It's pretty much gone unsaid so far on this site as to what I would truly hold aloft as my favourite PC game of all time. Anybody would think it was something actiony and violent, simplistic in form, but addictive in nature. Surely it's a game by illustrious action-innovators Valve Software? Portal perhaps? Half-Life even? Nope, you're way off. The clue is in the post title. And that picture right there.
Back in 1999, one whole year after Valve's magnum opus hit the shelves, Jagged Alliance 2 gave me my first experience of turn-based strategy gaming. I'd missed out on the UFO series a few years before so it became my first real stab at the genre and it was life-defining in the sense that my obsession with PC gaming was forged and I had experienced, in that early period of a lifelong hobby, computer gaming's vast capacity to entertain.
JA2 wasn't released to any kind of fanfare though. It received decent enough reviews, but I seem to remember PC Gamer awarding it just over 80% and being genuinely hurt by a lack of obsession or understanding on their part as to what made it game of the year - nay, game of the decade - for me. It says something that over ten years since its release very few games have come close to matching the effect that the Jagged Alliance series had on me.
The first game was generally forgettable, but this sequel presented all parts in the correct amounts. It was the ultimate splicing of genres. Part dumb action movie, the selection of mercenaries you could choose from were full of character whilst widespread stereotyping reigned supreme and hilarious accents offered up genuinely funny quotes. There were forty Schwarzeneggers at your disposal and each had the potential to make you laugh as much as the first time you ever watched Commando.
JA2 was also an RPG, the tactical decisions that you made ultimately affected your future experiences. The country of Arulco in which the game was set was split into grids to allow you to go anywhere you pleased and shoot whomever you wanted. You were able to choose your path thoughtfully or let chance dictate if the direction you had decided on led you into a war zone or an entertaining distraction. Like all good role-players your mercenaries boasted stats that could be raised through combat or training. They had energy levels that indicated when they were running on empty and when they couldn't last another minute without a good, hard nap. They interacted with the other characters in your party in what became a monumental clash of egos and each reacted differently to the NPCs you'd encounter on your journeys.
JA2 was, for the most part though, a turn-based strategy. Working on the universal currency of Action Points, you and your enemy exchanged turns until one of you was left with their force's guts spilled onto the dirt. It was a gun fetishist's wet dream and the tactics you could employ were intricate and varied. The whole system controlled in a way that meant you rarely felt that failure to win a battle was anyone's fault but your own.
Is that all? Not quite. When you had made it far enough through the game it became a management sim too. Whilst playing around with all of the above you were required to build up a militia, to train a rebel army and manage your income by utilising the various mining towns dotted about the country.
So why am I going into such enormous detail about an age-old game when I could be covering newer, better (well, not better) games? Well, it's because I believe Jagged Alliance 2 is well overdue an update. It needs a brave sequel that really shows how the limits of gaming can be pushed and highlight comparatively how little we have progressed since those halcyon days of epic ideas and endless playability. You can cite tales of Fallout 3 and Oblivion and the features of a range of recent sandbox games as the evolution of gaming, but it would mean little to me. For the most part they're testing the water of the genres that they are alleged to have defined.
And so, over the next few months I'll be chronicling the adventures of my small band of heroes as they journey through Arulco, liberating the inhabitants and setting straight any punks that happen to get in their way. I'm hoping it'll be of interest to any that may have never heard of the game and demonstrate what a cracking play it really is. Following that you'll want to pick it up from GOG.com for only $9.99. In fact, pick it up right now. It would be foolish to wait.
For a brief -albeit poorly made- introduction to the plot of the game check out the game intro video below.
Honestly, I'm away from the site for two months and all hell breaks loose. I'll do a quick round-up to get back on track but, coincidentally, my last post about Blueberry Garden is still relevant as the game has just been released. So there. Buy it here, enjoy the game and comment on the review below.
Off we go:
Thief 4 -or Thi4f if you're out of touch or work in marketing- was announced to much predictable criticism. The l33t-speak-inaccurate logo sparked fires on internet forums, minds faithful to the series exploded and the corpse of Looking Glass Studios is all set to spin vigourously within its bejewelled coffin. Also developing Deus Ex 3, Eidos Montreal potentially have in their hands the destruction of two much-loved franchises. They're cult games. Fucking either one up will break a lot of hearts.
3D Realms disbanded and Duke Nukem Forever is now delayed indefinitely, as opposed to simply being delayed for an undefined length of time. The difference is brain-meltingly subtle. Many mourned the loss of the company as a father figure of PC gaming whilst some people likened the sudden news to God poking his head through the clouds and announcing that Jesus won't actually be making a comeback after all. That is: astonishing at first, but the actual outcome was to be expected. And before you take that metaphor the wrong way, I'm not likening the 3D Realms team to God. For starters, God is yet to put his name to any above-average corridor shooters. Tee-dum-tshhh!
Popcap released Plants vs Zombies, following which I rediscovered my love for computer games. Twenty hours of my life were stolen by what is essentially a Flash game and I decided to give up blogging in order to cultivate virtual flora. I've arrived at the opinion that if you play this game and don't devote most of your free time to it then you probably lack the emotion and humour to remain a valuable member of society. In fact, if you haven't made your first kill already or at least begun eyeing up tramps as potential victims then I'd start locking any blades away now because it's only a matter of time.
E3 happened. Too much to go into here, but it was surprisingly interesting to keep track of. Many titles appealed and out of nowhere MMO shooters were suddenly all the rage. Nothing, though, excited me more than Just Cause 2's delightfully explosive approach to action gaming. The first game was good enough, but if this sequel delivers on its promises then we could be looking at the new benchmark for sandbox shooters. And then hopefully the GTA series will cheer up a bit and learn some new tricks. Quick time events have to go though...
Left 4 Dead 2 was announced to a hilariously unexpected degree of anger from gamers. It seems that people who bought the original expecting updates akin to Valve's TF2 dedication were a little upset. It was another case of a roudy mass experiencing a misjudged sense of entitlement. Assumptions were lobbed about that in turn got people even more riled, whilst a small proportion of them fumed that Half-Life 2: Episode 3 was still floating about in the ether, unreleased and unannounced. Seriously, check out the RPS comments thread of the announcement and experience a sense of superiority in the knowledge that you're not a whining idiot. Unless you are, in which case have a whinge below. You idiot.
