunfight gameplay in an adventure game that I didn't absolutely despise.
So yeah, go play it now. This is a contender for best AGS adventure game, although there are a lot of contenders in that regard.
Lego Batman 2: DC Superheroes - 5/10
If you've seen my post in the 'What are you currently playing?' thread, you'll know how I feel about this game. If not, then bear with me - I'm writing this after watching a bunch of JonTron, so god help us all!
-x-
So last month Travellers Tales decided to bestow upon the world their latest squeezings of the Lego cow, Lego Batman 2: DC Superheroes, and I, like the procrastinating douche that I am, felt it my patriotic duty as a citizen of BritainLand to play it. And so, one week later, I emerge, blinking, dazed and confused, into the real world with a crazing for originality, lightness of tone and ice cream. Then again, that is my usual reaction to sunlight, so what do I know.
Lib 2: Dics, or Lego World's Finest as it should really be called (TO GOOGLE!) is the 10th Lego <INSERT POPULAR FRANCHISE HERE> game to come out in 9 years, and if you've played any one of them, then congratulations! You don't need to play this one because it's almost the same, just way, way darker. Like SUPER dark. Hawkman dark. See, it's funny 'cause he's black.
Gameplay is boring. No, really. It's boring. You run around, find something made of Lego, and then you SMASH IT. You SMASH IT and then you SMASH IT AGAIN and then you KEEP SMASHING IT until there's nothing left, and then you find something else to SMASH. And if, like an idiot, you've played all the other Lego <INSERT POPULAR FRANCHISE HERE> games, then you'll probably have trouble staying awake as you keep... smashing... stuff... zzz...
Wah! New stuff! Yeah, there's new stuff! Every new Lego <INSERT POPULAR FRANCHISE HERE> game has to have new stuff, or it gets called 'tired' and 'unoriginal' and doesn't sell. And the new stuff in this one is flying! Yeah, Superman! The most boring superhero EVER. He can do everything! He can fly, he can make lazzzzzzzzers, he can breath ice, he has x-ray vision, he's super strong, he can...
...wait, x-ray vision?
...CAN HE USE IT TO LOOK AT WOMEN NAKED.
...great success!
Wait, what were we talking about? Right, game. Boring. Yeah, I remember now. I suppose I should talk about the story. So, you're [Gravelly Voice] Batman [/Gravelly Voice] and you're just cruisin' with Robin doing totally not gay things like beating up bad guys (who are all men. Again, totally not gay) when Lex Luthor breaks the Joker out of prison and blows up the Batcave 'cause... well, they're EVIL. It's kinda what they do, yaknowwhatimsayin? And then Supes shows up and Robin gets totally forgotten for like 10 levels, and then stuff happens, there's a giant robot ('cause there's ALWAYS a giant robot), stuff gets blown up, I think there's a presidemential race thing, and then the robot falls from the top of that map from Unreal Tournament with the really tall buildings in space, and then you win.
Or something. I wasn't really paying attention 'cause all the voices were distracting me. And not the ones in my head this time. NO I WILL NOT SET THAT BUILDING ON FIRE. It's a nice building. Doesn't wanna be lit on fire. Yeah, well, you've got big ears.
No, the voices in the game. There's voices in the game now! And they're WEIRD. Not bad weird, cause they got good voices. At least I think they do, most people only get like 2 lines. I mean weird in like THEY DIDN'T HAVE VOICES BEFORE AND IT'S WEIRD THEY DO NOW. See, you remember the first Lego Batman that you should totally play over this one 'cause it's way better? Yeah, NO VOICES! Like, AT ALL! And now everyone's like "Blah Blah Blah Hate That Guy". It's WEIRD!
But at least it's not boring. Like the hub. Oh GOD, the hub. You remember how in previous Lego <INSERT POPULAR FRANCHISE HERE> games you had a nice little hub connecting all the levels? Do you? DO YOU? Well, sod that! Here you get a great big city to play with! And guess what? No really, guess. Go on. Guess. You'll never get it.
It's BORING!
