Koroviev
Member
I can lose hours in Audiosurf. Haven't played it in a while, definitely need to revisit with new music.
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ITT: We play Steam games *WE NEVER INSTALLED BEFORE* for ~15-30 mins; review them
- Thread starter Jinfash
- Start date
Evochron Mercenary
Time Played: 30 minutes
Progress: Completed the Tutorial
I don't even know where to begin. I adore these hardcore space sims but rarely play them. I just sat through, and sometimes participated in, a solid 1/2 hour long lecture laden tutorial that I know I'm not going to remember the details of. The visuals are pretty damned plain with a basic skybox, low poly models, overly busy textures, etc. During the course of this lecture, I rotated and sidestrafed my ship along each axis, unlocked my ship's orientation from it's trajectory, traveling through PilotWings style flight path rings to dock into a space station and then descend to a city on the surface of a neighboring planet without any loading or transitions, re-allocated my ships energy to protect against a failing front shield, warped to an unknown location, and even killed a pesky drone.
There's something about playing someone's work of passion that shines through to the finished product, regardless of how rough that final product is. The little that I have played of this game shows that this was a passion of love.
I'm definitely going to be playing more of this, but first I'm going to have to do that tutorial again and take notes. I'm hoping that this game allows me to roam the galaxy at will, slowly making my presence known to traders and bandits in all corners of the game's galaxy. The fuel system looks like it can be limiting, especially at the start.
4 / 5 stars
These screens were all taken during the tutorial. Tons of walls of text being read aloud by someone speaking into a gaming headset mic, ahoy
Time Played: 30 minutes
Progress: Completed the Tutorial
I don't even know where to begin. I adore these hardcore space sims but rarely play them. I just sat through, and sometimes participated in, a solid 1/2 hour long lecture laden tutorial that I know I'm not going to remember the details of. The visuals are pretty damned plain with a basic skybox, low poly models, overly busy textures, etc. During the course of this lecture, I rotated and sidestrafed my ship along each axis, unlocked my ship's orientation from it's trajectory, traveling through PilotWings style flight path rings to dock into a space station and then descend to a city on the surface of a neighboring planet without any loading or transitions, re-allocated my ships energy to protect against a failing front shield, warped to an unknown location, and even killed a pesky drone.
There's something about playing someone's work of passion that shines through to the finished product, regardless of how rough that final product is. The little that I have played of this game shows that this was a passion of love.
I'm definitely going to be playing more of this, but first I'm going to have to do that tutorial again and take notes. I'm hoping that this game allows me to roam the galaxy at will, slowly making my presence known to traders and bandits in all corners of the game's galaxy. The fuel system looks like it can be limiting, especially at the start.
4 / 5 stars
These screens were all taken during the tutorial. Tons of walls of text being read aloud by someone speaking into a gaming headset mic, ahoy
Dice
Pokémon Parentage Conspiracy Theorist
Game: Avadon - The Black Fortress
Time: A few hours
Thoughts: Pretty kickass. I love the look of it, it plays great, has all the helpful info you need readily available and the writing for all the characters is pretty good. I like imagining my own voices for characters and moving through things at my own pace.
I have shitty vision so I'm having a hard time deciding resolution. Crispness and scope vs visibility of everything. There are a lot of tiny thing to spot so hmmmm...
With the way they are blatantly planting doubt in my mind and tempting me to act without orders, it would be a shocker if I don't have to kill Redbeard by the end. We'll see how creative they are in due time.
Will I play it again? Sure, I'm already hooked, but maybe I should get to Crusader Kings II first since I just bought it fairly new.
Time: A few hours
Thoughts: Pretty kickass. I love the look of it, it plays great, has all the helpful info you need readily available and the writing for all the characters is pretty good. I like imagining my own voices for characters and moving through things at my own pace.
I have shitty vision so I'm having a hard time deciding resolution. Crispness and scope vs visibility of everything. There are a lot of tiny thing to spot so hmmmm...
With the way they are blatantly planting doubt in my mind and tempting me to act without orders, it would be a shocker if I don't have to kill Redbeard by the end. We'll see how creative they are in due time.
Will I play it again? Sure, I'm already hooked, but maybe I should get to Crusader Kings II first since I just bought it fairly new.
Jinfash
needs 2 extra inches
Game: SpaceChem
Time Played: ~45 minutes (completed first two planets)
I'll keep this short: Fucking... awesome...
When someone tried to explain the game to me, I fell asleep. It sounded complicated and boring, but when I actually tried it, everything made sense. The pacing is great so far, the game gave the important basics then cleverly left me to figure out how to create stuff like the triple bond and the pipelines... oh man the pipelines... especially the final stage of the second planet; it made me go "this is too hard, too complicated, I can't do this, this solution won't work, it can't possibly work, OMG IT'S WORKING, OMG I'M A GENIUS! HNNNNG"
Such a euphoric experience when stuff works.
The presentation is slick, simple, and to the point. Youtube upload is awesome as well. I uploaded my solution to the aforementioned level: http://www.youtube.com/watch?hd=1&v=ludquZ5CEqo
Rating: 5/5
Will I play it again: Most definitely. Possibly right now. A GOTY candidate for sure.
Time Played: ~45 minutes (completed first two planets)
I'll keep this short: Fucking... awesome...
When someone tried to explain the game to me, I fell asleep. It sounded complicated and boring, but when I actually tried it, everything made sense. The pacing is great so far, the game gave the important basics then cleverly left me to figure out how to create stuff like the triple bond and the pipelines... oh man the pipelines... especially the final stage of the second planet; it made me go "this is too hard, too complicated, I can't do this, this solution won't work, it can't possibly work, OMG IT'S WORKING, OMG I'M A GENIUS! HNNNNG"
Such a euphoric experience when stuff works.
The presentation is slick, simple, and to the point. Youtube upload is awesome as well. I uploaded my solution to the aforementioned level: http://www.youtube.com/watch?hd=1&v=ludquZ5CEqo
And now I'm left wondering how everyone solved the same level. That's the beauty of it, I guess. I want to know what quicker there are to solve it.
Rating: 5/5
Will I play it again: Most definitely. Possibly right now. A GOTY candidate for sure.
It's not really a platformer, it's a rhythm game. You could just as well be watching arrows come down the screen while pressing them in time to the beat.
