[blog] TheAutisticGamer's Behemoth Backlog

In all honesty, I was kind of the same way. I grew up on Sonic 1 and 2 (with a hint of 3D Blast), but my knowledge of the series beyond that point was quite limited. All I knew was that a lot of people made fun of Sonic '06, Shadow '05 and Forces. But earlier this year, I took the plunge and tried out Sonic Adventure... and it all clicked. Sonic as a series is incredibly unique. There really isn't anything like it. Reviewing the games for my own blog has made me realize what makes these games special: The momentum-based platforming. Sonic is nothing like Mario because of its focus on exploration and earning your speed. By playing well, you are rewarded with speed, but there are always easier, slower paths for players who aren't skilled enough or players who make mistakes. Sonic in the marketing is all about speed, but at the end of the day, speed is not just handed to you (usually). You have to earn your speed! That's what makes Sonic such a special series. And that's what makes it frustrating when some games mess it up.

I love Sonic because there is nothing in gaming that makes me feel so free. The speed is something you have to earn, not something you just get. And that encourages replays. But when you get that perfect run, nailing every single jump, taking the optimal and perfect route through each level for the fastest time and that glorious A-rank with NOTHING stopping you and your skill... It's a special feeling. A lot of people don't realize that this is what Sonic is about, and once you do, you gain a greater appreciation for the series.

I know I rambled a bit there, but I'm just really glad that more and more people are starting to appreciate Sonic as a series. And although I may disagree with your Generations review, I'm super glad you're liking the series, and i'm interested to hear what you have to say about Colors. That's a good one! It's a very different kind of Sonic Game. But it does have a stellar (pun intended) soundtrack. Tropical Resort Act 1 is a song I listen to every day when I'm getting ready for school, lmao.

I'm looking forward to your further reviews, Sonic or otherwise!

Cat Quest II
System: PC
Developer: The Gentlebros
Publisher: Kepler Interactive
Genre: Action RPG, Fantasy, Animals



A while ago I talked about Cat Quest, a fun satirical take on the RPG Genre that parodied genre and game cliches while taking place in the 2.5D World of Felingard. It was quick, snappy, short and did enough right to be one of the more memorable experiences of the year. And I'm pleased to say for the sequel, Cat Quest II is a GIGANTIC improvement over everything Cat Quest I did. Not only does it improve the base things such as art style, gameplay, graphics and controls, but even adds new ideas and takes bold new steps to becoming a series that is certainly worth talking about.

This sequel ends up taking away the satirical edge of the first game in favor of a more serious (but still oftentimes funny and lighthearted) epic adventure that now spans two continents. This sequel showcases our two new heroes, two former kings (one a dog the other a cat) who are tasked with taking down the tyrannical kings who rule both their lands and reclaim their throne and stop the war. You'll get help from Kirry, the royal spirit adviser, plus returning faces like Kit Cat, who is much more well developed in terms of characterization, plus new faces like Hotto Doggo, a cheeky parody of martial arts warriors and skilled weapons blacksmith. There's other characters along the way, but these will be the main characters you're teamed up with to fight off Lioner and Wolfen, the two kings raging a war against the lands.

There's tons of gigantic improvements that make the first game seem a bit dated in comparison. One of the main things you'll notice right away is that character speed and controls are much more faster. This is because when you walk a while, the characters you control will start sprinting which is a very welcomed addition considering Cat Quest I's speed was rather slow at worst. There's been many improvements as well in terms of upgrading weapons and armor. Now you don't have to worry trying to find the same item over and over again to level up or buying chests in hopes of getting an upgrade. Now, you can go to Kit Cat or Hotto Doggo's place to upgrade them. My gripe however is that they specialize in one or the other, so I hope you like travelling continents because you're going to be doing that A LOT.

As for gameplay, character building is very simple. You control the two characters and build them to your liking. I made the dog the buffing offensive type, while I made the cat the defensive spellcasting short who chugged health and mana restoration for their magic. You can play it local coop where one person controls one character and the other the next, but I must admit there's something very addictive about Cat Quest's design with building your characters by yourself. It feels rewarding when you have the right equipment and you've leveled up your weapons and armor to make the build you have more sustainable during the rest of the game. Otherwise, gameplay is quicker, much nicer and feels more polished in terms of spellcasting, movement and combat compared to the first game. There's also loads of dungeons that are worth pursuing and the good thing as well is there is more variety in terms of dungeon layout and challenges you'll face especially in many of the ruins you'll find in this game.

Graphics have also seen a boost. Not just in variety, but in terms of better looking more distinct NPCs as well, not to mention the Cat looks so much better than in the first game. The first was apparently a mobile game first and then moved to consoles later. However, the Gentlebros obviously took a Console/PC approach first and so the game looks like the budget was increased somewhat. The lands of Felingard and The Lupus Empire look very distinct, from Felingard's grassy land and high mountains, to the more Persian desert areas of giant skeletons and isolated villages of the Empire. The music, one of my favorite things from the previous game is just as good if not better than Cat Quest I. You get more variety in terms of music and ambient tracks and the main march that starts the game off is fantastic and a great way to get players hyped for what they're about to play. Trust me, if you loved Cat Quest I's music, there's no denying you'll love Cat Quest II's soundtrack as well.

I won't spoil the story, but there's a big twist at the end of the second act that blew my mind. Seriously, play it blind and you'll be absolutely blown away by it. As said, the story is more epic, but there's still loads of comedy in the game. There's certainly funny moments, and then there are tragic ones, heartbreaking ones and somewhat serious ones that give the game more depth from it's predecessor. The side quests are great as well and yep, another side quest at the very end game showcases a dragon helping you figure out something in the quest you're on. Dragons are friends! Not fodder!... despite the fact you kill tons of Wyverns in this game. Overall, it feels much better designed considering I got to Level 100 by the end, so I could have gone to do a lot of post game dungeon crawling if I wanted to since all the dungeons were very high level at this point. So there's barely any post game grinding required. Well, to be honest, before the epilogue, it's basically post game all the way through unless you want to just see the ending.

There's not much bad stuff to say. But I will say Kirry is nowhere near as an interesting character as Spirry was. Spirry was kind of a surrogate for the player's thoughts, commenting, quipping and joking about all the cliches, tropes and odd things that happen during the game. Kirry does get some depth in terms of his character, but he is nowhere near as interesting because most of the time he's in the background and only relegated to main quest duties. And SPOILERS: It is revealed that there are parallel universes/multiverses in this game, which considering how dated and frustrating multiverses as a story gimmick is, it makes the game feel a bit cheaper knowing that this world we're in doesn't feel like it matters when there are so many others to boot, despite the game's villains saying how important this timeline is or whatever. It's not the game's fault per se, it obviously didn't know that Marvel and Everything Everywhere All At Once was going to do this gimmick, but now I just have to roll my eyes.The only time when a multiverse actually seemed to work for me is in Serious Sam 4 and Siberian Mayhem, where it feels that not only do we get to see a glimpse of the many Sams throughout the series, but it's science fiction setting also makes it fit. Sam feels like he gets to have a fighting chance in every timeline and it makes the player think about previous games as their own multiverses as well. And since the conflict is so dramatically HUGE in the game and does involve things like Time Traveling, which fits with the gimmick, it feels like every parallel universe that is in peril because of Mental MATTERS in the end where in Cat Quest II, it just feels like something they threw at the wall hoping it would stick and it ends up sliding down slowly when you realize this doesn't really work considering it's setting and the scope of it's conflict (which for real, is MUCH smaller than a monstrous alien being attacking Earth's colonies in every single universe) as well as the fact this game I think takes place ONE THOUSAND YEARS after it just leaves you questioning the situation all together. I know the main actual villain is specifically a god, but to be honest he feels rather puny considering he feels like a character "Put On A Bus" as TV Tropes calls it where he's in the game very little.(Which to be honest, is much funnier than my term for it "Steele Syndrome")

Anyways, that's enough about that.

The point is, Cat Quest II is fantastic. It improves pretty much every single aspect from the first game and makes for an excellent overall epic adventure that will delight fans of the first and is a perfect start for newcomers to the series. It's a much bigger, bolder game with better graphics and art style, improved controls, better design and an addictive gameplay loop and awesome story that is certainly one I'd highly recommend. It's certainly going down as a GOTY Contender for the games I've played this year. I'll hopefully talk about Cat Quest III soon, so be on the lookout for that!

