3 Yrs✓#
f_n_c
3 Yrs✓#
Hello everyone!
I really like playing games, and also writing about them. Inspired by the other fantastic blogs here on HLTB I decided to start my own to record my thoughts and improve my English writing ability (I'm Italian).
My first console was a GBA Micro with Pokémon Emerald and Iridion II. From there I had only Nintendo consoles for a while, then I switched to a PS3 and finally to a Xbox One S and an old ASUS laptop. I usually play old games or titles that I get for free on Epic / Amazon Games, but sometimes I also buy discounted games on Steam and the Xbox store. I play nearly everything and I have a sweet spot for RPGs and strategy games.
I generally play one or two games at the same time, and often I also run along a Crusader Kings 2/3 campaign.
I really like playing games, and also writing about them. Inspired by the other fantastic blogs here on HLTB I decided to start my own to record my thoughts and improve my English writing ability (I'm Italian).
My first console was a GBA Micro with Pokémon Emerald and Iridion II. From there I had only Nintendo consoles for a while, then I switched to a PS3 and finally to a Xbox One S and an old ASUS laptop. I usually play old games or titles that I get for free on Epic / Amazon Games, but sometimes I also buy discounted games on Steam and the Xbox store. I play nearly everything and I have a sweet spot for RPGs and strategy games.
I generally play one or two games at the same time, and often I also run along a Crusader Kings 2/3 campaign.
MY COLLECTIONS
- D&D Games Collection: https://howlongtobeat.com/user/f_n_c/lists/19177/Dungeons-%26-Dragons-games
- 2023 Metacritic Top 100: https://howlongtobeat.com/user/f_n_c/lists/10049/Metacritic-Top-100-(2023)
3 Yrs✓#
f_n_c3 Yrs✓#
UPDATE #1
Here I am with the first blog update! Since it is my first post I will review the last game I finished and give an overview about the games that I'm playing.
Suzerain is a textual adventure game with some managerial elements, published by Torpor Games in 2020. The player impersonates Anton Rayne, the newly elected president of Sordland, a fictional state that is still recovering from a brutal dictatorship and has several internal and external problems.
I have an Amazon Prime Student subscription active since the Amazon Games project creation and I always redeemed all the free games given, building up quite a library. Suzerain is a textual adventure that always interested me but was always overshadowed by something else when I needed to decide what to play. I decided to try it out and I was completely hooked from the first minutes. The art direction is great, the music is evocative and the plot is simply astounding.
The game presents you with a lot of meaningful decisions and you will be constantly torn between what is right and what is better. I tried to play it as an uncorrupt reformist politician, trying to guide the country toward a more democratic future eliminating the influence of the "Old Guard" still close to the first country's dictator, and I was couped by the military near the end of the term. In the final chapter, all the decisions you've made are indirectly highlighted by a stream of well-thought events that made me question some of my early-game decisions.
I'm a sucker for government "simulation" games, and this title is almost a dream come true. It has some flaws, but the overall quality of the game makes them insignificant. I look forward to the upcoming expansion, probably I will buy it as soon as it is published (something that I NEVER do). I will definitely replay the game a second time, trying to get a better ending (even if I know that keeping the economy afloat will be a serious challenge).
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sleeping Dogs is incredible, probably it will be a 10/10 for me. Recently Pokémon nostalgia hit hard and I started to play W2 on my phone during small breaks, I didn't expect it to be so good.
Here I am with the first blog update! Since it is my first post I will review the last game I finished and give an overview about the games that I'm playing.
Suzerain - PC (Amazon Games)
SCORE: 9/10
Suzerain is a textual adventure game with some managerial elements, published by Torpor Games in 2020. The player impersonates Anton Rayne, the newly elected president of Sordland, a fictional state that is still recovering from a brutal dictatorship and has several internal and external problems.
I have an Amazon Prime Student subscription active since the Amazon Games project creation and I always redeemed all the free games given, building up quite a library. Suzerain is a textual adventure that always interested me but was always overshadowed by something else when I needed to decide what to play. I decided to try it out and I was completely hooked from the first minutes. The art direction is great, the music is evocative and the plot is simply astounding.
The game presents you with a lot of meaningful decisions and you will be constantly torn between what is right and what is better. I tried to play it as an uncorrupt reformist politician, trying to guide the country toward a more democratic future eliminating the influence of the "Old Guard" still close to the first country's dictator, and I was couped by the military near the end of the term. In the final chapter, all the decisions you've made are indirectly highlighted by a stream of well-thought events that made me question some of my early-game decisions.
I'm a sucker for government "simulation" games, and this title is almost a dream come true. It has some flaws, but the overall quality of the game makes them insignificant. I look forward to the upcoming expansion, probably I will buy it as soon as it is published (something that I NEVER do). I will definitely replay the game a second time, trying to get a better ending (even if I know that keeping the economy afloat will be a serious challenge).
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
CURRENTLY PLAYING
- Sleeping Dogs: Definitive Edition - Xbox One
- Pokémon White 2 - Emulated
Sleeping Dogs is incredible, probably it will be a 10/10 for me. Recently Pokémon nostalgia hit hard and I started to play W2 on my phone during small breaks, I didn't expect it to be so good.
4 Yrs✓#
Dodo_dog
4 Yrs✓#
Welcome to the Blogs, f_n_c!
I also have many of those prime games. It will be fun to see your review of them! Suzerain sounds very cool! I will definitely give it a go sometime. In fact, yesterday, I started Across the Grooves from my prime games backlog. Have you played that one already? I'm enjoying it so far.
3 Yrs✓#
f_n_c3 Yrs✓#
I'll definitely play and review other Amazon games, there are a lot of interesting titles and some classics that I missed among them. I didn't know Across the Grooves, it flew under the radar when I checked the redeemed games for interesting titles. It seems like my cup of tea, I'll surely try it in the future!
3 Yrs✓#
f_n_c3 Yrs✓#
UPDATE #2
Reviewing this edition of Sleeping Dogs is painful. It's a wonderful experience (at the modest sale price of 4.99€), don't get me wrong, but this game has obvious flaws that greatly decrease its overall quality.
STORY AND WRITING
The game puts you in the uncomfortable shoes of Wei Shen, an undercover cop tasked with destroying the Sun On Yee triad from the inside. Wei was born in Hong Kong but moved to the United States when he was still young, and his mission takes an almost instant personal turn since he's quickly reunited with old friends and foes.
The story premise is interesting, and the first sequence, definitely inspired by John Woo's "The Killer", is spectacular. Sadly, the game manages to remain interesting for the first half, but after a big plot twist, everything becomes shallow and trivial. The cop / criminal duality of the main character also falls quickly on the spectrum of "fuck my bosses, I know what to do", which is pretty simplistic. The ending feels a little rushed, but at least it closes all the narrative arcs.
The whole game feels like a classic Hong Kong action movie, and for me, this was enough to forgive most of the big plot flaws since I love Asian cinema. The true main character of the game is in fact Hong Kong: sprawling, carefully detailed, and thriving. Driving around the map is a pleasure, and the beautiful scenery never ceases to amaze me.
GAMEPLAY
The whole experience is built on three pillars: hand-to-hand combat, shooting, and driving. The combat feels great; it has a good system similar to the Batman Arkham series and supports melee weapons and brutal ambiental finishers with environment objects. The shooting sections are barebones; there are not a lot of weapons, and they can be pretty difficult if the player doesn't abuse the slow-motion effect (taken directly from "Hard Boiled") automatically activated when Wei vaults over a cover. Driving the vehicles has an arcade but strange feel: sometimes the motorcycles don't handle as you would expect, but it's not a bad system. The whole gameplay system is solid and fun, even if it shows signs of its age.
There are a lot of collectibles and secondary activities; they are fun, but they tend to become repetitive after some time. Secondary activities give you experience points of different types that grant you upgrades unlocks, but the system is unbalanced: I reached the maximum level of two types very fast while the last type (triad) was impossible to max out in a single playthrough.
The true flaws of this game, sadly, are all found on the technical side. The definitive edition improved lighting and textures, but a lot of models (like pedestrians) feel very outdated and out of place. On Xbox, the game is capped at 30 fps (not a big deal for me), but it suffered almost continuous slowdowns in every situation (mainly during cutscenes and exploration). The game is still playable, but it is definitely a mess. There are also some minor glitches and bugs, but the game flows rather smoothly nonetheless.
DLCS AND FINAL CONSIDERATIONS
Zodiac Tournament, the first expansion, is directly integrated into the main campaign and is a short and fun-filled long mission inspired by "Enter the Dragon". Nightmare in North Point is a horror themed DLC, totally separated from the main campaign. The premise is interesting (the city is overrun by Chinese vampires called by a dead triad member) and never takes itself too seriously, but it's too short and the variety is almost non-existent. Finally, Year of the Snake is another separate DLC that is set after the main story and sees Wei demoted to a simple cop by his superiors for bad behavior. Hong Kong gets a New Year's Eve look; the missions are fun (you hunt down a doomsday cult), but the ending is pretty unsatisfying, and the secondary content is very dry. The Definitive Edition has all this content already included, but I would have been very upset if I needed to pay for it since the whole quality is mediocre at best.
Sleeping Dogs is a rough gem; the technical flaws and its overall age cast a shadow on the whole product. It would have been a phenomenal entry in a series that could fix the problems of the first game, creating a more polished work. I had a lot of fun with it, and I wish I could give it a higher score. If you play it on PC, where I think that most of the technical problems are solved, you can consider it a solid 8.5/10.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I already played Baldur's Gate 1, which gave me enough experience to play Icewind Dale without problems. The game is great, but I miss a more substantial storyline. I just finished the Vale of Shadows mission. The game is challenging but manageable, and I hope that the difficulty won't ramp up in the next levels.
I got the sixth badge in Pokemon. It's a fun game, much better than the first installment of the series.
Sleeping Dogs: Definitive Edition - Xbox One S
SCORE: 7.5/10
Reviewing this edition of Sleeping Dogs is painful. It's a wonderful experience (at the modest sale price of 4.99€), don't get me wrong, but this game has obvious flaws that greatly decrease its overall quality.
