Graphics: 7/10 Story: 4/10 Gameplay: 5/10 ------------------- The Wheel of Time does the same as every other FPS of that time. Different weapons in the form of magic - offensive and defensive spells - are the main thing that one is using. While many of those are not used they give a unique way of playing. The story is very lackluster. It starts somewhat strong but spirals down quickly with an abrupt ending that does not make much sense. Its the weakest point of the game. The graphics for that time are good, based on the Unreal Engine. Some effects are nice like the soulstorm or chain lighning. On the other hand the videos and npcs are clunky and feel unpolished. The same goes for the AI of the npcs: its very weak in terms of pathing and difficulty. All in all the game is worth its time but only once. After that its a forgettable experience and can be put down forever without leaving a "wow!" moment.
Well, here it is: the good old Diablo 1. But is it really that good? If you want to know it, keep on reading. The Story itself is pretty good. A group of adventureres, a warrior, rogue and sorcerer came to Tristam where an evil power haunts the village. All while the son of King Leoric went missing. Without fear you venture down the so called "Labyrinth". Twisted, dark corridors of horror and death to find the pure evil which is the reason humanity goes down the drain. Well, thats it. The first three stars this game gets. The Story is a gem itself. But as many games which shine with their story we got a game which gameplay is, and Im being honest here, is not as great as it seems to be. Depending on your choices you either klick to attack with your sword/bow or throw some magic abilites at you foes. Sounds cool but in reality its just clunky and not very fun to play. Which leads me to the graphics. Those are pretty good for a game its age and time. Very charming to be precise. They even add a more horror feeling and let you imagine how they would turn out if they were really out there. These graphics paired with the sound and you got a pretty nice touch of a immersive world which goes by the name of sanctuary. The Characters in the world - some who sound/talk like ever bored people who just want to be left alone - add a nice touch to this world. You got a perma-drunk guy, a beefy smith and a wich. What do you want more in a dark fantasy? And here it is: the forth star. But you do want to know why only four stars for such a iconic game? Well, it is short if you play it for the story, its clunky and not very fun to play within its limits. But let me get this straight: if you never have played Diablo 1, well, then you missed one good game. It has it drawbacks but if you got around 8 hours and want story and a immersive world: then you got one hell of a game!
Jazzpunk - at first you think its going to be a game with jazzy music and 70s nostalgia. But not with this weird game. But let me start at the beginning: you start up the game and the intro - its just phenomenal. It fits the coming game up to 100% but does not tell you much. You start in a subwaystation and your boss hands out some pills so you can on a mission. And here it starts: the psychedelic adventure you would not expect. The Graphics are pretty and the world has many aspects and settings. From russian officecomplexes to the neuralnetwork of the game up into the intestines of a crocodile-person. In addition you get those little minigames - which you can do but do not have to. But they add a nice touch of "what the f.. is going on?". As told at the beginning: the music is great. If you like the lowtune of some Jazz and not so hype music you will love the sound setting. But thats not everything the game has to offer. The story is pretty easy and not really worth to review. And thats the first reason why this game only gets three out of five stars. The story is mediocre. More cannot be said about it because everything would be a spoiler in itself. The second reason for another star loss: the gameplay. Basicly you dont do much. Walking here, jumping there. It is just a walking sim in which you press E to get a joke or funny line. So..all in all its a good game. Around 2 and a half hours of jokes, funny lines and your drug adventure. As an ending note: this game would be a fantastic VR-experience if you like but unfortuneatly its not. I would still recommend to buy and play this game but dont expect too much out of it.
