Last game you finished, tell us about it

Storm of Zehir

I enjoyed it for the most part, quite a bit even, but the ending left me cold. Beyond the lackluster story and NPCs - the final fight was too extreme in terms of difficulty. That might be because I only had 4 characters at level ~15 - but the jump from ALL other previous encounters was gargantuan. I don't mind hard fights - but I do think it's preferable to have some kind of hint of what I'll need to stand a chance.

Anyway, the structure of the expansion was far superior to the previous two campaigns - and if they manage to combine the strengths of all three, they might just stand a chance of outdoing what went before. The length and epic nature of the first campaign, the depth of the story in the second campaign, combined with the non-linear and freeform structure of Zehir would result in a potential classic.
 
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Clive Barker's Jericho
Or... how to f up an excellent premise.

What do you get when you team up a great selection of artists, such as a famous writer, some great and twisted graphical artists, a gamedesigner filled with great ideas on how to build a squadbased shooter with far more special functions than the majority of the games on the market, and then ruin it all that with a terrible level design and AI? You get Clive Barker's Jericho.

A take on Judeo-Christian mythology
Clive Barker's Jericho ties deeply into Judeo-Christian mythology, kinda like a prequel to Genesis. Before Adam and Eve was created, there was the firstborn. A creature that even God couldn't stand. So he made another try and thus us humans came to be. Since the beginning, there have been special warriors who sacrificed themselves to keep the firstborn trapped so "it" couldn't take revenge on mankind. The latest of these are ofcourse you, a team of witches and mages called "Jericho". The story is one of Jericho's strong points, far more advanced than most games on the market. There are seven characters in your team, each one with a long and well-written background (that can be read if you unlock them in the EXTRAS), but they will also reveal some of their unique personalities during the storyline. You can really tell you have a real writer at work here. Not only are the story told by cutscenes and dialogue, you also get small bits of texts between every level (while waiting for the next one to load), that helps the buildup.

"The gardens are lavishly decorated with fountains and statues. The surroundings look impeccably beautiful but with Vicus' touch of sadism."

Despite all of that, I cannot say that Jericho's storyline is as cool as Clive Barker's Undying.

Artistic Graphics and Sound
The artwork in Jericho is great. The game uses the latest technologies (2006) and the levels beautiful (or terrible) to behold, with some really disturbing content. The monsters look great and the characters themselves are uniquely designed. The sound is pretty good as well, the soundtrack is good enough to get on the side. The voice acting is ok, but I have to say that some of the dialogue was laughably bad and sometimes out of place. For example, you can hear one of your companions say stuff like "You got your ass kicked by a girl", which doesn't sound too serious and would fit a B-movie rather than a game with a professional writer's name in it's title.

Ambitious gameplay mechanics ...
You begin as Ross, the leader of the Jericho team, and for reasons I wont reveal, you will eventually be able to take control of your entire team of misfits, each one with special magic abilities. You may say that Jericho is a squad-based shooter. If you are quick to grasp how the game works you will also be able to use it at it's fullest potential, although the characters are not all that useful.

Most of the time I used Frank, a big guy with a minigun, a heavy sideshooter and the ability to send forth a flaming demon from his right hand. A second favorite was Black, a girl with a sniper weapon and telekinesis, with the ability to possess and control her bullets. Cole is the teams "brain" and she have the ability to slow down time around her, which was also useful at times, such as when you must quickly revive your team. Then we have Church, a ninjagirl with a sword and the ability to root opponents to the ground, but I found her generally useless due to lack of firepower. Despite having the strongest melee attack, it still ended up pretty useless. Then there's Jones who have both an assault rifle and a shotgun but is mostly useless, except that his possess ability is required to solve some puzzles. Finally there's the priest of the group, who were best kept controlling himself, since he runs around healing people so you do not have to.

... to be ruined by horrible level design and AI
So what's so bad about Jericho. Well, I believe that the key problem with the game is the level design, that really ruins the entire game. Jericho is so linear that the term "rail shooter" might fit. You progress a bit, then monsters run in in hordes, and when you killed them all you can continue a bit more. This gets really repetitive and do not allow you to really use those gameplay mechanics I just spoke about. The game always let you know right away what you should do, so you never really get much chance of experimenting and trying to use the tools you have been given "your way".