I know I keep regurgitating the same old observation of how every new indie game I come across is beautifully expressive or lovingly wacky, but as a blanket statement it actually tends to be the case far more often than you'd expect. Currently it seems indie gaming is all about bringing the medium forward by delivering unusual feasts of gaming goodness that differ greatly from the slop we so often have to suffer on the high street shelves. You could say - and I often do - that small independent developers don't feel required to create what they think the consumer would like so much as what they themselves want to play, the product of which is usually off-the-wall content.
You could also be of the opinion that it's a conscious decision to stand out from the crowd. Bold colours and zany characters are the key to success and without a novelty device or some kind of graphical twist they will undoubtedly be left to rot in some darkened corner of the internet.
Without venturing too far along this trail of thought, I'll introduce Blueberry Garden by saying that it's not your standard platformer... but it is your typical indie game. It shows off abstract, hand-drawn visuals, classical piano music and several fruity gameplay twists. It's colourful and accessible, but having said that, it also surpasses the indie gaming stereotypes by being pretty damn good.
The winner of the Seumas McNally Grand Prize at the IGF this year, Blueberry Garden is the creation of Erik Svedäng and a game that is well deserving of the praise it has received so far. Soon to be released, Erik has been kind enough to let me take a sneaky peek at his contribution to the indie scene.
'So, what's the deal?' I hear you not ask.
Well, as soon as you load it up you'll be confronted by a game that seems to take its inspiration from dreams more than anything else. As a result it's abstract and pleasantly directionless. Deeper though are the aforementioned additions that twist the gameplay away from what you'd expect from a simple platformer.
Enter the man with a beak on his face. You play as this guy, flying about and collecting various oversized household objects. Giant apples, books, top hats and suchlike litter the landscape which you must then trek across to find. Each time you succeed in doing so, you'll teleport back to the start of the level along with the object you found stacked above you to form a rudimentary tower. Each item you add gives the tower more height which allows you to fly longer distances and reach unexplored territory.
So that's the zany part... and now here I go with one of my many predictable statements: Blueberry Garden is instantly engaging.
When you start playing you'll be skipping about, reading the tutorial signs and trying to figure out what on Earth you're actually required to do and how to go about it. The trees and wildlife offer some pointers. Fruits that grow in the game essentially become power-ups and using these effectively will allow you to access previously unreachable areas in order to continue the search for another piece of the tower.
Within the game world you'll find a bunch of friendly denizens that are all too happy to go about their business, eating the fruit that's dropped and spreading the seeds to grow new trees. Whether this is integral to succeeding, I'm not entirely sure, but it's certainly a workable strategy and using the various plant and animal life to your advantage is part of the fun.
Amazingly, the object of the game didn't occur to me until my second attempt at it. A water level that is virtually out of sight at the start of each new game rises slowly as you play. It's your biggest obstacle and anything you can do to stop yourself drowning is best done quickly. Reaching pieces of the tower before they become inaccessible is obviously at the forefront of your mind, but so too is finding a way to stop it and escape. Have I managed this yet? No. Will I keep trying? Of course. Make that a yes, after a period of obsessive playing.
The most fascinating aspect of the game is that you are left almost entirely without direction from the off. Just like a dream, you're required to make sense of a world that is familiar, but not quite normal. The game contains several references to standard mario-style platformers, but it differs through the use of a few interesting devices. A completely real-time world that continues to evolve off-screen and coexisting wildlife are a couple of things that confirm just why this game received such credit at the IGF awards.
To return to my original comment, Blueberry Gardenis your typical indie game, but in the best sense possible. It's original and innovative whilst taking the finest parts of a well-tread genre and expanding them to show what can still be done to keep it fresh and involving.
From what I've seen, I think a lot of people already have quite an affection for Blueberry Garden from just watching the preview videos posted about the internet and if you aren't one of them then what are you waiting for?
For those of you who don't know, today is actually 'International Downloadable Content for Zombie Shooters Day'. It's a worthy cause, with all funds going towards... well, creating more zombie shooters, I expect. As far as I can tell though, Valve Software are the only ones who have really contributed to this wonderful occasion by releasing their long-promised Survival Pack for co-op horror hit, Left 4 Dead.
If you've already bought the game the update will download as soon as Steam is started and after it's done you'll be presented with the Dead Air and Death Toll campaigns playable in Versus Mode as well as a brand new Survival game-type.
The new Versus maps are a welcome extension to the original game and something players been waiting some time for, whilst Survival mode is something altogether different, recreating those intense siege moments that make up the end of the campaigns. Except it's timed. And there is no rescue.
Taking rooms from various parts of the campaign -and one brand new lighthouse map- the premise is to stock up on guns and ammo before triggering the horde and then being torn to pieces within ten minutes. Although you're apparently less likely to make it to five. Ouch.
It's been a while since I last opted for a bout of Infected slaughter so it seems an appropriate time to dust off my shotgun and get right back into it. Here's hoping more developers will be offering up their support next year on this, the day of undead-depicting-software celebration!
First-person action gaming can at times appear rather stale and uninspiring. It seems that we, the players, are often made slaves to the genre staples established by games that were seen as being revolutionary over a decade ago. A great many titles released these days differ little from the norm in terms of theme, colour or expression and there seems to be a fear prevalent amongst many developers of enriching gamers' imaginations or exceeding expectations - a fear of scaring people off perhaps.
Of course, this is good enough if you want to guarantee a quick buck, but the end result is this: You could point most PC gamers in the direction of the latest shooter and they would know - without blinking - exactly how to deal with the nazis, terrorists or aliens that are inevitably going to attack in their hundreds. And those types of enemies, well, they all really equate to the same thing don't they?
So where is the sense of surprise or the excitement of exploration? Where is the continued thrill when it's always just you against identical evils with a gun?
And whilst we're on the subject of guns, anyone who has played a few action titles will already know what to expect. We've become amateur weapons experts. Yes, it's a very basic familiarity, but these sorts of items form a safety net within these virtual shooting galleries along with warehouses, crates, exploding barrels and the colour brown. How on earth would we cope without these genre standards?
It takes only a few minutes of play to realise that Zeno Clash is from a different galaxy to ours. Its feet are firmly on the ground, but its head is way, way up in outer space, scouting around for whatever weird shit it can find and pull into existence. And that's the first point of interest. Almost everything is alien here - not in the sense of spacesuits and laser rifles, but simply... unusual. The landscape, the flora and fauna, the weaponry and the characters are all captivatingly bizarre. It's a jumbled freakshow of a game where anything you see can be simultaneously beautiful and repulsive and rarely standard fare.