STORY AND WRITING
The game puts you in the uncomfortable shoes of Wei Shen, an undercover cop tasked with destroying the Sun On Yee triad from the inside. Wei was born in Hong Kong but moved to the United States when he was still young, and his mission takes an almost instant personal turn since he's quickly reunited with old friends and foes.
The story premise is interesting, and the first sequence, definitely inspired by John Woo's "The Killer", is spectacular. Sadly, the game manages to remain interesting for the first half, but after a big plot twist, everything becomes shallow and trivial. The cop / criminal duality of the main character also falls quickly on the spectrum of "fuck my bosses, I know what to do", which is pretty simplistic. The ending feels a little rushed, but at least it closes all the narrative arcs.
The whole game feels like a classic Hong Kong action movie, and for me, this was enough to forgive most of the big plot flaws since I love Asian cinema. The true main character of the game is in fact Hong Kong: sprawling, carefully detailed, and thriving. Driving around the map is a pleasure, and the beautiful scenery never ceases to amaze me.
GAMEPLAY
The whole experience is built on three pillars: hand-to-hand combat, shooting, and driving. The combat feels great; it has a good system similar to the Batman Arkham series and supports melee weapons and brutal ambiental finishers with environment objects. The shooting sections are barebones; there are not a lot of weapons, and they can be pretty difficult if the player doesn't abuse the slow-motion effect (taken directly from "Hard Boiled") automatically activated when Wei vaults over a cover. Driving the vehicles has an arcade but strange feel: sometimes the motorcycles don't handle as you would expect, but it's not a bad system. The whole gameplay system is solid and fun, even if it shows signs of its age.
There are a lot of collectibles and secondary activities; they are fun, but they tend to become repetitive after some time. Secondary activities give you experience points of different types that grant you upgrades unlocks, but the system is unbalanced: I reached the maximum level of two types very fast while the last type (triad) was impossible to max out in a single playthrough.
The true flaws of this game, sadly, are all found on the technical side. The definitive edition improved lighting and textures, but a lot of models (like pedestrians) feel very outdated and out of place. On Xbox, the game is capped at 30 fps (not a big deal for me), but it suffered almost continuous slowdowns in every situation (mainly during cutscenes and exploration). The game is still playable, but it is definitely a mess. There are also some minor glitches and bugs, but the game flows rather smoothly nonetheless.
DLCS AND FINAL CONSIDERATIONS
Zodiac Tournament, the first expansion, is directly integrated into the main campaign and is a short and fun-filled long mission inspired by "Enter the Dragon". Nightmare in North Point is a horror themed DLC, totally separated from the main campaign. The premise is interesting (the city is overrun by Chinese vampires called by a dead triad member) and never takes itself too seriously, but it's too short and the variety is almost non-existent. Finally, Year of the Snake is another separate DLC that is set after the main story and sees Wei demoted to a simple cop by his superiors for bad behavior. Hong Kong gets a New Year's Eve look; the missions are fun (you hunt down a doomsday cult), but the ending is pretty unsatisfying, and the secondary content is very dry. The Definitive Edition has all this content already included, but I would have been very upset if I needed to pay for it since the whole quality is mediocre at best.
Sleeping Dogs is a rough gem; the technical flaws and its overall age cast a shadow on the whole product. It would have been a phenomenal entry in a series that could fix the problems of the first game, creating a more polished work. I had a lot of fun with it, and I wish I could give it a higher score. If you play it on PC, where I think that most of the technical problems are solved, you can consider it a solid 8.5/10.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
CURRENTLY PLAYING
- Icewind Dale: Enhanced Edition - PC
- Pokémon White 2 - Emulated
I already played Baldur's Gate 1, which gave me enough experience to play Icewind Dale without problems. The game is great, but I miss a more substantial storyline. I just finished the Vale of Shadows mission. The game is challenging but manageable, and I hope that the difficulty won't ramp up in the next levels.
I got the sixth badge in Pokemon. It's a fun game, much better than the first installment of the series.
3 Yrs✓#
f_n_c3 Yrs✓#
UPDATE #2.1
I was on vacation the last week, so I had plenty of time during the long travel to read and play Pokémon White 2 on my phone. I reached the League, and it slowly became one of my favorite Pokémon games. It's a solid entry into the franchise and fixes all the problems that Black and White 1 had.
I also continued Icewind Dale. I like it; it has a good atmosphere, and the ability to build your party is fun. But it's so heavy, slow, and sometimes frustrating. I'm managing to pull through the game, but the absence of a concrete story is definitely a major flaw. I started Kardboard Kings (from Amazon Games) out of desperation, and I play it for a short time on days I don't want to play IWD. It's really great; the managerial part is addicting, and the story is lighthearted and fun.
I was on vacation the last week, so I had plenty of time during the long travel to read and play Pokémon White 2 on my phone. I reached the League, and it slowly became one of my favorite Pokémon games. It's a solid entry into the franchise and fixes all the problems that Black and White 1 had.
I also continued Icewind Dale. I like it; it has a good atmosphere, and the ability to build your party is fun. But it's so heavy, slow, and sometimes frustrating. I'm managing to pull through the game, but the absence of a concrete story is definitely a major flaw. I started Kardboard Kings (from Amazon Games) out of desperation, and I play it for a short time on days I don't want to play IWD. It's really great; the managerial part is addicting, and the story is lighthearted and fun.
CURRENTLY PLAYING
- Icewind Dale: Enhanced Edition - PC
- Pokémon White 2 - Emulated
- Kardboard Kings: Card Shop Simulator - PC (Amazon Prime Games)
1 Yr#
joshcusick
1 Yr#
Nice job on the blog, f_n_c!
3 Yrs✓#
f_n_c3 Yrs✓#
Thank you! :-)
I'm having a lot of fun writing the blog, and I'm very happy that someone else finds it entertaining.
3 Yrs✓#
f_n_c3 Yrs✓#
UPDATE #2.2
I've beaten the Pokémon League in White 2, and now I'm doing endgame content. It seems much better compared to White 1, and I'm still having fun. When I finish all the major content (all areas explored, all plotlines closed), I think I will consider this game finished and move on.
I've almost finished IWD. The game was much more fun in the later chapters since the party specialized quite a bit (especially the sorcerer), opening up new fun ways to clear the dungeons. The game has a major expansion that can be played during the main quest or after as a separate experience. I decided to finish the game and then move on to the expansion, but the final boss literally made my party explode into tiny bits. It was definitely frustrating since the game was rather fair until that moment, and lowering the difficulty made almost no difference.
I decided to stop playing IWD for some time, since I'm quite burned out, and play the expansion before the final boss to level up my party more. Now I'll focus on Kardboard Kings, and maybe I'll also start another game (probably Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance).
I've beaten the Pokémon League in White 2, and now I'm doing endgame content. It seems much better compared to White 1, and I'm still having fun. When I finish all the major content (all areas explored, all plotlines closed), I think I will consider this game finished and move on.
I've almost finished IWD. The game was much more fun in the later chapters since the party specialized quite a bit (especially the sorcerer), opening up new fun ways to clear the dungeons. The game has a major expansion that can be played during the main quest or after as a separate experience. I decided to finish the game and then move on to the expansion, but the final boss literally made my party explode into tiny bits. It was definitely frustrating since the game was rather fair until that moment, and lowering the difficulty made almost no difference.
I decided to stop playing IWD for some time, since I'm quite burned out, and play the expansion before the final boss to level up my party more. Now I'll focus on Kardboard Kings, and maybe I'll also start another game (probably Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance).
CURRENTLY PLAYING
- Icewind Dale: Enhanced Edition - PC - ON HOLD
- Pokémon White 2 - Emulated
- Kardboard Kings: Card Shop Simulator - PC (Amazon Prime Games)
3 Yrs✓#
f_n_c3 Yrs✓#
UPDATE #3
Here I am with another update, because I finished Karboard Kings! I got this game from Amazon Prime Games and I downloaded it almost randomly from the list of redeemed games, and it was a very pleasant surprise.
THE GAME
In Kardboard Kings, you play as the manager of a collectible card game shop. You have limited display stands where you can put the cards you own to be sold, and you acquire cards by buying singles or booster packs from your PC. A series of events, announced one or more days before they happen, make specific cards rise and drop in value, so you need to plan the acquisition and sale of the card accordingly since there is a day of delay to have them delivered by a very friendly mailman.
The core gameplay loop is the one described above: you buy low and sell high, trying to earn money while keeping some mint cards for yourself to fill the binder (your personal card collection). Every day at least one character enters your shop offering a trade or proposing a deal for a card; if you accept it, you increase your relationship with the character. Increasing the relationship opens new dialogue options: the characters are very fun and varied, and the whole game has a quirky sense of humor and doesn't take itself too seriously. There is also a short story that is told through scripted events during the game.
VERDICT
The core gameplay loop is addictive. I like card games, and I got hooked almost immediately. There are a lot of cards to trade and collect, and the art is varied and well done. You can also invest your money in decorations for your shop; the accessories are varied, and the personalization is a welcome addition in a game like this. Sadly, the story is very short and ends abruptly, leaving a bad taste because all the characters are well designed. In the endgame, you unlock a more difficult mode and a roguelike minigame where you can actually play the collectible card game. In the end, the final goal is to earn money to invest in cards for your binder and complete the sets that are regularly released.
I really enjoyed my time with Kardboard Kings, and I have left it installed on my PC for some quick, random plays. A game day is very fast to play, and the gameplay is rewarding even for very short plays (15-30 min.). It's so sad that the story is painfully short; I wanted to spend more time with the crazy characters of this game. I played quite some time in the endgame to complete some sets before consider it finished.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
No progress with Pokémon, and IWD is still on hold.
I started playing Duke Nukem 3D. I have played a lot of classic shooters (Doom, Heretic, and Shadow Warrior, to name a few), but I never finished a single one, so I wanted to change that. Duke Nukem is part of my childhood (one of my friends used to lend me the Manhattan Project disc), but I never played the most famous entry in the franchise. I played the first levels, and they were fun. I hope that the game won't become too difficult in the later stages.