Sniper Elite
Time Played: 88 min
This was on sale for $2.50 on Steam today, and I've been really interested in what I've been hearing about its sequel, Sniper Elite v2. Upon first starting up the game, I learned that that my native screen resolution wasn't supported (1680x1050), and the best image I could manage was 1280x960, which left a black vertical bar running down the right side of my screen. The game's controls are manageable, but not completely intuitive, and I spent a bit of time adjusting my key bindings to compensate. Game performance seemed relatively steady, although I did experience some occasional slow down when scoped in with my sniper rifle.
The game lacks polish, and is graphically dated, but I was willing to overlook this in favor of a solid game experience. Unfortunately, the gameplay doesn't fare much better. In my first mission, I was tasked with traversing a few city blocks to meet with a contact, and then head off to rescue an injured soldier. Throughout the mission you are given obtrusive interruptions with tutorial instructions that rarely coincide with the action on screen. All of my careful planning and caution seemed to be worthless as the enemy always seemed to immediately know where I was, and not once was I able to get the jump on them (as the game encourages you to do). Fortunately, the enemy soldiers were not blessed with preternatural aim, which gave me a fighting chance to return fire. Sniper headshots are rewarded with a bullet cam that displays the impact in all of its awkward glory. For close quarters combat you can use your pistol or machine gun (you can salvage enemy weapons and ammo), but the machine guns offered little in the way of feedback, and a dead enemy was the best way to realize my gun had in fact fired.
I never finished the first mission, despite several attempts to do so. The enemy seemed unnaturally aware of where I was, and the level design was pretty poor. At one point I went upstairs in a destroyed building to scan the surrounding area, only to find that I arbitrarily wasn't allowed to go back down the path I had ascended (there is no jump or wall mounting feature), and instead had to follow a single route to the other side of the building in order to leave. It's hard to feel bitter at the purchase price of $2.50, and it's possible that for someone willing to invest an incredible amount of patience and time into this game they may manage to glean some enjoyment from it, but keep your expectations low.
Score: 2/5
Will I Play Again? Possibly if a peculiar mood strikes me, and enough time has passed to wash these impressions into a mostly faded memory.
Time Played: 88 min
This was on sale for $2.50 on Steam today, and I've been really interested in what I've been hearing about its sequel, Sniper Elite v2. Upon first starting up the game, I learned that that my native screen resolution wasn't supported (1680x1050), and the best image I could manage was 1280x960, which left a black vertical bar running down the right side of my screen. The game's controls are manageable, but not completely intuitive, and I spent a bit of time adjusting my key bindings to compensate. Game performance seemed relatively steady, although I did experience some occasional slow down when scoped in with my sniper rifle.
The game lacks polish, and is graphically dated, but I was willing to overlook this in favor of a solid game experience. Unfortunately, the gameplay doesn't fare much better. In my first mission, I was tasked with traversing a few city blocks to meet with a contact, and then head off to rescue an injured soldier. Throughout the mission you are given obtrusive interruptions with tutorial instructions that rarely coincide with the action on screen. All of my careful planning and caution seemed to be worthless as the enemy always seemed to immediately know where I was, and not once was I able to get the jump on them (as the game encourages you to do). Fortunately, the enemy soldiers were not blessed with preternatural aim, which gave me a fighting chance to return fire. Sniper headshots are rewarded with a bullet cam that displays the impact in all of its awkward glory. For close quarters combat you can use your pistol or machine gun (you can salvage enemy weapons and ammo), but the machine guns offered little in the way of feedback, and a dead enemy was the best way to realize my gun had in fact fired.
I never finished the first mission, despite several attempts to do so. The enemy seemed unnaturally aware of where I was, and the level design was pretty poor. At one point I went upstairs in a destroyed building to scan the surrounding area, only to find that I arbitrarily wasn't allowed to go back down the path I had ascended (there is no jump or wall mounting feature), and instead had to follow a single route to the other side of the building in order to leave. It's hard to feel bitter at the purchase price of $2.50, and it's possible that for someone willing to invest an incredible amount of patience and time into this game they may manage to glean some enjoyment from it, but keep your expectations low.
Score: 2/5
Will I Play Again? Possibly if a peculiar mood strikes me, and enough time has passed to wash these impressions into a mostly faded memory.
Awesome thread. Props to Toma for the awesome summary posts as well.
I can't be bothered with reorganising games in Steam, so a shortlist for now:
Frozen Synapse
Jamestown
Magicka
Space Chem
Space Pirates and Zombies
The Binding of Isaac
I'll get the ball rolling with:
Game: Space Chem
Time Played: 22 Hours (according to Steam)
This was recommended to me ages ago, and finally got round to grabbing it when it was on sale last week...
It's a puzzle game obstensily about chemicals, but really it's all about programming.
Highly recommend checking out the demo, and perserving through some of the inital levels / tutorial, and see if it floats your boat. You'll either love it or hate it.
Will I go back to playing it?: Umm... I'm slightly addicted at the moment..
Rating: 5/5
I can't be bothered with reorganising games in Steam, so a shortlist for now:
Frozen Synapse
Jamestown
Magicka
Space Chem
Space Pirates and Zombies
The Binding of Isaac
I'll get the ball rolling with:
Game: Space Chem
Time Played: 22 Hours (according to Steam)
This was recommended to me ages ago, and finally got round to grabbing it when it was on sale last week...
It's a puzzle game obstensily about chemicals, but really it's all about programming.
Highly recommend checking out the demo, and perserving through some of the inital levels / tutorial, and see if it floats your boat. You'll either love it or hate it.
Will I go back to playing it?: Umm... I'm slightly addicted at the moment..
Rating: 5/5
Stronghammer22
Member
Hard Reset
I wasn't able to play this when I bought it during the Christmas sale due to my graphics card, but today I updated to a 570 so I decided to check it out. First things first, let me just say that the plasma gun is the best thing ever. I want to use it in every game. Moving on, the story seems cool, it is told comic book style, think Max Payne. The cyberpunk setting is something which I thoroughly enjoy.
Would I play it again?
Hell yes, the action is frenetic, there is no aiming down the sights, it's just pure shooting. I had a lot of fun in the 30 or so minutes I played. The only thing I could see as a negative is the linear nature of the levels, but it isn't a big deal in a game like this.
Rating
5/5. Awesome from the moment I started. I am aware that a lot of people were annoyed by how short the game is and also the ending, I may be too when I get there but for now I'm looking forward to getting stuck into it again.