Zeno Clash is very much it's own creature, but the laziest way to describe the game's aesthetics would be to label it as cave-punk. It's a stupid term - I'm well aware - but it's inhabitants are often wild in nature, neanderthal and unkempt. The clothing they wear is striking and organic. Bones and animal parts adorn masks and helmets to make the whole world appear as if conjured by a voodoo priest on an acid high. It's so fantastically insane that even if the gameplay were appalling, the eye-candy alone would probably be enough to keep you pushing onwards until the end.
You play the part of Ghat, a human being and son of Father-Mother, a ten-foot tall crow-beast with a giant chip on its shoulder. The game begins with the death of this hermaphroditic monster and after a brief and amusing tutorial on the basics of combat you find yourself on the run from your kin, a motley crew of birdmen, ogreish humanoids and giant rats (to name but a few). The ensuing story is told through a series of intermittent, playable flashbacks as you explain your past to your female companion, Deadra, who bucks the gaming trend by not being at all irritating.
The storytelling is schizophrenic in nature, but the back and forth of the plot suits the style of the game. It's a decent tale and one that's tightly written and compelling enough without requiring any drawn-out expositions to explain what the hell is going on amongst the madness of the game world. The voice acting is also remarkably well-done considering the size of the team involved and whether the often absurd dialogue is down to poor translation or not, it only seems to add to the charm of the game.
The only sticking point for me is a significant lack of characterisation, especially in the case of Deadra, who says little of worth and explains even less about why she's actually following you and helping you out. I can only assume that this will be resolved in the next game, to which there is a feverish nod at the end of this one. So, to all you cliffhanger-haters out there: you may want to prepare yourself for the worst.
As you'll know if you've seen any of the preview videos, the gameplay is strongly focused around the combat system. A good old fashioned fist-to-the-face isn't something you often see done well in first-person games. It's a mechanic that's difficult to perfect, to recreate the brutal satisfaction of hand-to-hand fighting. Chronicles of Riddick is the closest comparison I can draw to what you'll see here, although that game seemed more geared towards portraying the violence of such confrontations than creating completely workable methods of attack and defence.
Zeno Clash handles it admirably. It's a solid enough system that allows you to lock on to an opponent, left-clicking for a sequence of blows and right-clicking for a more hefty thump. This simple control basis eventually opens up a variety of fighting techniques, allowing you to block or peform counter-attacks and once you've pummelled someone enough to stun them you can either elbow-drop them or launch them across the floor in the hope they'll take another down with them. The visual and audio feedback from each successful hit is fantastic, to such an extent that I often caught myself reeling backwards like a fool whilst winding up a powerful right-hook.
On the whole, the combat is well implemented and if you take the time to learn the moves and if your reactions are reasonably quick, you'll soon feel like a champion fighter. However, there's a strong chance at times that you'll find yourself battling the controls when facing multiple foes. The problems come infrequently, but are frustrating enough to mention. Targeting inconsistencies and the fact that the same key is assigned to locking on and picking up health or weapons sometimes means you'll lose tricky brawls because the controls got the better of you.
As a side note, for those players who do become adept at brutalising their opponents there is a seperate challenge mode that requires you to confront several tiers of increasingly tricky enemies. It's a nice addition and increases longevity of play with online scoreboards through which you can compete with your Steam friends for top spot. It's an unexpected addition and a great way to keep enjoying the game without having to retread the entire story.
During the main game, when you're not using your fists to hurt others you'll most likely be shooting things at them. Weapons appear periodically and if you can spare the time to pick one up and fire it before some oaf knocks it from your hands then it's useful for keeping enemies at bay. Ammo is thankfully unlimited, but the clip sizes are small and timing your reloading is crucial to keeping yourself standing up.
I have to say that the weapon models and animations are incredible. Technically they handle no differently from standard FPS pistols or rifles, but once you've hunted down a giant rabbit with a couple of fish guns in your hands you'll begin to wonder at what period in the history of gaming did most of the creativity, insanity and pure joy of playing get thrown out of the window.
Zeno Clash brings it all back with formidable style.
And style is where the true appeal of the game firmly rests. What many people may realise whilst playing the game is that the diversity of the visuals is not quite matched by the variety of play. With all the surface material stripped away it could appear to be, in part, a regular corridor shooter. The bare-knuckle and melee action is brilliantly implemented, but there is an awful lot of it, especially towards the end of the game when you'll be pelted with bosses or three or four nasties at once, several times in a row.
In this case the motivation to continue isn't only for personal pride and completion, but the prospect of exploring more of the world. With the environment shifting so much from level to level, it's a tour de force of artistic design, of locational beauty and wonder. For me to give away too many details of what scenes you're likely to explore would be detrimental to those moments of sheer awe that you'll encounter after turning a corner and being confronted by something magnificent, so I won't.
Zeno Clash, however, is not a simple case of style over substance. In fact, most of the game exposes its style in such a way that it becomes part of the substance. In much the same way that the Half-Life series deviates the player's attention from its limited walls, Zeno Clash uses corridor shooting to its advantage, opening it up with fantastical set-pieces and a creativity of design that puts most developers to shame.
Ultimately, Zeno Clash is something that I would encourage every action gamer to try, even if it does lead you to find every subsequent game you play to be somewhat lacking in imagination.
VERDICT: Barking mad and, in turn, an insanely enjoyable experience.
Yes, it was a dumb joke about System Shock 3, but this one's all non-lies...
It seems the latest speculation flooding the deliciously nerdy end of the internet is that Eidos Montreal, developers of the upcoming Deus Ex 3 have made a teasing post that their next game is soon to be announced. That is literally all they have said so far, but certain hopefuls have taken it upon themselves to draw some significance from the style of font (no, really), likening it to the Thief series' bold type.
This has caused the longstanding Through the Looking Glass community forums to hammer out a forty-plus page thread on the chances of this being what we've been after since the last game's release in 2004. To be honest its high time they threw in another addition to the now legendary PC gaming series, but it will have to be a wonderful sequel.
Personally, I'd be careful what to wish for. The recently publicised Deus Ex 3 hasn't filled me with glee, judging on early screen shots and tidbit info (I loathe cover-systems, okay?).
I remain hopeful and sceptical at the same time, because the Thief series is extremely dear to my heart and they really don't make games like that anymore.
Still reeling from yesterday's news, I found myself positively bowled over when it came to this titbit of exciting information. Go on, have a guess...
That's right, System Shock 3 is on it's way. Is there anything else I need to say? Probably...
