lankwell

The Witcher

Mar 122013

The Witcher is a very nice story-driven RPG. It is fairly on-rails as far as progression goes, there are side quests you can take but you are quite restricted in how you progress the story. Actions you take do have an affect on subsequent chapters in the game however which is a very nice touch. There could have been some more variety in the human models, there was alot of re-use for different (often quite important) characters. The voice over work was good, Geralt in particular was very good.

The combat is not very tactical, it essentially boils down to clicking the mouse at the appropriate time to get combo’s, however there is some need to pay attention to which of your weapons you are using (steel or silver) and the style (fast, strong, group). Certain enemies require different combinations in order to efficiently kill them. In addition you have the potion making subsystem which is used to assist with combat primarily. I found that I probably only used half to two-thirds of the potion recipes that I acquired however.

The ending was a little bit anti-climactic to be honest, however it won’t stop me playing The Witcher 2, although I believe that is more of a separate adventure rather than having much in the way of continuity from this game.

Wizard of Wor

Commodore 64, Games No Responses »

Oct 032011

This is a port to the Commodore 64 from the arcade original. I have played both and believe that the C64 version is clearly superior which is quite impressive for a home computer of that generation.

The gameplay is so simple, there’s no powerups, no collecting of any kind in fact, just a fixed number of mazes and at most 6 enemies on the screen at once, but if I had to guess I would say this game is the one that I have played more than any other in my lifetime, it is just that good.

Getting the target score single player was quite a challenge, I would say 95% of the time I play this game in co-op mode rather than single player. Having that second player makes getting higher scores that much easier, as you are never without a Double Score Dungeon bonus.

Batman: Arkham Asylum

Games, Playstation 3 No Responses »

Oct 012011

There were several things that stood out for me in this excellent game, the story, the combat and moving through the world.

The story was very compelling, I wanted to know what was going to happen next, this is something that not many games can achieve in my opinion. Backing this up were the excellent characters employed, obviously The Joker was acted and voiced extremely well, but the supporting characters also played their part.

Combat is mostly melee and differs from many games that had come before it in the way it seemed to flow. Taking on multiple enemies and performing the combo attacks that lead you from one enemy too the next is very enjoyable, and the controls never seem to get in the way of this.

Lastly, how Batman moves through the world really makes you feel like you are playing as the real Batman. The way he can move in all directions of the 3D space is very special.

The only complaint I would make is with Detective Mode, it seems like you needed to be in this mode all the time which did ruin the graphical appeal of the game somewhat. Still, I am definitely getting Batman: Arkham City when it comes out soon.

Doom

Games, PC No Responses »

Oct 012011

Another game that I finished during the 90′s but still enjoyed playing through again (although I wimped out and played it on the second easiest level). It is surprising how similar modern day FPS still are to this classic. Obviously there are some notable improvements, Doom did not let you look up and down for instance, but nearly everything else is still there, powerups, multiple weapons, health kits, ammo drops etc.

Doom originally caused controversy because of it’s content, in particular the blood and demonic references, looking at the cardboard cutouts and extremely blocky graphics makes that pretty laughable now. I especially loved the sprite trees that “rotate” with you as you run around them. If you’ve never played Doom (how could that be??) then I heartily recommend you play it now, you won’t regret it.

Age of Empires II: Age of Kings

Games, PC No Responses »

Sep 112011

For a game that came out in 1998 this holds up extremely well now. I finished all the campaigns at when it originally came out, and had no problems with motivation to finish it a second time, the game is just that good.

The learning curve is excellent, teaching you how the units work in a manner that is not overwhelming and the strategies you need to apply in the later campaigns in order to win are masterful. It does have a few minor flaws in my opinion, there are a couple units that seem particularly useless (such as the non-ram siege units), and the AI can be a little strange at times (the enemy will march units right past you without attacking for instance).

Overall though, this game is one of the best RTS’s I’ve ever played and I would dearly love to see a sequel that kept to the same formula (as opposed to the less critically acclaimed Age of Empires 3)

Mass Effect 2

Games, XBox 360 No Responses »

Aug 122011

Another excellent RPG from Bioware, with about 40 hours gameplay on my completion of the story. I took my characters from Mass Effect 1 into the sequel but I don’t think that made much of a difference to be honest. There were a couple major differences between 1 and 2, the inventory management was very much simplified in the sequel, and the planet landings did not have the vehicle action of the first. Also, the combat uses ammo rather than overheating to regulate the use of your weapons.

The storyline was again extremely good, Bioware certainly are the masters at it making a tale that can keep your interest. The combat was good, but nothing particularly outstanding. The characters are excellent and I particularly enjoyed seeing some old faces again.

The only negatives was the planetary mining, I ended up doing way more than I needed to and it felt like I spent a hell of alot of time listening to “probe away” or “probe launched”, and also the weapons were not that inspiring.

In any case, I am very much looking forward to Mass Effect 3 when it arrives in 2012.

Pac-Man (part 2)

Arcade, Games No Responses »

Aug 052011

After reading a few strategy tips I’ve now got to just over 13,000 points, including getting the bonus life! Learned a new trick that in all these years I’d never suspected and that was there is a “safe” area you can stand in that the ghosts won’t go to! Turning this into a 50k score still seems a long way off.

Pac-Man (part 1)

Arcade, Games No Responses »

Jul 282011

Pac-Man was originally called Puck-Man in the US, or Fuck-Man as the vandals changed it to. This was one of the first games I played as a kid, Space Invaders probably being the first that I can remember. It is brilliantly addictive, the simplicity of the gameplay and the iconic sound effects make you want to keep playing to beat your best score.

I’ve just had my first game for a while in MAME and scored a miserable 5060pts, not even clearing the first board. The completion challenge I’ve set is 50,000 so I’ve got a long way to go.

And thus it begins…

Games No Responses »

Jul 232011

Ok, so the bold plan is to play the top ten games from each of the major gaming platforms from the last 30 years through to completion and record my thoughts here about each of these games.

So which platforms? Well, they have to be either something I own or can emulate on the PC. I’m excluding some platforms that don’t interest me.
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