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LinustheBold: 1849
I have been waiting for this game to be discussed on GOG by either a thoughtful reviewer or someone who has played the game. Look. Both! :)

I completed 1849 last year and enjoyed it. It did get boring for me from perhaps missions 8-12 (give or take, based on a sometimes-faulty memory), but additional options in the later game had me enjoying it all over again.

I think of it as only an economic sim. If people approach it as a city builder it might not stand up. At release here, tons of people complained about a lack of a sandbox mode, which the devs then included. This game isn't meant for sandbox - it's not a city builder! :) The scenarios are where the fun is to be found and they provide plenty of enjoyable game time for, at bare minimum, a sales price.

Unfortunately the Nevada DLC is unavailable on GOG - after a break from the original game I would have looked forward to revisiting. Maybe it will appear here at some point. I'd buy it.

I liked the soundtrack. PEDAL STEEL!
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budejovice: I think of it as only an economic sim. If people approach it as a city builder it might not stand up.
I think you're pretty right on this. It is a bit of a city builder, of course, but it's really all about the commerce. I think I kept wanting it to be a bit more of both - it acts like a city builder, though the bulk of play is balancing trade.

The middle section is the most repetitive. I was a little bothered by the later scenarios, which lean heavily on importing raw materials rather than farming them, just because there is so much time spent ordering the same supplies over and over - every few days I'm buying more lumber, and there's never enough money in one place to just buy a giant amount. All the little microtransactions are tedious to run manually. I gather they added automation of purchasing in the Nevada DLC, which would have made the endgame much more fun.

I'm glad you liked it - I did too, mostly. I don't begrudge the hours that went into it, but I don't feel I need to do any more at the moment. Still, I'm going to keep it installed for now, in case I want to go back in and try that last scenario again (I did not complete either optional objective in that one, the giant mansion and the mayoral campaign, though I got just about every other one in the game).

I am definitely interested in seeing what else SomaSim puts out.
Finished King's Bounty:The Legend last night.

Not the genre I generally play, but good fun nonetheless. Game is gorgeous and the turn-based gameplay is pretty solid.

I wasn't enamored of the need to constantly wander the map to various locations to replenish my army with different unit types, and found some of the quests to be tedious back-and-forth running around.

Would have enjoyed a better mini-map as well as main map so I could navigate a bit easier. I found it too easy to get confused as to where I was, where I was supposed to go, and where things were located when I had to return to them. In that vein, the journal was a bit sparse for my liking as well, as it would tell you who to return to in order to complete a quest, but no indication of where that entity actually resided.

I also found the slow mana regeneration while on the world/main map to be needless and tedious. I can see it for the battles, but on the main map all it did was make me wait around until it filled up so I could go on to the next battle. Needless waiting that actually ended up making me just look up a cheat code to fill it faster instead of wasting time waiting.

While there was a story to the game, and some of it wasn't bad, as well as some of the quests were interesting, the sheer incredible volume of battles tended to get a bit boring after a while.

Having said all that, I still thought this was a decent game and fairly fun. If this type of game is your cup of tea, you'll probably love it. Anyway, glad I played it, overall enjoyed it, but likely won't play it again. I do own Crossworlds and will play that one eventually because it's in the backlog, but I'm hoping it's sufficiently improved/enhanced that it addresses some of the things that bugged me about Legend.

Not sure where I'm heading next, but there's plenty in the backlog to choose from...

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They Breathe
What the hell did I just play? I can see the ecological message hidden in it, but I have to say that I'm not impressed.

Music and sounds are great though and there was one very good moment (the one I realised what's going on). Game is quite sure and can completed in less than an hour.

Complete list of finished games in 2015
Pixel Puzzles: UndeadZ

Meh. I guess puzzle games on the PC have their own issues by default (real puzzles, like puzzle pieces).

This one was ok. It was beyond frustration to have the pieces floating around and no matter where you clicked, the wrong piece would be picked up on most occasions. The combat was simple and only added a "timing" mechanic in reality.