Nox - a RPG made by good old Westwood Studios. With ~6 hours played as a warrior I already had enough fun with this game for its price of around 6€. 4/5 stars. Why do you ask? Well here it goes: Storywise the game does not take it as serious as other titles like Diablo. But is that bad? Nope. It fits Nox and its world. So, you're this guy Jack. Who lives in a trailer and watches his Tv-Shows and all of a sudden his tv breaks down and finds himself in the world of Nox. Strange isn't it? But why is it only a "good" game instead of a "fantastic" or "best" one? Well, here is why and let me start with the graphics. They are pretty good for their age and fit a RPG with focus on action and interaction - all enemies look different and the world ranges from deep woods, high mountains into the infernal underworld. This is enhanced with great sounddesign and ambience. But this is not even the big sellingpoint. You got there an immersive world, great sound - but what is missing? Right, the dialogue and storyteller. All (and with that I really mean all) dialogues are nearly perfect and well written and voiced. All in all its a gorgues game in that regard. But where is good there has to be bad things. The controls of the game are pretty clunky. Stand near something? Nope. You got to move atleast one inch more to take an item or use a lever (even of you standing right in it). Another let down are the abilities. For example: you play as a warrior and over the course of the game you get those neat little abilites. Five of them. One may say: dont play warrior. But, to be honest, even a warrior can/could use more than five spells from which two are kinda useless. So what does that mean? Nox is a good RPG with some minor issues. Like magic and spells? Play as wizard. Like swords and brute force? Play as a warrior. Like creatures and bows? Conjourer it is. I can only recommend this fine piece of a game. If you can stand those little annoying things, then youre in for a good time.
Party Hard - one night a guy is done with his neighbours party. He just wants to sleep.. how does he achieve that? Right. He kills everyone. How else could one end such thing. The game itself looks quite charming but in the end is a bad failure. But why is that? Lets start with the good things: The graphics are good. Pixel-like, good colors and difference in characters. More cannot be said about the graphics. The music/sound is good and every level has a new setting and sound - but thats it. Now to the bad things: the game is a hell of repetitive gameplay. Lots and lots of stabbing. One would say the descrition says you can murder the partyfolks with traps and various encounter. Well..its true. You can do that but only once and most of the time is not even worth the effort. An example: you go and kill this one guy with a bunch of heavy logs. The others around him? Not even scratched. So in the end those traps are kinda useless and with mostly 30-60 "objectives" to kill - you go around and stab around 70% of the guys and girls. Even though there is a range of different maps: its going to be the same objective. Kill. Them. All. - I mean sure, why not, but it lacks heavily on diversity. The next big, bad thing are the bugs: the police officer gets stuck -> go have fun stabbing everyone. Corpes are not detected, Stabs dont hit even though they are standing right in your face. Thats only some of those bugs which kind of kill the game by itself already. Even if one would ignore the bugs, the repetitive gameplay etc - theres one thing left: the story. Its a generic one. Mad psychopath goes on a killingspree around the USA. All the cops cant get him. He "wins" in the end. And done. Thats all you get and to be honest: even without the story you could play the game. It adds nothing but a hollow frame you could follow on. So in the end the game deserve not much attention. Dont get me wrong..its fun for 1-2 hours (max.) but thats it. I just cannot recommend this game at all.
Stronghold - a classic itself. I can only recommend this piece especially for around 5 bucks. Its a steal. You get a great game for many hours of gameplay. But why you ask? Heres why: It has a campaign. Peace and War alike. In the economy campaign your task is to gather X and Y goods or gold while handling your stronghold and defending it against nature and/or bandits. But the main part takes in the war campaign. There lies the complete story of the game: "The Wolf" wants some of your kingdom. His Allies? Too. But you? You dont like that.. especially keeping in mind that the wolf kills your father. The typical medieval story if you wish. So far so good. But it does not stop there: the graphics may be a bit old but still fancy. You can oversee your worker and townsfolk at their work while managing your little keep. A big plus is that nearly everything is voiced. Your archer, stonemason or farmer talks to you back. Depending on your decisions you make. A little minus - but keep in mind it was the style from back then - is that you can turn your camera in 90° - this can help you place buildings etc - but sometimes its not so great because you cant see behind the wall unless you hide them with space or the rightclick menu. Another plus is the music. Its a classic itself. You are going to hear a peaceful tune but wait until the fight starts - a hefty 180° turn and the music goes right into "lets fight" tune. I have to say: I only played the multiplayer (via Lan) back in the day. But I guess it should work like a charm with the gog-version. The last thing I going to talk about: the game has still today some bugs and glitches. if you play without them you going have a good challenging game with long hours in it. But if you try them - well - its getting quite easy real quick. As reviewed before: I can only recommend this game. Never played it? Play it. Already played it? Go play it again! Its such a great title which deverse to be played (even several times!)
