Actually, I'm lying somewhat. I've played several games this week, but I can't review any of them properly. I've either not played enough of it, or I've already talked about it. So, because I don't have anything else to talk about, I'll go through what I've been playing this week:
The Bottom Of The Well
Initially I was going to review this. It's a free indie Steam Game, which I often resort to when nothing new comes out and I don't have a retrospective lined up.
I thought this would actually be a good antidote from all the pseudo-indie games. It's an 'interactive novel' based off-of Alice In Wonderland. Whilst I'll admit I'm fed up of all these modern updates of Alice In Wonderland, trying to add a dark 'edgy' twist to the fairytale when Alice In Wonderland is already a dark and edgy fairytale by itself, I'm open to interactive novels. That Dragon Cancer had so little gameplay and was such a waste of the art of gaming that it was just a novel. I've decided to call these 'walking simulators' 'pseudo-indie' games because, not only are most of them not independently financed, but they have pretensions of being independent. They think they're breaking new grounds by innovatively having no gameplay, they think they're being like so much better than all these ultra-violent shooters - but they're just as vacuous as the shooters.
So great! Let's just make digital novels! Well, perhaps I was tired and jaded, but I stopped after the first minute. Even with the review deadline approaching, and with nothing else to talk about, I couldn't carry on. It just didn't grab me. The story opened on a computer with Alice talking via instant messenger with a Mad Hatter, for goodness sake. My first reaction was: "Urgh. They're going that route."
Then the character proceeded to mention a book reading of Alice In Wonderland whilst discussing a strange dream Alice had that goes through all the typical Alice In Wonderland tropes. So wait: these people know that Alice In Wonderland exists...yet they're still called 'Alice' and 'Mad Hatter' and repeatedly talk about Alice In Wonderland tropes without drawing any parallels? This is like if the characters in Final Fantasy know that there's a game series called Final Fantasy, have played these games, yet still carry on enacting the exact same tropes synonymous with the series without ever drawing the connection.
And the dialogue just didn't sound right. Maybe it was intentional, but the Mad Hatter's responses (which were supposed to be in contemporary English language) just read all wrong. Even Alice's dialogue felt grating as she tries to discuss a strange event. You'll know from my Firewatch review that bad dialogue really irritates me, particularly with games like this where there's no real gameplay and the dialogue's all you have.
Sod it. I'm not getting paid for this. No-one reads this. No-one cares. I only write weekly reviews as some kind of compulsion. Why don't I just do what I want? It's not like anyone actually cares...
Wolfenstein: The New Order
You remember my review? That game I thought was completely awesome? I recently started replaying it again on 'Hurt Me Plenty' difficulty, but then stopped and uninstalled the 50GB file. A few days ago, I remembered that I was only halfway through a playthrough, and I suddenly had the desire to play it again. So, I reinstalled the game and then a whole eight hours later it finally finished downloading and I promptly remembered why I stopped.
Games these days aren't designed with high difficulty in mind. It's definitely possible to get through Deus Ex on 'Expert,' many argue that the right way to play Doom is on the hardest setting, and these days I'm so familiar with Half Life 2 that I need to have it on 'hard' to feel a sense of challenge. Meanwhile, I got through BioShock Infinite fine on '1999 Mode,' but there were one or two sections I really struggled with because the combat area hadn't been designed for hard difficulties in mind.
The same is true with Wolfenstein: The New Order. I got stuck on the submarine level because there's this area that throws a load of heavy armoured guys with shotguns in a small area whilst regular soldiers have assault rifles in the higher ground. I finally worked my way through this area, but only after memorising exactly where the enemies were, where they move to, and where the reinforcements spawn from. This is a level of trial and error you typically only reserve for boss fights.
Later on, the final stage - which already pushed me on middle difficulty - almost made me quit again. I like how it decides to go all-out and throw rooms full of mecha-bots at you, but again this game isn't suited for higher difficulties. These bots hit like a freight train whilst your weapons are woefully under-equipped. There's a rocket attachment to the assault rifle, and you can fully upgrade DER LAZERKRAFTWERK (still the best name ever) but neither of these can be called heavy weapons.