I wasn't able to play this when I bought it during the Christmas sale due to my graphics card, but today I updated to a 570 so I decided to check it out. First things first, let me just say that the plasma gun is the best thing ever. I want to use it in every game. Moving on, the story seems cool, it is told comic book style, think Max Payne. The cyberpunk setting is something which I thoroughly enjoy.
Would I play it again?
Hell yes, the action is frenetic, there is no aiming down the sights, it's just pure shooting. I had a lot of fun in the 30 or so minutes I played. The only thing I could see as a negative is the linear nature of the levels, but it isn't a big deal in a game like this.
Rating
5/5. Awesome from the moment I started. I am aware that a lot of people were annoyed by how short the game is and also the ending, I may be too when I get there but for now I'm looking forward to getting stuck into it again.
You..
..and you are making a certain someone with a SpaceChem avatar very happy right now.
Question guys: I am again approaching the character limits for the summary posts, what would you prefer? Having basically a post for every letter with the current setup, also seeing all the impressions at once, or having entries like this:
Where I could link to the complete review, and would use less characters, so that I should be fine with 4 posts.
SpacePirate Ridley
Member
I think it would be better if you could link the review if you click the username, so you yonft have a long text for every game. Put people in Like, dislike, indefferent, and the link them to their reviews, just like in your example. I think it will be cleaner.
You are doing a great job.
Yeah, I think thats the best solution too. I just wish someone would have told me earlier
The Mana Legend
Banned
Mafia.
Time played - 2 hours
It is really good in terms of presentation, but the controls are pretty terrible, and the driving elements are boring as sin. I'm definitely going to play through its entirety, but I'm really going to have to map the controls to a controller to enjoy any driving parts.
So far: 3.5/5
Time played - 2 hours
It is really good in terms of presentation, but the controls are pretty terrible, and the driving elements are boring as sin. I'm definitely going to play through its entirety, but I'm really going to have to map the controls to a controller to enjoy any driving parts.
So far: 3.5/5
Zombie Shooter is an isometric shooter, with very light RPG mechanics, in which you..erm shoot zombies.
Enemies vary from mindless, brain eaters to super mutants with miniguns. The tougher zombies require a little more thought as they can easily kill you if you're not careful.
You start off with dual pistols but soon have an arsenal ranging from shotguns to freeze-rays.
At the end of each level you can choose to upgrade a gun or armour with money collected previously.
The graphics reminded me of Fallout and even though they look dated, the atmosphere, especially in the outside levels was good. The character and zombies can often get stuck to items in the environments like desks and the view sometimes hides zombies in corners and can get you killed.
I'm pretty sure this game cost like £1 so I can't hammer it too much, and it was fairly fun.
How long I played 20 minutes
Would I play it again? It's good, but I think I might just check out the sequel to see the improvements, if any.
3.5/5
Enemies vary from mindless, brain eaters to super mutants with miniguns. The tougher zombies require a little more thought as they can easily kill you if you're not careful.
You start off with dual pistols but soon have an arsenal ranging from shotguns to freeze-rays.
At the end of each level you can choose to upgrade a gun or armour with money collected previously.
The graphics reminded me of Fallout and even though they look dated, the atmosphere, especially in the outside levels was good. The character and zombies can often get stuck to items in the environments like desks and the view sometimes hides zombies in corners and can get you killed.
I'm pretty sure this game cost like £1 so I can't hammer it too much, and it was fairly fun.
How long I played 20 minutes
Would I play it again? It's good, but I think I might just check out the sequel to see the improvements, if any.
3.5/5
Dice
Pokémon Parentage Conspiracy Theorist
Zombie Shooter is a great example of how believability affects reception. Zombies with firearms just doesn't make any fucking sense. The game is obviously just repainted Alien Shooter, and Alien Shooter will always be better because you expect aliens to be advanced creatures.
Funny thought, yeah that might be a problem.
Joe Molotov
Member
Titan Attack
Time Played: Was going to play it for a few minutes, played it for an hour. Now my wrist hurts.
Kind of a mixture between Space Invaders and Galaga. Stuff flies around the screen and slowly advances towards you, you shoot it, then you get money to buy upgrades and do it again. Most of the upgrades are pretty obvious (bombs, shields, extra guns, stronger bullets), but I never did figure out what "Recharge" did. Every 20 waves you fight a boss. It was fun, I would play it some more.
Time Played: Was going to play it for a few minutes, played it for an hour. Now my wrist hurts.
Kind of a mixture between Space Invaders and Galaga. Stuff flies around the screen and slowly advances towards you, you shoot it, then you get money to buy upgrades and do it again. Most of the upgrades are pretty obvious (bombs, shields, extra guns, stronger bullets), but I never did figure out what "Recharge" did. Every 20 waves you fight a boss. It was fun, I would play it some more.
Titan Attack
Time Played: Was going to play it for a few minutes, played it for an hour. Now my wrist hurts.
http://i.imgur.com/9Lunf.jpg[/MG]
Kind of a mixture between Space Invaders and Galaga. Stuff flies around the screen and slowly advances towards you, you shoot it, then you get money to buy upgrades and do it again. Most of the upgrades are pretty obvious (bombs, shields, extra guns, stronger bullets), but I never did figure out what "Recharge" did. Every 20 waves you fight a boss. It was fun, I would play it some more.[/QUOTE]
"Recharge" recharges your rocket and laser beams, so that they can be shot more often. Cute little game. I also like the continuous scoring. If you finished world 1, you can always start world 2 with the highest score you finished world 1, so that you dont need to play through the whole thing at once if you want to perfect your score.
slaughterking
Member
Limbo
I'm sure I don't need to explain what this game is, so I will just say that this is not for me. I already kinda expected this, which is why I haven't played this game until now, but now I know for sure! The gameplay is just tedious and boring and really just the complete opposite of what I want from a game. I can appreciate it when you make the atmosphere and the (non-)narrative the main point of your game, but if the gameplay sucks I will most likely just not get any fun out of it.
Time Played: 21 minutes
Will I Play Again: It seems incredibly short, so I guess I will finish it at some point. But maybe not.
