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Lucien21 Gaming Journal 2014

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Joined 2004-01-18

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Dreamfall: The Longest Journey

Decided to replay this before jumping into Chapters. . .


Dreamfall is the sequal to The Longest Journey. Something is strange in the twin worlds of Stark and Arcadia once again.

This time you are Zoe Castillo a young woman in Casablanca, a college drop out with no direction. Used to lazing about with her friends and genreally not having a clue when she starts seeing strange visions of a creepy house and a young girl asking her to find and save April Ryan.

Spurned into action after her reporter friend Reza disappears she sets out to find out what happened to her friend and how it is linked to her strange visions.

During the game you will visit some old locations in both Stark and Arcadia, meet some old friends and make some new ones. You switch control of characters at certain times in the game but will mostly control Zoe Later in the game you will also control April Ryan and new guy Kian Alvane (Religious warrior who is chasing April).

In a major change from the first game the game is presented in 3D and directly controlled with the keyboard or gamepad (I chose this one). I liked this method of control and was soon running about looking for hotspots with ease. Unfortunatly they felt that they needed to add some stealth and fight sequences into the game. Luckily they are few and far between because the fighting mechanics are hilariously bad.

Graphics are pretty good for it’s day, but look a bit old now. The areas to run around in a very small before hitting a load screen, but luckily the loads are fairly fast. Voice acting and music is superb for the most part (I still hate the stilted voice of the yellow skinned woman who follows Ryan).

Puzzles are mostly inventory based and are pretty straight forward. There are a few hacking mini games which are fun for the few times you have to do them.

The story is up to the same standard as it’s predecessor, the story is deep and intertwines the two worlds and various characters in a mostly satisfying way however my biggest complaint about this game is it is far too openended. The Longest Journey worked as it was a self contained storyline, but this was designed as a multiple game story that so far has not been completed.

Overall I had alot of fun with this game, and looking forward to see how it wraps up.

4/5

     

An adventure game is nothing more than a good story set with engaging puzzles that fit seamlessly in with the story and the characters, and looks and sounds beautiful.
Roberta Williams

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Call of Duty - Advanced Warfare

Another year, another COD. New to the party Sledgehammer games have stepped in to try and pick up what was left of the franchise after Ghosts from last year.

From my perspective it’s a huge step up in playability and while it doesn’t take risks with the formula of the franchise like Black Ops 2 tried with Branching storylines etc it adds enough interesting things to say that this is head and shoulders above Ghosts.

From a single player perspective it sets the game about 30 years in the future where national militaries are being superceeded by the Private Military Corporations of the world.

You play Mitchel a grunt for the US military who after a dreadful first mission and the embarassment of having to “hold X to pay respects” to his best friend. is brought onboard one of these PMC by his pals dad who happens to run it. Kevin Spacey (not his character name) is the head of Atlus who gives you a second chance, a new robotic arm and access to best toys the private military can afford.

Now it’s not the most original storyline and you can probably guess the ending from what little i’ve said, but suffice to say it’s one giant rollercoater of shooting corrifors, vehicle sections, stealth missions and GIAGANTIC EXPLOSIONS at every turn.

It’s big and brash and like a Michael Bay movie, you spend most of the game following a character from one scripted scenes to another. However the scenes are pretty awsome and you get some fun kit.

Being a modern game you have access to future tech. Exoskeletons that let you jump higher, hit faster, provide first aid stims etc. Non lethal grenades that let you switch between emp, stun and threat (Highlights all enemies in the area even behind obstacles). Lethal grenades that lock on and guide themselves to the target. Mute packs allow for silenced breaches without creating a sound, sticky gloves allow Spider-Man like wall crawling etc etc.

The most useful new addition is the boost jump which brings a new level of verticality not seen in a COD game before. See that bus, lets just jump over it, or on top of it to take out the enemy behind.

This is the first COD to be fully designed for the next gen so needless to say it looks fantastic. Kevin Spacey just looks like Kevin Spacey esp in cut scenes the character models are amazing (apart from a slight deadness in the eyes) you would swear you were watching a FMV.

So new fun toys, amazing graphics, mostly same old gameplay.

Multiplayer…

This is what bring most people to the franchise. They have changed some perk stuff and loadout stuff, but more or less it’s the same modes that everyone has played before. Team Deathmatch etc.