Having apparently been in undercover development for over a year, Ken Levine today let slip some insightful thoughts on the rejuvenation of the decade-old franchise. In an interview with Knee High Gamers he is quoted as saying 'We have no clear idea for a release date, but I can tell you that SS3 is forthcoming. We're currently focusing on rounding off the next Bioshock release before we'll be able to confirm a timescale for completion.'
Take a second to process that information...
Ready for more?
When pushed for further information on the second sequel in the space-horror franchise, Levine offered up very few clues, but mentioned that they were likely to focus 'more on the combat aspects of the game' this time around in order to give it a 'more visceral appeal than its predecessors'.
'We realised after Bioshock's release,' says Levine 'that people really loved the overall style of the game, the way it looked and felt to play. Comparing that to System Shock's slower pace and clunky control system we feel we're now on the right path to creating the best and most accessible game in the series. We'll be carrying over a lot of the things we learned to do right in Bioshock and integrating them into the System Shock universe. Believe me when I say, we are aiming high with this next game.'
It's good news then for those who fell in love with Bioshock's run and gun approach to RPGs and could we even take from this stupidly small amount of information that 2K might be getting rid of inventories and character attributes entirely? Only time will tell.
No further information has been released, but I'll post as soon as it is. I'm half expecting the sky to fall tomorrow.
I was greeted by big news this morning as I logged on to the BBC News website and scanned through the usual bleak headlines. The thing that caught my eye was sitting right at the front of the Technology section:
EA 'dumps DRM' for next Sims game
And so I discovered that EA has reportedly backtracked from their usual stance on the use of digital rights management with their games. The Sims 3, they say, will come bundled with no such thing.
Shock and awe followed. Then a question formed in my mind: Has the company finally realised that their piracy deterrents are less effective than a fart in the ocean when it comes to combating crooks on the internet? Has last year's bungled Spore release and subsequent backlash finally penetrated some skulls within the EA stronghold?
Stating that they are planning to revert to good old-fashioned serial codes with no online activation at all, a spokesperson from EA is quoted by the Beeb as saying "there is always going to be a level of protection for games and this solution [DRM free] is right for The Sims 3."
Considering how likely The Sims 3 is to be EA's money-maker for a good chunk of the next decade (if its predecessors are anything to go by), it's certainly a brave first step towards relieving the proposterous amount of shit that PC gamers have to wade through these days in order to get games up and running. That quote also begs the response: Is DRM appropriate for any games? And if so, which ones?
The spokesperson goes on to say that the way in which "these things roll out in the future will be down to the developers". When we've seen it so often proclaimed by game-makers during restrictive security debacles that the Big Bad Men from the publishing company made them do it, could it be that the power now lay in their hands and that they'll put an end to the madness?
My guess is that EA are treading very careful around the subject matter in case they need to hurriedly retreat to the safety of their DRM fortress. Either that or they are lying about the omission of online activation.
Regardless of any cynical speculation, this can only be perceived as a major change in attitude towards copy protection from one of the big industry players. It seems as if the people have spoken and EA - the pantomime villain of PC gaming - has responded, not so much to the shouts of "it's behind you!" but to the blood-curdling yells of "it's right there in front of your fucking eyes, you idiots! DRM isn't the answer!".
The Dead Pixel can only hope that this leads to a deluge of game reviews on Amazon that are about the actual game rather than the wrongdoings of overprotective corporations.
Built squarely upon the expectation that players probably want to see something different emerging within the RTS genre, Dawn of War 2 is as much hack-and-slash as it is tactical management. Squad sizes have been cut down and troop numbers diminished. There is no base-building anymore. You can almost hear Relic straining to force this Space-Marine-shaped peg into a Diablo-Rogue hole. It doesn’t fit. Not quite.
Although the idea behind this new direction is sound, no part of the game is furnished to the degree of excellence that we come to expect from Relic post-Company of Heroes. Promises of deeper relationships with the units, a tighter focus on combat, loot and character-levelling seem to have come up empty because there are so many ideas here that there seems to have been a sacrifice of substance.
The battles, all wonderful in their crimson-gore splendour, tend to play out in much the same way. Aside from the fact that you must repeatedly play on the same maps - with laborious boss fights marking the end of each one - the game supplies neither the terrain nor the variety of units to support deep strategic play. You’ll find yourself relying on the same few moves time after time and on top of this the levelling system has an emptiness to it that I just can’t put my finger on.
VERDICT: Fun in short bursts, but it’s not the RTS revolution we were hoping for.
Considering the mass of unexpected controversy that suddenly surrounded this game on release I felt I couldn't pass up reviewing The Path as soon as possible.
The game has so far - having only been released a couple of days ago - divided opinion so entirely that there have apparently even been calls for Valve to pull the game from Steam. You need only glance over certain internet discussions to see how the fiery, hate-propelled bandwagon may have started up and to observe the offence that has been caused to some people claiming that the game promotes paedophilia or rape.
Before I go into any detail of what the game actually consists of, let me lay straight where I feel the anger and discomfort in the community stems from.
Certain sections of The Path possibly contain allusions to rape. Depending on your mindset. The protagonists for the most part are very young girls. Those are the basic facts. However, (and it's a huge HOWEVER) I feel the game is being misunderstood. In the same way that an idiot may view a newspaper headline and immediately draw their own conclusions, I feel that some people aren't delving any deeper into the intentions of the developer, to read between the lines. The developer's reason for the creation of The Path was clearly not to make a 'rape simulator', a phrase that makes me shudder through it's inevitable misuse or, indeed, use at all. On the other hand, I feel that the developers haven't successfully dealt with the uncomfortable subject matter enough to deviate the attentions of the player from the most obvious of themes. The theme of physical abuse in the game is not based on anything solid or immediate. it's an idea that is drifting about on it's own without a simple plot to tie it to and I can see how some players may get the wrong impression. However -again- only an idiot would say that this game is solely about rape. Only a fool would conjure such a simplistic interpretation of the game. The developers, Tale of Tales, may have misfired, but you must understand where that misfire comes from.
The Path, if I were to pigeon-hole it into a genre, is an adventure game. The problem that many people will encounter -including myself- is that it's more of a statement than a game. It's a *deep breath* art game, a jumbled box of emotional responses that congeals into something not altogether savoury. It's an experience more than a game. If you hate it for any other reason than the bugs you encounter or the tedium of the controls, then the developers have succeeded in making you feel SOMETHING, in making you CONNECT with the game on an emotional level. The problem with it being such a statement of a game is that its true purpose is never revealed - or if you like, the statement isn't actually a statement.