Rating: 9/10

PROS:

-Music is even better than in the first game
-Graphics have seen a major improvement to NPCs and Characters and the world is more distinctive than the last game
-Added things like a blocking spell and the ability to upgrade weapons and armor from shops, making character building better
-Character building is addictive even in single player and is easy despite having two characters to use
-Controls are much faster and more fluent thanks to increased movement speed giving the game a faster pace
-Story and characterization is all around excellent and heads in a welcome new direction
-Gameplay loop is very addictive
-Design is much better in terms of progression and dungeons
-Mind blowing twist that will rock your socks off by the end of the second act

CONS:

-Kirry nowhere as interesting a character as Spirry was
-You have to go to two separate shops to upgrade either armor or weapons in two different lands, making trips between continents feel like a slog
-Multiverse as part of the story feels dated and oftentimes frustrating thinking it over

-TheAutisticGamer

The Incredibles: Rise of the Underminer
System: Gamecube
Developer: Heavy Iron Studios
Publisher: THQ
Genre: Beat Em Up, Action
Completed in 3:09:43



Licensed games from the 2000's were VERY strange indeed. Some of them have received great cult followings like Spider-Man 2 on Gamecube, SpongeBob Squarepants: Battle for Bikini Bottom on PS2 and I do have fondness over the cakewalk that is Shrek 2 on PC. Some licensed games just hit it right out of the park. But most of the time, they were made for monetary gain only. Give a team a tight schedule to program and design a game and sell it in stores probably six months later and the game gets usually poor reviews for feeling broken or buggy or badly designed. And there's no better game I think to demonstrate this than this game here. This is a sequel to The Incredibles game which of course, spun off from the PIXAR film. I haven't seen The Incredibles in a very long time nor have I seen it's sequel which I heard is just the same movie but with roles swapped. But from my reactions of it in middle and high school, I can say it's certainly not one of the PIXAR films I go back to often. I more so like films like Toy Story 2, Monsters Inc, Cars and even some of their newer films like Lightyear, which I found to be a really good comfort movie with a fun adventure and excellent god tier score from none other than Michael Giacchino.

Rise of the Underminer was promoted as the canon sequel to The Incredibles before the second one came out over a decade later. For those unaware, at the end of The Incredibles, it ends on a cliffhanger or sequel set up where The Underminer, some random villain played by John Ratzenberger (who is in MANY PIXAR films to begin with) rises above the ground in a giant machine. The family of superheroes are shown putting their masks on and then the credits roll. To be honest, I like the idea of a sequel that takes place after this cliffhanger. I thought since Heavy Iron Studios developed it, who have been responsible for some licensed games I like including WALL-E and The SpongeBob Squarepants Movie I thought this would be easy for them to handle. There is loads of potential for something like this to be REALLY good. But remember when I said licensed games of the era usually meant tight dev schedules and having to rush games out? Well....

The game starts with a cutscene showcasing Bob and Frozone together and the other family members getting separated. He tells them to take down the drills while they go after The Underminer. By the way, the other family members have no speaking lines in this game at all and only appear twice in the entire game not including the cutscene showcasing the end of the film. To be blunt, the game is a beat em up where you fight hordes of robots, use your superpowers to progress through levels and that's about it. The opening level showcases that there may be some promise to the game's presentation with cars falling down from the sky and the city being attacked. You'd think the game would at least in the first few minutes set up promise for this supposedly exciting sequel to the PIXAR film, but it doesn't at all.

First off, one of the main problems I need to get into is how you fight enemies. Do you like Pressing B? Do you like Pressing B a lot? Do you like Pressing B so much that your finger will get numb? Well, that's all the combat is in this game. Sure, you have two other attacks for each character but in general you're never going to use them because punching things is pretty much the fastest way to get things done. And the worst part? There's not even a combo system in place. So whenever you mash B, you're basically using the one punch over and over and over again and it becomes so monotonous after the first few minutes and you have to do this for over 3 Hours. The punch isn't even that good feeling, you think you're punching air most of the time because the sound effects are just bad and don't give you the right impact when you hit them. The only other attacks are mainly used for puzzles or progressing to other areas such as slamming down on broken ground to get to the next part, or throwing things to get to the next part. I don't think redundant is even a good word for this, it's basically a cycle of hell that you have to commit to for the majority of the game.

So that's not a good first impression, but the graphics take a turn for the worst. The entire game except for the first level and final boss takes place exclusively underground and you just keep going down and down and down and down that by the end of the game I thought I was going to reach the Earth's core. Levels are corridor runs of caverns, tunnels, underground bases and labs that are just boring and lifeless. And then you start getting annoyed. The menus of this game showcase The Underminer taunting you and HE NEVER SHUTS UP. He just taunts you and taunts you and taunts you and it becomes so annoying. Apparently from what I looked at into the credits, John Ratzenberger ACTUALLY voices him, but it's such an annoying performance. And don't get me started on the constant, careless banter between Mr. Incredible and Frozone. I can tolerate the fact that their original voice actors aren't here because that's just a given, but 1. There's no options for subtitles. 2. The audio mixing is horrendous and even if you have the music and sound at even settings, it just sounds drowned out and 3. Their banter is usually horrifically unfunny and just plain annoying as well and overall cliched.

So, you think it can't get any worse right? The gameplay sucks, the graphics and levels look bad, the voice acting and sound mixing is terrible and annoying, but then you get to the level design and things fall apart very quickly. I'll give you an example of what I mean. At points you have to make an ice bridge to progress through the levels because there are just gaps you can fall through. Simple right? So you Hold Y to do so with Frozone but Uh Oh, there's these projectile shooting robots where their projectiles sometimes track you and even if you get there fast enough and hold Y to place an ice bridge if you get hit ONCE by a projectile, it cancels out your ice bridge, so it's this stupid battle of just attempting to run around in circles and get your ice bridge to solidify and this is what happens with 75% of the Ice Bridge Segments. Next, there's a part where you have to guide scientists from an incoming death wall by breaking walls and freezing things so that they will be destroyed. But what's this? Some walls just give you a giant flame wall? Basically, this is a trial and error segment where you think you're doing good but when you get a tad bit further you fail and have to go back a bit of a ways. So if you're not fast enough and you run into flame walls because of the walls you destroyed, you're just in for hell. The final boss is also rather annoying. The game literally says you can't walk off ledges which is good, but for some reason you can jump off them and kill yourself? And here's the kicker. This is basically an endurance test of patience compared to the rest of the bosses and this battle is pretty long, mainly consisting of destroying robots and avoiding The Underminer's attacks and then pummeling him when he's dizzy.

So why, when you die do you have to start the entire level all over again? Couldn't you have placed a checkpoint after one phase of the battle so I didn't have to do this 20 Minute fight again? I'm not saying make the game easy because to be honest, even with these annoyances it's quick to beat and obviously provides no real challenge, I'm just saying that it's weird that they designed this licensed game based on an animated film and you know who buys these games? Parents for their kids who are fans of the movies, so why make kids more annoyed by this final fight? I would rather you gave us difficulty options or have a set difficulty to make the game more challenging, but also to have the game be better designed in general. These examples are just some of the design choices that makes this game not work at all and it's the game's most fatal flaw. If Heavy Iron Studios had time to make the game they were tasked with, I could see them doing a great job on making an interesting story, give a better sound mix, provide more complicated gameplay that's easy to learn but hard to master, design levels with more care and craft and push back on the more annoying features the game offers. The weird thing is, they've proven under tight deadlines they could make good games like WALL-E, but this felt like a careless afterthought after the movie and original game came out.

There's other things like an upgrade system that barely has any notable differences when improving attacks and a damage points system that doesn't do anything really to my knowledge and there are extras, but why would you want to bother with this? I found Rise of the Underminer to be soulless and crushing especially considering Heavy Iron Studios has done great work before that I appreciate. But it's such a frustratingly boring and monotonous experience that I can't recommend to anyone. Even with it's cheaper price tag for Gamecube Games, it's not worth seeking out. This had so much potential behind this but in the end I just feel defeated.

Rating: 4/10

PROS:

-Has lots of potential to be a great sequel to the movie

CONS:

-Obvious flawed design choices that ruin the fun of the game
-Weightless combat that consists of monotonous button mashing without any thought
-Graphics that become redundant, repetitive and just plain samey
-Annoying menus where The Underminer never shuts up
-Annoying Voice Acting with Banter that never is funny or awesome
-Horrendous sound mix that has no subtitle options to alleviate this
-Checkpoints should be better placed
-Upgrade system is almost worthless and not noticeable in the slightest

-TheAutisticGamer

The Incredibles: Rise of the Underminer
System: Gamecube
Developer: Heavy Iron Studios
Publisher: THQ
Genre: Beat Em Up, Action
Completed in 3:09:43



Licensed games from the 2000's were VERY strange indeed. Some of them have received great cult followings like Spider-Man 2 on Gamecube, SpongeBob Squarepants: Battle for Bikini Bottom on PS2 and I do have fondness over the cakewalk that is Shrek 2 on PC. Some licensed games just hit it right out of the park. But most of the time, they were made for monetary gain only. Give a team a tight schedule to program and design a game and sell it in stores probably six months later and the game gets usually poor reviews for feeling broken or buggy or badly designed. And there's no better game I think to demonstrate this than this game here. This is a sequel to The Incredibles game which of course, spun off from the PIXAR film. I haven't seen The Incredibles in a very long time nor have I seen it's sequel which I heard is just the same movie but with roles swapped. But from my reactions of it in middle and high school, I can say it's certainly not one of the PIXAR films I go back to often. I more so like films like Toy Story 2, Monsters Inc, Cars and even some of their newer films like Lightyear, which I found to be a really good comfort movie with a fun adventure and excellent god tier score from none other than Michael Giacchino.

