Played a few things I liked this time. And some things I didn't.
Superflight
More of a proof of concept than an actual game, but a fun little diversion. Glide around, scoring points for getting close to obstacles and surviving. Would really benefit from some more interesting environments (eg. cities) but it controls well and is absolutely worth the $2 I paid for it just to play with it for a bit. Would love to see it turned into a real game.
Figment
The voice acting in this game is really good so it's a real shame that the gameplay is extremely tedious. The character moves slowly and there's a lot of backtracking and waiting for animations and such. And like the voice acting, the animations are good, but they're too slow. They need to be about twice the speed, at least after the first time you see them. I only did the tutorial so I don't know what it's like as it goes on, but combat seems pretty basic, mostly involving dodging out of the way of enemies and timing your attacks.
Might and Magic Book One: The Secret of the Inner Sanctum
Surprisingly playable for such an old game. Having played Eye of the Beholder II: The Legend of Darkmoon, I was expecting to get dropped into immediate danger and die without any idea of what I was doing, but it was actually quite playable. Obviously you'd need to read the manual to actually play it properly, but just figuring stuff out as I went I was able to wander around and fight a bunch of monsters. And then I had no idea how to get back to town because there's no in-game map and everywhere looks the same. But if I cared to I could look at the instructions and make a map (or find one online) and actually play this game.
Dragon Age: Origins
I've finished this game before, back when it was relatively new. Now it's rather showing its age, but it's still fun. The combat system is, admittedly, quite awkward, but the ability to automate your teammates actions through scripting is cool - it's a pity you have to spend some of their upgrade points on doing that, but it doesn't seem like it's going to be a problem. I think last time I mostly controlled everyone manually, but that seems like a real hassle right now.
The other area in which the game is showing its age is the writing. It's fine. The voice acting is certainly better than most. The central plot is pretty good. But the character writing sucks. It certainly doesn't help that I've played Baldur's Gate 3 so recently, but the "banter" between Alastair and Morrigan is fucking painful. Morrigan, in general, is actually pretty bad. The same basic archetype as Astarion - selfish and mean but actually a good person deep down - but done worse (and I don't actually think much of Astarion tbqh).
I shouldn't be so dismissive of the plot though because it really is very good. It's not deep or complex but it's absolutely fit for purpose. You've got effectively three enemy factions: demons, who are manifestations of negative character traits (the seven deadly sins because that's a convenient list but whatever, it works) and can be used as arbitrary obstacles; Loghain, whose motivations and mistakes are clearly conveyed, make sense, and provide the majority of the roadblocks for the protagonist; and darkspawn, who are a mysterious and malevolent force that must be opposed at all costs, serving as an excellent final antagonist. It's actually a lot better than most games' central plot (including BG3).
I doubt I'll finish it again, but it was fun to give it another go. Maybe I'll do some of the DLC (which I didn't have, last time I played it - must have gotten it for free at some point).
Marvel Snap
The actual gameplay is easy to pick up and quite fun. Everything else is fucking awful. Firstly, you can't buy cards. Not even with real money. Imagine if you got your first Magic: the Gathering starter deck and learned the rules, then said "OK, I'd like to buy some cards and make my own deck" but they told you you had to keep playing the starter deck and after each game they might give you half a dozen random cards. It's like Shandalar, but you can't edit the deck files in Notepad to bypass it. And there's about four different in-game currencies and multiple steps to spend them to get your one new card after each game. I don't understand any of it, I just click on all the notifications I can see until I get rid of them all and then sometimes I've got a new card.
And that lack of a way to get cards is a real problem. Early on, playing against what must have been bots, children, or people so new to this type of game that they're essentially playing at random, I was winning a lot. Now I can't win a game. And I can see better strategies that are out there, but I have no way of getting the cards I need to be able to play them. I'm stuck with a shitty deck that can't win and a bunch of random cards with no synergy. I must be missing something but I don't know what.
Sakuna: of Rice and Ruin
Endless cutscenes and dialogues. What little of the game I actually played was tedious and annoying. Movement controls are awkward and attacks didn't feel like they had the range or power they should.
Gris
A very relaxing platformer. There are no enemies, no deaths, just running and jumping your way through some very nice-looking abstract environments to a great soundtrack. I heartily recommend it.
Penumbra: Black Plague
I didn't even get to the bit where any monsters appeared, I just got frustrated with the poor controls and nonsense puzzles. How do you turn off the refrigeration system? Pour a can of softdrink over the thermostat, of course! Get past some laser tripwires? You'd think maybe blocking them with a barrel would do something, but nope; they pass clean through it.
Jalopy
This was slow and boring and after putting the car together and driving to the first destination, I couldn't figure out how to turn off the lights or take the key out of the ignition. I briefly considered looking online for help, but then realised that would only lead to playing more of the game, which I didn't want to do.
| << All Games are the Same | ... |
No comments:
Post a Comment