Last game you finished, tell us about it

txa1265 said:

I am saddened that there was no PC demo for Mirror's Edge despite there being one for PS3 & X360! I did a 'discussion review' of it at VGBlogger.

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No doubt, I would have liked to try the game. Left 4 Dead is another game I would have liked to see a demo for.

JDR13 said:

No doubt, I would have liked to try the game. Left 4 Dead is another game I would have liked to see a demo for.

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L4D is much more obvious as it is a Valve shooter. But Mirror's Edge isn't the sort of thing I can just point at and say 'you will like this'. Because it is entirely possible that you won't.

L4D 4 Life mofos!

See, i know a little "street lingo"!

All i been playin lately, always a good time to blow off some steam puttin a few hundred zombies on ice

I'm really tempted to grab a copy of L4D, but I just don't know if it would be worth it for me. I'm not into multiplayer, and I heard the single-player is over in a flash.

I would wait for a sale - good value for $30, but not $50. I got it on the Amazon special a while back.

Well, for once I didn't really play a game myself.

Those who aren't born under a rock know that RE5 is coming up. There is one "canon" RE title which I haven't played yet and that's "Umbrella Chronicles" on WII. Luckily I found someone who recorded the entire game and uploaded it to youtube so I have been watching that today while reinstalling a trashed windows.

JDR13 said:

I'm really tempted to grab a copy of L4D, but I just don't know if it would be worth it for me. I'm not into multiplayer, and I heard the single-player is over in a flash.

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last weekend Valve's selling L4D with 50% off ($49.99-->$29.99)... the sales extended until 17 feb!....

http://store.steampowered.com/

Valve has a nice little hit on their hands w/ L4D, it's still full priced everywhere i see it in the outlet stores. I hope there's more coming in this vein. There are times I get a little bored w/ it, but those tend to be times I just saturate myself.

I dont regret the 50$ purchase because of the mileage Ive gotten out of it, but for those w/ less of a zombie fetish i'd probably wait. I came out of my shell the other night and played a little multiplayer and... it was fun! One key advantage is that human players can use explosives. Comes in handy

Finished off Return to Ravenhearst last night. A couple puzzles in this one were bad enough that I actually skipped over them. This one won't do the kiddies much good, but it definitely ups the challenge level. I finished with about 6 hours of actual playing time. A little thin, but for $20 and with definite replay potential, I'd call it a good purchase.

Back to my UFO:ET run now.

ObsCure
Survival Horror meets Teenage Horror in this very average title.

Story: Highschool horror
Kenny have gone missing and his girlfriend, his sister and a journalist end up locked into their school, Leafmore High. Soon enough they begin to uncover the schools horrible secret. Do you need a greater explanation? One familiar with the movie genré Teenage Horror wouldn't be unfamiliar with the styles and the themes found in this game, especially not if one have seen "The Faquelty" by Robert Rodriguez. Yes, there is a story, and it's progressed through encounters with school employees and finding clues, but the end where everything is explained isn't much of a surprise.

Engine: Graphics & Sounds
ObScure is a PS2 game that been hotted up for the PC. Do not get me wrong, this is ofcourse a game from 2004, and it looks like it, but in higher resolution it looks fine for it's age. It uses no modern gee-whizz effects but it's not ugly either. The monsters are, in my opinion, do not have the disturbed design that we have seen in games like Silent Hill and most of them doesn't make much sense either. At least there's a cool effect with a kind of "spreading darkness" around the monsters that color the area around them greenish/brownish.

Like most teenage horror flicks, ObsCure have some pop music, such as The Sums Still Waiting in the Intro, but most music uses a choir singing in what I believe to be latin. In many games the choir fits in, but not in ObsCure that have no divine/hellish stuff in it whatsoever. The voice acting is average to bad.

Gameplay
There are 5 characters you can play and they can even die and you will still be able to finish the game. You pick the character you want to play and then you have to recruit a 2nd character among who's left. Each character have an unique ability but they are mostly useless. You can swap team at any time by going back to a meeting place. You do not have to play the game alone, ObsCure is one of those games that encourages you to get a buddy to play the other character, but it doesn't make much impact on PC (and my cohabit shuns horror stories like the plague). Luckily the teammate can also be played by the computer. Besides the co-op mode, ObsCure plays out just like other Survival Horror games such as Silent Hill or Resident Evil. The school is littered with weaponry and ammunition (American highschool eh?) and you will find keys and items to be used in puzzles. You can actually pick locks around the school. Unlike other similar games you can also use a flashlight as a weapon. This flashlight can actually be taped to a weapon, but for some reason it cannot be taken off again so you better keep the best flashlights until you are sure you have a good weapon to combine it with.

I ran the game on normal and I felt the combat difficulty to be from extremely easy to very hard. One area took many retries to get through, but then there were large chunks of gametime without any danger at all. The end boss was annoyingly difficult compared to everything I met throughout the game. Despite the problems, it didn't take me very long to finish the game. The puzzles are quite easy and it feeds you hints all the time to make sure you know what to do next.