Rise of the Underminer was promoted as the canon sequel to The Incredibles before the second one came out over a decade later. For those unaware, at the end of The Incredibles, it ends on a cliffhanger or sequel set up where The Underminer, some random villain played by John Ratzenberger (who is in MANY PIXAR films to begin with) rises above the ground in a giant machine. The family of superheroes are shown putting their masks on and then the credits roll. To be honest, I like the idea of a sequel that takes place after this cliffhanger. I thought since Heavy Iron Studios developed it, who have been responsible for some licensed games I like including WALL-E and The SpongeBob Squarepants Movie I thought this would be easy for them to handle. There is loads of potential for something like this to be REALLY good. But remember when I said licensed games of the era usually meant tight dev schedules and having to rush games out? Well....

The game starts with a cutscene showcasing Bob and Frozone together and the other family members getting separated. He tells them to take down the drills while they go after The Underminer. By the way, the other family members have no speaking lines in this game at all and only appear twice in the entire game not including the cutscene showcasing the end of the film. To be blunt, the game is a beat em up where you fight hordes of robots, use your superpowers to progress through levels and that's about it. The opening level showcases that there may be some promise to the game's presentation with cars falling down from the sky and the city being attacked. You'd think the game would at least in the first few minutes set up promise for this supposedly exciting sequel to the PIXAR film, but it doesn't at all.

First off, one of the main problems I need to get into is how you fight enemies. Do you like Pressing B? Do you like Pressing B a lot? Do you like Pressing B so much that your finger will get numb? Well, that's all the combat is in this game. Sure, you have two other attacks for each character but in general you're never going to use them because punching things is pretty much the fastest way to get things done. And the worst part? There's not even a combo system in place. So whenever you mash B, you're basically using the one punch over and over and over again and it becomes so monotonous after the first few minutes and you have to do this for over 3 Hours. The punch isn't even that good feeling, you think you're punching air most of the time because the sound effects are just bad and don't give you the right impact when you hit them. The only other attacks are mainly used for puzzles or progressing to other areas such as slamming down on broken ground to get to the next part, or throwing things to get to the next part. I don't think redundant is even a good word for this, it's basically a cycle of hell that you have to commit to for the majority of the game.

So that's not a good first impression, but the graphics take a turn for the worst. The entire game except for the first level and final boss takes place exclusively underground and you just keep going down and down and down and down that by the end of the game I thought I was going to reach the Earth's core. Levels are corridor runs of caverns, tunnels, underground bases and labs that are just boring and lifeless. And then you start getting annoyed. The menus of this game showcase The Underminer taunting you and HE NEVER SHUTS UP. He just taunts you and taunts you and taunts you and it becomes so annoying. Apparently from what I looked at into the credits, John Ratzenberger ACTUALLY voices him, but it's such an annoying performance. And don't get me started on the constant, careless banter between Mr. Incredible and Frozone. I can tolerate the fact that their original voice actors aren't here because that's just a given, but 1. There's no options for subtitles. 2. The audio mixing is horrendous and even if you have the music and sound at even settings, it just sounds drowned out and 3. Their banter is usually horrifically unfunny and just plain annoying as well and overall cliched.

So, you think it can't get any worse right? The gameplay sucks, the graphics and levels look bad, the voice acting and sound mixing is terrible and annoying, but then you get to the level design and things fall apart very quickly. I'll give you an example of what I mean. At points you have to make an ice bridge to progress through the levels because there are just gaps you can fall through. Simple right? So you Hold Y to do so with Frozone but Uh Oh, there's these projectile shooting robots where their projectiles sometimes track you and even if you get there fast enough and hold Y to place an ice bridge if you get hit ONCE by a projectile, it cancels out your ice bridge, so it's this stupid battle of just attempting to run around in circles and get your ice bridge to solidify and this is what happens with 75% of the Ice Bridge Segments. Next, there's a part where you have to guide scientists from an incoming death wall by breaking walls and freezing things so that they will be destroyed. But what's this? Some walls just give you a giant flame wall? Basically, this is a trial and error segment where you think you're doing good but when you get a tad bit further you fail and have to go back a bit of a ways. So if you're not fast enough and you run into flame walls because of the walls you destroyed, you're just in for hell. The final boss is also rather annoying. The game literally says you can't walk off ledges which is good, but for some reason you can jump off them and kill yourself? And here's the kicker. This is basically an endurance test of patience compared to the rest of the bosses and this battle is pretty long, mainly consisting of destroying robots and avoiding The Underminer's attacks and then pummeling him when he's dizzy.

So why, when you die do you have to start the entire level all over again? Couldn't you have placed a checkpoint after one phase of the battle so I didn't have to do this 20 Minute fight again? I'm not saying make the game easy because to be honest, even with these annoyances it's quick to beat and obviously provides no real challenge, I'm just saying that it's weird that they designed this licensed game based on an animated film and you know who buys these games? Parents for their kids who are fans of the movies, so why make kids more annoyed by this final fight? I would rather you gave us difficulty options or have a set difficulty to make the game more challenging, but also to have the game be better designed in general. These examples are just some of the design choices that makes this game not work at all and it's the game's most fatal flaw. If Heavy Iron Studios had time to make the game they were tasked with, I could see them doing a great job on making an interesting story, give a better sound mix, provide more complicated gameplay that's easy to learn but hard to master, design levels with more care and craft and push back on the more annoying features the game offers. The weird thing is, they've proven under tight deadlines they could make good games like WALL-E, but this felt like a careless afterthought after the movie and original game came out.

There's other things like an upgrade system that barely has any notable differences when improving attacks and a damage points system that doesn't do anything really to my knowledge and there are extras, but why would you want to bother with this? I found Rise of the Underminer to be soulless and crushing especially considering Heavy Iron Studios has done great work before that I appreciate. But it's such a frustratingly boring and monotonous experience that I can't recommend to anyone. Even with it's cheaper price tag for Gamecube Games, it's not worth seeking out. This had so much potential behind this but in the end I just feel defeated.

Rating: 4/10

PROS:

-Has lots of potential to be a great sequel to the movie

CONS:

-Obvious flawed design choices that ruin the fun of the game
-Weightless combat that consists of monotonous button mashing without any thought
-Graphics that become redundant, repetitive and just plain samey
-Annoying menus where The Underminer never shuts up
-Annoying Voice Acting with Banter that never is funny or awesome
-Horrendous sound mix that has no subtitle options to alleviate this
-Checkpoints should be better placed
-Upgrade system is almost worthless and not noticeable in the slightest

-TheAutisticGamer

Now that's a game I forgot about. Dad and I played it, but I don't remember if we even finished it, though at such a short length I want to say surely we did, though we might have gotten close without realizing it and simply never got back to it... Doesn't seem like we missed much if we didn't and that I didn't miss much forgetting about it entirely until seeing this post!

Now that's a game I forgot about. Dad and I played it, but I don't remember if we even finished it, though at such a short length I want to say surely we did, though we might have gotten close without realizing it and simply never got back to it... Doesn't seem like we missed much if we didn't and that I didn't miss much forgetting about it entirely until seeing this post!

If I was like 8 or 9 years old I maybe would have liked this game as it seems like the perfect fit for me. I wanted this game on Gamecube so much but I couldn't find it at any of the EB Games at the time and the cover caught my attention. It's a real shame though that this felt very rushed. I think it would be better in coop but then again I'm not sure if that would alleviate many of the game's problems such as the corridor runs and monotonous button mashing. I always like playing these older 6th Gen games because there's always something interesting about them since some of the trends of that time are certainly not used in this time. I know some of these games are not very good but I think there's something special about putting a PS2/Xbox/Gamecube disc into one of those consoles after taking it out of the packaging compared to something like an Xbox 360 or PS3. Maybe it's just something I've grown to love over the years but I'm definitely wanting to get more Gamecube games if I can.



This is one of my prized possessions of my Game Collection. I bought this for $50 at an EB Games circa 2007 and I still have to complete it one day. But man, does that special feeling of putting a disc into a Gamecube feel awesome especially with much of my First Party titles. I'm holding onto a lot of these Gamecube games as they mean so much to me especially the Mario Party titles. But the Gamecube is a very special system for me especially since it's one of the main consoles I grew up on despite jumping on late in 2006. Those 6th Gen consoles are magical and I think that's why there's been a HUGE increase in demand for a lot of these games lately especially with Gamecube. I guess I'm showing this to everyone because at this time of year I think back to memories of playing these games and just feeling immersed by them. I'm cautious with nostalgia nowadays but recently even after playing Rise of the Underminer it feels magical going back to so many of these games and I guess I'm just in a very Gamecube mood right now. One day I'll finish Twilight Princess. Hopefully.

