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Hades (PC) by jp (Dec 12th, 2024 at 21:55:59) |
I'll admit that I was skeptical of Hades - not that it wasn't a good game, but rather that I would enjoy it. This is mostly because my current memory is that I played Bastion and Transistor and thought they were ok, but not "OMG this is the best thing ever" as sentiment at the time seemed to indicate. So, I thought that this time around, I'd have some fun perhaps but would ultimately be "meh" about Hades.
And I was wrong. I mean, I started playing - very surprised that it sort of jumps right in with no tutorial or explanation - eventually died and wanted to jump right back in again. And, I've been doing that for a bit now.
The game is definitely compelling in that way - you get random boons, you wonder how they work, how they combine with others, and off you go again. And, each time around there's some little detail that's new: a new character, some dialogue with an NPC, etc. so you feel like you're really making forward progress.
So far I've gotten to the 3rd big area boss - haven't defeated yet..and things have started to turn. I'm starting to get a bit tired, almost bored...and the game feels a bit grindy. You have to go again and again to make very little progress in the meta... if I was a better player I might have won already - but I'm not. So, I'm sort of stuck grinding away.
I'll turn god mode on - it gives you some defense against damage - and it gets better each time you die. (more grind?) We'll see how far I'm able to make it - I am curious to see the end. Definitely will not be doing the extra meta-game end stuff though...
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Maneater (PC) by dkirschner (Dec 9th, 2024 at 20:56:22) |
Patrick and I decided to bail on Maneater. Neither of us is feeling the shark RPG. The beginning was fun. You're a big-ass shark and you chomp on people on the beach, on their boats, in the water. Their screaming, the blood, the way you can thrash around, is all hilarious. But then it turns out that was your shark mom, and you're actually a little shark at first, and you start in a super boring place and have to get bigger by eating super boring fish. The game appears to be a massive grind-fest. I don't know how long it takes to get bigger, into open water, to where you're back rampaging on beaches, but we played a couple hours and we're just eating like "level 7 clownfish" or whatever, collecting resources for upgrades, and still trying to figure out how to jump effectively. And getting chased by giant crocodiles from time to time that are double our level. Pass.
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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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GameLog hopes to be a site where gamers such as yourself keep track of the games that
they are currently playing. A GameLog is basically a record of a game you started playing. If it's open,
you still consider yourself to be playing the game. If it's closed, you finished playing the game. (it doesn't matter
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)
for that game. Call it a weblog of game playing activity if you will.
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2261 registered gamers and 3215 games. 7739 GameLogs with 13223 journal entries. 5099 games are currently being played.
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Civilization Revolution (iPod) (Other) by ctcoggin |
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most recent entry: Sunday 23 August, 2009
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Summary
I recently played Civilization Revolution for the iPod Touch. Civilization is a turn based strategy game in which players assume the roles of famous world leaders such as Caesar or Napoleon and attempt to lead that civilization to world dominance. In the game there are a few ways to win, be a war monger and go in to destroy the other civilizations, build all the forty seven technologies for a technological victory, hit eight economic milestones and achieve an economic victory, or have a total or either great people or great wonders in your city or a cultural victory.
Gameplay
When I first started playing the game I noticed it had an easy to follow user interface and I quickly had my difficulty and map chosen and was on to the character selection screen. Here I was able to scroll through the list of world leader with the touch screen and view each leaders set of perks that make him/her better than the other characters. I chose Caesar as I am a Roman history buff. The game knew it was my first time playing and asked me to take a tutorial which I declined as I like to know how to do things by trying. I quickly found this was a terrible idea when I lost in 4 turns. So I was off to start again.
Gameplay 2
On my second run of the game I felt a little better and got more into the game. Seeing the different civilizations with famous cities such as Rome, Washington, and Paris was cool. I was quickly drawn into the game trying to advance my civilization to produce better attack units to take over. I soon realized that you not only have to try to take over the map but also keep your own cities happy as anarchy soon swept through and I could no longer build. I was intrigued that the game play was so in-depth, I was soon at war with Gangues Khan, had alliance with Abraham Lincoln, and was trading goods with Alexander the Great. After about 30 minutes I progressed from a republic to Communism, archers to tanks had taken over the map.
Design
I would highly recommend Civilization Revolution to anyone who enjoys turn based strategy games. The flow of the game is great and the touch screen controls are pretty much flawless and very easy to use. All of the buttons are fairly large on the screen and getting a character to move is as simple as a drag of a finger. Combat is simulated for you so all you have to worry about is building strong units/armies. I really enjoyed the simplistic nature of the combat as it made me feel as if I were playing “Risk”. The AI in the game was very well done as other nations will try to barter, ally, and also declare war with you. The computer moves are well designed and are aggressive, making the game very challenging. If I were to take something away from this for the design of my own game, it would be the idea of familiar historical characters as main characters. I think this idea helps the player relate to the game and automatically chose a favorite character.
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