Game: Life Is Strange: Before the Storm Bonus Episode: Farewell Release date: 2018 Platform: PC Date started: May 2018 Date finished: May 2018
Spoiler Warning
Farewell is a short bonus episode about two friends spending an afternoon together. There are no high stakes, no dangerous criminals or saving a town from a natural disaster. The tension comes from the fact that Max didn't tell her best friend Chloe that she's moving away to Seattle and it is their last day together. We can feel the anxiety building up within her as she keeps delaying the information in hope to find the right moment to have this conversation.
The original voice actors Hannah Telle and Ashly Burch return as Max and Chloe in a short episode with a simple premise. What could possibly go wrong?
The gameplay
When you set up linear confined spaces and strip the game of its mechanics such as time rewind or backtalk, you get a somewhat shallow experience. There isn't much to do. Most of the time you will be reading notebooks and viewing kids' drawings which isn't terribly interesting (but at least they feel authentic). I liked playing through choose your own adventure book that the girls made because it reminded me of similar stuff I used to do as a kid. You can talk to Chloe but the dialogue options are more limited than ever before and maybe it's for the best because the dialogue is quite painful to listen to. Hannah Telle and Ashly Burch gave a convincing enough performance as little girls but the writing will make you cringe even more than usual. If the kids in Stranger Things talked like that, nobody would watch the show.
I always thought young Max's model looked really weird. Even back in the season 1
A major part of the episode was built around the idea of child's play so I expected Deck Nine would find a way to translate that into gameplay, considering they made the brilliant D&D session and the school drama play segments in previous episodes. They did kinda try it with one puzzle involving a telescope, which is one of the more uniquely done puzzles in the LiS series. But most of the time instead of having fun and enjoying the story, you will catch yourself wondering why are you doing such busywork as shifting furniture in the attic.
Foreshadowing
Farewell is the shortest LiS episode by far. I feel like it would benefit greatly from another short chapter at the end where the girls would visit the lighthouse before heading home and finding Chloe's mother sobbing after hearing the tragic news. At the lighthouse they could've carved the message on the tree stomp that we saw in the original game. Not only does Farewell take place in 2008 but they also played pirates that day. It would've nicely tied everything together.
Carved tree stomp in Life is Strange 1
The ending does pack an emotional punch. It's something that we got used to in this series but didn't quite expect from an innocent bonus episode. It was clever how they made the girls play dress up and change clothes so we don't realize that Farewell is set on the day William died. In the first game we found out Max left Chloe shortly after the death of her father but I never imagined it happened right after his funeral. It may work very well for this episode but it seems a bit too (in)convenient. There's a theory among LiS fans that the message on the tape recorder was actually left by Max from the future when she jumped back in time through the photograph. Not sure if I would agree with it but it's nice there's some room left for speculation and I feel like it adds a bit more depth to the episode.
+ emotional ending + original voice actors return
- very short - abysmal gameplay - cringey dialogue
Game: Life Is Strange: Before the Storm Episode 3: Hell Is Empty Release date: 2017 Platform: PC Date started: May 2018 Date finished: May 15 2018
Spoiler Warning!
The revelation at the end of the last episode shook Rachel's world and completely shifted the direction of the story. The plan to leave Arcadia Bay is temporarily shelved until they find Rachel's biological mother. The search crosses their path with a criminal Damon Merrick who doesn't like people asking questions about his clients and things get far more complicated when he finds out Rachel is a daughter of a district attorney...
Episode 3 wants you to answer one question: What is better- a convenient lie or the ugly truth? It is an omnipresent theme intertwined within the main story, random conversations and even the puzzles of the game. For the first time in a Life is Strange game I had to really think before making a decision because the choices presented didn't feel so black and white anymore. Even the dialogue felt more mature and less cringey than usual. Unfortunately, just like the finale of the season 1, the conclusion of
Before the Storm appears to be rushed and unfinished. Near the end of
the game Chloe misses some important story moments, and therefore we as
players don't get to experience them. We only get told what happened later. I
can't imagine it was a narrative design choice, it felt like a
compromise to solve a budget issue or to meet the target release date.
The episode starts with surreal imagery as the girls are literally looking into the past through a telescope. It somewhat reminded me of the nightmare sequence from the season one finale. Dreams play an important role in Before the Storm and this episode goes further as Chloe is having imaginary conversations with her dead father. All the dreamy imagery threw me off a little bit and at one point when Chloe was having an important real conversation near the end, I was questioning whether it was really happening or was it just another dream. In truth it was just sloppy storytelling.
But how is the gameplay?
We're fixing the truck...AGAIN?!
Come on! Despite of it being an annoying tedious busywork I gave it a
pass last time because at least they let us personalize it in some way.
No more! Here it started as a cut scene and it should've ended as one, but instead they turned it into a pointless and insultingly
simple puzzle. When Warren Spector said a video game should be interactive whenever possible, I'm pretty sure he didn't mean this.