Kardboard Kings - PC (Amazon Prime Games)
SCORE: 8/10
Here I am with another update, because I finished Karboard Kings! I got this game from Amazon Prime Games and I downloaded it almost randomly from the list of redeemed games, and it was a very pleasant surprise.
THE GAME
In Kardboard Kings, you play as the manager of a collectible card game shop. You have limited display stands where you can put the cards you own to be sold, and you acquire cards by buying singles or booster packs from your PC. A series of events, announced one or more days before they happen, make specific cards rise and drop in value, so you need to plan the acquisition and sale of the card accordingly since there is a day of delay to have them delivered by a very friendly mailman.
The core gameplay loop is the one described above: you buy low and sell high, trying to earn money while keeping some mint cards for yourself to fill the binder (your personal card collection). Every day at least one character enters your shop offering a trade or proposing a deal for a card; if you accept it, you increase your relationship with the character. Increasing the relationship opens new dialogue options: the characters are very fun and varied, and the whole game has a quirky sense of humor and doesn't take itself too seriously. There is also a short story that is told through scripted events during the game.
VERDICT
The core gameplay loop is addictive. I like card games, and I got hooked almost immediately. There are a lot of cards to trade and collect, and the art is varied and well done. You can also invest your money in decorations for your shop; the accessories are varied, and the personalization is a welcome addition in a game like this. Sadly, the story is very short and ends abruptly, leaving a bad taste because all the characters are well designed. In the endgame, you unlock a more difficult mode and a roguelike minigame where you can actually play the collectible card game. In the end, the final goal is to earn money to invest in cards for your binder and complete the sets that are regularly released.
I really enjoyed my time with Kardboard Kings, and I have left it installed on my PC for some quick, random plays. A game day is very fast to play, and the gameplay is rewarding even for very short plays (15-30 min.). It's so sad that the story is painfully short; I wanted to spend more time with the crazy characters of this game. I played quite some time in the endgame to complete some sets before consider it finished.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
CURRENTLY PLAYING
- Icewind Dale: Enhanced Edition - PC (ON HOLD)
- Pokémon White 2 - Emulated
- Duke Nukem 3D: 20th Anniversary World Tour - PC
No progress with Pokémon, and IWD is still on hold.
I started playing Duke Nukem 3D. I have played a lot of classic shooters (Doom, Heretic, and Shadow Warrior, to name a few), but I never finished a single one, so I wanted to change that. Duke Nukem is part of my childhood (one of my friends used to lend me the Manhattan Project disc), but I never played the most famous entry in the franchise. I played the first levels, and they were fun. I hope that the game won't become too difficult in the later stages.
3 Yrs✓#
f_n_c3 Yrs✓#
UPDATE #3.1
Here we are with another biweekly update of the blog. My university lessons started to become serious, so I had less time to play.
IWD is still on hold, but I will probably resume it soon.
I made some progress with Pokémon. I captured some legendaries (Regirock, Regice, and Reshiram) and explored some new cities. I feel that the end (all cities explored and all major "quests" completed) is near, but I don't know how much I will play this game in the future.
Duke Nukem 3D is pure fun. I finished the first two episodes, and I'm having a blast. It is moderately challenging, the shooting is satisfying, and the humor is dated but perfect for this kind of game. The second episode was less interesting compared to the first, but the third returns on Earth, so I have high expectations. The rewind feature added in this edition was useful at first when I didn't know how to play, but after the first half of the first episode, I ditched it in favor of the more classic save/reload. I know that some developers have a bad reputation online, and this version of the game is hated, but I find the development commentary very interesting. It's something that really adds value, even if it's present in only a few levels.
I also started a Karling run in Crusader Kings 3. I took the Karling count in the 1066 start, and with a single character, I managed to create the French Empire, but a cascade of rebellions started after his succession, destroying everything. I'm a little sad now.
CURRENTLY PLAYING
- Icewind Dale: Enhanced Edition - PC (ON HOLD)
- Pokémon White 2 - Emulated
- Duke Nukem 3D: 20th Anniversary World Tour - PC
Here we are with another biweekly update of the blog. My university lessons started to become serious, so I had less time to play.
IWD is still on hold, but I will probably resume it soon.
I made some progress with Pokémon. I captured some legendaries (Regirock, Regice, and Reshiram) and explored some new cities. I feel that the end (all cities explored and all major "quests" completed) is near, but I don't know how much I will play this game in the future.
Duke Nukem 3D is pure fun. I finished the first two episodes, and I'm having a blast. It is moderately challenging, the shooting is satisfying, and the humor is dated but perfect for this kind of game. The second episode was less interesting compared to the first, but the third returns on Earth, so I have high expectations. The rewind feature added in this edition was useful at first when I didn't know how to play, but after the first half of the first episode, I ditched it in favor of the more classic save/reload. I know that some developers have a bad reputation online, and this version of the game is hated, but I find the development commentary very interesting. It's something that really adds value, even if it's present in only a few levels.
I also started a Karling run in Crusader Kings 3. I took the Karling count in the 1066 start, and with a single character, I managed to create the French Empire, but a cascade of rebellions started after his succession, destroying everything. I'm a little sad now.
3 Yrs✓#
f_n_c3 Yrs✓#
UPDATE #4.1
Hello, I'm back! A lot of things happened in these months, and I forgot to update the blog. I have finished a lot of games in the meantime; here are some short reviews for them. Since the last time I log onto the site to write a full Pokémon W2 review it crashed and wiped out the finished review, I'll divide this long post into several smaller ones to avoid any accidental loss.
Hello, I'm back! A lot of things happened in these months, and I forgot to update the blog. I have finished a lot of games in the meantime; here are some short reviews for them. Since the last time I log onto the site to write a full Pokémon W2 review it crashed and wiped out the finished review, I'll divide this long post into several smaller ones to avoid any accidental loss.
Pokemon White 2 - Emulated on phone
SCORE: 8/10
Review:
I really liked this Pokémon entry. It was the last game that I needed to finish to have completed at least one game for every release up to gen 5. It fixes the problems of the first B/W, and improves the formula to have a smoother and more polished game. Everything is fun, and also the challange level is good and not to easy like the first game. This time the whole region is developed and has a purpose, and it's great to traverse. A solid entry overall, second only to Platinum to my personal ranking of mainline Pokémon games.
Grand Theft Auto 4 + DLCs - Xbox One
SCORE: 9/10
Review:
The mainline game hit me hard. The first missions have a perfect atmosphere; the rest of the game is good, but it didn't reach the same heights for me. The secondary missions are forgettable, and the money system is broken, but it's just a very good game. It became my favorite GTA game instantly. The Lost and Damned has a good story and some interesting mechanics, but it ends as soon as it picks up steam. The Lost story was worth an entire game, not a small DLC. The Ballad of Gay Tony, on the other hand, has fun and over-the-top missions; even if the story is not great, its characters are well characterized. The game as a whole is a mastodontic masterpiece; it is impressive what Rockstar produced such a hit more than ten years ago.
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare - PC
SCORE: 8/10
Review:
CoD MW3 was the first game I bought for the PS3 back in the day. I didn't play the previous games, and I never understood the plot fully. Now I wanted to finally play the other games of the series, and I started with MW1. The game is great, but some story missions are forgettable while others are astounding. The design of the game presents respawning enemy waves and some other elements that the series has deleted from the next entry, which make the high difficulties very hard compared to the following games. I had my ass kicked by the hard difficulty, and I was forced to switch to normal, but it was a great ride nonetheless.
Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance - Xbox One
SCORE: 7.5/10
Review:
I started this game with no expectations since it is considered one of the weakest entries in the franchise. I was surprised. The music is not great, and the game is too easy, but Juste is so good to control, and the various magic powers are enjoyable. They tried to create something like the inverted castle of SotN, but copying the same castle layout and pasting different enemies and colors is not enough. In the end, it was not a bad experience; I was hooked until I got at least the good ending.
Kirby's Dream Land - Game Boy
SCORE: 7.5/10
Review:
Since I got a flashcard for my Game Boy, I wanted to play some games and not use it only for LSDJ. I always liked Kirby, and going back to its first game is quite an experience. The copy ability is missing, but the levels are well crafted for a Game Boy game, and it's quite fun nonetheless. The fact that it must be finished in a sitting and is very short greatly contributed to the positive score.
3 Yrs✓#
f_n_c3 Yrs✓#
UPDATE #4.2
Icewind Dale - Enhanced Edition - PC
SCORE: 6.5/10
Review:
I really liked Baldur's Gate 1, and I love frozen settings like the one in Icewind Dale. But this game gets too many things wrong. The dungeons have interesting stories, even if the general plot is quite boring, and are fun to traverse. The opportunity to create your whole party is interesting, and I was very happy to play my burly Dwarven Defender for the whole game. The problem is that the action nature of the product underlines all the defects of the Infinity Engine, and the high difficulty can be offputting at times. I marked the game as finished, but I didn't really beat the final boss. It is ridicolous that you are forced to play the DLC to have a chance against him, and I was too burned out to go on. The game is enjoyable, but I would never play it again.
Dragon Quest V: Hand of the Heavenly Bride - 3DS (DS mode)
SCORE: 8.5/10
Review:
This is actually the first game that I played with my newly modded 3DS. I never finished a Dragon Quest game, and I wanted to play this entry of the series in particular for quite some time. Considering the technology and the timeframe of its release, it is quite a technical marvel. History aside, it is a great game, even if I don't find it a masterpiece. The story is great and really conveys the passage of time, but I found the plot of the SNES-era Final Fantasy games more interesting. The combat feels great, the encounter rate is balanced, and the monster taming mechanic is well integrated, but I really disliked the use of recolored common enemy sprites for most of the bosses. Overall, it is an experience to remember, even if it holds more historical importance than actual quality, in my opinion. I will play other Dragon Quest games for sure, starting with the IX chapter, which I have at home.