See, the thing about cities is that they're HUGE, like, SUPER big (ha, I did it again, go me), and there's so much stuff spaced around this really big city. There's like 180 things to find. And it's so BORING, cause that's literally ALL THERE IS TO DO in this city. See, let's go to Saints Row 2. LET'S GO TO SAINTS ROW 2, cause that had a great big city too, right, and Saints Row is TOTALLY the same as Lego Superstar Tag-Team Wrestling. But Stillwater? Was it called Stillwater? I dunno, name's not important, but it had STUFF in it. You could do STUFF. You could go streaking. You could fling poo on people's house. You could pretend to injure yourself for fun and profit. There's was SO MUCH STUFF TO DO.
In Gotham, you just find the thing. You-you find the thing. And that's it. You find the thing. 180 times. And that's it. You just... find the things. YOU FIND THE THINGS. You-that's the worst part of a sandbox! Y'know why? CAUSE IT'S BORING! And it's not even easy! 'cause there's no minimap! There's no- you gotta pause the game, go to the map on the pause menu and there's your map! And it doesn't even show the things! You gotta press a button, make it go 'DOOT-DO' and it shows the things for like 3 seconds. And then you gotta make it go 'DOOT-DO' again so you can place a marker. And then you gotta make it go 'DOOT-DO' again so you can make sure you placed it properly. And then you gotta find it using a compass. It's just... it's so bad. IT'S SO BAD.
And that's Lego Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious. You find the thing, and you smash the thing. You find thing... you smash thing. FIND... SMASH. DONE! There ya go. Review's done. DONE!
As the title suggests Link, the hero of the Zelda games is nowhere to be found in the levels. That's a real downer. What else was bad:
I didn't like the loading screens which were presented as "scanning Adam". That was actually quite clever but the real loading screens would have taken a lot less time.
Wasted time seems to be the real problem of the whole DLC. I finished it in 7 hours and that was with all achievements.
Reusing a lot of the levels felt really cheap. Half of the game needs to be traveled through 3 times. At least once is completely stupid and should have been avoided. Also after getting rid of the final boss I still had to knock out all of his men to continue the game. To stretch time again I guess.
I really liked the achievements in the game even though they are designed for several playthroughs since you need to use praxis kits for at least one of them and are not allowed to use praxis kits and guns for another one. clever use of the save system let's you get them in one playthrough though.
4.5/10? That's not much to brag about now, is it Telltale? Following the link you see it's supposed to be 4.5/5 though.
I will not start liking zombie stories... and I'd like an itty bitty more open world. If all the great things of this series were only applied to a genre I liked!!
The Journey Down - 8.5/10
Struck a chord. This will probably be the longest drawn out episodic gaming ever.
Jack Keane - 7/10
Aged well, but still naive parody to the core. I'm really anticipating the sequel in September though.
You should try playing Botanicula then.
It's a fun little game..that really plays on the nostalgia bone. The music is some of the best from the franchise. However it does get a bit repetitive and some of the audio for the game isn't up to snuff and it kind of pulls you out. Not a bad game, and not one of the greatest but fun.
I'm getting my copy on Monday.
(And you'll probably be right, but I bet its still a nice game to pass the time with. (until something big comes out at least! XD))
It is! And the english version is also already announced. Trailer is only in German though.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XewSMocT25g&feature=youtu.be
Second opinion when you get it please! I'm a sucker for rhythm games as well, especially on DS.
If you like Elite Beat Agents, then chances are you probably will like this.
I played the demo, and enjoyed it. One of the very few 3DS demo's I played more than once.
From the reviews I read, its more of a jump in and play game than something thematic like EBA was, but with 70+ songs (and DLC songs), I'd argue that it probably doesn't need to be.
Oh, and each song has 3 difficulties in the demo. The third one was insane on the FFVIII song.
It feels quicker than EBA thats for sure.
(Though EBA on its hardest setting is actually pure masochism. I STILL can't beat Jumping Jack Flash, and I have only seen one person do it. His DS was scratched to hell with practice! XD)
EDIT: That said, my opinion may change when the full game is in my hands!