In the past episodes Deck Nine gave us some cool memorable moments by combining gameplay with dialogue. The tabletop mini game in the episode 1 and the school play in the episode 2 were some of my favorite moments of the game. I was looking forward to what they can come up with for the finale, only to find there's no new creative interaction like that. We only got an option to finish the tabletop session, which was still nice.
I also expected more scenes of Chloe and Rachel together and their relationship explored further so I thought it was an odd choice to have them separated during the entire second half of the game. Despite of me knowing how the things are going to turn out, the antagonist Damon Merrick still felt like a real threat. Chloe's stepfather David got one moving scene that gave him much needed humanity and I liked how they found a way to include her real dad into the story as well. Flawed fathers was an underlying theme of the story after all. On the other hand I didn't like the stalker Elliot subplot. Seems like they wanted a character that acts as a dark mirror to Warren from season one but his inclusion felt forced and made the story formulaic.
The way they handled final conflict was very odd. The fact that the main character wasn't the one who saved the day was somewhat refreshing but at the same time it ended up feeling quite uneventful because she passed out and missed what happened. The final decision wasn't easy to make during my playthrough but looking back at it now, it seems pretty obvious which choice was the right one. I liked the uplifting montage at the end and I wish they would leave it at that. Ending on a positive note and letting us remember what's coming would make for a perfect bittersweet ending. Unfortunately they ruined it with a post-credit scene that pushes it right in our face.
My Choices (SPOILERS!)
Only 4% of players got to experience the best part of the game? :P
+ less cringey dialogue + harder choices
- rushed - unsatisfactory conflict resolution -post-credits scene
Penumbra: Overture is a first person horror adventure from Frictional Games, the studio behind Amnesia and Soma. It was based of Penumbra, a short tech demo Frictional made to demonstrate the capabilities of their HPL engine, named after H.P. Lovecraft, whose influence is present throughout the game. The reception was very positive so they decided to turn it into a full length game and eventually into a trilogy.
I started playing Penumbra: Overture on Halloween 2015 and got about halfway into it when I got stuck on the generator puzzle. I thought I'll figure it out the next day but for some reason I haven't fired up the game again. Since 2 years have passed I decided to start fresh with a new playthrough.
The basic setup is explained in the intro. You play as Phillip, a thirty year old physics teacher whose mother had passed away. A few days after her funeral he receives a letter from his father whom he never met and who has been declared dead for almost 30 years. Inside: a plea for forgiveness, a key to a deposit box and instructions to burn its content without reading. Curiosity gets the better of him and despite the documents being indecipherable, he finds a note pointing out a location on uninhabited Northern Greenland. A year later he books a flight and takes a charter boat there. That's where the game begins. After looking around the area alone on foot (what a great idea), Phillip gets lost and looks for a shelter from the cold. He finds a hatch leading into an abandoned mine but ends up trapped inside after the entrance collapses. Soon it becomes apparent the mine isn't as empty as it seemed...
The story is told through exploration and reading notes and diaries left from previous occupants. Only in the second half you find somebody still alive who will guide you via radio messages. The diaries are well written and I would highlight a particular one from a guy who survived in the mine for over 300 days solely by eating spiders. It's a short creepy story on its own. On a few occasion the game takes away control of the camera from you in order to create a cinematic scene that doesn't add anything to the experience except it ruins the immersion.
What really made this game unique was the use of Newton Game Dynamics physics engine which allowed players to interact with objects in a way that mimics real life motions. In order to open a drawer you grab it, then move a mouse toward yourself as if you are actually pulling it. To hit something, you perform a swinging motion across the mouse pad. You can partially open doors and peak behind them. You can stack up objects and use them to climb or barricade the doors to slow down enemies. The result is very natural interaction with objects but incredibly clumsy combat due to camera locking. It is so bad that it is better not to engage in it at all. And maybe that's the point. If you even stare at the monsters for too long, you start to lose sanity. So sneaking around is pretty much your only true option. I beat the whole game without fighting once and the only enemy I did kill was by luring it into a trap. The stealth is a bit too easy. When you crouch in the shadows or behind objects, your vision gets a blueish tint indicating that you are hidden. If you are "hidden", the enemy AI won't notice you even if it literally stands right next to you. Positional audio doesn't always work as intended and can be quite deceiving. Sometimes you'll hear enemy growl as if they are right next to your ear but in reality they are behind a wall 10 meters away.
All puzzles in the game are logical and generally well done. Some of the things to do include mixing chemicals, combining items in inventory to create bombs, fixing and operating complex machinery using instruction manuals, obtaining a keypad combination through the Morse code recording etc. There are quite a bit of physics-based puzzles and solving most of them will make you feel smart. A stark contrast against a single bad puzzle in the game where a note literally spells the answer in all caps.
Fixing the generator was one of my favorite puzzles in the game
After all is said, it is a horror game, so everything comes down to a simple question: is it scary?
