Shadowrun Hong Kong - It's not a bad game but i was really disappointed with this one, i felt like the relation with your team/npcs is amazing but the main story is... uninteresting.
I had to start all over again due to a major glitch that the game had, it wasn't enough the previous one (in a boat where i could only do choose one of the solutions because the items of the other was glitched) but the still presented me with disappearing (with no reason) of one of the sellers meaning that i couldn't buy stuff for my decker.

Anyway, i wasn't having any fun with the decker so it kind of was a blessing in disguise, tried again with the Rigger and... uhm... it less boring. Dunno, i felt like the combat on Shadowrun is repetitive, it doesn't help that it's the third game with the same combat but to be fair what excels on Shadowrun is the amazing writting and in that front it delivered, i'm just bitter because i didn't had the good ending due to something stupid that i was expecting to do (spoilersspoilerssleepinbedfivetimesspoilerspoilers).

If i had to say:

Shadowrun Returns - 7/10
Shadowrun Dragonfall - 10/10
Shadowrun Hong Kong - 8/10

That's a surprising score for a disappointing RPG with supposedly uninteresting story and repetitive combat ... ;)

It's disgusting, I want more!

Because the rest overcomes those negative points, you genuinely care about those people that you interact with but the main motivation for what you're doing (the main quest) is... i want to say generic but i'm not sure it's the right word. On the other hand, it's not easy to overcome what was done in Dragonfall so it's easy to excuse the shortcomings of the game.

As for the combat, it's the same as the previous ones so it's not bad, just serviceable.

And i can be disappointed with something without it being bad, right guys? Guys?

Front Mission: Evolved is apparently a spinoff of a turn-based Strategy-RPG series (Final Fantasy Tactics with Mechas?). Not that I would really know or care, since only one of them reached Europe and even then, there was hardly any fanfare about it. To be honest, there was hardly any fanfare about this too, but I ended up learning about it anyway and it is a shooter game with mechas and thus, I felt that I had to play it. So, thoughts?

Could be better, really. Sure, the customization choices (weapons, arms, legs, backpack and the like) are nice and all and I never say no to blasting mechas to smithereens, but the game doesn't do the job very well. For starters, you are too slow, which means that you'll probably not be going all guns blazing against others and just go and take some boring cover. Zzzzzzzz..... Oh sure, you can boost, but you can only do so for a limited time, otherwise you run the risk of overheating your boosters and have to wait till they cool down before you can boost again, which can make for some really frustrating moments when you are unable to find cover in time. It also becomes tedious when you'll have to cross long empty distances and have to constantly alternate between walking and boosting.

Speaking of tedium, enemies (especially bosses) can be real sponges and despite upgrading your stuff and fighting the same enemies over and over again, you don't really feel that you are becoming stronger than you were before, as they end up needing the same amount of hits as they previously did. Which makes it all the more weird and hilarious that when you fight Mechas on foot (yes, there are such sections in the game, Gears of War style), they need less hits from your rocket launcher than your upgraded Mecha missiles.

Complementing the whole package is a mediocre plot full of facepalming moments and long, boring cutscenes. Fortunately, they can be skipped.

Meh... the search for a good action game with mechas continues. Maybe Robotech: Battlecry might be the one.... or maybe not. For the time being, let me bring up the full list.

Qvadriga

Fun little game about Roman chariot racing. And despite being racing, it's actually turn-based so it's much more strategical in that sense. The graphics might be a bit off-putting at first but that's simply something that should be overlooked. It's not about the graphics, especially with this game, but the gameplay.

Anyway, the races usually consist of three laps and you have some choices to make every few seconds: accelerating (with or without using a whip), braking, switching lanes, crashing into your opponents, whipping your opponents, or protecting yourself from enemy attacks. It's very easy to break your chariot, especially on turns, so it's better to just finish rather than risk breaking your chariot trying to get a better standing. You always get money even if you're dead last, but not if you crash. Between races, you can buy better drivers, cars and horses. The goal is to get enough fame to get access to Circus Maximus and win three more races there.

The gameplay is damn solid, but I only wish some races were longer, especially those with 12 cars. Sometimes getting stuck behind a slow opponent in the very beginning can mean an inevitable loss since there's not much time to recuperate. Also, since the races are so short, there's not much point trying to kill any of the opponents or their horses, except maybe if you're first and a single opponent is closing in. Hindering them during the first lap, especially when you're still accelerating, is only going to hurt your own chances to win.

But other than that, it's a really good, simple game. Now that it's only a dollar for a limited time, I definitely recommend trying it out.