Rating: 2/5
I'm sure I don't need to explain what this game is, so I will just say that this is not for me. I already kinda expected this, which is why I haven't played this game until now, but now I know for sure! The gameplay is just tedious and boring and really just the complete opposite of what I want from a game. I can appreciate it when you make the atmosphere and the (non-)narrative the main point of your game, but if the gameplay sucks I will most likely just not get any fun out of it.
Time Played: 21 minutes
Will I Play Again: It seems incredibly short, so I guess I will finish it at some point. But maybe not.
Rating: 2/5
Not only that, but after you finish all 5 worlds, you can restart at world 1 with all your upgrades intact and harder/more enemies per wave. I've never beaten all 5 worlds a 2nd time, but I'm guessing its basically endless based on some of the global high scores.
Meatpuppet
Member
Star Trek Online
A friend convinced me to download this. Fuck me I've rarely regretted a game so much. Tons of huge patches needed, highly crash prone, and so far (an hour plus in) pretty dull.
A friend convinced me to download this. Fuck me I've rarely regretted a game so much. Tons of huge patches needed, highly crash prone, and so far (an hour plus in) pretty dull.
ChoklitReign
Member
Red Dead Redemption
Time played: 1+ hour
Actually I started playing before and got stuck on the horse race at the beginning. The game's lack of color at the beginning adds to the invisibility of the path, plus horses control like jet planes in this game (lol). But I finally finished it yesterday and got to travel and shoot things. I'm glad there's a lock-on feature because I hate analog aiming, so the shooting is actually pretty fun. The world looks pretty damn big and I can't wait to do more things.
Will I play again: Definitely. Looks like GOTY from an early point.
Rating: 4/5
Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood
Time played: 2-3 hours
This is the first AC game I've played on the PC, and DAMN it looks good. Performance isn't optimal (plus there's stuttering I'd like to get rid of) but it's certainly playable. As for the game, it's really meh at the beginning and is unfortunately worse than AC2's beginning. The Desmond section was boring and had almost no checkpoints so you can quit. The cannon controls suck balls (pun intended) and was the only place where I died. I am not used to the combat changes so I have just played it like AC2, but I can't chain kills/executions. I just made it to Rome so hopefully it picks up soon.
P.S. I'm very glad there is not Ubisoft bullshit to jump through. Some shit like Punkbuster and a launcher have to install, but after that you can just click offline mode and play normally. No visible DRM whatsoever.
Will I play again: Yes, considering I am a series fan.
Rating: 3/5
Time played: 1+ hour
Actually I started playing before and got stuck on the horse race at the beginning. The game's lack of color at the beginning adds to the invisibility of the path, plus horses control like jet planes in this game (lol). But I finally finished it yesterday and got to travel and shoot things. I'm glad there's a lock-on feature because I hate analog aiming, so the shooting is actually pretty fun. The world looks pretty damn big and I can't wait to do more things.
Will I play again: Definitely. Looks like GOTY from an early point.
Rating: 4/5
Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood
Time played: 2-3 hours
This is the first AC game I've played on the PC, and DAMN it looks good. Performance isn't optimal (plus there's stuttering I'd like to get rid of) but it's certainly playable. As for the game, it's really meh at the beginning and is unfortunately worse than AC2's beginning. The Desmond section was boring and had almost no checkpoints so you can quit. The cannon controls suck balls (pun intended) and was the only place where I died. I am not used to the combat changes so I have just played it like AC2, but I can't chain kills/executions. I just made it to Rome so hopefully it picks up soon.
P.S. I'm very glad there is not Ubisoft bullshit to jump through. Some shit like Punkbuster and a launcher have to install, but after that you can just click offline mode and play normally. No visible DRM whatsoever.
Will I play again: Yes, considering I am a series fan.
Rating: 3/5
DogFighter
Time spent: 40 minutes
Someone else reviewed it already and I agree with almost everything. There is a solid foundation here for a plane arena fighter, but I'd say its missing something to set itself apart. Its also surprisingly low on pure content. The different planes all feel too similar and there isnt a real SP mode, except deathmatches with bots in a variety of different setups. I wouldnt say I had *no* fun playing it, and I also enjoyed the level layout, which has some neat hidden areas that offer a good danger/reward ratio, offering for some tactical play.
However, everything in SP just seems too easy. In every game, I managed to score silver or gold rank by simply flying directly at all the enemies while shooting at them. It was kinda fun, but rather pointless. I can imagine that the MP could make for some interesting matches, but in the end I'd say its simply missing more depth to sustain any long term interest in this game.
Will I play it again? Nope, I think there are better ways to scratch the plane fighting itch.
Time spent: 40 minutes
Someone else reviewed it already and I agree with almost everything. There is a solid foundation here for a plane arena fighter, but I'd say its missing something to set itself apart. Its also surprisingly low on pure content. The different planes all feel too similar and there isnt a real SP mode, except deathmatches with bots in a variety of different setups. I wouldnt say I had *no* fun playing it, and I also enjoyed the level layout, which has some neat hidden areas that offer a good danger/reward ratio, offering for some tactical play.
However, everything in SP just seems too easy. In every game, I managed to score silver or gold rank by simply flying directly at all the enemies while shooting at them. It was kinda fun, but rather pointless. I can imagine that the MP could make for some interesting matches, but in the end I'd say its simply missing more depth to sustain any long term interest in this game.
Will I play it again? Nope, I think there are better ways to scratch the plane fighting itch.
Joe Molotov
Member
LOL, amirite?
Eets
Time played: 45 minutes
Cute game. Reminds me of a mix between Lemmings and The Incredible Machine. The basic goal is to lead your "Eet" to the end of the level by arranging and interacting with certain level elements that alter the path of your character. Its well done, and if the basic premise I just described sounds like it might appeal to you, give it a try. It does a good job of easing the player into the game mechanics and also gets rather intricate pretty early on if you choose to play the harder levels. The game design regarding the difficulty is rather clever, since they allow you to choose which one of the current levels you want to complete to advance to the next world.
Will I play it again? Sure, why not.
Time played: 45 minutes
Cute game. Reminds me of a mix between Lemmings and The Incredible Machine. The basic goal is to lead your "Eet" to the end of the level by arranging and interacting with certain level elements that alter the path of your character. Its well done, and if the basic premise I just described sounds like it might appeal to you, give it a try. It does a good job of easing the player into the game mechanics and also gets rather intricate pretty early on if you choose to play the harder levels. The game design regarding the difficulty is rather clever, since they allow you to choose which one of the current levels you want to complete to advance to the next world.