The GameCube is still one of my favourite consoles. It was the first console I bought with my own money saved up from allowance, birthday and Christmas money and some money won from some school thing. I wanted one so badly and was so excited to finally be able to get it. Then parents (they both game too) bought our first set of games for it: Wind Waker, Smash Bros. and an ATV racing game I can't remember the name of. Our library of games only built up from there; we ended up with a lot. I have sooo many memories attached to it: those first games, the awe in playing Metroid Prime the first time, dad and I going into town to get Fire Emblem Path of Radiance which he helped pay for because he wanted it too, the whole family's obsession with Tales of Symphonia, the many hours dad and I and sister before she moved out poured into Smash, Mario Kart Double Dash, Soul Calibur 2, Need for Speed Hot Pursuit 2, Star Fox Assault multiplayer... mom getting unexpectedly hooked on X-Men Legends 1 and 2 so parents and I playing lots of those two and just so on. I think the feel of popping those tiny discs in will always stick with me too (though still not sure if it's satisfying as clunking in those SNES or even N64 cartridges)

I got Twilight Princess for the Wii first, but then couldn't get a Wii for ages, so with a Christmas gift card I got the GameCube version which worked out as that ended up my much preferred version anyway. I hope you finish it one day!

The GameCube is still one of my favourite consoles. It was the first console I bought with my own money saved up from allowance, birthday and Christmas money and some money won from some school thing. I wanted one so badly and was so excited to finally be able to get it. Then parents (they both game too) bought our first set of games for it: Wind Waker, Smash Bros. and an ATV racing game I can't remember the name of. Our library of games only built up from there; we ended up with a lot. I have sooo many memories attached to it: those first games, the awe in playing Metroid Prime the first time, dad and I going into town to get Fire Emblem Path of Radiance which he helped pay for because he wanted it too, the whole family's obsession with Tales of Symphonia, the many hours dad and I and sister before she moved out poured into Smash, Mario Kart Double Dash, Soul Calibur 2, Need for Speed Hot Pursuit 2, Star Fox Assault multiplayer... mom getting unexpectedly hooked on X-Men Legends 1 and 2 so parents and I playing lots of those two and just so on. I think the feel of popping those tiny discs in will always stick with me too (though still not sure if it's satisfying as clunking in those SNES or even N64 cartridges)

I got Twilight Princess for the Wii first, but then couldn't get a Wii for ages, so with a Christmas gift card I got the GameCube version which worked out as that ended up my much preferred version anyway. I hope you finish it one day!

My family was never really into games too much at the time specifically my mom. It wasn't until recently we gave my mom a Switch so she could play Hogwarts Legacy which she absolutely loved and played it for a long time even after beating the game doing post game stuff. I know my dad had an SNES and played games like Final Fantasy: Mystic Quest and Link to the Past (a game my mom also has fondness for) and the SNES is a console I still liked a lot for the games I had with it. I unfortunately had to sell the rest of my SNES library including some really desired games like Dungeon Master and Super Metroid mainly because of the move this year and trying to clean stuff out of the house but also since my SNES didn't work anymore. But that was I choice I made on my own and ROMS always exist so I'm not too sad about it. I also got rid of Lunar Silver Star Story Complete which comes in this really nice package, but I'm totally okay with that and besides, they're rereleasing the games again next year.

My mom also loves the MySims franchise and she played a ton of MySims and MySims Agents on Wii which were like our two go to games to play. I just got MySims recently on Switch and I remembered why I enjoyed the game so much in the first place, so I'm gonna lend my copy of it to her so she can reexperience it. I'm really happy my Mom is getting somewhat into games. My dad not so much, although he did play things like Doom II on his Windows 98 computer back t hen (which might have been the first computer besides XP I had experience with) but my dad basically taught me how to be a really fast typer and he introduced me to games like Spore which I greatly appreciated.

Sometimes it's just nice to look back on the past and be grateful for the things people have done for us to grow as ourselves. I know have Seasonal Affective Disorder this time of year but sometimes topics like this really help me feel better about things and I'm glad we got to talk about the Gamecube because I feel for a lot of people it's a very special console. Thanks for the memories man. It's awesome that your family had a great time with the Gamecube.

Wake up and smell the ashes...

TAG Screamed. He thought he had died. The last hit on Gilgamesh, the world eater of the Outer Realm had exploded into a ball of blinding light and all TAG could see in silence was white. It felt like eternity had engulfed him. Then, for a split second he saw a face emerge in front of him. It was then he had awoken. Where? He wasn't sure. The sudden yelp from him made someone drop a pipe. He looked. The familiar face of a Gruff Red Panda, in kind of a clockwork cowboy outfit.

“You don't have to scare me like that scalie.”

TAG looked at his hands. He was still in his usual form he preferred, the Golden Dragonborn. He looked back and forth between the red panda and his golden hands. He laughed.

“Xizax!” He exclaimed. The red panda grinned. “The Realms? Are they-”

“They're alright.” He nodded. “Unfortunately, some things haven't changed.”

“High-Glin?” TAG asked. He was concerned. High-Glin was the one to have planted the atomic incendiary expander (AIE) into Gilgamesh by entering with a team into his bowels. It wasn't pretty, but he was unsure if his warrior friend had survived and if he did, where was he? He knew Pilonka was dead, she was killed during the escape to Dynisolos (Die-Nie-So-Loss) when the ship she had boarded was destroyed by Gilgamesh's Wyrms, snake like creatures big enough to eat alliance fleet ships. That hadn't changed. But High-Glin...

“I don't know...” Xizax answered softly. “I don't know if he survived. I didn't see him here.”

TAG was quiet. He hoped High-Glin survived but at that moment, he hadn't really thought about his surroundings. Looking around, he lay in bed. The roof was of a glass ceiling. In fact, the walls and floor were also made of a sustainable, hard glass. Possibly bulletproof. The room he was in appeared to float and a source of light came from above the ceiling, giving the room a reflective look. There was a metal door with a keypad and a security camera up top. It certainly wasn't the fantasy landscapes he was used to. He remembered Felingard where one of his contracts took place. He remembered the beautiful mountain scapes, the lush land of green, with ancient ruins awaiting to be plundered.

Where was this place?

“Where is here?” TAG questioned.

There was a light beep that played once at the door. It opened and someone came in with a folder. He was alien, or was it? He had an anthropomorphic look to him. He was obviously very well dressed. It wasn't until he came closer that he realized from the shape of the alien's face, it was a rat. A rat with purple dress shirt, a black tie and blue dress pants. He expected a rat person to look more sickly, but he trimmed his features nicely.

“I'm glad you're awake. Once I saw you were I came here as soon as I could.” He then pointed at my stomach. “Oh, and don't worry about the payments for the recreation of your lower stomach. I paid it on the house.”

“Wha-” TAG looked at his stomach to see a giant bandage wrapped around him. He had totally forgotten in the last moments of Gilgamesh's defeat that a shard, most likely one of the world eater's smaller teeth had burst a hole through his stomach. He touched it, it felt solid as if nothing had happened.

“I'm confused.”

“So am I.” Xizax replied. “I woke up randomly as well. I don't know what day or month it is.”

“Days? Months?” The rat inhaled. He didn't look happy to be telling us this. “I'm sorry to say, but, the year you're in is 11030 I.R”

“The hell?!” TAG didn't understand. “How could I have been asleep for two full years!?”

“And where is Glin? Did he survive? Does anyone know we're still frickin' alive?!”

The Rat cleared his throat. He tried to look empathetic.“Look, I know you have a lot of questions, but lets just start at the beginning. I'm Walton, I represent Section B-10 of the Inner Realm. My job and the rest of B-10's is to look for potential objects that can change the world for the better. After all, the Inner Realm has seen a rather nasty blow in the last two years. And frankly, Mr. TAG has been of our interest for the longest time.”

“What about me?” Xizax pointed out gruffly.

“And you too. In fact, your entire group was of full interest. But as for this 'Glin' person, he's gone off the map.”

“What do you mean? He's alive?!” I exclaimed.

The Rat nodded. “We know little but from what we have established, he has been captured and is being forced by a solar terrorist operation to find an object that would be of great use to us.” He took out a holographic coaster. Spinning around was a lush tree with exotic fruits. It seemed like a normal fruit tree, but...

“A tree.” Xizax scoffed. “What's so important about a tree?”

“This is not just any tree. This is a tree of life. This is taken from the 10th volume of the History of the Inner Realms. The fruits that tree bares can potentially expand life and resurrect the dead. It was thought to have been destroyed, but thankfully, another tree lives. Although we do not know where.”

The hologram of the tree changed into a picture of someone apparently standing by said tree. It appeared to be some type of alien figure, possibly Wrexon with it's smooth skin and harsh facial details. It seemed real, but TAG and Xizax were unsure. They have been tricked before, but considering they were out for two years, lots could have happened.

“What do you want with the tree?” TAG asked.

“We want to use it's fruits to expand life in Section B-2's solar council. It is very clear that after the attack of Gilgamesh, the death of many of our most significant members mean that the leadership of the council has been in jeopardy in the past two years. If we can expand their life, this means we will have a much stronger chance at building a better realm for years to come.”

“It sounds like you're talking about making people immortal. That's playing with God.” Xizax warned.

“We don't intend to make people immortal, for that would be dangerous. We intend to just lengthen their lives to about another 25 years. It couldn't hurt.”

“But it's risky.” TAG jumped in. “You said it can resurrect the dead. Wouldn't that be dangerous if someone got their hands on it?”

