Sleeping Dogs: Definitive Edition (2014) (Linux/Wine)

Considering how little time I have and how carefully I choose how I spend it recently, the 26 hours spent in this world speak for themselves. I've tried the game, just because it looked interesting and GOG offered great release discount. I wasn't sure what to expect. And it was incredible surprise. There's so much to like in this game:
a) decent story with some plot twists and tension,
b) great characters you love or hate,
c) variety of missions and side quests,
d) variety of gameplay (street races, some parkour, stealth, fights),
e) music!
f) unique atmosphere of dark side of Hong Kong.

What I didn't liked:
a) those shining collectibles, which kill immersion IMO,
b) some minor bugs and even a side quest which cannot be completed,
c) police jobs are a bit repetitive and, again, they kill immersion as they're against main story (a whole idea of being undercover cop).

The game runs very well under Linux/Wine/DXVK and looks stunning for a retro gamer like me ;)

List of all games completed in 2021.

Damn, lots of people here beating Sleeping Dogs lately. Anyway...

Just beat Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Campaign Remastered on PS5 (no enhancements). The game is actually even dumber than it was in my memory. Think of any Call of Duty tropes (well, ones relating to the single player modes) you can and it's there. A nonsensical blah blah blah plot, the protagonists passing out every couple of minutes, shameless military porn and nuclear explosions right in the player's face - MW2 has the whole package.

It's perhaps the most cliched Call of Duty one could think of. It tries to be a political thriller but feels like it was written by a four-year-old. There's the infamous "No Russian" mission which has garnered lots of criticism but also some praise - what's even more offensive than the very concept of the mission is its absurd role in the game's plot, though. For that one guy who still hasn't played the game I'm gonna avoid spoilers but briefly put: the world doesn't work this way. At all. It should actually be impossible for a game to have a plot this stupid since thinking up this kind of shit requires a person to have less intelligence than is required to operate a keyboard. Holy shit. I get brain damage just thinking about it. Argh.

That said: the game is fun. Sure, it has aged a bit, but its production value is actually impressive to this day. It's crazy how carefully orchestrated everything is and that it actually works. Replaying it actually made me notice how, to this day, there have been very few games with so much scripted stuff going on with so much detail - when games even try stuff like this it usually falls apart. And even though I despise the story with every fibre in my body (and consider it all in all brutally juvenile military porn), the game has some utterly amazing set pieces. For some reason fighting through the ruins of Washington D.C. still manages to send chills down my spine. Of course the missions still don't make any logical sense and the level designers seemingly have less of an idea of how combat works than even the average person who has played the game's multiplayer mode. The gameplay really is more reminiscent of an intense shooting gallery than actual combat and the player constantly has to follow dumb as heck orders that the NPCs only survive thanks to being invulnerable and the player somehow manages to have zero agency while being the driving force of all the action... but still: it's fun!

Oh yeah: the game actually starts with a monologue about the US not being able to give the Afghans freedom but the means to acquire it. Yikes.

Wallace & Gromit's Grand Adventures - Episode 1: Fright of the Bumblebees (GOG)
Was finally able to play this in 4K thanks to the wonder that is WINE. It's definitely classic Telltale which is both good and bad. It has its charm and was a quick 1.5ish hour playthrough; though it got a bit long near the end. Which is why I'm giving a break between the 1st and 2nd episodes to play another game before going back.

Doom (2016)
Replayed to experience it in 4K because the first time I played it was on a Nintendo Switch. In my opinion, the best Doom game ever (have not yet played Eternal)

Dishonored (GOG)
Replayed to experience it in 4K and to beat the DLC. Great game, can't wait to play the remaining games.

myth (2021)
okayish game

Hook (SNES). Seems like every system got a tie-in game based on the Spielberg movie. I'm not a fan of the movie, but this game isn't bad at all. It's a side-scrolling action platform game with the distinction that you have a very floaty jump and can fly for short periods after getting charged up by Tinkerbell. It's got very nice graphics and audio. It took me a few minutes to get used to the controls because you have a sluggish walking speed and attacks will pull you forward a bit, but once I got used to it the game was mostly easy and I won a couple of hours after first starting. There is a fairly steep difficulty spike right before the end of the game, as if the developers realized that if they didn't put something hard in there then players would run through it on the first night of their rental period and no one would feel compelled to actually buy it, but nothing too overwhelming.

I just finished Ultima 1.

It's surprisingly playable as long as you get a list of the controls. Dungeons work exactly like Akalabeth, but the crux of the game is exploring the world, to visit the Kings and specific locations. There's supposed to be a plot but the sequence of events that leads to winning makes no sense. There's some wacky stuff going on in this game.

