Game: Starcraft: Brood War Release Date: 1998 Platform: PC
Conditions: Finish the campaign
The Starcraft story continues in the expansion set Brood War. Since I already have it installed and set up I decided to play the original Brood War, not remastered version. After I beat the single player I'm going to buy Remastered and play some multiplayer with new features such as ranked play.
What do I expect?
I'm already familiar with Brood War multiplayer and new units so I just hope the story will be good.
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: Pokémon GO Release Date: 2016 Platform: Android
Conditions:
- Get to level 20
- Defeat a Pokémon guarding a gym
I've been playing this game for some time now. The first 2 days I was playing I thought it was really cool but it got old quickly. There's just not much to do in the game and a lot of features are either done poorly or missing completely. I'll still play until I reach level 20 and then I'll decide if I'll keep playing or not based on state of the game in that time. There's a lot of potential in Pokémon GO and it can be improved in so many ways but honestly I don't have that much faith in Niantic. That's why I didn't set my conditions to catch all Pokémon available. I don't even know how many out of the original 151 are obtainable in the game at this moment.
Here are some of my stats:
Level: 8
Team: Instinct
Pokémon seen: 33
Unique Pokémon caught: 32
Distance walked: 22.9 km
I have been pretty busy with work this year so I haven't been updating the site or playing almost any of the games I set out to finish. The little free time I had for gaming I spent mostly on Quake Live and Starcraft 2 multiplayer instead. Now I decided to get back on track and although the year is slowly coming to an end I'd still like to beat more games than in the previous year. So let's have a little recap...
After failing to beat Mortal Kombat II for 8 months, I decided to ditch my "play only one game at a time" rule and started playing other games along with it. The first one I beat was Heart of Darkness on PlayStation. It's a beautiful but at times frustratingly hard 2D platformer. For a game that tried so hard to feel cinematic, it had a surprisingly bad story. Still the character animation was so good it puts most of today's games to shame. Then I proceeded to beat System Shock 2 which I actually plan to replay using different character skills and maybe some mods. Playing it in co-op would be sweet too. Life Is Strange was the biggest surprise of the year and it ended up being one of my favorite games of all time, despite all of it's flaws. I liked it so much I bought the limited edition that includes an art book and a soundtrack. The last game I beat in 2015 is another episodic game- Telltale's Game of Thrones. This one was a bit of a letdown. It started really strong and the ending of episode 1 got me hooked but unfortunately the game got worse with each episode and the ending that sets up a new season was pretty anticlimactic. So in the end I've beaten only 4 games in 2015, which is still more than just one (Mortal Kombat) in 2014.
Mini awards: Best 2015 game I played:
Life Is Strange Best game I've played in 2015(regardless of the release date):
Life Is Strange
Limited Edition
Art book looks like Max's ingame diary
2016 Progress
Let's take a look at the games I'm currently playing and how far into them I am.
Mortal Kombat II
Date started: November 1, 2014 Konditions: Finish the game with every character on normal difficulty with 4 credits available
I haven't made any progress in Mortal Kombat since I started playing this game almost 2 years ago. I've chosen Liu Kang as my first fighter, I've learned all of his moves and combos and I can easily progress through the early stages with flawless victory until I hit a brick wall. The difficulty scales up fast and the cheating AI reads your keystrokes and responds to your moves with perfect counter or block. I'm considering dropping the game difficulty to easy, which is still hard btw (there is also "very easy" option available).
Hearthstone
Date started: July 8, 2015 Conditions: Beat all solo adventures on all difficulties, get rank 5 or lower on ranked play
I am unlocking everything with earned gold instead of spending money, This means a lot of grinding and daily quests so it takes a while to unlock all the adventures. I've already beaten Naxxramas, Blackrock Mountain and now I'm collecting gold to unlock the second adventure of League of Explorers- Uldaman. The best rank I've achieved this far was 11 on ranked play but I was missing a lot of cards that were used competitively. The game should get a lot easier when I unlock new cards and build a decent deck.
StarCraft
Date started: September 21, 2015 Conditions: Beat all 3 campaigns, Terran, Zerg and Protoss
I've already finished the Terran and Zerg campaigns so the only one left is Protoss. After beating StarCraft I'll move to it's expansion - Brood War.
Penumbra: Overture
Date started: October 30, 2015 Conditions: Finish the game
I've only played Penumbra for 2 days but I felt like I was fairly far into it before I got stuck on a generator puzzle and haven't played it since. I don't think the puzzle will be hard to solve, I just need to pick it up again. I was quite enjoying the story and the atmosphere.
Besides Mortal Kombat, all the games should be easy to beat except for HearthStone which will bee more time consuming since I'll have to grind to unlock game content.
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
