Review the Last Game You Finished
03-09-2013
, 09:07 PM
03-10-2013
, 09:44 AM
03-11-2013
, 12:57 AM
I've gotten through a few of my backlog games lately.
Frozen Synapse - PC, Mac, Linux
I read a review that mentioned a similarity to the tactical planning phase of Rainbow Six: Rogue Spear and was already throwing my money at the game. The graphics are fairly simple, but there's a ton of tactical depth. Missions play out in 5s turn based intervals, where you plan your moves for each of your squad members, typically 3-4 units, and can watch an expected simulation play out for the 5s duration. You can also take control of the enemy units and command them to test various strategies they might employ - otherwise they'll just stay in their last known position during your simulation, which is rarely going to happen in the actual play through. When you're ready, you commit to the moves and the game plays forwards 5s. For example, in the screenshot above, the green guy with the lines moves forward, then ducks and moves to the entrance and stands up and then moves to the transparent looking barrier before adjusting his aim about 5 degrees to the left (units have a field-of-view of about 45-50 degrees within which they'll engage anyone in range), which is what the white icons next to the green way-points indicate.
The single player campaign is fairly lengthy, taking I would guess around 10-15 hours to complete, but it's not the strength of the game. The cyberpunkish story isn't terribly engaging and is a bit abstract, something about you being a tactical planner in control of cloned bodies with minimal intelligence tasked to help combat some sort of oppressive mega corporation in the distant future. The missions are semi-randomly generated and are fairly short (usually ~5-10mins), so restarting a mission you've failed yields a similar looking floor plan with random variations. I did find the difficulty to be very poorly paced, with most missions being easy enough to beat in the first attempt, and a few medium to hard difficulty missions randomly scattered throughout that required a few attempts, and no real difficulty curve to speak of.
The online play is where the game shines. There are five game modes, each pretty interesting and varied, with the option to play with enemy units hidden unless in direct line-of-sight (dark) or always shown as in the single player campaign (light). You can challenge anyone to a match at any time, and games can take a few minutes if you're both online or be spread over days as you and your opponent come online and finish a turn at different times. There's a global ranking system that uses an ELO scoring system like in Chess or more aptly League of Legends. The interface has a ton of options for keeping track of games and replays, managing friends, etc. It's very well designed and thorough but can take some getting used to. The only major downside I've found is the small player base, rarely more than 20-30 players online at a time spread across two or three servers, though the fact that you can start or continue matches while your opponent is offline helps a ton, and I've found myself keeping 10 or more active games going at a time, and it's an awesome game for puttering around for a few minutes every now and again while I'm doing other stuff.
The Walking Dead | PC
Not much to say about one of the highest rated games of last year, except that I loved it and I doubt there's anyone that would enjoy it that hasn't already played it.
Space Quest IV | PC
An old Sierra point-and-click adventure game from the early 90s. The GoG version that works on Win 7 comes bundled with IV, V and VI, but it seems like IV is regarded as the best. I happened on this after seeing that the game is narrated by the guy who does Powdered Toast Man on Ren and Stimpy and a ton of other cartoons from the 80s-90s, and after watching a few youtube videos:
Definitely one of the funniest games I've ever played. What other adventure game lets you lick and smell objects as actions? A lot of the humor comes in the many ridiculous ways in which you're killed, which turns what would otherwise be a trial in frustration into you going out of your way at times to kill yourself. The constant saving can be a bit tedious though. It's a bit short, and there're a ton of references to previous Space Quest games which went over my head, but I didn't find that to be a big deal.
EDIT:
Also beat Bastion recently, and similar feelings to DC11GTR, the narrator and the visuals are both amazing and carry the gameplay, which is fairly simple and easy. It would have been very easy for this game to have come off as another pretentious indie, but it's so original in how the story is told in bits and pieces through the awesome narrator as you progress, something that few games have ever done, and together with the visuals carry the very linear story pacing and level design.
Also beat Spec Ops, which felt like a waste of 5 hours. The gameplay as every review seems to mention is very mediocre, but I didn't find the story to be as emotionally engaging as others seem to. Many parts felt very contrived and over the top, such as the scene where you unwittingly commit an atrocity that everyone points to. It certainly attempts more that most other shooter games, which is cool, but wasn't for me.