Well...no. But they did some horror aspects right. First of all they created horror through atmosphere. There are no jump scares in the game. Entrance collapses behind you and there's no going back. The feeling of dread and finality increases as you descent deeper and deeper into the mine. There's this particular moment in the game where you walk over wooden planks across an endless pit after encountering a certain creature.You think about the implications and wonder what kind of colossal creatures may lurk down bellow. That is Lovecraftian horror at its finest.
Throughout the game you get a feeling that developers are taking their time and holding back the scares but after encountering the same creatures over and over again, you start to develop a sense of security, which is never a good thing in a horror game. There are only few types of monsters and none of them are scary. Zombie dogs and large spiders? Very original, haven't seen those before..
Although a bit formulaic and cliche, the story is well told and interesting enough to keep you playing. The ending sets up the sequel, which is fine since they envisioned Penumbra as a trilogy from the very beginning.
+ physics-based interaction + logical puzzles + good atmosphere + exciting chase sequences + well written notes and diaries
- monsters are more annoying than scary - terrible combat
Game: Life is Strange: Before the Storm: Episode 2: Brave New World Release date: 2017 Platform: PC (Steam) Date started: October 2017 Date finished: October 2017 WARNING: medium spoilers
I was a little bit let down by the first episode but I find myself liking the second one more. I'm not sure whether it's got anything to do with the quality or I simply got used to changes and got more attached to the new story. I was worried the ending of the first episode implied that Rachel may have some sort of supernatural powers and I was glad to find it wasn't the case.
Episode 3 starts in the principal office where you're given a choice of covering for your friend with a risk of getting expelled from school. I already knew how it's going to play out from playing the first season but I still felt bad for Chloe and her mother and it reminded me when I was in a similar situation in high school. What's worse, David and Joyce decided it's time for David to move in and I could feel the weight behind the decision and what effect it had on Chloe. She refused to come home as long as he's there and took off to a familiar place- the junkyard. Looking back at season one, I can now see why this place was so special to her. But besides meaningful moments, the junkyard is also a place where busy work like searching for bottles and other forms of padding often occur. This time Chloe was looking for spare parts in order to fix a truck and it felt like stalling again. I didn't mind it too much because it was nice to see Chloe doing something productive for a change and they did give you a couple of options to personalize the truck. Later on she helps Frank with some business at school. In order to get inside the dorm she has to solve a mandatory puzzle that is both terribly designed and completely unnecessary. Deck Nine doesn't know how to design interesting problems to solve but they excel at creating scenarios such as the D&D tabletop session in which you could participate in the last episode or performing in a school play in this one. You have to read and memorize the lines and then play it out on stage. I noticed that some side characters like Nathan can either nail their part or choke on stage depending on your previous interactions with them, which is a nice little detail you won't really notice without replaying the game. The school play stands as the highlight of the episode for me. After the play the mood shifts to ecstatic as the girls discuss their future and plot an escape from Arcadia Bay. For a moment it felt so hopeful and I was rooting for them despite of knowing their ultimate fate.
Rachel's dad is Elon Musk?!
Having a dinner with Rachel's parents at their house was appropriately awkward. Unfortunately at that point the game starts dragging again and makes you do such busywork as setting up a table or asking Rachel's dad what he wants to drink. It's just an excuse for you to snoop around their living room. That's where I really started noticing how annoying Chloe's inner monologue can be. Does she really have to comment on every single task she performs, like picking up a plate? Her comments are rarely clever or insightful. While playing as Max it felt like an awkward part of her personality but I don't think it works for Chloe. The tension at the dinner table was real but that's also where bad writing and voice acting started to really show. The flow of the conversation didn't feel natural and it was obvious the actors recorded their lines separately. The dinner scene showcased the level of writing and acting that would
never fly on a TV show but for some reason is acceptable in a video game. With that
said, the ending did deliver very much needed mystery and left me
longing for the next episode.
My choices (IMAGE SPOILERS!):
+ school play + ending + soundtrack + harder choices + Chloe / Rachel relationship
Game: Life is Strange: Before the Storm episode 1: Awake Release date: 2017 Platform: PC Date started: October 2017 Date finished: October 2017
As I played it, I enjoyed the first episode quite a bit but upon reflecting on it I realized it's not very good. First problem: they fucked up the continuity. At this point in time Chloe's mom and David should be already married but they're not. Oops. Everyone was recast, not just Chloe. Some of the voices are totally on point, so much that I wondered if it's the original actor doing the voice but being credited as someone else. Rhianna DeVries played Chloe pretty well. Sometimes I was annoyed by the tone of her inner voice but she did nail the most important scenes. Kylie Brown was fine as Rachel but due to all the buildup toward her character in first game, I expected someone a bit more charismatic. It was interesting seeing Chloe interact with familiar faces like Victoria or seeing Nathan get bullied. Out of the new characters I liked D&D nerds Steph and Mikey and laid back security guard Skip.
