Lets just say his daughter is one apple that fell far from the tree.

I'm taking a break from Witcher 3, my head was too clogged up to be able to enjoy it. So I started a few short and (comparatively) simple games. Of those I've finished two:

Zombie Shooter

A really nice little "kill hordes of undead" game. The later stages are challenging, but not overly frustrating. The enemy waves become a lot larger and tougher, but at the same time your weaponry grows ever more powerful, making it a very rewarding experience to blast your way through the masses. Sometimes I got stuck a short time in pieces of environment, and another downside is the isometric perspective without any wall transparency - enemies are easily overlooked if they have become stuck behind a door frame etc.

The Blackwell Legacy

A really charming adventure game. Rather easy, though I had to look into a walkthrough one time. I was doing the right thing but I had to cut the dialogue at this point or the timing would be off. The story is nice, although it's clear that it's just the introduction - like the pilot of a TV series. I'll certainly continue with Blackwell Unbound.

I love the series (who would have thought? :P), and despite the fact I like all the games I must admit that with each new chapter everything significantly improves. The story becomes more and more intriguing, the sountrack "skyrockets", the puzzle are more well-thought and the art is always more detailed -while using the same, minimal amount of pixels.
I can't recommend the Blackwell Series enough! I think that after the second game, you'll probably want to play them all in a row! :)

Just added Legendary to my "finished" list.

Certainly had it in a bundle somewhere, because I don't remember buying it.

A standard FPS, I'd say. Very linear (there's generally only one path to get through the level), not many different enemies, graphically not bad but starts showing its age (still very decent IMHO), weapons are standard but interesting.

Quite short: under 6h hours to finish it and that's still while dying a couple of times.

The setting is interesting, in our present world, where mythological beasts have been released from Pandora's box. So you'll fight minotaurs, werewolves, griffins, etc... You can absorb the vital life of those beasts and it can help you to stun them (or more) or to regenerate you, so you actually have to try to manage it, which adds to the game design.

The aim was sometimes a little quirky, but not bad. The difficulty level was there, but nothing unbeatable in normal mode, which provided me with just the exact amount of challenge.

So, in short, Legendary is an FPS that won't have anybody call it a masterpiece, but if you find it at a discount price, it's still worth a try.

So far in 2015: http://www.gog.com/forum/general/games_finished_in_2015/post2

I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream

I finished this earlier today... I think? It seems the game can have several different endings, but I reached something that at least appeared like a relatively good ending to me. I wonder what Harlan Ellison meant in that one interview that the game can't be won?

After I finished the game, I checked one walkthrough from GameFaqs, and there the last chapter was finished quite differently. Basically it played the last chapter with all characters, killing each so that next character could be picked? Whatever, I finished the last chapter with one character.

All in all... an ok bizarre dark adventure I guess. Sometimes I felt there was too much of Space Quest-like "try different actions or dialogue options, and select the one where you don't get eliminated", ie. trial and error.

Finished The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing. I liked the game a lot, especially the interaction between Van Helsing and his ghostly sidekick Katherina. The game felt very polished with only one bug: the selection of my melee skills sometimes switched to the most basic one when entering a new area, which lead to sometimes having to swap active skills in mid-combat, which was awkard.

The story isn't very deep, but with the colourful allies you meet, the well-done voice acting and just enough variety in the skills to keep you thinking about what skills to use instead of just button smashing and the Steampunk atmosphere mixing melee combat, guns and magic, it's an interesting game.

The only thing I missed in the game was a manual. I had to resort to a wikia to understand the concept of Rage and the 'Power-ups' system of combat.

The Order: 1886 (PS4)

A linear cinematic "cover shooter" with awesome graphics and atmosphere and one of the most original worlds and stories for some time...a steampunk vibe that feels a bit like the Dishonored world but in a sort of alternative 1886 London.
The 7-8 hours it takes of your life is mostly spent evenly divided up between cutscenes, linear cover shooting where everyone pops up and down like those in ground pop-up watering systems (which is why i call these games pop-up sprinkler shooters) and QTE segments.

Also the story whilst good, does not really give a proper finish, it's obviously the start of a series- i'd guess a trilogy. That may put some people off.

It's about 7 hours of good fun, but there really lies probably the games biggest issue- what it does it does well as long you accept it for what it is...but there just isn't enough to justify, in my opinion, a full price purchase. For me it came with the PS4, so no complaints. I think it's a game to get on sale (or rent it) and play it between bigger and longer games just for some simple fun and for the unique world and atmosphere.

Bionic Commando (NES)

The Arcade version of Bionic Commando was a mostly forgettable experience, aside from the novelty of the grappling gun and the frustration brought by its restrictions (complete inability to jump or shoot anywhere vertically and diagonally). The NES version, on the other hand, isn't a port of the Arcade version, but a very different game. You could call it Bionic Commando 2 or Bionic Commando: Home Console version.

The very basic nature of the game remains the same; traverse mostly vertically-scrolling stages with your grappling gun, while shooting enemies that get in your way and blow up the reactor at the end of each level (OK, the last one wasn't present in the Arcade version). The restrictions from the Arcade version mentioned above still apply, but it seems that the game was made with them in mind, rather than feeling like an afterthought, leaving you frustrated and wishing you had a jump button or the ability to shoot that enemy above you. Whereas the challenge in the Arcade version came from fighting the many respawning enemies, here the enemies are fewer and don't always respawn. While that makes the game easier and less frustrating in one sense, the NES version compensates for this by making the game significantly more challenging to navigate. Particularly in the later stages, where failing to properly grapple on a specific platform can lead to bottomless pits or spikes.

