There's better dungeon clawlers out there. It came out after Dungeon Master 2 and manages to be a lot worse. Sure it has digitalized enemies and superficially might look better, but truth be told the graphics were outdated when it came out. Controls are terrible and sluggish, especially the inventory, which is a scroll (!) - yes, no bag of holding which I could live with, a scroll that stores your items... - and takes forever to scroll through. Thankfully time freezes while you handle it. DM 2 has objectively the worse graphics, I still think it looks better, as Stonekeep's dungeon levels come with only one tile each. There also are no healing items - so save your game before you use an item to find out what it does. Just cheap. Until GOG releases Dungeon Master 2 (*HINT* *HINT*) it is available on abondoned games pages. Black Crypt, another excellent dungeon crawler and my personal favorite (still have the Amiga game discs and original manual!) is also available per emulator for download. There's Legend of Grimrock 1 & 2, which are also excellent, Eye of the Beholder 2 & 3 are great and on GOG as well, and the remake of Bard's Tale (not Bard's Tale IV!). All better alternatives to Borekeep - I mean Stonekeep...
I was put off by the mediocre reviews GREEDFALL got upon release. The same folks however celebrated DRAGON AGE INQUISITION when that came out. Fact it, GREEDFALL looks and feels very much like DRAGON AGE 3 (INQUISITION) - DA3, but in fact it is a far superior game. It's a darn shame it did not get the acclaim it deserves. First of all, the setting is refreshingly different - 18th century colonialism - instead of the same old castles & dragons. GREEDFALL also doesn't force-feed a SJW agenda down everyone's throat like DA3 did ("being transgender is okay!" - seriously who wants that bs in a fantasy game?!), while it does focus on JUSTIFIED racial content (colonialism vs. the natives). This means, the content fits in with the story and you do not get the feeling the content was the major plot and the story was constructed around it. Bioware, THIS is how you do it! The world is gorgeous and well crafted. I love the landscape and exploration is fun. Combat is done very well and borrows from DA3: it's real-time by default with the use of costumizable hotkeys for certain actions and keyboard combos. If that is too fast, SPACE or TAB pause the game and allow for the selection of the desired actions through a menu. Overall it is a descent 4 star game because of a few shortcomings: - while in theory there is more than one solution to a problem, it is very dependent on skills, which are limited and not aquired with EVERY level you gain. In the first four hours I found the only solution to be to slaughter my way through everything and everyone, because I selected lockpicking as my beginner's skill and - who knew - a simple task that a chimp could accomplish, dropping sleeping pills in the guards' beverages requires a skill point in science, and the next opportunity to invest in science was 3(!) levels away. That is a damn shame! - there are only 6 different monster types in the entire game - AI is dumb
and put it on steroids. That's AMID EVIL. While not as good as either of its "parents" this one still holds its own as something different. While in QUAKE and DUSK you get mostly guns and in HEXEN you have martial weapons and staves AMID EVIL focuses more on the magical part. One of the staves you pick up tears planets from the sky, compresses them and shoots them at your enemies. Yes, planets! AMID EVIL doesn't have the complex level and puzzle design of the HEXEN and focuses more on quick action. Enemies are tough and require constant dodging. Personally I prefer the lesser puzzle- and more combat-heavy gameplay. There are no experience points or skills like in so many games nowadays, this one is straight forward: fight hordes of enemies, find keys to exit the level, keep track of ammunition (mana) and navigate a gorgeous looking dark fantasy world. The worlds drew inspiration from the first (and only great!) QUAKE game, which I very much appreciate. Each world is different with different monsters. If you loved (the original) QUAKE and HEXEN games, you need to buy DUSK and WRATH: AEON OF RUIN *AND* AMID EVIL and you'll be in 7th heaven. If you however require a GPS system to guide you to your next objective then you should probably give all these game wide berth.
I'm not really into shooters, I loved the original QUAKE because it was different, mixing dark fantasy, H.P. Lovercraft with low-sci-fi. QUAKE II was a major disappointment as it went full sci-fi, like just about every shooter out there. Yawn! There were talks about returning to the original QUAKE roots, but so far nothing developed. The wait is over. Well, almost, this is early access, only the hub area and the first two levels are available so far, with more content to follow. If you are just gonna b!atch about boohoo $22 for two levels, just don't buy it. The roadmap is layed out, so you've been warned. This has been on my radar since it's been announced and so far it has not disappointed. So far, this is the superior QUAKE II. WRATH perfectly blends horror with a dark, mysterious fantasy/sci-fi world, excellent world and creature design and fantastic looking graphics for the QUAKE engine. It kind of throws in a little survival elements since you cannot just save willy-nilly, only by using one of the soul tethers or shrines found across the game world. Some creatures remind me of the original QUAKE, the wraiths are like the Vores, the afflicted are your ogres, the invaders act as your grunts. You'll feel right at home. Needless to say this is a must-buy for anyone who loved the original QUAKE.