“That's why we want you to get B-10 to take property control over it. We intend to use it for medicine, not war. And we wouldn't dare think of using it for reviving anything. Look, if you do this, you can find your friend and attempt to save him from the solar terrorists. We'll have you continue to do contracts that will connect you closer to the location of the tree as that is what you do best. You two are adventurers and there's no one we wanted more than you two. You saved the Realms after all.”

TAG looked unsure. But he knew in his heart that he wanted to find Glin again. If this was their only option at the moment of finding him, then he would seize the opportunity and make sure he could save him.

“If we do this, what's in it for us?” Xizax questioned suspiciously.

The Rat smirked. “Maybe I'll let you all travel to the outer realm so you can see your friends and families again. That is, if the council approves it.”

Xizax noticed TAG was staring at him. He already had a feeling that he knew what choice he was going to make, although Xizax wasn't sure if this was good.

“Do you trust me?”

“I've trusted you thus far. I won't turn away now.”

TAG would only nod. He looked at The Rat. “You have a deal.”

- - -

THIS MARKS THE END OF THE SEASON OF CHANGE. TheAutisticGamer will return.

Coming in the new year... the most ambitious adventure TAG has ever faced.



----

Well, that marks the end of the season! I think I've definitely improved some of my writing thanks to the addition of Quickviews, which have made reviewing games more smoother. Overall, I've said many times before this is not an ideal year but I really hope to have some more exciting reviews and many other things happen within 2025. Again, thank you all for supporting the blog over the past year again. Your kindness and awesomeness really makes me love doing this and you guys are the most coolest, excellent gaming forum around! I also hope you enjoyed the annual short story titled "Wake up and smell the ashes." This was in the works since the beginning of November, but this is by far the most effort I put into a Season Finale so far. Usually these are short but I wanted to express a creative vision going forward with these Season Finales. I'm turning 28 next year and hopefully this will be a turning point for me where I start to learn coding and understand the fundamentals of it. I'll attempt to update you on my coding adventures as well if possible.

Thank you all and I cannot wait to start the new Season next year. Happy Holidays!

-TheAutisticGamer

The Search for Eternity Begins! Welcome to The Chronicles Of Life and Death, Season 4 of TheAutisticGamer's Behemoth Backlog!

Welcome one and all to a new Season! This year, my goal is to get through a lot of my physical backlog to find greater games as last year, most of the games I played were very underwhelming. Although I will still be taking a look at my Digital Library of course across all consoles, but I want to at least try to get through a good chunk of my physical backlog. I also want to attempt to play longer games, although that depends on stuff like how often I'm learning to code and other hobby stuff, not to mention work!

I don't have much to add at the moment as like always, the format will be the same! Contracts are still in effect and act like they always have. Sorry, I'm just kind of out of it right now, but this should stop after winter is over. Anyways, I will update this to be on the front of my Blog so people can take a look at it. I'll update this to add more stuff later on, but for now, the Hub is up and a new season has begun!

-Contracts-

Contract #1: Half-Life: ESCAPE 2.0 (PC, 01/09, 8.5/10)
https://howlongtobeat.com/forum/thread/1729/27#post120127

Contract #2: Aperture Desk Job (PC, 01/15, 8/10)
https://howlongtobeat.com/forum/thread/1729/27#post120203

Contract #3: Rogue Warrior (X360, 01/23, 5.5/10)
https://howlongtobeat.com/forum/thread/1729/27#post120414

Catch Up #1: Return to Castle Wolfenstein, Delta Particles and Job Simulator
https://howlongtobeat.com/forum/thread/1729/27#post120786

Half-Life: ESCAPE 2.0
System: PC
Developer: RETROtastich
Publisher: RETROtastich
Genre: FPS, Mod, Old School Shooter
Completed in 2:17:51



Welcome all to the first review of the year, kicking it off with Half-Life 1 mod that released last year and one I've been wanting to try out for a while. I don't know how much I'll have to say about it, but lets get into it!

So the mod is called Half-Life: ESCAPE 2.0 and it's yet another Black Mesa Incident story, this time focusing on a Scientist named James West who works in Portal Technology. The goal is essentially like Blue Shift, just to escape Black Mesa all as things around get more grim. One of the first things I have to praise the mod is how much more depth there is to the background of the events after the Resonance Cascade. There are a couple Emergency Broadcast radio messages telling people to evacuate New Mexico, and then later on in the game, things become much more horrifying as the President declares a state of emergency. This is a great way to showcase to players the horrible impact that Black Mesa has caused by accident on the world, leading to the arrival of the Combine in later Half-Life games. It also helps deeply with immersion on another hand because while Half-Life was already a deeply immersive game, these little additions add a lot to playing the mod in a dark room where there is a feeling of hopelessness coming through.

My favorite thing about ESCAPE 2.0 is that it's basically non stop combat throughout the entire game and boy, does the combat in this game exceed. There's lots of reasons for this. For one, I've stated my points on against using HD Models in the original Half-Life game because everything seems more dated. However, I've learned to appreciate using these in mods as it can enhance a lot of things such as making the weapons more refreshing. The HD Models do a great job here at making gameplay and graphics stand out from other Half-Life mods, but I feel Echoes did a lot of more impressive things with the HD Models especially with NPCs. Still, there's still lots to enjoy. There's only a few select weapons you get in the game. There's no HEV Suit, No Flashlight (which is annoying) and no melee weapon. Instead, Dr. West goes out all guns blazing with a pistol, magnum, assault rifle, shotgun, grenades, tau cannon and satchel charges. By removing most of the weapons that I would consider fat from the game, especially the alien weapons, you're given a great if small selection of guns that works wonders in many of the combat encounters whether it be with Alien Slaves or Marines.

Another thing I liked about the combat is that I feel it has a very good story purpose. In the game, Dr. West meets up with some security guards and scientists at the beginning and works with them to get out. They are soon separated once the marines come in however to silence Black Mesa, so Dr. West has to meet them at another location. This is something I loved. While you're in combat, it makes for a compelling reason to want to go and reunite with this group and secondly, the combat gives the players an urgency to get to them on time in hopes that they aren't killed by whatever is around the corner. I think in this mod which so heavily relies on combat and very little on puzzles, there's just this excitement to wanting to complete it, hoping that your colleagues will be safe and hoping you can get out of Black Mesa alive.

The levels are also very good for fighting in. Some exterior areas are pretty open and that counts for some of the interior areas. Giving players a chance to move around and have a fighting chance is always a good thing. A mechanic you can use in the game is picking up turrets and setting them up at certain areas to defend yourself from major hoards. However, this leads into a thing I didn't realize at first. The game has you picking up LOTS of stuff but you don't get a good idea of that at the beginning. One segment early on has you moving a corpse out of the way from blocking an elevator. However, I didn't see really any indication of that unless I wasn't paying attention. Usually when there's stuff to pick up there's a shiny sparkle on it that says you can pick it up. However, this beginning point didn't really give you the best idea of what to do at first. Correct me if I'm wrong if you've played it though and I will edit the review afterwards. But yeah, the turrets are okay, but they're not even comparable to the Gargantua you fight. Trust me, save your satchel charges and blow this thing to hell at the end of the mod immediately, it will make your life so much easier.

My only really big issues with the mod is that the Marines AI is worse than in the original game. Most of the time they'll just stand there and do nothing. I was convinced at one point that these were somehow friendly aliens and that the Marines were helping the Scientists like in Opposing Force. But alas, that's not the case, just really bad pathfinding and AI. However, companions have seen a major improvement in terms of AI. Instead of relying on the usually unreliable follow system, instead each character you meet is scripted for you to follow which means they'll never get stuck on geometry and they'll never forget to follow you after a couple of seconds. This was a welcome change and I hope a lot more Half-Life mods consider doing this trick in future endeavors.

I found Half-Life: ESCAPE 2.0 just as exciting as the original Half-Life game. It doesn't have a better story, atmosphere, voice acting or puzzles than Half-Life, but it's constant combat encounters make for a thrilling experience that should be checked out if you love Half-Life and the modding community for this franchise. It has a few downsides, but they are pretty minor in comparison to the rest of the experience. It's fun mod, made by people who care which is the usual case for this wholesome modding scene. Very much recommended.

Rating: 8.5/10

PROS:

-Constant Action and Excitement throughout the mod
-Areas are big enough to have a fighting chance against enemies
-Combat gives reason to be invested into the story
-Adds some nice touches in terms of immersion
-HD Models make it stand out from other Classic Half-Life mods
-Companion AI is now scripted compared to the unreliable Follow Freeman system of the original game

CONS:

-Marine AI is dumbed down completely
-Picking up items isn't that clear at first
-No Flashlight makes walking in dark places more of a chore than it has to be
-Lacking in creative and inventive puzzles that Half-Life mods usually have

-TheAutisticGamer

Aperture Desk Job
System: PC
Developer: Valve
Publisher: Valve
Genre: Tech Demo, Adventure
Completed in 30:45



I've had mixed feelings on Valve for the past decade. To give them credit where it's due, they made my favorite game ever, Half-Life, which is still the most immersive game I think anyone has ever made. And games like Left 4 Dead 2 are also incredible for their endless replayability thanks to Valve's open stance on modding. But the main focus I want to go onto is Half-Life 2 and Portal. Now, I liked both games and have come to appreciate Half-Life 2 A LOT more in recent years. Half-Life 2's physics, characters, world, graphics, gameplay and reliance on player respect is what makes the game so refreshing to play in today's market. And Portal was a nice surprise that built the Half-Life universe to new heights, showcasing a competitor to Black Mesa in Aperture Science.

