Perfect review, thanks! I don't know the game at all, but it might be something for me. No spoilers, strengths and weaknesses covered well. +1

I'm glad to hear it, you're welcome! Be careful if you watch trailers or read anything about it, some stuff is specifically about episode 5 and spoiling quite a lot.

Thanks for the warning.
I guess there's no DRM-free PC version? :-( Otherwise I'd probably buy it on the spot.

Alan Wake. It seems like this one wasn't as well-received as the Max Payne games, which is interesting because as much as I like Max Payne, in comparing them I think I had more interesting gameplay experiences with Alan Wake. The two-pronged gunplay technique, requiring you to "burn" the enemies with your flashlight before you could kill them with your guns, combined with Alan being a fairly fragile character, means that the encounters tend to be more intense. The game is also really gorgeous to look at, and I'm probably just biased toward the outdoors setting over Max Payne's generic urban environments.

Much like Max Payne, I could take or leave the writing, although it does sort of make sense that Alan, a struggling author, would inflict some pretty tedious monologues on the player. I kept imagining that the game's real title was Garth Marenghi's Alan Wake :p

Two Worlds

One of the most underrated games I've ever played. Sure, the voice acting is goofy and it has its share of bugs. But it's a really incredible experience, if you want it to be.

Devil May Cry 3 - Normal difficulty

Great game, "Even a devil may cry when he loses a loved one."

That's better, I couldn't stand to be a substandard devil hunter. I can get rid of the "Easy" note on my games finished list. I think I'll add the rocking theme song to my playlist.

<Qualified at hunting devils while eating pizza. Yeah.

It is the same thing. Far Cry 3 Blood Dragon.

You can get it as DLC or as a standalone game.

Thanks for the info. If there will ever be a retail version I might consider to buy it and "DRM free" it myself... Buying a DRM'd download version is a no-go for me :-/
Thanks, sounds good! Except for that it's Far Cry 3... means UPlay, right?

I played it on console.

But yeah uplay unless you pirate it.

Or Steam. But I respect toxicTom wanting it DRM-free. For me, it wasn't such a big deal because I knew that I would play it right after buying and that I'm unlikely to replay it now that I've finished it, so considering that you can almost pay the same price to see a two hour 3D movie on weekends, I was okay with the thought of possibly only "renting" it to experience it once.

Wolf among us: Nice graphics and voice acting but it's more an interactive movie with some quicktime-event action scenes who add a bit of gameplay-variety.
The game gives the illusion that your choices matter but they do not. I played the game twice, once as the super friendly guy and then as the hyper-aggressive psycho; ... it wasn't worth it. There are very few choices which slighty have a small influence and just one choice near the end which really makes a difference. Apart from that, the story - which is at best average - stays exactly the same.

Furthermore, they try too hard to portray their game as mature. All these shabby fables (supposedly hundreds of year old characters) behave like idiots, whose motives can be broken down into money, sex and drugs.
I played a lot of story-driven games who didn't need to push their (pseudo-)matureness down my throat like that (Blackwell series or Gemini Rue for example).

I would give the game 2 (maybe 2 1/2) out of 5 stars, because the voice acting is nice and the graphic style is unique but most characters are boring, the story is mediocre and the game has neither depth nor replay value.

South Park Stick of Truth, what a great game!

Finished the entire season of Life is Strange. A great game for those who like adventure games with good writing, beautiful graphics and great music. Pacing is slow but it helps setting the mood.

Full list here.

Nearwood: CE (HOG) from _Slaugh_'s great GA.

The art is fantastic - bright vibrant. Worst thing I can say about it is that it reminded me just a hair of Thomas Kinkade, but I think that approach works well for a fantasy world.

Voice acting...eh. For being a time/space traveling heroine, she sure sounds like she's lacking in confidence.

Puzzles are generally good, and the actual "hidden object" part of the game was somewhat minimal - like adventure/HOG lite. The hint system was also good - each puzzle has an available button you can press if you aren't even sure WTF the puzzle is, but that doesn't give any spoilers on solving it.

B+, maybe.

Not sure what to play next - about 60% of the way through Aarklash - possible I'll pick back up with mark of the ninja instead.