In a time long ago when the name Bioware still meant something before the creative people left and they started making crap like DRAGON AGE INQUISITION, MASS EFFECT ANDROMEDA and ANTHEM... DRAGON AGE ORIGINS is an epic RPG, among the best ever made, with approx. 100 hours of gameplay with a captivating story, unforgettable characters and an innovative origins character creation, featuring a different beginning for each of the races. The add-on DRAGON AGE THE AWAKENING features another 15-20 hours with an even better story and darker scenery and an interesting adversary. This is dark fantasy at it's best before it got all watered down and packed full of SJW crap in INQUISITION. Sure it isn't perfect, there are your boring fetch quests, some parts are tedious and drag on (the fade levels are probably the worst), but tactical and challenging combat (yes, this game is hard) and an extraordinary character system make up for it all. The graphics still hold up well today - the animations being the weakest part, but you can zoom into the battle and get real close (over the shoulder) or zoom out to a BALDUR'S GATE isometric point of view any time you want. The combat is the usual pausable real-time style and micro management during the difficult boss battles becomes mandatory on any but the easiest difficulty setting. Charging in rarely works out. The protagonist is silent by the way, except for a few grunts during combat. Whether you like it or not comes down to preference. Personally, I prefered Jo Wyatt's and Alix Wilton Regan's voice acting in the sequels (the only good thing about those, and no I never finished either of them because they got boring real quick). If you like fantasy RPGs you probably already own this one. And if you don't, get it now.
This is like HEXEN 2 PORTAL OF PRAEVUS on the DOOM engine minus the insane puzzles plus GUNS! Throw in some ARX FATALIS and shake well. In other words, if you like DOOM, HEXEN & HERETIC, this is a MUST OWN. Why pay $10 for basically a .wad file for GZDOOM? Because it's not "just" a .wad file! This is like a total conversion stand-alone game, made from scratch. Nothing was recycled from DOOM/HEXEN/HERETIC. A lot of work went into this project and it shows. The player character is a demoness with a unique arsenal of weapons which are all fun to use. Excellent level design from start to finish with a lot of variety, an underground dungeon system, a castle and a snowy surface, all packed with various critters. It is just fun to explore the big maps and see as much as you can. Definitely worth buying!
BATTLE CHASERS: NIGHTWAR apparently is based on a comic book (didn't know that before I bought it) and the entire game stays true to that style. I'm neither a comic book fan nor a *J*RPG fan, so I did noot care for this game at all. Most of the game takes place on a map where you can merely follow a path. If you bump into enemies there's a JRPG-typical tactical battle screen, only some places like caves allow a zoomed in isometric exploration mode. RPG elements are minimalistic. No stats to improve, perks are auto-picked, there are no builds: your characters have ficed classes, no leeway there. Hardcore RPG fans will be very disappointed. For fans of simple *J*RPGs you can add one more star to my rating, otherwise stay clear.
What moron had the stupid idea of introducing shifting camera angles like in the original Alone in the Dark games into a Diabloesque Hack & Slash??? What could have been a fun game with really good characters is let down by terrible camera angles and controls where half the time you can't see where you're running to because the camera decides to show your character ffrom the front. How stupid is that??? Need to shoot down the chains to lower a bridge? Well my character decides to shoot in the opposite direction instead. Genius! Deinstalled after 20 minutes.
Usually games without combat are not my thing at all. I let myself be tempted by the overwhelmingly positive reviews, and I must say, they are RIGHT. This is the most captivating and interesting RPG in YEARS. In many ways it reminds me of PLANESCAPE: TORMENT, more of a classic Point & Click adventure with a lot of RPG elements and plenty of skill checks. The RPG part is deep. After so many disappointing RPGs lately (looking at you, BARD'S TALE IV, PILLARS OF ETERNITY II...) this one is a huge unexpected surprise and totally worth every penny of its full price. Story telling, world building, writing and RPG system are flawless, it lacks a bit on the technical side (voice acting and graphics), which is easily dismissed when actually fully captivated by the deep detective work and choices. So, enough gushing. I have a murder case to solve!
Got the DC since critics said it fixed the "problems" it had upon it's first release. Got playing and found it was nice, nothing special though. Then yesterday there was a mega update 30+ GB. Since then load times are atrocious. My old saves are gone. After the intro loading took more than 10 minutes(!). I had to abort. Deleteing this for good. 10+ minutes loading??? The Witcher 3 doesn't take that long and that is technically FAR superior.