However, things quickly got off the rails faster than I would have imagined. A couple years ago I played the Episodes of Half-Life 2 and to say they were disappointing was an understatement. Episode One was too silly in it's characters and plot for what it was trying to be and was excruciatingly short. Episode Two was longer and had a more serious story which was appreciated, but I felt like the series was beginning to lose too much steam way too fast when they introduce things like the Borealis, which to me until recently always seemed to be nothing but a tie in wink wink to Portal featured on The Orange Box. The ending was genuinely great to Episode Two, but by this point I've lost interest. And then there was Portal 2. This is by far one of the most disappointing games I've ever played and even when I played it at launch I just didn't like it. I thought it was way more restrictive than Portal 1 and the humor and story just didn't work at all. The cooperative mode was fun and it had workshop support, but at this point, Valve seemed to have took a gigantic hiatus from Half-Life and Portal, as we now know for those past 12 years until Half-Life: Alyx announced.

My point is, I don't think Valve has made a good single player game since Left 4 Dead 2, And with Alyx having such a high entry fee to play, it's just not worth it in my eyes to own a VR headset at the moment. However, Valve seems to be in a much better state than it was Pre-Alyx. They're starting to release more games and tech and are finally getting back into the Half-Life/Portal universe. The ending of Alyx which I have seen gave me hope that the next Half-Life game would be genuinely awesome and a return to form, not to mention I think a Portal 3 taking place in one of the Combine Occupied Cities where the Portal Gun, physics and turrets are your only line of defense would be excellent. But that's not what we're here to talk about. We're here to talk about a short game called Aperture Desk Job.

It's a game meant to be played on Steam Deck, but the best thing is it's compatible with an Xbox controller, so there's no need to really buy a Steam Deck if you don't have the money for it. The only thing you're really missing out on is Gyroscope, but that's something I can live without. This review is going to be very spoiler heavy as it details a lot of new things about the Portal/Half-Life universe.

Okay, so this game is the earliest in the Half-Life/Portal timeline when Aperture was a still a functioning company as we do see the silhouettes of people in the background as we start the game. It focuses on a worker who is essentially the player and a Core named Grady who work together to invent a Toilet Turret and hope to become rich and famous for it. However, things do not go as planned and the game at the end reveals a gigantic twist that I'm sure is going to make every Half-Life/Portal nut go wild. That's all I'm going to add for now, but I will focus it more on spoilers.

The basics: You use your controller or Steam Deck to interact with the Toilet Turret. The first time you get to use it, you destroy a warehouse in this incredible sequence that is true Valve fashion. You see tons of real time destruction and physics as the warehouse is totally obliterated which is genuinely one of the most impressive scenes I've seen in a Gen 9 Game. It showcases a huge scale that has always been true to the company's games and despite it's small length at about 30 minutes, I was genuinely impressed by how fantastical this scene was. What really helps the player get to know the controls is that the desk has all the buttons you would expect on a controller. And when you press the button on your controller, it showcases you did on the screen by showcase the pressure being put onto it. Without sounding incredibly hand holdly, the game showcases you the controls in a smart, unintrusive manner.

One of the best things to come out of this is the interactivity behind the game. At one point, you're supposed to talk into your microphone to say your name after being released from jail (which you still have the desk with you). I didn't know if this was going to work at first but the game suddenly played back my words in clean clarity that was one of the highlights of the game. You also get to use the keyboard and mouse to type your name and sign a paper which is a great way of getting around some of the other Steam Deck Features. With these pieces, the game becomes more involving and realistic in terms of gameplay and again, like a lot of Valve's best games makes you feel immersed in the situation.

I would say a lot more about the gameplay, but that would require spoiling the best parts of the story. So before I go into the story, I want to say this is a magnificent looking game with incredible texture and surface detailing and amazing sequences that are capable because of Source 2. I'm very much looking forward to seeing what Source 2 will be able to do in later games. I also think the voice acting is excellent. Grady is funny and very well voiced and you do feel close to him in the short amount of time you do get to play. But now, we come to the story and it's ending. Spoilers.

The game expands upon Half-Life and Portal's universe is a totally unexpected way. Cave Johnson, who we heard voice overs of in Portal 2 is here again. And this time, we find out something shocking. We find out that he was getting extremely sick and so, when we go up to see him after a big fight against washing machine turrets, we find out that Cave Johnson has had his consciousness uploaded in a gigantic metal head that will live forever. Wanting death, he tells the player to destroy the head but being unable to do so, he attempts to turn the power off, but a backup turns on. This results in Cave's head collapsing to the very bottom of Aperture Science and Grady and the player going under Witness Protection due to Grady owning money to loan sharks who gave Grady the funds to create the Toilet Turrets.

The resulting story is a refreshing look at the universe Valve created in their franchises and yes, I'm going to say it. Even though this is short and meant to be a tech demo, this is Valve's best game since Left 4 Dead 2. I mean it. It's refreshing, inventive, funny, captivating, it builds upon the world of Half-Life and Portal in a new intriguing direction and absolutely got me excited to see what's next. This gives me hope that future Portal and Half-Life related games will just be as inventive as this, so lets hope Valve continues this absurdly high quality of single player and multiplayer games in the future. This is a really damn nice game if you have an Xbox Controller to play with. But I can only imagine what the Steam Deck version is like. Really good and any valve fan will enjoy this.

Rating: 8/10

PROS:

-Inventive and Refreshing gameplay
-Source 2 is fantastic and it's best sequences are possible with this engine
-A welcome return to the Half-Life/Portal universe with unexpected worldbuilding
-Top Notch Voice acting that gets you close towards the person next to you
-Story is really damn great
-Tons of interactivity including for the use of microphone and mouse and keyboard

CONS:

-Controller is only limited to a few minor things compared to Steam Deck version
-Pretty much no replayability after initial playthrough

-TheAutisticGamer

Rogue Warrior
System: Xbox 360
Developer: Rebellion
Publisher: Bethesda
Genre: FPS, Cover Shooter, Action



Okay, so this fucking fuck of a fucking game is fucking kind of fucking weird...

Just kidding, I'm not going to do that for the entire review, but man oh man this could have been the ultimate so bad it's good game! Rogue Warrior went through hell to get developed before landing on Rebellion's lap and releasing to horrid reviews with many citing it as one of the worst games of all time. I can't agree with this for numerous reasons. One is that the game certainly does function and if something didn't function, I would probably give the game a MUCH lower score than I did. Yes, things are exploitable but the game certainly isn't broken by any standards with a couple of glitches I found along the way. But in general, this almost has the perfect brew to go down in the history books as THE bad game. A complete vanity project, this game features Dick Marcinko (a real person BTW) in a plot to end the Cold War once and for all during the mid-80's. Despite what you may think, no. It's not based on his autobiography, it's not based on any actual missions he had done in service and it's certainly not based on the ridiculous fiction books he co-writes. This is a wholly original game with Dick being the main hero and my god it's crazy.

This game is bonkers but it's also hilarious in the wrong ways. First off, this is a First Person Cover Shooter in the style of Quantum of Solace (a better game to be honest for the 360). Dick plays in the first person unless he's in cover in which he switches to third person. Dick has a weak variety of guns, mainly ranging from crumby shotguns to mediocre assault rifles. All you do in this game is shoot North Koreans and Soviet Russians while Dick says "Fuck" so many times that the people behind Swearnet: The Movie I think would faint in horror by how many fucks he says. And often, Dick's one liners are hilariously bad. I laughed so hard at a lot of them and one of the one liners involving "A Polar Bear Freezing It's Dick Off." had me completely in stitches. His lines are so in bad taste and just awful that you cannot believe this person is real. I kept laughing throughout the majority of the game because of how idiotic the dialogue from him is and to be honest, the game has become kind of a so bad it's good cult classic among gamers due to it's vulgarity. But does that mean the game is great? Not really.

I played it on Xbox 360 and the FPS usually stays at around 20 FPS which makes the guns feel sluggish. It doesn't help that enemies can kill you almost instant in 3-4 bullets, so you have to basically play this game like a Gears of War or Uncharted game. The gunplay just doesn't feel good mainly because of the framerate and sensitivity. I had to adjust the sensitivity actually which is never a good first impression when starting an FPS game. Aside from the hilarious dialogue, the voice acting is extremely poor. I don't think any of the two Hollywood level actors they got for this game gave an entire shit. The game also gets boring 70% of the way through and then much of the game after that is planting bombs constantly on missiles. Grenades are also useless as they have too little of a blast radius and can realistically kill only one enemy at a time, so grenades are a waste and don't matter in this game. The cover mechanics work fine, but they can be much more refined if this game wasn't rushed out the door. I also had a moment where I got checkpoint after I died instantly, meaning I almost had to restart an entire level because I kept get blown up by a barrel that was on fire which is probably the worst part of the experience for me.