There's no BFG or grenade-launcher, or rocket-launcher, or any other cool Nazi tech aside from the laser rifle (which has exactly the same power as the assault rifle, thus it's pointless) and the aforementioned coolest name ever. You can operate gun turrets, but they only do as much damage as two assault rifles fired at once. Also, it took me a while to realise it, but the grenades are rubbish. They do hardly any damage, plus it's weird shape means it bounces around in an unpredictable manner - so there's no strategy behind it. You just throw, run, and hope it hits something. Except it won't.
It doesn't help that the A.I is actually too good. Not only will they duck headshots that they shouldn't have been able to see coming, but they without fail lunge out of the way when you lob a grenade. And since the grenade has such a small radius then you're never going to get them. You can't even ambush people with it since the moment you throw a grenade it sets the alarm off. And there's no point using it to flush enemies out of cover because they pop in and out of it so much that you can just snipe them.
The combat is fun, yet it still falls into the singularity that a lot of FPS games fall into: where the SMG/assault rifle is the best weapon just because it's an all-rounder that does as much damage as everything else. The huntsman rifle is a great sniper rifle, but you hardly get any ammunition for it so it just sits around empty. I also only ever touched the pistol again during the stealth sections, and that's never a good thing is it? When you have weapons sitting around that have since become obsolete?
So if you haven't already then play this game, but I'd recommend keeping to the middle difficulties unless you're a masochist. I would do a re-review (I enjoy writing them the most) but I don't really have anything else to add. The combat is still testosterone-filled fun, the plot is adorably ridiculous, the setting is interesting, the characters are what sucks you in the most, and the romance sub-plot is awful. My impression hasn't changed, and in the end I'm thankful for this.
SuperHOT
I reviewed this game last week, but I'm still occasionally diving back into it. Whilst I still think the story is a surprise stroke of brilliance, the game works perfectly well out of context. Once the end credits have finished, then you unlock the ability to replay any level you want along with special challenge modes.
The challenge modes are fun extras that pad out the short runtime nicely. I enjoyed the challenge where you must complete the whole game with just a katana, even though it's obvious the game wasn't designed for this play-style and so I had to quit because one level was just impossible. The mode that changes the artstyle back to the one from the 2013 prototype showcased a surprising amount of effort for what's really just a throwaway joke.
A final, fascinating feature, is that the main menu also opens up to display several easter eggs. The majority of these are basic animations, some trailers, some video clips, some strange 80's-style games, but there's also a 'chat' program which if you leave running will produce some brilliant stuff. I really don't want to spoil it, but it's such a neat hidden bonus. It makes the game seem much more as though it was a labour of love rather than a product, whilst also adding some world-building.
Too often I review games, give them positive reviews, then never go back to the game afterwards. I'm so glad this isn't the case here. I really love it when I find a keeper...
Freespace 2
I bought this game a few months ago during a GOG.com sale. I should probably stop buying things during the GOG.com sale because I never seem to get around to playing most of the games I buy. There are several games installed on my computer ready to go that I haven't played yet because my review schedule - or I have a week like this week where I fumble around doing bits and pieces of other projects whilst ultimately achieving nothing and wanting to kill myself by the end of it.
I've hardly ever played space sims, mostly because they look really complicated. I already can't get my head around Flight Simulators, and now you want me to fly a freaking space ship?! I only know how to drive a car after two years practising, four attempts at my test, and the car I drive at the moment is a tiny automatic. It's a glorified golf cart.
Fortunately, Freespace 2 has an excellent series of tutorials that do an excellent job helping you to learn the controls. I don't think I've ever had a more satisfying sense of accomplishment being able to shoot down a practise ship on my first try after spending one tutorial learning about movement, another about weapons, and a final one about dogfighting. I also like how much you can customise the HUD. You can change the colour of several different elements, in addition to their placement. It seems you can really make the ship your own.
The problem is that this game is unplayable without a joystick. I couldn't get past the tutorial because it's possible to play this game with a keyboard and mouse but it's a complete pain. The mouse sensitivity is downright broken, meaning that if you want to turn your ship around then you need to do that thing where you grind the mouse against the mouse-mat several times.
I don't have a joystick, and so I need to sit down and contemplate whether it's worth shelling out for one just for this game. Maybe if I enjoy this then I'll become a space sim freak and buy TIE Fighter, Elite: Dangerous, and the Wing Commander series. But maybe I'll play the actual game and find out it's rubbish. Maybe I'll be turned off space sims forever, and be left with a useless joystick lying around.
I need more time to think, and I can't think well at all in my current mood...
