Don't consider this a full review. Consider these impressions from 16 hours of gameplay. I feel that is a decent chunk of time to get a sense of the game's mechanics, combat, crafting, driving and narrative. The worldbuilding is incredible. Night City is a lavishly detailed and rich environment to explore full of things to see and do. Side gigs, jobs, and tasks have some interesting variety.There is usually some element of story to them. One of the most notable ones I had without giving spoilers was just taking a moment to sit and talk out some issues your neighbor is having. It was a pretty compelling little side 'quest' and it had quite a bit to say despite being fairly short in length. The main story then is the meat and potatoes and where your going to be spending a lot of your time. CDPR's storytelling is firing on all cylinders here and they are able to make even ancillary NPC's feel like tangible people that have their own motivations. Mechanically? The game is fine. Gunplay is serviceable and melee combat is ok, but could perhaps be a bit tighter. Punching in particular feels unwieldy. The driving itself again is serviceable. I wasn't able to really discern the various vehicles feeling differently as they might in say GTA. Maybe a motorcycle will. There is a plethora of options for allocating perk points and you have various stats to assign and invest points into. The crafting then allows you to craft weapons and upgrade them. Clothes too. There is a lot to experiment with here. Weapons and clothes can be dismantled as well. It's unfortunate then that the game has quite a number of bugs. Textures that are slow to load. Objects floating and clipping. I had one where Jackie is supposed to remove a chip and it's a gun instead that clips through his head. I also had audio/sound failing to play during a sequence. I would recommend waiting for a few more patches. If you have it already, be sure to update your drivers before playing.
Diablo 1 pioneered the Action RPG. Sure it may not look as pretty by today's standards. But there is an elegant simplicity and pureness to the experience that even Blizzard's own Diablo 3 hasn't quite matched. A large part of what made Diablo and even Diablo 2 so good was that your choices actually mattered when building a character. The ability to respec a character didn't even come until a patch. Even then it was difficult to do so. Your choice of points to allocate to stats and talent points meant something. So how is the classic on modern hardware? GOG have done a bang up job. It plays, looks and feels like Diablo and while not a looker by today's standards? It does look decent on HD displays. It's not a remaster, but rather a slightly enhanced re-release. Is it worth $10? I can't answer that. Everyone places a different value on things. However, once a good game, always a good game and GOG have preserved it quite admirably here and I think the work that they have done justifies the price tag in my opinion.
I have played through this game to completion when it first launched on PC. I remember picking this game up for $10 back then in jewel case and still have my physical copy even today. At the time I was quite taken with the game. Unfortunately as time went on? The game like many others became a bit of a chore to get running on modern machines and you'd have to download a few files from some dedicated modders. These updated launchers often required you to have the original disc. But what do you do if your disc has become unreadable over time? It can unfortunately happen which makes digital preservation and re-releases of these old games so important. Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine is a 3D platformer/adventure game. The game is set during the cold war and it's up to you to unearth the secrets of the fabled infernal machine before the soviets do. It's a surprisingly engaging Indiana Jones tale aided by some well voiced dialogue. Unlike the N64 version? The PC version has models where the mouths of the character models are animated. The controls do feel a bit dated compared to more modern games. They will take some getting used to as you control Indy with WASD. Many of the actions in the game are context sensitive so if you've played other platformers you will probably pick it up pretty easily. The levels are varied in their locales, if a bit linear. The puzzles are clever but not too challenging. Treasure can be found which allows you to purchase ammo, med kits, anti venom, etc. between levels. There are even a few driving stages The animations are pretty well done considering this is a title that came out in 1999. Ocassionally a guard will dodge by rolling to the side. On GOG Galaxy? The game gave me a problem where it would crash at launch. Upon browsing the forums here? Some pointed to Headsets causing problems. I unplugged my wireless USB headset dongle it launched.
The Disciples series has always had a special place in my heart. I don't think they were ever huge commercial hits, and the series future certainly looks grim now. My introduction to the series was Disciples 2. So imagine my surprise when I found a copy of the first game at a Circuit City for $10. The game was in a boxed jewel case with a lavishly designed flip cover that opened up with some gorgeous artwork. It harkened back to the days of the NES when you bought a game based on it's artwork. Fortunately. I had already played Dark Prophecy so I had an idea of what to expect. I fell in love with the dark gothic fantasy atmosphere in D2. The artwork was so well done. Everything from the Units, portrait cards, to the UI itself oozed atmosphere. That still was true of Disciples Sacred Lands even if not as refined as it's sequel. The animations are a bit stiffer. But all the hallmarks of it's gameplay are still there. The game itself is a turn based strategy game in which you play as one of four factions all vying to expand your influence and control over the map. To do this you capture cities. Rod bearers like the archangel can plant rods near resources to control these to further expand your faction's influence. Each turn you gain resources like gold, mana, etc. which can be used to research spells and build structures. You can only research one spell each turn. You can only build one structure a turn. This forces you to choose which trees you want to invest in. Your units gain XP and level up and can then be promoted along with your leaders. Sacred Lands is where it all started and is still worth checking out even if you prefer it's more polished and flashy sequel. Sacred Lands is still...sacred.