Kirby: Planet Robobot - 3DS
SCORE: 8.5/10
Review:
I wanted some new Kirby action, and this was marked as the best 3DS Kirby game. I was not disappointed. The robot mechanic is well designed, and it is exploited to create some good ambient puzzles, even if I didn't like the whole robot theme a lot. A solid platformer overall, with a lot of great moments. The bonus games are a fun gimmick, but they didn't keep me around for long.
Skyrim DLCs - Xbox One
SCORE: 7.5/10
Review:
I am reading a lot of Elder Scrolls in-game lorebooks recently, and I was compelled to finish my Skyrim playthrough. I didn't have the patience to build a house, so I'll skip heartfire. After some daedric quests, I was ready to take on both DLCs because I was a little underleveled. Dawnguard was a mixed bag; the start is very weak, but then it opens up with an epic dungeon and a lot of interesting lore, so the late content is almost worth the wait. The ending tries to be epic, but it is underpinned by the ancient game engine. On the other hand, Dragonborn was great. Returning to Solestehim after Morrowind was a pleasure, even if it was greatly changed. The island is well-built and has some interesting quests. Apocrypha is also a great setting, but the whole DLC ended when the story started to pick up some serious steam. Overall, it is a serviceable experience, in line with the base game.
Balatro - PC
SCORE: 9.5/10
Review:
When this game became the hit of the moment, I just glossed over it. I like poker, but I found a roguelike based purely on that something unappealing. After quite some time, I decided to give it a go, and, oh boy, I was hooked. Everything is perfect: the music is catchy, the sound design is on point, the art has a definite style, and the mechanics are very engaging. My only problem is that is a little to easy to win a run when you have discovered how to play correctly, but it has plenty of content to keep the player occupied after the first win. One of the biggest surprises of the year for me, that's for sure. It will remain downloaded on my PC for a lot of time.
Luigi's Mansion - 3DS
SCORE: 8.5/10
Review:
This was another game that I wanted to try for quite some time. I was surprised by its arcade core design at first, but I loved it. The controls are not optimal on the 3DS, but I didn't have any serious problems with them. Going around the mansion vacuming ghosts never gets old, and the bossfights are varied and well designed. I was really impressed by the soundtrack and how it interacts with the gameplay: it is always the same theme while exploring the mansion, but it can be played normally or muttered by Luigi to give himself courage when he's in dark and spooky places. It has a great pace, and the whole game length is just about right.
3 Yrs✓#
f_n_c3 Yrs✓#
UPDATE #4.3
Well, it was quite a long series of reviews! I don't have much game-time nowdays, and it often comes in short bursts so I needed to choose the games to play accordingly. From now on, I want to return to update the blog, even if probably I would have time only to post after major game completions and not with regular updates.
Professor Layton's games are perfect to fill small gaps of time when I come home from work, since a puzzle can be completed in a short time and can give immediate gratification. I played the first one a year ago, and I wanted to continue with the series. The game has been great so far; the puzzles are challenging and the story is interesting, probably even more than in the first game.
I had my eyes on Chants of Sennaar from the release day, but it fell forgotten in some dark corner of my backlog. I finally tried it, and I was impressed. The main mechanic of language translation is unique and well thought out, but for me, the biggest winner is the UI. Consult previous notes and annotate the glyphs meaning: interact with the world is seamless and easy, and I never felt unable to solve a puzzle thanks to bad design choices. The game is also great to watch and listen to, so for now, it is a win for all sides.
I have chosen two mind-intensive games, and I hope to avoid being burdened by too much thinking. The quality of both products probably won't allow that, but I'll see.
Well, it was quite a long series of reviews! I don't have much game-time nowdays, and it often comes in short bursts so I needed to choose the games to play accordingly. From now on, I want to return to update the blog, even if probably I would have time only to post after major game completions and not with regular updates.
CURRENTLY PLAYING
- Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box - 3DS (DS Mode)
- Chants of Sennaar - PC
Professor Layton's games are perfect to fill small gaps of time when I come home from work, since a puzzle can be completed in a short time and can give immediate gratification. I played the first one a year ago, and I wanted to continue with the series. The game has been great so far; the puzzles are challenging and the story is interesting, probably even more than in the first game.
I had my eyes on Chants of Sennaar from the release day, but it fell forgotten in some dark corner of my backlog. I finally tried it, and I was impressed. The main mechanic of language translation is unique and well thought out, but for me, the biggest winner is the UI. Consult previous notes and annotate the glyphs meaning: interact with the world is seamless and easy, and I never felt unable to solve a puzzle thanks to bad design choices. The game is also great to watch and listen to, so for now, it is a win for all sides.
I have chosen two mind-intensive games, and I hope to avoid being burdened by too much thinking. The quality of both products probably won't allow that, but I'll see.
3 Yrs✓#
f_n_c3 Yrs✓#
UPDATE #5
My first 10/10 goes to an unexpected game. I knew that this game was good and the premise sounded intriguing, but I never thought that I could like it so much.
STORY
It is difficult to present this game without spoilering some of the surprises. In fact, discovering things about the game world is half the fun. I'll try my best to keep this review totally spoiler-free.
Your character, a red-robed man with his face permanently covered by a hood, wakes up. After you wander a little bit, you encounter another character who speaks an unknown language. Guessing from the context, you manage to learn your first words and solve a very easy puzzle. This is the start of the journey that brings the player to explore the world of the game while learning the NPCs language(s).
The plot is not complex but is presented mainly with environmental storytelling, not something unique but well done. Discovering the secrets of the world around you is very fun, and the ending is satisfying.
GAMEPLAY
The core of the game is translating the language spoken by the NPCs to solve puzzles and progress through the game. Even if it could seem boring, the way the challenges are presented keeps things fresh, and the language puzzles are always used in different and more complex ways. Understanding what people say to you, reading signs, activating contraptions, and understanding written directions are only some of the types of language puzzles present in the game.
Every time you encounter a new language symbol, it is reported in a menu where you can click on it and write your guess. Every time you read the symbol again, a bubble over it will report the guess that you’ve made. In definite checkpoints, your character will take out a diary and draw on it images that you should be able to link with language symbols that you have encountered sooner or later. When you link correctly all the drawings on a page with the correct symbols, the signs become validated, and when you read them again, the bubble over them will report the right meaning. This method allows you to easily understand what you’re reading once you have the signs validated, without having to scroll between multiple pages to translate a phrase.
The game is great, but for me, what sold it was the UI. Reading symbols, adding guesses, validating the translations, and reading the translated content was easy and seamless. A bad UI would have forced the player to keep track of elements with external devices, and would have transformed the joy of translation into a boring slog back and forth through notes.
DESIGN; MUSIC AND FINAL CONSIDERATIONS
The game has a definite and very recognizable design that makes the whole explored world coherent, even if its areas are widely different. The areas of the game have a definite design and color palette, which makes them instantly recognizable. The palette is vibrant and the choice of color is great, and I was astounded by what was on screen multiple times. The music was also great—not invasive but often present—and helped to empathize with the most crucial moments.
I don’t have anything bad to say about this game. Yes, some puzzles could be a little better, but they didn’t ruin the fun or the product as a whole. The fact that an indie studio pulled this off is amazing; the game is very fresh and feels very polished. A solid 10/10 for me. I suggest to everyone even remotely interested to try this game out; its low prices encourage it even more.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I have done some more puzzles on Professor Layton. I’m managing to complete all of them as soon as I encounter them, even if some are quite challenging. For now, only a few puzzles had strange solutions; almost all of them were challenging but fair.
I also completed VVVVV before starting Arx, but I will keep the review for the next update. Arx seems great. It’s old, but it has a certain charm that definitely makes it interesting. The underground fantasy world is well designed, and the UI seems to come from a distant past, but it’s actually very good when you get used to it.
Chants of Sennaar - PC
SCORE: 10/10
My first 10/10 goes to an unexpected game. I knew that this game was good and the premise sounded intriguing, but I never thought that I could like it so much.
STORY
It is difficult to present this game without spoilering some of the surprises. In fact, discovering things about the game world is half the fun. I'll try my best to keep this review totally spoiler-free.
Your character, a red-robed man with his face permanently covered by a hood, wakes up. After you wander a little bit, you encounter another character who speaks an unknown language. Guessing from the context, you manage to learn your first words and solve a very easy puzzle. This is the start of the journey that brings the player to explore the world of the game while learning the NPCs language(s).
The plot is not complex but is presented mainly with environmental storytelling, not something unique but well done. Discovering the secrets of the world around you is very fun, and the ending is satisfying.
GAMEPLAY
The core of the game is translating the language spoken by the NPCs to solve puzzles and progress through the game. Even if it could seem boring, the way the challenges are presented keeps things fresh, and the language puzzles are always used in different and more complex ways. Understanding what people say to you, reading signs, activating contraptions, and understanding written directions are only some of the types of language puzzles present in the game.
Every time you encounter a new language symbol, it is reported in a menu where you can click on it and write your guess. Every time you read the symbol again, a bubble over it will report the guess that you’ve made. In definite checkpoints, your character will take out a diary and draw on it images that you should be able to link with language symbols that you have encountered sooner or later. When you link correctly all the drawings on a page with the correct symbols, the signs become validated, and when you read them again, the bubble over them will report the right meaning. This method allows you to easily understand what you’re reading once you have the signs validated, without having to scroll between multiple pages to translate a phrase.
The game is great, but for me, what sold it was the UI. Reading symbols, adding guesses, validating the translations, and reading the translated content was easy and seamless. A bad UI would have forced the player to keep track of elements with external devices, and would have transformed the joy of translation into a boring slog back and forth through notes.
DESIGN; MUSIC AND FINAL CONSIDERATIONS
The game has a definite and very recognizable design that makes the whole explored world coherent, even if its areas are widely different. The areas of the game have a definite design and color palette, which makes them instantly recognizable. The palette is vibrant and the choice of color is great, and I was astounded by what was on screen multiple times. The music was also great—not invasive but often present—and helped to empathize with the most crucial moments.
