The master of unlocking has done it again.

Call of Duty: Black Ops

Well, it's a COD game and you.....shoot stuff.....and do stuff....and stuff blow up.

That's the gist of it.

Penny Arcade’s On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness 3

A fun and funny turn-based RPG in the style of a 16-bit JRPG.

I’ve never even heard of the comic the characters in this game are based on, nor am I particularly familiar with 16-bit games or JPRGs… but still this game is very fun! This is primarily due to the non-stop humour: the game never lets up, whether it be dialogue (which is mostly brief), monster descriptions, monster attacks, item descriptions, etc. And it’s not just the quantity, the humour hits the mark nearly every time.

The game is quite fast paced (the battles are mostly not very hard, even on “Veteran” difficulty, and are over fairly quickly). The addition of new sub-classes and new abilities for each class and sub-class as you level up keeps the combats from getting stale as you try out different class combinations and powers. There is also no grinding, all the battles are story-based and cannot be repeated (the exception is the ‘Coliseum’, but that’s entirely optional).

I definitely recommend this game, if you love humour and turn-based combat it’s a must play!

Alright, I guess I'm part of the discussion.

1. Dead Space - Hooked up my PS3 after all these years and decided to start from scratch, since I was midway through. Pretty good game actually, where the action has some intentionality rather than an afterthought. Sorta curious to see if the sequels hold up, but also pretty content letting this one be.
2. Starward Rogue - Bought to support failing dev :(, but turns out this game is really quite fun! Been playing it obsessively, even though I don't like rogue-likes. This one hits the right balance of action and strategy... well... really heavily slanted on action, but it's not mindless. There's a lot to discover, even though I've cleared it twice.
3. Pony Island - OMG. I knew this was weird and clever. And weird. But I didn't know how much so it was. Not like any other game out there. Very much worth the price of admission.
4. The Last Door Season 1 - After seeing the buzz of Season 2's arrival here, that's when I decided to play the first. Pretty decent adventure game, with a lot of creepiness. Can't wait to see what happens next.
5. Resonance - Really cool use of the AGS engine! Since you can switch between 4 characters, there's some interesting puzzles and dialog options that come out of it. I didn't read anything about what the story was about beforehand, and I'm really glad I didn't. Things were interesting from beginning to end.
6. Dungeon of the Endless - Didn't like it the first hour, but after hours 2-6 disappeared in a flash, I was hopelessly charmed. Mishmash of rogue, tower D, and who knows what else. Super addictive.
7. Endless Legend - In a way, similar to Dungeon, in that I didn't really like it initially. I appreciated it more as I went along, particularly since the races play very differently. In the end, maybe I'm not really a 4X person, as I can't say I like the game having completed 4 different playthroughs.
8. VA-11 Hall-A Cyberpunk Bartending Action - Not much gameplay. It's better if you consider this a visual novel rather than a bartending game. There's no tension or real penalties for messing up, since you can remake drinks before you serve them. So no, it's not Papers Please with drinks. What it is is simply a slice of life story in the midst of a grander story. Somewhat unsatisfying if you want answers to the grand story... but maybe more realistic in that you only have power over what your person experiences.

As of 8/26/2016

DS 2 turns up the action, 3 does the same to an even greater extent and turns it into a co-op game.

<span class="bold">Puzzle Agent</span>

The game is short, but good with some interesting puzzles and a good soundtrack. It feels a lot like watching Twin Peaks.
A few things I personally enjoyed from the game:
- skippable dialogue
- a wide variety of puzzles
- the ability to remake puzzles

Complete list of games finished in 2016.

Inherit the Earth: Quest for the Orb 3/5

My first Gog game of 2016. A game that I really would have liked to like a lot more than I did. Allegedly it was supposed to be part of a trilogy, and it shows. The game basically feels like an intriguing sketch of something much larger.

My biggest gripe with the game is that there are so...many...fucking...mazes. There's also several very large areas that are easy to get lost in. This must be the quickest I've resorted to hints. Not because it was especially hard, but because you have to go through the same mazes multiple times over, and if you don't know exactly where you're going and what you're doing, you can end up doing a lot of backtracking / wandering around.

I also encountered numerous glitches/crashes. One particular glitch caused me to end up somewhere that I definitely wasn't supposed to be at yet =/

If you plan on playing this, I recommend saving often. Also, don't be afraid to check out the UHS' page.

Far Cry 2
After 90 hours of game play I've completed Far Cry 2.
Saved the civilians and blew myself up. Need to load to see what happens If I take the diamonds.

I don't think I'll replay to see what happens if I save the mercs.

90 hours may sound a long time, but at least 1/2 of that time is the game being on the pause screen.