My favorite part though is the glory kills. These are some of the most brutal takedowns I've ever seen in a game and I was ecstatic with joy every time Dick did one. If you press X, Dick will stab an enemy multiple times in the face or eyeballs or slit an enemy's throat and it's so vulgar and violent that I was cheering for the next one to happen. This is easily exploitable at the beginning of almost ever level. Mainly because you can use the takedown feature for like 2 minutes tops if you're running because enemies are slow and stupid and are always looking in front of them. The AI also is terrible. They'll mostly just hide behind cover for hours on end and even if you get close to them, they'll rarely shoot you much of the time. And some enemies are just extremely slow as said. There's not much else to say other than the graphics are below average and murky, not to mention the game thankfully is short at around 2 Hours tops so it doesn't overstay it's welcome for much longer.

If you can get this cheap like I did, it's a fun albeit mediocre romp that will have you howling with laughter for the first half of it. It's certainly got issues as so many have pointed out, but as a so bad it's good game, it ultimately falls flat at the 3/4 mark. Still, there's a cult classic in here somewhere.

One more note before I go. I want to link this video to everyone because I think it's genuinely important.



This is one of my favorite Youtube videos in a long time and made me subscribe to this guy's channel. If you have time, take a look at it. It covers a lot of ground for bad games and it even talks about the bigger releases in 2023 which honestly, are just kind of boring. But one of the most important things I took away from the video is that if there is a game that is considered bad, you should give it a chance! Who knows, maybe you'll just find it average or mediocre or decent. And I've certainly taken that advice to heart especially in the last few months after seeing this video. This video is the reason I finally bit the bullet on getting this game, because I honestly wanted to see what the fuss was about so I could be part of the conversation. And in the video, he also says why we shouldn't constantly get angry and full of contempt at failure because again, no one sets out to make a bad game! Loved the video and you should check it out.

Anyways, Rogue Warrior is medicore but has tons of laughs. Try it out for cheap!

Rating: 5.5/10

PROS:

-Brutal and awesome takedowns
-Hilariously awful one liners
-It certainly functions!
-So bad it's good for most of it

CONS:

-Not so great gunplay
-Bad performance on Xbox 360
-Vulgar to the point of parody
-Boring graphics and art style
-Poor voice acting performances
-Checkpoints can become broken
-Becomes boring after a while

-TheAutisticGamer

I suggest checking out the Bouncer, that game is on par with Rogue Warrior when it comes to unintentional hilarity and it can be beaten in an hour like Rogue Warrior. When it comes to geniunely bad games and not disappointing games in popular franchises, Rogue Warrior and the Bouncer are my go tos. More often than not not with a lot of bad games, all they do is make me angry for a few hours and then I forget I even played them.

Rogue Warrior
System: Xbox 360
Developer: Rebellion
Publisher: Bethesda
Genre: FPS, Cover Shooter, Action



Okay, so this fucking fuck of a fucking game is fucking kind of fucking weird...

Just kidding, I'm not going to do that for the entire review, but man oh man this could have been the ultimate so bad it's good game! Rogue Warrior went through hell to get developed before landing on Rebellion's lap and releasing to horrid reviews with many citing it as one of the worst games of all time. I can't agree with this for numerous reasons. One is that the game certainly does function and if something didn't function, I would probably give the game a MUCH lower score than I did. Yes, things are exploitable but the game certainly isn't broken by any standards with a couple of glitches I found along the way. But in general, this almost has the perfect brew to go down in the history books as THE bad game. A complete vanity project, this game features Dick Marcinko (a real person BTW) in a plot to end the Cold War once and for all during the mid-80's. Despite what you may think, no. It's not based on his autobiography, it's not based on any actual missions he had done in service and it's certainly not based on the ridiculous fiction books he co-writes. This is a wholly original game with Dick being the main hero and my god it's crazy.

This game is bonkers but it's also hilarious in the wrong ways. First off, this is a First Person Cover Shooter in the style of Quantum of Solace (a better game to be honest for the 360). Dick plays in the first person unless he's in cover in which he switches to third person. Dick has a weak variety of guns, mainly ranging from crumby shotguns to mediocre assault rifles. All you do in this game is shoot North Koreans and Soviet Russians while Dick says "Fuck" so many times that the people behind Swearnet: The Movie I think would faint in horror by how many fucks he says. And often, Dick's one liners are hilariously bad. I laughed so hard at a lot of them and one of the one liners involving "A Polar Bear Freezing It's Dick Off." had me completely in stitches. His lines are so in bad taste and just awful that you cannot believe this person is real. I kept laughing throughout the majority of the game because of how idiotic the dialogue from him is and to be honest, the game has become kind of a so bad it's good cult classic among gamers due to it's vulgarity. But does that mean the game is great? Not really.

I played it on Xbox 360 and the FPS usually stays at around 20 FPS which makes the guns feel sluggish. It doesn't help that enemies can kill you almost instant in 3-4 bullets, so you have to basically play this game like a Gears of War or Uncharted game. The gunplay just doesn't feel good mainly because of the framerate and sensitivity. I had to adjust the sensitivity actually which is never a good first impression when starting an FPS game. Aside from the hilarious dialogue, the voice acting is extremely poor. I don't think any of the two Hollywood level actors they got for this game gave an entire shit. The game also gets boring 70% of the way through and then much of the game after that is planting bombs constantly on missiles. Grenades are also useless as they have too little of a blast radius and can realistically kill only one enemy at a time, so grenades are a waste and don't matter in this game. The cover mechanics work fine, but they can be much more refined if this game wasn't rushed out the door. I also had a moment where I got checkpoint after I died instantly, meaning I almost had to restart an entire level because I kept get blown up by a barrel that was on fire which is probably the worst part of the experience for me.

My favorite part though is the glory kills. These are some of the most brutal takedowns I've ever seen in a game and I was ecstatic with joy every time Dick did one. If you press X, Dick will stab an enemy multiple times in the face or eyeballs or slit an enemy's throat and it's so vulgar and violent that I was cheering for the next one to happen. This is easily exploitable at the beginning of almost ever level. Mainly because you can use the takedown feature for like 2 minutes tops if you're running because enemies are slow and stupid and are always looking in front of them. The AI also is terrible. They'll mostly just hide behind cover for hours on end and even if you get close to them, they'll rarely shoot you much of the time. And some enemies are just extremely slow as said. There's not much else to say other than the graphics are below average and murky, not to mention the game thankfully is short at around 2 Hours tops so it doesn't overstay it's welcome for much longer.

If you can get this cheap like I did, it's a fun albeit mediocre romp that will have you howling with laughter for the first half of it. It's certainly got issues as so many have pointed out, but as a so bad it's good game, it ultimately falls flat at the 3/4 mark. Still, there's a cult classic in here somewhere.

One more note before I go. I want to link this video to everyone because I think it's genuinely important.



This is one of my favorite Youtube videos in a long time and made me subscribe to this guy's channel. If you have time, take a look at it. It covers a lot of ground for bad games and it even talks about the bigger releases in 2023 which honestly, are just kind of boring. But one of the most important things I took away from the video is that if there is a game that is considered bad, you should give it a chance! Who knows, maybe you'll just find it average or mediocre or decent. And I've certainly taken that advice to heart especially in the last few months after seeing this video. This video is the reason I finally bit the bullet on getting this game, because I honestly wanted to see what the fuss was about so I could be part of the conversation. And in the video, he also says why we shouldn't constantly get angry and full of contempt at failure because again, no one sets out to make a bad game! Loved the video and you should check it out.

Anyways, Rogue Warrior is medicore but has tons of laughs. Try it out for cheap!

Rating: 5.5/10

PROS:

-Brutal and awesome takedowns
-Hilariously awful one liners
-It certainly functions!
-So bad it's good for most of it

CONS:

-Not so great gunplay
-Bad performance on Xbox 360
-Vulgar to the point of parody
-Boring graphics and art style
-Poor voice acting performances
-Checkpoints can become broken
-Becomes boring after a while

-TheAutisticGamer

10 goatfucks out of 10 😎

10 goatfucks out of 10 😎

I prefer this clip personally, the build to, "suck my balls" is what makes it.

I prefer this clip personally, the build to, "suck my balls" is what makes it.

There's tons of lines from this game that are just comedy gold. I can't believe Dick Marcinko is a real person lol.

There's tons of lines from this game that are just comedy gold. I can't believe Dick Marcinko is a real person lol.

Mickey's Rourke's delivery of the dialogue is just "perfect".

Yep! I changed my banner. Hope you like the change of scenery.

I haven't posted in quite a bit but I have some exciting news. I bought a Meta Quest 3 for my sister and I to play on and so far I've been REALLY enjoying the experiences I've played on it. I played loads of Serious Sam VR: The First Encounter, not to mention I've tried a little bit Half-Life 2 VR and Job Simulator, the latter being probably my favorite game I've played thus far on the headset. Although my bank account is crying right now, I spent over $700 dollars just to get this and thankfully I'm heading back to work after my LOA I've had from it, so I'll finally start getting money in the bank again.

