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Postal 2 Paradise Lost over the weekend
Post edited December 17, 2018 by tfishell
* F.E.A.R.; Extraction Point; Perseus Mandate
* F.E.A.R. 2
* Unreal
* Unreal 2
* BioShock
* BioShock 2
* BioShock: Infinite
* Max Payne
* Max Payne 2
* RAGE
* Dark Messiah of Might and Magic
* American McGee's Alice
* Alice: Madness Returns
* Alan Wake
* Dishonored
* Batman: Arkham Asylum
Spintires: MudRunner (XB1X)

You know how it goes, you have game pass and decide to install games like this, that you would probably never buy, just out of curiosity. Then 3 days later I've completed all the maps and loved it. I'm as surprised as anyone. Drive huge Russian AWD trucks through what looks like Syberia during the thaw season.

It took a couple of hours before I was comfortable with the controls and interface, but after that I had a ball. It's different to anything else I've played. What passes for a campaign in this base version of the game involves completing 6 different open maps. That mainly involves filling all the logging camps by driving around to the log depots, loading up with logs and transporting to the log mills. The catch is the terrain, you have to negotiate mud, swamps, inclines, raging rivers etc. It's more challenging than expected and surprisingly addictive.

Completing the logging camps on each map awards a point that unlocks the bigger and better trucks for the more difficult maps to come. Also on the maps you can optionally (but highly advisable) unlock the map "fog of war" by reaching watchtowers as well as unlocking garages by transporting equipment to them. Get your vehicles stuck and you can use a winch, if that fails the get into another vehicle to do a vehicular rescue mission.

Graphics are serviceable, especially the trucks that are based upon real Russian machines. Vehicle sound is excellent, but the game lacks pretty much any music...surely Russian trucks would have a radio or something? Physics are the highlight, driving through the terrain really feels like wrestling a massive machine.
Apart from lack of music, the only thing really missing is anything to keep you playing once you have completed the maps. There is no management or career mode like in Euro Truck 2 for example. Also on console you can't mod, and on PC that is quite popular, but for me I'm happy with just the base game and move on anyway.

Highly recommended for those that like driving sims and want something totally different.
Post edited December 18, 2018 by CMOT70
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CMOT70: Spintires: MudRunner (XB1X)
xb1 controls absolutely infuriate me for that game.
Hero-U: Rogue to Redemption
I got it from GOG community giveaway, donated by z02228

Now, that’s a game that makes it difficult to write a nice review. Why, you may ask? Well, because either I will write a few obvious statements that’s already included in the description of the game or I will go into some details. What’s wrong with the latter? Well, I don’t want to spoil the game to anyone. Heck, I would even like discussing the game with anybody else because even though I’ve finished the game there is still so many things to discover. I screw up several quests and I’m sure I missed a lot of possibilities so I don’t want to hear about it - I want to experience it on my own. But yeah, this way I’ve just come to a point where I can say something meaningful about the game - exploration. That’s where the game truly shines. There are so many places to explore, so many possibilities to solve a puzzle, so many ways to develop your relations with other people! And it’s not that you find a secret, solve a puzzle and you are done with it. Quite often you will see that you cannot do it right away, you have to acquire some equipment and/or rise your skills before you can solve an elaborate puzzle. So you’ll always come back to places you’ve been before to finish what you’ve started. The sense of exploration in this game is great. It’s a perfect example of a well done hybrid RPG/adventure concept. If you like things like this you won’t be disappointed.

Even though I really had blast playing it the game has some rough edges. I guess most of them comes from financial problems: some areas are beautifully drawn and well planned while others are extremely dull and uninspired. Some animations are terrible. My biggest complain, however, is that some parts of the story are cut short in a weird way. It’s particularly annoying for a certain NPC with nice backstory and distinct personality. You learn more and more about him until a point which is considered to be a culmination of your interactions with him. And after that you won’t learn anything meaningful about him anymore. So it looks like one person came up with this person but in the end the team had no idea how to make him fully compatible with the whole story. Quite disappointing indeed.

Nevertheless the game is very entertaining and I’ll definitely play it again many times. I recommend it to everybody who like adventure/RPG hybrid games (obvious must have for Quest for Glory fans) and anybody who likes unique games in general.