The main problem is Deck Nine doesn't know how to marry story with gameplay. They have no idea what would they have players do. So they made the ultimate fetch quest game. After Chloe comes back from a concert these are your main objectives for the whole first half of the game:
bring purse to Joyce
bring keys to David
bring wrench to David
take DVD from Steph (only so you can have a conversation, DVD as an item is inconsequential)
bring belt to Rachel
It's not a joke, I swear all of these objectives happen one after the other with only a bit of dialogue in between.
This is how I feel about fetch quests:
The rewind mechanic is gone. Instead they introduced "backtalk challenge" where you try to get your way by defeating people with arguments. These are pretty fun (except the first one with a bouncer that is terribly written) but I don't like the way they were executed. It's nothing new, this has been in the game the whole time. Remember the conversation with Kate on the rooftop or asking Frank to give you his notebook. The only difference is now there is a visual indicator of how well you're doing in the conversation and all it does is break immersion. I don't like how it shows you that the conversation you're about to enter is different from others. I like to think all of them are important depending on the context.
I was curious how would they tackle puzzles without rewind mechanic. Well, there's only one puzzle in the whole episode and I'm even hesitant to call it that. It's terrible for a couple of reasons:
it's insultingly simple
in the context of the story it doesn't need to be solved but you have to do it in order to progress
you would never solve it that way in real life
Before the Storm is a step away from the original game and step toward Telltale style. Except for the schoolyard, all of the levels in the game got smaller and there's very little room for exploration. Locations like the junkyard or school dorm from the original game weren't big in any sense but there's nothing in Before the Storm that comes close to that size. There's always something blocking your path. Even tho the original had small levels, Dontnod created illusion that all those places are connected. For example: your goal is to get to a drama class. If Dontnod made this game then you'd start in the schoolyard, you'd enter the school, manually walk through hallways while exploring and talking to characters and then you'd enter the class once you find it. Here's how Deck Nine does it: you start in schoolyard then cutscene teleports you right into the class then another cutscene teleports you to next location. It's basically Telltale.
Although there's not much room for exploration, from time to time you can find something interesting, like this betting note in front of an old mill. I think it might be connected to dog fights briefly mentioned in the first game
You could make an argument that they are focusing on the story and achieving better pacing by cutting the mundane parts but some of the best moments happened outside of the main plot. I loved the D&D minigame they played before the class and that was completely optional. With all the effort devs put into creating it, I just wish they allowed players to roll for themselves instead of rolls being predetermined. This would be very easy to implement and make it 100x better.
The story of episode 1 is about Chloe meeting and bonding with Rachel. Although it feels a little bit rushed, it is believable, especially since they have certain things in common. The game definitely had it's moments. Playing 2 truths 1 lie with Rachel was fun and it was cool to see their relationship develop. There was one heart breaking scene where Chloe ran into something that reminded her of her dad. I liked the story for the most part but I'm not so sure I like the ending.
At the end Rachel starts a forest fire. How am I supposed to like a person who burns down a fucking forest just because she's upset? Just imagine all the animals that got killed. They also strongly suggested that Rachel has some supernatural power and her rage was fueling the fire. Chloe clearly witnessed it which again breaks the continuity. When Max told her about her power in the first game, Chloe reacted with something like "nobody has super powers, this isn't anime or a videogame". The nature of what happened in the end isn't clear yet so I can't judge it too much until I see the rest of the story.
The soundtrack is nice but there's no track that stood out nor one I'd listen outside of the game. I preordered Deluxe edition so I got a mixtape mode and different costumes as a bonus. I imagined mixtape mode would work like a discman or something that Chloe would carry with her and you could arrange tracks and play them inside the game. Turns out it's just an animation of Chloe lying in bed while listening to tracks from the game that you can re-arrange. You enter mixtape mode through main menu. While it's cool that you can change clothes this time, all bonus outfits look kinda lame so I chose the default one anyway.
I enjoyed playing Before the Storm but I can't overlook it's flaws. The devs were clearly struggling with incorporating gameplay into the story and I hope they will come up with something better for episode two.
My choices (IMAGE SPOILERS!) were pretty much the opposite from everyone else:
- struggling to marry storytelling with gameplay - fetch quests - less exploration - continuity errors - (lack of) puzzles - actors couldn't reprise their roles due to voice actor strike
Game: Starcraft Release date: 1998 Platform: PC Date started: 21 September 2015 Date finished: 18 May 2017
Conditions: Beat all 3 campaigns: Terran, Zerg and Protoss ✓
Me and Starcraft, we go way back. Around the time Starcraft came out I was a kid who loved video games but I didn't own a PC. Even so, I was buying PC gaming magazines, reading about all these games and dreaming about playing them. My favorite local PC gaming magazine "Hacker" published an infamous Starcraft review where it's journalist Damir Rukavina gave a score of "just" 80%, which resulted in an outrage from the readers.