So far, the Meta Quest 3 has been quite good. I was worried initially that I would not be able to fit into it because I wear glasses, but they have a facial spacer that allows glasses users to wear the headset which is a huge step up from the mediocre experience I had with PSVR. The fact that it's wireless as well is a HUGE bonus as I don't need to set up a billion sensors in the room to get the best results. We currently have it hooked up in my sister's second room which is more appropriate for playing. The headset is comfortable and I've not had any major with the controls or build quality. I'm really looking forward to trying games like Half-Life: Alyx, Sniper Elite VR, Zombie Army VR, Star Wars Vader Immortal, Asgard's Wrath II and others and I also have a 3 month trial for Meta Quest+ so I'll definitely be trying some titles on there as well.

Regular gaming has been mixed. Right now I'm into one specific game, but other than that I'm just having trouble figuring out what to play right now, so I'll probably stick with the game I'm going with, which happens to be the one I'm going to talk about right now!



I hear of this series a while ago but only now have I decided to play one of the games in it. This is SUPER addicting. It's a JRPG type game made for Web Browsers back who knows how long ago and is free to play on Steam. It has really excellent turn based battles and a really good sense of humor, although I feel most of the side quests are just junk filler. It's a breath of fresh air from the genres I usually play and I'm wanting to play more JRPGs now. But, I'm going to stick with this series for the next little while and try out 4 and 5 as well. The reason I don't play 1 and 2 is because they're so short, so these will have to do. Still, it's really good so far and I hope to put more hours into it.

I don't have anything much to add atm. I did a lot of coding practice today as I'm still going through the book I got for Christmas. I hope sometime to use Source Engine to make Half-Life 2 mods. Anyways, that's all. Sorry there wasn't too much to say but that's what happens when you've had an uneventful month. Oh, I did see a Cybertruck though when I was out with friends and I was completely baffled by it. See you soon!

-TheAutisticGamer

Passing the Ketchup! I mean- Catch Up! #1

I haven't done many reviews recently and that's mainly because I'm kind of stepping away from my blog a bit to just enjoy the games I want to play. I pretty much said to myself I don't need to constantly review things, so I'll keep that in mind continuing on into the year. But I wanted to try something new and if it goes well, I'll probably attempt more of these! I want to catch up on some games I completed last month and recently and again, I'm hoping to make more of these because I think this will be a good way to refresh the blog a bit. So without further ado, I wanted to talk about three games that I played in the last month and a half. I'll go by order of when I completed them.



Return to Castle Wolfenstein (RealRTCW)

I started the year off by completing another FPS game I never tried before and thankfully, it was very, VERY good! I know Wolfenstein is a popular series now but to be honest after playing The New Order years ago I found it to be way too serious for something that is supposed to be inherently silly in concept. This is where RTCW comes in. In the fashion of the best Old School Shooters, you are once again swept into WWII as a one man army to defeat Nazi Occultists and save the world from the Nazis changing the tide of the war. It's nowhere near as serious as the Wolfenstein games of the present are and to me this puts it WAY up there when compared to other FPS games. It's not obnoxiously comedic or tone deaf, it has the best blend of serious and darkly funny that I think the series should be going back to.

I played it with the RealRTCW mod and it added a lot of conveniences like Widescreen Support, Extra Weapons, Updated Graphics, Better AI and many other things that are optional. Unfortunately, some of the things are completely unnecessary and the mod sometimes detracts from the overall experience. The game has a HUB you visit after every Chapter is completed and this is by far the worst part of the game. These sections features some of the worst voice acting in the history of video games, not even on an amateurish level, but on a "I don't give no shits!" level of abysmal that is absolutely horrendous. It's also quite frankly redundant to have a cutscene telling us what we're going to do next, only to be in the hub and have to go to headquarters for them to tell us the exact same thing we already know! I think this HUB can be toggled off but I'm not entirely sure. If not, I would have rather played the Vanilla+ versions of the game that are on the workshop and my rating would have been so much higher.

RTCW still is another incredibly immersive FPS game that takes you on a classic one man army adventure with tons of great weapons and excellent gunplay among some really interesting environments. Sometimes the game will put you into stealth sections and these are by far some of the best I've played from an older game. Stealth in older games (especially FPS Games) are usually awful, but this was really good and it wasn't a hassle to play. One of the best things about the game is the AI and how responsive they can be. If you hide, they'll come straight after you, they'll actually respond by hiding from gunfire, they'll also try to flank you at multiple points. The only other game I can compare the AI to is the original Unreal, which to me might have the most responsive AI in an FPS Game ever. The levels are always interesting and the action is almost constant, keeping a fast pace throughout the game.

This is one I'd very much recommend. Old School FPS games for me are some of the most immersive in the genre and it's no wonder that RTCW is still such a classic after all these years. It's everything I wanted out of a Classic FPS game from the era.

Rating: 8/10



Delta Particles

A very recent mod release for Half-Life 1. This is one of the best Half-Life mods I've played and rivals a lot of the great HL2 mods out there. This time, you're not focusing on Black Mesa or Gordon Freeman or Barney, or some random coworker who spilt his coffee and caused another resonance cascade. Nuh uh. Instead you focus on a new location, Delta Labs who inadvertently get involved in the Resonance Cascade and it's up to you and your... coworker? Boss? Girlfriend? Best Friend? Lover? Whatever. Her name is Diana and will have to survive in Delta Labs and make your way into the Border World to find missing scientists.

First things first, this is a full on Total Conversion of Half-Life. I'm always a big sucker for what people can do with Half-Life and it's assets and my god, this mod looks incredible. The skyboxes actually have stuff going on in them, the character models look excellent and even the one for Diana is really well done. There's also tons of new weapons to try out but at the very end of the day, this is still the classic Half-Life experience redefined. It's kind of survival horror like in terms of the gameplay at the beginning, but by the end of the first act you'll be in for a wild ride. Like every good Half-Life mod it rewards you for exploring and thinking during puzzles and combat scenarios which there are many. Seeing a new location other than Black Mesa is a welcome change of scenery and Delta Labs has lots of interesting places to explore and look at. The music is also very much like Half-Life and I could see this passing as an Expansion in 2002 and I wouldn't know the difference it's that good. All the pieces fall into place to make a memorable experience that is leagues ahead of some other Half-Life 1 and 2 mods.

The ending of the game however is unsavory. It ends on a cliffhanger that will probably never be continued and the game basically tells you a few moments before that all you did to get to this point in the story was pointless meaning you feel like you wasted a bunch of time doing something for nothing. I hope there is a sequel to this mod but I'm not getting my hopes up. This mod came out of nowhere and had a great time with it. If you love Half-Life and it's universe you have to play this. The gunplay is excellent, the combat encounters are interesting and differentiate from regular Half-Life, the music is kick ass, the graphics are REALLY awesome for a Gold Source mod and Diana is best girl. Looking forward to playing this again.

Rating: 8.5/10



Job Simulator

My first VR Completion! Recently I bought a Meta Quest 3 for me and my sister to play with and we're loving it. VR has absolutely changed my perspective on game immersion and I seriously am having the best time trying out VR titles. This one is a classic of VR Games, taking place in a mid 21st Century where Robotic CRT Monitors mostly populate the world. You play as a human visiting a Job Museum and being trained by Job Bot to try out jobs of the past. There's four choices, Office Worker, Cook, Store Clerk and Auto Mechanic. You're guided through each and every one of these situations by Job Bot, but instead of feeling hand holdy it instead helps the player become immersed in the job they're doing.

This is one of the best gaming experiences I've had in a LONG time. For such a little game there is so much interactivity. If you open a door, you can swing you hand at it to close it and it will react to your movements. If you are told to blow on something to get rid of dust, you can actually blow and the item will react to what you just did. If you eat a donut, you actually see chunks of the donut being eaten as you hold it close to your mouth. You can crank dials, pull switches, press buttons, throw objects at robots or into recycling cans, drink grape juice, I could go on and on and on about how much I loved the amount of creativity you could do with the amount of freedom you have despite being lead on a path.

The Graphics are adorable. I love the Robots you meet in this game and I enjoyed seeing everyone's interactions with you or other bots. The immersion in this game stands almost above even the most immersive games on flat screens because when you're playing this game, you always feel like you're part of the environment which I guess is what VR is supposed to do, but it's insane how we went from dreaming of VR as a schlocky cyberpunk fantasy in the 90's to actually having great hardware that supports incredible experiences. I loved the world of Job Simulator and I can't wait to go back to it again. I cannot recommend enough. The price to get into VR is extremely high and is not for everyone, but if you so happen to have a VR Headset like I do, this is a must play for any beginner to the VR Experience. I hope I can get to play the sequel soon.

Rating: 9/10

Out of all the games, I would absolutely recommend Job Simulator, but the others I covered are still worth checking out and are probably cheaper alternatives (Delta Particles is free because it's a Mod on Steam) but I had a great time playing these games. I'll see you all later and hopefully will continue this Ketchup- I mean Catch up series! Thanks!

-TheAutisticGamer