My first Wadjet adventure, and one of the first adventure that I've ever finished. This genre never appealed me much, being generally too weak and often cliché to be a story, and too slow and boring to be a game. But this time playing GR has been rewarding. Yes it takes longer than watching a good movie (it took me a day to go through it) but the quality of the writing is that of a good Sci-Fi movie, although very reminiscent of Blade Runner (kind of a copy, actually), but you never get the sense of the whole story until the end. A great, not childish adventure that I don't regret buying and playing.
Can't make a real review on GOG, endless thanks for the size limit. Anyway this game isn't that bad, the AI isn't good but neither Sysem Shock 2 has a good AI, nor Deus Ex and other celebrated titles. The game is VERY long, the plot is rather absurd at times, a couple of levels are really annoying (luckily only a very small portion of the game) but for the rest it's an interesting shooter and better than others.
I played this after Geneforge series. I liked GF better, but Avadon isn't a bad game, actually I had a lot of fun. There are also things I didn't like (it's only possible to enter an area from one side, a step backwards from GF, bothersome but luckily will be corrected in Avadon 2), but overall the game is very enjoyable. Somewhat more clichée than GF, but rather good characters. It's also relatively easier (2-3 very difficult battles, and are optional). I could even play it again sometimes (after Avernum maybe).
This game is a real RPG, disguised as a platform game. You may say it's a light RPG, but the ending is really hard, and some bosses are hard too, so 'light' falls out of place. You need strategy more than ability to jump around like in most platform games (you need also that, to a certain extent), and this is what makes it an RPG for me. It has some faults: humor is overall funny, if you aren't too puritan, sometimes even great, but sometimes a bit too schoolboyish. Some parts are frustrating for the time you lose without being able to do anything (like those monsters that cause slippery hands). Bosses are extremely well thought, gameplay is very balanced. Finally the game is very long (it took me more than a week to complete it), maybe even too long for somebody, but better too long than too short in these cases! And the ending is one of the best I've ever seen in any game. I read a lot of people are bothered by the kind of humor, at first I was perplexed too, but the writing is overall good, and it gets better as the game progresses. It's a refreshing change from all those games that take themselves too seriously but haven't much to say in the end (zombies and vampires all over the place). The game is much more epic than most 'epic' games you'll find out there, because it's hard. And.. it's original. There are tons of original ideas (leeches..), many more than you'll find in most games of the last 5 years put together.
This game isn't terribly old, still it looks old because of the (excellent) 2D graphics. Besides my personal preference of 2D over 3D, there is such an attention to the details, that makes the world almost living. There are a number of races (humans, elves, orcs, goblins, centaurs, dwarves and many more), random events with different moral approaches (that have serious consequences in the long term), a sect of inquisitors that can claim the right to 'punish' some of your provinces or even invade them, and a ton of other contents. What makes this game great, is that all this content doesn't distract from the strategy, it's part of it and makes it richer. Eador is the quintessence of the strategy game, and it is very hard and unforgiving. The gameplay itself is rather similar to the most illustrious of the fantasy strategy games, Master of Magic. In the campaign mode you have to fight over shards, small worlds of their own, whose size is tiny or small at first and becomes bigger as the game progresses. Fortunately, if you lose in one shard the game isn't over, you can still progress. It is a sort of matryoshka, where the battle on each shard is part of a bigger picture. Every victory on a shard grants knowledge of new buildings and units, and more astral energy income. To make it short, this is a game that you could play for a lifetime, like MoM, without getting bored. That's why it's a masterpiece, for me. My best buy on GOG together with Geneforge Saga.
One Must Fall 2097 was the best fighting game for PC, this was was almost universally scorned by the press. I owned the first Body Blows, OMF2097 was much superior. In a Team17 compilation, along with ProjectX and some other game, it would make sense, but alone for 5.99$? Not for me.
Finishing S1 was rather easy, it plays like Outrun with improved graphics but the driving feel in that game is still an arcade one. S2 is different: the driving feel is the best I've ever experienced (I didn't play modern driving games though), and it's been for long the only driving race that kept me interested in and that maybe one day I'll finish (didn't manage yet).
