#183 Pilotwings

Posted: 24th August 2014 by Jeroen in Games
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358th played so far

Pilotwings_BoxGenre: Flight Simulator
Platform: SNES
Year of Release: 1990
Developer: Nintendo
Publisher: Nintendo

SNES fest! I do love obsessively playing a run of games from one console.

After Monkey Island, today we turn to Pilotwings. Again a game from my youth, although not as major as Monkey Island, I remember playing this at a friend’s house. It never played as big a role in my life, but its gameplay is still vaguely familiar, and I really remember its difficulty even now…

Our Thoughts

Pilotwings is not, in terms of looks or mechanics, a very complicated game. I’m not saying that it’s easy, but its simulations are mostly straight forward. The four modes, flying a light plane past certain goals, sky diving (reaching certain goals), a rocket belt (not realistic, but working as you’d expect) and hang gliding, all have similar mission structures and options while offering different enough controls to make them feel distinct.

Momentarily ignoring the lack of real life rocketbelts and the presumed danger posed by putting a skydiving landing pad in the centre of a lake, causing trouble if you miss your landing… the game does focus on getting the controls feeling accurate. Skydiving only lets you spin left and right, and do some tumbling that supposedly makes things different, but I believe mostly speeds you up or slows you down (something that matters more when you consider you are partially timed).

Your goal, at least initially, is to get high enough points on different levels using these different modes, based on speed, accuracy and (well…) surviving your task. This is not as simple as it sounds – while it’s initially fairly easy to land safely when ski diving – you’re told exactly when to deploy your parachute – just landing the plane requires a tricky balance of speed, angle and time to set down. Following the more complicated paths after that feel quite tough already. No wonder, from my perspective, that we had trouble getting through the first set of levels, the second felt near impossible already.

(That’s not true, I remember playing the hang glider level a long time ago. It’s just that situation again of how much time you dedicate to it)

The seriousness of the game shows in the graphics as well. They’re functional, not embellished much, giving you the bits of information you need. Boring perhaps, but befitting the serious simulation this tries to be.

Final Thoughts

A nice beginning to our SNESfest despite the fact that it is absurdly difficult to fly using a jet pack or (at times) to land a plane without going so fast that the wheels fly off. I actually like how the cartoon flight instructors look visibly sad when you are so inept during training.

We have two more games this SNESfest. Any guesses what they are going to be?

#178 The Secret of Monkey Island

Posted: 20th August 2014 by Jeroen in Games
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357th played so far

The_Secret_of_Monkey_Island_artworkGenre: Adventure
Platform: Various
Year of Release: 1990
Developer: Lucasfilm Games
Publisher: LucasArts

Woo! Monkey Island! Maniac Mansion, our last Lucasarts game, wasn’t as much of a success, but I love Monkey Island and have fond memories of the swordfighting in this game being quoted at each other in school (it made sense to us). Not just that, we got the demo of this game (on a floppy disk!) at one point and played it so often at home, trying to get through it. I could swear I remember that piece of the game so much better than the full version I eventually learned.

I missed playing this, and I’m happy it can go back into occasional rotation now it doesn’t have the blog worry attached to it anymore.

Our Thoughts

It has been a while since we last finished a (non-trivial) game before writing it up for the blog, but this time (encouraged by Peter’s love for it once we started playing) we completed it in two nights.

The Secret of Monkey Island is the first Lucasarts adventure game that really uses the humour in their games that we know from previous games such as Grim Fandango and Sam & Max Hit The Road. I believe there are bits of it in earlier games, but here is where a lot of the more serious plot is thrown overboard in favour of having fun.

It starts simple – our hero, Guybrush Threepwood, arrives on the main village of Melee Island, determined to become a pirate(!) While doing so he falls in love, meets the evil sheriff and eventually travels to the titular Monkey Island to save the governor of the island. The first act of the game really just makes a standard ‘finish the checklist’ plot out of this, having you succeed at the three pirating skills – sword fighting, treasure hunting and thievery, with the second act having more of a narrative in it. The way this is set up is typically fun and charming, while simultaneously tying different threads together. This, as much, happens for the different puzzles, with elements from different sections interacting enough that each follows another.

