You're Batman and something goes wrong at Arkham Asylum while you're bringing the Joker in. His capture was a trap and you need to stop his plan. Pros: + Excellent controls + Combat and stealth are well designed and enjoyable + Good story (until the end) + Dark atmosphere + Content is not overly adult + Game saves often Cons: - Combat and stealth parts become repetitive - Ending feels out of place You feel like you're actually Batman and not just playing his character. The content is aimed at teenagers. The game is easy to pick up and put down. Finally, the ending could have been better. The game is great! Many other reviews talk about how great this game is. ----- The reason I wrote this review is state how it ran for me in Linux using Wine. OS: Linux Mint 22.1 "Xia" Wine: 9.0 Processor: AMD Drivers: Proprietary Dependencies: .NET 3.5, Visual C++ Redistributable, DirectX, PhysX .NET 3.5 was installed using: winetricks dotnet35. DirectX from online files, and VC++ and PhysX were installed using the programs in the "GOG Games\Batman Arkham Asylum GOTY\redist" folder. The problems that I had were minor. The icon/launcher that wine added didn't work, so I launched the game from using a terminal/script (using: cd ".wine/drive_c/GOG GamesBatman Arkham Asylum GOTY/Binaries/"; wine BmLauncher.exe). Also, the game stopped being shown using the correct resolution and needed to be set manually using the resolution settings in the game's launcher menu. Lastly, a handful of times the d-pad and analogue stick functionalities (movement and inventory selection) were randomly swapped. (Might have been related to power settings for screen going blank because this didn't happen after changing them.) To fix this (while playing), I alternated the D-input mode switch on the back of the controller (Logitech F310 Gamepad). ----- If you want to backup your save files (in Linux or Windows), they're in "Documents/Square Enix/Batman Arkham Asylum GOTY".
You are the famous general Arthbane of Ars Rare (from before it was conquered) and you are attempting to reclaim the kingdom by recruiting followers and winning battles. During each battle, you mine resources to buy units, which act on the screen on their own to defeat your opponent. PROs: + Units are automated (no management/micromanagement) + No loss in dying + Levels can be played to grind for gold upgrade units or buy food CONs: - Repetitive - Most levels are easy - A couple of very difficult levels - Many unnecessary units - Food (which boosts units' stats) is unnecessary Because units act on their own you don't have to pay attention to them once they have been purchased. When you lose a level, you go back to the map, and you only lose gold if you bought a meal, which you can get back by beating side quests (which are infinite). In the beginning, I died a number of times because I didn't play well. However, once I got better, I beat most levels easily. However, a few levels (38 and 40) were the exception (and very difficult). Generally, once you know which units are the best, you don't need to buy anything else. I only used 3 (sometimes 4) types of units once I knew what they did.
Description: You leave your home to sail your land boat toward something unknown. Pros: - Nice atmosphere (graphics, music, etc) - Simple, smooth controls Cons: - No story, explanations, or closure - Too much micromanagement to enjoy the atmosphere at times - Some obviously silly/illogical designs (ie. sails with holes pushing a land boat forward, a chair being equal to half the fuel of an oil drum) When I bought this game, I knew about the lack of story and explanations, but I thought that there would be an ambiguous ending with some form of closure, not one that made me feel like I completely wasted my time and money. If you really like pushing buttons, moving a character, carrying things, and sometimes doing nothing, you can play this game for about 3 hours. Alternatively, you could just watch the trailer.