Unreal Gold is a really impressive-looking game, even for today, with or without the usage of texture packs. Seriously, the environments look great, the enemies look great, the effects look great! The environments in particular are very well-crafted and give a great sense of journey, whether it is some town, a church, a castle, a cave, etc. I really have to give Kudos to the developers. But wait, there is more; the soundtrack is also great, full of memorable and catchy tunes. Add to this the all-time classic menu and Unreal's first impressions are truly among the best. I guess there has to be a catch, though, right?

Yup, Unreal is a bit lackluster in the most important part of a FPS; the shooting. Playing through the game, I got the impression that they put the wrong sort of combat inside it. Considering how large and spacy are a lot of the game's levels (with some of them clocking close to an hour), I was expecting many, many enemies. Instead, there are only a handful of them and placed sparsely around each level, which pretty often translates to walking long stretches with nothing to do. When you finally find some of them, the combats can end up pretty protracted thanks to enemies being sponges and having the uncanny ability to dodge your projectiles even from distances that you wouldn't believe it's possible. The last one can render many of your weapons useless when fighting those enemies in open areas and while you do have access to hitscan weapons, ammo won't always be available. Which is a shame, really, as Unreal sports a great selection of interesting weapons like the ASMD, Bio Rifle, Flak Cannon and Razorjack, with each of them having a secondary usage, a nice weight and a memorable sound effect. It's just too bad that many of those weapons can find a chance to shine only through specific circumstances like narrow passages.

Overall, while Unreal isn't as good as it could have been, it at least laid the foundations for one of the best FPS of all times; Unreal Tournament. It's also a masterpiece when compared to its sequel, but that's a game that I will talk about in another day. For the time being, let the list come forth.

I've meaning to get it. Where is/was it $1? Anyway, i actually have the board game that the PC version is based off (same name, looks identical) as well as the classic old Avalon Hill board game "Circus Maximus" that inspired Qvadriga. Not many people get the whole board game feel, which is probably why it's reviews are so mixed.

Thief (Xbox One)

My third play through actually, decided on a quick predatory (kill/knockout everything) play. This time with the Xbox One version since it's one of this months GwG titles. Compared to the 360 version i played it runs slightly smoother and seems to have better lighting and effects, but definitely not an essential upgrade for someone that has the 360/PS3 version.

Humble Weekly Bundle: Sports. Lowest tier, along with Max Gentlemen Triple DLC Pack and OlliOlli. Offer still available for 4 days as I write this.

Avernum 2: Crystal Souls

Improves and expands on the scenario from the first Avernum and was very enjoyable. The RNG seems a bit weird in this one (compared to the first) since I had two characters with 90% chance to hit in combat, yet one of them missed half the time (the other character was successful as often as I expected). Maybe the game only gives the base chance to hit with modifiers hidden from the player.

Now I'll have to wait about 2 years for the revamped Avernum 3 or play the older version. I really don't like the UI, map, and journal system from the last generation of Avernum 3..what to do..what to do?

Moto Racer 2 - Good extension of the first racer with more tracks, but less variety in the environments. Whereas the first one had quite a good selection of tracks with interesting environments, there are only city, jungle, and village environments and the tracks are less interesting. The tournament was nice, but the requirement to get 1st to unlock subsequent tournaments meant a lot of replaying races. Overall, I enjoyed it but it wasn't a big leap over the first.

Doom 2 - A solid extension of the first. The levels were well-designed and flowed logically, I wasn't stuck too many times. The game definitely seems more challenging, more high-level enemies are thrown at you. The flaming skulls still annoy me to no end. Overall, a great shooter that's easy to pick and play.

Since there are so many way to play it, which one did you choose?
I played it via the Doomsday Engine with mouse aiming in widescreen, with HD textures and a slight HD filter for the sprites.

Imho, Doom 2 has some of the best designed maps in FPS history to this day.

Since you've got the doom2.wad, you could also play the first version of the PC port of Doom64:
http://doom.wikia.com/wiki/Doom_64_TC
For the more truthful version you'd need a rom file from the N64 version, but even the standalone one is great although one weapon was replaced. Both are from the guy that made the Turok overhaul that is sold here now.

I played the vanilla version, running in DOSBox using keyboard only. I try to play my games as close to the original as possible, but I've been playing around with some of the Doom source ports out there (ZDoom, GZDoom, Chocolate Doom, etc.). I've also been playing around Oblige, which generates random WADs (from single levels up to an entire game's worth) with tons of options to tweak:
http://oblige.sourceforge.net/

Doom 2 had some impressive levels, a step above the original, no doubt.