Although there are some adventure game longshots in how to finish the game, a lot of the puzzles are pretty clear. To add to that, the enhanced edition (which we played because I got it as a strangely appropriate Christmas present) has a hint mode. As lame as it sounds to use it (although the hints are vague enough that you work most of it out yourself, and I didn’t use it until the second act), it really is just a good way to avoid walkthroughs when you get as impatient as I am…

This was an amazing game, going back to when I was playing it first twenty years ago, but holding up even now. It was just brilliant for me to get back to this.

Final Thoughts

Aside from the mild annoyance of the second-hand boat salesman and his magical moving chequered shirt (he really did become tiresome after having to haggle with him for the umpteenth time) this is a truly charming point and click adventure.

We will probably be covering the sequel to this game at some point very soon (released only a year later which kinda speaks to how much longer the production time for games has become when compared to the early nineties) so I look forward to seeing where the story of Guybrush Threepwood takes us.

#728 The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

Posted: 16th August 2014 by Jeroen in Games
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356th played so far

The_Elder_Scrolls_IV_Oblivion_coverGenre: Role-Playing
Platform: PC/Xbox 360/PS3
Year of Release: 2006
Developer: Bethseda Game Studios
Publisher: 2k Games/Bethseda Softworks

Yeah, we played Morrowind fairly recently. To be honest, it was long overdue we played it and we just wanted to go ahead and play these – in part because Peter can’t play Morrowind on his console. Oblivion it is then! It’s also because this way I get to try out Skyrim sooner.

Our Thoughts

It’s difficult to see where to start with this game. There are some obvious missteps – one of which, level ups and monster scaling, is probably worth explaining. Leveling up depends on going up in your primary skills. These skills can be combat useful, such as swords and armor, or utility, like crafting and athletics. Enemies scale up based on your level. This means that if your primary skills are not combat focused – speechcraft, acrobatics, mercantile – you level up without necessarily gaining combat power. Oh, and enemies scale based on your level. You’ve not gained your combat skills? Too bad. It means that, unfortunately, on character creation, you have to change your skill selection to not suddenly cripple you partway through the game. Rather unfortunate if nothing else.

After getting past this initial hiccup – and the lengthy tutorial that comes with it – it becomes more bearable. The game becomes more beautiful – while the engine is obviously a bit older than Fallout 3, the more varied and colourful environments, with plenty of grass and trees, making for some gorgeous vistas. With that, the way the cities are built up, with some really nice architecture in places, the game is nice to just wander through.

The towns and quests are as interesting as its predecessor, and not as good as Fallout – a franchise more focused on plot and options. Everyone is voice acted, which is mostly a nice touch, with the downside that conversations are shortened a lot and less topics are open. Still, if anything, it probably keeps characters a bit more focused and makes it easier to get the information you need.

An addition that comes up here and elsewhere are additional minigames, used when you’re trying to use certain skills, such as lockpicking or (from before) speechcraft. It’s a tricky subject – it moves some part of character skill to player skill, which seems wrong for an RPG, but it does keep it more involved, and in keeping with the required accuracy when fighting and dodging.

Unlike plot focused staples like Bioware’s Mass Effect or Jade Empire, the Elder Scrolls games rely on world building and creating an environment you want to explore – find the nooks and crannies and whatever is hiding there. And when you adjust to those expectations, the game succeeds miraculously and becomes a brilliant game. Thanks to that, too, every playthrough will find you something new, and that makes things just as much fun.

Final Thoughts

There are some games that we know are going to turn into extended playthroughs before we start playing them; as you can guess this was one of them. This playthrough is impeded, however, by the enemies being levelled compared to you. As someone who usually does better with ranged characters this is something that I have had to adapt to after a lot of deaths, restarts and annoyances.

However, there is something rather addictive about this game and the prospect of exploring the world (no matter what direction you choose to wander off in) in a way that few games offer is just intoxicating. There will probably be a bit more of an update when we get to out 351-400 post so keep on reading!

