This a 90s point and click adventure game, and those are infamous for their gameplay. So let me start by saying that I beat this only needing to use a guide three times. This first time was because I'd missed a tiny sprite on screen; frustrating, but at least it only happened once. The second time was my fault for not paying attention to what had changed. The third time was the most disappointing; not only is the endgame is unclear, but I'd happened to select a character that is apparently unable to complete their story by themselves, for no good reason that I can see. Still, in all three cases I could still have completed the game and got the best ending, so I feel I was wrong to resort to looking up the solutions. The other relevant aspect for this genre is the story. I Have No Mouth has a great reputation here, and in this regard I was slightly disappointed. The fact the five characters never really interact feels like a missed opportunity. The individual character stories didn't feel tonally or thematically consistent to me; nor did they do a good job setting up the climax. Which is not to say I disliked them, they just didn't quite live up to my expectations. Overall, I did like this game, just perhaps not as much as most people seem to.
This is a direct sequel to the first game, and my review will assume you've played the first one. So let me begin by stating what this game does better. Now, when you move your icon over the map, it is clearly stated which interaction points will take you to a new screen. That's it. Sadly, the list of things that were done worse is somewhat longer. For gameplay, there's not too much difference between the games. Yhey're both classic adventure games, which means puzzles that might not make much sense even in retrospect. It's forgiving, with no fail state that I'm aware of and the puzzles aren't too bad. But, in the first game I generally had an idea what I was doing, what I needed to do next, and how it connected. I felt things were much less well connected here; I was more often just doing things randomly to see what happened. Worse, there were some very annoying examples of tediousness in the design, particularly later on. The ice tunnel puzzle with the rodent is a good example; every new attempt requires slowly walking back several screens to get more water. It wasn't long before I just gave up and used a walkthrough on that one. The real problems with this game are with the story. The first game didn't really have an antagonist. Maybe they took that as far as they could, and needed to do something new. But you don't solve that with some shallow, cliched, and incompetent villains. Then there was the stuff going on back in America, which seemed to be setting up some conflict only to go nowhere. The killer issue is with our "heroes". Late in the story, our heroine and her companion do something that destroyed what sympathy I had left. Instead of a tale of an old man's last wish, this became the story of a selfish jerk doing what he wants without consideration for others. It not only ruined this game, but the first one in retrospect.
I remember playing Flashback in the 90s. It had impressive graphics, an intriguing story, and super realistic controls. I also don't remember ever finishing it. Replaying now, almost 30 years later, the game does show its age. Obviously the graphics can't wow the way they once did, though I think the solid graphical design holds up pretty well. The story starts and ends well, but waffles a bit in the middle; plus it's mostly a thing framing device. The biggest problem I had replaying were the controls; there's a certain stiffness and slowness that makes the trickier sections quite frustrating. The last level is pretty brutal, especially the morph enemy type. On the other hand, the challenge did demand I focus, and pay attention to healing and save points. And I definitely remember finishing it now!
I enjoyed my time with Syberia, but I don't think it will win any converts to the adventure game genre. It has a strong and distinctive setting, but doesn't really stand out in any other dimension. Gameplay-wise, this is smart enough to avoid unwinnable situations. For most of the game, I understood my goal and the puzzles were not too frustrating. Though they also weren't particularly hard, so those looking for a meaty mental challenge might be disappointed. I had to use a walkthrough in a few places, but this was usually because I'd failed to spot an interactable item. I also wasn't a big fan of the conversation system; sometimes you need to select "Help" to advance, sometimes "Mission", sometimes some other word, with no hint as to which. In practice, the correct strategy is just to try all of them every time you talk to anyone; which is bad for narrative immersion and also quite tedious. The story was fine. While hunting for Hans serves as the overarching goal, in practice you have a number of vignettes with only a loose thematic connection. The intention was presumably to indirectly shed light on Hans's character, which more or less worked; and to develop Kate's, which was less successful. I also think the game did a decent job at using the puzzles to develop the story and world. At then end of the day, I did like my time with Syberia.
Playing this (for the first time) it's easy to see why Serious Sam is still getting new installments... but also why it never became that big. It's fun, with a range of enemies and weapons, and if all you want is you vs hundreds of enemies in a pure test of skill, you'll find that here. But I also felt there was a certain lack of polish, and the gameplay never really felt like it evolved. I enjoyed playing this, but I'm also not in any rush to play again.
