* You have very limited supplies * It is not always clear where to go, or what you're trying to do. * There are puzzles you need to solve * There are MANY documents to read and pictures to look at Those are all perfectly fine. But when you combine those with light sources that GO OUT ON THEIR OWN over time, it's awful. Do you know how frustrating it is to be running around, trying to figure out what you missed and what you're supposed to be doing, all while your supplies dwindle to nothing? It is not fun. It is never fun. Screw this game. I remember why I stopped playing now.
See my full review here: https://www.gog.com/forum/deliver_us_the_moon/deliver_us_the_moon_review Because GOG has a ridiculous 2k character limit on reviews.
Fear is a passable 6/10 game in isolation. It's generic and mediocre, and reminds me strongly of every FPS game from 2006-2010. There's very little unique or interesting to say about it. But it's even worse in the context of FEAR 1. I'm not going to harp on the AI, because I think people overinflated the AI from F1 and F2's felt very similar most of the time. But, there are many other things that are annoying: * Visuals have not aged as well. Lots of mid-2000's bloom going on. Looks extremely generic visually. * The music feels very generic, and frequently doesn't fit the tone of the scene * Shaky-cam and flinch is way overused * Way too easy on normal. Health, ammo and armor are absurdly plentiful. Hard doesn't make enemies smarter, just makes them 1-shot you which isn't a challenge * Sprint is pathetic. Why is it even here? * Too much text to read, and most isn't interesting. I stopped bothering quickly, reminds me of Rise of the Tomb Raider's issues. * Weird obsession with gore. I don't mind gore, it's just odd. I guess gore = scary? It doesn't add anything and doesn't work with the visuals in the way it did in F1. * Writing is standard for an FPS of the time, which is to say it's pretty bad. Not as bad as I heard though. * Weird zoom-in on cinematics, very jarring * Water slows WAY more than it's supposed to. Some kind of high-FPS bug? * Very short - I beat it in 6 hours * Unlike Fear 1, replikas and the other enemies aren't visually distinct. Hard to tell who I was fighting. * Too much tutorialization. I think after picking up ammo once or twice you'd get how it works. On the plus side, it has some cool set-pieces and cinematic moments. But it's not enough to dig it out of this hole.
I mean that pretty much sums it up. If you like one, you'll like the other. It's got great movement, fun gibs, absurd levels and bosses, mountains of secrets, great atmosphere and music, etc. The ONLY complaint I have is that the gun feedback/effects are a bit weak. It makes the SMG feel like a peashooter. But it's a minor complaint. You should get HROT. Absolutely, 100%.
The bad: * Too short (7.5 hours, far less than Obduction which took me about ~20) * Couple of puzzles are "tedious" meaning you know how to solve, but have to do some repetitive task to complete it. This isn't super common though. * Strictly first-person isn't good. There were a couple sections where a third-person high view would have drastically improved the gameplay, and it could have been easily explained lore-wise. I know that they have some aversion because of both VR and their heritage, but I think some rules bending needed to happen. * Very linear. Only one order you can progress in, as far as I can tell. * The puzzles are too easy. I only had to break out pen and paper once, and a lot of the puzzles are brute-forceable and don't require much thinking or deduction. Cyan games are a niche product for puzzle game fans, most of whom are older now. I think they could easily aim for a higher difficulty with no serious issues. (That's what hints and guides are for) To me, this is the largest sin that Firmament creates. I REALLY wanted to have some tough puzzles that I had to approach from multiple angles, go back and try again while working on another puzzle, consider the problem again and again, maybe sleep on it a day or two and then have that awesome AH-HAH! moment. But that just almost never happened. That's the core joy of a puzzle game to me, so it's a bummer to not have that. Some complain about technical state (stutter, falling into terrain, etc), but it's not bad for most players and will be fixed in the next few weeks, so I see no point in dwelling on it. The good: * The graphics are gorgeous, and the art style is definitively Cyan * The architecture is beautiful and fascinating to see * The sound and music are on point * The adjudicator feels very satisfying to sling around and control Despite my complaints, I enjoyed this game and REALLY hope they do more. I just want more bite next time! (Even if graphics or otherwise have to be sacrificed)
I'm reviewing this as someone totally new to Gothic, but who enjoys older RPGs and games from the era like Thief or Morrowind. The Good: * Some cool magic spells * Decent world-building * The visuals are well done for the time period * Voice acting (mostly) The bad: * No sense of discovery/exploration. No quests to find, no cool locations to discover, no unique hand-placed gear to loot. * Movement, combat and taking action in general is extremely clunky * Very tedious in some areas, like looting and traveling * Story is incredibly generic and boring, except maybe first 1/3rd * No interesting progression/ cool skills * Still a bit janky/broken even with the community patches currently available (Union + G1CP) This review was extremely cut-down in terms of explanations due to the character limit for reviews on this site. This is just a summary of the big points.
ElecHead has a lot of good things going for it. The OST is fun (if few in track), the mechanics are well-implemented and it's got a nice visual style and theme going for it. I like the art direction. The puzzles aren't too hard, but at least will keep you occupied for a couple hours and they're satisfying to beat for the first time. However, it has a couple issues that make it extremely frustrating when combined: 1: Once you have cleared a room, it is not permanently cleared. If you leave and come back, you will have to do it all over again. Because some of the rooms rely on tight timing or you've forgotten how you beat them, it can be frustrating to go back and do them again. 2: Similar to above: Once you have discovered a secret area, it re-hides itself if you leave and come back later. (Also secret paths aren't marked any differently from normal paths) Those two combined would not be too bad, except those secret areas have collectibles, 20 in total. So if you want to go back and get one you missed, you will have to go back and do the regular rooms you've already beaten, then scour the area for any secret areas you MAY HAVE ALREADY FOUND, then if you do find them and you already beat that challenge, you'll often have to do it AGAIN because the game has locked you into that room until you beat it. "So just don't get the collectibles" 3: Oh sure. I would, if the game didn't lock the good ending behind the collectibles. >:( Those 3 together make the game un-recommendable from me. Fix any one of them, and it becomes almost an instant 4/5.
I absolutely adore sci-fi and puzzles. I really do. I've spent countless hours in plenty of puzzle games, sci-fi titles and otherwise. However, I cannot bring myself to play more Julia after a grand total of a few minutes. I just can't. The writing and dialogue is so ham-fisted and lacking and couldn't be less subtle if it tried. The visuals are also pretty cheesy in places. I can enjoy any kind of visuals if they're well-designed and feel appropriate, but the ones here feel like a first attempt. The whole title feels like something for 13-15 year olds. It feels like something only slightly higher budget than a learning game you'd get as a kid for the summer vacation or etc. I hate that I didn't enjoy this game. It has 2 things I really enjoy and the premise was interesting. I can overlook very flawed games if some aspects are great. But this was just too much. Unless you have earplugs and wear a blindfold whenever not working on a puzzle and *only* focus on the puzzles, I don't think you'll enjoy this.
