Long Time No See
Greetings! It’s been 2 years since I last posted an update here. Between then and now, I’ve gone through a name change, and more importantly, I’ve beaten a lot of games from my backlog. Here’s a recap of what I’ve played, along with my brief impression about each game.
Section 8: Prejudice
MEH. People call this a Halo ripoff but that’s true only in the most superficial sense. It was a competent shooter, but had zero charm.
Lone Survivor: The Director’s Cut
I thought it had a lot going for it, but LS didn’t engage me for some reason.
Zeno Clash 2
I was thoroughly impressed by the uncanny world of ZC2. The conclusion of the story could’ve used some work though.
Red Faction: Armageddon
While I would throw the cliched characters and story straight into a fire, I thought the gameplay was surprisingly fun!
Metro 2033
I really wish I could’ve done a pacifist run of this, but the game forces you into combat at various points.
Serious Sam Classics: Revolution
It was fun for a while, but it got really tiresome shooting waves of the same monsters over and over again.
Just Cause
A mediocre GTA clone that doesn’t play well on modern hardware.
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
I really enjoyed exploring Skyrim. I just wish the game had better mechanics for playing stealth.
STAR WARS Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast
Playing this with a controller was very awkward. It’s hard to believe Jedi Outcast came out on consoles back in the day.
The Ship
I think this is supposed to be an extended tutorial for the MP version of the game. It was short, so at least it didn’t overstay its welcome.
Darksiders Warmastered Edition
I had very low expectations of Darksiders and it exceeded them by quite a lot. The combat was a lot of fun.
Just Cause 2
It was light years ahead of the original game.
Abyss Odyssey
I hated the combat in AO so much that it made beating the game feel like some big accomplishment, so there’s that.
Rome: Total War
I loved RTW for the first 50 hours, but by hour 70, I was starting to feel its length. By hour 90, I was learning to use the console..
Dead Space
I was impressed by how well DS held up. Who knew cutting necromorphs to pieces would be so much fun.
Super Meat Boy
F^&K. THIS. GAME.
Braid
From the start screen to the end, Braid was an amazing experience.
LIMBO
I thought some of the visuals were neat, but that’s about it.
Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP
A weird little game originally designed for touchscreen displays. The boss battles were epic af.
Psychonauts
I had mixed feelings for the first half of the game, and then it turned into one of the most creative and funny games I’ve ever played.
Gone Home
A bug would reset my progress, so I had to skip journal pages and rush to the end. I loved GH and I wish I could’ve played it more.
Amnesia: The Dark Descent
An overly vague story with an unsympathetic antagonist, and a protagonist so evil that his redemption seemed like a joke.
Serious Sam 3: BFE
It played surprisingly well with a controller. Other than that, it was the same Serious Sam as before but with more pixels.
Command and Conquer: Red Alert 3 - Uprising
While it lacked the spectacle of Red Alert 2, it was nonetheless a lot of fun, and the performances were wonderfully campy.
I’m honestly not sure if you enjoyed Super Meat Boy or not. haha Also good to know re: Psychonauts!
Kudos on your progress, hf with whatever you play this year. :)
I don’t think I ever came as close to rage-quitting a game as I did when I played Super Meat Boy. I have to imagine the only people who “enjoy” the game are masochists.
Be aware that Psychonauts is old and hasn’t been updated for modern systems, so you’ll get low res pre-rendered cutscenes, stretched menus (because the game wasn’t built for widescreen displays), and poor controller support. I think the pros far outweigh the cons with Psychonauts, but I also went into the game with very low expectations, so keep that in mind.
Haha yeah SMB is difficult for sure, but I enjoyed it enough to get A+s on every level. Which seems mad since I’m not the best at video games and hardly ever “hardcore” them, but it was so addictive. I swore waaay more than usual but still had fun, was always more mad at myself for making the same stupid mistakes over & over than at the game.
That is good to bear in mind, have heard so much widespread love for the game that I think it’s a bit overhyped in my head. I almost forget that it’s such an old game. Sucks about the controller support. :/ Appreciate you reining in my expectations some.
I was also planning on playing Braid for this month’s challenge but reallllly putting it off. It’s been years since I last played it and got stuck at one part, but with the raving review I should probably give it another chance.
To be honest, I only solved about half of the puzzles in Braid on my own and used a guide for the rest. I was more interested in piecing together the (fittingly) disjointed story.
Huh, I’ve never before met a person who played Braid for the story.
Did you see the second ending?
I had no idea there was another ending. Thanks for letting me know!
Welcome back and quite the haul to return with. :D
Zeno Clash 2
Didn’t they go semi-open world for the sequel? How would you compare it with the first game if you’ve played it?
Thanks! Glad to be back.
In Zeno Clash 2 you can travel to any region that’s accessible and you can complete objectives in whichever order you want.
I haven’t played the original Zeno Clash myself, though I have watched a let’s play of it back in the day. Without spoiling anything, I can say that ZC2 is more ambitious and I think it has a far more interesting premise. I think the central ideological conflict of the game is great, but like I mentioned previously, I didn’t like the conclusion of it. This is partly because Ghat has almost no understanding of or appreciation for the events of the story. Another problem is the game builds up a twist that it never delivers, similar to how those weird dream sequences in Mass Effect 3 ended up amounting to nothing. Or maybe I missed the point, in which case, someone please cure my ignorance.
Despite my criticisms, I think it’s a superior game to the original, and it’s definitely worth playing, if for no other reason than to explore Zenozoik.
Another problem is the game builds up a twist that it never delivers, similar to how those weird dream sequences in Mass Effect 3 ended up amounting to nothing.
That’s the worst. When game fails to deliver on the climax. I think I’ll definitely get around to it seeing as I enjoyed the first game.
Thanks for the summary. ;)
If you plan to continue with last light, it’s stealth found it a bit more doable compared with 2033
Yeah, I’ve heard that. I think it’s great the devs added proper stealth in Last Light, but it’s unlikely that I’ll play it. While I thought the first game was pretty good, I really don’t need any more Metro, at least not now.
Wow thats a long time to be gone. Welcome back and well done on still finishing games during the time you were gone
Thanks!