Good
Bad
Meh
Vehicle segments. I personally wasn't a fan of them, but they didn't really hurt my experience, so I'm fine with them. IIRC they are removed from ME2 anyway.
Yeah, planning to do so. Shame, I kinda want to play this thing on my PS3, but don't have the option.
Kinda want to see how the whole "The Alliance has control of the citadel" pans out now.
Do I keep things such as allies, stats, and my past gear?
it's certainly shorter than the other half life games as evidenced by the fact that I beat it in apparently 3 hours, minus whatever amount my break from it for soup was.
I thought that the change in armor system from the other games would have made it more difficult, but I don't really think it did. It was amazing how many Barneys had perfectly good armor after they had been killed. The Xen segment of the game was short, which is good, and pretty damn easy. I was out of there pretty quickly.
The best part of the game to me was any time I got to blow people up with the RPG. That was nice.
I shot Dr. Rosenberg when I first met him. I was pleased with the results.
Rosenberg seemed to have a problem following me. He would be two steps away from me and say I was going too fast at points.
In the end it was worth it. Got a glimpse of unconscious Gordon, Helped a bunch of Scientists actually escape black mesa, and made Barney Calhoun a hero.
I hate decimal scores, but I have to say 3.5 out of 5, as 4 seems just a bit too good, and 3 doesn't do it justice either.
No you will not but they will explain that.
This was the main thing that annoyed me across the trilogy - combat changed in every game.
That's not always a bad thing. I got so sick of doing the same shit over and over in the Assassin's Creeds.
And it never was as good as in the first game. Wo ever thoughtthat ammo-crap up in games 2 & 3 needs to be disembowled with a wooden spoon.
Well, in all the Assassin's Creed games to date the combat is actually fairly different. Similar at the core but changed and updated with every game, adding new types of enemies with their advantages and disadvantages, and new ways to dealing with them (plus the overall move set is actually not the same in the series).
However, ironically enough, the biggest problem of the first AC game (and that's incredibly passive AI paired with one-hit kill counter move... well, counter actually wouldn't be so bad if the AI wasn't so incredibly passive anyway) stayed in the whole series, which makes it really hard to experience the full potential of the combat system.
Not that it matters now, since in AC3 they're revamping both the combat system and enemy AI.
That is why I'm hoping Assassins Creed 3 really does change things up. Removing Ezio's weaponry for new stuff is a good step as long as the new ones play differently.
A 15 hour puzzle game with a story that I didn't care about at all. But it was quite good.
Buying this game and playing it on Steam prevented a huge data loss by a mean virus I cought about an hour ago. 10/10
Okay since checking my system for remains of the Trojan takes a lot more time let's try to do a serious review.
The WAlking Dead 101:
Good:
° this game is quite gory. I like it.
° After the first hour the game finds the right balance between QTE's, cutscenes and gameplay.
° I do actually care for the characters. That's one thing Jurassic Dildo did not achieve.
° I think the story is great so far.
° I managed to make my decisions carry over to episode 2
The bad:
° The first hour. Not enough interactivity / 70-80% cutscenes that run without any interaction by the player. If any interaction is required it isn't important. The game will progress even without it too many times
° Introducing characters to kill them off or desert them after a few minutes. Especially in the first hour of the game.
° The game makes me choose who to save and who not to save. And either the choice does nothing or one of the two choices seems to be pushed by the game.
° weak puzzles.
° The game has so few interactive moments that I didn't react in the final scene (I didn't realise I had to run away from the zombie. Stupid me...) in the shop and got killed. The savepoint before that was a little bit too far away.
So let's see. In total this makes: 7/10. I enjoyed my time overall. At least the second hour of the game. Extra points for being a huge step forward after Jurassic Dildo where the characters cannot even cut a path without me getting the QTE right.
If anybody cares for what I chose:
http://steamcommunity.com/id/fhqwhgod/screenshot/938123552349504818?tab=public
The second episode in the series actually improves on the first episode in almost any way.
The QTEs are actually a little challenging now and failing does not set you bach several minutes.