Of course, it's still a game. Games don't need reasons to exist other than your own entertainment. The problem is, I will struggle to call The Path entertainment in the traditional sense. I will struggle at any length to find it's true purpose for existence, beside the fact that it seems to create such diverse reactions amongst its players. There is clearly something further that the developers want us to see or interpret for ourselves, but since so much of that message is concealed behind avant-garde, partly directionless, sometimes pretentious artiness, you may get put off before any consistent emotional bond is established with the characters or environment. If you want my advice: see it through.
It's one of the most inconsistent games I've played on so many levels and I have no idea whether the developers intended it to be. At times it's light and at times dark. It's adult and childish, morbid and gleeful, frightening and exciting, ugly and beautiful. Where it does remain consistent tends to be where it fails. It can be repetitive, tedious, glitchy and aimless depending on what you have come to expect from your computer games.
But I'll continue to explain the game...
The Path begins with a room. In this room are six girls, each dressed in red and each innocent in their youth and attire. Instantly, even if you have read nothing about the game prior to playing it, you'll see the connection to Little Red Riding Hood, but I won't go into the background and original folklore because this review is already long enough. However, if you are interested then Wikipedia is the place to go to see where the darkest of the themes presented here have originated from.
Clicking on one of the girls in the room will select her as your protagonist for the next chapter of the game. And so it begins. Starting at the crumbled edge of a paved highway, you are left facing a single dirt track with dense woodland converging on either side of it. You have a basket that consists of goodies for Grandma and which also doubles as an inventory. Nothing in it is usable and it serves only as a receptacle for objects and memories.
Your options are to get to Grandma's house directly (which takes about two minutes at a trot) or wander from the path.
This is where the initial problems with the game may arise for some people. It's a free-form experience in the purest sense. There are no goals or objectives (despite the developer's attempts to parody video game achievement systems). You do as you please. You explore and encounter whatever draws your attention.
This aimless approach to play can destroy someone's interest immediately. 'Where do I go?' is the first question you'll inevitably ask yourself. On my first go I took a deep breath and turned right, heading into the uninviting shade of the trees.
The second question you'll ask yourself is 'what do I do?'. In my own experience as I wandered between the imposing trunks, I was captivated by things in the distance that were either interesting locations or manifestations of my imagination. It was amazing how many times I thought I glanced movement or a figure in the distance only to realise I seen nothing at all. Without giving anything away, because I feel an uninformed introduction to the game is the best way to play it, within the forest you will encounter items and scenes and wolves.
Many of these points of interest have markers placed around the edge of your screen so you're never entirely stuck for new things to explore. Every hundred metres you travel also causes a dotted 'treasure map' to appear briefly as an overlay so you'll usually have a rough idea of your position in the game world too. You also may be aware at times that if you leave the controls alone the character may run over to something and interact with it. It's an interesting mechanic but it's limitations are obvious within the game and can even become an annoyance when you were simply stopping to get your bearings.
In total there are three different wolves to discover within the forest and each one has a certain effect on a selected girl. These encounters can vary in subject matter and you can take them any way you like, as I mentioned above. Inevitably, however, after each encounter you'll awaken dishevelled in the centre of the path. Then you get up and walk -excruciatingly slowly- towards grandma's house and the girl's inevitable death.
I think this is where I struggle to interpret the game correctly because with each girl, up to a point, you may begin to create notions of her past life, her troubles and whimsies built upon by your experiences in the woods. To have these assumptions cut short at the end of each chapter with death can be jarring because it often doesn't follow on from the existence you may have been concocting in your head. However, that's a literal interpretation and, much like those who call 'rape' following each wolf encounter, I'd be foolish to assume that each death was anything other than a metaphor for something more meaningful. What that meaning was though, I was never entirely sure.
I found that the more I played the game, the more I liked it. Depending on how far you explore with each girl, you'll likely pick up different aspects of their characters or begin to form vague ideas about their past and what has led to their demise, metaphorical or literal. Ginger's experience in particular had the biggest effect on me. Without giving too much away, the wolf you encounter isn't quite what you may expect it to be and -I'm sorry- going back to my initial comments regarding physical abuse in the game, this contains no pointers towards such a grisly fate. If anything, unless you take it in a ham-fisted literal way, it simply points to the loss of friendship, desertion and loneliness. It's a joyful, light-hearted experience and one of the The Path's finest moments.
For the most part, the art design is fantastic (when it isn't self-indulgent enough to force itself upon you). The daydream atmosphere of the forest and the sudden feeling that you may have strayed too far from the path adds to the proceedings an uneasiness that also permeates throughout the entire game. Even the somewhat tedious ventures through Grandma's house still hold a degree of uncertainty and fear since the experience differs each time you enter it.
The sound design can also be quite effecting, becoming more intense every time you begin to run. Coupled with various uncomfortable sounds of laughter or growling you may find yourself having to sit a little closer to the edge of your seat. There are also some nice touches with music, although it can become more than a little grating after long periods of play.
In a way, I recommend going into the Path without reading anything about it beforehand, which obviously defeats the point of this review, although I purposefully tried only to describe the heart and soul of the game without poking at the actual flesh of the gameplay. To venture into it with no preconceptions and interpret each interaction in your own way is likely to get you the most from the game. It will undoubtedly create divided opinions between those who bore/offend easily and those who are fascinated by games that do things differently.
The fact that I'm almost on the fence regarding this game seems to leave me in a strangely unique position. In some ways I feel the developers have aimed too high, I feel the game can be tedious, pretentious and dull too frequently. In other ways I think it can be a mesmerising experience if played with an open mind whilst attempting to relate to the girls. I feel certain themes have been developed with a heavy hand but conversely some parts, such as the joy of watching the girls interact with the environment, can bring to the surface thoughts and feelings that anyone who was once a child can relate to.
Honestly, this is the toughest review I think I've ever done and that can only be due to something the game is doing right as much as it is about what the game is doing wrong. As such, I must recommend that every gamer with even an inkling of curiosity at least gives it a go as whether it's loved or hated by gamers or critics alike, I don't think anyone can deny that it's an interesting, controversial and perhaps important step for computer gaming. VERDICT: An intriguing attempt to try something different. A game that almost isn't a game, but something I would recommend everyone plays. As a piece of art though, it often fails.
To check out an entirely different perspective on the game and one that turned my stomach with its sensationalist content, I recommend taking a look at Alex Lucard's review on Diehard GameFAN alongside playing the game and drawing your own conclusions. I feel I have to link to this because his review made me desperate to sit down and write my own feelings on the matter.
