Uh...I accidentally posted a review over 2000 characters, like 2050 or somewhat close to 2000 characters. I didn't expect that it would be able to work, but heck, I submitted an incomplete review.

So you could try it, though I don't know what's the limit.

Hi, I hope the rules do not state that a review can not be a bit informal and emotional, because then I'm already out :)


Game: Fallout 2
Rating: Five Stars
Review Title: Mega levels of violence - "Heap of Gore"

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If you will play 1 old-school RPG in your life – Fallout 2 should be it. Be warned, it will suck very hard in the first few hours, the graphics is best experienced with a good tweak of High Resolution Patch and if you endure long enough, you may get permanently spoiled to expect way-too much from all the other old RPGs that mostly are nowhere as good.

Why is this game relevant?
1. BADASSITY – in this game you to go from a primitive tribal to a walking tank in the most awesome way seen in any game, ever. In the beginning, you will often find yourself fleeing for survival, but, if you develop your character right, by the end you will actually be able to massacre cities as a one-man-army.
2. Heap of Gore Technology™ – even if you do not support violence in games, this game is special. The vision statement of Fallout has “Mega levels of violence” as its number one point, and it sure shows in the nearly cartoonish end result. Despite the pixely graphics (in 256 colors!), the sight of a critical kill with bits and pieces flying everywhere is something you will most certainly enjoy and remember.
3. STYLE – The universe of this game is legendary, the intro video ending is Epic (turn up the volume!), even the manual deserves to be read as a novel.
4. TURN-BASED – the game is great to relax on a side like when you are too tired for anything else.
5. An actually GREAT RPG – under the old skin, it really is a great RPG by any standards. Far too many really old classics were actually broken or terrible games that were only relevant in the context of their day. I highly recommend to try different character builds!

[ As a disclaimer Fallout 1 is very similar to the 2nd, but the second game is slightly better in every regard and it is not crucial to play the 1st one first (especially as you may want to re-play the 2nd one many times over anyway). ]

There are similar newer games available, but every RPG gamer will remember their Fallout 2 EXPERIENCE till the end of their life!

Game: Vampire: the Masquerade-Bloodlines

A Flawed Masterpiece

Vampires. They were beloved by people for so many years; from dreadful monsters to powerful, invincible creatures. Then they appeared in TRPG, too..and that's Vampire: the Masquerade(a.k.a VtM) for WoD setting line. Based on the setting and rules, Vampire: the Masquerade-Bloodlines(a.k.a. VtMB) was developed by Troika Games.

The story is really adhered to the original TRPG. The return of a 3rd generation vampire, Gehenna, the conspiracy and conflicts between sects...that's a representative story of VtM, and the Gothic-Punk atmosphere and artworks of its style are also excellently implemented into the game. Each clan's characteristics, disciplines and weaknesses are not ruined. The Sabbat isn't fully described in the game, but that's just because the story is Camarilla-oriented. Rule is a lot simplified and changed for an action game, but WoD isn't a setting with strict rules; it is a live-action TRPG, so it fits with the game. So the setting really came into the game, and I think it's one of the best licensed games.

However, the simplified rule brought shallow gameplay. There are attributes, abilities and talents, but they are all integrated into Feats. Feats for combat are too simple: If Melee feat increases, your damage with melee weapon is increased. It's just like that. Also, it's a story-oriented game, so there's no world simulation elements: No day/night(it's always night), no time passing, no NPC scheduling, no unnecessary items. Objects that you can interact with are few. In this kind of situation, there is no fun with adventure and much less feeling of being absorbed into the game. So the game should have been designed to make progress in game by the main story...but Troika made a wrong choice, making the game with their usual style-progressing with game by the character's growth with quests.

In this game, sub quests are completely independent with main quests. Because the world is too small and there are no world simulation elements, the player feels like doing things that completely don't affect anything when doing sub quests. Even the quests looks like contrived. The worst one was serial killer quest. It looks like an important quest, but eventually the player realizes that it has absolutely nothing to do with the main story, and player's expectation is completely broken.