Other changes include the addition of a health bar, a world hub (like Super Mario Bros 3), a nice selection of items/weapons and even some communication rooms that you can use to gain info (some of them are also necessary to open the doors that will allow you to proceed to rest of the level, while others might hint at the location of some items). Initially, just like the Arcade version, you can die in one only hit, but when you kill enemies, they drop bullets and when you collect enough of them, you completely heal yourself and gain 1 more maximum HP (up to a total of 9 HP).

As for the world hub, you have a certain freedom in playing some of the stages in a different order, but you will be stopped from proceeding to specific ones till you collect a macguffin from a previous one. Aside the enemy stages, there are also neutral zones, which you are discouraged from shooting, lest you want the place crawling with enemies. Here, you will find items that will help you in your mission like extra lives, additional info and even communicators that are necessary in order to use communicator rooms in later stages. Also, while wandering the map with your helicopter, you might end up crossing path with an enemy truck. When this happens, you will be taken to a top-down screen and your mission will be to escape by reaching the top part of the screen, while being hampered by enemies. Succeed at this, actually easy, task and you will get a continue.

Finally, before you begin each stage, you will be asked to choose the items that you will carry for that stage and you can't change them unless you quit the mission. You can change your weapon, communicator, equip some armor that will block a specific number of enemy bullets, use a healing potion (called recovery pills) or a flash bomb that will be useful for a very specific stage.

Now, as for things that I didn't like? Ehh, there weren't really much. Aside frustration-inducing levels, it's a bit annoying that you will have to wait for the somewhat slow text to show up in communicator rooms as skipping it doesn't count as having read it, which means that important doors will not open and you won't be able to proceed to the rest of the stage. The biggest problem with the game, though, is the lack of a password/save/suspend feature. You are expected to complete the game in one take, which is annoying, as while it isn't particularly long, it is still significantly longer than the Arcade version. As a result, if you aren't up to the task of wasting 1-2 straight hours playing the game (that also assumes you have become good at the game), you must resort to leaving your console open or making a save state in an emulator. Finally, limited continues are pretty pointless as it's laughably easy to gain tons of them, as I mentioned above.

But I really enjoyed the NES version of Bionic Commando and, hopefully, the Rearmed remake won't be too bad. Another one for the wishlist.

Coelocanth has renamed himself to GR00T. Not sure if you want to rename him in your list, as well.

Name changes are evil!
:P

Homer disagrees

Guild of Dungeoneering

A very fun little game! It's very much a card game, not a dungeon-crawler or RPG. You lay out your dungeons turn by turn, set down enemies and treasures turn by turn, and it's all RNG as to which cards you get to do so with each turn. Your heroes level up, but levels all reset after every dungeon/quest, as do their items. You can unlock higher weapons and skills by building new things in your guild, which is also how you unlock new hero classes.

It does have a lot of little quirks that aren't explained in game so much as laid out for you to see/figure out: Items don't give your hero specific skills in and of themselves, but levels in different skill types, which determine what cards the hero will get (e.g., you don't get "Fireblast," you get "Fire II," and "Fireblast" is a Fire II skill). When you decide to "take the gold" instead of an item after defeating an enemy or opening a treasure chest, you don't actually get gold, but you get a treasure card that you can lay down to pick up on the next turn. Things like that aren't really an irritation, but they are a little bit of a subtlety that take a little bit of time to figure out, which can affect how you play.

The devs have promised a New Game+ option in the future to allow you to re-do finished quests and that will possibly have special quests for the replay and an endless dungeon mode, as well as upcoming DLC. I'd say that the DLC will be well worth buying, because the game is nicely polished and a lot of fun, although it can be terribly frustrating at times. I found the game was best played in short spurts of an hour or less unless I hit a combination of good luck and the perfect mood. The music is also worth a shout out, as it's well done and just as funny as the game itself.

If you like card games, definitely give this game a shot.

Grim Legends: The Forsaken Bride

Not a bad game, but nothing to brag about. Recommended only for fans of the HOG/Adventure hybrid genre.



Dust: An Elysium Tale (replay)


Liked this one better on the replay. Still a few bumps to smooth out, but overall a very solid game with fun gameplay, great voicing, good plot, and a tremendous value for your money, even at full price. After 2 playthrough's, I'm at 56 hours of game time. You can, of course, finish much quicker or slower pending your preference.

I loved the optional puzzles in trying to find chests, keys, and cages. Some of them were very well done and hidden behind figuring out how to use your abilities, having enough items, and some fun easter eggs.

The music was well done as well and the story has a nice sense of humor with endearing characters.

While this game has been in countless discounts and bundles, I'd actually recommend it at full price too. I'm not a huge fan of side scrolling platformers, but this one had a heart of its own.

Well I see the video for the DLC is up so I'm guessing the release isn't far off.

Breach & Clear

Breach & Clear is a squad game in which you have to hunt down terrorists, defuse bombs or escape to freedom.

I enjoyed the game, but I also have to say that it is rather simple. On normal difficulty you will hardly ever lose one of your men (unless you do something really stupid) or have to replay missions. Terrorists hunt became a little repetitive because of that. Some of the later bomb defuse missions were very good though, because you have there is more than one bomb and you have to think about your strategy to make it in time.

There is also a lot of stuff you can unlock and buy, but except for some guns almost everything is negligible, because is has next to no effect on the abilities of your squad.

Another thing I dislike is that there is no real campaign. You just play mission after mission, but they are not connected and there is no story.

For me it was the right game to play when I just had a few minutes left (most missions can be completed in five minutes) and a very good coffee-break strategy game.

Complete list of finished games in 2015