Right, well, I had planned a bigger post for tonight, but as it turns out, I'm drunk, it's 2 o'clock in the morn and I have a plane to catch tomorrow... or today. That's right. I'm off on holiday. To the Gambia. So I actually have an excuse for not posting in the next week.
As I said, I was planning a larger post because the world of PC gaming is going practically bonkers with fun-filled frills at the moment, but as it is I'll leave you with this.
Secondly, emailed to me was a copy of so-absurdly-ambitious-it-has-to-be-fantastic-or-crap, Incognito: Episode 1 (thanks to Magrathean Technologies) which I will get into reviewing as soon as I return to England, just like all those other things I promised to write about but haven't...
Whilst I wait for my thoughts on the Empire: Total War demo to digest, I thought I'd show you a prime example of how not to make a first-person shooter, or you could say how not to make a scripted scene, or even a demo, or a game in fact. All of these things apply when relating to the recently released NecroVisioN demo.
It's a given that certain games can feel a bit generic - a bit rushed - as if developers are waiting for a particular gaming craze to surface so that they can push their game into the midst of it in the hope of watching it sail along with the crowd. The Farm 51, creators of NecroVisioN, certainly haven't struggled to deliver what we as consumers see as run-of-the-mill gaming. Innovation is certainly a no-no when you're looking to flog the latest brainless shooter. The only thing pushing the boundaries here is the shift from a WWII setting to that of The Great War. Everything else is present. Zombies, Germans, melee action, dodgy cockney accents... Hell, yes.
It also looks like Painkiller's turn-of-the-century love-child.
Of course, I'm always of the mind that no matter how traditional a game's setting or mechanics may be, as long as they are implemented well I will be contented. The problem is, with NecroVisioN, everything you do is a slower version of something else. Stabbing enemies with a bayonet is akin to poking a wet flannel with your finger. Even moving around is like pushing your way through a marshmallow-filled void. That last bit makes no sense, but just try it for yourself. Or don't.
Regardless of all the above, the demo features a three-minute cutscene which has you staring at a dying mockney ally as he delivers a morbidly dull exposition. It takes so long that you begin focusing on everything you hate about games and realising that NecroVision ticks a lot of things in that list. The animation is awful, the voice-acting makes me dizzy and, by fuck, I just want to shoot things now.
So I took the liberty to record the whole thing. As you'll see, by the end of the clip, I couldn't have risked the boring bastard not ending his own life so I did it myself. Anyone who watches it that far though may want to investigate how it is that their lives became so empty, just like I have.
Okay, it's genuinely not often that I get this excited about the release of a game, particularly the release of a sequel to a sequel to a sequel to a game. However, today we can rejoice as the Empire: Total War demo hits the interwebs, exclusively available to download via Steam. My nerd levels are fluctuating violently, I'm salivating like a rabid dog and all of a sudden I need to go to the toilet.
Currently I'm downloading the game through my molasses-slow BT internet connection -fuck you, BT. No, really, fuck you- and I'll provide an update of my experiences when I'm through playing it.
I've recently made a sort-of-promise to myself that I won't use this site to publish news on top-end commercial games mainly because there are bigger sites that will do that better, but what the hell. I needed to voice my stupid, nerdy excitement somewhere and this, being a PC gaming blog, is the perfect place to do that.
It's possibly the game I've been most anticipating this year and almost certainly one that will see me through til the end of it if nothing better comes along. So lock up your daughters, or at least your female offspring who have a particular interest in historical real-time strategies. Empire has arrived.
Updates to follow... and a mess in my pants... probably.
In honour of the imminent release of The Penumbra Collection this month, the developers of the series, Frictional Games, have been kind enough to answer a few questions regarding their impressive back catalogue. For those of you who aren't aware, the Penumbra series of games combine elements of horror, survival, puzzling and storytelling in equally compelling measures.
Frictional's Sound Director, Jens Nilsson and Lead Programmer, Thomas Grip provide the answers...
Much of the gaming media hailed the Penumbra series as a reinvention of the adventure genre. Was this your intention when you were creating the games?
No! We only wanted to make a survival horror game with less violence, more puzzle solving and exploration as gameplay elements. We never really viewed it as an Adventure game and we had a hard time understanding some problems we had early on when trying to communicate with the Publishers/Press when releasing Overture. They all seemed to think the game was a point-and-click adventure game and we thought it was obvious this was a first person horror game – having previously released the Penumbra Tech Demo.
For the creation of a psychological-horror game, how do you gauge whether something is likely to be scary? Fear in the Penumbra games doesn't tend to come from cheap frights so much as a build up of tension, or even a lack of anything occurring. Is it hard to tell whether you've hit the right mark for the scares during development?
It's really hard. We have all the ideas and we do all the design, then when we implement it you never get the feeling that “oh, this is really scary stuff”. You always have the problem of having faith in that it will be scary for the actual player later on. Even in testing it is not easing the worry about not being scary, the people testing are never like a 'normal' player so they don't think the game is scary either. For them it is only a job so to speak, so they don't really set their mind to the right mood.
We try to keep it simple, ask ourselves what we think is scary and what sort of horror we enjoy and then try to create that as well as we can. Spending a lot of time analysing and thinking about what it is that we like and why/how that feeling is created.
Overture was criticised for the combat mechanics which were then removed completely from the sequel, Black Plague. Do you look to player and media response for guidance in the development of your games or was the combat something you were already not fond of? Did the subsequent changes get in the way of your initial vision for the series?
The whole idea with the episodic format was from the beginning to be able to take the feedback from the first game and adjust in the second and then again adjust in the third. It only got to be two episodes so we didn't get that third chance to adjust the game further based on the feedback.
With Overture we really wanted to make sure there was a last line of defence for the player, a weapon to use when in a tight spot. We tried really hard to make the combat difficult and cumbersome so that the player would seek out other solutions as a first choice, the problem was that we didn't expect the need of the player to hit things when they get something to hit with to be that strong! This in combination with how the combat was handled to be made difficult was perhaps not the best, there might be other ways to do a game with weapons but yet keeping them at a very low usage rate. We have some ideas that we are to explore in the next project!
The changes we made didn't really change the vision for us, on the topic of the weapons, removing them was not a big issue for us. That particular change was more welcome than anything as it changed the game more towards our goals of minimal player violence in a horror game.