The infamous Starcraft review from Croatian gaming magazine "Hacker"
Along with the review they included a small booklet with strategy tips and unit overview. Since I couldn't play it, I'd draw the scene on a paper and imagine how the battles would play out. I still have one of those notebooks.
This is how I played Starcraft as a kid:
A couple of years later I finally got a computer and bought Starcraft. I remember playing the game with mouse only. Managed to get through the Terran campaign but couldn't beat the Zerg one. That's why I ended up playing mostly custom games vs AI before moving onto other games. Now almost 20 years later and armed with the skill acquired through daily Starcraft 2 ladder grind, I got another crack at it. As I type this, the remastered version is already out but I chose to play the original and it still looks good to me. I even prefer Starcraft graphics over Starcraft 2 in some ways. There's something about the art style that makes it quite timeless. It also sounds great, especially the terran soundtrack.
The main thing that makes Starcraft so special compared to other RTS games is the diversity of playable races. While other RTS games often don't provide more than re-skinned mirrored units, Blizzard didn't only create original units, it gave every race unique mechanics so choosing to play as different race almost feels like playing a different game. Despite of that they managed to keep the game balanced. It's clear that Blizzard were inspired by Warhammer 40K and popular science fiction films and they weren't hiding it. When you select the dropship, you will hear a line from the movie Aliens for example.
Terran
Terran (aka human) is the most conventional race in Starcraft. These space rednecks are physically weak so they rely on military technology that makes them the most versatile race in the game. Some Terran units can go invisible for a limited time unlike Protoss who have far more advanced permanent cloaking technology. Terran is the only race with buildings that can fly and move to other locations. Marines can't healed (yet) but all mechanical units and buildings can be repaired. The most powerful Terran assets are long range siege tanks, bunkers for defense and huge space ship Battlecruiser for the endgame.
Zerg
Zerg is a primitive bug-like alien race connected to a hive mind. Unlike other races, Zerg doesn't use technology, all their units are biological. They rely on strength in numbers and when hundreds of fast zerglings swarm the opposing army, it can look like a scene from Starship Troopers. All Zerg units and buildings are organic and heal over time. Creating structures is somewhat limited because they have to be placed on creep, a slimy organic purple substance that flows from the main base and spreads over the floor as Zerg advances on the map. All Zerg units hatch from eggs and come out from main bases. This is different from other races which have dedicated buildings for workers and various army types. Zerg main base Hatchery can be further evolved into Lair and then into Hive which unlocks new units and upgrades. When playing Zerg I love to build a flock of Mutalisks, fast flying units which are great for harassing opponent's economy and production while his army is out of position. Zerg also has Ultralisk, the most powerful melee unit in the game and endlessly annoying Lurker who can burrow into the ground and do damage while being hidden.
Zerg base covered in creep
Protoss
Protoss is physically strong and technologically advanced alien race that uses wrist blades, photon cannons and invisibility. Sounds familiar? I guess it's safe to say the guys at Blizzard have seen Predator. If quantity over quality is how Zerg fight, Protoss is the exact opposite. Their units are extremely powerful individually and a group of high templars with an ability psionic storm can destroy entire armies on their own. Protoss units and building have shields in addition to health so before the opponent starts damaging unit's health he has to destroy it's shield. Unlike health, shields regenerate over time so even if unit survives with 1HP, it can get full shield back and become a dangerous threat on the battlefield once again. Protoss don't build their units, they warp them in from their homeworld Aiur. Mechanically it works the same but they can only warp them in a range of pylons which power them up. If pylon gets destroyed, nearby buildings lose power. Protoss can build a very powerful air army, led by huge Carrier ships which can store and release a fleet of Interceptors.
Protoss campaign
Starcraft is a skill based game where good strategy alone won't win you the match. You have to be good at controlling your army and there are so many tricks you can do with certain units to outplay the opponent with superior army but worse army control. The incredibly high skill ceiling is what made Starcraft one of the original esports games, one that is played to this day and with the release of the remastered version, it's here to stay even longer. If I'd rate Starcraft back in the day, I'd easily give it 10/10 but coming back to it after playing Starcraft 2 I have trouble getting around some of it's flaws. You can't rebind control group keys. Unit selection is limited and you can't select your whole army, instead you have to divide it in smaller pieces. Pathfinding is terrible and moving big armies around can be a nightmare. Units get stuck on the terrain or other units. If you want to play custom games vs AI, don't scout and harass his mineral line because the AI will pull entire worker line to chase your scout around and lose the game right there because of lost mining time.
The story of the game is told through mission briefings, ingame dialogue and cinematics that looked incredible when the game came out. It doesn't have a clear closure, instead it sets up the expansion Brood War which I plan to play next. That's also the reason I only played campaign even tho multiplayer is the best part of Starcraft 2. The whole community moved to Brood War so I'll have to get a taste of competitive play there.