It was a decent time killer, but nothing I would set out to play again, nor would I recommend on its own. As part of a bundle, its worth keeping for when you need something very quick and easy to get into.
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sebarnolds: Finished episode 4 of Wolfenstein 3D. Levels are most of the time mazes and sometimes, you need to find secrets to have access to the key needed to finish the level, not very clever design...

Full list here.
It gets very repetitive after the first few episodes. Same textures are reused and you don't find any new guns. The sequel Spear of Destiny is exactly the same. Only interesting things are the bosses and the very last level in Spear is pretty awesome.
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Klumpen0815: Nihilumbra

I don't know if I should call it finished or aborted.
The game has nice style and narration, is very short and is ridiculously easy, the second difficulty is ridiculously hard and pure frustration. I aborted the second playthrough in the third level already because it's just no fun and plain mean. You really can't call this difficulty curve a "curve" anymore. It's just skyrocketing straight upwards after the first playthrough
The Linux port runs very well btw.
Finished it on Vita a week or so ago. Void mode is awful.
I couldn't be bothered to go on after 2 levels.
Commandos 2

Real time strategic stealth game. Naming the genre would be already enough to convince me to buy it, but since sane people need motivations... here's what I think about it!

In Commandos 2 you take control of an elite squad of soldiers, infiltrating behind enemy lines to sabotage the Axis' world domination plans.
The formula is the same of the first installment (wich I warmly recommend you to play), retaining the improvement of the expansion "Beyond the Call of Duty" and further enriching the gameplay with a massive set of small innovation that considerably increase the depth of the gameplay.

Let's proceed with order: this time Pyro Studios decided to make full use of the keyboard, literally binding a different action to each key, and that alone should already give you a clear idea of what to expect. At first finding a way to properly use each hotkey might seem overwhelming, yet after the first two missions everything will become very natural, allowing you to quickly plan and execute a vast amount of different tactics with minimal effort.
Unlike most RTS games, the Commandos series is cenetered on your team and a clever use of their skills -open combat is not encouraged (as the enemy always overwhelms you, and being detected will almost always result in tragedy) and losing even only one of your soldiers will result in a failed mission.
Each one of your nine characters has his/her own field of specialization and is trained in the use of specific items, occupying a precise role:
-the Green Beret is fast, strong and capable to using decoys and hiding in the environment;
-the Sniper can silently hit targets from a very long distance;
-the Marine can dive without running out of oxygen and is armed with a deadly harpoon;
-the Sapper can use any kind of explosive, cut barbed wire, detect mines and operate cannons;
-the Driver can use any kind of vehicle and is specialized in "dirty" combat tricks, like booby traps, molotov and gas bombs;
-the (male) Spy can disguise himself as an enemy official, hiding in plain sight and manipulating hostile troops. He also owns a very useful syringe, capable of either stunning or killing a target in perfect silence, based on the quantity of injected poison;
-the (female) Spy can also infiltrate enemy camps and distract guards, though she cannot issue orders (no high-ranking Nazist female officers around, I'm afraid). When need demands it she is a good sniper too, though;
-the Thief is the fastest member of the group, can climb almost everything, hide everywhere, crawl into narrow passages and pick locks;
-the dog is the perfect messenger and distractor: nobody will care about him, so he can go around undisturbed.

The game is divided in 10 main missions plus another 10 smaller bonus ones, unlocked when you find all the "bonus books" hidden in each level. This can prove to be quite the challenge, often being harder than the main objective themselves, yet not doing it wold mean losing nearly the 40% of the game.
The reduced quantity of missions (the first Commandos had 26+8 "big" ones) leaves more space to complexity: the objectives in Commandos 2 are definitely more elaborate than in the previous chapter, often surprising the player unexpected turns of events and reqiring a sudden rethinking of the entire plan.
The gameplay improvements are immediatley evident: other than the wide array of new skills and a real use of the vertical axis (an only sketched out aspect in the original), now the map can rotate and zoom in and out -while retaining its hand-drawn quality, something that I really appreaciate- and a proper sound reaction system has been implemented. Farewell, glorious murderous runs with the Green Beret! Now the enemy will hear you, so walking, crawling and silently tying up hostiles after knocking them out is a more efficient way to act. "Flash attacks" are not often a viable solution, slowing the pace and making everything more subtle. Also, now everyone (except the female spy and the dog) can punch enemies and move bodies, avoiding the need to run trough the whole map with the Green Beret or the Spy just to hide them.
Moreover, the sountrack is excellent and the setting is not limited to Europe and Africa, sending you in Asia to sabotage the plans of the Japanese empire. Too bad there are still no Fascists around: I wouldn't mind to snipe a fellow Italian every now and then. :P

