I think it was last year that I finally finished Invasion of the Vorticons. I only had Marooned on Mars as a kid, and I played that one to death, while drooling from time to time over the select few promotional screenshots I had of the the other two games. I suppose that must be why I don't find the games at all frustrating, for the most part. I really honed my CK skills back then. The only level I would consider to be possibly frustrating is this one, in which it is really easy to get lost:
http://www.shikadi.net/keenwiki/Red_Maze_City
Nevertheless its a really cool level with it's secret basement part that leads to the secret city. The only other level I would consider to be difficult is this one:
http://www.shikadi.net/keenwiki/Ice_City
One the whole, I think that Marooned on Mars is the best of the 3 games in Invasion of Vorticons. Was that also your impression?

The Earth Explodes has several massive levels and I didn't find them as well thought out as the levels from Marooned on Mars. At times it felt like a bit of a chore playing though them, though I didn't find any of them particularly frustrating or unfair. However, Keen Must Die! has some truly awful levels, like this impossible monstrosity:
http://www.shikadi.net/keenwiki/Caves_of_Oblivion
and this blasted level that I hate with the fury of a thousand suns:
http://www.shikadi.net/keenwiki/Cape_Canavorta
Remember that one? That impossible bloody jump from the platform to the roof of the 2nd to last building? I honestly don't think they really playtested the game's levels properly. For example,
http://www.shikadi.net/keenwiki/Fort_Cavort
originally had a required yellow keycard that was unobtainable.

Still, I contend that CK is one of the early DOS greats, and I'd love to see a re-imagining of it some day. Have you played Bio Menace yet? With respect to your criticisms of Invasion of the Vorticons, Bio Menace is a vast improvement on CK in every way.

Well, Marooned on Mars was the least frustrating of them, I can grant you that. It was also the only one in which you could avoid direct confrontation with the enemy for the most part (no such luck with the other two episodes). If you told me that the other two episodes would get worse, though, I wouldn't have believed you after having played the damned Ice City so many times. The Red Maze City wasn't particularly bad, but it dragged on a bit too much.
Oh boy, Caves of Oblivion. What a bait-and-switch. Thinking that it was actually possible to complete it via the normal route. XD.

And fuck Fort Cavort. Fuck that place where you were standing on the moving platform, waiting for the Vortininjas to allow you to grab the ankh and proceed to the final part of this place. And fuck those meeps with their wall-defying soundwaves.
I haven't played Bio Menace, but it's on my to-do list, after hearing comparisons to Duke Nukem 2, which I found somewhat frustrating, but nice for the most part.

Edit: Oh, and I just remembered something else that I didn't like in Commander Keen. In order to fire your raygun, you'll need to press both the jump and the pogo stick buttons together. Fun times I tell you, wanting to jump high with the pogo stick and instead firing and also getting screwed when I wanted to fire the gun and I instead jumped. Sigh...

I thought there was one bug all the way through the game, the Alien.
Okay, I will get my coat...

Saints Row IV

I tend to lose interest in open world games fairly quickly because I find them too repetitive (I've never finished any AC game, never even played GTA and even though I started playing Shadow of Mordor a while back I find it more and more difficult to return after each play session).

SR IV however offers just the right combination of over-the-top bravado and absurdity for me to stay entertaining.
It mostly plays like any other open world game, with some notable exceptions; Realism goes overboard at the very beginning, the game mechanics are aimed at making you feel like a super hero and the possibility to call in 'Homies' and followers adds some variety to play styles.

It does have some downsides; not all the 'non-standard' mission parts are fun (for instance, having all your powers and most of your weapons taken away and then being continuously chased and run down by three cars at once isn't particuarly fun, and I really hated one part at the end where you have to dodge debris while falling down a shaft). Also, they've implemented a lot of different upgrade systems (unlockables, weapon upgrades, super power upgrades all work differently and some even need a different currency than others). I found that a bit confusing when I first started playing.

Overall, if you're looking for an opem world game that really doesn't take itself seriously and you enjoy over-the-top macho humor and general sillyness, SR IV should suit your gaming needs. If you prefer realism and game characters with any real depth, stay away :)

1Heart.

Can't really recommend. Its short, very rough around the edges, extremely amateurish, and not much plot or depth. Some of those are ok, but combined, I'd recommend to devs that games like this be released as demos or proofs of concept rather than sold on the marketplace. (to give an idea on length, one achievement is to finish 85% of the game in under 2 hours... I just did that in 30 minutes).

Part point and click, part puzzler, part horror, part hidden object... you never really feel like the game has its own identity. Mash games are fine, but they are generally blended better and less jarring when you switch modes.

The art is ok. Its like a Picasso (in that its intentionally trying NOT to be pretty). But I think you need more content, story, and polish to really pull that off.

The story abruptly ends in a very unsatisfying way where you can tell the creator was expecting a gasp, when really I yawned. It would be like if Babe Ruth called his shot and then struck out.

