June/July/August 2019 Update
Finished: Quake IV
Not much to say about this one - just felt like your generic FPS from that time. It doesn’t really help that it ran on the same engine Doom 3 did and felt…pretty much the same in most respects (not to mention the fact that you could drop a Doom 3 player into most of the levels and they wouldn’t be able to tell it’s a different game). Glad I played it to complete the series, but that’s about it.
Finished: Prey (2006)
This was a game I’ve been meaning to play for awhile. It has really interesting mechanics (especially for its time), and is an enjoyable shooter overall with an intriguing storyline. I also liked the Cherokee theme - not many games include or reference indigenous peoples.
Finished: Fallout: New Vegas and all DLCs
What a game. That’s really all I can say. Aside from your typical Fallout jank, New Vegas is an amazingly written game with compelling storylines and exciting worlds to explore, and the DLCs are no different. Some are weaker than others, but they all offer a great change of pace and are a blast to play (except maybe Dead Money wasn’t the…most fun to play :P).
Finished: BioShock Infinite: Burial At Sea 1 and 2
It was nice to wrap up the Infinite story line (and BioShock in general, I suppose). The stealth mechanics, while barebones, were fun and changed things up a bit, which was much needed IMO. I’m not the biggest fan of the BioShock series, so it was good to breakaway from the normal formula.
Finished: Wolfenstein: The New Order
I beat this ages ago, and had an absolute blast. Felt the same playing through it again. Outstanding game and awesome story.
Finished: Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus
I don’t think I enjoyed this one as much as The New Order, but I still had a ton of fun with it. The game mechanics felt a lot more tight and responsive, which was a bonus, but it felt like the game dragged on a little longer than it should have, but that might’ve been just because I tried to complete as much as I could’ve (i.e. eliminate all Uberkommandos, etc.). I definitely preferred The New Order’s level design (no reason in particular, just my preference). Still had a blast regardless - more Wolfenstein is always good!
Finished: Prey (2017)
This game was simply fantastic, and along the lines of what I’d expect a new System Shock to be like. With mechanics that are reminiscent of Deus Ex.
I also began playing the DLC, Mooncrash, but I strongly detest roguelikes, so I’m begrudgingly going through it. Or was, because the game didn’t save my progress properly when I quit so I no longer care to finish it. Maybe I’ll pick it up sometime in the future and finish it off, but I doubt it.
Playing Next: Dying Light. Currently 20 hours in an and am enjoying myself much more than I was during the first ~12 hours. Also, I need to stop whacking Bombers.
Speaking of the two games I found the whole Prey vs PREY thing following latter’s announcement kinda silly. Original game was interesting, but mainly due to level geometry shenanigans and, like you said, Native American character. It never really had some sort of rabid fanbase surrounding it like one might infer from the outrage after Bethesda re-used its title for the new game.
Sorry for the late reply! I think the outrage was justified, considering that it was being spun as a reboot of the franchise. Prey (2017) was a formidable game in its own right, but nothing like the original.
Was it, though? From what I recall reading about it at the time it was about Bethesda recycling the copyright they still owned after cancelling sequel proper. THAT seems to have been the real cause for uproar and PREY was simply got in the crossfire.
I think we’re saying the same thing - perhaps I worded it too strongly the way I said it. People were taken by Prey 2’s E3 showing, which was super unique and interesting for its time, and to see the Prey (2017) trailers that came out and how different it was…was pretty disappointing when you went in thinking it had something to do with the Prey before - especially the cancelled one. Bethesda let a lot of people get their hopes up for no reason, and I think it’s fair to be upset about that - it’s misleading. It isn’t fair, however, to judge the game on that whatsoever, of course, and the people that did are morons. As other people have suggested, a name like NeuroShock would have been a much better idea, and even attract fans of System Shock and BioShock.