Will I play it again? Sure, why not.
SteveWinwood
Member
Farming Simulator 2011
I woke up and looked around. A flat surface surrounded me in every direction. Random buildings peppered the area. I didn't know who I was or what my purpose was. Giant signs appeared in front of me instructing me what to do. I had no clue what else I could do. I was drawn to the farm equipment. I had nothing else to do. I started farming.
Something hit me though. None of this felt... real. I had no contrast however so I couldn't justify thinking that. As I let my mind wander I didn't notice that my tractor started to leave my field. I quickly tried to correct myself but not before I slammed into a commuting vehicle.
This isn't how this is supposed to happen. This isn't how this works. Why are the pieces of reality not reacting like they're supposed to?!
But what was I do to? There was nothing I could do. I once again returned to this farming practice.
What is this? Hire a worker?
Instantly some automaton instantly took over for me. I yell at him "Where did you come from? Who are you? What are you doing here?" He didn't even look at me. Completely ignored me. Or did he? It was hard to tell. His face was completely blank. Could he even acknowledge me? Is he really a... human?
He seemed to be doing his job so I decided to investigate my house. Is this my house? I don't know what it is precisely. I assume it is my house. I've never seen it though. And none of these doors seem to work. This is literally just a giant box that resembles a home. As if it was supposed to make me comfortable somehow.
I took off in my tractor to clear my mind. None of this was making sense. What was going on? I don't know anything about this place, but I know that it is just wrong. I quickly jerk the steering wheel away as I have once again lost track of what I was doing and had run some poor commuter over! But... he's... fine. There is nothing wrong with him. He just keeps walking. I drive in front of him and marvel as he just walks... through my tractor and I.
Who, no what are these... people. But they aren't people. And these places aren't real places either. This is all a sham. None of this is real. I don't know what this is. Some sort of simulation maybe. Or am I just going mad? Maybe I should return home and visit my wife. Do I have a wife? Yes, yes of course I do. She's at home right now making me a pie. I want pie. I should return home.
No! No! I can't even control my thoughts. What is going on?! It must end no matter what. I only have one choice. An end to this "life".
I see a bridge off to the distance. Surely this can be an answer. I slowly climb up the side.
Almost there. Won't last too much longer.
Ahh, sweet sweet relief...
I should have known. It wouldn't have solved a thing. It's no more real than anything else around here.
I'm not even sad. I'm just lost. I don't know what to do with this "life". What is it? All I want are answers. Who might have these? And why would they do this to me of all people?
All of a sudden I notice a high castle off in the distance. I see some movement in it. Not like the normal robotic movement of all of these fake things around me. It was quick, organic. I speed off there as quick as I can.
Questions run though my mind faster than I can even log that I'm thinking of them. Is this where all the answers to my questions lie?
Almost there. This place feels... different. An unnerving feeling comes over me. I'm not supposed to be here. I should go back to my wife. In my nice comfortable home. With pie. NO! It's trying to distract me. GET OUT OF MY HEAD! I must go onward. I'm onto something here clearly.
I get off my tractor and walk towards the bridge. My head started hurting immensely now at this point, but I couldn't give up. I needed to know! Nothing was going to stop me no-
"I disabled him again sir. He got too close."
"Sigh. Well we'll try again then."
"Sir, we can't just keep doing this."
"Like hell we can't. It will work eventually we just have to be patient."
"It's been 12 tries-"
"THEN IT WILL BE 13 TRIES! THIS WILL WORK! IT NEEDS TO WORK! Push the damn reset button again!"
"Yes sir."
I woke up and looked around. A flat surface surrounded me in every direction. Random buildings peppered the area. I didn't know who I was or what my purpose was. Giant signs appeared in front of me instructing me what to do. I had no clue what else I could do. I was drawn to the farm equipment. I had nothing else to do. I started farming.
I woke up and looked around. A flat surface surrounded me in every direction. Random buildings peppered the area. I didn't know who I was or what my purpose was. Giant signs appeared in front of me instructing me what to do. I had no clue what else I could do. I was drawn to the farm equipment. I had nothing else to do. I started farming.
Something hit me though. None of this felt... real. I had no contrast however so I couldn't justify thinking that. As I let my mind wander I didn't notice that my tractor started to leave my field. I quickly tried to correct myself but not before I slammed into a commuting vehicle.
This isn't how this is supposed to happen. This isn't how this works. Why are the pieces of reality not reacting like they're supposed to?!
But what was I do to? There was nothing I could do. I once again returned to this farming practice.
What is this? Hire a worker?
Instantly some automaton instantly took over for me. I yell at him "Where did you come from? Who are you? What are you doing here?" He didn't even look at me. Completely ignored me. Or did he? It was hard to tell. His face was completely blank. Could he even acknowledge me? Is he really a... human?
He seemed to be doing his job so I decided to investigate my house. Is this my house? I don't know what it is precisely. I assume it is my house. I've never seen it though. And none of these doors seem to work. This is literally just a giant box that resembles a home. As if it was supposed to make me comfortable somehow.
I took off in my tractor to clear my mind. None of this was making sense. What was going on? I don't know anything about this place, but I know that it is just wrong. I quickly jerk the steering wheel away as I have once again lost track of what I was doing and had run some poor commuter over! But... he's... fine. There is nothing wrong with him. He just keeps walking. I drive in front of him and marvel as he just walks... through my tractor and I.
Who, no what are these... people. But they aren't people. And these places aren't real places either. This is all a sham. None of this is real. I don't know what this is. Some sort of simulation maybe. Or am I just going mad? Maybe I should return home and visit my wife. Do I have a wife? Yes, yes of course I do. She's at home right now making me a pie. I want pie. I should return home.
No! No! I can't even control my thoughts. What is going on?! It must end no matter what. I only have one choice. An end to this "life".
I see a bridge off to the distance. Surely this can be an answer. I slowly climb up the side.
Almost there. Won't last too much longer.
Ahh, sweet sweet relief...
I should have known. It wouldn't have solved a thing. It's no more real than anything else around here.
I'm not even sad. I'm just lost. I don't know what to do with this "life". What is it? All I want are answers. Who might have these? And why would they do this to me of all people?
All of a sudden I notice a high castle off in the distance. I see some movement in it. Not like the normal robotic movement of all of these fake things around me. It was quick, organic. I speed off there as quick as I can.