The music is bad. Putting speakers that blare heavy metal through the woods as a "collectible" finalizes the assumption that this game was made by a very young person who wanted to make it about their own personal likes and opinions, rather than to try and set a legitimate atmosphere. It feels like someone turned their Facebook page into a game. Again, all of this is ok if you aren't asking for money to try the game. (especially $9.99 as the going asking price).

OK, you are now part of the list.

<posted in wrong thread>

Awesome, thank you!

XD yes I've wasted a lot of ammo that way.
I haven't played a lot of Duke Nukem 2 myself. I tried to once but couldn't get into it. The gameplay feels a little bit too fast and chaotic somehow, very much unlike Bio Menace. Also, you'll be glad to hear that you can actually look up and down in Bio Menace so that you never have to jump into the unknown :) You have a life bar as well and there are medkits around, so compared to CK the gameplay isn't that stressful either.
Given what it is though, It isn't perfect by any means, mostly because a small number of levels, like 2 or 3, are a bit boring and too long, like the sewer level you'll encounter in the first episode. Also, there are 1 or 2 annoying enemies, like those blasted green slimes that block your way in corridors with low ceilings when you've run out of grenades and laser rounds >:(

After completing Wolfenstein 3D I took Spear of Destiny and started to repeatedly stab my enemies with my mighty spear. I slowly picked up the pace until I couldn't go any faster, reached my limits and came to realization there is no one else to stab and thus won the game.

In other words I beat it few days ago.
Although it is similar most aspect to Wolfenstein 3D, I find it quite worse. It feels like cash grab.
They just reskinned the game and cahnged it slightly to offer more Wolfenstein.
First episode is still quite decent and on it's own it would feel like acceptable Wolfenstain expansion but the other 2 are not OK.
It uses different colour pallette but that's only probably only thing they changed. :-)
The first episode has story. That the Spear of Destiny was stolen and you have to reclaim it.
Story of the second and third episode? Spear of Destiny was stolen and you have to reclaim it.
Yeah, they didn't bother with new story at all. I know it just mindless FPS but they could put at least little effort to it if they already tried to put story there.
What I find worse is that they didn't even bother to change name of maps, so they ie. map 5 is named the same in all 3 episodes and taht goeas for all episodes. Also there is ending animation after E1 and they just reused it for the other 2 as well although it doesn't really fit there.
Also E2 at least brings new bosses (mostly reskin of the previous ones but there was some effort) but E3 just used the same ones as E2.
Well, there is one more change for E2 and 3 over previous instances. They replced mutants by mutant bats. They are cool in way that they hang from ceiling but otherwise they feature awful hit animation/sprite, so really unappreciated from my side again.
Also the map creators tried to be funny more and more and later one is in the game the more weird maps he find. I mean maps that are in form of letters, swastikas or other signs. It can be cool sometimes but I found it overused and it sacrificed the usefulness in term of gameplay to looks sometimes.

So yeah, although I was fine with E1 as more Wolf expereince, I was not fine with E2 and 3 at all and felt like they were really badly made with a little effort and was already bored in the process of playing them.

What I found nice was that few levels I was able to complete in under minute or 30 seconds and some of them without killing any enemy.
If it was constant it wouldn't be good thing but as something exceptional it was nice change of pace.

Otherwise everything what i said about Wolf 3D applies. Aged quiet a lot but decent shooter with limited textures, enemies and weapons.
Once again I used ECWolf to make it more accessible, mainly by adding mouse control and it made it better experience for sure.

Machinarium

Having just played through Lilly Looking Through, I decided to give Machinarium another try. I think I've started it twice before but always got stuck and frustrated at some point. This time was no different. It went pretty well at first, and I rediscovered my love for the game, also in comparison to Lilly, but then my playthrough stalled at the same spots again. In the end, I resorted to using the walkthrough whenever I got fed up and impatient, and as usual, the impatience and dissatisfaction rose every time I did so. I really hate consulting walkthroughs, but I also hate spending huge amounts of time running in circles or leaving games like Machinarium eternally unfinished.

Now I'm still somewhat conflicted about what to think of the game. I want to love and praise it, because the art, music and sound design is fantastic, and the setting, animations and characters are funny and even cuter than Lilly. The story-telling was better as well, it has some original and positively surprising ideas, some puzzles were quite enjoyable and figuring them out was really satisfying. But it does have its share of problems, too.

The most annoying one lies in the fact that it's a flash game. I always had to manually back up the savegames, stored in the hidden AppData/Macromedia folder whenever I took a break from playing, because they were constantly erased (presumably when I cleared my browser's cookies, cache and history, which I do automatically, on the regular). And it also happened to me quite a lot that I accidentally hit the right mouse button, which opened an immersion-breaking Flash player menu (although that's a very minor quibble compared to the constant loss of savegames).