#743 Crush

Posted: 12th August 2014 by Jeroen in Games
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355th played so far

252px-Crush_CoverartGenre: Puzzle/Platform
Platform: PSP
Year of Release: 2007
Developer: Zoe Mode
Publisher: Sega

The weekend where we played Crush was a bit unconventional. We went to visit a friend and figured the best way to keep up with blog coverage was to take a few games up with us and get the good old PSP out. Crush was one of them – as much by whimsy as by intent, but it turned out to make for a pretty good game.

Our Thoughts

At first, looking at the box cover of the game, it seemed somewhat Tetris-like – there’s probably some link to the title, but I wasn’t immediately clear how – stacking blocks and combining that. That is not what I got.

Crush, instead, plays with dimensions, depth and perception. Ostensibly set in the protagonist’s brain, you walk over big, coloured blocks (mostly black, white and green), in simple 3D platforming style. At any point, however, you can force your perspective to be 2D – blocks near and distant get squashed together, based on the ones that are visible, and you can stand on top or in front of them or suddenly find yourself in mid-air. This way, you can move on, possibly crossing to blocks on the other side of the level that in 2D appear next to each other. Switch back and you might continue your journey. The puzzles come down to switching between perspectives, making your way through the levels to collect your lost marbles (yeah) and make it to the end – possibly picking up some collectables along the way.

The way ‘crushing’ affects the world takes some learning, using the colourcoding from the blocks, but when you get used to them they become quite smooth. Dying only impacts your puzzle score, nothing else, encouraging quite a lot of repeat play – and replayability to do better next time. The puzzles smoothly ramp up in difficulty – it’ll take some time to figure things out sometimes, but it wasn’t until the fifth level or so that I really started feeling stuck.

What makes the game really interesting though is the storyline that is weaved in. As mentioned, the game is meant to take place in the protagonist Danny’s mind, attempting to cure his debilitating insomnia. The marbles you collect are meant to help you regain memories and cure this. In between and during the levels, a therapy session takes place between Danny and the scientist who’s meant to help him exploring what is wrong. This is all fairly light, but still adds an extra dimension (yeah…) to what would otherwise be a fun, but incomprehensible puzzler, including adding some haunting background visuals. It’s rare to see puzzle games really get that right, and it’s really good to see they accomplished it here.

Final Thoughts

Apart from Crush there is only one game similar to this that comes to mind; the more sexual Catherine. The whole switching between 2D and 3D to solve puzzles is also something that is unusual and, to my knowledge, only really comes up in Super Paper Mario.

In many ways Crush is a unique game and one that, alongside Jeanne D’Arc, makes the PSP remain an interesting console. Just not the big competitor to the DS in the west that Sony had hoped for. A pattern that they are really repeating with the Vita.

#622 Spider-Man 2

Posted: 8th August 2014 by Jeroen in Games
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354th played so far

Spider-Man_2_CoverartGenre: Action
Platform: Various
Year of Release: 2004
Developer: Treyarch
Publisher: Activision

This is a game I’ve been looking forward to playing for quite a while. When playing and discussing Prototype and Infamous, their free running mechanics came up and Spider-Man 2 was a game Peter often cited as the original game to do this, and do it well.

Enjoying those mechanics, I’ve been wanting to try it myself and see how the game plays. Besides, it’s Spider-Man, that makes it even better!

Our Thoughts

There is something incredibly freeing about webslinging. I’d experienced it earlier, in smaller form, playing (of all things) Lego Marvel Superheroes, but this game, build around the whole concept, makes it so much better. Once you get into it, soaring over the streets and roofs of Manhattan feels incredibly empowering.

What adds to this sensation is its realism – when swinging around, your webs don’t simply attach to the possibly invisble ceiling – they instead connect to appopriate nearby ceilings, with the physics constraining you to swing around that point. While frustrating your movement, it also makes it a more active experience, making control more interesting.

Combine that with the ability to climb up any building, and you get a true open world – no buildings are out of reach, no roofs too high to climb and no limitations in access. It creates an incredible freedom. And while this work isn’t always encouraged – there are no simple collectables and climbing the Empire State Building only gives you access to a time trial course – being that high up is encouraged.