Mark of Kri (PS2)

Mark of Kri is a game about a barbarian called Rau and his 'spirit guide' Kuso the bird in which you attempt to seek fame and fortune and later stop an evil curse being brought forth. The combat system is unique in which you can target a set amount of enemies but the less enemies you target the greater the variety you can defeat your enemies with. If you looked at the graphics it looks like a Disney film, but if you look on the box you see the 15 age rating, which you don't understand why it's there until you first initiate combat, finishing moves are brutal and there's plenty of blood. The combat system appears to have been set up so you have 3 melee weapons that work in a rock paper scissor style, spear > sword, battleaxe > spear, sword > battleaxe, it basically means you can score more hits against a foe depending on the weapon you use, however the battleaxe is the best weapon because although against a sword fighter you hit him less, it takes less hits to kill him, about 2 hits compared with about 5 hits for the other weapons. There are also stealth sections where you can perform a variety of take downs by sneaking behind enemies before they call for back up. Kuso can be sent to perch overlooking the enemies, giving you a chance to avoid their gaze.

This is a game that starts out as an action game, then into a stealth/action game, then when the enemies become really tough it becomes a Stealth or Really difficult action game then in the last level it turns into a diablo clone. Once I understood the combat system and how to use stealth effectively it was really fun, until the last level when you don't have the option to use stealth at all and instead go through several rooms filled with many enemies that also respawn. Then you get to the final boss, which is actually just you facing about 100 enemies in an arena and then walking up to the antagonist whereby a cutscene plays. The story wasn't the best, but this wasn't the type of game where story is an integral part. There were also a few glitches, one was gamebreaking.

This game was good, but because of the last level imo it's not great.

MP Only/Endless Games Included
Every Game is Reviewed

Completed in 2016
[31] Hive - 05/21/16 (3/5 AI Difficulties Defeated)
[30] Reversi - 05/20/16 (4/6 AI Difficulties Defeated)
[29] fault milestone one - 05/18/16
[28] HuniePop - 05/15/16 (2/12 Endings Completed)
[27] Always The Same Blue Sky... - 05/13/16
[26] Tokyo Hosto - 05/08/16
[25] Last Days of Spring Visual Novel
[24] Orion: A Sci-Fi Visual Novel - 05/06/16
[23] Temper Tantrum - 05/04/16
[22] Echo Tokyo: Intro - 05/04/16
[21] SquareCells - 05/04/16
[20] DARK SOULS III - 05/01/16 (19/19 Bosses Destroyed)
[19] Call of Duty: Black Ops III - 04/10/16
[18] Tom Clancy's The Division - 03/27/16
[17] Sakura Fantasy Chapter 1 - 03/15/16
[16] Sakura Swim Club - 03/03/16
[15] Firewatch - 02/21/16
[14] Rocket League - 01/23/16
[13] Life Is Strange - 01/20/16
[12] Pink Heaven - 01/16/16
[11] Pink Hour - 01/16/16
[10] The Cat and the Coup - 01/16/16
[9] Escape from Puzzlegate - 01/16/16
[8] MISSING: An Interactive Thriller - Episode One - 01/15/16
[7] Plug & Play - 01/14/16
[6] Gunman Clive - 01/14/16
[5] Carpe Diem - 01/10/16
[4] Home is Where One Starts... - 01/10/16
[3] Canabalt - 01/09/16
[2] Mighty Switch Force 2 - 01/07/16
[1] Mighty Switch Force - 01/04/16

<span class="bold">Completed in 2015</span>

Shadowgrounds: Survivor - The sequel to the first Shadowgrounds game by Frozenbyte. This improved on the gameplay; weapons felt more powerful and the levels were shorter. The story lost out on the weird sci-fi of the first, replacing it with a more straightforward story (split among 3 characters). The art direction of the game is excellent; it has a wonderful palette of colors, which isn't surprising from the studio responsible for the Trine series. Overall, it's a decent shooter that only takes a few hours to play. However, my top-down alien horde shooter of choice remains Alien Shooter 2.

Odd Planet - A game I got awhile back in one of the Humble weekly sales. Well, game may not be the correct term - it's a single episode from what is supposed to be a complete game, but it appears to have been abandoned. It draws from Limbo's art style, with the silhouetted player character moving through environments while dying a lot. The environments do possess color, as opposed to Limbo's monochrome aesthetic. Like Limbo, there's little explanation of the mechanics of the game, and the controls have a slight delay before reacting to the user input. It's interesting enough for a game that will take less than 20 minutes to complete.

Life Is Strange
Life is Strange is one of the best written games this industry has to offer. Not only do your major and minor choices create effects that propagate throughout the entire series, the ending is truly fantastic. I have to admit that playing through the game was a bit of a chore for the first 3 episodes for me. I am really not a fan of high school drama at all, but it really made a good setting for the complex story, along with providing important character relationships for later.

LiS is an episodic choose-your-own-adventure movie (with two endings). There are a fair amount of puzzle elements utilizing the game's primary unique time-reversal mechanic. It's very hard to not compare this game to many of Telltale's games (The Walking Dead, The Wolf Among Us etc.). Having played most of them, I can say that if you enjoyed any of the newer Telltale games, you will most likely enjoy LiS (assuming you can power through the early school drama). LiS has more impacting choices (without bottlenecking the consequences) and a larger quantity of choices to make. The time-reversal can also be used in many ways, as you will see if you play the game. It's also important to note that random actions and dialogue can present opportunities to alter the future/later choices in the game.