Final Thoughts...
ObsCure was one of the survival horrors I got left to play but I could as well have skipped it. It's unique in being the only "teenage horror" game out there, but in everything else it's an inferior copy to the greater survival horror series.

good review JemyM, and your final thoughts do some it up. but it is for that reason of it being a unique experience of "teenage horror" an why i would rate it above average myself. the sequel is better and worse in some ways.
although gamespot was rough on it adventure fans should still check it out as my goto adventure site rates it an A-
http://www.justadventure.com/reviews/Obscure/Obscure.shtm

although it doesn't compare in quality to the better games of the resident evil and silent hill series, there have been a few really bad games in those series that make this game look like a rainbow with a heftly pile of gold.

I had to give it some thought and I find it difficult to find titles in the dominating series (Resident Evil, Silent Hill and Alone in the Dark) that is inferior to ObsCure in writing, structure and substance. ObsCure borrows from other games/movies and throws it together, but lacks it's own structure that ties the pieces together and it also fails to bring ideas on it's own. RE does rely on the idea of a large company producing viruses for sinister reasons. Silent Hill does rely on the godforsaken city with the same name. AitD borrows heavily from Lovecraft's mythos (except for the 5th game). While ObsCure has a core, it fails to keep the whole thing together. One thing that bothered me was that the explanations given for the stage 1-3 mutants didn't explain the other creatures, or the "dark mist". I also couldn't buy the main twist.
Maybe it have the problem that it's inspired by a genré which in it's own is known for it's poor writing and lack of depth.

What ObsCure lacks in depth of story structure, it does make up somewhat in gameplay. I found the idea of picking the characters you like from a central pool of characters, and even allowing them to die off, to be interesting. The inventory system also worked rather well. Allowing teenagers to actually play the game together is a good idea as well. Sometimes I felt that the game was a bit too revealing when it came to giving you clues, but maybe that's because the game is written for a younger public. But all that fails on the PC since PC gamers tend to be older and very few have the type of setup that allows for co-op gameplay (I actually have 4 joypads and the capacity to run my PC screen on my 1080p 40" TV, but I doubt that's common among PC users).

At least I have to give the first ObsCure a thumb up for not feeling as linear as ObsCure 2. I have actually found ObsCure 2 to be quite frustrating. I prefered the saving system of the first game that was limited but at least allowed me to save when I wanted to. The saving system in ObsCure 2 force me to play the game in chunks which doesn't work well with me. I have also felt a lack of weaponry (and ammunition) so far in comparision to the toughness of the monsters. Since your companion doesn't swap weapons on their own it also means that I often have the wrong equipment ready when running into a new foe, either wasting bullets on weak foes, or going up against tough foes with weak weapons. Add to that a lack of energy drinks to heal minor damage and you have to take the risk to be very wounded so you wont waste a first aid kit on minor damage.

ObsCure 2: The Aftermath
Bad controls and story ruins this sequel.

Story: Bad trip dude
The events are moved from Leafmore High to Fallcreek University where the nightmares begin again, now as a result from inhaling smoke from a new type of weed. Some characters return from the first game, still tormented by their memories. Unlike the first game, there's an ongoing story this time around that actally use the characters, building upon them as the story goes along. It just doesn't happen to be a very good one.

Engine: Graphics & Sound
Not much to say here... ObsCure 2 is a PS2 port. It defenitely doesn't look like a 2008 PC game but I didn't find the game to look disturbingly bad and it doesn't look extraordinary good either. The voiceacting is rather poor, although sometimes it's so bad you have to laugh at it. The music is probably the best part, it's actually really good.

Gameplay
Gameplay ruined most of ObsCure 2 for me. The first problem is the save system that doen't allow you to save when you want. The game have some kind of checkpoint system in which you must use flowers to save. These are scattered through the game but you must save where you find them (in the first game you found limited disks that you could take with you). Then there's the controls that simply was too clunky to be used properly. You find limited amount of ammo throughout the game and you will use it all, which meant that the best weapon for a fight was the weapon you had ammo for. This lead to a constant weaponswapping. Defeating monsters usually meant tapping the firebutton wildly and hope you hit something as there was no time to think or use any strategy in a battle. The system for using equipment was really bad and you will probably fail to use healing items in combat. ObsCure 2 had given up the "fixed camera" of the first game and allow you to control the camera, but not enough and you will often find yourself cursing the game for not allowing you to look where you want to look.

Final Thoughts
I didn't have too many survival horror games left to play when I decided to check out ObsCure 1&2. And so I did. Am I glad I finished them? Maybe. Was it fun? Not really.

Finished Bloodlines for the second time, with Unofficial patch 6.0 plus.

Played a Malkavian chick and had so much fun it´s not even funny.
Based on my previous Tremere run, I´ve already considered Bloodlines to be a really great rpg, but this new experience elevated it into a total classic status in my eyes.

