Yesterday I finished my second ever playthrough of Castlevania Symphony of the Night, the first on the Android port (and I even got all achievements! :D )

While the touch controls are a bit annoying, the button they added to easy cast any spell you've cast before makes it really easy to abuse them, which is a good thing.

It's very much an exploration game, and while it doesn't do enough to motivate and reward said exploration by modern standards, it's still very fun to play through.

Earlier today, I was rewatching Superbunnyhop's video on the game, and was very surprised to see how much George misunderstood the game. I certainly agree on some of his points, but he clearly got a lot of it wrong. Which is something very unexpected given his penchant to overanalyzing games.

Finally, the Crissaegrim is a major game breaker, but, damn, do I love it! :D

Arcanum

I don't think it can be denied that many elements of Arcanum's gameplay are objectively bad...the systems are unbalanced, the overland map is tedious to navigate (unless you're playing a mage who gets the teleportation spell as I eventually did), some spells are totally useless, the combat is primitive and boring, and the dungeons are unimaginative and consist of nothing but endless waves of trash mobs to fight (mercifully many of them are optional or can be skipped, but the Black mountain clan mines can't, and they might well be one of the worst dungeons ever in a crpg). Companions are also sadly under-developed and only occasionally chime in with dialogue.
However, despite all this I still had fun with my elf woman who specialized in magic and persuasion, because the setting is really interesting (too bad there'll probably never be another game in it) and many quests offer nice choices. I also found the main plot quite interesting and kept playing because I wanted to see how it's all resolved (quite nicely imo, certainly better than in many other crpgs). There are hints of brilliance in this game like in few others...too bad that for whatever reason the designers couldn't achieve consistent quality in all aspects of the game. As it is, Arcanum is a highly flawed gem, but still a game everybody interested in crpgs should at least try.
My rating: 3/5.

Zombotron

A nice side-scrolling shooter - apparantly based on an old free Flash game - that's not too difficult and split into shorter (unnamed, unnumbered) levels, so I found it quite relaxing to play as casual distraction, even though it can get tense, because enemies can come from both sides, break through walls and surprise you, so caution is advised over storming ahead. If you die, you restart the level, but since levels are mostly short and you have healing items to prevent that, it's not a big deal, and some longer or tougher levels (e.g. before boss battles) have Continue points you can activate which give you three respawns at the point in question before you have to restart the level. Physics are also a part of the gameplay mechanics, for better or for worse, meaning you can use them to your advantage by letting stuff fall onto your opponents' heads and crush them, but you can also get caught or stuck in tight spots during critical encounters. There is a level up system, which I didn't find particularly interesting though, and there are secrets to find, but it's a strictly linear affair and due to the level structure and since there is only one savegame per playthrough, there is no going back if you miss anything. The humor is okay, the story servicable, unfortunately it ends in a cliffhanger, but then again, you don't play this sort of game for those things anyway.

My greatest dislike about Zombotron was the limited inventory combined with the item system. There are about 8 different types of weapons and at least 7 or 8 different types of ammunition; each type of ammunition takes up one inventory slot on its own, so if you keep one weapon of each type, that's already 16 slots occupied and there are only 20 in total. Then there are armor, helmet and boots, and at least three different types of grenades, each type occupying a slot again. And 2-3 different healing items to collect. So that's already too much, you can't store every type of weapon and collect every type of ammunition, if you also wear armor and pick up healing items. So far, I guess that's still fine, you just have to pick your preferred weapons and ignore the rest. But then the game also has a Diablo-type random loot system with common, rare and epic weapons, and you can't see the stats or even the name and type of a weapon until you pick it up. Also, ammo and grenades are picked up automatically if you still have free slots, but you can't drop ammo, only sell it. And sometimes there are key card type items that you need to pick up in order to progress (but that occupy a slot as well). All of that makes inventory management rather inconvenient, and in the end I stopped bothering with it and just ignored any new weapon or armor drops.

Still, all in all I had fun with this Zombotron. The graphics vaguely reminded me of the Steamworld games, the sounds were nice, and the gameplay was quite enjoyable most of the times. I think the game was included in a bundle and I just wanted to give it a try, I never expected that it would click with me and that I would be motivated to completely play through it (8-10 hours if you're a cautious and throrough player like me, less if you're not).

After a months long hiatus, got back into Crysis 3 this week and last night I finally beat it.

I don't really know why, but just like the FEAR series, the 2nd one is the only one I really enjoyed playing through. The other were more a case of start-stopping all the way until the end.

Anyway, I wonder why they dropped Nomad completely after the first Crysis game.

So I managed to just squeeze in another game this month, Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness. Well, technically the base game campaigns of the Battle.net Edition but presumably those are the same. Took me almost 25 years but it's finally done - man, what a weight off my shoulders!