At some point you can go into space with a shuttle and it becomes a very different experience. What's most amusing, the space stuff is not a big finale but rather something you can do even pretty early in the playthrough.

I definitely recommend this game to pretty much anyone. It's super short and really silly but it still felt exciting to figure out what to do and where to go.

SPOILERS FOR VOYAGER: ELITE FORCE

Just finished Voyager: Elite force, after two long sessions (on "normal" difficulty). Taken together it can't have taken me more than ten hours, so a pretty short game.
It was a nice experience of mindless fun, but tbh I feel the game is massively overrated, people who sing its praises are blinded by nostalgia or excessive Star Trek fandom. tbf there were some things I liked. Environments are visually pretty nice and distinctive, there are some light puzzles, and there is a pretty long section which you can solve by stealth without killing anybody (but you can also decide to just slaughter everybody), which was pretty cool. But on the whole gameplay is really nothing special imo. Levels are completely linear, no comparison to something like the intricate sprawling levels seen in Dark forces or the first Jedi Knight. The shooting is fun, but it's pretty basic stuff.
Story is the usual Voyager garbage, ships of various Star Trek species trapped in some kind of force field, and an enemy "even worse than the Borg" (hohoho), plotting galactic conquest...totally unimaginative. When I faced the final boss, some sort of overgrown bug, it was unintentionally hilarious when he (?) gave his villain's speech..."Puny human, you cannot stop us, we will conquer the galaxy"...lol. On top of that, the final fight was also pretty lame. They didn't even include some special animation when you damage the boss, so I was unsure at first if I did it right or if there was some special trick to killing him (there wasn't, you just have to keep firing until he drops).
I don't regret buying the game, since it was fun (don't see much replayability though), but imo this is really a case where Trekkie fanaticism makes people give too much praise to a game which is decent, but pretty average in its gameplay.
My rating: 3/5.

After beating Modern Warfare 2 recently I actually felt like continuing with Modern Warfare 3 but turns out that I don't have that one, it still costs 40 bucks on Steam and reportedly they aren't working on a remaster for that one. Sigh. So I figured that I'm gonna beat another similar war shooter from that era instead: Battlefield 3.

I actually approached BF3 two times already many years ago, once on PS3 and once PC, but for whatever reason I never got far. This time I beat the whole thing. The one thing that BF3's campaign has going for it compared to Call of Duty is its relative authenticity. After a very random Michael Bay style intro on the New York subway you get a few missions in Iraq and later in Iran which at least feel a lot more authentic than anything in the CoD franchise. For a second you may get fooled into thinking that it's going to be a somewhat accurate depiction of actual modern warfare. Instead of inserting occasional calm moments between ridiculous over-the-top action, BF3 seemingly does the opposite: you follow your squad around as your mates advance through civilian areas and it feels like they all secretly hope that there's going to be any enemy contact. It's calm, there's suspense and when the enemy Iranian insurgents finally strike, it feels believable. It was a very welcome change over the super juvenile Modern Warfare.

However, BF3 ends up feeling very chaotic and misguided. On one hand it looks and especially feels pretty realistic, on the other you soon get parkour nonsense and nukes exploding in your face, just like in Modern Warfare. It's like everything that could make BF3 stand out is thrown out the window because they just wanted to be Call of Duty after all - and failed. BF3 didn't go all in on either philosophy and it ends up being neither particularly sophisticated nor fun. It just lacks the set pieces and quality of CoD. And the plot, while not nearly as moronic as CoD's, is still silly but with the disadvantage of being bland as hell and badly delivered. BF3, which was designed for these big multiplayer battles with vehicles, just isn't a good platform for a CoD style campaign and it also shows in the game's technical execution which sometimes gave me flashbacks from the ARMA series. Only in ARMA the game misbehaving and e.g. scripts not triggering is kinda forgivable due how ridiculously open ended everything is. Here it just makes the game feel painfully cheap, like some euro jank shooter (and I've played my fair share of those!). To top if off the game is riddled with cringy first-person QTE sequences where it feels like the mocap actors were trying really hard not to hurt each other - and thanks to some terribly placed checkpoints you may see some of those several times in a row. Yikes.

And well, ultimately the game's big problem is that the gameplay just isn't good. The levels are bland and boring, they aren't well-scripted and the enemy behaviour is pretty bad. I'm not saying that CoD's AI is great but its encounters are far more challenging and fun.

Now, it's not all bad. Sometimes the game still looks great, it sounds fantastic to this day and I really love the gunplay. The shooting just feels super satisfying to me here, more than in CoD. But I guess those things are something that you can enjoy more in the game's far better multiplayer mode. Briefly put, if you're really desperate for a war shooter and don't need it to be high quality, BF3's campaign is okay but nothing more.