I added the ‘once you get into it’ disclaimer – while webslinging becomes second nature after playing for a while, it takes some time to get used to it and needs some more time when you start after the game after not having played for a while (as, indeed, I just did). It’s not that major, but is something I had to be careful with.

The fighting system of the game fits in with a similar elegance – jump, attack, block and web are the four main buttons. They’re where you expect them to be (looking at you, Free Running) and combine into attacks in simple, elegant ways – no need to learn long combos or to start button mashing.

It makes Spider-Man 2 a really nice work to just explore and do things in. The world is filled with lots of little side tasks – bits to be heroic – from car chases (with you slinging after them) to apprehending thieves and rescuing escaped balloons. This is where some of the flaws show up as well. As nice as the controls can be, they aren’t always suitable for the tasks (or perhaps the tasks are far fiddlier than they should be for controls that, by necessity of the world, are a bit more reliant on broad strokes). Rescuing the balloon is one good example of that, but my personal bugbear for most of it have been the car chasing. You are meant to chase and land on the car so you can beat it down, but between the limits of web slinging and your own occasional lack of speed, it is very difficult to actually land on the car.

So that’s a lot of gameplay, but what about the story, you may ask. Based on the movie, the game expands on most of it, adding plenty new characters and encounters – as you’d expect from a game like this really. There’s some decent voicework here and some okay writing – especially, obviously, in the quips – although not up to movie quality. So far, it mostly feels tangential – excuses to play some expanded versions of existing mission types. These mission can be more interesting – an early fight in a museum requires a nice change of strategy compares to fighting in the streets, for example.

There are some other smaller issues with the game. Most notable for me was the lack of waypoints – there’s no way to go on the map and indicate you want to (for example) visit a specific shop and set a marker that leads you there. While not essential, with the large size of the world they’re trying to create, this sort of help is pretty useful, and it’s a shame it was missed out.

Final Thoughts

The most impressive thing about this game is that it is possibly the greatest movie tie-in game ever released. Others like the Lego Star Wars  don’t exactly count here since, whilst licensed, they were not released at the time as an official game. Any comments to the contrary would be more than welcome.

#603 The Sims 2

Posted: 4th August 2014 by Jeroen in Games
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353rd played so far

The_sims_2Genre: Life Simulation
Platform: PC
Year of Release: 2004
Developer: Maxis
Publisher: Electronic Arts

Peter loves The Sims series. We discussed that, partially, in the first entry. For that reason, today he’ll be able to discuss the game far better than I could.

I can not begin to fathom how much of my early-mid teens play The Sims 2 but all I know is that I had 5 fully fledged generations with an entire brood of children named after the sisters from Charmed and (for some reason known only to myself) Joaquin Phoenix. Anyway, to the task at hand.

Our Thoughts

For our playthrough of The Sims 2 we went for a pure vanilla mode with none of the extra content that EA like to trot out for the series. It wasn’t for the sake of playing this game as would be expected according to the list but because I lost my activation codes for the two expansion packs that I own… still I didn’t like sending my Sims to university anyway.

The main idea behind the gameplay is primarily unchanged since the first incarnation of this series. Create a family, raise a family, turn them into ghosts by drowning them. Lather, rinse, repeat. Added onto this is a complete overhaul of everything else with the big game changer; aging. It was always a problem in the original game where you would create a couple and after you had them copulate like bunnies you could be left with a house with 5-6 children and then that’s the game set until the end of time. Now, those little brats can grow up, move out, get jobs and have their own children. This is a huge game changer since suddenly the family you create go through the standard stages of aging (baby, toddler, child, teen, adult, elderly, ghost) and if you don’t actually force them into making proactive steps you’ll be left with an empty house pretty quickly.

Another big change brought in the sequel was the much appreciated weekend. As enjoyable as the original game was it did become pretty repetitive with your characters all having to attend work (or school) every single day. Now, in The Sims 2, your characters actually have days off to do whatever you want them to do whether it be buying groceries or starting an affair with Mortimer Goth. OR you could take advantage of the new life goals/aspirations and fear system where eating a grilled cheese could be the final thing needed before you can buy a money tree. Sound weird? Well it’s The Sims 2 what would you expect?