I strongly enjoyed the core gameplay of Return of the Obra Dinn. The puzzle solving is cleverly set up and implemented, and very original. The story is also inventive and does a great job in revealing its world through the very short vignettes. Sadly, I felt there were a few small detractions, so the game did not quite live up to its reputation. The biggest problem is visual. I don't usually care about graphics, but the one-colour imagery began to hurt my eyes after a while. More damningly, it made some important things difficult to properly see and identify. Also, for a story that started so powerfully, I felt it left a little too much unanswered by the end. Still, don't take this as a recommendation against this game. I certainly don't regret buying and experiencing it.
I'm not a huge fan of shoot-em-ups, but I enjoyed Tyrian 2000. It helps that it's free, of course, but there's still a time investment and I enjoyed that. I think the big appeal is the huge selection of ship and weapon load-outs, offering plenty of different playstyles and options to explore. There are also plenty of hidden secrets to find (or look up online), as well as great art design, solid music and an okay story. There are things I could quibble over, such as the dodgy method of story telling or the tendency towards too much silliness, but in a free game these can be easily overlooked. Recommended.
Doom is good. Obviously. What surprised me, playing it for the first time in over 20 years, was just how good it is. New concepts, enemies and items are carefully introduced through the game. The difficulty curve and level design are, with a couple of exceptions, excellent. With the exception of the pistol, the weapons are incredibly well balanced; even the BFG, a byword for overpowered, requires some skill to use. And, of course, the high-tempo action that helped Doom burst onto the scene in the 90s is still straightforward simple fun. The game does show its age in a few places; the lack of true 3D and consequent inability to look up or down, and the somewhat dated controls scheme, being the biggest problems. But even if there weren't tools to fix them these wouldn't be deal-breakers. I'm glad I picked this up, and encourage you to do the same.
Some ga,es stand the test of time, and remain as good now as when they were first released. Little Big Adventure is not one of them. What little good there was here simply didn't justify the tedium, frustration and unsatisfactory experience that is playing it. Look elsewhere. I suppose I should start with the positives. The setting is very original, and what of the plot I saw hinted at possibly interesting developments. That's it. The negatives are overwhelming. The voice acting is just awful. Worse, while most dialogues can at least be skipped, this is not possible if you need to reply. The music is mediocre. The in-game map is worthless. The screen does not automatically move when you do, resulting in it being easy to be attacked by enemies you can't see. Also, the point of view is so close that when navigating the outside areas, it is hard to know where to go. The controls are even worse. The different action modes was an interesting idea, but there's a reason why it hasn't been repeated; the need to constantly switch from a combat mode to a running mode to a talking mode quickly gets boring. Plus, its extremely easy while running to injure yourself, thanks to the tank controls. But even they might be tolerable if you weren't expected to shoot lots of enemies on an isometric grid. Even when attacking stationary enemies that didn't strike back, I needed several tries to get successful hits. Enemies that do attack frequently stun-lock you, making the very idea of a health bar pointless. This is an adventure-style game with puzzles, but the constant combat and abundance of enemies interfere with that. It is really hard to explore and try and find solutions when the slightest wrong step can result in death or, worse, imprisonment. And that's what ultimately killed the game for me. I simply got tired of replaying the same prison escape sequences over and over; pointless, boring, and time-consuming. I regret buying this and advise you not to.
Whatever historic merits Another World may have, it simply doesn't hold up today. This is the least enjoyable game I have played this year, and one of the most unpleasant single-player experiences I've ever had. That's due to gameplay that combines the worst aspects of old adventure puzzlers, including an abundance of one-hit kills, with a mediocre combat system further ruined by stiff and unresponsive controls. All of this is further made more unbearable by the absence of a save function. In a single session, the game will autosave your progress. However, even this is unpredictable and random. Expect to replay the same sections over and over again. It's hard to know what's worse; replaying easy but tedious parts, or refighting combats where victory owes as much to luck as skill that you've already won. It was the latter led to me quitting the game unfinished; I'd beaten what a guide tells me was essentially the final boss, only to get killed by an unpredictable, undodgeable laser blast. Faced with playing through the last shoot out for a twentieth time, I decided I'd had enough. I got this game for a 75% discount, and I still feel like that was too expensive. Spend your money elsewhere.