Another nuisance is that your team have terrible AI, and they usually end up knocked out, forcing you to run and heal them. This is almost bareable on EASY, but get's extremely frustrating even on MEDIUM. Being forced to spend most of your time "healing the AI" doesn't make a fun game. Especially bad is that they do not understand explosive opponents, which they gladly kill at close range, knocking out half or most of the squad like all the time.

As a final slap in the face, the ending is absolutely horrible. With all that excellent writing otherwise, you are really expecting a great ending to the game, only to be met with ... well. I wont spoil it, but if you manage to get that far, prepare to be disappointed. Even fans agree that it's nothing to make popcorn for.
 
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Yeah, but if I had skipped it, I would have had nothing to do this weekend. :D
 
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I rarely replay games these days. Actually, I never replay games these days. :)
 
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... that is a shame ... you'd rather play crap than replay brilliance? Don't get that ...

I liken it to books - I've been re-reading stuff I'd not read in ~20 years, and it is amazing how much differently things look with age.
 
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Re-reading a favourite book is one of life's greatest pleasures. Replaying a favourite game can come close.
 
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I tend to make up my mind during the first 2-3 hours of a game as to whether or not it's actually worth playing to the end. I have far too many games to waste my time playing garbage. That's why I no longer force myself to finish a game that I'm not really enjoying.

I've already stopped playing Turok after 2 chapters, that was all it took to realize it didn't meet my standards.
 
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... that is a shame ... you'd rather play crap than replay brilliance? Don't get that ...
I liken it to books - I've been re-reading stuff I'd not read in ~20 years, and it is amazing how much differently things look with age.

A bad game can be enjoyable enough to give me something. This was the case with AitD and Jericho. This was not the case with You Are EMPTY.
 
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AitD suffers from a lack of polish, which might be too much to ask for of a title that try so many new things at once. PS3 do polish the game quite a bit, without giving up on it's innovations. However, I downloaded and tried the PS3 DEMO, but ended up preferring the PC version anyway. The graphics were better in the PC version, which might have something to do with the resolution. I played the PS3 DEMO in 1920×1080 on a 40" TV and the PC version in 2048x1536 on a 22" monitor. The ability to mouseaim in first-person was a great improvement. I generally find FPS on consoles to be unplayable no matter how hard I try to like them. Having a mouse also made it easier to control the inventory since you can quickly select what you want/combine.

"the series has returned to its roots with a storyline that could have been penned by Lovecraft", this is a weird comment. The Cthulhu mythos is incompatible with the Judea-Christian mythology that AitD5 is based on. In the Cthulhu mythos, most world religions are recent misunderstandings of the ancient alien gods that sleeps in forgotten places around the globe and Lovecraft himself made it into a habit slamming the Judea-Christian religions once in awhile.
 
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Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines

For most of 2008 I was in the "replaying old classics" mode and I haven´t a decent enough computer before but I finally got to play this game.

Played it with Unofficial Patch 5.9 basic version, as a male Tremere.

I was kinda hoping that the unfinished state in which the game was supposedly shiped referred mostly to its bugginess and not much to content/design, but sadly this wasn´t the case.

First half of the game was pure bliss. Just about everything felt right. The area design, atmosphere, amount of interesting sidequests, intriguing main line, great characters, well crafted dialogues and really well balanced and variable gameplay with just about the ideal amount of (often avoidable) combat and lot of possibilities how to solve problems.

Next 1/4 felt somewhat as all-of-the-above light, except the gradual shift into more combat oriented areas. Well, I was still having quite a lot of fun and by that time I´ve found that rather long sewer crawl to be a benefitial change of pace.

Unfortunately by the time I´ve reached game´s fourth main area, just about everything went downhill pretty fast. Level design felt unfinished and the game started to feel rather empty. The lack of side quests made the main line feel much more linear and it also felt somewhat less engaging than before.