The other problem is that contrary to Lilly Machinarium doesn't feature a button to highlight usable hotspots, and the ensuing pixel hunt is further hindered by the design choice that the mouse pointer only betrays hotspots in the reach of your character, so searching the whole screen for hotspots is not possible, you first have to move the character to several fixed points in the area, as well as up and down, before you can start the pixel hunt in his immediate vicinity. Also, there are some actual brain twister puzzles (partially with several stages) that I wasn't always in the mood for, and some regular P&C 'puzzles' were rather obscure. On quite a few occasions, I didn't really understand why I was trying to do what I was trying to do, until I saw the results, several steps later. And sometimes I was on the right track but the game gave too little feedback why it didn't work the way I was trying to do it. I have to admit, I didn't think of using the Hint button, but a perfectly designed P&C adventure wouldn't need Hint buttons and in-game walkthroughs.

Still, considering how Amanita started, with the Samorost flash games, this is a cute, well-told, consistent and not too short adventure game that's pleasing to eyes and ears. I just wish I could have enjoyed the general gameplay just as much, as I did in their following title, Botanicula. I'm curious as to what they will come up with next (EDIT: Apparantly Samorost 3, later this year? Hm.).

I actually reinstalled this today. I have also had problems with the saves getting deleted, but the reason I didn't finish it the last time I played it was because I got very stuck :P I got to a greenhouse, I don't know how far I was from completing the game. Some of the puzzles are very clever, but very difficulty, and there will be pixelhunting, as you said. I do think it's an excellent game though, with great artstyle and an amazing soundtrack. I'll play through it after I'm done with my playthrough of the Dragon Age-series, or when I take a break from it :P

* MILD SPOILER ABOUT GAMELENGTH*
Not that far actually, that's probably three-fourths of the game already (provided you got inside of it).

<span class="bold">Shovel Knight</span>

This “retro” platformer is probably the best you can find in the genre.
Yacht Club games decided to craft a game inspired by NES classics that does nothing new, but instead recovers and perfections all what made its ancestors great.

Shovel Knight, dispenser of justice in spades, is returned. After his companion Shield Knight disappeared in the Tower of Fate, he has gone into depression and started to live like a farmer, but now that the mysterious Enchantress and her knights are wreaking havoc from there, he decided to start fighting once again in the hope of finding his missing beloved.
Meanwhile, the treacherous Plague Knight, officially a member of the Enchantress' Order of knights, has secret plans of his own...

Shovel Knight is divided in two parts, the first starring the now iconic blue knight, and the other seeing as protagonist one of his enemies, the Alchemist Plague Knight.
Both of their intertwining stories will run in the same areas (with just a few small differences to adapt to their peculiarities) , but their playstyle is completely different: Shovel Knight is much more agile and faster and can count an a hefty arsenal of magi relic with the most disparate effects (from the classic fireball, to an item to float in air, poisonous jumping blobs and invincibility frame), while Plague Knight's speed and jumps are quite low, yet he recovers those weaknesses with an hugely higher attack power, being able to customize bombs (with six different choices each for case, powder composition and fuse, granting a lot of possible combinations an encouraging experimentation) and using special powers granting him also the ability to create explosive, multifunctional platforms.

I have been glad to notice that this game is not a “metroidvania”; while there are some upgrades to health and magic and you can purchase new armors and powers for your shovel, those are all completely optional. There is no required backtracking, and if you are a very good player you can finish the game accessing all areas (minus three small bonus stages designed specifically for the use of a specific object) without ever upgrading anything.
There are sixteen levels, 10 of which with a specific theme, and in nine of them you will have to face widely different bosses that will put to test your ability.
Don't be discouraged by the numbers: the levels are indeed few, but they are huge and they will require tens of minutes to be completed during the first run. (Bt the ay, if you are a speedrunner, be guaranteed that you will find plenty of material to satisfy your need.)
Each level is composed of a main course you have to take to reach the end, and lots of side rooms containing more or less valuable treasures but not necessary to reach your goal. There is also an insane amount of secrets, if you look carefully.
You don't have a finite amount of lives, and you can try again the same level as many times as you want, losing a percentage of your treasure very time you fail that you can recover later; also, if you like challenges, you can also destroy the checkpoints to gain more loot... at the cost of restarting from the beginning or the last standing checkpoint.

For what concerns the artistic department, Shovel Knight is top class both graphically and musically: even if adopting the 8-bit style, the game manages to look absolutely gorgeous from beginning to end, and the artistic prowess of the designers is so impressive that it has managed to craft stages playing with light, darkness and weather effects... without having a lighting system in the first place, but only with a careful use of pixels!
The soundtrack (by Jake Kaufman -that man deserves more recognition) is also phenomenal, a worthy entry in the small “original” videogame music branch that still has not disappeared under the ever growing orchestral themes.


The only fault I found in Shovel Knight is that I have finished it.
[i]I very rarely give the maximum score to a game, but in my opinion Shovel Knight deserves it for being a flawless masterpiece of action-platforming, the best game I have ever played in its genre.
I absolutely recommend it to everyone for it balanced challenge, stunning art, funny characters and richness of gameplay; the game is more than worth full price[/i], and in 2016 it should receive two new expansions starring King Knight and Specter Knight.
I hope Yacht Club game swill produce more games of this quality, they have sure proven they don't lack talent!