+ 3 completely different races with their own unique campaigns + esports aspect + great sound design + soundtrack + multiplayer
Game: Pokémon GO Release date: 2016 Platform: Android Date started: 17 July 2016 Date finished: 25 November 2016
Conditions:
- Get to level 20 ✓
- Defeat a Pokémon guarding a gym ✓
I set pretty easy and simple conditions for the game to be considered "finished". I didn't want to choose something like "complete the Pokédex" because it's not entirely clear which Pokémon are available right now and they are still adding new ones. I got to level 21, defeated, claimed and defended gyms and caught/evolved 80 unique Pokémon. Basically I experienced pretty much everything that the game has to offer at this moment and unfortunately it's not much. The game is fun to play for the first couple of days but it gets old very fast due to it's repetitive nature. Catching the same Pokémon over and over again isn't fun and once you take over some gyms, there's nothing else to do. No wonder so many people stopped playing.
Augmented reality
The idea behind the game is genius. You walk around in a real world and search for Pokémon which will appear around you randomly. Once you bump into one, you can actually see it through the phone camera and try to capture it. Along a way you can get items from Pokéstops and battle in gyms which are at fixed locations, usually landmarks. It's a game that encourages you to go outside and explore the environment. There weren't that many Pokémon in my area so I took trips to nature in order to hunt Pokémon but quickly I realized there were more Pokémon living in the urban areas than in forests. I caught more Pokémon in 5 minutes on a town square than in 2 hours hiking through the woods. Shouldn't it be the other way around? The GPS tracking doesn't work properly, I could leave my phone lying on the table and my character would still run around the screen.
Pokémon GO map looks like GPS navigation
The gameplay
When trying to catch a Pokémon, you don't have to weaken them like in every other Pokémon game. All you have to do is throw a Pokéball at them (with a little finesse) and that's it. The creature animations are very well done as they dodge and bounce back Pokéballs you throw at them. In this game Pokémon aren't getting stronger through fighting, they get stronger by eating candies. Whenever you catch a Pokémon you get candy which you can use to level up the same type of Pokémon. Not only does this go against the core concept of Pokémon, it also makes leveling rare Pokémon almost impossible. Your starter was literally useless before they introduced a new feature in one of the later patches in which you can choose one of your Pokémon to walk around with you and get stronger by doing so. The problem is, it will still level up at the slower rate than the other Pokémon which are common in your area. You can only walk one Pokémon at a time so forget leveling both Squirtle and Rhyhorn for example. The battle system has no depth to it. You just attack by tapping the screen. You may try to dodge some attacks by swiping the screen but it feels pretty random. There's no depth to it. All they had to do is copy the old Game Boy turn based system and it would work perfectly. Did they think the casual playerbase is too stupid to understate the game that was meant for children? When Pokémon GO came out and everyone was playing, it was a great social experience. People were hunting together, taking over gyms etc but it all happened outside of the game. The game itself does not have any social features. You can't see other trainers on the map, you can't battle other people or trade with them. There's not even a friends list.
My strongest Pokémon
The verdict
Pokémon GO is the biggest waste of potential in video game history.The game became a true phenomenon when it came out, everyone was playing it. If the fighting and leveling systems were done right, if they had essential features in place, if they expanded the development team and rolled out updates faster then many people would stick with it. There is still hope for the future, they are still working on new features and trading was announced but considering the rate they were pushing out updates, I don't have much faith in Niantic. If only they'd outsource it to some more competent developer.
+ it's Pokémon + augmented reality + free to play + encourages physical activity and exploration + Pokémon animations
- no PvP - bad fighting system - terrible leveling system - repetitive - no friends list - inaccurate GPS tracking - more Pokémon in urban areas than in nature
Game: Game of Thrones Season 1 Release date: 2015 Platform: PC Date started: 8 July, 2015 Date finished: 20 November, 2015
Conditions: Finish all episodes of the season ✓
I finished this game last year and started to write a review but then I got side tracked by life so here it is, almost a year later.
Game of Thrones is the first Telltale game I've ever played and I would probably enjoy it a bit more if I haven't played another episodic game shortly before it - Life Is Strange. While Life Is Strange lets you control the character most of the time, Game of Thrones is mostly made of interactive cut scenes. When the game decides to give you control, you can only move through a very limited space so there isn't much to explore. "Puzzles" are so simple they could hardly be even called that and all of the action is done through tedious and unresponsive quick time events. A lot of times I felt like I didn't press the button in time or failed to press it completely yet the character still performed the action successfully. It felt very random. So the gameplay is really dull but this is the kind of game you play for the story that is directly influenced by the choices you make. Or is it?
The majority of your early decisions in the season won't affect the story much. Some scenes might play out a bit differently and dialogue might change but even the minor plot points will remain untouched. At one point in the game, if you play your cards right, you can secure a marriage with a lady from another house which would give you a significant advantage. However it doesn't matter if you pursue her or not because the marriage will be prevented anyway. That's just one example of the many where the game will screw you over no matter what you do. I felt cheated because they give you illusion of choice but in reality you are completely at a mercy of the script. The choices themselves were tough to make and a lot of times I felt like I wasn't making the right decision. I like that because it felt true to Game of Thrones. Telltale stepped it up big time with episode 5 and 6 that feature some choices with ambitiously big consequences but we can't really judge the scope of it until season 2 comes out.