Still in hope the game will return to its previous brilliance I proceeded to what was obviously the endgame, but unfortunately there it all finally fell apart. Just combat after combat, next to none roleplaying possibilities and boringly repetitive areas.
Only redeeming factors were ending choices, interesting and rather tough boss battles and maybe that werewolf encounter. Everything else felt like entirely different game.

As a whole, Bloodlines is still a great game.

Playing as a different clan, or even different build, makes a notable difference (I tried all clans for a little while to get an idea which one to choose), the overall setting is very refreshing, the game has a lot of neat details, such as media reflecting player´s progress, a lot of memorable situations/places and its probably biggest asset are the characters.
I think Bloodlines have the best voice acting I´ve encountered in a computer game, and there´s quite a lot of it, plus the facial expressions are really well done, adding a lot of character depth.

The most memorable sequence for me was the whole Therese/Jeanette quest (including the haunted house) which instantly became one of my favourite quests ever.

The gradual shift into hack´n ´slash going hand in hand with rushed level design really made the last 1/4 more tedious than fun and it´s where the "unfinishment" really hurts.
The unofficial patch seemed to wipe out most of the bugs, at least I haven´t encountered any.

I intend to replay the game as a Malkavian because it seems to offer quite a radically different epxerience but I´m quite in doubts I´ll be able to force myself to go through those ending parts again.

All in all, Bloodlines is a prime example of a flawed gem.

If I had to rate it, I´d probably go with 8.5/10.

I feel that giving this game a lesser rating for the downhill route it takes in its second half wouldn´t do it a justice, since the first half is just that good and worth the price alone, and despite its flaws it´s still one of the most memorable rpgs I´ve played.

P.S.: Actually, when thinking about it, last 1/4, or so, is almost always the weakest part in rpgs. It especially hurts when the game is otherwise great, such as, for example, Bloodlines.
 
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Blacksite: Area 51
A traditional FPS with brief entertainment, decent graphics, no surprises and little memorable content. It might offer a starving FPS fan some hours to waste but I wouldn't rush out to get this one.

Story: Conspiracy Theories 101
Blacksite Area 51 takes most of the "government are up to no good" conspiracy theories and boil it down to a very average story, with maybe a few minor twists but yet a plot that fails to be interesting. If you have payed any attention at all to pop culture you are probably familiar with Area 51 in Nevada and the supposed "goverment experimenting on aliens" theory. Well, if you want a sci-fi story on that one, Independence Day might give you a better, at least funnier plot than Blacksite. The story failed to bring me any emotions and when my buddies got lost I didn't shed a tear. Overall the game is extremely short, and while I could tell that the writer had as a message, it simply didn't connect to me.

Engine, Graphics & Sound
The Unreal 3 Engine have been used by plenty of games now, but it's not only getting your hands on a good engine, you also need good graphical artists. The graphics in B:A51 is average by todays standard. Some parts looks good, but most looks decent compared to other games of the same engine and time released. Sound is ok, with plenty of voice acting, a few funny dialogues, but nothing that stands out or stick to your brain. Even with patch 1.2 the game seems unfinished, with weapons and ammunition floating over the ground. Then there's the case of the Unreal engines shadow system that simply doesn't look good. Dark areas break up and look like a splash of mud and characters have a strange shine to them. This isn't the first time I have seen these kind of issues in the Unreal 3 engine though as even Mass Effect have them.

It could be that Half-Life also was inspired by the Area 51 mythos, but the blend of monsters (the type of aliens and footsoldiers), the areas, and the plot, gave me very strong Half-Life vibes.

Gameplay & Controls
B:A51 tries to give you a squad based shooter, but your squad wont really matter. Their AI isn't that great and if you have some decent FPS skills you are going to do most of the work anyway. If you are going to assign squadmembers by aiming at opponents and click "USE", then why not using "Fire" instead as that will pick down the target quicker since you already aimed at the target anyway.

