I just finished the final chapter of this expansion. It's of course, basically the same gameplay as TQ:AE., but there are some things about it that stood out like a sore thumb. The art of the equipment doesn't match the original art and makes it kind of stand out oddly with the original equipment. Sometimes when exploring, trees and mountains will not become transparent and block your view. One part on the last chapter I walked behind a mountain that completely blocked my view and I wasn't able to walk my character out in the open which forced me to quit and reload from the previous save. The quests are rather confusing at times. Some items that you start on one chapter will be solved in different chapters way later. I have several quest items in my inventory that I wasn't able to figure out where they belong, but I didn't really take the time to find out because it was just annoying. Also for some side-quests, the "!" over a NPC's head wasn't yellow when I had the item to bring to them leaving me thinking if I needed to do more for the side-quests. Then for some side-quests, the "!" was yellow after I had already finished the quest. So, these problems didn't allow the side-quests to flow well like in TQ:AE and may leave you confused. Besides those minor cons, I still enjoyed the expansion like TQ:AE. So, if you can look past those minor problems like I did, and you are really into TQ:AE, then I recommend this expansion.
Sine Mora EX will grab you with its beautiful graphics and melancholy war story. The music, is not the best I've heard, but fits the game's darkness. These elements of the game's presentation are the strong points of the game which engrossed me to to continue on. What isn't striking is the gameplay design. There is nothing here that a Shmup fan has not seen, but I feel that it has refined the regular stuff to perfection. Bullet patterns are nothing new and there isn't anything here inovative or unique on how you avoid them (meaning there is nothing like Radiant Silvergun's unique bullet-hell avoid mechanic). The controls are excellent and you'll be able to pass through the bullet-hell with precision, and possess a "slow-down" effect if things get impossible which is the game's way to effectively avoid bullet-hell. The slow-down effect is a fun way to avoid projectiles, but it doesn't really stand out as an innovative or amazing feature, and it relates to the story. You'll collect power-ups to level-up your weapon and you have a special. The levels feel like short bursts of action and then slows down to implement the story, and then throws action at you again, while bumping you back and forth between characters. I really enjoyed the aethetics of the game which reminded me of Metal Slug's round dumpling-like designs. The bosses are massive and were my most enjoyable times with the game. Overall, it's worth playing and you may like it for the same reasons as I enjoyed it; the presentation, story and cool looking bosses being the attractive features, but to some hardcore Shmup players, the gameplay may be a feel too mundane for their liking and leave them feeling unsatisfied.
If you played the first one, this sequel is more of the same. What's different are the tools, added bosses and level design. The tools in the game make it easy to get around from the half to the later part of the game with the main character, Dot, using her hook-shot and jet-pack. Also the water doesn't deplete like the first on. There a few bosses added throughout the game which was lacking in the first one. It gives the player a break at digging and put their skills to use. The level design is different in that it branches out in different sections unlike the first one. But, each of the branching stages besides a few, don't have a very distinctive theme which makes the areas too similar. Because of this, I didn't get that feeling of "wow" like I would if I discovered a new part of the world in Metroid. To top it all off, the graphics, controls and music are great. I love the clean graphics that Image & Form creates with their ease of controlling the character good atmospheric music. The "digging mechanics" was as addicting as the first one. Collecting ore to trade in for cash and then buy new upgrades never got boring. It was twice as long as the last game (took me about 15+ hours), but the ending makes me wonder if there will be a DLC coming. Perhaps a DLC for 2-player mode with new areas? It would be awesome. Overall, it was a superb game at many points, but still made me want more...
It's my first time to have played this, so my review is a newbie impression. First, I like the graphics, music and SFX. Nice upgraded graphics that have a realistic/cartoonish look. Good SFX and great music! I think the music is what impressed me the most when compared to the arcade original. All of the classes play like they should (no throwing unlimited axes for you warrior, close combat only). Gold, potion and food are still here(and you can shoot the food, too). The inclusion of the Grim Reaper in the middle of battle makes things tense and there are a good variety of enemies for this type of game. There are some new moves for each character, but no mindless button smashing either, you'll need to plan your attacks. Even though this is an arcade-type game, it would have been great to have seen some armor and weapons as part of the loot. My only complaint are the attack controls. When you commit to an attack animation, it's hard to redirect your attack. Therefore, sometimes you will slash in open space instead of the enemies, so you have to time your attacks well. Overall, it's a really fun out-of-the-box hack-'n-slash game that you and your friends can just pick-up and play.
The Technos beat'em up genre has been a hard one to do(see Double Dragon 4...barf!). But, River CIty Ransom: Underground got it right! It recreates the popular beat'em up with good graphics, sound, controls and great animation. It really feels like it's a River City Ransom game. Even the cheezy dialog is back. What's better is that you can choose from a selection of characters with different fighting styles who you recruit along the way. No button mashing here, you'll have to time your combos right if you want to progress. The stat building is also back(Merv Burger, yeah!) and you can purchase different moves from a master. You'll have a map that shows your objectives, but you will have to search that area to find the exact spot. I have only encountered one bug; one time my gamepad was unresponsive and I had to do a restart. I wish my gamepad buttons would show on the control list as XYAB instead of PKJS for (p)unch, (k)ick, (j)ump and (s)pecial. The control list is vague on combos and only listed the name of the new chain to a combo instead of a full list on how to use that chain; I suppose the developers want the player to figure the combos out. One wish I would like is to see this game in 16bit graphics. I know this was born in the 8bit era, but it's time for some great 16bit graphics to make it look like a real upgrade to the series. So, with some small complaints it is still a solid beat'em up that any fan of the genre will enjoy. It is definately worth buying.