The puzzles in the games generally have practical, believable solutions, such as reading a manual to get a generator up and running or spreading your weight over thin ice. Were you intentionally trying to steer away from the abstract puzzle solutions that you typically tend to find in adventure games?
Yes, we always wanted to have hands on, believable solutions to the puzzles. When the physics turned out to work so well for controlling doors, drawers and such we also started to try and come up with practical puzzles, that could be solved with a mix of items and physics usage. The idea with having believable solutions was to further enhance the players feeling of being part of the game, using physics and believable items to make the gameplay more hands on and exciting.
What were your reasons behind going for a puzzle-centric expansion with Requiem?
We had finished the Penumbra series with Black Plague and there was an opportunity to do an expansion, with less budget and development time than a full game. We discussed a couple of options of what would be possible to do as an expansion, basically we had two ideas. One was to re-use most levels and content from Black Plague but to play as a different character. The other was to do a puzzle game with much more new content, where we had levels with concentrated puzzles and everything made with physics to really try and explore how far you could go with physics in game. We decided to go with the second idea as we really felt that would be the most fun to create, be more exciting for us as it would be more new grounds to explore and solve and also that the end user would get more actual new content and gameplay for their 10 USD.
I understand that you're keeping a tight lid on the development of your currently untitled next project. Are there any details you are willing to give out?
We have been working on the game for over a year. At first only at around 10%, with ongoing discussions and early planning of the project, since around May 2008 at about 40-50% and since September 2008 we have been almost 100% concentrating on the new project.
The engine has been revamped and improved in all areas possible, tools and editor have been developed, the graphical style of the game has been tested and discussed and of course the whole design has been hammered on.
We are now at a point where everything is planned, the idea is settled, we know how the game will look and how the technology is ready to be used for implementing it all. It's very exciting as we have not had so well developed tools before, we used to only have 1 programmer in the company working full-time, but now we have had two and one has been working solely on tool/editor development. This will, hopefully, result in a game where we can concentrate a lot on making much more fun and intriguing content due to saving so much time we previously spent on the implementation of it all.
The game itself will be a 18th century survival horror experience, where you as the player will explore and old castle to learn its mysteries and unravel its terrors. There is no connection to Penumbra, it’s a brand new game and idea but much of the gameplay will be similar. There are the physics, exploring and damp ambience but there will also be a bit more interaction with enemies and continued efforts from our side to explore how to tell stories and to make a fluent gameplay.
The Nordic Game Program has provided you with a grant of 300,000 DKK (around 35,000 GBP) for the new project. Recent titles to benefit from this funding include Kloonigames' recent hit, Crayon Physics Deluxe. In the future are we likely to see a much larger quantity of Nordic games entering the mainstream markets for the rest of the world?
Hopefully! If we recall correctly the NGP funding will continue until 2012, each year with two events where funding are up for grabs. Usually 5-6 games gets funding per event, so it should result in a nice collection of additional titles that has the opportunity to get finalized and released. The funding is usually not enough to develop the whole game, but enough to get the technology and content developed so far that it is possible for a prototype to be created and demoed.
It's a great opportunity for developers to get enough money to try out their ideas and it is really good for them to be able to show either a publisher that they have the idea and competence to do a game, or come so far that they are confident they can on their own finalize and sell the game.
You know how games are generally tiresome, dull affairs that are more likely to bore you stiff than entertain you? No? Well, regardless, there are ways to enliven your experiences within these 'electronic worlds' that will help pass the time until you thankfully have to wash the dishes or wash your armpits or wash the dog or something.
In particular, you may not realise that there is a way to actually have fun whilst playing your fourth favourite post-apocalyptic RPG of all time - Fallout 3. And that way is... to hurt your friends!
Do you hate the way the characters in this game speak hammy lines like emotionless androids? Then give them a hefty right-hook!
Do you despise the combat engine with all it's stop-start repetition and heads that slide off bodies as if they were held on by wet sellotape? Then punch them in the face!
Laugh as your teacher and classmates tumble to the floor and then get right back up again like nothing happened! Feel your sides split as you incur no consequences at all for beating down your fellow vault-dwellers!
Honestly, after leaving Vault 101, I felt even more disappointment than the usual 'what the fuck have Bethesda done with the Fallout licence?' guff. Where do I go from here? What can possibly excite me more than murdering everyone in my childhood home with my bare fists (apart from the ones that just wouldn't bastard die)?
I'm a man on a mission and that mission is to destroy everyone in this world... with my knuckles. Will I succeed or can I not be bothered to? Only time can tell and, in Fallout 3 - if nothing else - there's a whole load of that.
'Playing Metal Gear Solid 4 was the most fun I’ve had in my life but sometimes I caught myself feeling guilty for using a combination of tranquilizer gun, strong arsenal and the NV mod...' - Anon, The Sixth Axis
If ever I think one of my reviews is leaning towards the realm of unerringly applauding fanboy, I look towards this Metal Gear Solid 4 review and realise that I'm not quite there yet.
If only half the passion this person had could be put towards some sort of charitable purpose, I think we'd all be living in a better, happier world. Never before have I seen such overtly hyperbolic sentences. Never since have I witnessed such strenuous attempts to evade realistic criticism of a game. I think we can all learn something from looking at this review, if only that we should never read or write anything like it ever again. Not that you could easily replicate something of this particular standard of writing... It reminds me of the beauty of words in the same way that a freshly-coiled turd reminds me of the miracle of life.
Dyson is beautiful. Not in the classic, photo-realistic, multitude-of-polygons way that so often permeates critical analyses of games, but in a more poetic sense of the word. There is beauty in the way it moves, the way it sounds. There's beauty too in the way it influences the player, the calming effect it has. It could almost be a form of meditation.
Am I getting carried away? Perhaps. But there is something truly refreshing about the way this game plays and the way it feels to play it. Just look at it:
Created in a single month for entry into the TIGSource Procedural Generation competition, Dyson is a real-time strategy set in space. The premise is unusual though - no starships or evil galactic emperors here. You start off with an asteroid inhabited by Dyson trees and your only objective is to spread their growth across asteroid belts by utilising their seedlings and firing them off into the ether to capture further ground. It sounds a bit wacky admittedly, but once you get a grasp of the rather simple control system it all becomes completely natural.
Without going into to much detail -because you'll pick it up quicker by playing the game than reading this- some trees attack and some trees defend. Defence-trees shoot out homing spike-balls to destroy incoming foes and attack-trees produce the seedlings mentioned above. All asteroids in a level provide different quantities of three resources. Energy determines the size your seedlings will grow to, Speed determines their speed of movement and Strength determines the attack power they will have when fully grown. Simple and effective, but strategically open too.