In a time where we now have masterpieces like Red Dead Redemption 2 and it's predecessor Red Dead Redemption 1, Gun is perhaps forgotten. Developed by Neversoft and published by Activision back in 2005. GUN actually predates Red Dead Redemption 1 by about 5 years considering the later came out in 2010. Red Dead Revolver however did come out a year earlier. There really haven't been that many video games set in the old west. GUN isn't a perfect game. It's visually a bit dated now. But it's a fairly decent open world sandbox romp with a fairly engaging story throughout. You probably won't remember it years from now in the way other games stick with you. But you can certainly still have a blast playing it. The voice talent is solid. Kris Kristofferson even lends his voice to the main character (Colton's) father. The mission variety is nice and you will find there are an equally varied assortment of weapons to use as well. There is one weapon in particular that can be obtained at the end that is an absolute riot that I won't spoil here. The price is a bit steep for a game this old. I don't know what kind of work they had to do to get this game running on modern hardware though. If you enjoy westerns I think you'll enjoy GUN. It's a more immediate adventure and takes less time to get going than the long epic that is Red Dead 2.
I have not purchased Emperor's Tomb here on GOG yet. But I played it a while back on PC. Emperor's Tomb features interesting locales, characters, and treasures aplenty. Its mechanics feel solid and allow you to trade blows with enemies using your fists but also allow for use of your whip. You can disarm enemies, pull them closer, and traverse environments. The weapons are varied and you can even use improvised weapons like chairs, shovels, wine bottles and more. The visuals were great for their time and have held up surprisingly well. Indy's character model is expressive and the voice actor's fantastic work sounds just like Harrison Ford. This is a title that any Indy fan won't regret picking up and is well worth its $6:00 price tag.
The Disciples series has always had a special place in my heart. I don't think they were ever huge commercial hits, and the series future certainly looks grim now. However my introduction to Disciples 2 was a demo disc included in an issue of PC Gamer. It may just be the demo I have played the most...ever. That demo was what ultimately made me buy the full game. I fell in love with the dark gothic fantasy atmosphere. The artwork was so well done. Everything from the Units, portrait cards, to the UI itself oozed atmosphere. The atmosphere also extended to the excellent audio and music. Each of the game's 4 factions had appropriate music that captured them perfectly. The Empire with it's humans and focus on angelic units worshiping the Highfather had angelic melodies. The Legions of the Damned and the Undead Hordes had dark and foreboding tracks. The Mountain Clans too had airy windswept peaks and drums. The game itself is a turn based strategy game in which you play as one of four factions all vying to expand your influence and control over the map. To do this you capture cities. Rod bearers like the archangel can plant rods near resources to control these to further expand your faction's influence. Each turn you gain resources like gold, mana, etc. which can be used to research spells and build structures. You can only research one spell each turn. You can only build one structure a turn. This forces you to choose which trees you want to invest in. Your units gain XP and level up and can then be promoted along with your leaders. This is an incredibly deep and satisfying turn based strategy game that drips with atmosphere. For $10 you get a hell of a lot of content and value here.
The Witcher 3 brings the final chapter in Geralts saga; as well as 2015's first true GOTY contender. The game improves on the first two in every way and offers a ton of content. Every sidequest feels significant and eschews the tired kill and fetch quests that have been present in most other modern RPGs. Each sidequest introduces new characters and springboards into its own unique little sidestory with cutscenes and excellent fully voiced dialogue. The combat is superb and even allows for horse mounted combat complete with exquisite finishers. And as you are killing drowners and helping people; you will make choices that will have both short and long term effects on the outcome of the story. With all the choices you can make, and multiple endings; the game offers a ton of replay value. Its also important to note the game has an awesome loot system that also has a crafting component with variations for different armor sets. The game is not without its flaws however. Some animations can feel a bit stiff. Especially when you are trying to call or ride Roach. Sometimes looting certain objects can be a bit fiddly too. And there is an occassional glitch here or there though I have yet to notice any myself. The game has already received a number of patches and CD Projekt Red are continuing to support the game with FREE DLC. That is something we don't see enough of in today's gaming industry; where so many publishers monetize their games through microtransactions. But then again how many other publishers/developers put a insert in their game thanking you for buying their game. Not to mention give you a full soundtrack CD.
If you have the game you are treated to 16 pieces of free DLC. You will be hard pressed to find this kind of value with other games today. Being treated to DLC like this is a rare treat in an industry that constantly seeks ways to monetize their games through microtransactions for basic game features. Kudos to CD Projekt Red for putting the gamer first. You deserve every sale of this wonderful game.
