A very cool mod which adds various improvements (a lot of them from Diablo 2), more items, more spells, more classes, and, best of all, restores pretty much every quest that was cut out of the original, complete with the voice acting that was recorded for them but never used. I'd always heard that Diablo had a lot of cut content, but I never realized that practically half of the game was missing. The added quests do kind of ruin the pacing of the original story a bit, but I've played the original and am fine with a longer, more difficult and intense quest. As a fan of vanilla Diablo it's really cool even from a historical gaming perspective to see all this stuff in a reasonable facsimile of how it would have originally been presented. One nice thing was the drop rate being altered so you'll see unique items fairly regularly (maybe one every couple play sessions) instead of MAYBE seeing one per entire playthrough of the game. The unique items aren't always very powerful and never were game-breakers, so it's nice to be able to get more of them and build a collection with the new, huge stash system- no more throwing stuff on the ground! You can also share stuff between your single player characters so if you find a unique that's clearly for a different class, you actually have a chance to use it. The new spells were fun, though some of them are still fairly useless, and the addition of rare items like in Diablo 2, as well as a crafting system, are welcome changes. My only complaint so far is that the final battle against Diablo is ludicrous- and I didn't run out of time on the Map of the Stars quest that's been added, which would apparently make him even more powerful. I chose the new necromancer class, and the instant Diablo appears all my summoned skeletons vanish- he doesn't even kill them, they just disappear and he runs right up in my face. Left with no defenses or way to distract him, all I can do is spam lightning bolts at him and drink potions as fast as possible, and it's impossible to keep up- I don't even run out of potions, he slaughters me faster than I can drink them, and this is a class whose main stat is vitality and who spent a lot of time finding or crafting decent gear. I was able to get through everything else in the game, but Diablo is pretty much impossible and unfair. I already went through all the levels a couple more times to build experience, power up my spells and improve my gear- I shouldn't be forced to replay everything before the final boss 18 times in a row just to stand a chance of beating him. Aside from that, the mod is fun and it's amazing seeing all those missing quests restored to their full glory. It makes for a very different, much more grueling and involved experience, but the other new things that have been added keep it from getting dull or repetitive too quickly. It would have been nice to also include everything from Hellfire to truly make this the definitively complete Diablo experience, but as it stands it's an amazing mod and the creators of it are to be commended for all their hard work.
It was pleasantly refreshing to see a return to 2D point-and-click and the new art style worked fine. The puzzles had a nice range, from pretty easy to tricky enough that you might get stuck on a couple for a while- though I never had to consult the built-in hint book, just slept on it and came back with a rested mind, after which the solutions presented themselves. The trivia cards are a nice little side activity to stretch out the game a bit, and there's plenty of nostalgia, nods to continuity, and revisiting old familiar locations and characters without that being the entirety of the game. There's some good funny bits on par with the classic games of the series. It's a fun ride, and feels pretty much like what you'd expect from a Monkey Island title. I'm knocking off a star for two reasons. One, the achievements are completely buggy and during my whole playthrough I only got five or six of them, seemingly at random- this is a problem I haven't had with any other GOG games that feature achievements, and there doesn't seem to be any solution or attention paid to this issue. I probably would have gotten the Steam version if I'd known this would be a thing, as I'm a completionist and it's really annoying. I'd rather have no achievements in the GOG version than broken ones. Second, the ending. I won't post any spoilers, but it's certainly controversial, sending some people into a frothing rage and getting a shrug from others. I didn't absolutely hate it but it definitely wasn't satisfying. I could sort of see what they were going for, and the entire game has some deeper messages it seems to want to convey, hinting at the experience of growing old, the questionable morals of being a quest-obsessed adventure game protagonist, and whether the Secret is really worth the effort and risk, but in the end it's all a bit muddled and seems like it could have been handled better. It doesn't feel like a proper conclusion to the series, but it's still an enjoyable game over all.
Tales is better than I remembered, a decent entry in the series after the lackluster fourth installment. It's not perfect- the character models and expressions are recycled a lot, the click-and-drag method of walking is annoying compared to point and click, some of the attempts at deeper intrigue and drama don't land quite right, and it has game-crashing bugs in the last two chapters. Thanks to previous reviewer Warmdrink for giving a solution to those, which I'll requote here so people can find it easier: Once you hit these crashes, go to the game installation directory and delete all *.dlg and *.chore files. Worked for me! For all its flaws, it's fun and funny, perhaps not to the heights of the original few games, but well worth playing, with high quality voice acting and decent puzzles.