Questions run though my mind faster than I can even log that I'm thinking of them. Is this where all the answers to my questions lie?
Almost there. This place feels... different. An unnerving feeling comes over me. I'm not supposed to be here. I should go back to my wife. In my nice comfortable home. With pie. NO! It's trying to distract me. GET OUT OF MY HEAD! I must go onward. I'm onto something here clearly.
I get off my tractor and walk towards the bridge. My head started hurting immensely now at this point, but I couldn't give up. I needed to know! Nothing was going to stop me no-
"I disabled him again sir. He got too close."
"Sigh. Well we'll try again then."
"Sir, we can't just keep doing this."
"Like hell we can't. It will work eventually we just have to be patient."
"It's been 12 tries-"
"THEN IT WILL BE 13 TRIES! THIS WILL WORK! IT NEEDS TO WORK! Push the damn reset button again!"
"Yes sir."
I woke up and looked around. A flat surface surrounded me in every direction. Random buildings peppered the area. I didn't know who I was or what my purpose was. Giant signs appeared in front of me instructing me what to do. I had no clue what else I could do. I was drawn to the farm equipment. I had nothing else to do. I started farming.
lol, neat idea. I take it you had fun with it (in your own special way) and will put you in the "Like" category?
SteveWinwood
Member
lol, neat idea. I take it you had fun with it (in your own special way) and will put you in the "Like" category?
Nah, the thing is boring as all hell.
Faerie Solitaire
Time played: 20 minutes
Solitaire. You search for a card that is either one above or one below the card that is currently opened and you need to use all the cards on the board.
Lots of content, unlockable upgrades for several aspects, and a general solid game through and through. Its definitely a good game, but I don't think I'll play much more it it, since I am missing a bit more substance and variety in the gameplay. They try to change the basic setup a bit, for example by having one row of cards locked until you manage to score a combo. That adds another small bit of tactical gameplay, but still overall not enough to keep me interested.
Will I play it again?Nope, however it IS a good casual game and I will suggest it to my girlfriend who was recently into Fairway Solitaire, just not my type of game.
Time played: 20 minutes
Solitaire. You search for a card that is either one above or one below the card that is currently opened and you need to use all the cards on the board.
Lots of content, unlockable upgrades for several aspects, and a general solid game through and through. Its definitely a good game, but I don't think I'll play much more it it, since I am missing a bit more substance and variety in the gameplay. They try to change the basic setup a bit, for example by having one row of cards locked until you manage to score a combo. That adds another small bit of tactical gameplay, but still overall not enough to keep me interested.
Will I play it again?Nope, however it IS a good casual game and I will suggest it to my girlfriend who was recently into Fairway Solitaire, just not my type of game.
True, but who is playing that game for its story... I also just remembered a concern of the last Gaffer reviewing it, regarding the auto highlighting. I don't think it necessarily makes the game easier, since the core concept is easy with or without the highlighting, and most of the actual difficulty stems from deciding which cards to pick when you got multiple choices.
So, I am not that aggravated about it, and for what it is, its a decent casual game. Sword and Poker 2 was a good Card Casual game I enjoyed, this not so much.
Edit: Just noticed it was my 10th mini review for this thread, woo. You others need to step up!
Joe Molotov
Member
I skipped all the story bits. Had a lot of fun with it, too.
Jinfash
needs 2 extra inches
Oh man, oh man.
I'm still playing SpaceChem. I just completed "Every Day is the First Day" (3-1), after an entire hour or so. I feel like I'm missing shortcuts and tricks, and my solutions are not as elegant as they should, but hey, at least I'm SOLVING levels and not giving up (or worse yet, cheating).
Here's my solution to that level. Can any SpaceChem veteran check it out, and try to offer tips or optimization suggestions? I'd appreciate it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5he2jetiBOA
I'm still playing SpaceChem. I just completed "Every Day is the First Day" (3-1), after an entire hour or so. I feel like I'm missing shortcuts and tricks, and my solutions are not as elegant as they should, but hey, at least I'm SOLVING levels and not giving up (or worse yet, cheating).
Here's my solution to that level. Can any SpaceChem veteran check it out, and try to offer tips or optimization suggestions? I'd appreciate it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5he2jetiBOA
This is exactly what I'm looking for. Thanks!
Jinfash
needs 2 extra inches
http://spacechem.net/solution/every-day-is-the-first-day/2470
I think I'm gonna be sick. Holy shit, this is genius.
My most obvious mistake is that I forgot that "start" icons can be moved around. The way utilized that the blue waldo is so good it's almost spoilerish.
Compare the two solutions, then laugh at me
I think I'm gonna be sick. Holy shit, this is genius.
My most obvious mistake is that I forgot that "start" icons can be moved around. The way utilized that the blue waldo is so good it's almost spoilerish.
Compare the two solutions, then laugh at me
Game: Osmos
Time played: 43 minutes about
You're a mote of something, and you need to absorb other motes of lesser mass to increase your own mass. Likewise for all the other motes, though regular motes lack impetus. When you collide with a mote larger than yourself you lose mass until you're either fully absorbed or no longer tangent. When you're fully absorbed it's game over.
Osmos has a nice hook, with slapdash execution. So, in order to move about the map (which is either a large box or a circle populated with many motes) you must propel yourself by jettisoning your own mass. (Your jettison functions identically to the other regular motes.) This creates an interesting risk-reward of offensive maneuvers that decrease your defense as well as fuel potential hostiles, and that placidity could leave you susceptible to assimilation. Wasted potential, surely.
My first problem was with movement. Frugal acceleration is sluggish and dull. Quick movement is costly and imprudent for most situations. Particularly if you're predatory you risk accelerating too much and in order to decelerate you must give up even more mass, and potentially ramming into a larger mote. It almost felt as if the developers were penalizing me for playing offensively. It was frustrating and sloppy, but playing slowly was entirely unexciting. However, there is time control. You can without restriction (and, as far as I've played, unconditionally) slow down or speed up time. This does ameliorate the controls. But at the same time, it's even less fun to further slow the game down, and speeding it up didn't make the long stagnant periods enjoyable. This can lead to fun; the tension of slowing time to narrowly avoid a hostile was exciting.