Besides being a very linear and very traditional shooter, the game also tries to implement driving sequence that end up mostly annoying when you are up against homing missiles and an AI who do not know how to shoot them down. There's some minor control issues with the PC version. You cannot change controls on the run, you have to exit the game to do so. There's no button for "running" which seems to be common these days with console ports, dodging is set at "toggle" which cannot be changed, and "pick up weapon" for some reason needs a separate key. One ponder why "USE" couldn't do the trick.
 
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TUROK (2008)
Turok is a fun and traditional first-person shooter that does things according to the formula but little to break out of the mold, except for some cool melee dinobashing.

Story: From hunt to survival
Once Joseph Turok was a member of Wolf Pack, a specialized military group who's leader was General Roland Kane. After some problems, Turok left and eventually joined the Whiskey Company. As it so happens, their current missions is to go to another planet and capture Kane. Things do not go as plan though, when reaching the planet their ship is shot down and the plot instantly changes into a quest of survival on a planet that seems to be filled with dinosaurs. Turok are quickly forced to co-operate with Slade, one of the members of Whiskey Company, who for some reason have some beef with him. Throughout the game, the plot is filled in with short cutscenes, sometimes flashbacks to why Turok joined Wolf Pack and why he left. For a First-Person shooter, the story is quite good. It might not win any prices for originality, but at least it's there.

Engine, Graphics & Sound
TUROK is a First-Person shooter based on the Unreal 3 engine. This can be seen in both it's advantages and it's flaws. The characters looks truly great and the dinosaurs looks particulary great, which is one of TUROK's strongest artistic achievements, although it looked a bit silly when they instantly looks like they are splashed with blood once you fire at them once or twice. You also spot the Unreal 3 specific "shiny actors" problem, that looks like all humans have some kind of gloria or divine glow to them. This is difficult to explain through words but once you seen it you recognize it right away. Since TUROK mostly takes place within forests, one cannot help by comparing it to Far Cry, Crysis or Far Cry 2, who makes TUROK pale in comparison. The levels are very linear and not very open ended, and the vegetation technology is simply outdated by todays standard. There were also some problems with choppiness in the first level but that ceased later on. Still, this comparison is made against the best of the market, which might be unfair, as Turok still looks good enough.

The sound did it's job as far as I concern but didn't really add much to the atmosphere, but there are some places where noises are used to foretell danger. As far as I concern, Jurassic Park established in 1997 how pop-culture dinos should sound, and I miss some of those sounds in Turok. The voice acting is quite good as well and the characters in the game sounds like old hardboiled veterans.

Gameplay: Shoot 'em or knife 'em
In most respect, TUROK is your average First-Person shooter, following the trends of the genré.

Like many recent FPS's, TUROK gives you a couple of squadmembers to play with, who never felt annoying and could even be helpful at times even if they were mostly transparent. When they are "killed" they are temporarily knocked down, only to get up again after you cleared the area.

Another trend is the buttonmashing-driven cutscenes who I normally find annoying but were fine in TUROK. Granted, I believe I started the game in easy mode so I do not know how annoying they become later on. Usually the buttonmashing is used when escaping dinosaurs that knocks you to the ground or clings on to you.

For some reason there are no "Run" key in recent FPS's which I still miss in Turok. When you need to run faster or outrun something you make a habit out of switching to the knife, which I find kinda silly. Speaking of the knife though, it's one of the unique weapons of TUROK due to it's effectiveness against dinosaurs. Whenever you meet dino's smaller or equal size to raptors, you can use the knife for an instant kill. This give you a short and brutal cutscene with Turok owning the poor reptile. A fun trick that makes dinokilling rather easy but didn't get old to me.

Other weapons include the basic range of FPS weapons, like the overheating pulserifle, the standard assault rifle, a sniper rifle, a heatseeking RPG etc. Unique is the 2nd fire on shotgun that makes you fire a flare that distract dinosaurs, and the minigun can be placed as a turret. There's also a level in which you need to fire a flamethrower at holes that emits explosive gas to pass the area. Finally you have TUROK's bow, which I actually never found too useful. The problem I had with it is that once you stretch the bow (which takes 1-2 seconds) you need to release it after a few seconds, else Turok drops the arrow. Since the sniper rifle also was too slow, I made it into a habit to use the Pulse-Rifle as my sniperrifle of choice. It's accuracy in 2048x1536 was more than enough to pick down even opposing snipers at range.