Incidentally I also played a lot of Command & Conquer this year due to the release of its remaster this June. Ever since I first played both games I've always considered C&C a guilty pleasure compared to Warcraft II. Command & Conquer is riddled with bizarre design and balancing choices, it has a comically stupid AI - it feels more like a "fun game" than a "good game". Well, now I can say with some confidence that at least as a singleplayer experience Warcraft II is by far the inferior game of the two.

Anyway, the truth is that - playing the game now - the best I can say about it is that it's solid. The technical execution is excellent and it's all in all elegantly designed and balanced (well, I guess the last part is easy to achieve when you have two identical factions that only differ in a few spells and upgrades). But frankly none of that makes the game particularly exciting.

To me Warcraft II always felt like it has more depth and layers than C&C. Now I'm not sure that's true. As a matter of fact most of the time I'm less concerned about unit relationships here than in C&C - spamming almost any unit type will get the job done as there aren't different damage types - only towards the end, when gryphons and dragons come into play, do ranged units become essential. Back then I felt that maps where the bases are separated by water are interesting and I was impressed by the enemy actually being able to execute amphibious assaults. Now I see that the big problem about the naval warfare in this game is that once one side dominates the sea the other one basically can't recover. In singleplayer this means that once you've cleared the waters you have all the livelong day to prepare an army without facing ANY attacks in the meantime. I feel like the one thing that makes Warcraft II seem less archaic and better-thought-out than C&C is its fog of war.

Later on there are spells but at least in WCII's single player I always feel like they are annoying if used by the enemy (with his inhuman micro skills) and barely worth the hassle for the player. Well, and then there's the polymorphism spell which is so effective against the AI that it feels like an exploit.

The biggest disappointment I've had during this playthrough is that Warcraft II's AI - which I always thought was great - is in fact terrible. Yes, worse than C&C's (whose bad rep seems to mostly come from the sandbag exploit). The thing is that Warcraft II's AI is awfully exploitable. Enemies don't react sensibly to assaults - you will only attract enemies that are already nearby to whatever you're attacking - and what's worse: the enemy doesn't appear to rebuild anything except the headquarters. That means that it is very easy to disable the enemy's defences and production. And of course the enemy does not adjust his strategy in any way. Well, he doesn't really have to due to the simplistic unit relationships anyway.

And the final nail in the coffin must be the uninspired missions. They all feel the same. The only missions that stand out at all are the ones where you have to beat a big portion or even the entire mission without having access to a base. And they don't quite stand out in a good way.

Now, don't get me wrong: I loved this game back in the day and I still acknowledge that Warcraft II was an important milestone title in the history of RTS games - heck, even though I've destroyed the game here I've still enjoyed this playthrough (well, except for the last human mission - screw that one). But honestly: I thought I'd be having more fun.

Finished two great games that run on the GZDoom engine, one commercial, one free.

Hedon

I wasn't sure at first whether this would be a game for me, but playing the demo quickly convinced me to buy it. It combines the Doom gameplay (which I love) with story, adventure game elements and vast underground levels to explore like in Arx Fatalis (which I love as well). I found it equally satisfying to fight off hordes of monstrous invaders and to find secret pathways, crawl and swim through ducts like in Half-Life or the old Tomb Raider series. Of course, the GZDoom engine has its limitations; it takes a bit of getting used to the 2D sprites in the 3D environment, the sometimes weird proportions of them in relation to the environment, but generally, I loved the art style of sprites and areas very much. The dark fantasy theme, odd setting and the weapons were kind of cool as well, as were sounds and music (although the music could get a bit a repetitive when the same track was playing all the time during a long level, but since I enjoyed all tracks, I didn't mind that much). I was also impressed by how it managed to feel very retro in spirit and fresh at the same time. I had lots of fun playing it, and that's even though it also featured some first person platforming that could get a little frustrating, because the main character moves like she's ice skating. There's an option to switch to third person (2D sprite), and sometimes I had to make use of it, because it made dealing with the platforming a bit easier, but only slightly. Fortunately, GZDoom allows (quick)saving anywhere anytime, which also helped to make this more bearable.