I don’t have anything bad to say about this game. Yes, some puzzles could be a little better, but they didn’t ruin the fun or the product as a whole. The fact that an indie studio pulled this off is amazing; the game is very fresh and feels very polished. A solid 10/10 for me. I suggest to everyone even remotely interested to try this game out; its low prices encourage it even more.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
CURRENTLY PLAYING
- Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box - 3DS (DS Mode)
- Arx Fatalis - PC
I have done some more puzzles on Professor Layton. I’m managing to complete all of them as soon as I encounter them, even if some are quite challenging. For now, only a few puzzles had strange solutions; almost all of them were challenging but fair.
I also completed VVVVV before starting Arx, but I will keep the review for the next update. Arx seems great. It’s old, but it has a certain charm that definitely makes it interesting. The underground fantasy world is well designed, and the UI seems to come from a distant past, but it’s actually very good when you get used to it.
3 Yrs✓#
f_n_c3 Yrs✓#
UPDATE #6
I probably would never have played this game without HLTB. The reviews were good, but it was the very short playtime that got me hooked. I played on the 3DS since I was more comfortable, but the game is now open source on PC. There's actually no excuse to pass on it now.
THE REVIEW
You're the captain of a spaceship. Something goes wrong, and you are teleported far from your spaceship and separated from your mates. After a short hike, you save the first crewmate, and you're prompted to explore the world to find all the missing crew members. The premise of the game is simple, and the story is told through short cutscenes that play when a milestone is reached. The story is just an excuse to send your character to explore the game world, nothing more. This is a 2h game, so the choice to focus all the attention on the gameplay is completely justified. Nevertheless, the dialogue between the captain and his crewmates is often fun and not annoying at all.
The core of the game is clearly the gameplay. At first glance, it can seem like a simple, retro-looking platformer, but it is much more. You can't jump, but you can only invert the gravity of the world. It sounds crazy, but it's even justified by the cute story. While the gravity is reversed, you have complete control over your character, and you can't reverse the gravity until you have touched the ground. It can seem like a simplistic mechanic, but it's very fun to fly around and is always satisfying to complete a room. After a short introduction, you are free to explore your surroundings as you will. The external world is composed of interconnected screens, and you can jump through multiple screens without touching ground in some areas. While exploring, you can find datalogs that highlight the entrances of the areas where your crewmates are blocked. When you enter through these areas, the design becomes tighter, and the goal is no longer to explore but to traverse the linear rooms, dodging the obstacles.
The challenge is always fun and stimulating, but some sections have unexpected and interesting difficulty spikes. The game is not an easy platformer, but the short runtime makes the challenge fun rather than frustrating. Jumping around is very fun, and the gradual addition of some gameplay elements keeps the situations fresh for the whole game.
As it was already said, the game presents minimal pixel art where few colors are used to give a modernized C64 feel to the whole product, which is definitely interesting. The different areas are color-coded, and the palette choice always makes the poor scenery shine. The chiptune music is also very good; the tunes stick in your head and are definitely one of the strongest points of the game. There are some collectibles in the game that could increase the total game length, and some of them are place in really devious places very difficult to reach.
FINAL CONSIDERATIONS
As stated in the opening, there's no reason not to play VVVVVV in its open-source incarnation. It is a tight, challenging game, with a nice retro feel and a fantastic soundtrack. I definitely recommend it, and it takes away a solid 8/10. It was definitely one of the biggest surprises of this year for me. I couldn't put it down until the credits, and I felt that it was a fantastic and fun experience.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
There has been no considerable progress in Professor Layton; I have resolved only a handful of puzzles from the last update.
All the available playtime was absorbed by Arx Fatails. I actually finished it, but I still play it to complete some additional content that I missed. It was a fun experience overall, but with some major flaws. In the meantime, I started playing "The Saboteur". It seems like a great mix and match of different genres, but the general tone of the game (nazi supervillains paired with hypersexualized women) fell rather flat for me. I just finished the infinite prologue while playing Arx; I will see how it evolves after some additional hours.
VVVVVV - Nintendo 3DS
SCORE: 8/10
I probably would never have played this game without HLTB. The reviews were good, but it was the very short playtime that got me hooked. I played on the 3DS since I was more comfortable, but the game is now open source on PC. There's actually no excuse to pass on it now.
THE REVIEW
You're the captain of a spaceship. Something goes wrong, and you are teleported far from your spaceship and separated from your mates. After a short hike, you save the first crewmate, and you're prompted to explore the world to find all the missing crew members. The premise of the game is simple, and the story is told through short cutscenes that play when a milestone is reached. The story is just an excuse to send your character to explore the game world, nothing more. This is a 2h game, so the choice to focus all the attention on the gameplay is completely justified. Nevertheless, the dialogue between the captain and his crewmates is often fun and not annoying at all.
The core of the game is clearly the gameplay. At first glance, it can seem like a simple, retro-looking platformer, but it is much more. You can't jump, but you can only invert the gravity of the world. It sounds crazy, but it's even justified by the cute story. While the gravity is reversed, you have complete control over your character, and you can't reverse the gravity until you have touched the ground. It can seem like a simplistic mechanic, but it's very fun to fly around and is always satisfying to complete a room. After a short introduction, you are free to explore your surroundings as you will. The external world is composed of interconnected screens, and you can jump through multiple screens without touching ground in some areas. While exploring, you can find datalogs that highlight the entrances of the areas where your crewmates are blocked. When you enter through these areas, the design becomes tighter, and the goal is no longer to explore but to traverse the linear rooms, dodging the obstacles.
The challenge is always fun and stimulating, but some sections have unexpected and interesting difficulty spikes. The game is not an easy platformer, but the short runtime makes the challenge fun rather than frustrating. Jumping around is very fun, and the gradual addition of some gameplay elements keeps the situations fresh for the whole game.
As it was already said, the game presents minimal pixel art where few colors are used to give a modernized C64 feel to the whole product, which is definitely interesting. The different areas are color-coded, and the palette choice always makes the poor scenery shine. The chiptune music is also very good; the tunes stick in your head and are definitely one of the strongest points of the game. There are some collectibles in the game that could increase the total game length, and some of them are place in really devious places very difficult to reach.
FINAL CONSIDERATIONS
As stated in the opening, there's no reason not to play VVVVVV in its open-source incarnation. It is a tight, challenging game, with a nice retro feel and a fantastic soundtrack. I definitely recommend it, and it takes away a solid 8/10. It was definitely one of the biggest surprises of this year for me. I couldn't put it down until the credits, and I felt that it was a fantastic and fun experience.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
CURRENTLY PLAYING
- Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box - 3DS (DS mode)
- The Saboteur - PC
There has been no considerable progress in Professor Layton; I have resolved only a handful of puzzles from the last update.
All the available playtime was absorbed by Arx Fatails. I actually finished it, but I still play it to complete some additional content that I missed. It was a fun experience overall, but with some major flaws. In the meantime, I started playing "The Saboteur". It seems like a great mix and match of different genres, but the general tone of the game (nazi supervillains paired with hypersexualized women) fell rather flat for me. I just finished the infinite prologue while playing Arx; I will see how it evolves after some additional hours.
1 Yr
#
hellobion#
1 Yr#
#I love the name of your blog. Slow gaming is the best way too go because gaming is all about having fun at your own pace.
3 Yrs✓#
f_n_c3 Yrs✓#
Thank you! That was exactly the idea behind the blog's title.
I started this blog quite some time after I started using the site, since I felt that I couldn't ever reach a playing speed so fast to supply the blog with regular updates. One day I said "Fuck it, I'll play and update with my own pace", and I opened the blog anyway.
In retrospective, it was a great decision :-)
3 Yrs✓#
f_n_c3 Yrs✓#
UPDATE #7
Disclaimer: I played the game with the Arx Libertatis port, so some things could be a little different from the base game.
This game is very strange. It was on my backlog for a long time, but I always neglected it for something else. Maybe my expectations were too high, but I found this game a little underwhelming. BUt considering that it is the first Arkane Studios game, it is one hell of first product. But let's get down to the review.
THE GAME
The last game of the golden age of immersive sims, Arx Fatalis, is definitely a strange game. It builds on the big masterworks of this niche genre, posing itself as a spiritual successor to Ultima Underworld. It is an action-RPG dungeon crawler at its core, constellated with some simulation elements.
A goblin guards a dungeon where your character begins as a naked man. In a few minutes, you are free, and you discover that you are in a sprawling dungeon inhabited by all sorts of fantasy races that built their home there when the outside world became a frozen wasteland. In two hours, you discover a big medieval human town, an evil cult, and a classic chosen one plot. The lore around the world is good, but there are only a few Elder Scrolls-like, bland lorebooks to explain it.
I can't say that Arx Fatalis is totally predictable. The dungeon is big, and every level is well-characterized, but its plot is so bland. I would close an eye if the game belonged to another genre, but for me, an RPG with a bland story can't be great. You have wonky cutscenes with top and bottob black borders like Deus Ex where the characters speak with a dead stare in their eyes, but it lacks the fun one-liners and satire that makes Deus Ex interesting. It's just a long slog, with unremarkable characters and really predictable plot twists. Icing on the cake, the ending is very fast and very bad, it seems that they run out of money to close the game in a dignified way.
GAMEPLAY
First of all, exploring the dungeon is very fun. Every level is subdivided into areas inhabited by different races and strongly themed around them. There is always some secret to discover, someone to fight, or a small event where your character can make the difference. The immersive sim elements are really present in the early game, allowing your character to cook, brew potions, and solve puzzles, but in the middle game, they are sacrificed in favor of a more streamlined action approach.
The classless roleplaying system is great, complex enough, but not too much for an action RPG. You can invest points in physical characteristics and skills every time you level up, increasing your chance to do almost anything. I played as a battlemage, and it worked really well, and I think that the game pushes you a little toward this playstyle. Melee characters are a little weak at higher levels; magic-only characters run out of usable spells fast; and stealth is wonky and not really well developed. A battlemage can open the fight with powerful spells, and then, if the enemy is still alive, poke it to death with its sword, always being effective.
