Posted March 06, 2014
I have quite a bunch to report here from February. Sorry for the length. :-)
Heroes of Might and Magic II including Price of Loyalty expansion. Hmm, what can I say. Well, I like the game I really do and it is very good game on it's own. But, the problem with it is, that I played Heroes III first and it is probably my the most favourite game ever.
It is also improvement over HoMaM II in almost every aspect. Most mechanics are improved, there are more units with more upgrades, they have more skills, there are more hero skills, heroes have little bios (not game changer but I love them), they are more varied, I like graphics more, you can wait in battles, battle AI is more interesting and so on.
It might sound like Heroes II is a bad game but it is in no way a case. It is just hard to judge for me, as it was surpassed in almost every aspect by it successor.
Still I had fun playing it and it's own it's worth playing for every fan of TBS.
I went through all missions with enthusiasm, I never got bored (it took me only several weeks to beat it because I haven't abandoned it as I do with other TBS often) and always looked forward to playing it.
It deserves 8/10.
Guacamelee! Gold Edition. My god, is it good. I was looking forward to this game and it haven't disappointed me at all. Actually I was looking forward to both this and Dust: An Elysian Tail and right now I am in the process of playing Dust and I like Guacamelee perhaps a little bit more.
All thanks to amazing combat system. I loved it. It's probably the best I have seen in platformers so far. It's just so well done, so fluid, quite easy to pull off and really responsive. It's certainly the strongest point of the game.
I would actually like to see more of it, possibly at the expense of platforming. I certainly haven't enjoyed it as much as combat. Most of time it was nice and fun but I think it was overdone and infuriating at some points. Yes, Tula Tree, I am looking at you. When I was getting some pieces of mask I was incredibly frustrated and raged a lot.
I don't think it is done particulary well compared to combat. In combat you actually have time to do what you want to do, you don't have to mash buttons quickly to perform combos, while a lot of enviromental puzzles are to be overcome only by split second action, when player has to perform very precise actions in order to reach his destination. I wouldn't mind it as probably all harder platforming was for optional stuff, but considering you can't get the true ending without it, I do mind.
On the optimistic side, I also love the setting, humour and looks of the game.
I completed game on 100%, finding all secrets and getting the true ending on first try. I also got 10 gold medals in El Infierno challenges (plus about 2 silver), but other challenges were either too hard or unappealing for me to finish.
For incredibly fun brawling this deserves 8.5/10.
Age of Wonders: Shadow Magic. Finally, after playing multiplayer for several years and at least year sincce I started it, I completed the campaign here. I liked it, it's certainly one of best TBS out there, but I think it has weakest campaign of all three released AoW games. Still it doesn't mean it's bad at all. I enjoyed it a lot. More than whole Disciples II which I played recently too. Compared to HoMaM II, it would be bit higher than HoMaM thanks to more overall polish, more interesting mechanics and spell system.
My biggest complain is the braindead AI and sometimes artificaly prolonged scenarios to unnecessary length.
Because of it I still don't think it deseves more than 8/10. Which is very good of course, but could have been a bit better.
Orc Must Die 2!. Weakest of the bunch I completed recently. I still quite like the game and I liked its prequel as well. What I like most are some nifty traps and I enjoy setting them up. I on the other hand am not fan at all of fast clicking you have to do in order to kill Orcs. I would enjoy it better if it was more about building perfect trap filled route and less about clicking like crazy. Yet I fairly enjoyed and completed everything (except endless maps and including DLC) on normal difficulty.
I don't have much motivation to try nightmare difficulty, though, as I am afraid it will be even bigger clickfest.
7/10 for my sore thumb.
I also went through Puzzle Quest: Challenge of Warlord. I used this game as relaxation and had it running on half of screen while I was doing something else (mostly watching something on PC) but more and more I got into, I was paying more attention to the game than to the other thing I was doing. Once again enjoyable game, although it could be much better. I am not fan of "match 3" games and I see little point in them, but when they are used as combat mechanics I can quite enjoy them.
It is actually put to good use here and make for fun game.
You can play with different spells, create synergies with them, there are many various activities with different rules (sieges, research, trainings,...) and it is fun when everything works out and you unleash hell on enemy.
That's one of the problem with the game. It is incredibly random and likes to screw you over. One game your enemy is able to destroy you in one turn and you get nothing and other time he barely scratches you while you obliterate. If it was only thanks to abilities, it would be all right but it can really screw you over by what appears on board which can be infuraiting sometimes.
Other problem with the game is too many random encounters. Those were tedious and annoyed me. When I started the game, I wanted to do something particular. To progress in story or to do some side quest perhaps. Instead I often had to slug through bunch of random creeps, usually too weak to pose any challenge so basically just eating up my time.
Otherwise there is not much I can complain about. Well, the game lacks weapons in fights in comparison to its sequel and it decreases options in combat somehow, but that's about it.
Also, it would be nice if the sieges mattered and town treated you differently after you conquer it, but it is like nothing would happen.
It is only "match 3" game so I guess I expect too much.
My rating would be 7/10.