A lot of people seem to feel this game doesn't hold up to the first two, but I just don't see it- it's all great. The puzzles, the animations, the voice acting, the humor, the mood. Hearing the characters voiced for the first time was amazing when it first came out, but just having played the Special Editions of the first two games which added voice acting, I can say it's not mere nostalgia that makes me love MI3. I think it may be the funniest of the first three games, it has tons of memorable moments, the puzzles are tricky but not unfair, the characters are absolutely glowing with personality, and the ship combat mechanic is a fun new addition to the typical adventure game formula, while also revisiting the insult swordfighting from the first game (which is a fun enough idea that I don't mind doing it again). I suppose one could make the argument that it doesn't include enough of Elaine and LeChuck, the former being turned to gold for most of the game and the latter just shouting in a few cutscenes, and extending the end areas of the game would have helped with that- and maybe by the third part of the series it's becoming a little too in-jokey and self-referential- but I actually enjoyed the attention to continuity and liked the new characters enough that I didn't feel it was lacking in any way. The graphics are a little blocky and pixelated-looking now, and could benefit from a remaster similar to Full Throttle's, but still hold up for the most part. Highly recommended, and in my opinion a high point of the series, which would plummet into being outright bad in the next game (which I won't even be reviewing because I refuse to re-buy it), and rise back to mediocrity in the Telltale series, but never again reach the heights of the original trilogy... well, maybe. I haven't played Return to Monkey Island yet and I have high hopes. In the meantime Curse is absolutely worth getting- even if you don't end up liking it as much as the first two, it's a good time.
A great retooling that improves on the previous one- one of the complaints about the first Monkey Island Special Edition was the, frankly, rather ugly art style, and this one, while still a bit divisive, is a lot less offputting. Even better, if you use the option to switch to the old-school graphics, you now also have the option of keeping the voice acting on, allowing you to enjoy the best of both worlds- something the previous game couldn't do. As for the game itself, it's a classic just like the original. I personally didn't like the weird emphasis on gross-out humor with the spit and obese governor and such, but it was balanced out by a darker, spookier tone and more varied environments. Unlike the first one, some of the puzzles are finicky and go beyond the typical Lucasarts formula, requiring precise timing or positioning, and your inventory is absolutely massive, with many items being entirely useless. This could be frustrating and a little unfair for people playing it the first time- but the game has a built-in hint system, so it's not too much of a knock against it. The jokes are as funny as ever, and of course, the ending is famous with good reason, so I still recommend this one highly- a great game to begin with, and just about the best remastering that one could ask for. My one complaint is that the updated graphics and music, though mostly accurate to the original, inevitably give everything a slightly softer, lighter vibe that ruins the eerie parts of the game a bit- if you've never played Monkey Island 2 before, I'd highly recommend running it in retro mode first (maybe even without the voices) to get the full feeling of the original experience, before trying out the newly-added content.
I spent about a day on this game before finally deciding it just wasn't worth the effort to keep going. At the time this came out, I could see how it was awesome- my only previous experience with the Elder Scrolls series was Oblivion, and this game surprisingly has a similar scope in terms of vast landscape and massive towns full of NPCs to talk to. It has features like an automap, highly customizable character creation, a wide variety of spells, and the ability to steal from shops. The lore and world is all there already (though my character, a Khajiit, just looks like a normal human instead of a cat-person), and anyone would immediately recognize this as an Elder Scrolls game despite its age. My main problem is that this huge world is mostly just empty space- yes, there are rocks, houses, trees and endless maze-like corridors of dungeons, but it's all pretty shallow and unrewarding. The items have very little variety and aside from the artifact quests, there's not a lot to strive for or build your character with. The enemies are unbalanced- you'll find wimpy rats the next room over from a gang of enemies that can take you out in two hits. There's not really any point to exploring the overworld rather than fast-traveling directly to the cities and dungeons you need to visit, and the dungeons themselves are ludicrously vast and dull, with very little story or treasure to reward you for slogging through them for hours upon hours. Even the shops are cavernous and it takes an eternity to walk over to buy something or get a room at the inn. Repairing your weapons means leaving them with a blacksmith for days or weeks- realistic, but extremely annoying. The sidequests are generic and not worth the reward, the controls are sluggish and often unresponsive at critical moments, and the game crashes or freezes fairly often. All in all, it was probably fine back when it was innovative, but in the present, it's hard to justify so much time sunk into so little fun or reward.