This game is often remembered for its peculiar magic system, centered around drawing magic glyphs with your mouse. A series of glyphs is a spell that can be used immediately or kept for future use. You can keep in memory only three spells, and it is very difficult to draw glyphs while fighting, so often your mana isn't the principal bottleneck of magic, but the memorized spell limit is. The system is very fun, but it has its flaws. There are a large number of glyphs and spells, but only a handful are really useful. For example, the only offensive spell worth using is the fireball since it inflicts damage scaling with your level and uses few mana, and I rarely used something else for the whole playthrough.
The game difficulty is generally low, but the first real boss and the final boss are utterly insane and almost impossible to kill without some sort of soft exploit. In addition, the economy is totally broken; you go from being too poor to buy anything to having so much money that it can't be spent anywhere, since from the middle of the of the game onwards, merchants have almost exclusively weaker gear than you. Secondary quests can be fun, but like the main quest, they are difficult to track, and often I have used a guide to know where I should look to make the quest advance.
FINAL CONSIDERATIONS
From my review, Arx Fatalis seems like a bad game. It has a lot of flaws, but it's so damn fun. Exploring the dark corridors, tracing glyphs, and killing mosters feels great, and I was moved to finish even some secondary quests. On the other hand, the miriad of small defects bring down the total product quality, and the low budget is evident in some phases.
It's definitely a recommended play for immersive sim and RPG fans, but another person could find it a slog to go through the whole ordeal. It is very fast though (11h on HLTB for the story), so I think that is always worth a play, especially to try the not very humble origins of Arkane Studios.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I have made some progress with Professor Layton, and I feel that I have surpassed 65% of the game. I'm taking my time, finishing all the puzzles, and enjoying the atmosphere.
The Saboteur had not had a brilliant start, but it started to pick up steam. I'm in chapter 2, and luckily the plot evolved into something more enjoyable than the wonky start. The game mechanics as a whole work, copying without remorse bits of other games and glueing them together. The result is not bad, but also not excellent. It seems like a perfect 7.5/10 game for now.
As you can see above, I returned to Crusader Kings 2. The 3 wasn't really clicking with me, and the DLC roadmap seems to be deviating from my tastes. It is a great game, but its focus has shifted from strategy to roleplaying, which is not exactly what I want. Investing more money in it seems pointless for now, so I returned to the old, reliable CK2. I'm having a blast with a Sicily-Jerusalem run, and probably I will write short posts about it on the blog.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Some months ago I have created also some collections, and updated the Metacritic top 100 games. I leave their links here in case someone is interested.
I'm particularly proud of the CRPG Book's collection. It is a great resource, listing all the CRPGs published, reviewing them and corredating the entries with great screenshots. If you like RPGs you should have a look at it, it's totally free to download.
https://crpgbook.wordpress.com
Arx Fatalis - PC
SCORE: 7/10
Disclaimer: I played the game with the Arx Libertatis port, so some things could be a little different from the base game.
This game is very strange. It was on my backlog for a long time, but I always neglected it for something else. Maybe my expectations were too high, but I found this game a little underwhelming. BUt considering that it is the first Arkane Studios game, it is one hell of first product. But let's get down to the review.
THE GAME
The last game of the golden age of immersive sims, Arx Fatalis, is definitely a strange game. It builds on the big masterworks of this niche genre, posing itself as a spiritual successor to Ultima Underworld. It is an action-RPG dungeon crawler at its core, constellated with some simulation elements.
A goblin guards a dungeon where your character begins as a naked man. In a few minutes, you are free, and you discover that you are in a sprawling dungeon inhabited by all sorts of fantasy races that built their home there when the outside world became a frozen wasteland. In two hours, you discover a big medieval human town, an evil cult, and a classic chosen one plot. The lore around the world is good, but there are only a few Elder Scrolls-like, bland lorebooks to explain it.
I can't say that Arx Fatalis is totally predictable. The dungeon is big, and every level is well-characterized, but its plot is so bland. I would close an eye if the game belonged to another genre, but for me, an RPG with a bland story can't be great. You have wonky cutscenes with top and bottob black borders like Deus Ex where the characters speak with a dead stare in their eyes, but it lacks the fun one-liners and satire that makes Deus Ex interesting. It's just a long slog, with unremarkable characters and really predictable plot twists. Icing on the cake, the ending is very fast and very bad, it seems that they run out of money to close the game in a dignified way.
GAMEPLAY
First of all, exploring the dungeon is very fun. Every level is subdivided into areas inhabited by different races and strongly themed around them. There is always some secret to discover, someone to fight, or a small event where your character can make the difference. The immersive sim elements are really present in the early game, allowing your character to cook, brew potions, and solve puzzles, but in the middle game, they are sacrificed in favor of a more streamlined action approach.
The classless roleplaying system is great, complex enough, but not too much for an action RPG. You can invest points in physical characteristics and skills every time you level up, increasing your chance to do almost anything. I played as a battlemage, and it worked really well, and I think that the game pushes you a little toward this playstyle. Melee characters are a little weak at higher levels; magic-only characters run out of usable spells fast; and stealth is wonky and not really well developed. A battlemage can open the fight with powerful spells, and then, if the enemy is still alive, poke it to death with its sword, always being effective.
This game is often remembered for its peculiar magic system, centered around drawing magic glyphs with your mouse. A series of glyphs is a spell that can be used immediately or kept for future use. You can keep in memory only three spells, and it is very difficult to draw glyphs while fighting, so often your mana isn't the principal bottleneck of magic, but the memorized spell limit is. The system is very fun, but it has its flaws. There are a large number of glyphs and spells, but only a handful are really useful. For example, the only offensive spell worth using is the fireball since it inflicts damage scaling with your level and uses few mana, and I rarely used something else for the whole playthrough.
The game difficulty is generally low, but the first real boss and the final boss are utterly insane and almost impossible to kill without some sort of soft exploit. In addition, the economy is totally broken; you go from being too poor to buy anything to having so much money that it can't be spent anywhere, since from the middle of the of the game onwards, merchants have almost exclusively weaker gear than you. Secondary quests can be fun, but like the main quest, they are difficult to track, and often I have used a guide to know where I should look to make the quest advance.
FINAL CONSIDERATIONS
From my review, Arx Fatalis seems like a bad game. It has a lot of flaws, but it's so damn fun. Exploring the dark corridors, tracing glyphs, and killing mosters feels great, and I was moved to finish even some secondary quests. On the other hand, the miriad of small defects bring down the total product quality, and the low budget is evident in some phases.
It's definitely a recommended play for immersive sim and RPG fans, but another person could find it a slog to go through the whole ordeal. It is very fast though (11h on HLTB for the story), so I think that is always worth a play, especially to try the not very humble origins of Arkane Studios.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
CURRENTLY PLAYING
- Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box - 3DS (DS mode)
- The Saboteur - PC
- Crusader Kings 2 - PC
I have made some progress with Professor Layton, and I feel that I have surpassed 65% of the game. I'm taking my time, finishing all the puzzles, and enjoying the atmosphere.
The Saboteur had not had a brilliant start, but it started to pick up steam. I'm in chapter 2, and luckily the plot evolved into something more enjoyable than the wonky start. The game mechanics as a whole work, copying without remorse bits of other games and glueing them together. The result is not bad, but also not excellent. It seems like a perfect 7.5/10 game for now.
As you can see above, I returned to Crusader Kings 2. The 3 wasn't really clicking with me, and the DLC roadmap seems to be deviating from my tastes. It is a great game, but its focus has shifted from strategy to roleplaying, which is not exactly what I want. Investing more money in it seems pointless for now, so I returned to the old, reliable CK2. I'm having a blast with a Sicily-Jerusalem run, and probably I will write short posts about it on the blog.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Some months ago I have created also some collections, and updated the Metacritic top 100 games. I leave their links here in case someone is interested.
NEW COLLECTIONS
- Updated Metacritic Top 100 Games: https://howlongtobeat.com/user/f_n_c/lists/10049/Metacritic-Top-100-Games-(2024)
- Metacritic Top 25 DS Games: https://howlongtobeat.com/user/f_n_c/lists/37888/Metacritics-Top-25-DS-games
- Metacritic Top 25 PC Games: https://howlongtobeat.com/user/f_n_c/lists/37893/Metacritics-Top-25-PC-games
- Metacritic Top 25 PS1 Games: https://howlongtobeat.com/user/f_n_c/lists/38090/Metacritics-Top-25-PS1-Games
- The CRPG Book's History of CRPGs in 35 Games: https://howlongtobeat.com/user/f_n_c/lists/38088/The-CRPG-Books-History-of-CRPG-in-35-games
I'm particularly proud of the CRPG Book's collection. It is a great resource, listing all the CRPGs published, reviewing them and corredating the entries with great screenshots. If you like RPGs you should have a look at it, it's totally free to download.
https://crpgbook.wordpress.com
1 Yr✓#
FefnirIRL
1 Yr✓#
Hey man! Enjoying reading some of your reviews; just wanted to let you know that I saw you mentioned working on English in your first post and I think you've got a great grasp. I'm not seeing any crazy mistakes or anything and you're well-spoken in your reviews as well, so shouts out on that!
3 Yrs✓#
f_n_c3 Yrs✓#
Thank you! I feel I have acquired a good English level, but this blog and other things help me to keep the level and don't get worse with time. Actually, I had some trouble writing non-technical and more creative pieces, but I feel that the blog helped me a lot on that side. It's good to have someone acknowledge my progress. Thanks again!
3 Yrs✓#
f_n_c3 Yrs✓#
UPDATE CK #1
Hello everyone! As I announced in my last blog post, I will start to give some short updates on my Crusader Kings 2 (CK2 from now on) campaign. I will roughly outline the life of each character without going into too much detail regarding the way I play. If you're interested in more detailed information, let me know. I could do a run where I'll explain everything I do to teach the fundamental mechanics of the game.
DISCLAIMER: CK2 can be a pretty amoral game. Murder, incest, child marriage, and adultery are common through normal play. If you're sensible about these themes, you better skip some parts or don't read the CK2 posts. It's your choice.