Story and characters
Going into the game you have to accept that no matter what you do, you can't change the events of the books or TV show, they have already been written. Instead the game can give you a small glimpse behind the scenes as playable characters often rub shoulders with the cast of the HBO series. The story begins during the Red Wedding (season 3 episode 9 for reference) and continues on along with the show until around the start of season five. It follows 5 members of House Forrester, a small noble house very briefly mentioned in the book. Forresters are Stark's bannermen, known for their fine craftsmanship and supply of ironwood, which is a very valuable resource in Westeros. The house is in shambles after lord Forrester and his army got massacred during the Red Wedding night. Now his young son Ethan has to take over and become a new lord. Aside from Ethan, you also play as: Gared Tuttle, a former squire of Lord Forrester who gets sent to the wall after exacting revenge on Bolton soldiers who killed his family. Mira Forrester, a handmaiden of Lady Margeary in King's Landing. Rodrik Forrester, Gregor's firstborn son who got badly wounded on a battlefield and Asher Forrester, a rebellious fighter exiled across the Narrow Sea. They will try to do everything in their power to save their house which is threatened by the Whitehills, a rival house that wants to take over the ironwood supply.
All of the playable characters are pretty bland, Gared and Mira being the worst offenders. Rather than having a unique house traits, they very much resemble Starks. Rodrik was my favorite but not due to his personality. He has a really nice recovery story arc where he had to rise from being a wounded cripple to a respected fighter and leader he once was. I thought some of the side characters were much more interesting. I liked Rodrik's ballsy little sister Talia and Ludd Whitehill was a villain that I loved to hate. Speaking of great villains, Ramsey Snow will appear from time to time to completely ruin your day.
Some of the NPCs were more interesting than main characters. I liked Talia and I absolutely hated Ludd.
What really bothered me were illogical story problems in the game. At one point I gave an order not to let enemy soldiers inside the gates and five minutes later they march into the main hall and nobody ever questions how they got in. Later we find there's a traitor in the house and figuring out who the traitor is was one of the more intriguing aspects of the game for me. Unfortunately the traitor thing boils down to simplest possible formula and his motivation doesn't make any sense. A huge letdown.
Then there was this stealth mission on which Daenerys sends Asher and his 2 buddies. You had to complete the goal without getting distracted and killing anyone but guards. During the mission your friend Beskha bumps into her former master who made her do terrible things. Naturally she wants revenge. So you complete this insanely hard and dangerous mission for Daenerys but she still won't help you because she finds out about this one dead guy. Asher could've easily said that he saw them
so he had to be killed in order to not compromise the mission but fuck the logic. What's worse is that Beskha ends up feeling bad for killing the guy who ruined her life but feels nothing about killing dozens of guards who were just doing their job. This kind of writing would never fly on the show.
The presentation
Every Telltale game has a slightly unique visual style and this one is no exception. This time they went with a look that resembles oil painting. It looks pretty good during the static shots but falls apart in motion. The character movement feels very wooden and the animation tends to skip at times. Facial animation is even worse, as most of the time the characters wear same dumb expressions. On the other hand both the new cast and HBO stars gave a solid voice performance. The only one that felt a little bit off was Christopher Nelson as Ethan Forrester.
Ironrath, Forrester's home
The ending of episode 1 was the highlight of the season for me and it was very much in the spirit of GoT. Episode 2 continued on strongly but the series started going downhill from that. Third episode felt like more of the same and then each episode got worse the season continued. I enjoyed the parts of the game that took place at Ironrath the most. I was surprised to find a lot of people liked Mira's intrigues at King's Landing but I didn't find it interesting and often wanted to skip to the next segment. Asher's journey wasn't great either but pretty much everyone agrees that segments over the wall were the worst even tho the setting and the mystery alone had potential for something special.
The verdict
The game is made for the fans of the show (and books) so don't even bother picking it up if you haven't watched the series. If you are a fan then it's something to play while you're waiting for the next season of the HBO series but you probably won't take it for anything more than a filler. The final episode doesn't provide a satisfying closure, instead it blatantly sets up season 2.
Thoughts on season 2
Since some of the major characters can live or die based on your decisions, I wonder how will Telltale deal with that. I hope they won't abandon them and find a way to quickly write them off. Although Rodrik was my favorite character, I had to sacrifice him for Asher's sake, because based on how I played his character, that's what he would choose. Mira was also killed in my playthrough so that whole plotline goes out of the window. Live or die, Mira's story doesn't amount to anything in season 1. She didn't affect anything in any way. I think Talia will definitely be a playable character in season 2 and since she's one of my favorites, I'm looking forward to that. But I have no idea what will happen with Gared. I chose to turn around which is probably the dumb decision because how the hell do they plan to get past the wall? How do you think Night's Watch will react when they see a deserter with a mind controlled zombie army and a polar bear? Climbing the wall like wildlings won't do them any good either because they'd have to abandon the said army as well as the bear so I don't really see a solution there.