The tempo of the main story completely depends on the player's gameplay, not like a movie or a novel. In some cases, that makes the story less interesting. If you do sub quests a lot at the early point, you would feel like the tempo becomes too quick in the later part of the story. If you just progress with the main story, you would be blocked because of your low feats, cutting the story at the important point.

Main story itself is excellent. I don't have any dissatisfaction on it. What I don't like is that the gameplay is too streamlined. You must follow the exact story line. Because there should be no single judgement involved in the game, the game sets the status of the player into a fledgling, who can't resist any order. Even the writers know this; You can complain about the orders. It looks like self-deprecating sometimes to me...and you can see something funny if you continuously reject Lacroix's order. Actually you can express your intention a bit, but still, it can't affect game progression.

The way of progressing the story is almost same, all through the game. It's like this; "Get X from person A"→meet A→"If you do Y, I'll tell you where is X"→do Y→"X is at B"→goes B and fight→get X. Because of this kind of non-creative and repetitive progression, the game is boring until the story reaches to the point it becomes interesting. It should have involved investigating time of a player, not just giving errands.

The quests have several ways to clear them, and the skill points you got depend on how you solve the quests. That's a nice thing. Because your way to solve problems depend on your feats, making a different kind of character completely changes the gameplay. If you just concentrate on combat feats, combat will become really easy while you will always make troubles when you talk with NPCs, and you can 'fail' to clear quests(not just do or don't do them) by hurting NPC's feelings with just one choice of words. On the other hand, if you concentrate on social skills, you will have a lot of trouble when fighting with enemies. So do you think distributing points on all attributes and skills equally would work? This game requires investing high points in skills, so you could see your character not able to nicely do anything. So you need to concentrate on a few attributes and abilities, and that makes the game strategical, a lot fun. Also, the dialogue really varies on which clan you are and what sex you are, so the replay value of this game is really high.

Talking with NPCs is the real best part in this game. The form of the talk isn't the one I value; I mean the 'expression' of NPCs. 'Talking' is one of the hardest problem in RPG, because the player talks with a computer, not a human. VtMB tries to solve this problem not by changing the talking system, but by making the expression of NPCs realistic. I never felt like the character is actually 'talking' to me before playing this game. This game? The facial expressions, gestures are completely synchronized with every emotions the character have. Also the eye graphic is really impressive. The eyes reflecting light is so realistic that I always tried to talk with NPCs where their eyes can reflect light. This eye expression makes the characters more realistic. The talking part in this game is fun and absorbing than any other game. I sometimes feel like just talking with NPCs over and over. It was the first game that made me feel like that. I warn you, you will feel bored when talking with dolls in other games after you do this game.

The scripts of characters(including player's one) are excellent as well as the expression of the characters. The scripts are one of best scripts in all games. Especially the dialogues, and the metaphors of Malkavian playable character are extraordinary, something which a gamer must have an experience of. Each character's dialogue is completely distinct from every other character. With their own, unique appearance, the dialogue of each character will make you never forget their face and personality. This game made a living world with living characters.

The dungeons in this game is awfully designed. With no distinct ideas, there are just hallways, rooms, and enemies. Sometimes there are simple puzzles, but that's all. Did the developers have not enough time, or were they just too lazy to design the dungeons? I don't know. Moreover, the enemies in a dungeon have exactly same appearance, and with such dumb AI they have, that made me really annoyed.

On the other hand, the boss fights in the end of dungeons are really nice. Almost all bosses have their own fight patterns, and the battles with them will blow all your annoyance and dissatisfaction occurred during the fight with miserably designed enemies. It is not too much to say that the boss fights absolutely relieved the whole dungeon.

So this game made me feel complicated. Sometimes it made me feel really impressed with excellent storytelling and scenes, but sometimes it made me feel frustrated because of its repetitive and monotonous gameplay. Nevertheless, with its replay value and innovative expression of dialogues and the World of Darkness, the game proves itself why it is called as one of the best RPGs.