The World Ends With You (N2DSXL)

The original DS version played on the "New 2DSXL" (you have to love Nintendo and their naming conventions)- so basically the last of the DS line. TWEWY is something of a cult classic for the DS system and a game I had to play after reading about it in the JRPG book. It's a unique game. It makes use of the DS screens in a way that I haven't seen before with its unique combat system. Basically it's a single player co-op game where you control one character on each screen during combat. You fight with the stylus on the bottom screen and with the D-Pad on the upper screen. Don't worry though, if you have trouble multitasking like me, then you can set various levels of automation to your partner.

Most surprising of all is that these unique elements tie directly to the story and what it's trying to do- you play as a loner learning to trust and work with others, forming bonds and eventually friendship. I really enjoyed the game once I got over the initial learning curve, which can be considered a bit steep due to having never played anything similar. Even things as simple as the games difficulty levels are built into the progression and story.
The game does have some pacing issues at times- what feels like padding to get the game out to a "proper" JRPG length. But overall a unique experience.

There are three ways to play this game. The best way is the way I played it- on an actual DS/3DS system, this retains the developers original intent with dual screens and stylus combat. The bad way is the Switch port- it changes the game to a single screen version and the controls are reportedly terrible- docked mode uses motion controls and handheld uses touch screen controls, with neither working well apparently. In the middle would be the emulate on PC option. Whilst mouse control would map to many of the stylus moves okay, I imagine not all of the moves would translate easily. The Switch port should not be confused with the much better recent sequel called NEO: The World Ends With You (yeah that's not confusing naming).

SPOILERS FOR STAR TREK: ELITE FORCE 2



Just finished Elite Force 2. Judged purely by its gameplay it's better than its predecessor imo, it's longer and meatier. Gameplay has become more varied through the addition of some minigames, use of the tricorder for puzzles and the inclusion of secret areas (which were lacking in Elite force 1). It's also pretty challenging. I played on "normal", and while it was all doable, my character died quite a bit.
I mostly liked the levels, but there was also some bs design that reminded me of some of the frustrating jumping sequences Raven software included in Jedi Outcast, that is sections where you have to do exactly timed jumps or evade laser-like scanners (or a kind of searchlight), and if you make a single mistake it's instant death. One part was really egregious: First you get some stupid "puzzle" where you have to shut down traps emitting poison gas - you're bound to take quite a bit of damage here, no other solution (and if you enter that situation low on health, it must be impossible to survive, no matter your skill). Immediately after that you have to cross an energy bridge where segments are periodically switched on and off (so it's instant death if you're on such a segment when it goes off), which must be one of the most sadistic jump and run sequences I've ever encountered in games. And if you do manage to make it to the other side, you immediately come under fire from two turrets. I really felt that whoever designed this part wanted to troll players, because it was just sadistically unfair. Mostly level design is pretty decent though.
Story is okayish, not worse than Elite force 1, but still pretty forgettable. I found it a bit funny though how the storyline is such a stereotypical action fantasy, almost like it was made for teenage boys. Your character Alex Munro is a total alpha chad who always stays cool and comes up with witty (or not so witty) one-liners. They even included two romance options (and you have to choose one, no "I'm asexual"), so in the end you not just defeat the evil bug aliens, you also get a sweet girl. Not that I object, but it felt a bit formulaic.
Anyway, as a shooter it's pretty fun, recommended if you want some not overly deep action.
My rating: 4/5.

The Artful Escape (XSX Game Pass)

Another quirky Annapurna published game that just released. You play as Francis Vendetti trying to follow in the footsteps and live up to his uncle, a well known folk guitarist. The game then gets way out there, as you tour the universe and find you own path. Of course music is a big part of the game then. Plus, it has the voice acting of Lena Headey (Cersei Lannister), which is surprising for such a small indie game. A very fun game of around 4-5 hours, very high production values- a real spectacular light and sound show.

The game was so odd and different that it prompted me to do some research on the developers, Beethoven & Dinosaur (yes that's their name). It's an odd little Australian 12 person team from just a few km's away from where I live. The team leader was born in my town and was a frontman for an Australian electronic glamrock band "The Galvatrons". The guy hated touring and changed to game design instead, but obviously still incorporated music into his teams first game. I hope they keep making unique little games like this.

FF VII Remake (PS4)

As the original is both my favourite and the most influential game I've played, I've bought PS4 Pro primary to play through the remake.
The game itself is... Mostly very good.

On the non-game side, fuck you Sony + SE for treating PS Plus and PS4 owners as second rate citizens. You gave away the game, and now you want us to buy it again at full price, plus your unobtainable, short in stock worldwide console so we can get the chance to buy DLC that has an extra episode? Because stretching out an originally full length game into 3 separate full-price games is not enough money? Wow. Seriously. Just wow.