I love the imagination and sincerity that went into this series, and the third installment is no exception- it's a fun sci-fi tale with strong continuity ties to the previous games, the characters are memorable, colorful and fun to interact with, the acting's decent, the environments are interesting, and the puzzles are fairly easy without being boring- and if you ever do get stuck, there's a built-in hint system. The new chameleon suit, in addition to being a pretty cool update to the bulky deep-sea-diver-looking time suits from before, introduces a new mechanic where you can take on the guise of anyone you see, and it's fun to change form and see how the same people react differently to you depending on who they believe you are. As far as I could tell, there were no deaths this time, making a game over impossible, though you can manage to get beaten up by a couple characters in a fairly amusing fashion. Your chatty AI assistant, Arthur, is back from the previous game, and his quips range from annoyingly over-the-top to laugh-out-loud funny. He can be a little irritating sometimes, but it really wouldn't be the same without him. The other characters have some interesting twists and revelations that might surprise you, and the aliens are surprisingly present and real-feeling despite their very badly dated CGI. It feels a little lighter and sillier than the previous entries in the series, but is a very enjoyable journey.
It's worth getting Fallout 4 just to play this mod. Even if you never touch Fallout 4, you'd be getting an experience equal to or even better than the base game, complete with quests, companions, factions, customizable weapons and armor, and a vast, complex world to explore. This may be a mod but there's nothing unprofessional about it. The voice acting is legit, the world is carefully crafted, the characters well fleshed out. There are a few problems here and there like nonfunctional doors, settlements not working right, or characters missing a line of dialogue on rare occasions, but honestly, not much worse than you'd get from the actual game developers. Considering this is entirely made by fans, the dedication and effort put into it is breathtaking. The London setting is great fun, too- see famous landmarks teeming with cannibals and murderous robots! Brew yourself a cup of tea! Ride the Underground! Steal the crown jewels! There's lots of fun little references to British icons like Doctor Who and The Prisoner, but subtle enough that they don't become pandering, tons of sidequests and secrets in every little corner, and a solid main plot with some spectacular battles and fun, creative challenges. You won't regret getting this mod- it's essentially a full-on unofficial entry in the Fallout series, and not to be missed.
Start your own potion shop and become the town alchemist for the local villagers and adventurers... or for the local bandits and evil wizards, if you prefer. It's a simple but fun premise, and it's easy to toil over your cauldron for hours experimenting with herbs, mushrooms and gemstones, discovering new recipes and gradually building your skills. The main brewing mechanic is using different ingredients to move your potion icon around a map in different patterns- crushing the ingredients with the mortar and pestle will extend the path each ingredient provides, stirring will advance you along the path, pouring more liquid into the mixture will pull you back towards the center, path and all, and adding special alchemical salts will do things like erase part of the path or rotate it. Every new ingredient you purchase will open up a new pattern to use, and if you're lucky you can even buy seeds to start growing your own supply of new plants in your garden. It's a very satisfying and enjoyable progression, and you'll get a few repeat customers you can chat with that add to the cozy feel and make it feel like you're really establishing yourself as an important part of the community. You can also decorate your shop, customize the look of your potions and rearrange and expand your garden, giving you plenty to do when you're not busy brewing. Sadly, you can't visit the town brothel, despite repeated invitations. My only complaint would be that once you've thoroughly explored the maps and bought most of what there is to buy, creating the complex potions required to finish the game becomes a little tedious. There's not a real ending, but once you've made the most difficult salts and finished the little checklist the game gives you, it can pretty much be considered won. Still, if the best complaint I can muster is that the game finally runs out of things to discover and the fun has to end, that should tell you something about how pleasurable the journey to get there is.
Terra Nil's gameplay involves transforming barren landscapes into lush, thriving environments through three basic steps- first, creating water and arable land, second, creating specific biomes for plants and animals to inhabit, and third, ensuring that the animals have all their needs met, while picking up after yourself by recycling all the equipment you used to achieve the first two steps, leaving behind a pristine wilderness. The challenge is in the limitations placed on you- you might have to thaw permafrost to reach the ground, clean up clouds of radiation, dredge the ocean to make your own land, or find a way to make your equipment accessible by boat or monorail during the recycling phase. It's fun puzzling it out, but there are only 12 levels and it's not particularly challenging- on the second highest difficulty level, I never once ran out of resources. The brevity, combined with some annoying little problems, make it hard to recommend buying this unless it's on sale. I wouldn't go so far as to call the game unfinished, but it feels rushed out. As an example, the final level is... the third from the end. This wasn't a bug, the other levels are literally locked off and unplayable until you beat what was obviously intended to be the last level of the game. You take off into space, leaving the planet behind as the credits roll... and then there are two more, slightly easier levels. Completing them too rewards you with nothing. Getting 100 percent completion on every level rewards you with... also nothing. Sometimes an object you should be able to move with the monorail will be unselectable, or hidden behind an animal's status with no way to reach it, or tooltips will hide the area of effect of something you're trying to build. It's not game-breaking but it's irritating. I was expecting to learn something about real life ecology or at least get an interesting story, but the game offers neither. It's disappointingly shallow. There's missed potential here.