My last problem is that it's just a bore. There're several modes with distinct victory objectives. Special motes with unique abilities present themselves in their own modes. But even when I needed to "Absorb Three (unique motes)" it felt as if I was doing exactly the same as "Become The Biggest" because that's exactly what happened in the end, every time. I absorbed the smallest and then the largest within proximity and then I was the largest or near-largest and then I absorbed the unique ones. It's repetitive and lacks strategy and challenge.
It's pretty shallow, too. I think when it was supposed to be easy it was boring, and when it was supposed to be challenging it was still boring, and the dilatory traversal made it frustrating. So after the 40-odd minutes I'm left feeling bored and cranky. Despite this vitriol, I would recommend the game to very casual gamers looking for a relaxing game.
Rating: 2/5
Will I go back to playing it: Don't think so. I like the idea, and the music and graphics are nice. But unfortunately the more I played the less I liked.
The few maps will stay fresh for a long time if you like maze design, and the real fun is Survival mode and leaderboard climbing. Maze design necessitates a lot of thought when you start Hard Mode, and I just get lost in designing and redesigning my mazes. The waves are random, which can be hugely frustrating; I've done astonishingly well and bad using the same design. But it's best to play the maps normally before hitting survival mode.
Co-op is the best way to play. It's tough with strangers, though.
Time played: 43 minutes about
You're a mote of something, and you need to absorb other motes of lesser mass to increase your own mass. Likewise for all the other motes, though regular motes lack impetus. When you collide with a mote larger than yourself you lose mass until you're either fully absorbed or no longer tangent. When you're fully absorbed it's game over.
The audiovisual presentation is very nice. The music is ambient chilled-out, and the visuals are pseudo-psychedelic and spacey. Clean and unobtrusive.
Osmos has a nice hook, with slapdash execution. So, in order to move about the map (which is either a large box or a circle populated with many motes) you must propel yourself by jettisoning your own mass. (Your jettison functions identically to the other regular motes.) This creates an interesting risk-reward of offensive maneuvers that decrease your defense as well as fuel potential hostiles, and that placidity could leave you susceptible to assimilation. Wasted potential, surely.
My first problem was with movement. Frugal acceleration is sluggish and dull. Quick movement is costly and imprudent for most situations. Particularly if you're predatory you risk accelerating too much and in order to decelerate you must give up even more mass, and potentially ramming into a larger mote. It almost felt as if the developers were penalizing me for playing offensively. It was frustrating and sloppy, but playing slowly was entirely unexciting. However, there is time control. You can without restriction (and, as far as I've played, unconditionally) slow down or speed up time. This does ameliorate the controls. But at the same time, it's even less fun to further slow the game down, and speeding it up didn't make the long stagnant periods enjoyable. This can lead to fun; the tension of slowing time to narrowly avoid a hostile was exciting.
My last problem is that it's just a bore. There're several modes with distinct victory objectives. Special motes with unique abilities present themselves in their own modes. But even when I needed to "Absorb Three (unique motes)" it felt as if I was doing exactly the same as "Become The Biggest" because that's exactly what happened in the end, every time. I absorbed the smallest and then the largest within proximity and then I was the largest or near-largest and then I absorbed the unique ones. It's repetitive and lacks strategy and challenge.
It's pretty shallow, too. I think when it was supposed to be easy it was boring, and when it was supposed to be challenging it was still boring, and the dilatory traversal made it frustrating. So after the 40-odd minutes I'm left feeling bored and cranky. Despite this vitriol, I would recommend the game to very casual gamers looking for a relaxing game.
Rating: 2/5
Will I go back to playing it: Don't think so. I like the idea, and the music and graphics are nice. But unfortunately the more I played the less I liked.
The few maps will stay fresh for a long time if you like maze design, and the real fun is Survival mode and leaderboard climbing. Maze design necessitates a lot of thought when you start Hard Mode, and I just get lost in designing and redesigning my mazes. The waves are random, which can be hugely frustrating; I've done astonishingly well and bad using the same design. But it's best to play the maps normally before hitting survival mode.
Co-op is the best way to play. It's tough with strangers, though.
slaughterking
Member
http://spacechem.net/solution/every-day-is-the-first-day/2470
I think I'm gonna be sick. Holy shit, this is genius.
My most obvious mistake is that I forgot that "start" icons can be moved around. The way utilized that the blue waldo is so good it's almost spoilerish.
Compare the two solutions, then laugh at me
No kidding. It's petty genius, but now I feel like I can never use this trick because it's not something I came up with on my own. :I
OmegaDragon
Member
Game: Puzzle Agent
Time Played: about 90 minutes
You are FBI agent Nelson Tethers, from the Department of Puzzle Research, and you are sent to a town in Minnesota to investigate why an eraser factory is shut down. You talk to various characters and have to solve puzzles to proceed. The puzzles are pretty fun so far, you can use hints if you get stuck. You are given a score for each puzzle based on how many tries and hints you used. I like that if you click somewhere on the screen, everything of interest (clues, people to talk to, etc) in a certain area is highlighted.
I like the story. The art is nice, but it gets a little fuzzy when its zoomed in. Im a little bit torn about the crude animation. For example in a diner scene all the patrons move a bit, which is a nice touch. However, when you ride your snowmobile, it looks like crap because its so choppy.
Rating: 5/5
Will play again: Definitely
Time Played: about 90 minutes
You are FBI agent Nelson Tethers, from the Department of Puzzle Research, and you are sent to a town in Minnesota to investigate why an eraser factory is shut down. You talk to various characters and have to solve puzzles to proceed. The puzzles are pretty fun so far, you can use hints if you get stuck. You are given a score for each puzzle based on how many tries and hints you used. I like that if you click somewhere on the screen, everything of interest (clues, people to talk to, etc) in a certain area is highlighted.
I like the story. The art is nice, but it gets a little fuzzy when its zoomed in. Im a little bit torn about the crude animation. For example in a diner scene all the patrons move a bit, which is a nice touch. However, when you ride your snowmobile, it looks like crap because its so choppy.
Rating: 5/5
Will play again: Definitely
Typographenia
Member
TRAUMA
~60 minutes
Well, I'm not really sure how I want to feel about the game. Conceptually, it's a very interesting take on non-linear storytelling, and there are some really wonderful imagery and surreal moments used to tell the story.