Game: Riven: The Sequel to Myst

A Perfect Game

This game rejects analysis. If you pull out just one component out from it, the whole game will collapse. It is impossible to explain what this game is like if I tell you about each component separately. It's perfectly balanced like a living creature.

This game is not a game that absorbs the player with its technology. Technically, it's almost same with Myst. Then how it could be able to absorb the player completely into the game without awesome graphics or realistic physics effect? The answer is: marvelous detail of the world.

In Riven, no alien uses english. They uses their own language and characters. Even they have their own numeral system. It makes the world so realistic. However, Riven never explains anything directly to you. It is a good choice, since your absorbed feeling would be broken if a direct explanation is provided. Then how the game makes you figure things out? The way of it is so brilliant.

Let's see an explanation of it: how a player learns the numeral system. The player learns it in the place like a school with a simple game device. At first, the player just plays with it. Then, he realizes that it's a gambling device with numerals by its regularity and changing symbols. This device is not an unnatural device that is designed only to explain the numeral system to the player; its design is greatly related to the history and story of Riven.

All of the puzzles are like this. At first, you can't know what it is. Then you realize what it is with the least information you have, fiddling with it, or some experience. Once you realize what it is, then the story follows and it becomes clear that what you have to do.

Usually in adventure games, puzzles are just obstacles blocking the progress in story, and what actually makes progress in the story is cutscenes or dialogues with NPCs; the puzzles and the story is separated.

However, in Riven, all the puzzles themselves contain story. It means that solving the puzzles is actually same with making progress in the story. It gives you an intensive feeling of actively involved in the story; not just a passive bystander of it.

Also, the puzzles containing story not only means that you could know the story with solving the puzzles; the opposite is also possible. Knowing story could be the hint of puzzles. So you have to imagine what the missing piece of the story is. The game constantly stimulates and requires your imagination. I felt like being the main character in a novel or a movie who explores and reveals the mystery of an alien world, rather than playing a game and solving puzzles. I was completely absorbed to Riven during the week I played it.

This kind of immersion was possible because there were no single part that could break it. In Myst, puzzles were first, and the world was next. So the world of Myst looked like an unnatural world that only exists for puzzles. However, in Riven, all the puzzles are built in a world with no errors. So the complete immersion was possible.

Because of the non-linear gameplay, the story of Riven is really simple. It's a typical 'Save the princess from an evil magician' story, but it's slightly different from that, avoiding being too common. Plus there are mythical, archetypical factors making the scale of the story huge. This kind of story would be no fun if you read a book with it. However, when it became 'my' story, the feeling when I rescued the princess is...indescribable. It wouldn't be possible if there was a single thing that could be able to break my immersion.

This game is also truly artistic. The visual design is perfect. At first, you'll be drawn by the mystique of the designs of structures in Riven. However, as you progress with the story, you will realize that they are perfectly probable, perfectly fitting with the game. Also the music perfectly fits with gameplay. It amplifies the emotions that you feel, imprinting the scenes on your mind. The developers meticulously calculated how would a player feel; and the results are perfect.

The ending is one of the greatest endings of all time. You can't understand it if you didn't play Myst, so I definitely recommend to play Riven after Myst.

Riven is beyond a mere game; it is a true experience from another world. I can't thank enough to the developers who gave me an unforgettable experience.

Review of Victor Vran

Victor Vran and his Fabulous Hat

At first glance Victor Vran is a typical Action RPG game, you roam the world killing monsters, looting their bodies, earning XP to level your character etc.

However it manage to add some innovating concepts, one is that the game has eight types of weapons and all of them functions differently and each have two alternate fire modes. This add more depth to the combat as each weapons is effective against different types of monsters and as their behavior and the damage they inflict isn't merely a function of their stats.

Another gameplay mechanic we don't see often in ARPG is the ability to dodge roll and jump, not only does it sometime make navigating the level easier it also add a new dynamic to the combat as you will need those abilities to survive in battle and I find that they add much to the combat and make it more fun than other ARPG games.