When you bring this together with the new genetics system (which can result in some rather unsettling looking children) and the magnificent steps in making this game as customizable as humanly possible (at the time) this was so much of an improvement over the first that I find it hard to play it nowadays.

Final Thoughts

The Sims series is pretty much a sandbox game, and the additionsof goals and aspirations in this game happily add some goals so you don’t feel completely lost. The addition of aging adds more of an ongoing story rather than some odd static world, which makes for a lot more fun. With all of that, I can only hope the third game will bring more interesting things to the table.

#14 Missile Command

Posted: 31st July 2014 by Jeroen in Uncategorized
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352nd played so far

Missile_Command_flyerGenre: Shoot ‘Em Up
Platform: Arcade
Year of Release: 1980
Developer: Atari
Publisher: Atari

Oldie time! The very plain and boring reason we’re playing this today is that we were going through the book, updating our checks on games we’ve covered, and we accidentally went one too far and checked Missile Command. It had to happen.

Our Thoughts

As so often, there doesn’t seem to be a point talking a lot about graphics here, as they are as they often are in these old games – simple, possibly a bit boring, quite pixellated and plain. They represent what they need to, but beyond that it’s what you expect from a game. I say that now so we get it out of the way – functional, but ultimately pushing you to focus on gameplay.

The concept is simple – and heavily influenced by Cold War fears. Missiles are raining from the sky. You’re meant to use your own missiles to destroy and stop them before they destroy the six cities under your protection. For this, you have three missile bases (which can be destroyed as well) each with a collection of missiles.

The game starts simple enough – surprisingly so almost, with the first couple of levels quite doable. While the difficulty ramped up quickly, it felt quite fair. Of course, destroyed cities carry over from one level to the next (with high scores rebuilding them), making it more difficult as you’re doing worse.

It all feels like it balances out quite nicely, into an appropriately tough game that never feels impossible, just a situation where you need more skill. A nice, simple formula that works.

Final Thoughts

Let’s be honest, we kinda phoned this one here. Not much to say here, now move on.

#861 PixelJunk Monsters

Posted: 27th July 2014 by Jeroen in Games
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351st played so far

Psn_pixeljunk_monsters_iconGenre: Strategy
Platform: PlayStation 3
Year of Release: 2008
Developer: Q-Games/Double Eleven
Publisher: Q-Games/SCEA/SCEE

For the first game of another fifty, we go back to another indie(-ish) title. Based on just what I remember coming across the name occasionally, I keep wanting to mistype it PixelHunt Monsters – it was originally typoed in the spreadsheet we use to keep track of the list (my fault!).

Looking at the game, it looks like a cartoony tower defense game – apparently one of the first console games in the genre. We’ve covered a few before – such as Starship Patrol and Plants vs Zombies – and enjoyed them, so this should be more fun, especially as this time, we can go co-op.

Our Thoughts

Now here’s a charming game. Slightly 3D and mostly cartoony, you guard cute animals in a house in a forest, turning trees into different towers that destroy the horde of enemies. It plays like most other tower defense games, with a pleasant look.

A lot of the game relies on speed, getting your character to towers in time to build them, purchasing new types of towers or upgrading them – this last thing being done by dancing around the tower for some time. It adds a lot more urgency to the game, with always too many things to do and too many paths to cover.

Luckily, there’s a lot of co-op play, which eases the process. While it probably increases the difficulty by increasing monster numbers (we didn’t test), dividing responsibilities makes it easier to keep up with the different attacks, building and upgrading towers. It’s fairly straightforward, staying out of each other’s way, and makes it easier to cover more ground – with different attack paths, being able to divide your attention between two, or between two halves of the screen, is a major advantage.

The game stays themed nicely – while using a lot of standard distinctions (flying vs ground, long range speedy shooters vs short range heavy hitters), they feel slightly different and nature-based enough to be different, as well as providing some interesting screen-filling weapons.

