... only when you use a gamepad. Therefore: A big, big WARNING to all those people, who want to play this game with a mouse and a keyboard. Playable with a m/k combo? Yes, of course. Until ten minutes into the game, when you have to race another child with your roller skates. Nearly impossible with only m/k, very easy with a gamepad. So, do yourself a favor and buy or lend a gamepad for your PC, when you want to play "Costume Quest". Otherwise, you might end up shmashing your keyboard into your monitor and loudly cursing the day you bought this effin, horrible game. Which would be unfortunate, because "Costume Quest" is one of these little charming jewels, where you find yourself uncontrollably smiling for no apparent reason other than its wonderful and lighthearted gameplay and presentation.
When Battle Realms was released, the RTS genre sadly suffered from a heavy infection of WW2itis. Every game had to have a WW2 setting and especially every RTS had to have tanks und Nazis. And then there was Battle Realms. No tanks, no nazis, not even a single shred of japanese Kamikaze fighters. Instead we got samurais and ghosts and demons in a mystical Japan of legends and tales. Sure, we got ressources and buildings and we could group our units with selection frame, thus Battle Realms was surely a RTS. But BR had more. A unique "Special Power" system, where you had to act aggressive to gain enough points to upgrade your units, but also had to be cautious to not waste your limited ressources carelessly. You had foot soldiers who could mount horses to become a mighty cavalry. Forrest were usefull to hide your infantry for surprise attacks, heavy rocks could be thrown down from cliffs on your enemies bases. You had a lengthy beautiful SP campaign, you had multiplayer. And you had the first RTS using this fancy new shader thingy Nvidia had put in their GeForce 3 cards. But Battle Realms proved once again that innovation and commercial success exclude each. Most people were content playing with tanks, they didnt need anything else. Sure, astoningshly enough there was an addon to BR, but overall ... BR was not a commecrcial success. There are several reasons why, but the main reason still exists today: You cannot make game full of new and innovative things and expect it to make billions like Call of Duty or The Sims.
If only this game was given the ability to save during a mission, this could have been a hidden gem of epic proportions. It has everything a player could want: Levels full of things to discover or new strategies to explore. A catchy and atmospheric soundtrack. One of the first well executed Sandbox wolrds. But you cannot save during a mission. A mission which can take up to two hours to complete. No, sir. No saving while playing the game. One mistake ... AND YOU HAVE START ALL OVER AGAIN! Therefore "Urban Chaos" is only recommended to players who just want the soundtrack or players with a very, VERY high frustration tolerance or way too much time on their hands.
Yes, i know all the points critics have been bringing forth. They're all true. The story conclusion is worse than everything Bioware can think of, the US release version was technically an unfinished, buggy piece of crap. But my first experience with U9 was the german release version, which had most fixes included. I played the game on a Voodoo 3 card, so i had no issues with frame rates and glitches. It ran near perfect. Playing Ultima since Part 5 i was dissappointed when it comes to the story. In fact the story doesnt even make sense when you have no prior experience with the Ultima universe. But putting this aside ... The gameplay works, the landscape is beautiful and full of details. the dungeons are atmospheric und full of deadly traps to avoid and secrets to discover. You dont hassle with the interface like other early 3D-RPGs like Gothic, you just play! If you are able to ignore all the faults this game clearly have, you just might discover a beautiful RPG adventure.
If there was a CGI movie called "Dreamfall", it could have been one of the best animated films of its decade. Beautiful settings, beautiful score, excellent story, dialogue and voice casting. But sadly Funcom decided to make a game. A bad game. A boring, bad game. Way too much cut scenes where you can do nothing but watch and listen. Too few adventure elements and too many boring, bad and unprecise sneak gameplay elements, which fit to this "adventure" like a fist to a face. The interface was designed with a controller in mind. Default settings for mouse & keyboard make this game nearly unplayable. So, if you have a vivid imagination and are able to ignore all gameplay elements, go for it. Dreamfall ist the best animated movie, which (sadly) never made it to the big screen. If you look for a worthy sucessor to "The longest Journey", look elsewhere. As a game, Dreamfall is a major, major dissapointment.
Whatever positive things you can say about "Crusader: No Remorse", you can say about "Crusader: No Regret". Same engine, slightly different textures, slightly different weapons and enemies, still the same game. You may ask: "Bohooo, where is the innovation???" I respond: "Fuck innovation!" "No Remorse" was an outstanding action game. And so is "No Regret". It's the same game and makes the same amount of fun you can have with its predecessor. When someone aks me which game he should get, i would say he should get both. When someone had fun with "No Remorse", he should get "No Regret". No pity with your credit card balances! Buy! Now!!
While Populous 1 is a milestone and a classic of its own, Populous 2 is in every aspect the better game. Higher resolutions, better graphics, better defined interface, more god powers, more strategies, more, MOAR!! No, seriously. If you have to choose between Populous 1 and 2, choose the latter. If not, get both. The first for educational purposes (look, this game happened when Molyneux was AWESOME!) and much gameplay fun, the second for funnier and better gameplay fun. So, whatever you do, you do nothing wrong! You're a god, remember? :)
I apologice for my outbreak, but THIS release is more awesome than the previous weeks with all ths Ultima gems and other EA classics. You may ask: Why? Why the excitement? Because even if you have the original POD discs at home, it is a PAIN IN THE ASS to get the game working on a modern computer. Yes, it was all worth the hassle, because POD is one the most entertaining arcade racers from the early days of graphic acceleration and Windows 95. The look, the gameplay, the pulsating music, the apocalyptic atmosphere, the weird and crazy course designs, not to mention the cars ... POD has it all. I highly recommend it to, well, everyone who liked POD back in the days and want to play it again. POD! And no POS at all :)
"Normality" was a little sensation back then, being the first adventure to use a 3D engine to navigate your character through the game. And there was much to navigate. Many locations to visit, many objects to discover, many obstacles to overcome. The story and setting is still quite fun to follow and explore. Maybe the graphics are not that, what we are used to today, but from a gameplay standpoint "Normality" has aged very well. I am to recommend it to any adventure gamer, with a little word of warning: The puzzle logic is sometimes so far away from any concievable logic, completly "NOT NORMAL" that you will find yourself grinding hours through all item and hotspot combinations. Studying a walkthough now and then is no shame, unless you enjoy hurting yourself by refusing to use a walkthrough at all ... So, besides some bad puzzle designs, a nice and fun game. Go, get it!