The writing was really good even though the outcome was obvious to me. Still I enjoyed it a lot. The characters are still making me care for them but again too many of them get introduced and will never be back again.
What I think is really bad still is that this time my coices don't really matter. I can choose one of 2 options but the outcome will be the same or at least similar. I didn't even realise I had a choice in the first situation I supposedly could make one.
The puzzles are still weak and one of them made me even a little bit angry. I can choose to search for things to fix a swing, gather all materials but If I choose a wrong dialogue option I will be sent to another place first and after the scene there the swing will be fixed by someone else and I magically lost the items I collected. That's just bull$#!|!
Final score: 7/10 again. A lot better than episode one but that swing puzzle lowers the score.
If you like good stories I can recommend the game. If you want an adventure game this is not what you are looking for.
And again: if anybody cares for what I chose:
http://steamcommunity.com/id/fhqwhgod/screenshot/938123552361294951?tab=public
I had a plank and a rope. That should have been all that is needed to fix that thing. I had no chance to try it though. Someone else did it while I was away for a while.
In conclusiuon: The puzzle is so easy most players don't even notice it is there.
I think Ringmaster said it all already.Get this on sale (at least 66% off) and the price is fine. The full price is a stretch.
Playing as Robin is fun but since he never sees the outside of the Steel Mill it's a bit of a waste. I am convinced he could navigate through most of it.
I played it twice because I forgot 3 achievements but that was it. If the next one comes out and you haven't played this one you will not have missed out on much...
Oh don't get me wrong I enjoyed the game but it has one huge flaw: The save files are ceckpoint based and there is only one slot. So after 6-7 hours of accumulated playtime the game crashed after defeating the "electro zone boss". Okay. Let me do it again. Well spoiler: it will not. The save game is corrupt now and the only way to solve that now seems to be: start over.
Thanks but no!
Hint: after you got the final upgrade get to the next save point and backup your savegame before playing the electro zone any further.
The puzzles are getting better and better every episode, the story is great and getting more and more interesting as episodes go on. While the game looks amazing.
Chapter 1 7.5/10
This is the start of your adventure and doesn't rely on puzzles too much. It's more important to get to know Victor and Alicia Neff here. The chapter ends with a shocking discovery.
Chapter 2 9/10
The puzzles are getting trichier, but are sometimes a little illogical according to Rather Dashing. You find out what is behind it all and start the battle.
Chapter 3 10/10
This whole chapter was just as messed up as I want adventure games to be. Talking to
If you are thinking about getting this: do so. 100% recommended. Just remember: it isn't finished yet. And it takes some time.
Rockstar excel at re-envisioning Max for 2012. He prowls Sao Paulo and socialite parties protecting his clients whom he can just about contain his disgust for. These environments feel genuine, the people who inhabit them are disgustingly real, the way they move, interact, dance and ingest designer drugs. All the while Maxs' inner monologue keeps you entertained, he's more grumpy old man than noir leading man these days, but it's a transition that works well. The other side of Brasil, the favellas, is just as well imagined. Samba, two-tone and hip-hop punctuate the gunshots. As Max approaches houses the occupants look out their windows and hastily close the shutters, Rockstar are typically making statements both subtle and not so subtle about Americans in foreign lands.
The game is refreshingly challenging as well, so it's annoying that its checkpoint system is very locked down (no manual saves) and will make you repeat quite large sections of action because you fell at the final furlong. The plot is generally quite muddled, Max says as much constantly blaming his alcohol and painkiller addiction on his lack of comprehension. It may have been intentional but frustrating to me as a player nonetheless.
I reckon summer next year for completion at the absolute earliest if they carry on at the current pace. I'm very happy to wait.
Good
Bad
The "I don't care about but needs to be noted" section
Ammunition... I see no point to this as you get loads in the missions so you can't really ever run out. I can't say if its a good/bad thing as it feels exactly the same with how much is given.
I still massively enjoyed this game and can't wait to be completely disappointed by ME3's ending
For those who don't know, it's probably the only thing involving ghosts that I will keep playing.