+ hard decisions + HBO cast + a few shocking moments
- no closure - bad animation - QTEs - segments beyond the wall - story problems - traitor reveal
Game: Life Is Strange Season 1 Release Date: 2015 Platform: PC Date Started: February 7, 2015 Date Finished: October 23, 2015
Conditions: Finish all episodes ✓
Collect all photos ✓
Life Is Strange is a second game developed by Dontnod Entertainment, the studio that made Remember Me, a game that was criticized for it's combat and linearity but praised for it's visual design and memory remix. Memory remix is a mechanic that allows you to enter and rearrange people's memories in order to manipulate them. Even tho it was the most interesting aspect of the game, it was heavily underused and you didn't get to play with it more than just a couple of times during the entire game. Enter Life Is Strange, a game build from the ground up around a mechanic inspired by memory remix- time travel. Who would've thought that time travel and choice based gameplay go hand in hand so well. After you make a decision, you can observe short term consequences then rewind and see what would happen if you chose something different before finally settling down with a final answer. However you can only foresee short term consequences and the right answer isn't always clear. Your decision might have a long term impact you will only see in later episodes so you still have to choose carefully.
Story
You play as Max Caulfield, an 18 year old photography student who just returned to her home town after being absent for 5 years. She plans to reunite with her best friend Chloe with whom she lost all contact. One day during a class she experiences a vision of a tornado destroying her town. Then she witnesses a a girl getting shot in a school bathroom which somehow awakens her ability to turn back time and she prevents the murder. All over the school there are missing posters of Rachel Amber, a girl who recently disappeared. The way people talk about her, she seems almost too perfect. Could the disappearance be related to the event in the bathroom earlier? Soon Max gets reunited with Chloe and at first things are a bit awkward but it doesn't take long until the dust of the old friendship falls of and they decide to solve the mystery togehter. The game deals with some topics that aren't usually explored in videogames such as bullying, suicide, teen pregnancy and drugs. But what makes the game so good is a constantly present sense of mystery that makes you wonder what's going on and you will think about the game between playing the episodes. Life Is Strange is heavily influenced by TV shows (Twin Peaks, X-Files), movies (Donnie Darko, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo) and even web series (Riley Rewind) but still somehow retains it's own unique identity. That is mostly due to relationship between Max and Chloe that is at the heart of the game. Their friendship is portrayed in believable manner and I don't recall any other game that did a better job in doing so. Even a lot of side characters really grew on me during the season even tho I disliked most of them during the first episode. There were many heartbreaking moments in the game that made my eyes watery even tho I don't usually get very emotionally affected while playing games or watching movies.
The relationship between Max and Chloe is at the center of the game
Presentation
The game has a distinctive art style that's somewhere between cartoony and realistic. All the textures in the game are hand painted and there's a huge attention to detail. It's the lightning that adds a final touch and makes the game pretty. The animation looks natural and the voice acting is pretty good. Ashly Burch, who plays Chloe, delivered a great performance and stole the show but some of the side characters are voiced by the same actors and it's noticeable. It's a shame they didn't hire some more actors for supporting characters. The soundtrack is one of the strongest points of the game and adds a lot to the atmosphere. It is mostly composed from licensed music along with original tunes by Johnatan Morali, the frontman of the band Syd Matters which is also featured.
Gameplay
The game is very cinematic but it isn't mostly made of running cut scenes like Telltale games. Most of the time you have a control over the character as you wonder around, explore areas and interact with people and objects in third person. Looking at things and reading notes is strongly encouraged and paying attention to some seemingly insignificant information might turn out very helpful later down the road. A lot of the puzzles in the game are built around the time rewind mechanic. The puzzles in the first two episodes aren't that good but they get a lot better in episode 3 onward. There's one excellent puzzle in episode 4 that made me feel like I'm doing real detective work. Solving it felt super satisfying. There were also a couple of simple stealth sections thrown in but they are very easy since you have the power to rewind time. The rewind mechanic itself has a cool looking effect and it's use is not limited. Still you can't rewind past the last automatic save point in the area you're currently in.
Verdict
Life Is Strange is really enjoyable game with a great atmosphere, likable characters, awesome soundtrack and choices that have consequences. This is episodic game done right. Only the finale was a little disappointing but it didn't ruin the experience for me so I'm giving it 9/10.
You can read separate SPOILER reviews for each episode:
+ choices and consequences + character relationships + sense of mystery + heartbreaking moments + great soundtrack + good voice acting and motion capture
- at times cringeworthy dialogue - multiple characters voiced by same actors - weak finale - unanswered questions