In Grim Legends: The Forsaken Bride, your sister is to be married, but a strange bear is interfering with her wedding plans. You must help her, solve the mystery of the bear, and more. Pros: + Great atmosphere, artwork, and music + Decent animations and story + Good puzzles + Good hinting system + Manipulatable items are highlighted + Your kitten is cute and helpful + Useless items are discarded Cons: - Lack of facial expressions - Inability to access useful objects - Unnecessary domino games The story and animations in the game are alright, but when you combine them with the amazing soundtrack and artwork, the game is quite atmospheric. However, the characters' facial expressions are rather bland and lacking. Regarding game play, the puzzles usually make sense and it is often clear what each item should be used for. When it isn't clear, your cursor changes when an item can be interacted with and clicking on it often provides a useful hint. When all else fails, you can click on the hour glass, which recharges fairly quickly. Also, your kitten will sometimes meow or run into your display window when you should use him. In addition, the game minimizes needless searching because items that are no longer useful are discarded and regions that have no further use cannot be re-visited. However, sometimes you cannot perform trivial tasks, such as lighting a torch when there are numerous candles and fires around. The option to play dominoes instead of a hidden object game is pointless since hints can be used when objects cannot be located. Furthermore, the fact that they're animated and sparkle, initially, made me think that I had to play them.
In this game, you run around jumping and shooting enemies as quickly and accurately as possible in order beat each level by touching a pole. Pros: + Simple and cute design + Upbeat music + Quick deaths and level restarts + Responsive controls Cons: - Hardly any shading - Unfair tasks - Gets difficult quickly - No settings to change difficulty The design is cute and simple with upbeat music. Since deaths and restarting a level are quick, its easy to continuously play the game, even though a single hit will kill you. The quick and responsive controls make you feel as though you have full control over your character. However, the lack of shading can make aiming and platforming difficult. Also, there are moments where the game is unfair. For example, at one point in the first world, you have to jump to a platform, turn, jump off of the platform before it disappears, and shoot a ball that is firing over your head (which will cause you to die if it hits the ground). Doing this is quite difficult because you can't stand on the platform, and aiming at the ball changes the direction that you're jumping in. This would have been fine if there were settings to either remove the balls or to stop platforms from disappearing, however, there are no settings to modify the world or to change the game's difficulty. The game's design is simple and enjoyable, but I would have prefered to play on a less challenging difficulty and then change it after getting better at the game. Also, if the difficulty could have been reduced, this would have been my kids' first shooter.
In The Fall, you're a combat suit that was thrown into a mysterious complex and who is trying to save your operator. The game's style resembles a point and click adventure game with some combat elements. PROS: + Good graphics, voice acting, and sound. + Creepy atmosphere. + Engaging story. CONS: - Bad controls. - Problems with ridiculous solutions. The levels are creepy and engaging with graphics and sounds that match them. Also, the story makes you want to continue playing to find out about what happened at the complex, whether or not you will save your operator, and whether or not you're functioning as intended. On the other hand, the controls in the game are very poorly designed. Among other problems, using cover during combat is quite confusing and switching between walking, searching, and shooting is a hassle. However, the enemies are weak, dying isn't a major setback, and you get used to the control issues. Furthermore, like any point and click adventure game, there are problems that have ridiculous solutions. For example, in order to silence a (fake) crying baby, you need to move a pipe over it (via an unrelated event) and then fail a different test in order to suck it into the pipe. The story, atmosphere, graphics, and sound made this game worth playing. However, I'm glad that I used a walkthrough when I got stuck instead of wasting too much time on a trial and error approach that would have taken far too long.
Fun Initially and Repetitive Afterward Oh...Sir!! The Insult Simulator is a game where you and your opponent combat one another by trading grammatically correct insults that you compose from a shared list of sentence components, which are removed as options once they're selected. PROS: + Silly. + Clean fun. CONS: - Repetitive. - Few characters and locations. - Non-insulting statements damage opponents. - Didn't work on Windows 10 (for me). The first few rounds of this game were fun and entertaining. The insults are mostly silly and I never noticed any that were vulgar or crass. However, after playing through the available characters and locations a few times, beating every opponent, and without unlocking anything, I stopped playing because too many of the characters and locations needed to be unlocked and I didn't know how to do that. Also, insults that don't make any sense can damage your opponent, such as "Your wife supports your mom". I felt that the game would have been more enjoyable if all dialog options had been available, the opponent's weaknesses weren't displayed in the character menu, and if opponents became desensitized to an insult after you make it (so that you cannot re-use it). In addition, ridiculous, and funny, insults, such as "Your hat went to community college", should only affect an opponent who is sensitive about fashion. Although, by far, my biggest problem with the game is that it didn't work on a new computer running Windows 10. I attempted to re-install the program and the Visual C++ run time (theirs and one downloaded from Microsoft's website) a number of times, before and after reformatting the computer (which is part of my process for testing new machines). Following that, I gave up on running it on Windows 10 and installed it using a Linux live distribution that was running from a USB drive.