WARNING! Minor spoilers bellow

My complaints would be that the materia system is nowhere as important, influential or powerful as it is in original game. It's too expensive and too happy to miss, so what I ended up with wass attaching all materia to cure and just using that. The rest of it laid dormant in inventory.
Some areas are really artificially drawn out so there's that. I mean, I'm happy to be running around the hood helping, but is it absolutely necessary to go the same way like 10x?
Ending also gets A+ for didn't expect THAT and diverging from original story. I though that I knew where the ending would be and that people managed to spoil it for me, but i was pleasantly shocked I was wrong.

Just beat A Plague Tale: Innocence on PS5. Apparently I got this one from PS Plus, though I can't even remember when. Anyway, it's great!

Frankly I didn't know much about this game and had assumed that it would be a bit of an RPG or adventure game (I just noticed that even the top user review on GOG warns people not to expect a point & click adventure game, lol). What it actually is is a medieval The Last of Us. I'm not even kidding. You assume the role of Amicia, a noble girl, who has to protect her sick little brother Hugo, who is for some reason wanted by the Inquisition just as hordes of rats start appearing all over the place and devouring people or at least making them sick. The developers even cloned TLoU's crafting and upgrade system almost to the letter. In my opinion there's not a shadow of a doubt that TLoU was Asobo Studio's main inspiration.

Now, I really dislike the TLoU games. I think their world is bland, the pacing shit, the story predictable and the gameplay largely an awkward amalgamation of various other games that did each individual part better. I have neither of these problems with Plague Tale. An authentic medieval France with supernatural elements is a really fresh setting and the story is also unlike anything out there. Unlike every zombie game ever (which includes TLoU), Plague Tale revolves around an actual mystery: Why did the rats appear? What is the nature of innocent little Hugo's sickness and why is the Inquisition after him? How are these things connected? Getting the answers to these questions was hell of a motivation to keep going, as was the character development. The setting and story also gave the developers room to deliver some unique imagery.

I also really enjoyed the gameplay. As I mentioned, the game has an emphasis on stealth - heck, just getting into contact with a human enemy or stepping into the rat swarms spells death. The only thing that can stop the rats is light and the only thing that can down human enemies (other than getting devoured by rats) is a headshot from Amicia's slingshot. The problem: light sources are usually very limited and most human enemies do not actually have exposed heads - at least initially. So Plague Tale is a particularly puzzly stealth game. It's about creating safe paths using light sources or distractions and exposing enemies and as you keep going you receive more tools but also encounter new kinds of hurdles. It is not the best stealth game ever nor is it particularly challenging but to me it was almost consistently satisfying with its constant shifts between total vulnerability and empowerment. There was the occasional annoying moment, especially when you have to fight openly for a moment (at least on controller aiming the slingshot is not at all suitable for such situations), but luckily those moments are very rare.

Plague Tale is also one of those games where you instantly notice that it's not quite a AAA game - the environments sometimes lack detail, the sound mix is off, some animations are wonky and also the rat swarms look a bit too unnatural for my taste. But what I mostly remember are moments where the game looked stunning, the top-notch voice acting that really made me connect with the characters (and that's really not a given in a game where the protagonists are children speaking with French accents) as well as an amazing soundtrack that uses a cello as its main instrument. And I feel that, ironically, the smaller budget did the game a service. Unlike TLoU it does not suffer from terrible pacing nor feel like it drags on forever. The levels are fairly small and to the point and it rarely takes more than a few minutes before something genuinely meaningful happens.

As for the PS5 version specifically: it's decent. Loading times are virtually inexistent and the game runs perfectly smoothly and looks great, with many impressive light and atmospheric effects. Only the game's use of the Dual Sense controller is rather disappointing. The vibrations are rather meh and also the trigger resistance wasn't used sensibly here as far as I'm concerned. That said, those are very small complaints and I do not at all regret having played this particular version.

Anyway, in summary: it's in my opinion a fantastic game. The ending was a mild letdown but all in all the game was a very engaging ride.

Resident Evil 6, Sept 13 (PS3)-It didn't feel very RE but its still a ridiculous mess of a game. I liked Chris' campaign the least. It was mostly action and I somehow never had any ammo. I liked Jake's campaign the best. It felt like Jake's campaign didn't quite know what it wanted to be mixing a lot of different genres and styles but the overall feeling was still fun. I think there is probably a really good game if you take parts of Leon's, Jake's, and Ada's campaigns and mashed them together. Still it was fun for what it was even if it didn't remind me of RE that much.

Full List