Returning to games

Today I played a bit more of some games I've already tried. Most of them I tried so long ago I've completely forgotten them, but I have tried them before (and there's probably a good reason I never went back to them).

Shadow of Mordor

Played another half hour or so and found myself in what appears to be a mandatory stealth section. And that might be about it for this game. I'll give it one more go and see if I can get past it another time, but alongside the repetitiveness of the gameplay so far; the utterly uninteresting plot; the weird controls; and the fact (which I failed to mention previously) that the whole map is hostile all the time so you can't just casually wander around grabbing collectables, I don't think I'm going to make it much further into this game.

Freedom Force

Apparently I played this for 40 minutes in 2016 but never reviewed it anywhere. I also don't remember anything about it, so I'll give it another go.

Well, I died in the tutorial. Pretty sure I made it further than that last time since I have a saved game. But I don't think I'm missing anything here. This seems to be one of those "RPGs" when you click on enemies till they die, pick up loot, make numbers go up, and repeat until the terrible plot ends. Also it wouldn't let me take any screenshots so I stole one from the store page.

Hammerfight

I do remember playing this one. I think you sort of have to swing your... vehicle around to make the big bomby-knocker hanging off it smash into your opponent? Let's see.

Yep, exactly as I remembered. Except that I forgot how hard it is to see anything. The vehicles are tiny and blend into the backgrounds, and dialogue popups keep appearing over the top of them. Just a terrible design.

Screenshot button didn't work in this game either. I was starting to worry it was a problem with Steam or my computer, but I loaded another game and tested it and it worked fine. It's just that I happened to pick two games in a row that break it.

Intrusion 2

Looks bad Todd. Last played for 25 minutes in 2014 and I don't remember anything about it. Oh well...

This one wouldn't let me take screenshots either. Anyway, it's one of those side-scrolling shooty games where you control your movement with the keyboard and your aim with the mouse, so you can run one way and shoot another. There's an old DOS game that was exactly like this that I can't remember the name of and it's really annoying me. It was called Abuse. This game though, is not for me. It seems fine if you like this kind of thing, I guess? You can probably find a more modern and better version though.

MacGuffin's Curse

Played less than ten minutes. Not a great sign. Oh well, here goes...

OK, there's nothing wrong with this one. It's just a pretty basic puzzle game. But it's quite old and plays like it's even older. I'd probably have more time for this if it were actually from the '90s instead of just seeming like it should be, but I'm still far more likely to play a more recent game if I feel like doing some puzzling. UX design has come a long way.

Magnifico

25 minutes in 2018. The name rings no bells. Aside from the completely unrelated line from Bohemian Rhapsody: Galileo, Figaro! Turns out I had reviewed it back then. I try to check before I waste time  and effort doubling up, but I'm very bad at remembering to do so. See also: taking screenshots while testing out games so I don't have to load them up a second time just to get a picture.

OK. This is a strategy board game. Probably something like Risk? I've never played Risk. This is what I imagine Risk is like. It's also kind of like Dice Wars but way more complex. You capture territory on the map, either by just walking in if there's no one there already, or by beating the current owner in a war, and there are various things you can do to earn Victory Points, which are the ultimate aim of the game.

To be honest, if I get the urge to play this kind of game, I'll probably go with Dice Wars because it'll take way less time. Or I'll buy Crusader Kings, because that game seems way more fun. Either way, can't see myself playing any more of this. Nothing wrong with it though. If you want a strategy board game that you can play solo, give it a shot I say.

Major Mayhem

Three minutes in 2014. Let's see how long I manage this time!

Four minutes! This game is boring as fuck. Enemies pop up and you shoot them. Repeat forever (ie. four minutes). Like House of the Dead or whatever, but you have to use a mouse instead of a plastic gun.

Mata Hari

A point-and click adventure game. I'm not going to play much of it right now, but unless there's something horribly wrong with it I'll come back to it eventually.

Well, it hasn't made the best first impression. There's some very bad voice acting to start with, and I almost immediately got stuck. Some guy asked me to get him a drink, so I went to the bar and got a drink, but when I went back to him I didn't seem to have the drink - or at least I couldn't see any way to see it or give it to him.

Still, I'll add it to the to-play list. I'm sure there's something I'm missing in the interface. Like, the inventory maybe. There's a sort of conversation inventory at the bottom of the screen so you can bring up currently relevant topics with different people, and that seems like a neat concept.

Max and the Magic Marker

15 minutes in 2012. I'm guessing this is going to be some kind of drawing-based puzzle game?

OK, this seems pretty fun actually. Some light platforming and puzzling. Seems pretty simple - but I don't know, it could get harder later. I feel like this'd be a good one to stream, if I ever get around to doing that. Not too intense, so you can pay attention to chat without killing yourself, but there's enough going on that it shouldn't get boring.

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