Link to full list.
Heroes of Might and Magic II including Price of Loyalty expansion. Hmm, what can I say. Well, I like the game I really do and it is very good game on it's own. But, the problem with it is, that I played Heroes III first and it is probably my the most favourite game ever.
It is also improvement over HoMaM II in almost every aspect. Most mechanics are improved, there are more units with more upgrades, they have more skills, there are more hero skills, heroes have little bios (not game changer but I love them), they are more varied, I like graphics more, you can wait in battles, battle AI is more interesting and so on.
It might sound like Heroes II is a bad game but it is in no way a case. It is just hard to judge for me, as it was surpassed in almost every aspect by it successor.
Still I had fun playing it and it's own it's worth playing for every fan of TBS.
I went through all missions with enthusiasm, I never got bored (it took me only several weeks to beat it because I haven't abandoned it as I do with other TBS often) and always looked forward to playing it.
It deserves 8/10.
Guacamelee! Gold Edition. My god, is it good. I was looking forward to this game and it haven't disappointed me at all. Actually I was looking forward to both this and Dust: An Elysian Tail and right now I am in the process of playing Dust and I like Guacamelee perhaps a little bit more.
All thanks to amazing combat system. I loved it. It's probably the best I have seen in platformers so far. It's just so well done, so fluid, quite easy to pull off and really responsive. It's certainly the strongest point of the game.
I would actually like to see more of it, possibly at the expense of platforming. I certainly haven't enjoyed it as much as combat. Most of time it was nice and fun but I think it was overdone and infuriating at some points. Yes, Tula Tree, I am looking at you. When I was getting some pieces of mask I was incredibly frustrated and raged a lot.
I don't think it is done particulary well compared to combat. In combat you actually have time to do what you want to do, you don't have to mash buttons quickly to perform combos, while a lot of enviromental puzzles are to be overcome only by split second action, when player has to perform very precise actions in order to reach his destination. I wouldn't mind it as probably all harder platforming was for optional stuff, but considering you can't get the true ending without it, I do mind.
On the optimistic side, I also love the setting, humour and looks of the game.
I completed game on 100%, finding all secrets and getting the true ending on first try. I also got 10 gold medals in El Infierno challenges (plus about 2 silver), but other challenges were either too hard or unappealing for me to finish.
For incredibly fun brawling this deserves 8.5/10.
Age of Wonders: Shadow Magic. Finally, after playing multiplayer for several years and at least year sincce I started it, I completed the campaign here. I liked it, it's certainly one of best TBS out there, but I think it has weakest campaign of all three released AoW games. Still it doesn't mean it's bad at all. I enjoyed it a lot. More than whole Disciples II which I played recently too. Compared to HoMaM II, it would be bit higher than HoMaM thanks to more overall polish, more interesting mechanics and spell system.
My biggest complain is the braindead AI and sometimes artificaly prolonged scenarios to unnecessary length.
Because of it I still don't think it deseves more than 8/10. Which is very good of course, but could have been a bit better.
Orc Must Die 2!. Weakest of the bunch I completed recently. I still quite like the game and I liked its prequel as well. What I like most are some nifty traps and I enjoy setting them up. I on the other hand am not fan at all of fast clicking you have to do in order to kill Orcs. I would enjoy it better if it was more about building perfect trap filled route and less about clicking like crazy. Yet I fairly enjoyed and completed everything (except endless maps and including DLC) on normal difficulty.
I don't have much motivation to try nightmare difficulty, though, as I am afraid it will be even bigger clickfest.
7/10 for my sore thumb.
I also went through Puzzle Quest: Challenge of Warlord. I used this game as relaxation and had it running on half of screen while I was doing something else (mostly watching something on PC) but more and more I got into, I was paying more attention to the game than to the other thing I was doing. Once again enjoyable game, although it could be much better. I am not fan of "match 3" games and I see little point in them, but when they are used as combat mechanics I can quite enjoy them.
It is actually put to good use here and make for fun game.
You can play with different spells, create synergies with them, there are many various activities with different rules (sieges, research, trainings,...) and it is fun when everything works out and you unleash hell on enemy.
That's one of the problem with the game. It is incredibly random and likes to screw you over. One game your enemy is able to destroy you in one turn and you get nothing and other time he barely scratches you while you obliterate. If it was only thanks to abilities, it would be all right but it can really screw you over by what appears on board which can be infuraiting sometimes.
Other problem with the game is too many random encounters. Those were tedious and annoyed me. When I started the game, I wanted to do something particular. To progress in story or to do some side quest perhaps. Instead I often had to slug through bunch of random creeps, usually too weak to pose any challenge so basically just eating up my time.
Otherwise there is not much I can complain about. Well, the game lacks weapons in fights in comparison to its sequel and it decreases options in combat somehow, but that's about it.
Also, it would be nice if the sieges mattered and town treated you differently after you conquer it, but it is like nothing would happen.
It is only "match 3" game so I guess I expect too much.
My rating would be 7/10.
Link to full list.
Post edited March 06, 2014 by Vitek
