Category: First Impression

Euro Truck Simulator 2
by LepcisMagna

I’ve tried getting into Euro Truck Simulator 2 a couple of times, but never quite “got” it – it just felt like a dressed up version of Desert Bus (you just can’t beat the developer commentary in the remaster).  This time, however, it clicked.  As I was driving in to Glasgow, the rain started falling while I was listening to Time After Time on some Polish radio station.  It felt good.  It felt peaceful.  My commute isn’t that long these days, so this gives the perfect excuse to catch up on Podcasts.  I can definitely see myself playing this for many hours (even if it has Train Simulator levels of DLC problems) – though I’m now tempted to get a racing wheel….

Steam link

Viscera Cleanup Detail
by LepcisMagna

This is a joke that gets boring after about five minutes.  This is what would happen if Goat Simulator tried to take itself seriously.  This is the definition of Tier Three – A game just not worth “finishing”.  That’s a pity, because it has a good joke in there somewhere.

Steam link

Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen
by LepcisMagna

The Dragon’s Dogma starting village is the first game town that has ever felt real to me.  As I was walking between two buildings, I suddenly realized that this felt exactly like walking around an old, eastern European town that’s been built and rebuilt since the middle ages.  Besides the layout, being able to enter any building is always nice – buildings aren’t just placed to make the place feel large.  But then, I realized I had to climb on top of a building for a quest and I was very, very happy.  I’ll take this game over “We place half our guards on the roofs because reasons” Creed any day.  Even with dragons, magic, and companions that literally fall out of thin air, it feels more realistic than Italy during the renaissance.

Continue reading “Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen” →

Darkstone
by LepcisMagna

As of this writing, Darkstone is an 18 year old RPG.  And it definitely looks it.  But so far, the voice acting and atmosphere have kept me wanting to play.  For now, Tier One – even if I can’t take screenshots.

Shadowrun Returns
by LepcisMagna

Shadowrun Returns is the sort of game I really want to play when I’m not playing games.  When I actually sit down to play it, though, I just never find the motivation.  That’s the curse of RPGs.  There’s actually not much more to say about Shadowrun.  It’s a true pen-and-paper RPG translated to cRPG – the Baldur’s Gate of Shadowrun.  If you’ve not heard of the Shadowrun setting, it’s based on the premise that some time in the near future, magic returns to Earth and transforms a percentage of the population into orcs, elves, dwarves, and the like.  It’s high fantasy crossed with cyberpunk.  It’s quite good, as is this computerized version.  Tier One.

Steam link

The Turing Test
by LepcisMagna

It’s pedantic, I know, but the thing that bothered me the most in my first five minutes of the Turing Test was that the AI on the spacecraft said “100 degrees Kelvin.”  It should have said 100 Kelvin, since the Kelvin scale is absolute and not measured in degrees.  There was another issue I had, but I can’t actually tell you what it was without ruining a twist that happens in the fifth chapter.  As for its mechanics, the RPS article said it best by saying that “in a world that had never seen Portal nor The Talos Principle, it would be lauded, famous beyond belief.”

In about three hours, I got roughly 80% of the way through this game.  At that point, my motivation tanked and I’m not sure why.  I only have about three puzzles left, but I just can’t bring myself to try finishing them – perhaps because it feels so much like Portal and The Talos Principal.  So as strange as it seems, I think this game will have to go to Tier Two for now.

Steam link

Stellar Overload
by LepcisMagna

While this game seems interesting (Minecraft but with planets), I’m just not motivated enough to play it.  Perhaps if it were a bit more like Starbound is to Terraria – which it may eventually be when it leaves Early Access.  For now, it’ll have to stay in Tier Two.

Steam link

Unreal
by LepcisMagna

Sadly, I think I missed the train for these games (Unreal and Unreal II).  They’re just a tad too out-of-date to make it to Tier One, given the sheer quantity of other games to play.  It’s particularly sad since they seem like excellent FPSs.  Perhaps someday I’ll make it to them.

Steam link 1

Steam link 2

Thumper
by LepcisMagna

I take back what I have said about rhythm games in the past.  About the genre, I mean. BIT.TRIP is still a terrible game.  But Thumper … Thumper is not a game you play.  Thumper is a game you feel.  And it feels very, very good.

My complaints against BIT.TRIP were mostly about requiring perfection.  This is not true in Thumper – you have an armor system, short levels, checkpoints, and more – all with no need for a complicated interface (the above is in the middle of a boss fight).  With the armor system, you get one “mistake” per section.  But at the end of each section (and sometimes within), you can regain your armor.  This is good design – prove you can do better, and you are rewarded.  The tutorials are well thought out and integrated into the gameplay.  A sign that you’ve done extremely well is that the controls feel natural – and once you get through the first section or two, they feel fantastic – added to by the perfect timings of audio cues.  My only true complaint is that I couldn’t take good screenshots since there’s never enough time except between sections.

There’s certainly a degree of bias here – they combined my love of fast racing, psychedelic visuals, and drum beats into a truly wonderful game experience.  But if I’m having fun, that was sorta the point – and I simply can’t wait to try it in VR.  Tier One.

Steam link