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Untitled Goose Game (PC) by jp (Dec 1st, 2024 at 20:35:49) |
Ok, this was fun, but not THAT fun.
It's - perhaps unexpectedly, more of a puzzle game than a chaotic "goat simulator" game? I knew it wasn't wild chaos like goat simulator - but it was definitely more sedate and structured than I imagined. But, it's fun - and the task list is really neat. It basically layers a puzzle on top of another. From the item on the list - I need to figure out what the puzzle is (how do I do the thing or, for trickier ones, create a situation such that the thing that needs doing gets done) and then figure out how to execute it.
I've cleared the first two areas - I think there are two or three more? So, not a very long/big game. I think. The new areas might be huge? I doubt it.
My main concern is that since I imagine the puzzles will become more convoluted, I'm worried that the wonkiness in the controls (mostly the thing the goose is locked on to seems wonky at times) will lead to a spike in frustration later on. I hope I'm wrong but we'll see.
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Kentucky Route Zero (PS5) by jp (Nov 27th, 2024 at 18:43:01) |
Chapter 5 was surprisingly underwhelming. Almost boring if I'm being honest.
You play as a cat, which was fine. You have to run around town finding conversations - some are UI-evident others just require that you sit there an listen. There's a lot of sitting and listening, much more than choosing. So, I started to get bored and...well, the ending was sort of a fizzle for me because of this. I couldn't tell you what happened in the end (I think there are different endings based on choices you make) but...no bang, no whimper, no nothing is how I'd describe my experience with it.
It seems unfair for me to say it like that. Perhaps I just was really tired that day? Not willing to really pay attention? Could be.
Overall though, I did enjoy the game and think it was an interesting experience. Most salient for me is how cinematic it is - there's lots of interesting camera work, and framing, and more. And even the interactive parts are changing around and in this sense there's a nice amount of variety. But I think I mentioned all this already. Didn't change with Act V. So, all's well in that sense.
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Impostor Factory (PC) by dkirschner (Nov 24th, 2024 at 19:37:03) |
I thought this was the last in a trilogy of games starting with To the Moon, but I must not have been paying close enough attention. After being confused how it related to To the Moon and Finding Paradise for most of the game, it turns out to be a prequel of sorts. It's a bit different than those other two as well, in that this one is part murder mystery. That was definitely the most interesting part until the end. The murder mystery is in Act I. Act II was boring and overly sentimental, narrating the intertwining lives of two of the characters. Act III ties the two previous acts together, and finally explains what this has to do with the previous games, and circles back to being interesting again.
I should probably stop playing these Freebird Games games. To the Moon was awesome, but the others have been fine. The emphasis is on story, and the overall plots are neat. The writing is good, but characters tend to feel one-dimensional, and there is like one brand of humor throughout the games, which alternates from being silly/funny to childish and back. They are slow gameplay-wise, often with very little interactivity. What interactivity there is is often an illusion. For example, in Impostor Factory, in Act II, you have to collect memories, little orbs, to progress from area to area. But you don't have to actually DO anything to get the orbs. Just click on characters and listen to the story and you'll get your orbs. They're unmissable. Perhaps I am just no longer wowed by the overall concept since it's been three games now.
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Rumu (PC) by dkirschner (Nov 19th, 2024 at 19:06:57) |
Another excellent short point-and-click game. Rumu is a cute little robot vacuum cleaner who wakes up in a big house to the voice of an AI named Sabrina. Sabrina explains that the house's human inhabitants, scientists named David and Cecily, are gone mountain biking, to the grocery store, or otherwise out of the house. Rumu is programmed to clean and to feel one emotion: love. Sabrina teaches Rumu how to clean messes and safely guides Rumu around the house, but warns not to explore. Well, Rumu eventually gets curious and explores, and finds some things Sabrina didn't want Rumu to find.