After all those positives aspects I have a few criticisms, though:
-since now everyone can swim and kills are not encouraged, the Marine and the Sniper have become drastically less useful, having an active role only when explicitly required. I would have preferred to use the old pneumatic boat to move the team upon water: I can imagine the Thief and the Green Beret swimming with ease, but what about the Sapper, the Sniper and the heavily equipped Driver? Also, someone might find a soaked Nazi general a bit suspect...
-the game is much, much easier than the first one. While it's true that now each map hold a vast number of solutions and allows the palyer much more freedom in approaching an objective (making everything actually more fun), I would have liked a more unforgiving challenge. Also, the affect of the alarm is underwhelming: in the original, whenever the siren sounded all hell broke lose and reinforcements (not already present on the map) were always called, while here only a few guards come to investigate and everything quickly gets back to normal.
To be fair, this issue is partially solved by the difficulty setting, though: based on the level you choose, enemies are located in different, cleverer positions, have different patrol schedules and are more aware.
-exception made for high officials and the Gestapo the enemies are blind, especially at lower difficulties. Seriously, I immediately needed to switch the difficulty on an higher one because enemy soldiers watched me for more than three seconds (in their close-view range) before attacking. In the original, when they spotted you they immediatley started firing with no mercy, leaving you no room to breathe.
-the scoring systems does not make much sense: why would the game reward you for visiting many different areas and knocking out enemies? Imo, it would be more logical for a Commando to be as discrete as possible and avoid contact. Also, during a world war there is no use for mercy: a soldier you kill now is a soldier that won't try to kill you later. That's not a big issue, though: the score does not unlock any bonus, so you are free to play as you see fit.
Personally, I preferred to be fast and invisible, so I almost always got 1-3/5 stars under the "neutralized enemies" entry and 1-2/5 for visited areas!
-I continue to miss Despersados' "team quick action" key. That is a wonderful feature that afaik nobody else has ever implemented, unfortunately.

Those issues are really minor when compared to everything the game does right, and I can safely say that Commandos 2 is an overall excellent, memorable game that nobody shouls miss. Its immense variety, good level of challenge, clever design, high quality artistic values and sheer gameplay fun make it a must buy for everyone. If you are an RTS or stealth fan, I can guarantee that you will love it with no restraints. I wish games like this were still made today! :(

This is a good year for what concerns gaming: in less than two months, this is already the third game worthy of reciving the... Enebias' Official Seal of Approval!
The sermon is over. Now go and play it, my fellow Goglodytes!
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sebarnolds: Finished episode 4 of Wolfenstein 3D. Levels are most of the time mazes and sometimes, you need to find secrets to have access to the key needed to finish the level, not very clever design...

Full list here.
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Venser: It gets very repetitive after the first few episodes. Same textures are reused and you don't find any new guns. The sequel Spear of Destiny is exactly the same. Only interesting things are the bosses and the very last level in Spear is pretty awesome.
Yes. Back when it was released I only played the first episode (the shareware part). It's a shame that it's the most interessant part of the 6 episodes. After that, it really gets repetitive.

Nevertheless, I'll play the other two episodes as well as Spear of Destiny before playing again Return to Castle Wolfenstein :)
Spate

Extremely short, easy and simplistic game, almost more of a "walking simulator" than a platformer. Story and writing were neither really bad nor all that great. But I liked the voiceover, the music was nice and the visuals had their moments, too. What i didn't like is that it offers two different endings, but one of them isn't really an alternative to the other, and to see both you'd have to play through the whole game again, while nothing else changes. You can reload your 100% progress autosave, but it saves after your decision, so you'll just see the same ending again, and you can't abort or skip the last cutscene.
Fist Puncher

I wouldn't say it's the worst beat 'em up in the world by any means, but it would have benefited massively from the concept being expanded upon.