Each area in the game world has its own five challenges, usually involve killing monsters in a certain way, this add much to the replayability of the levels and after you complete the game story you will unlock additional five elite challenges for each area.

The existence of a narrator also add to break the routine of the game, he will occasionally make sarcastic and insulting remarks toward Victor Vran and sometime just try to mislead him as to what direction he need to go.

The abilities to customize your character is extremely limited, there is only one class of character that you could play (monster hunter) and when you level your character you have no choice as to how it will developed (usually you will get extra HP or more destiny points). The only way for you to determine the abilities of your character is by choosing what outfit he will wear and what destiny cards you want to equip.

While I can understand the motive to this decision, the developers try to create a more focused on combat than character development, I do think they make a mistake to dispense altogether with the whole development tree system.

Review of the new Worms: Armageddon

Hotline Miami 2

"Let’s take all the things that were good from the first game and discard them"

Hotline Miami 2 is a continuation of the story from the first game, about a protagonist who slaughters scores of people in specified locations at the behest of cryptic voicemail messages left on his phone’s answering machine. In the sequel, a group of masked vigilantes murder petty criminals as a type of homage to the main character of Hotline Miami 1. In another plot line, a detective who doubles as the Miami Mutilator ‘investigates’ his own homicides. Another character receives calls from the same organisation that contacted Jacket. And so on. The plot of the first game worked so effectively because it was minimalist and abstract. Here the story is mind-numbingly verbose. There are half a dozen groups of characters, never mind individual characters. Numerous flashbacks/flashforwards occur. The pacing of the story gets bogged down with reams of dialogue, which thankfully for the sequel can be skipped. With so many inadequately fleshed out characters, it is hard to care about (or even remember) any of them.

The game feels like a chore to get through. Death feels unfair when you can be killed by an off-screen sniper, especially since most levels have almost no cover. Progress is often only achieved by long rounds of peek-a-boo – hiding behind cover and sticking your head out just long enough to get the attention of an enemy, but not so long that they shoot you, with very little margin of error in between. The brilliant, adrenaline-filled music helps make these shortcomings more palatable, and a few of the levels are enjoyable. Still, completing a level after dying many, many times results in a feeling of relief that it’s over, not satisfaction. The first game was also fun since for most levels, you could choose from a wide range of unlocked masks, trying them out to experience their effects. Here the choice of masks is limited to three or four for a small number of the levels. For die-hard fans only."

Game: The Saboteur
Rating 4/5
Review Title: Most fun I (legally) had with dynamite Unsure if the review got posted or not, since the textbox did say I was 530 characters over.

Looks like it did.

Nice, thank you.

Review: Witcher 3 The Wild Hunt

One Of A Kind

I've been playing games since the days of Amiga 500, and let me tell you, games like the Witcher 3 are very, very rare. I can count with two hands all the games that had such a stellar and gripping story, interesting and memorable characters, refined and exciting battle system, choices that have long and lasting consequences and impressions, beautiful art direction, music and sound design, and above all a heart and a soul.
This is one of those games that leave a permanent impression and refinement on you: I love writing short stories and playing all sorts of pen and paper games, both as a dungeon master and as mere hero in a story. Fallout 1 and 2 introduced me to amazing world building and embracing the strange while creating my stories, Baldur's Gate saga has showed me how to build grandiose and bigger than life story campaigns, Planescape Torment taught me how to weave deeper meanings and philosophy in every quest, Vampire The Masquerade Bloodlines showed me that every character you meet can be fascinating and every quest can flow like an excellent TV episode. Witcher 3 has cemented in me all this knowledge and showed me a way or two on how to make combat interesting and how to subvert players' expectations and more.
Witcher 3 is by no means perfect: you only have one class to play, as a witcher, and there are no skills that could introduce many different ways of solving a single quest, but dang it all, it tries hard to awe you and teach you so many useful lessons that all of the games minuses are easily forgotten.
I could gush on how unique and one of a kind Witcher 3 is, but wouldn't it be better to try it yourself :) Go on, play it, enjoy it, love it. I promise you it will change you for good. To its developers and creators, I salute you, this is an experience that time won't mend away :D