Masterpiece
- 10/10

Rocket League
There's only two types of gamers on Steam. Those that love Rocket League, and those that are still on the fence. There are so many reviews already, detailing gameplay mechanics, explaining what RL is about and how fun and addicting it is. Instead, I'll talk a little bit about myself, so that those gamers that are on the fence may be able to relate to my anecdotal evidence as to why they should buy the game.

I'm a pretty avid game collector/trade/player. I have a relatively huge backlog with old and new AAA games I still need to play (Arkham Knight, Mad Max, Tales of Zestiria, Just Cause 3 etc.). One of the biggest causes of "on-the-fence" attitude is due to a feeling that RL is an unnecessary addition to your library because so there is already so much you have to play. I want to tell you that you are so wrong. It is 100% true that if you pickup RL, your backlog will only get deeper; however, you will forget all about that the moment you end an online game. It's been quite a while since I've enjoyed a game to a point where I don't care about how much time it uses. People that are competitive/casual-competitive will definitely be able to relate. If you enjoyed MOBAs, MMOs, and online FPSs (COD), you will definitely understand the joy of online competitiveness. RL matches are relatively short (5 min) and are easy to start on a short break. From a financial standpoint, the time invested into RL will make it one of the most cost-effective games ($/hr), rivaling many MMO and RPG games.

Masterpiece
- 10/10

Commander Keen: Goodbye, Galaxy!

After temporarily losing them in the spinoff, Commander Keen gets his trusty raygun and pogo stick back, just in time to save Earth once again from destruction in the sequel. You'll (once again) have to blast enemies, dodge environmental hazards, perform some tricky platforming and find gems (along with keycards) that will allow you to open sealed doors. But how does the sequel fare against the 1st game?

Aside more detailed visuals, the addition of a soundtrack, the improvements from Keen Dreams (crouching, no lag in jumps, quicksaving), you can now look up and down and see what hazards await you above/below, eliminating the biggest source of frustration from the previous game. No longer will you be performing a leap of faith only to land on a Vorticon and causing you to restart the whole stage. You can also bind the raygun to a separate key and, thus, you won't be shooting when you meant to use the pogo stick and vice versa (and it also makes jumping+shooting possible, instead of the mess that it was).

The improvements, however, aren't enough to make the game a particularly great one. Instead of the 3 episodes that Invasion of the Vorticons had, the sequel only has two and since each episode sports a specific theme, that means less of a variety this time around. It also doesn't help that the 5th episode takes place entirely in a spaceship (similar to the second episode), which results in a lot of the stages looking remarkably similar to one another. And while much of the frustration has been alleviated, Goodbye, Galaxy! is still heavily dependent on trial-and-error, owning to the fact that Keen is, once again, a one-hit-point wonder and stages and situations are mostly reliant on memorization and positioning, rather than reflexes. That quicksave was a blessing in this game, especially for some of the longer and more tedious stages.

So, verdict. Better than Invasion of the Vorticons and Keen Dreams, worse than the Duke Nukem games and Secret Agent and, overall, nothing too special, but merits a look for historical purposes.

Full list.

P.S.: It's too bad that the 6th episode hasn't been digitally released yet. Hopefully, when GOG release Commander Keen here, they will include it, rather than just offer the same episodes as 3D Realms and Steam do.

&lt;-- Last Year - 2015

Current Play List

2D Action - Overhead/Isometric: Monaco
2D Action - Side: Mark of the Ninja
3D Action Adventure: Prince of Persia - Sands of Time (X-Box)
Adventure: Dead Reefs
Fighting: Real Boxing
FPS: Klingon Honor Guard
FPSRPG: Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines
Open World: Deadly Premonition: The Director's Cut
Puzzle: The (Even More) Incedible Machine
Racing: Grand Prix Legends - Sportscars Legends of 1967 Mod (Novice)
RPG - 3D: Venetica
RPG - Isometric: IceWind Dale
RPG - Japanese: Beyond Oasis (Genesis Classics)
RPG - Turn Based: Geneforge
Sports: Speedball 2 HD
Strategy - Grand Strat: Zeus (Citybuilder)
Strategy - RTS: Age of Empires
Strategy - RTS: C&C Red Alert
Strategy - TBS: XCOM
Vehicle Combat: Steel Storm: Burning Retribution

Completed this year

2016-01-17 - Age of Empires Gold - Glory of Greece Campaign
2016-02-09 - Doodle God (FB) (Main Game)
2016-05-01 - Borderlands (main story)
2016-10-10 - Urban Trial Freestyle
2016-10-28 - Machinarium
2016-10-30 - The Dream Machine Ep. 1 - We Are Like The Dreamer