You think it's going to be a game about sinister AI, but it's not. It does say some things about our relationship with technology, about technology and ethics, and is actually really sweet and sad. To say anything else about the story will spoil things. Gameplay-wise, you just trundle around the house in a rather linear fashion learning more about Sabrina, David, Cecily, and a couple other characters, occasionally cleaning messes, and saying silly dialogue, usually about things you do or do not love, until you learn the truth of what's really going on.
I saw this game on some list of "best games you've never heard of" or something, it sounded intriguing, and it's totally worth checking out. Also, it ends with a "Baba Is You" style sentence, so I guess I'm finally going to start Baba Is You. A sign from the universe if there ever was one.
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Genesis Noir (PC) by dkirschner (Nov 18th, 2024 at 16:22:28) |
Artsy point-and-click about love and the end of the universe. The visuals are mesmerizing, lots of black and white (film noir style) with yellows for accent, flashing lights, changing perspectives, just wildly creative. The sound design is great too, lots of jazz music that often coincides with visuals bouncing around.
The story isn't easy to follow. It's a metaphor about the main character's relationship with a jazz singer told as the creation, evolution, and destruction of the universe. I didn't care much about what was going on, but was just basking in the audiovisual treat.
Gameplay is simple. Like I said, it's a point-and-click adventure at its core, but hyper stylized. So you aren't just walking around pointing and clicking. It feels like a series of scenes with toyboxes because it's not always obvious what you need to interact with or how to do it. It was reminding me of GNOG, where you just play with a level, click around and see what things do. I read that a lot of people found the gameplay frustrating, but I never did. Again, for me, this boiled down to "oooh aaah." I couldn't have cared less about how easy the puzzles were or how obtuse some of the interactions were or how deep the metaphor was going. It's a beautiful game and not one I'm likely to forget any time soon! I saw that there is another one coming out (sequel?). If it's the same kind of thing, I will definitely buy.
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they are currently playing. A GameLog is basically a record of a game you started playing. If it's open,
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if you got bored, frustrated,etc.) You can also attach short comments to each of your games or even maintain a diary (with more detailed entries)
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2257 registered gamers and 3212 games. 7736 GameLogs with 13221 journal entries. 5097 games are currently being played.
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The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (PC) by Naiades |
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most recent entry: Wednesday 5 March, 2008
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GAMEPLAY
Oblivions quest system allows lots of optionality: a new character can join the fighters guild, the mages guild, the arena, or even a secret assassin's guild. Following certain quest lines makes changes to the world irrevocably: Murdering someone for the Dark Brotherhood that gives you a fighter's guild quest seriously inhibits your ability to do Fighter's Guild quests, even if you are not caught, because that person is never around to grant you Fighter's Guild advancement. Or you can perform unaligned quests for random people you meet exploring the world, or for Gods who's favor you earn, in exchange for currency, favor, and artifacts. This open world game play allows you to play the game for any end you like: bettering yourself, helping others, making or destroying things, and much more.
DESIGN
Oblivion's realistic graphics are one of the main elements of the game, because it makes you feel like you're actually in the game (except that you don't have a cross hairs in real life). When I made too large of a jump I felt like I was falling, like in those dreams you have where you jolt awake right before the ground gives you a hug. The graphics also make the game world nice to explore, to see all of it because it is worth seeing.
The combat system, although more expansive than most games on the market, leaves a little to be desired. There are only four attacks you can make (not including powered up versions of those attacks) forward, right, left, and back. Only the backwards attack takes skill to pull off, and none can be guided all that well around defenses like shields or staffs that would be interesting to try and attack past. I realise this expectation is unfair, but it feels that with the other aspects of the game, that kind of combat system is the only way to play.
Interactivity with the world makes certain quests in this game interesting, like in the Dark Brotherhood where you get an extra bonus in the quest for making the death look accidental by causing a Trophy to fall on the target rather than murdering him outright. If only all kills could be made this way, rather than just having some of them scripted. It would have been interesting to see multiple ways of completing objectives that were less straightforward, like this one.
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