You are an MI7 agent who investigates crimes via your computer desktop, finds evidence, and requests arrests. Throughout the game you will uncover and attempt to foil a plot to overthrow MI7. Pros: + Music + Charming parodies Cons: - Bugs - Limited functionality - Bad/Confusing design - Poor and confusing English at times This game is a story that only progresses when you perform certain actions. Also, this game IS NOT a hacking simulator. The most "hacking" that you'll do in the game is guessing passwords based on their hints. The name of the "iphack" command is misleading. The parodies, such as the Windows XP blue screen of death, XP account icons, and the Ubuntu start up music, are fairly amusing. There are many bugs, but none of the bugs that I encountered were game breaking. However, I needed to restart a mission so I could complete it due to the console erasing the current line every time "u" was pressed. You are very limited in what you can do. For example, you can't save your notes or move the cursor away from the end of the line. This becomes annoying because the game attempts to simulate real world machines, but it does it in a very limited and often incorrect way. This leads to time being wasted on experimentation. The interface has many problems, such as your notes being deleted if you close the window and words overlapping at times. Also, some elements of the game are really confusing. For example, some files that you need to upload in order to make an arrest don't make sense, such as the code file with the single line "run_game()". Usually the dialog is fine, but at times characters suddenly become difficult to understand.
In this game, you are a cracker who works for a mysterious organization committing computer crimes for money. PROS: + Good atmosphere CONS: - No saving - Poor user interface - No keyboard shortcuts - Inadequate explanations The first time I played this game, I unplugged my network cable due to its atmosphere and my paranoia. The feeling of immersion lasted a while and made the game fairly enjoyable. However, this ended over time. The point and click interface is tedious and unintuitive. For example, it wasn't apparent that links could be re-added to the world map after completing missions and it wasn't clear how the proxy/firewall bypassers worked. The shortcomings of the interface are glaring when you need to break into many different computers or one computer repeatedly for a mission. Also, the similarities between the Uplink world and the real world along with inadequate help/explanations causes confusion, but the inability to save and load make learning what you need to know about the game more time consuming. SAVING YOUR GAME: If you want to save your game, you can exit the game, create a folder with the name that describes your current game state, such as "save - bank missions completed", and copy the "users" folders into it. To load the game overwrite the game's "users" files with the ones that you previously copied. If you're a Linux user, just copy the ".uplink" folder in your home folder.
Limbo is a puzzle/platforming game where you attempt to survive and advance toward an unknown goal. PROS: + Great graphics, sound, and animations. + Mysterious and fairly creepy atmosphere. + Continuation points are fairly well placed. + There is little or no backtracking. + Some clever and entertaining puzzles. CONS: - Controls feel insufficient at times. - It is not always apparent what you can interact with. When I started playing this game, the atmosphere was quite creepy. The spider, hostile humans, dead bodies, and primitive traps drove me forward. However, later in the game, these elements disappeared. The feeling of immersion was gone once the puzzles involved anti-gravity. At this point, the game's problems become more apparent and playing it felt like more of a chore. Sometimes, I found myself repeatedly retrying puzzles that I knew the solution to. This was due to the controls barely being able to meet the platforming requirements or because I didn't know that I could interact with an object. This only happened to me a few times near the end of the game, but it interfered with any remaining desire to complete the game. I found the first two thirds of this game to be entertaining, but I could have done without the remainder of it.
