Many years ago, this game came alongside my family's (at the time) new Windows ME computer in a pack of games that had been bought as part of a bundle. And of those games, this is the only one off the top of my head that I remember. And for good reason. Every horror game I have played since has always sent one question back to my mind: "But is it as scary as SS2?". The answer? In all cases, "No". But a few years ago, driven by nostalgia, I once again jumped into this game (with plenty of mods to improve the graphics and sound and interface). And once again, I was met with the same heart-pumping, adrenaline-surging, utterly terrifying experience that I remembered from my first experience. So what is it about SS2 that makes it such a terrifying game? Atmosphere. The sound, the music, the setting, the enemies. This is a game that makes you want to hide in a corner and prey that nothing will hurt you. It is not a game of jumpscares, but of long-lasting horror. And the music... the music simply adds to the stress as the fast, driving beats tell your mind "Keep going! Quickly!", urging you to dive into the very dangers that send your heart into overdrive. Don't get me wrong, SS2 is not perfect by any means. The graphics are very outdated, gameplay is a little clunky; and the FPS elements are pretty lacklustre. But anyone playing this game simply for it being a shooter is missing the point. And yes, it is possible that a newcomer to the game not tainted with nostalgia might find it difficult to truly enjoy. But my advice is to try it anway. Because if this game suits you, it will be something you will not forget. I found System Shock 2 scarier than... Amnesia: The Dark Descent, Slender: The Arrival, Resident Evil 1 (PS AND Gamecube versions) & 4, Five Nights at Freddy's, Half Life & Half Life 2, and more.
When I first played this game, I had no clue how it worked. I would just sit messing around until my inevitable defeat at the hands of some enemy or another. But hey, I was like what, 5 when it came out? And despite all that, I still loved the game. As time went by, I continued playing, learning bit by bit how it worked. Granted, I never played for long enough to truly get to grips with the strategy, but I at least got over the basics during childhood and even tried some multiplayer over lan. Pax Imperia was a game I could go back to over and over even as other games in my collection gathered dust in some plastic box somewhere in my house. It wasn't until later in life that I was able to try out the MOO series. And honestly, I just couldn't get into it. By all means, MOO is a great game series (well... most of it is), but honestly, it always made me want to go back to Pax. I love the space 4x genre, I really do, but apart from Endless Space, no other game lived up to my experiences of Pax Imperia. So what is it about PIED that I really love? Well the real-time aspect for one thing is something you just don't see with other games in the genre. The game is nice to look at, the UI (and race selection screen) is pretty and there are many aspects of 4x games that tend to get overcomplicated that Pax makes nice and streamlined. Battles are interesting (though they do get repetitive, but at least the weapon effects are pretty and change as tech improves), the music is brilliant and ship design strikes the perfect balance between complication and freedom. The AI may leave much to be desired, but no game is perfect. Perhaps I'm clouded by nostalgia. Perhaps my attention span is the main reason for me preferring this game over other titles. Perhaps I just have bad taste. But whatever the reason, I prefer Pax to MOO. My verdict: honestly worth a try if you're interested in the genre. If you don't like it, fair enough. But don't knock it until you try it.
Rayman is an awesome classic which I enjoyed playing on the PlayStation. Great platforming, nice difficulty, beautiful music and fantastic atmosphere. Rayman Forever takes that experience, adds more and then GOG brings compatibility. However, the GOG release of Rayman is far from perfect. Graphic scaling is rather hit and miss - some of the higher-level settings result in ridiculous slowdowns, leaving you with more primitive scaling systems, which for me usually result in the game playing in the bottom corner of my screen. Now, I don't mind 'letter-boxing' because preserving the aspect ratio to me is more important than filling the screen. However, an uncentred screen can be a little annoying. Another issue I found is actually quite infuriating on the more difficult areas of platforming, and that's the fact that holding down the jump button on my controller whilst moving in a general direction 'disables' any further pressing of the jump button until you centre the analogue stick. So when you're jumping along small islands, some of which being quite far apart, you end up falling as a result of your buttons not responding. Other than those issues however, this is the exact Rayman experience one would remember from the good ol' days. Although lacking in some of the features added for the PlayStation version, Rayman Forever adds to it with additional content that makes up for that. 4/5.