Also, like I said, the levels are vast and long, and I actually liked that, because it makes them feel more like an open world than actual levels, but the gameplay also includes lots of backtracking, several types of locked doors with their own hidden keys, and some adventure game style puzzles/tasks, along with some optional reading, so it's not as casual as a regular Doom game. If you don't pay attention or take breaks in the midst of a level, you might occasionally feel a bit lost. I'd recommend making notes, if you find something of interest that you can't interact with yet, so that you keep an overview and will find it again later on. The maps are quite helpful but don't allow notes. Speaking of objects you can interact with, I didn't always find it that easy to distinguish between them and pure background objects, e.g. which type of scrolls are readable and which are just decoration. Another thing that might be more on me than the fault of the game, is that I hardly ever felt compelled to use any of the various consumables you can pick up (invisibility, stoneskin, time stop etc.). I guess I'm just too much of a hoarder, too cautious because these things were a finite resource, and also because the inventory wasn't all that practical to use spontaneously in the midst of a battle. And lastly, the story ends with a "To be continued..." which is a bit disappointing, but it's still worth it. Anyway, those are just a few nitpicks I had. All in all, I really, really liked Hedon. Highly recommended, if you're not put off by any of the above.

Pirate Doom

Wow, I loved this one as well. This mod was so creative in turning Doom into an Outlaws style campaign with a Monkey Island flair (imagine Monkey Island type settings, while instead of calling "Where are you, Marshall?" the baddies shout things like "Avast, ye scallywag!"). Of course, parts of the assets and the sounds are "borrowed" from commercial games, but still, it fits so well together, it looks and sounds so great, if you can accept that most of the pirate monsters are still recognizable from Doom. I was most astonished about how awesome and varied the level design is. 18+ levels, and any single one of them distinctly different from the rest, with its own theme. In honor of the Fettucini brothers, there's even a circus level! :D Also alternative fire modes for all weapons. And an impressive new boss at the end, although I have to say that fight was my least favorite part - it was a total ScummSave fest in my playthrough. But that's not all that surprising, I also had some minor issues with the boss battles in Hedon and Doom64, and maybe I'm just not the most skilled Doom player either. But I still enjoy these games immensely, and this free mod was one of the most entertaining Doom games of them all. It also made me want to play Outlaws again, so maybe I'll put that next on the list, in order to fill the hole that completing Hedon and Pirate Doom has left me with. ;)

The expansion Beyond the dark portal is a bit more interesting, even challenging at times, because in some missions you're under genuine pressure by enemy attacks (I actually didn't finish the final missions of the campaigns, was too much for me) and you have access to most units fairly early.
But in general I agree with your criticism. imo the single player campaigns really suffered from the fact that the two sides are so similar and that you often don't have much reason to build anything besides knights/ogres.

Didn't play much C&C, but it seemed to me that it was unquestionably more complex than WC2. Enjoyed WC2 way more, was a game I particularly focused on back then while C&C was just something I tried for a while and then discarded, but analyze their various aspects and C&C comes out on top in most, with the exception of graphics (especially in the artistic sense) and maybe (and definitely for me personally) a slight RPG-ish tint thanks to those spells you get access to and the hero units (or were the heroes only added in the expansion? that is a significant improvement in other ways as well though).

Higurashi When They Cry Ch 3 Tatarigoroshi, Oct 31 (GOG)-Another weird chapter in this mystery series that left more questions than answers. This one was just as good as the first two but I feel like the main character was at his dumbest and most impulsive for a large portion of it. The normal first halves are getting a little long too before everything starts getting weird.

Full List

Jazz Jackrabbit 2 - The Christmas Chronicles second addition to original Jazz 2. I prefer original Jazz which is still greatly playable, whereas second Jazz has terrible control system which at least in my case did not work fine. I had mood for something short, but this time it was not enjoyment, but pain. From all old platformers Bio menace suits me best!

Never Give Up - and I fully completed it

Yeah, I actually just did the first two missions of the BtDP Orc campaign and already the second one had a more interesting and challenging design than almost anything I've seen in the base campaign - and having access to most units early on also makes things a bit more interesting.

Well... I think that's a pretty complicated matter, actually. I think that C&C is a lot more accessible and whatever depth it has stems from pretty nuanced things. Meanwhile Warcraft II has more complex resource management, full fog of war, spells and that whole naval warfare thing. I think that the fundamentals are more complex in Warcraft II while C&C's complexity can mostly be found in "secondary" elements. It would probably explain why, as a kid, I struggled with Warcraft II while I did pretty fine in C&C whereas now Warcraft II feels like the easier and more shallow game of the two.

Yeah, hero units were introduced in Beyond the Dark Portal. I think there are four missions in the base game where unique characters appear but they have the same stats and even voice as generic units. The concept of heroes as exceptionally powerful units was introduced by the expansion - and I'm pretty sure that that's in fact the only mechanical addition in the entire expansion. Sadly they don't have any unique abilities, though, and my biggest problem with them is that at least in the orc campaign you can't heal them. So once they are heavily injured they are a nuisance at best.

To be honest I think that C&C's commando units and especially Red Alert's Tanya were more fleshed out than the heroes in Warcraft II as they allowed for entirely different gameplay than in missions without them.

1.Ghostrunner
2.Detroit
3.The last of us 2