Unreal had an expansive, vibrant world with a driving mystery and plenty of unique challenges. Unreal II, however, had short, linear levels with a by-the-numbers story, and not a lot of fun to be had as you mow down waves of samey enemies between scripted set-pieces. The unfortunate bit is that there are great ideas within the game: a world covered by a single massive organism, a killer bio-weapon encoded into the DNA of a ubiquitous servant race, a friggin' Matrix-style robot world. But all of these are visited only briefly before the player is shunted inside tunnels that stop and load seemingly every few paces. And while the shooting is fun, character speed is so slow that the run-n-gun playstyle of the first game is lost. When playing, it's best to open the console and use the setspeed command to hurry up movement; a 3 usually works. Honestly, the experience comes off feeling like a demo for a broader, better game. The one saving grace in the game are the NPCs aboard the ship. Each has a distinct personality and backstory. Unfortunately, they're really only there to pad out cutscenes and add comic relief. Like so many elements of Unreal II, they were an intriguing idea ruined by lackluster execution. If you can get the game on sale, it's an okay few hours, but unlike Unreal, this is a game you don't really need to bother playing.
The story is great, if not a little too real. The ending is a little rushed, with little loose-end tying. Some fun can be had from weird translations. However, this game suffers from what I thought was an impossibility for point-and-clicks: bad gameplay. Be it clicking along the bottom of the screen to find the right exact spot that moves your character forward, or microwaving a TV dinner in real time, this game is damn frustrating to play. If you've got something to do off the computer while your character takes five minutes to go down the hall, or a walkthrough on hand so you don't spend five minutes leaving the area before having to immediately return, this game can be a bit of fun. Worth a discount buy for something to kill time, but not a must-own title.
Wow. This game is hard. I feel as a modern gamer I've been a tad coddled, especially when it comes to console-commanding my way out of anything a bit too trying. Yet Another World revels in its difficulty, and though I was frustrated for much of my playtime, I actually enjoyed it. There were a few moments that felt unfair, as though I were punished for smart play (oh, I'm NOT supposed to kill that guard immediately? Really, Eric Chahi, really?), but overall, Another World was an enjoyable look back on how dang tough things used to be. Not for everyone, but definitely worth it if you're in the mood for a challenge.
This is my first crack at a point-and-click adventure, so I may just not be in the right frame of mind, but I found many of the puzzles in this game to be painfully obtuse. Melt the sugar to make glue for the fake ID? Screw you, game. "Ah, but Fay DID say that the sugar at home melted and got sticky!" Great, except she says stuff about everything, and half of her dialogue is just atmosphere! *Grumble, grumble* That said, each solution had some real-world logic to it, and after a while, the game got easier, and the mechanics of it were quite fun. I've now been sold on the genre, and look forward to trying similar games. And then there was the story. Heavy handed does not even begin to cover it. Global warming is bad. Yes, we get it. Stop that. The story is made all the worse thanks to the bad, bad, bad, monotone, bad line readings given by the two main characters. The problem is exacerbated by the fact that there is actually good work done by the bit players. Oh, well. At least it was pretty to look at. A good looking, mechanically sound game let down by a ham-handed story with C-level acting, this game is still a fun play, but it won't stick with you. Fortunately, it's fairly short, so you can give it a quick play and move on, should you be so inclined.
This was my first foray into old-school CRPGs, and indeed my first D&D title. I was pleasantly surprised by the dearth of combat, and the ease with which one can get into this game. The setting was fantastic--wonderfully bizarre, yet somehow logical, with a great deal of depth you can't help but fall into. The fact that nearly all game progress was through dialogue choices and that the common reaction to kill and loot was defied at every turn only added to the experience. Unfortunately, when everyone tells you how amazing a story is, there is room for disappointment. Once the player encounters Ravel Puzzelwell and leaves Sigil behind, the story becomes painfully shallow, the game reverting to a string of fetch-quests with little room for exploration or meaningful choice. By that point, the pace rushes break-neck to the end, and the conclusion fells perfunctory. That said, the game was still a blast to play, and anyone looking for a non-traditional RPG--or really, an game experience that isn't combat-focused--should give this game a look. Just be warned that it can be uneven, and the much-vaunted story doesn't hold up quite as well as you may have heard.