However, the gameplay itself is just really boring. It's a point and click game that has a very similar feel to the Myst games (those aren't my cup of tea either), but the navigation isn't really the problem. It's just boring. Your only purpose in any of the four worlds is to search for 9 photographs hidden around the level which give hints towards the plot, give you instructions on drawing glyphs to navigate and interact with the worlds, and nudges to solving instances in other dream worlds. Other than that, you're simply looking for one of four "endings" to each world, which results from a specific drawing or reaching a specific place in the world. It's just not that interesting to play.
On the note of glyphs/drawing symbols, that system is kind of broken. The times when the game will properly recognize what you draw are pretty shoddy. I discovered the first symbol in the game world, but I learned there were others on accident. I then spent around a minute guessing at what the others were, and I had all four figured out in no time. This really breaks the game when it allows me to discover the glyphs on my own before I come across them in the actual game. The point is supposed to be exploration and discovery, but it just meant I didn't have to bother looking around as much. It should have had the symbols locked until you found them, in my opinion. I did like that they tried to give you an incentive for going back to previous areas with new-found knowledge, but I didn't need to.
It doesn't help that the woman narrating is incredible dull. I understand she is supposed to sound distant and medicated, but it really brings the energy of the player down tremendously. There's only so much of it you can take before you just want to do something else.
Overall, if you are a big fan of point-and-click, or interesting experiments, you might consider giving it a look. I would recommend around a $5 or less price point on this one.
------------------------
edit: A two-for-one!
Dino D-Day
~15 minutes
Disappointed would be the best way to describe this. I didn't realize it would be a TF2 clone and something you could only play online with. The servers were COMPLETELY empty, except for one game. The people there were just complaining the entire time.
I played as dinosaurs, because why would you play as people? DINOSAURS. However, it just wasn't really all that fun. The way the game presented everything was very obvious it was ripped off from TF2, and the way it played felt like a gimped version of TF2. Basically, the game made me want to play TF2 instead of it. Which, that's really sad, considering this has DINOSAURS.
I wouldn't really recommend picking it up, since there isn't much in the way of people actively playing it. Just play TF2 instead.
~60 minutes
Well, I'm not really sure how I want to feel about the game. Conceptually, it's a very interesting take on non-linear storytelling, and there are some really wonderful imagery and surreal moments used to tell the story.
However, the gameplay itself is just really boring. It's a point and click game that has a very similar feel to the Myst games (those aren't my cup of tea either), but the navigation isn't really the problem. It's just boring. Your only purpose in any of the four worlds is to search for 9 photographs hidden around the level which give hints towards the plot, give you instructions on drawing glyphs to navigate and interact with the worlds, and nudges to solving instances in other dream worlds. Other than that, you're simply looking for one of four "endings" to each world, which results from a specific drawing or reaching a specific place in the world. It's just not that interesting to play.
On the note of glyphs/drawing symbols, that system is kind of broken. The times when the game will properly recognize what you draw are pretty shoddy. I discovered the first symbol in the game world, but I learned there were others on accident. I then spent around a minute guessing at what the others were, and I had all four figured out in no time. This really breaks the game when it allows me to discover the glyphs on my own before I come across them in the actual game. The point is supposed to be exploration and discovery, but it just meant I didn't have to bother looking around as much. It should have had the symbols locked until you found them, in my opinion. I did like that they tried to give you an incentive for going back to previous areas with new-found knowledge, but I didn't need to.
It doesn't help that the woman narrating is incredible dull. I understand she is supposed to sound distant and medicated, but it really brings the energy of the player down tremendously. There's only so much of it you can take before you just want to do something else.
Overall, if you are a big fan of point-and-click, or interesting experiments, you might consider giving it a look. I would recommend around a $5 or less price point on this one.
------------------------
edit: A two-for-one!
Dino D-Day
~15 minutes
Disappointed would be the best way to describe this. I didn't realize it would be a TF2 clone and something you could only play online with. The servers were COMPLETELY empty, except for one game. The people there were just complaining the entire time.
I played as dinosaurs, because why would you play as people? DINOSAURS. However, it just wasn't really all that fun. The way the game presented everything was very obvious it was ripped off from TF2, and the way it played felt like a gimped version of TF2. Basically, the game made me want to play TF2 instead of it. Which, that's really sad, considering this has DINOSAURS.
I wouldn't really recommend picking it up, since there isn't much in the way of people actively playing it. Just play TF2 instead.
Trauma looks interesting and Dino looks totally shit
Although based on my quick google search it seems there actually were people enjoying it.Cthulhu Saves the World
Time Spent: 18 Minutes
A silly throwback to the 8 bit Dragon Quest era RPG's. It doesn't take itself very seriously, and seems like it could be a fun romp when the mood strikes. The humor is hit and miss, but I appreciate the effort. The gameplay was competent, and it looks like there's a few new modes that open up when you beat the game. It was strange that I didn't really want to play it, but I liked what it was doing. Cthulhu, it's not you, it's me. I'd really like to us to remain friends...
Score: 3/5 Tentacles
Will I Play Again? Possibly. I think we just need to spend some time apart right now.
Time Spent: 18 Minutes
A silly throwback to the 8 bit Dragon Quest era RPG's. It doesn't take itself very seriously, and seems like it could be a fun romp when the mood strikes. The humor is hit and miss, but I appreciate the effort. The gameplay was competent, and it looks like there's a few new modes that open up when you beat the game. It was strange that I didn't really want to play it, but I liked what it was doing. Cthulhu, it's not you, it's me. I'd really like to us to remain friends...
Score: 3/5 Tentacles
Will I Play Again? Possibly. I think we just need to spend some time apart right now.
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
Time Played: Five hours
Well, I played it a bit longer than I expected (though this is over the past day or two). There probably isn't anything new to say about it, but I would've loved to experience this when it came out. Instead, it's nearly a decade later, so I can safely just say that it holds up rather well, and it is enjoyable.
5/5 (will play more).
Time Played: Five hours
Well, I played it a bit longer than I expected (though this is over the past day or two). There probably isn't anything new to say about it, but I would've loved to experience this when it came out. Instead, it's nearly a decade later, so I can safely just say that it holds up rather well, and it is enjoyable.
5/5 (will play more).
Jinfash
needs 2 extra inches
I have one final game on my original list (World of Goo) that I'll be covering today, then I'll be making a new list to go through. Since I received most of the games I played so far rather positively, I'm looking forward to a lot of jank in the next one. Winter Voices and Iron Roses will top it for sure.