Crashlands

Crashlands piqued my interest about two months ago when I saw the game being streamed. The game looked quite entertaining. Being sick, I decided I could use some laid back game. I spent the first couple of hours enjoying myself immensely. After two months, (100 hours on Galaxy and 42 in-game hours), I completed the long journey that is Crashlands. The game sets itself apart by focussing on the story instead survivaling.

Story: 8/10
You are travelling through space to deliver the packages with your trusty robot friend called Juicebox. However your spaceship get's destroyed by a floating head, losing the packages in the process. You crash land on a strange planet and using the planet's resources you invent new armor and gear to help you along the way. Progressing is quite entertaining as the game is full of good humor.

Gameplay 7/10 The gameplay consists of your mouse and a couple of hotkeys. You craft gear and kill monsters. It's quite enjoyable but unfortunately it gets stale after a while. The same formula for progression drags on for quite a while without changing. If it wasn't for the entertaining story, I might have stopped halfway, which is a shame. Still you have unlimited inventory space, Lots of decorative items and Fast travelling to almost anywhere in the world at any time. Add pets and fishing and it's a rich experience.

Music: 7/10 It's alright to listen to. The building music (elevator music) is the best track in my opinion. The rest is alright. It's neither bad nor great.

Graphics: 8/10 The game looks fine. It resembles don't starve for some reason but it works for what it tries to do. There are multiple worlds with each one looking completely different.

Replayability: 6/10 There is quite a lot of perks to achieve and different difficulties. However I felt once was enough for me.

Final verdict: 8/10 Crashlands is a great indie game that has a lot going for it, however it might feel a bit repetitive after a while.

STAR TREK™: 25TH ANNIVERSARY
4 Stars

Must Play for fans of ST Original Series
For fans of the original ST series this was a great fun game, mainly because of the voice-overs with the original cast. There is good banter between Kirk/Spock/McCoy. If there was no voice (i.e. text only), then as a stand-alone adventure game or for gamers not really fans of ST, the game is fairly good.

Most of the puzzles are fairly straight-forward and not too difficult, but there are couple of places where the (included) clue book came in handy (there are plenty of walkthroughs on the web as well). Puzzles are designed well in that there is no way to use an item that would prevent you from finishing the Episode (i.e. no dead ends). However, some actions can reduce your score, such as getting your redshirt killed (search the web on how to kill your redshirts for fun) or get the whole party killed requiring a reload (so you do need to save your game periodically). The puzzles are separated into “Episodes”, each one taking about an hour, and your performance is “scored” after each Episode and at the end as a whole. However, during the Episode there is no feedback (i.e. Score X/Y) on how you are doing.

I’m knocking off 1 full star for the final ship battle. It’s way too difficult, even after web searches and You Tube videos explaining the fight. It took me at least 20 tries, and on my last attempt I got lucky by defeating the “main enemy” on the first pass. One of my hits must have disabled the engines because it just sat there in front of me.

Bottom line: If you are a fan of the original series and single player adventure games, it is a must play. Playability was very stable for me on Windows 7 64-bit, and I modified my Dosbox settings via some information I found on web searches which worked well.

My review for Shadowgate: https://www.gog.com/game/shadowgate

Tried to make a bullet point list and to space out paragraphs but it got kind of messed up on the store page (fixed below), we really need an edit feature GOG guys... Also it would be nice to know if people reviewing the game have actually bought and downloaded it. Nostalgic/fanatic reviews by people who only remember the game from their youth with rose-tinted glasses aren't helpful.

At the time of writing I hadn't noticed that there was a review of Meridian: New World with the exact same title as mine (thankfully not the same content though).

Game: Meridian: Squad 22
Rating: 4/5