Full list
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Ghorpm: Quite often you will see that you cannot do it right away
My issue with it was that on some occasions you actually can't see that and you'll rack your brain about what to do when really the game doesn't allow you to do anything yet because it expects you to wait for a scripted event on another day, without properly communicating it to you. (See my own review; I tried to avoid spoilers.)
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Dryspace: * F.E.A.R.; Extraction Point; Perseus Mandate
* F.E.A.R. 2
* Unreal
* Unreal 2
* BioShock
* BioShock 2
* BioShock: Infinite
* Max Payne
* Max Payne 2
* RAGE
* Dark Messiah of Might and Magic
* American McGee's Alice
* Alice: Madness Returns
* Alan Wake
* Dishonored
* Batman: Arkham Asylum
Not bad for a Sunday afternoon.
What are you going to finish today?
The Curse of Monkey Island

Had played this many, many years ago, but forgotten most of it, so I decided to replay it. It's good, very funny at times, puzzles were ok (I played on the easier difficulty, still had to look in a walkthrough a few times, but nothing too frustrating). But the gameworld also feels quite small, and the ending is much too abrupt. Almost feels like something was cut here.
So I'm a bit torn - most of the game is 4/5 imo, but the ending is more deserving of a 3/5.
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Dryspace: * F.E.A.R.; Extraction Point; Perseus Mandate
* F.E.A.R. 2
* Unreal
* Unreal 2
* BioShock
* BioShock 2
* BioShock: Infinite
* Max Payne
* Max Payne 2
* RAGE
* Dark Messiah of Might and Magic
* American McGee's Alice
* Alice: Madness Returns
* Alan Wake
* Dishonored
* Batman: Arkham Asylum
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tinyE: Not bad for a Sunday afternoon.
What are you going to finish today?
Lol...does that seem like a lot, or is it the reverse? I actually looked at the list when I finished it and was surprised at how few games I played. I knew I hadn't played many games, but it looks rather sorry for an entire year when written out like that. And it is glaringly devoid of any of the Adventure and Text Adventure games that I want to try. I did just start Zork, though.

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morolf: The Curse of Monkey Island
I'm looking forward to replaying The Secret of Monkey Island, which I played for the first time three years ago, and to playing Monkey Island 2 for the first time. I just picked up The Curse of Monkey Island a couple of months ago, so I have that to look forward to as well.
Post edited December 18, 2018 by Dryspace
Never Alone (XB1X)

Tedious, crappy platformer where you progress mainly through trial, error, die, trial, error, die, trial succeed. I only finished it because it's mercifully short and I wanted to see all the cultural insight videos. The culture of the native Alaskans is interesting, but it cannot carry this poor platformer and neither can the great graphics and art. It's not the worst game I've played this year, Star Wars The Force Unleashed was quite possibly the worst game I've ever played, but it's close.
Post edited December 18, 2018 by CMOT70
Prince of Persia: Sands of Time courtesy of Doc0075

It is 2 am here and I just finished it. I resort to ask for it in the gifting thread and Doc, kind enough to provide it. Years ago I played it and somehow stuck in 33% and haven't touched it again until now. If I'm not mistaken it was due to my faulty space keys, you just don't play action platformer with broken keyboard (except Lumo, the game not even playable with M+K).

The game itself is a fun one. The platforming parts is good but the combat is not the best. The camera angle while in combat sometimes stuck in stupid angle and if you somehow lay on ground youwill have no chance. The last battle with the vizier are laughable at best. But it is a nice entry for modern Prince of Persia (before Jake Gyllenhall's movie soured it). Never play to the sequels so I don't have an attachment to those.

Again, thank you Doc0075 for finally gave me the opportunity to scratch the itch.
Sang-Froid: Tales of Werewolves, Dec 18 (GOG)-An interesting little tower defense game. The game is at its best when your traps go off successfully and you are able to easily clean up any remaining enemies with your axe. Its pretty satisfying to carefully lay traps for each of several waves of enemies and have them all go off as intended. The planning portion is pretty good but can almost feel like a Rube Goldberg machine where everything has to go just right sometimes and you're constantly restarting the level to tweak the placement of traps just barely. RT combat is mostly a pain. Axe combat is ok but the gun was pretty bad. I ended the game with almost $20 which seems strange. Maybe the designers should have made players pay for repairs to the buildings. Story is ok but voice acting is atrocious.