... it would be Grim Dawn(GD). To me it's an ARPG dream. Just read the GOG description and it is pretty much spot on. What I will write about is that GD is so deep that you could play it for ever, no really, you could. Unlike Diablo 3 that went the arcade/console direction, GD takes what was great about Diablo 2 and focuses on the loot, stats and customization. It's the real Diablo 3. There are the usual ways to upgrade our weapons and character with some added new ones. The new ways to upgrade are the Devotion skills and magic powders. Devotion is an extra layer of abilities and stats to build your character. The magic powders that you buy from factions can be applied to your character's equipment. I love the the gritty graphics and sound FX which are amzing. Controls are great and there's a lot of cutomization for your PC in the options menu. There are a few minor complaints that I have: limited music and chracter class. I love the music in GD and think it fits the game, but I could not help to notice that I heard the same tunes played redundantly. I really hope the developers add new music when the new expansion comes out link them to specific areas of the game. Then there is the limited character class that only lets you choose to be human. There are no other races that you can choose in GD and it has been that way with Titan Quest, too. Those are minor complaints and it sure doesn't effect my score to give this game 5-stars. If you like deep customization, then this is your game, a real PC ARPG dream come true. Now on to the that expansion.
I bought this awhile ago and recently installed it and wanted to play it because the 3rd game will be released soon. I have an Intel Chipset with a 530 HD video card and an i7 CPU. It should handle this dated game, but it may not support integrated chipsets. The framerate runs below 30 FPS. Really choppy animation makes the game unplayable for me. I'm sure the game itself is great and worth playing, but for this PC version on my computer, it isn't worth it for me. I'll have to buy this for the console in order to play it.
I hate to compare, but I really love the Broken Sword games, especially the first one. There is just a certain mystery and suspense in them that keeps me playing. But, when I play "A New Beginning: Final Cut"(ANB:FC), I've only played the 1st chapter which didn't make me feel enthusiastic to finish the game because of a some bad points. First of all, the story is just melodramatic, especially in the first act; a puff of smoke can kill a bird immediately? Come on! That really doesn't make the story realistic. That paired with the bad voice acting or sampling(they sound like robots) and voice editing(a lot of clipping off at the end of sentences) it really destroys the immersion. Second, the searching and puzzles are annoyingly designed. When you explore an area, you may not be able to find an item until you talk to someone. The item won't appear until you trigger a necessary dialogue. This really made things confusing for me and lead me chasing around as to what to do next. Lastly, the characters are just uninteresting and unrelatable. Their personalities are boring and you're choices of dialogue don't really matter. The game's only positives are the graphics and the comic book-like design(if you like that). Music is OK, but you won't be humming it through your head. Overall, ANB:FC is just an average game. If you're into this kind of story and don't mind the play mechanics, and boring characters, then try it, you may like it. Otherwise, if you're expecting something to leave a positive impression on you then play something else. If this was the only game I had to play, I'd continue playing it, but with a large backlog, I can just skip this one and find something that will hold my attention. 2.5 stars.
Valdis Story: Abyssal City is a metroidvania style game; you get new power-ups/ablities which help you progress further in the game. While the game appears to have the icing on the cake, it is missing some key ingredients. I was taken by the game's graphics, art, music and gameplay. Good designs of enemies, some pretty cool bosses and a decent character level-up tree. But, it ends there. The main problem with the game is there is no over-world map and story log. It's really difficult to navigate around the large areas and it's easy to get lost. I hope you like to write things down while playing a game because after someone tells you what you should do next, they don't tell you again. So, if you save and comeback later, the NPC won't tell you where to go next. You'll be lost at what you should do or where you should go. That may not be a big problem with some people, but it will annoy most. The next annoyance is the "cancel" or "dash" ability. You'll have to press down and then right or left, or diagonal right or left. This creates a problem when you are jumping around in high areas and fighting a boss. You will accidently dash when you don't want to which could cause an unnecessary death. Next, the timed puzzles. I got bored continuously doing these that I stopped playing. You need to hit some switches to open doors and get past them before they close and you'll need to do that annoying "cancel/dash" move which may cause you to f*** up! Lastly, the boring story. I was so bored of the story and didn't care about the characters. Sometimes I didn't bother reading the dialog of the chracters because the characters where just undeveloped and uninteresting. The story progresses in such an unnatural way. Valdis Story:AB is not the worst game in the world. It's playable and some may enjoy it, but for the rest of us, we would rather spend our precious time playing something more impressive.
Limbo creates an ambient noir visual style and combines it with simple physic puzzles. The simplistic, monochrome noir graphics will set the tone of the game. It's dim, moody visuals creates a lot of mystery in the game to edge the player on with suspense. The BGM relates to the game's atmostphere with ambient tones that gave me a feeling of floating or lostness. What Limbo achieves in art and style is well done. The gameplay and puzzles are integrated well in the game. Limbo's atmostphere deals with the mind/soul, so puzzles dealing with universal laws seems appropriate. Physic puzzles using momentum, gravity and timing will challenge players on how to approach each obstacle. Plan to die a lot. It is a game of trial and error, cause and effect, and logic of mind. What it may not do so well with some players is the story, but Limbo's meaning is purposely indiscrete. You, the player, need to interpret the meaning based on your culture, knowledge and life experience. As everyone is different, so will their interpretation of Limbo. Take this approach to the game without expecting a solid answer at the end and you will fully enjoy what this game is all about. The length short, but meaningful and appropriate.