However the movement speed and verticality of the exoskeletons really makes for a more frantic and fast paced COD than the likes of Ghosts and it takes a little bit of getting used to. Have a guy in your sights and suddenly he’s boosted over your head and shot you in the back. You need to be quick.

Ive played enough to to level 21.

It’s a shiney new model, that’s fun to play, but think too much about it and you could see that the new veneer is only skin deep and may wear off sooner than expected, but i’m still having fun with it.

4/5

     

An adventure game is nothing more than a good story set with engaging puzzles that fit seamlessly in with the story and the characters, and looks and sounds beautiful.
Roberta Williams

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Total Posts: 2648

Joined 2004-01-18

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Legends of Grimrock II

Last finished game of the year.

An old fashioned dungeon crawler in the vein of Eye of the Beholder and Dungeon Master. The first game was entirely set inside one big dungeon so it was a treat to see this one set in in an connected overwolrd with multiple dungeons.

At the start of the game you are 4 adventurers in a cage, the ship you are on sinks and you are washed up on strange island with no idea where you are an nothing to defend youself. You manage to escape the cage and now it’s a search for resources and weapons to survive the various puzzles and monsters that roma this island.

You can pick the standard party or create your own. I went for the standard 4 party of a Warrior and Rogue up from with the weaker wizard and alchamist bringing up the rear.

Movement is grid based with the ability to rotate within the current square and move one space forward or back using the WASD keys. Items can be placed in you inventory or in the hands of your characters allowing you to attack or use the items.

http://www.giantbomb.com/videos/quick-look-legend-of-grimrock-2/2300-9587/

This link will give you an idea of how it plays.

Anyway it brought back a lot of memories of the 80’s RPG games without the pain of drawing maps on grid paper etc. It was a hell of a lot of fun. The ending Boss(s) were a complete pain the ass and a sizable step up from the enemies that wander the island so I thought it was a tad unfair to suddenly jump up difficulty.

There is also a ton of upgrade options but as you only update about 15-20 times in the game I would recommend that you specialise pretty quickly and don’t try and spead your skills.

The graphics are a step up from the dungeons of the first game, now you are on a beach, in forests, bogs and egyptian temples. It gives a lot more variety to the environments.

Enemies are also varied and take different strategies to fight.

Puzzles can be challenging and obscure in places and I spent a lot of time looking for secret rooms.

Probably one of my favourite games of the year.

4.5/5

     

An adventure game is nothing more than a good story set with engaging puzzles that fit seamlessly in with the story and the characters, and looks and sounds beautiful.
Roberta Williams

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Joined 2005-12-06

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Lucien21 - 06 August 2014 05:38 PM

Lost Horizon

Had this game kicking around for a couple of years on my hard drive but could never build up the willpower to finish the damn thing.

The game was driving me up the wall with its never ending fetch quests E.g. To find the address of an old employee you need to find a picture of him, which is locked in your safe. The whole blooming puzzle involves bats, cats, guards, balls, bellows, flies and an alarm clock. All just to get into your own safe. It’s hilariously over complicated.

Thankfully the game settled down on that part and although the puzzle solutions on the whole remained fairly ridiculous. It seemed to fit, kind of, with the charm of the game.

What we have here is your basic adventure serial, very Indiana Jones like, have him search for some fabled lost city which turns out has the fate of the world in the balance if you could just stop the Nazi’s, save the world and get the girl.

Not very origional plot wise, but the writing is humourous, the sequences suitably over the top and the main characters generally likeable.

The game was at it’s best towards the end when you had control over multiple characters and had to pass items between each other in DoTT fashion.

Overall it was an OK game, but not one i’d put at the top of my list.

3.5/5

Just now read this and have to say I agree with this review. So many people praise the game and I’ve just been thinking “did they not notice those horrible fetching guests?” They totally ruined the pace of the game and were so ridiculous that they stood out even in a humorous game.

I gave it a score of 3.5 too though I could’ve been more butthurt about the wasted potential and even lowered it from that. Indiana Jonesque adventure and the great final chapter with multiple characters and even the time aspect. I mean, they were able to create that, and still they went with the horrible puzzles in the middle chapters. I don’t get it.

     

Currently Playing: Dragon Age Origins: Awakening
Recently Played: Red Embrace: Hollywood, Dorfromantik, Heirs & Graces, AI: The Somnium Files, PRICE, Frostpunk, The Shapeshifting Detective (CPT), Disco Elysium, Dream Daddy, Four Last Things, Jenny LeClue - Detectivu, The Signifier

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