Finishing words
All in all TUROK gave me more entertainment than other recent games I played, which have been all lacklusters in the reviewscore department (Alone in the Dark, Jericho, Blacksite). Unlike the others TUROK felt like a properly cooked and satisfying dinner but not a gourmé buffet. It's a game that fans of First-Person Shooters could well check out, but can be missed an favor for other titles of the same genré.
 
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Finished Bioshock again last night. I wonder how the game changes if you harvest rather than save the little sisters. I didn't have the heart to try it this run. I can't imagine the ending being the same.

Hmmm, what to play next?
 
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The "good" Bioshock ending is one of the most satisfying endings I ever seen. It brought tears to my eyes. The evil ending (kill all girls) is pretty dark. You can see it on google (including the "neutral" ending that happens if you only kill one or a few (very similar to the dark ending).
 
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Finished Bioshock again last night. I wonder how the game changes if you harvest rather than save the little sisters. I didn't have the heart to try it this run. I can't imagine the ending being the same.

Hmmm, what to play next?

Gameplay-wise there is very little difference. Other than the ending sequence and a couple of voice messages there is no real difference ... other than the constant foul taste in my mouth and the sinking feeling in my stomach every time it was time to harvest a little sister :puke:
 
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Red Faction
A very average and outdated first-person shooter.

Story: When there's no union, call Red Faction
Parker got a new job on Mars, that turns out to be under less than tolerable conditions. Not only are the guards mistreating the workers, a mysterious plague have spread among the workers, killing them off one by one. Eventually some of the miners snap and ends up fighting the guards, a fight that will spread like fire throughout the entire facility. Parker is the only one who seems capable of staying alive. Eventually he will find out more about the secret motives of the place and then there's no turning back. The story of Red Faction is mostly given through intercom dialogue with your friends and some enemies, except for a few brief cutscenes, some rendered in-game, some prerendered. There's a twist that I saw coming from far far away, and the story wont win any prices. At least having a story is good I guess. There's little surprise that the game seems to draw inspiration from socialism. All miners are red, all guards are blue. Posters that can be seen all over the station show workers in a romantic way, very similar to the propaganda posters during the soviet regime.

Engine, Graphics & Sound
Graphically, Red Faction is by todays standard ancient. There are no shadows, no shaders, no nothing of what todays games have, but at least the graphics is good enough to make you see what the polygons in front of you intend to represent (meaning it looks better than Jedi Knight for example). I used a hack to bump the graphics up to 2048x1536 which might not have been intended, since I was usually able to snipe foes from long distance with the AI not realizing where I was.

The sound is "ok". I actually liked the music, or at least some tunes in some levels. The voice acting is so-so. I found the voice for your friend Hendrix to be quite lame, but your other friend Eos had a unique tone to it and had overall better quality as far as I concern.

Gameplay
All in all RF is a very traditional first person shooter. All the controls are there and the game behave exactly like you expect a FPS to behave.

The game was boosted for a special engine, one that allows you to break walls. Personally I found this nothing more than a gimmick since it's usually just used to bypass blockades a few times throughout the game, and when that happens it's obvious that you should blast something, just not what you need to blast. So you waste 3-4 charges trying to find what to blow up.

Offering you to use a large amount of vehicles might have been modern back when the game was released but the vehicle sequences were crap by todays standard. There are more weapons than you will use with nothing really special to them.

I need to mention the difficulty. At a certain point in the game, the difficulty is bumped by a radical amount. Before that point, the game felt like a walk in the park, just to become increasingly frustrating since you could instantly die even if you had 100 health/100 armor left. Being one of the older titles, I was happy to be able to save wherever I wanted, which helped to ease the frustration.

Final thoughts...
I decided to try Red Faction since it was one of those "much talked about" games back in the days that I never had the chance to play up to now. Also, with Red Faction 3 coming up I thought it was time. Im happy I did finish it, but it didn't really give me anything. The game is a bit too old and have no really interesting mechanic or story to remember.
 
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