Looks good? Too good? Well, have no fear, there is bad news too. No multiplayer is planned at the moment for the game, which is a great shame as the AI can certainly have it's moments and I would love to battle it out with someone in such a unique setting. But still, I will complain no more. At the moment you can download the game here and, for free, it's an absolute steal. Get on it.
Working along the same lines as Trials 2, your objective is to travel - in a monster truck this time - from one end of an obstacled course to the other within a time limit. It's physics-based, foolish fun. Taking place on a familiar two-dimensional plane via the above-average three-dimensional graphics engine, it's something that fans of Red Lynx will likely snap up without a second's consideration. However, I would like to issue a word or two of caution...
Monster trucks plus jumps plus stunts plus physics plus nitro-boosts should amount to a game that is more fun than this actually is. It's a good distraction for sure, as long as you're content with racing the same twenty-something tracks repeatedly in order to gain medals through faster finishing times, but MTN slips below the addictive, biker-maming pleasure that was apparent with Red Lynx's previous product. Although a faster and more fluid game than its predecessor, it's in the lack of features that the problems lie (not to mention the unforgivable omission of a broken bone counter).
I will detail the issues in a way that the developers will surely appreciate:
3 There are no online leaderboards to spur you on once you hit gold for each course, so there's no reason to go back to them besides competing with yourself. This sort of thing can only provide so much entertainment, particularly when many of the fastest times are set due to good fortune on the track rather than the product of skilful precision.
2 The front-flips and back-flips that can be performed by the trucks are a simple pleasure and seem to serve little purpose other than to slow you down mid-air and evoke a cheer from an invisible crowd. Something as simple as a boost on landing a trick would have added another strategic layer for squeezing out the best times, but as it is I managed to play through the entire game without somersaulting once.
1 For the love of all that is holy, please provide us with a track editor for this game! I can only imagine what this could become with a huge community following, swapping tracks and time trials. There's a scope for complex and varied maps that just isn't expanded on satisfactorily in the game. Go! So, there you have it. It should be more exciting, the scale bigger, the jumps faster and it lacks the maming of a computerised puppet every time you accidentally (or purposefully) fail a jump. Perhaps if there were explosions and fireworks every time you made a wrong move it would be more appealing, but as it is, MTN sits firmly in the middle ground awaiting evolution and expansion.
I can only hope that Red Lynx will see to updating this game with some simple adjustments in the near future because the bare bones of a classic indie time-waster are present. They just need to be expanded on or, dare I say it, broken in several places...
VERDICT: Currently at half-price on Steam, it's worth a pop.
It's not easy for me to explain the pleasure I get from playing Sid Meier's second incarnation of Railroads! without sounding like the kind of person who sits at train stations on cold weekend mornings with a hot flask and a notepad. But the thing that differentiates this game from other rail simulation/strategy games is that it feels more like a child's toy than anything else.
The strategic elements only go so deep, having been stripped down to concentrate on fast-paced business rivalries and building up your empire. The focus is on creating an efficient, profitable business without sacrificing too much of your cash or shares in the process, but never ventures far into the realms of micro-management and train nerdery. And believe me, when you first connect up two cities in the beginning of a game you'll get an instant feeling of gratification, watching the little thing puffing backwards and forwards, loading and unloading, transporting its cargo across the map and you'll realise that this one line will eventually lead to an entire cross-country network of bustling freighters and switching signals, of booming cities and… now I'm beginning to sound like an anorak.
But it is truly interesting to watch. The land deforms like soft clay to accommodate your track as you lay it down as simply as clicking where you want it to begin and where it should end. The route finder will do the rest, excavating hills or cutting through the larger ones with tunnels and constructing magnificent bridges over waterways. It leaves you to worry about battling the competition and not the interface.
The game is split into various campaigns across America, carrying through from the first steam-driven locomotives to the speedier modern age. It's a history lesson for sure, but its subtlety is remarkable. As your business grows and time moves on, you'll notice that cities have changed depending on your interactions with them. They'll expand and evolve, the wooden shacks will be replaced with concrete skyscrapers and new technology will arrive to quicken your transportation of goods. Cities will swell and you'll have moved from steam to electric-powered in a couple of hours, but it's almost seamless. Throughout this transformation you'll wonder how the land used to look in the past, when you laid that first piece of track and how on Earth you've come so far.
At its heart, Railroads! is a simple management sim. Your primary objective is to destroy all competing rail tycoons via the transportation of goods and people. Various places on the map provide certain resources such as meat or wheat or trees and, if you manage to link these up to a city where the relevant industry is present, you'll begin to make some profit from the goods. Processing trees at a paper factory for example, will give that settlement a sustainable quantity of paper, which you can then turn into newspapers if you build the right factory or transport it to somewhere with a printing house.
When you're not fighting with your opponents for resources on the map, you'll be fighting them in the auction houses, bidding for new rail patents or industries. Couple these basic mechanics with the usual Meier™ victory conditions and you've got enough on your plate to make for a very busy meal.
So, ultimately, Railroads! is a weekend waster which should suck you in after just a few minutes of tutorial. It's best described as an arcade Railroad Tycoon and shouldn't be criticised for not being anything more. It's certainly not a stupid game, with enough underhand tactics and tricks you can employ to swing the game in your favour, but the strategic elements may be too simplistic for some and the game does tend to become a bit of a slog once you've amassed enough of a yearly turnover to demolish your opponents. But for those who have always wanted a model railway in their attic but never fancied admitting it to their partner/friends/parents it's one to have a look at.
The DPP is a blog dedicated to providing PC gaming news and reviews from a consumer's perspective, focusing primarily on the indie scene. If you have any suggestions for content (review codes, trailers, screenshots etc.) then don't hesitate to contact me at manintheshack (at) gmail.com
All of the awesome reviews contained within this blog are extracted from gameplay on a Core 2 Quad Q6600 2.40GHz CPU with 6GB of RAM and a Radeon HD 4890 running Windows 7. The rubbish reviews can be ignored.
It's pretty much gone unsaid so far on this site as to what I would truly hold aloft as my favourite PC game of all time. Anybody would think it was something actiony and violent, simplistic in form, but addictive in nature. Surely it's a game by illustrious action-innovators Valve Software? Portal perhaps? Half-Life even? Nope, you're way off. The clue is in the post title. And that picture right there.