Dex - a action side-scrolling RPG from 2015 - fits perfectly in your cyberpunklibrary of games. And here is the why: The game itself targets a young adult/adult audience and takes no special skills to play - a fantastic casual game if you like story, building up your character and enjoying the scenery. The Story: is to some extend mediocre. Its your typical story: Girl (Dex) has vivid dreams from nowhere and suddenly gets chased by Armagear (a private army if you like). From that the story starts to unfold itself and soaks you right into cyberspace, augmentations and a dystopian world. Even though the story is mediocre it has special moments and you can even decide how the story goes. There are sidequests and fates for the npc you can decide (for the collectors: there are even achievements!) Graphics & Audio: The graphics are fantastic. They are pixely to a extend but in a good way. The colors, lighting etc - all of that fits perfectly to the setting and lets you fully immerse in it. The Audio enhances this. So much. The OST is just great. I would go so far to say its one of the best (in the Cyberpunksetting). I just cant add more. Its as simple as that. 10/10 for this category. But whats about the difficulty and the length of the game? At tthis point I have to take away some of the stars. Why? Well.. around 8 hours of gameplay is just too short for a rpg - there was room for way more than it is. The map could have been larger, sidequests could have been more etc. Even the achievements wont save it. In those 8 hours I already did all the achievements. Even though I totally enjoyed the time I spent in Dex, its just too little. In the end I can only recommend this game. Yea its short but its a hell of a ride. The Sidequests? A big plus. The RPG elements? Check. Graphics and sound? Check. All in all: buy it. Its worth it. The decs did a phenomenal job on this game and deserve this credit. 4/5 stars - you could make it a little better but hey, nothings perfect!
Clive Barker's Undying - a horrorgame from 2001 - hits the urge for a classic game of this genre just enough to take a closer look at it. I would recommend this game solely to an teen/adult audience, casual and pro-player alike. But whats the reason for that? Story: Let me start with the story. Youre playing as Patrick Galloway, soldier of the first World War and now a specialist in black magic, the occult and alike. Your fellow soldier Jeremiah Covenant writes to you to help him out with a curse which haunts him and his manor. The story itself is stereotypical horror with hints here and there whats going on. The story itself is interesting up until the third boss. After that it feels like it went downhill pretty fast. Not only are the twists obvious - the characters themselves start to get stale and predictable. Graphics & Audio: The graphics are (for a title from 2001) pretty good. They show in detail the different enemies and bosses aswell as the enviroment. Even though many places are dull and empty (like the mountains and monastery) the manor (which should have been the mainstage) is a fantastic dark place with horror right around the corner. I even encountered a few jumpscares - a nice surprise - in a otherwise very rushed combat/game. The Audio is good. Haunting sounds, screams, people talking. The mix is good and not overused. Definitely a big plus to keep one intersted in the game. Length & Difficutly: The game itself can be played in three different difficulties. Easy, medium and hard. With around 8 hours of playtime (rushed after 3/4th of the game) the game is of normal length for an fps with a story. I would say it could add up to 12 hours if played on hard. The bosses are not as hard as they should be, especially the endboss is a big let down. But still: 8 hours are worth the money. So, what would I recommend? The game itself is worth the money you spent on it. 4/5 Stars because the beginning till mid/late game are great. The Endgame is lackluster.