Full List
Post edited December 18, 2018 by muddysneakers
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muddysneakers: Sang-Froid: Tales of Werewolves, Dec 18 (GOG)-An interesting little tower defense game. The game is at its best when your traps go off successfully and you are able to easily clean up any remaining enemies with your axe. Its pretty satisfying to carefully lay traps for each of several waves of enemies and have them all go off as intended. The planning portion is pretty good but can almost feel like a Rube Goldberg machine where everything has to go just right sometimes and you're constantly restarting the level to tweak the placement of traps just barely. RT combat is mostly a pain. Axe combat is ok but the gun was pretty bad. I ended the game with almost $20 which seems strange. Maybe the designers should have made players pay for repairs to the buildings. Story is ok but voice acting is atrocious.
Incredible! I, too, just finished this game about forty minutes ago with the trapper brother Jacques. Considering I've barely dabbled with the tower-defense genre, I enjoyed this game quite a bit. It was the brawler/TPS hybrid portion of it that made me give it a chance. Controlling the wind I found to be a cool option and incredibly useful for the last few days, along with the mortar (obviously) and fully upgraded sacred trees. Loved the soundtrack. The CGI cut-scenes kind of reminded me of the cut-scenes from the Thief games, which I have fond memories of. I had a little over $9 left, but wasted a chunk on different axes. The rifles were overpriced. The Springfield Musket ($2.25) brought me through to the end. Really cool game, and it's FREE!
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muddysneakers: Sang-Froid: Tales of Werewolves, Dec 18 (GOG)-An interesting little tower defense game. The game is at its best when your traps go off successfully and you are able to easily clean up any remaining enemies with your axe. Its pretty satisfying to carefully lay traps for each of several waves of enemies and have them all go off as intended. The planning portion is pretty good but can almost feel like a Rube Goldberg machine where everything has to go just right sometimes and you're constantly restarting the level to tweak the placement of traps just barely. RT combat is mostly a pain. Axe combat is ok but the gun was pretty bad. I ended the game with almost $20 which seems strange. Maybe the designers should have made players pay for repairs to the buildings. Story is ok but voice acting is atrocious.
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Thiefer: Incredible! I, too, just finished this game about forty minutes ago with the trapper brother Jacques. Considering I've barely dabbled with the tower-defense genre, I enjoyed this game quite a bit. It was the brawler/TPS hybrid portion of it that made me give it a chance. Controlling the wind I found to be a cool option and incredibly useful for the last few days, along with the mortar (obviously) and fully upgraded sacred trees. Loved the soundtrack. The CGI cut-scenes kind of reminded me of the cut-scenes from the Thief games, which I have fond memories of. I had a little over $9 left, but wasted a chunk on different axes. The rifles were overpriced. The Springfield Musket ($2.25) brought me through to the end. Really cool game, and it's FREE!
I played with Joseph which may partly explain why I ended with so much money. I also didn't buy too much only a single axe and gun upgrade and I chopped wood a lot. There were a couple levels at the end where I wished I could trade in money for more APs. Interestingly, I never ended up using the mortar or barrel. I preferred firewalls funneling enemies to a bait/spike trap combo.
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muddysneakers: I played with Joseph which may partly explain why I ended with so much money. I also didn't buy too much only a single axe and gun upgrade and I chopped wood a lot. There were a couple levels at the end where I wished I could trade in money for more APs. Interestingly, I never ended up using the mortar or barrel. I preferred firewalls funneling enemies to a bait/spike trap combo.
Well that certainly shows how different the brothers' playstyles (possibly) end up panning out. I chopped zero wood.

Not a single mortar? Wow. I couldn't imagine. The damage and area of damage was immense, easily taking out most enemies in a single blast and leaving windigos on death's door. It also seems like you're mostly invincible while using them. I'd be fighting a pack of wisps in the middle of an activated cross trap, hear the bait start to be devoured, pop a nearby mortar, watch the mayhem, wait for the camera to pan back to me and be surrounded by wisps while only having lost a bit of health. Barrels...yeah I used a few of those. Ballistae were useful, too. I used my fair share of all traps / options, except bonfires, which I abandoned after the first few days. The trap diversity is great.
Fire-walling a pack of enemies into a bait+spike trap, hearing the impalement, followed by the death throes of the victims and the cash jump flash on screen, then watching the whole pack of enemy 'dots' wink out on the mini-map was so satisfying. You could also lay a spike trap around a zip line tower, which was a cool baiting option.
Sacred trees were also great. Activate a tree in between waves, sprint to a more populated site to defend, then eventually hear the tree batter enemies in the distance until they die.
I know I saved a bunch of APs by only ever needing three zip lines on the map. I saw a "Let's Play" type video on YT where the host had seven or eight at once! Master the wind.

If tower-defense games can be this fun, I've found a new genre to explore.
Post edited December 19, 2018 by Thiefer