Roleplaying this character has given the game entirely different feeling and it was certainly one of my most unique rpg experiences ever.
Funny armors, dementation in dialogues, hilarious easter eggs (such as TV) or unique npc reactions is already a lot of cool stuff, but the fact that the vast majority of dialogue responses available to Malkavian is completely unique is where it´s really at (a lot of ises, sorry).
Sometimes infantile, sometimes insightful, sometimes just crazy, often downward hilarious and also poetic, in its own fractured way.
Besides the novelty and fun factors and general need to read them really carefully, the most profound effect these responses had on the game is that they added a lot to the protagonist´s depth.

Interestingly, beyond all those laughs, probably the strongest emotion playing a Malk induced in me was compassion. Compassion with the character with confused mind, being put in the confusing world and somewhat having to deal with all that plight mostly all alone.

Having all these extras on top of the game full of marvellous characters, original settings and generally well designed missions and gameplay was the essence of blast.

As for the plus version of the patch, I was glad of going with it for my second playthrough. Restored content fleshes the gameworld a bit more, restored items are by no means unbalancing and new locations for some of other items make generally more sense than in the original game.
Rebalancing elements are change for the better too. Probably most importantly, ranged weapons are a bit more useful and stealth isn´t absurdly overpowered which makes Obfuscate much more useful.
Apart from the unfixable elevator bug, I´ve encountered none, at least none that I´ve noticed. Well, for Malkavians even bugs can be understood as features anyway .
Thanks, Wesp!

All in all, after this second playthrough, I´m giving Bloodlines + patch6.0 10/10.
I don´t care about its flaws, the good stuff more than makes up for it.

I´m no longer here.

DeepO said:

Finished Bloodlines for the second time, with Unofficial patch 6.0 plus.

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I'm playing Bloodlines right now for the first time, using Unofficial patch 6.0 basic. I'm loving every minute so far.

Cool! Give Jeanette my regards then .

DeepO said:

Cool! Give Jeanette my regards then .

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Her AND her sister.

Heh, you guys make me want to replay Bloodlines again. I think this may be the *only* game I started replaying almost immediately after having finished it for the first time. I've been keeping track of these unofficial patches ever since, in case I felt like sucking blood again.

Gah! Must not think about it! I'm too busy with three other games!

Have fun with it, JDR13, 'cause "it's never as sweet as the first time". But even after that, it's still pretty sweet.

F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin
A very traditional shooter and not monoliths best.

Story: Fear Alma?
Forget everything you knew about F.E.A.R, as the protagonist, Paxton Fettel and the young Alma from that game won't return in F.E.A.R. 2. Still F.E.A.R. 2 begins where the first game ended. In F.E.A.R 2 you play another person, this one a Delta Force known as Michael Becket who in the start of the game takes on a routine mission to take in a Doctor Genevieve Aristide. Well, things doesn't go as planned, and after some brief encounters with the spirit of the adult Alma as well as a huge explosion Becket wakes up in a hospital, where it seems everyone is either dead or hostile. Truth to be told, there's not much story in F.E.A.R 2 and not many surprises either. It feels like you are constantly forced to go somewhere, often to meet someone, and on your way you have to shoot down forces from Armacham Technology Corporation (evil company) and replicas (produced by ATC) as well as killing some supernatural creatures aka "experiments". The game is filled with small cutscenes that tries to build mystery but it failed for me. There are also some flavor texts that can be found on datadisks scattered everywhere that add some more information about what's going on, but I still couldn't feel excited about the plot, maybe because if you have played F.E.A.R. 1 you already knew the story and then you knew what to expect.

Engine: Graphics & Sound
Graphics is one of the games strongest point. F.E.A.R. 2 is no Gears of War or Crysis, but the game does everything you would ask from a modern shooter and some effects are extra neat to look at, such as the ghost effects. I also found enemies to be very well animated. The bits where you get to control a powerarmor is also very neat. I found some areas to be really detailed, such as the school, and others not so. The sound does it's job but I couldn't say it stood out.

Gameplay
F.E.A.R had very strong gameplay with it's bullet-time mode and F.E.A.R 2 have the same mechanics, but in general the game plays just like an ordinary First-Person shooter that comes out as an average game in general. You get your traditional "man the turret", "control a vehicle" which can be seen in most modern games. Vehicle yes, there are some very nice levels in which you get to control a powerarmor that is really cool and looks great, but somehow I didn't feel like they belonged in a horror game.

Final Thoughts...
Monolith have in the past produced games like the supercreepy Alien Vs Predator 2 or Condemned: Criminal Origins, and unique classics like No One Lives Forever. F.E.A.R. 1 had some scares to it but I didn't felt it to be as creepy as it's other titles, but at least it was by many considered one of PC's more loved FPS's. The first expansion gave some entertainment for fans of the first game but Perseus Mandate made most people dissappointed. F.E.A.R 2 wont go down in history as a classic, frankly it's a rather forgetable game that can be piled on top of the recent FPS's that simply does what they should but then nothing more. If you haven't yet played AvP2 or Condemned, I suggest you should do so and save F.E.A.R 2 to later.

Yep - FEAR 2 is a big disappointment.