Frozen Synapse - PC, Mac, Linux
I read a review that mentioned a similarity to the tactical planning phase of Rainbow Six: Rogue Spear and was already throwing my money at the game. The graphics are fairly simple, but there's a ton of tactical depth. Missions play out in 5s turn based intervals, where you plan your moves for each of your squad members, typically 3-4 units, and can watch an expected simulation play out for the 5s duration. You can also take control of the enemy units and command them to test various strategies they might employ - otherwise they'll just stay in their last known position during your simulation, which is rarely going to happen in the actual play through. When you're ready, you commit to the moves and the game plays forwards 5s. For example, in the screenshot above, the green guy with the lines moves forward, then ducks and moves to the entrance and stands up and then moves to the transparent looking barrier before adjusting his aim about 5 degrees to the left (units have a field-of-view of about 45-50 degrees within which they'll engage anyone in range), which is what the white icons next to the green way-points indicate.
The single player campaign is fairly lengthy, taking I would guess around 10-15 hours to complete, but it's not the strength of the game. The cyberpunkish story isn't terribly engaging and is a bit abstract, something about you being a tactical planner in control of cloned bodies with minimal intelligence tasked to help combat some sort of oppressive mega corporation in the distant future. The missions are semi-randomly generated and are fairly short (usually ~5-10mins), so restarting a mission you've failed yields a similar looking floor plan with random variations. I did find the difficulty to be very poorly paced, with most missions being easy enough to beat in the first attempt, and a few medium to hard difficulty missions randomly scattered throughout that required a few attempts, and no real difficulty curve to speak of.
The online play is where the game shines. There are five game modes, each pretty interesting and varied, with the option to play with enemy units hidden unless in direct line-of-sight (dark) or always shown as in the single player campaign (light). You can challenge anyone to a match at any time, and games can take a few minutes if you're both online or be spread over days as you and your opponent come online and finish a turn at different times. There's a global ranking system that uses an ELO scoring system like in Chess or more aptly League of Legends. The interface has a ton of options for keeping track of games and replays, managing friends, etc. It's very well designed and thorough but can take some getting used to. The only major downside I've found is the small player base, rarely more than 20-30 players online at a time spread across two or three servers, though the fact that you can start or continue matches while your opponent is offline helps a ton, and I've found myself keeping 10 or more active games going at a time, and it's an awesome game for puttering around for a few minutes every now and again while I'm doing other stuff.
The Walking Dead | PC
Not much to say about one of the highest rated games of last year, except that I loved it and I doubt there's anyone that would enjoy it that hasn't already played it.
Space Quest IV | PC
An old Sierra point-and-click adventure game from the early 90s. The GoG version that works on Win 7 comes bundled with IV, V and VI, but it seems like IV is regarded as the best. I happened on this after seeing that the game is narrated by the guy who does Powdered Toast Man on Ren and Stimpy and a ton of other cartoons from the 80s-90s, and after watching a few youtube videos:
Definitely one of the funniest games I've ever played. What other adventure game lets you lick and smell objects as actions? A lot of the humor comes in the many ridiculous ways in which you're killed, which turns what would otherwise be a trial in frustration into you going out of your way at times to kill yourself. The constant saving can be a bit tedious though. It's a bit short, and there're a ton of references to previous Space Quest games which went over my head, but I didn't find that to be a big deal.
EDIT:
Also beat Bastion recently, and similar feelings to DC11GTR, the narrator and the visuals are both amazing and carry the gameplay, which is fairly simple and easy. It would have been very easy for this game to have come off as another pretentious indie, but it's so original in how the story is told in bits and pieces through the awesome narrator as you progress, something that few games have ever done, and together with the visuals carry the very linear story pacing and level design.
Also beat Spec Ops, which felt like a waste of 5 hours. The gameplay as every review seems to mention is very mediocre, but I didn't find the story to be as emotionally engaging as others seem to. Many parts felt very contrived and over the top, such as the scene where you unwittingly commit an atrocity that everyone points to. It certainly attempts more that most other shooter games, which is cool, but wasn't for me.
Last edited by weevil; 03-11-2013 at 01:25 AM.
03-11-2013
, 03:06 AM
03-11-2013
, 06:17 AM
03-11-2013
, 11:15 AM
03-11-2013
, 01:34 PM
03-11-2013
, 05:38 PM
And yes, I had to look up hints a few times. I'm not terribly good at being a patient and thorough adventure gamer, usually I put up with these games for their humor and story.It's $17 on GOG at the moment for all six, I'm sure it'll be half off during a sale sometime soonish. It'll be nice to have all these games on a digital download service, I think I've purchased Planescape Torment four times because I kept loosing discs.
03-21-2013
, 03:02 PM
03-21-2013
, 03:44 PM