A truly satisfying co-op experience that feels worth going back to for us.

Final Thoughts

I think that the final sentence Jeroen wrote really does sum up this game. With the majority of games on this list being single-player the chance for us to enjoy a game together is sadly quite rare and I really got into this one. I have high hopes for the other PixelJunk game on this list now.

50 Game Round Up: 301-350 (Peter)

Posted: 26th July 2014 by Jeroen in Round-Up, Uncategorized
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If I am being honest my heart has not exactly been in this blog for the last 50. I have had such a turbulent time of it that there are a number of games where I just watched them being played rather than playing them myself since I had so much work to do in the evenings and over the weekend. However, now that I have quit the job that made me ill and I am happy again this blog will have more of a place in my heart now.

Best Game I Had Not Previously Played

Despite my heart not being in this blog for the last year or so there really has been a number of games that have captured my interest and resulted in a lot of happy free-time (whenever I could find it) playing. 

The best game is a hard one to decide but if I have to choose it would go to Mass Effect 2. It’s bad to day but before starting this gaming blog I had not played a single game by Bioware (and I have to say that I am beginning to warm to them LOADS)… but more on that later.

The close second would have to be Journey. I was really taken aback by how this game built a feeling of camaraderie between myself and a random player; to the point that I felt bereft when we became separated in the penultimate level and I was left on my own. The feeling of isolation was palpable and I kept calling and calling in the vain hope that they would find me again. It was a truly haunting experience.

Other than that there is the awesome Ni No Kuni (which I need to get back to since completing Grand Theft Auto V ) and Bubble Bobble which is a contender for best music encountered during this blog.

Worst Game

I hate having to come up with this since I know all the hours that go into making these games but two games really felt like turds to me this fifty. Firstly, there is Army of Two: The 40th Day a game which would never have spoken to either of us on the get-go but playing it just felt like an incredibly laborious experience… as did spending time with such gun-ho protagonists.

Then there is Bounty Bob Strikes Back… I am still not entirely sure where to put my finger on that game. 

Most Surprising Game

When I first read the synopsis of The Darkness the expectation that I had was of some rather poor version of Devil May Cry which we would play just to get through and then move back to a game we wanted to play. Boy was I wrong. As a game it feels more like a demonic-Prototype (minus the open world) but also with the most realistic depiction of a relationship I have ever witnessed in a computer game.

Other than that I was surprised at how weird The Sentinel was and how addictive Nethack was another surprise being that I was actually quite good at it.

Biggest Disappointment

I think this is the first time that either of us have included a game that we previously played under this header but Little Big Adventure really fits the bill. It’s one of those games that I have been really looking forward to trying out again now that I am older… now I wish I hadn’t really bothered. As games go it promises so much but it is just way too clunky to rank alongside a lot of the other games on this list.

Best Blast From The Past

I’m so glad at how much Jeroen has been getting into Fallout 3 and have enjoyed a number of our Civilization IV games but neither wain Blast from the Past as that goes to Broken Sword. 

I used to love Broken Sword when I was younger but I could never progress further than Syria (playing it again I realise why… that souvenir puzzle was ridiculous… yet I got past the Irish goat… curious). I got so much more enjoyment from it now I am that much older and previous blog games like Time Gentlemen, Please, Machinarium and Sam and Max Hit The Road have really warmed me back up to point-and-click games.

Games We Kept Playing

I have talked about a lot of games that would fall under this category already but I REALLY need to highlight Mass Effect 2 again. It has been a long time since I found an RPG was this addictive and where I felt so attached to the characters. I loved the first Mass Effect and yet this one was even more involving since I knew that if I did something wrong I could lose a teammate and I was NOT going to have that! I also may have developed a weird straight crush on Miranda that I am still unable to explain…

50 Game Round Up: 301-350 (Jeroen)

Posted: 25th July 2014 by Jeroen in Round-Up
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Woo! 350! Another batch of games done! And it’s been eventful – during this fifty we found out a new edition of the book had been released and we have to scramble to see how we can deal with this. Still, adding twenty games to the total project (with only 12 more obsoleted games to deal with) isn’t too bad and the reason it matters little in the end.

