Impostor Factory: Complete [Freebird Games] Follow in the shoes of Quincy, who was invited to a get together with other entrepreneurs in order to witness the next big thing that could change the world. I wouldn't consider this your typical video game, but more akin to a complete story where you control the character in order to unravel the plot. As for the story? Well, I'd completely spoil it if I provided specifics, but if you're a fan of scifi mysteries within a grounded reality, then you might find something worth pursuing. I can really only describe it, without spoilers, as a Dr. Who episode where the Dr. describes things as 'Wibbly, Wabbly, Timey, Wimey, Stuff!" Are You interested? Give it a go. Compared to the previous outings by this developer, the emotional rollercoaster wasn't nearly as unhinged, but you will feel emotion. I give this a Golf Score of: Par
26 hours later, over the span of a couple of weeks, I completed Ghost of a Tale. This is one of the better video games I've played in a long while. It's a very slow burner, and can only be described as if the Hitman series got frisky with the Thief series [not Thief 4 :smug: ] and had a baby, where you are a mouse in a literal rat maze. It's visuals are gorgeous, and the sound design is very well produced. Who knows, perhaps you'd like it. I need to preface this by saying I acquired this for free through a GOG giveaway. I played through the entirety on Linux.
A title that describes the game quite well. The vistas are gorgeous to look at, as are all the talking heads. The voice acting is satisfactory by a small team, while the music was composed by Mick Gordon. The gameplay? Well... this is where it almost falls flat. It's an isometric point & click adventure game with 6 different environments. It's your standard collect items that end up in an inventory, in which you wander around the beautiful environments, find stuff hidden in different locations, and combine items in order to progress. Then there are the puzzle elements. Most of them make sense, but there's one 'puzzle' at the end that barely makes sense, even after reading a walk-through. It's almost if the developers expected the player to be a nuclear expert. I'm not one of those, so I looked up the solution. No shame here. Now, for the part where it almost falls flat. The quests you get are given to you once. That's it. You talk with an NPC, and you can't talk with them again. There is a 'solution' given to you, in which you can listen to those conversations again, but it would just have been easier to allow me to converse with a character if I got lost. Most of the time, I'd listen, but not really understand what was needed from me, so I'd just go from area to area looking for something that changed. And that's the part of this game where it falls apart. You need to pay attention to everything the first time. After exploring the areas over and over again, you will have an idea as to where the main hubs are with NPCs, but even with the pretty visuals, it starts to get old. But, if you are one that can follow along without any problems and remember things provided, you'll probably manage to follow the story a bit better than I could. With that said, it's a pretty good futuristic apocalypse time travel story. It feels like an old PC game. I give this a Golf Score of: Par
Where to begin... This was most likely built with a touch screen in mind, and the mouse was an afterthought. The tutorial was not something I was a fan of, yet for the audience it was chasing, probably 6 or younger, even though the iOS/Android app states it was made for 12+. I'm pretty sure anyone over the age of 6 would understand how to navigate this intro without being told what to do. I am not in this demographic, so this review is going to be biased. I sat through this because I've been having a difficult time wanting to play any games recently, and it was free. I knew this was a very basic description of what a "video game" can be going into it, but I did have a difficult time wanting to complete this. I'd sit for a few hours, follow the "tasks" provided to me, then ask myself, "What am I doing with my life?" So I'd stop when I got frustrated with doing busy work. Then a day or so later I'd jump back in until the same resolve came over me. Yet, for reasons beyond my understanding, I did finish it. I don't know what that tells me about myself. As for the game, it's CRPG, as you click at the items on each screen you want to interact with. You're a disembodied head for the entire experience. There is no walking around the relatively good art on each screen. You just use the mouse and do the whole Where's Waldo hidden object thing. The story made me groan and laugh hysterically, then I recalled this was for the younger audience. So I guess someone of that ilk would enjoy this oversimplified rages to riches hero story. As for the music and audio, all I can say is that it exists in the simplest form available on the market. Now, for the question you are all waiting for. Is this really worth my time? Apparently it was worth just enough of my time to sit through it, mostly out of sheer curiosity. I can't really recommend this to your "average" gamer, but I can recommend this to someone wanting to try a video game in its basic form. Works on Linux through Wine.
12 years later, and I completed this experience. And boy was it an experience. I think I understand why it felt so disconnected. Too many cooks in the same kitchen from different backgrounds. I hope these guys had fun making it at least, because the final product was a mess. I'd LOVE to hear from the developers as to what happened here. Missing animations during transition phases just fading to black. Strange "Call of Duty" space visuals when the character is transitioning from area to area. Reuse of the same puzzle idea over and over. 4 different endings that don't matter. The combination of fantasy and real-world nonsense. I think I had more fun showing this off to my viewers more than anything, so I guess I did get some form of entertainment out of it.