SHORT CK2 INTRODUCTION
Since I can't expect everyone to know CK2, I will introduce the game briefly. CK2 is a grand strategy game where you control a dinasty with a starting date ranging from Charlemagne to the High Middle Ages and an end date placed in 1453. You impersonate the reigning character of your dinasty, controlling every part of its life. You can declare war, marry and have children, murder people, be excommunicated, control the infrastructural and legislative development of your country, and much more. Every time your ruler dies, your land and titles (King, Emperor, Duke, etc.) will be handed to your successors based on predetermined inheritance laws. If you die and there are no members of your dynasty in the direct succession line, it's game over. Your goal is to create a stable power base for your dynasty, keeping your vassals in check and avoiding being conquered by neighboring kingdoms.
KING ROBERT "THE FOX DE HAUTEVILLE (1066-1081)
It had passed a lot of time since my last run in CK2, so I decided to take things slow and play a relatively easy character. For this reason, the choice fell on Robert "the Fox" de Hauteville. It starts as a Norman ruler controlling Apulia and Calabria with good lands. He has the Holy Roman Empire (HRE) in the north, very weak Christian rulers to the east, and fragmented Muslim states in Sicily. Expanding is easy, and multiple options are open to characterize the playthrough. Since I want to take part in the crusades, I opted for the 1066 start, which leaves enough time to build a power base before the first crusade, which happens around 1091.
Above, you can see the starting situation. Robert is not a young ruler; in fact, he is already 51 when the game starts, a considerable age for the time. He has a good first son, a hunchback second son, and a normal third son. He has a very good martial score and is a talented commander, so conquering land with him at the head of the army will be pretty easy. Even if he is technically a Duke, he can easily form the Kingdom of Sicily with a few conquests.
A little time after I start, my first son dies of dysentery. This is not good, since my second son is hunchback, a trait that can be inherited by his sons and would taint his descenance for a long time. I decide to play anyway and marry the son with the intelligent daughter of the doge of Genova. Hoping that they will produce decent children, I leave them be.
Duke Robert started to launch multiple aggressions towards his Christian and Muslim neighbors to conquer land. The aggressions are all successful; the Muslims never call other Muslim rulers to help them in the wars, and the Christian rulers are pushovers. Robert can freely attack Muslim rulers as he wants since they are infidels, but to attack Christians, he needs to fabricate claims on their land, a long and tedious process viable to conquer only single counties (the smallest land portion considered by the game). He manages to conquer some Christian lands and the whole of Sicily, expelling the Muslims from Italy and creating the Kingdom of Sicily.
In the picture above, you can see Robert at the end of his life, with all the land he has conquered. Unfortunately, he wasn't as lucky as in war with women. His wife and one of his daughters (the one with the red veil) tried to kill him. He couldn't do much for the daughter, and he was not friendly enough with the pope to divorce her. So he slipped a little poisonous snake in the queen's chambers, and she was dead. Robert, in the last years of his life, married the minor daughter (under 16) of one of his vassals who had recently died.
He was friendly with all his vassals, moved the capital to Palermo, and he changed the inheritance law to primogeniture to better control his lands. He started a war to conquer Capua, but the enemy commander inflicted him a very bad wound. He became infirm and depressed, unable to cope with the loss of mobility. Finally, he succumbed to his illness in 1081.
KING ROGER (1081-1086)
King Roger was the hunchback and intelligent son of Robert. When he took the throne, everyone despised him, even his wife. He was chaste and without any children, but he had decent traits considering that he was a hunchback.
His kingdom lasted only 5 years, and I had no time to take a screenshot. But he had a pretty rich life. He joined the Hermetic Society of Scientists and made his apprentice his closer advisor in court, something that his vassals probably disliked a lot. He also conquered Amalfi and Malta in his short reign, something remarkable. He actually vassalized the Muslim ruler of Malta and converted him to Christianity, only to place him as his designated regent. They were very close, but it wasn't something very intelligent.
The Muslim ruler of Tunis was not in a good position, since Pisa was trying to seize some African lands from him. Roger tried to take advantage of the situation and attacked Tunis, only to die while he was leading his own troops on the battlefield.
GUY "THE SWORD OF BLESSED VIRGIN" (1086-1096)
Guy was the third son of Robert, uncouth but shrewd. He was only 24 when he took the throne and insinuatedly married the widow of his brother Roger.
Sadly, he inherited a war against the Tunisian king that he couldn't win since the kingdom was weak after the succession. The loss of the war put the kingdom in a big debt and triggered a revolt that led to the death of the death of the most important bishop of the kingdom. Guy took a loan from the Jews, and they expelled them to avoid paying them back and get other money, but he was able to hire some mercenaries and win the war. As soon as the vicious bishop was in jail, the pope interceded, and Guy was forced to free him.
He conquered Salerno in 1091 to get some money and complete the conquest of the Kingdom of Sicily. He was crowned in 1092 by the same bishop who revolted against him, and his vassals started to like him more. Luckily, gifts and onorific titles brought everyone on its side, even the evil bishop who revolted against him.
His wife died of childbirth after giving him a daughter and a son, and he remarried with the daughter of the Duke of Brittany. He was a cynical and brave man, so when the pope called a crusade to free Jerusalem, he was the first to answer. He placed 6,000 men on his boats and led everyone to conquer Cyprus. This was an intelligent move since the Muslims were busy fighting the Christians around Jerusalem, and Guy managed to siege the whole island without opposition. The Christians won the crusade, and since Guy conquered a lot of land by itself, the pope decided to give the Kingdom of Jerusalem to his beneficiary.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Drogo, Guy's beneficiary, was a old man with two daugthers and a single son. Since Sicily would have been a pretty boring run from now on, I decided to switch characters and continue the run impersonating Drogo, the King of Jerusalem. From now on the game will be really "Crusader Kings". See you in the next update!
Hello everyone! As I announced in my last blog post, I will start to give some short updates on my Crusader Kings 2 (CK2 from now on) campaign. I will roughly outline the life of each character without going into too much detail regarding the way I play. If you're interested in more detailed information, let me know. I could do a run where I'll explain everything I do to teach the fundamental mechanics of the game.
DISCLAIMER: CK2 can be a pretty amoral game. Murder, incest, child marriage, and adultery are common through normal play. If you're sensible about these themes, you better skip some parts or don't read the CK2 posts. It's your choice.
SHORT CK2 INTRODUCTION
Since I can't expect everyone to know CK2, I will introduce the game briefly. CK2 is a grand strategy game where you control a dinasty with a starting date ranging from Charlemagne to the High Middle Ages and an end date placed in 1453. You impersonate the reigning character of your dinasty, controlling every part of its life. You can declare war, marry and have children, murder people, be excommunicated, control the infrastructural and legislative development of your country, and much more. Every time your ruler dies, your land and titles (King, Emperor, Duke, etc.) will be handed to your successors based on predetermined inheritance laws. If you die and there are no members of your dynasty in the direct succession line, it's game over. Your goal is to create a stable power base for your dynasty, keeping your vassals in check and avoiding being conquered by neighboring kingdoms.
KING ROBERT "THE FOX DE HAUTEVILLE (1066-1081)
It had passed a lot of time since my last run in CK2, so I decided to take things slow and play a relatively easy character. For this reason, the choice fell on Robert "the Fox" de Hauteville. It starts as a Norman ruler controlling Apulia and Calabria with good lands. He has the Holy Roman Empire (HRE) in the north, very weak Christian rulers to the east, and fragmented Muslim states in Sicily. Expanding is easy, and multiple options are open to characterize the playthrough. Since I want to take part in the crusades, I opted for the 1066 start, which leaves enough time to build a power base before the first crusade, which happens around 1091.
Above, you can see the starting situation. Robert is not a young ruler; in fact, he is already 51 when the game starts, a considerable age for the time. He has a good first son, a hunchback second son, and a normal third son. He has a very good martial score and is a talented commander, so conquering land with him at the head of the army will be pretty easy. Even if he is technically a Duke, he can easily form the Kingdom of Sicily with a few conquests.
A little time after I start, my first son dies of dysentery. This is not good, since my second son is hunchback, a trait that can be inherited by his sons and would taint his descenance for a long time. I decide to play anyway and marry the son with the intelligent daughter of the doge of Genova. Hoping that they will produce decent children, I leave them be.
Duke Robert started to launch multiple aggressions towards his Christian and Muslim neighbors to conquer land. The aggressions are all successful; the Muslims never call other Muslim rulers to help them in the wars, and the Christian rulers are pushovers. Robert can freely attack Muslim rulers as he wants since they are infidels, but to attack Christians, he needs to fabricate claims on their land, a long and tedious process viable to conquer only single counties (the smallest land portion considered by the game). He manages to conquer some Christian lands and the whole of Sicily, expelling the Muslims from Italy and creating the Kingdom of Sicily.
In the picture above, you can see Robert at the end of his life, with all the land he has conquered. Unfortunately, he wasn't as lucky as in war with women. His wife and one of his daughters (the one with the red veil) tried to kill him. He couldn't do much for the daughter, and he was not friendly enough with the pope to divorce her. So he slipped a little poisonous snake in the queen's chambers, and she was dead. Robert, in the last years of his life, married the minor daughter (under 16) of one of his vassals who had recently died.
He was friendly with all his vassals, moved the capital to Palermo, and he changed the inheritance law to primogeniture to better control his lands. He started a war to conquer Capua, but the enemy commander inflicted him a very bad wound. He became infirm and depressed, unable to cope with the loss of mobility. Finally, he succumbed to his illness in 1081.
KING ROGER (1081-1086)
King Roger was the hunchback and intelligent son of Robert. When he took the throne, everyone despised him, even his wife. He was chaste and without any children, but he had decent traits considering that he was a hunchback.
His kingdom lasted only 5 years, and I had no time to take a screenshot. But he had a pretty rich life. He joined the Hermetic Society of Scientists and made his apprentice his closer advisor in court, something that his vassals probably disliked a lot. He also conquered Amalfi and Malta in his short reign, something remarkable. He actually vassalized the Muslim ruler of Malta and converted him to Christianity, only to place him as his designated regent. They were very close, but it wasn't something very intelligent.
