I enjoyed my first time playing "Alan Wake." The visuals still look good, although the graphics are showing their age, particularly in the character models. Most of this game is set in the dark of night with a beautiful, haunting atmosphere, but I found all of the animations to be stiff and awkward. The gameplay consists primarily of shining a flashlight on otherworldly enemies so that they can be damaged by one of Alan's guns. It's a neat idea, but the game does very little with this concept. You'll have seen everything combat has to offer before you're halfway done. By the end of the game I was very bored of fighting all of the same enemies in exactly the same way. Also, this game can be frustrating. It's difficult, but it's difficult for all the wrong reasons. I thought the controls could have been more responsive, and there isn't a dedicated dodge button. Instead, you dodge by tapping the same button that you hold to sprint. And I was frequently hit by enemies I couldn't see. The game does nothing to alert you of attacks coming from offscreen, and it's often difficult to know how many enemies there even are. The story is interesting, and you won't know what's really happening until the end. "Alan Wake" takes a lot of inspiration from the works of Stephen King and David Lynch, with much of the inspiration coming from "Twin Peaks" specifically. The gameplay wasn't great, but I stuck it out the end for the story.
As seen in the screenshots, "Symphonia" is a 2D platformer with a beautiful orchestral and mechanical aesthetic. You play as an unnamed and masked maestro bouncing and flinging yourself across each lovely level. You'll dodge hazards such as spikes and falling balls while picking up this game's version of gold coins, although collecting them doesn't actually seem to do anything. And this is all well and good, but the game is over almost as soon as it begins. I think I saw the credits in under an hour. If you have about 30 to 45 free minutes and nothing else you're itching to play, then I do recommend "Symphonia." Just to be sure to play with a controller, otherwise the controls are horribly awkward.
For what this game is, I really quite enjoyed it. FAR: Lone Sails is a 2.5D sidescrolling game in which you maintain and upgrade your vehicle while on a brief journey from point A to point B. That's about it. There's no dialogue, no combat, no stealth, no platforming, and only very minimal puzzles. Sometimes I think it's nice and refreashing to take a little break from more intense and lengthy games to play something that asks so little of me.
As a lifelong Star Wars fan, it is my opinion that Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords tells the greatest Star Wars story ever written, as well as one of the best stories in any RPG. You will need to install the well-known Restore Content Mod in order to get the full and proper experience with this game, and it's necessary even if it's your first time playing. Do keep in mind that this game is quite old now, and if you're not used to playing games from the early naughts, then it can be a bit of an adjustment, but I really can't recommend this game highly enough.
I'm sure you've heard it many times before, but Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (KotOR) really is one of the best Star Wars video games ever made. That said, you may want to temper your expectations if you're looking to play this for the first time. This game is 20 years old now, and it certainly plays like an old title. KotOR will run on Windows 10, but it does require some finangling to play at the proper resolution and such. Thankfully, this isn't exactly difficutl to do, and there are many helpful walkthroughs on YouTube. I highly recommend the guide by JokerAlex21. I would recommend KotOR to Star Wars fans and RPG fans alike.
Rocksteady Studios were many things, but they were not content to rest on their laurels. The developers took every gameplay mechanic and feature of Arkham Asylum and found a way to elevate nearly all of them to the next level and beyond. Batman: Arkham City carries over the same combat system as its predecessor, only here it has been greatly expanded and refined, which basically means it's more fun than ever before. The stealth encounters are largely the same, though some additional challenges have been added here, such as enemies who can disrupt your arguably overpowered "Detective Vision." Instead of being trapped on an island and in a demented mental hospital, Batman is trapped inside a massive prison camp within a dilapidated section of Gotham City. The increased map size only adds to the Batman fantasy as you can now glide through the night and stalk the rooftops. If you enjoyed Arkham Asylum, then you are guaranteed to absolutely love this game!
Batman: Arkham Asylum sees Batman trapped with a number of his most famous and deadliest foes, racing against time to thwart the Joker and foil his latest evil scheme. This game features a beautifully spooky and melancholic atmosphere that's supported by gorgeous gothic architecture. The story is tight and well-paced, taking approximately eight hours to see the end credits. Batman frequently acquires new gadgets and upgrades that give you fresh options in combat and stealth encounters, as well as new ways to explore the asylum and its grounds. This game is positively bursting with Easter eggs and references to other Batman characters and stories, which I'm sure will please diehard fans and newbies alike. I sure found it all interesting! While Asylum is fairly simplistic compared to its sequels, it's still a great game all of these years later. I would highly recommend it to anyone.
After a few minutes I asked myself, "Is this really the whole game?" But then it got weird and interesting. A young man is accompanied by five drivers on a surreal quest to regain his memories and uncover the truth behind what happened to his girlfriend. Is it all a dream? Is the young man dying? Is any of it actually happening? Who knows. Hitchhiker is minimally interactive but enough to remain engaging throughout its fairly brief playtime. The gameplay consists mostly of selecting dialog responses, and there are a few simple puzzles peppered across the five chapters. I would recommend Hitchhiker for anyone looking for a casual, emotional, and thoughtful interactive experience.
I completed the main story and many of the side quests. I enjoyed my time with Cyberpunk 2077. Yes, it's buggy. Yes, it's clearly unfinished. Yes, it's even a little broken. Okay, at times it's very broken. But I still had to know what happens next. CD Projekt Red have the best writers in the entire video games industry. As any RPG should, this game has great, lifelike characters and a story that's more focused and gripping than their previous games. And it's not just the story. For an RPG, this game really does have great combat. It can't quite hold a candle to a dedicated FPS such as Call of Duty, but there are plenty of opportunites to make it fun and exciting, especially as you spend more skill points and find better gear. I found the greatest disappointment to be the game world itself. Night City is wonderfully crafted and beautifully rendered. But it's lifeless. It's all superficial. Games from a decade ago or more, such as Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, have an open world that feels more alive. And the artificial intelligence on display in Cyberpunk 2077 is either poor or seemingly nonexistent. When I wasn't engaging with one of the stories, I was constantly reminded I wasn't in a real place. Still, I believe this is a game worth playing. There's a lot of bad, yes, but there's also so much good to be found.
Firewatch is a first person adventure game. The core gameplay mechanics consist of walking around a lush and beautifully realized national forest park while clicking on objects and communicating with the primary NPC exclusively via walkie talkie. The player character, Henry, has only a map and a compas to navigate around the park, and that's all you, the player, have as well. I thought this helped put me right in Henry's shoes, though at times I did find it frustrating and confusing. I would have appreciated being given some slightly clearer means of knowing where I was supposed to go and how I was meant to get there. The game is rather short, but this eliminates the concern of anything overstaying its welcome. The story is paced tightly and it's interwoven into its environment flawlessly. We're given a serene, quiet opening that builds to a gripping thriller. Some have found the ending disappointing, but I'm not among them. This isn't a story about getting you want. We aren't meant to be satisfied. And while I would argue the $20 price tag is worth the product on offer, I would understand wanting to wait for a sale.
