Pandemonium is a good 2.5D platformer held back by it's unresponsive controls and weird camera angles that don't let you see what's going on in front of you before getting hit by an enemy, forcing you to walk forward slowly, which isn't fun. Other than those issues, the game works fine. No Crashes and no graphical glitches that I noticed. However, the music never loops after it ends. I have to alt tab or "esc" to get it working again every single time. Graphics are fine for the time, it has it's wacky and colourful charm. Plenty of collectibles in each stage and different paths to take. Sound is good, but music isn't particularly memorable. A non-existent save system on a PC game is really weird, considering older games have save systems. I know it's a direct PSX port/conversion, but they could have at least added a save for each stage. Hell, even Sonic 3 had save files and it's a 1994 game, for crying out loud.
System Shock 2 is a first person "RPG lite", as I like to call it, much like the first game. However, you actually get stats to upgrade this time around and quite a few diferent abilities to invest on, which will dictacte how you will aproach your obsctacles in each level. The fist game, imo, was held back by it's unintuitive UI and lack of item and upgrade descriptions. Not the case here, as it actually tells even a lot more than it needs to. Which was great. Inventory management is an even bigger importance now than in the first game, as you have more limited space to carry items, weapons and all of that. You can, of course, upgrade your inventory space if want. Better weapon diversity in this one with different kinds of ammo for varying weaknesses. Story is even more engaging than before, with tense atmosphere, well done voice acting and intimidating antagonists. Pacing was good. Visuals were good at the time, on par with other fps. It has some really cool moments visually. Level design is pretty good. While each level is not as large as some were in the first game, it has some items to find and chests to unlock, logs and all of that. It strikes the perfect balance between things to find, do and level size.
System Shock is a sort of a dungeon crawler FPS set in a cyberpunk fantasy, where you get all sorts of energy weapons, conventional ones aswell, cybernetic enhancements and consumables which glitch your PoV if used too much. it has a good story with well voiced characters, an intimidating and crazy AI antagonist and well thought out level design. Visually, it looks good for it's time. It's got all of that "cyberpunk style" with walls filled with electronic panels and wired, but also has some more fancy places with carpets and chandeliers. Each floor is different in both level design and visual aspect. Pretty much every level has doors which are locked behind "security measures" which you need to get rid of by destroying cameras and power/CPU core. However, the unintuitive UI, lack of item and cybernetic descriptions makes it very confusing and weird. The lack of direction in some parts of the game are also a bit problematic, as I got a "Where the hell do I go?" situation a couple of times because of lack of details in mission update logs and emails. But most of time, it's all laid out for you.
Obduction, is a very pretty looking first person puzzle game, with interesting different places to explore and figure out the lore based on notebooks and dialogue. It also has very clever puzzles with just enough hints to not feel like you are being handholded, but not so much that you can simply figure out in a matter of seconds. As I said, the lore/story is not told directly but rather through logs and all of that, and if you piece it together, you get an interesting story and you also get different endings. However, some sections tend to become more of a chore than fun puzzle solving.
Metro Last Light, is a follow up to Metro 2033, an atmospheric survival horror all about managing your ammo and gas mask filters as you go progress through the game. A lot of varied challenges and tough enemies and also some clever stealth sections, even if a lot of times the enimies look like they are blind and can't see you in plain sight... I really like the no HUD thing from Ranger mode. It really adds to that realism in a more clever way by adding an air counter on your watch in which you can zoom in at any given time and you can check your ammo reserves by equiping the journal and looking at it. The gun play feels good, the atmosphere is great and unsettling, and enviromnents are breath taking. The Story is obvisously it's strong point, but I won't talk about it here to avoid giving any spoilers. Altough I will say that the ending section, was kind of week in my opinion. Just a nitpick of mine. It's an awesome game and I recommend it to anyone that enjoys dark amostpheric survival horror games. However, if you can, get the vanilla version of Metro Last light. The Redux version is full of glitches and crashes that persist throughout the game, to the point where in specific sections, it constantly crashes leaving no choice but to restart the chapter. My Verdict is an 8/10 for the game and a 4/10 for the Redux version.