The Muslim ruler of Tunis was not in a good position, since Pisa was trying to seize some African lands from him. Roger tried to take advantage of the situation and attacked Tunis, only to die while he was leading his own troops on the battlefield.
GUY "THE SWORD OF BLESSED VIRGIN" (1086-1096)
Guy was the third son of Robert, uncouth but shrewd. He was only 24 when he took the throne and insinuatedly married the widow of his brother Roger.
Sadly, he inherited a war against the Tunisian king that he couldn't win since the kingdom was weak after the succession. The loss of the war put the kingdom in a big debt and triggered a revolt that led to the death of the death of the most important bishop of the kingdom. Guy took a loan from the Jews, and they expelled them to avoid paying them back and get other money, but he was able to hire some mercenaries and win the war. As soon as the vicious bishop was in jail, the pope interceded, and Guy was forced to free him.
He conquered Salerno in 1091 to get some money and complete the conquest of the Kingdom of Sicily. He was crowned in 1092 by the same bishop who revolted against him, and his vassals started to like him more. Luckily, gifts and onorific titles brought everyone on its side, even the evil bishop who revolted against him.
His wife died of childbirth after giving him a daughter and a son, and he remarried with the daughter of the Duke of Brittany. He was a cynical and brave man, so when the pope called a crusade to free Jerusalem, he was the first to answer. He placed 6,000 men on his boats and led everyone to conquer Cyprus. This was an intelligent move since the Muslims were busy fighting the Christians around Jerusalem, and Guy managed to siege the whole island without opposition. The Christians won the crusade, and since Guy conquered a lot of land by itself, the pope decided to give the Kingdom of Jerusalem to his beneficiary.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Drogo, Guy's beneficiary, was a old man with two daugthers and a single son. Since Sicily would have been a pretty boring run from now on, I decided to switch characters and continue the run impersonating Drogo, the King of Jerusalem. From now on the game will be really "Crusader Kings". See you in the next update!
1 Yr#
hellobion#1 Yr#
#I like the naem of your blog "slow gaming" because the truth is going ot fast in gaming can be quite tiring. Because I like to relax and play games.
3 Yrs✓#
f_n_c3 Yrs✓#
Thank you!
3 Yrs✓#
f_n_c3 Yrs✓#
UPDATE #8
STORY AND PRESENTATION
This game is almost always suggested as a hidden gem around gaming circles, so I started it with great expectations. You follow the story of Sean Devlin, a racecar mechanic and driver during WW2. After a very long prologue where our hero looks where he shouldn't, meets an evil Nazi, and almost loses his life, he escapes in Paris and joins the resistance.
The first impact of the story was rough. The game is set in WW2, but historical detail is completely absent. Nazis are comic villains, and the story is definitely over the top. I would have preferred a more grounded approach, but this isn't totally a problem. The story is rather predictable and bland and acts only as a backdrop to connect the various missions in the open world. The Nazi characters are flat, the main antagonist is forgettable, and its main hypersexualized female lieutenant has only some scenes in the prologue to disappear almost completely in the rest of the game. The resistance allies are slightly better, but they drop in and out too fast. In my opinion, the plot as a whole is not bad, but it fails to be an experience worth remembering.
Luckily, the overall art direction is good. While the areas liberated from the Nazi influence through gameplay actions have vibrant colors, the places under Nazi rule have black-and-white colors with red details. This is definitely not the first time a game or movie has used this gimmick and not even the first time used to present Nazi rule, but it works and gives the game a peculiar tone. Even if most of the game takes place in Paris, the campaigns around the city create a diverse and rightly-sized map. Paris and the other areas under the Nazi rules are well created, with famous landmarks clearly recognizable and heavily altered by the occupation force, giving an interesting twist to a city that was used a lot of times as an open world map.
GAMEPLAY AND TECHNICAL ASPECTS
The game is an open-world TPS like most of the biggest hits at the time of its launch. It seems a patchwork of ideas taken from other famous series: it has the costume-centered stealth of Hitman, the red-coded Nazi installations to be blown off like Just Cause, Sean can climb buildings just pressing a key like in Assassins Creed, and much more. Even if the game presents itself as a mashup of ideas, the gameplay works and is very fun. Going around killing Nazis and destroying installations is fun, and the stealth, even if very simple, gives an alternative to the classic TPS gameplay. The mission objective variety is decent; some situations tend to represent multiple times during the game, but it's not something dramatic. The game also has a simple system of upgrades and rewards to complete specific actions, which give some goals during the free roam.
Sadly, the technical aspect is laking, at least on PC. This is clearly a console game that was ported without any adaptation. This is particularly evident in the menus and in the world map; that would be perfect for a gamepad, but it is rather stupid for a mouse-keyboard combo. The game had plenty of harmless glitches and some game-breaking bugs during very cluttered situations that forced my PC to exit from the game. While the support for options and the general presentation are good, some technical faults are difficult to overlook.
FINAL CONSIDERATIONS
The Saboteur is a fun, rough gem. It is a game that desperately needed more funding to fully realize the creative view of its authors, a fact testimoniated by the jumbled story and underdeveloped gameplay elements. It could have been a true masterpiece, but money has decided otherwise. It's sad, since the core of the game is okay and it results in an original combo of art and copied gameplay. If played on console is a clear 8, but it has too many technical problems on PC to have such a high mark.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Every time I come home and I don't have much free time, I fire up the Professor Layton game and have a crack at some puzzles, finally making some serious progress.
I started also Salt and Sanctuaries. I didn't like the art direction a lot in the first hours, but I have gradually changed my mind. The game is excellent; it is a great Dark Souls 2D clone, and it keeps the formula fresh even with such clear inspirations. My only complaint for the first half of the game that I have played is the difficulty: too high for some areas and too low for most of the bosses.
The hot and humid environment of Lombardy has pushed me towards a game with mountains, and I started Daggerfall another time with a Paladin-like class. Exploring the snowy cities and labyrinthic dungeons is awesome, and with a mod, it is impossible to fail the main quest like I did some years ago. Maybe I will finally finish the game this time.
The Saboteur - PC
SCORE: 7.5/10
STORY AND PRESENTATION
This game is almost always suggested as a hidden gem around gaming circles, so I started it with great expectations. You follow the story of Sean Devlin, a racecar mechanic and driver during WW2. After a very long prologue where our hero looks where he shouldn't, meets an evil Nazi, and almost loses his life, he escapes in Paris and joins the resistance.
The first impact of the story was rough. The game is set in WW2, but historical detail is completely absent. Nazis are comic villains, and the story is definitely over the top. I would have preferred a more grounded approach, but this isn't totally a problem. The story is rather predictable and bland and acts only as a backdrop to connect the various missions in the open world. The Nazi characters are flat, the main antagonist is forgettable, and its main hypersexualized female lieutenant has only some scenes in the prologue to disappear almost completely in the rest of the game. The resistance allies are slightly better, but they drop in and out too fast. In my opinion, the plot as a whole is not bad, but it fails to be an experience worth remembering.
Luckily, the overall art direction is good. While the areas liberated from the Nazi influence through gameplay actions have vibrant colors, the places under Nazi rule have black-and-white colors with red details. This is definitely not the first time a game or movie has used this gimmick and not even the first time used to present Nazi rule, but it works and gives the game a peculiar tone. Even if most of the game takes place in Paris, the campaigns around the city create a diverse and rightly-sized map. Paris and the other areas under the Nazi rules are well created, with famous landmarks clearly recognizable and heavily altered by the occupation force, giving an interesting twist to a city that was used a lot of times as an open world map.
GAMEPLAY AND TECHNICAL ASPECTS
The game is an open-world TPS like most of the biggest hits at the time of its launch. It seems a patchwork of ideas taken from other famous series: it has the costume-centered stealth of Hitman, the red-coded Nazi installations to be blown off like Just Cause, Sean can climb buildings just pressing a key like in Assassins Creed, and much more. Even if the game presents itself as a mashup of ideas, the gameplay works and is very fun. Going around killing Nazis and destroying installations is fun, and the stealth, even if very simple, gives an alternative to the classic TPS gameplay. The mission objective variety is decent; some situations tend to represent multiple times during the game, but it's not something dramatic. The game also has a simple system of upgrades and rewards to complete specific actions, which give some goals during the free roam.
Sadly, the technical aspect is laking, at least on PC. This is clearly a console game that was ported without any adaptation. This is particularly evident in the menus and in the world map; that would be perfect for a gamepad, but it is rather stupid for a mouse-keyboard combo. The game had plenty of harmless glitches and some game-breaking bugs during very cluttered situations that forced my PC to exit from the game. While the support for options and the general presentation are good, some technical faults are difficult to overlook.
FINAL CONSIDERATIONS
The Saboteur is a fun, rough gem. It is a game that desperately needed more funding to fully realize the creative view of its authors, a fact testimoniated by the jumbled story and underdeveloped gameplay elements. It could have been a true masterpiece, but money has decided otherwise. It's sad, since the core of the game is okay and it results in an original combo of art and copied gameplay. If played on console is a clear 8, but it has too many technical problems on PC to have such a high mark.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
CURRENTLY PLAYING
- Salt and Sanctuary - PC (Free Epic Game)
- Professor Layton and the Diabolical box - Nintendo 3DS (DS Mode)
- The Elder Scrolls 2: Daggerfall - PC
Every time I come home and I don't have much free time, I fire up the Professor Layton game and have a crack at some puzzles, finally making some serious progress.
I started also Salt and Sanctuaries. I didn't like the art direction a lot in the first hours, but I have gradually changed my mind. The game is excellent; it is a great Dark Souls 2D clone, and it keeps the formula fresh even with such clear inspirations. My only complaint for the first half of the game that I have played is the difficulty: too high for some areas and too low for most of the bosses.
The hot and humid environment of Lombardy has pushed me towards a game with mountains, and I started Daggerfall another time with a Paladin-like class. Exploring the snowy cities and labyrinthic dungeons is awesome, and with a mod, it is impossible to fail the main quest like I did some years ago. Maybe I will finally finish the game this time.