Ever Forward: Complete [Pathea Games] Follow the story of a young girl who only wanted to be noticed by her constantly working, mother, in the hopes of making a difference, in this beautifully rendered world with some deceptively clever and mind-bending puzzles. Will the story have a happy ending? You'll need to puzzle your way through to find out. I give this a Golf Score of: Par
Tribal Hunter: Complete [Melonsoda Soft] Explore a world as Munch, the Guardian of the Island, to defeat the locals and bosses who are allegedly causing damage to the eco-system by consuming your enemies and expanding in size [Munch can get extremely large] to save the villagers' homes, with clean 2D art visuals, a soundtrack that is better than it should be, and gameplay that is straight out of a simple Metroid-vania experience. I give this a Golf Score of: Birdie
TLDR: Average Game, Fantastic Narrator What happens when you take a choose your adventure book and implement it into "game" form? Well, this actually. This review is based on the fact that I acquired it for free with the purchase of HOB. I'm not one who typically plays this style of Action/RPG game, but it looked good enough for me to give it a go nonetheless. My first impression was not initially good. I'm not sure if it's due to the Game Engine (Unreal 4) or slightly sloppy programming know how, but this game took a good 60-90 seconds to load up, even with it installed on an SSD. If I was a paying customer, I would not have been super excited for that, but alas, I received the copy for free. Moving on. The first major thing I noticed was how pretty this game looked. I believe they took full advantage of the Unreal 4 Engine. Each area was distinct from one another and made it easy to play through each level over and over again. The Audio was sufficiently fine. Nothing really stood out. The sound direction just worked as it was supposed to I guess. The combat works sufficiently average as well. Don't expect anything fancy. Now with everything else feeling average, what's actually good? The answer to that question is the Narrator. There are 24 side stories and 1 main event. Each and every story had some of the best dialogue I've listened to. Do you want to destroy the world, you'll get the proper dialogue. Do you have the best intentions to save the day, but never quite get there? You'll get the proper dialogue. Do you want to zigzag the story and end up in total tranquility? You will get the proper dialogue for that too. Do you want to spin your character around while you are waiting, the narrator will break the 4th wall to inform the player of their action. I ended up finishing every single story plot, which I never intended to do, but this narrator was so much fun to listen to that I couldn't stop playing. With the review over, I give this a golf score of: Par
TLDR: Play This Silly Game w/ a Walkthrough I was debating on what to play one day & this title ended up in front of me. It was either this or Deus Ex: Mankind Divided. I chose to play through this & I was glad I did. This game is an enigma when it comes to how it plays compared to many contemporary titles. It does assist in helping you find your way at first, but once that assist is complete, the game trusts in the player to figure out the rest. There are no waypoints, only maps with an approximate location to find an item. It's like an actual treasure hunt. The game basically tells the player "good luck, you know what to do, so hop to it." I am somewhat sad to say this, but I did have to use a walk through for a few items... Now, hear me out. There are a few locations that you will get to on this quest that you will forget about. Those locations were what I forgot about & was where I required a walkthough. Otherwise, with a keen eye, it's relatively straightforward. The environments were gorgeous to look at & relatively easy to navigate. I say relatively, as there are some background items that you need to interact with that are not always easy to see. That would be a major grip in any other game, but just a small grip here as this title is free. There is even a dynamic weather system & a night/day cycle. Both of which attempt to make this game feel alive. The final thing I need to cover are the boss battles. Due to the nature of this game, the battles are either quite simple or infuriating. I'll let you, the player, find out what I'm talking about here. So I finally finish this game and the ending had me laughing hysterically. It was the most unexpected end to any game that I've played. Play this title, it's free for goodness sake. With the review out of the way, I give this a golf score of: Par
(This review is based off my experience while playing it on my own, while on the Easy Difficulty) Oh Mother Russia Bleeds. How I've wanted something like this for years. I grinned through the entirety of the first play through. The combat was fluid, even if a bit sluggish at times. Even with that minor flaw, I couldn't help but beat the ever living crap out of every enemy on the screen. It was a bloody, gory, and exhilarating ride from start to finish. Some of the stages are slightly more difficult compared to others, but when something got outlandishly tough, I buckled down to figure out the correct action to complete the section of that stage. The environment was a treat for the eye. Every stage had it's own feel and felt accurate to the scenario you're thrown into. Of all of the stages, my favorite stage was the 5th stage. Without spoiling to much, I'll just say it's the most colorful stage you'll fight through. I can't forget about the Boss Battles. They are brutal in the best way possible. You will fail, playing alone. Each boss felt like a puzzle that needed to be cracked to defeat. Once you fill in that puzzle piece, you will feel the satisfaction of finally taking down that boss. I really liked the final Nekro Boss battle. It requires you to take all of the skills you learned from the rest of the game and fully implement them to conquer this nightmare. I have yet to get the "good" ending, but I know, and understand that it will be brutal to accomplish. Therefore, As I don't give a typical score for games, I give this a Golf Score of: Birdie. For the love of Russia, grab this if you like over the top game play. PS: The 4 star rating I'm giving is pretty accurate to how I score games. PPS: This is my first review on GOG and this game was my most anticipated game of 2016. I was NOT disappointed.