This game is very much up and down. For every good or at least decent thing, there's a negative to go with it.

It has multiple characters and the ability to gain levels, but the overall environments become very repetitive, very fast, so you'll never care enough to add on levels and run through more than once.

The music is good at times, but it gets repeated to the point of wanting to mute it.

Some of the enemy themes are amusing, and they make for interesting moments (such as beating the crap out of skinheads attending Hitler's birthday party), but then you get to the bosses.
Nine times out of ten, the boss is the exact same body model, with variation on the face. Virtually identical appearance, virtually identical attacks, and ultimately boredom instead of excitement.

It definitely feels like the developers had an idea, did what they could, then decided they didn't have enough to bring to the table.
But instead of having a more compact product that they could then refine, they decided to take their ideas, copy/paste where they could and pad the shit out of the game with them.

Honestly not sure if I can recommend this one.

Like I said, it's not the worst. But the same time, it sure as hell isn't anywhere near the best.

It might serve decently enough as a digital palette cleanser after a 100+ hour RPG or RTS, but if you pay full price for it, you're going to feel very silly for doing so.
Shadowrun Returns
Besides the fact that it is too linear, I absolutely loved this game. Writing is excellent (the twist in the end is not the best, but I liked the noir elements before that very much) and the overall atmosphere is great.

Turn-based battles worked fine and I think it really makes a big difference in which way you build your character (I ended with a dwarf mage that also had some skills in summoning and quickness, but was a complete loser as a decker or when he had to use weapons). Guess this gives the game some replaybility.

Music and sounds are very atmospheric and graphics are fine too. Can't think of anything I want to complain about. Definitely looking forward to play Shadowrun: Dragonfall in the future.

Complete list of finished games in 2015
Tales of Illyria (mobile)

I know what some of you are thinking and no, it's not related with the "Tales of" from Namco Bandai. :)

The game is a mixture of turn based rpg, oregon trail and choose your own adventures (now you know from where i got the idea for my giveaway), and this actually works well, especially for a mobile game/touchscreen, while travelling you can try to hunt animals or gather plants that appear on the screen (if you will be successful or not will depend of your hunting/alchemy level).

The choices does have an impact on the rest of the adventure, early on i had this decision of helping a couple or not, unfortunately i had no way of helpping them and later, during one of my journeys those people appeared again and told me that something wrong had happened and i decided to continue that side quest to find out the terrible fate of their family member. I felt kind of bad even knowing that back then there was nothing that i could have done.

As for the rest of the game, i feel like there should be a better tutorial or something because i didn't know what to level up (there's only 3 stats, Strenght, Agility and Intellect, so i assumed the first one to warriors, second to archers and third for mages...), the same thing for the equipment, i had to assume heavy armor made the character slower and the... clothed armor thing would make them quicker... Well, i don't know, i manage to end the adventure and only the first half i had some troubles with some battles, late game the game was easy.

What i didn't like was that the money is the resource for everything, E-V-E-R-Y-T-H-I-N-G! It was cool that i had to use it to buy provisions (you need food, water and pelts for your travel) and the skills (hunting, scouting, enginnering, etc) but do i really need to spent gold to learn and upgrade new spells/attack moves? It makes the point of leveling up a bit useless and more time travelling across the map just gridding for gold.

Eventually i'll buy the sequel (or who knows, it will appear on a bundle or free on Amazon) but i'll take a break for now, the game is really long (hours, not sure how many but probably around 20) but i'm glad that i managed to play it because it has something that most games are lacking, some depth, maturity and your choices actually have some impact on your adventure.
finished war in the north on hard

not gonna bother with "legendary"
I've finished my 10th episode of Grimm and I'm done with the series as it is quite boring doing the same thing over and over again :
- +5 minutes of intro
- 30 minutes of limited gamplay
- 5 minutes of outro

Full list here.