It’s been a lovely 50 games, and a good more 50 coming up!

Best Game I Had Not Previously Played

Beyond that, Metroid Fusion was surprisingly interesting. Before starting this blog, I never really was as interested in the Metroid series, but having started playing it, the series has become one I keep looking forward to playing. Ni No Kuni feels like a satisfying masterpiece, an enjoyable story with interesting mechanics and wonderful animation – a perfect blend of Ghibli and Level 5. It almost feels like a cheat to mention Mega Man 9 here, but as tough as the game was, it was a lot of fun to play the game again.

Still, the two best new games for me were Fallout 3 and Mass Effect 2. More on that, though, at the end, as I really kept playing it.

Worst Game

Not all games worked out as well for us. Although we still enjoyed most of the removed games, Army of Two: The 40th Day felt like it was removed for the right reasons. We couldn’t get into it, it seemed a bit boring and felt off.

Still, even games that stayed didn’t always work. Bounty Bob Strikes Back is a game that might have looked good in the days, and the right sort of difficulty then, but for me it was just frustrating – too much work, not enough fun in playing the game to make up for it.

Most Surprising Game

The Darkness was a surprisingly interesting shooter. It initially looked vaguely generic – another FPS with some weird weapons. When we started playing, however, it developed into something more. There was a story weaved through the game more carefully than many others, while the titular darkness gives you an interesting set of powers, playstyles and puzzles.

Probably more suprising though, both in gameplay and in store, was Spider: The Secret of Bryce Manor. When playing the game, there was a lot more depth to it than just spinning webs around the area. While there wasn’t a lot of clear story, the way it implied story – like Journey‘s minimalist story telling – made it a lot more powerful.

Biggest Disappointment

I’m not sure why it is, but for some reason this group of games felt like it had more disappointments than before. It could be that, due to the wait, more of them had gotten build up in our minds as games we’re going to love playing.

Take Dragon’s Lair for example. Based on how we read it, an adventure using full motion video, a game like (say) Broken Sword years before we could pull of that graphical quality. And while it looks good and plays nicely, it really just comes down to a few QTEs. Not the full experience we expected.

Little Big Adventure felt like it should be good – including by anyone’s measure and the reviews given. We, however, ended giving up in frustration without getting out of the first level. It felt that clumsy and annoying.

Personally, however, I’m probably most annoyed that Sins of a Solar Empire wasn’t what I hoped for. While it wasn’t terrible, it wasn’t the 4X game its supposed reputation as unofficial Galactic Civilizations successor suggested. Instead, it’s more of an RTS with some 4X elements, but more focused on the strategy of any other such game. It fels like such a shame and drew me out of it early on.

Best Blast From The Past

After the previous 100 games, it’s been great to return to a lot of games I haven’t played in a while. So many good memories – it’s difficult to narrow it down to a single game, so in no specific order…

I had played Morrowind before, but not too far in. Playing it further and going deeper was a lot of fun. On the other hand, I played Starcraft before – it feels like it has been a constant in my life since it was released. It was amazing to revisit it again, even if it’s slowly being pushed back.

Broken Sword is a series I have good memories of. I got a bit more of the second, but the first is still good, and there were a lot of edge of my seat moments seeing Peter play it.

Probably the most intense however was Civilization IV. The serie still rules – and we’ve spent quite a bit of time on the fifth installment as well now – but despite some niggles number 4 still feels like the best Civ installment so far.

Games We Kept Playing

The best games we kept playing are the ones we finished. There have been two main entries in that category for me, two large RPGs.

I finished Mass Effect 2 a while ago. This is really as much because I played through and finished the original Mass Effect, wanting to complete the trilogy – we’ll start the third game at some point, when we have space in our schedule.

At least as time consuming, if in a different style, is Fallout 3. Focused more on exploration and world building, rather than story telling, it is still engaging and made me want to explore more of the wasteland – as much as possible in fact. At this point I have finished the main quest and am mostly focusing on DLC, but I hope I’ll finish that, too, soon.

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