Webhead123

I keep looking at the game icon on my desktop and I just can't talk myself into booting it up again. Maybe I'm just really picky when it comes to these kinds of games or Star Wars games in general. I think one big detractor that stuck out like a sore thumb to me was how "artificial" each of the planets felt. I never got the impression of an organic, flowing environment. Each area felt very much like a "video game level" in a way that really took me out of most of the immersion. That doesn't really bother me in games generally but perhaps because of this game's modern approach to "cinematic, immersive presentation" the contrast felt quite jarring.

I have a copy sitting on my shelf but I never did get around to playing it. "Story" was never something I particularly cared to get from a Metroid game, so I imagine a lot of that will feel boring and superfluous to me but if the core gameplay is at least decent, I'm okay with that.

I remember playing a demo of Grim Fandango back when it first released and I thought it was pretty neat. Obviously, the demo only takes you through the opening chapter but it was enough to intrigue me. Sadly, I never acquired the full game until the Remastered version came out. Even then, it sat in my backlog for several years but I am glad that I finally saw it through. That said, the controls, rendered backgrounds and puzzle logic haven't all aged quite so gracefully. I also just had to play Return to Monkey Island on release and I was overall rather pleased with it. The MI series is one of my personal favorites, not just for the genre but for all games in general. The art style of Return was perfectly fine after just a few minutes of getting used to it and I do respect the game for keeping the puzzles pretty logical and not too obtuse. There was really only twice that I needed help and both times were just the result of me literally not noticing an important element in the environment (in one case, I simply didn't scroll the screen far enough to the right). As MI games go, it was a good one and my only real lament of any significance was not having Earl Boen to reprise his role as the wicked pirate himself. In retrospect to his recent passing, I think it would have made for a touching send-off.

FInished Grim Fandango. Pretty unique atmosphere, good performances and an interesting (if occasionally disorienting) story. Puzzle solutions do occasionally suffer from moon logic or requiring large amounts of backtracking/searching the environment. The environmental stuff is made a little more frustrating due to the 3D rendered backgrounds. Not among my favorite point-n-clicks and I don't feel a lot of incentive to replay it but it was a good time.

Purple...because ice cream has no bones.

I don't even quite know how to qualify a "hidden gem" anymore but I wanted to give two games (one classic and one more modern) that I think are probably overlooked more often than they deserve. Clash at Demonhead - Such a quirky game but one that is surprisingly full of charm. Shouldn't be that surprising, as a game by Vik Tokai, who loved to make bizarre-yet-fun games. Invisible, Inc. - Imagine X-COM combined with Thief and Cyberpunk, where the object is to assemble your team and quietly infiltrate megacorps to steal their secrets. What an absolute killer app.

This showcase demonstrated exactly the kind of game design philosophy that I want from modern open world games and part of what made BotW work for me where many other such games fail. Focus on giving players tools to explore, experiment and just have fun on their own terms. Sure, I was excited for Tears generally, but after seeing some of the cool ways they've opened up the game for the player...yeah, I'm down like a clown, Charlie Brown.

I have to admit that it's been more than 15 years since I've seen the movie...but I remember liking it well enough. It had ups and downs for sure but I think its heart was in the right place and the casting is just absolutely boss. Mr. Smee was always a personal favorite character and Bob Hoskins does a bang-up job with it. My gut instinct gives it a 6 but that's going purely off distant memory. That could go either way if I were to watch it again today.

Catacombs is indeed available on GOG for just a couple dollars. It's a cute novelty. More of a "proof-of-concept" for what would eventually become Wolf 3-D. Playable but pretty janky by modern standards.

Now that you mention it, I do remember playing Star Wars and Battlezone at the local arcade sometime probably between '89-'91, although my precise memory is hazy, so it could have even been a couple years later than that. Both are enjoyable, if simple, games.

I need to hop on and grab up the small handful of exclusives I want. I never acquired the 3D Zelda remasters, so I should probably nab those first.

I didn't get to play much of it (we didn't have a home computer) but I do have distant memories of:

I love F-Zero and the SNES' Mode 7 tech was such an impressive thing to me at the time (and I still have a lot of nostalgia for it). That said, I guess since the line needs to be drawn somewhere, I have to draw it there. The effect is cool but I think it skirts the edge of being something one could consider "3D".

If we're considering Doom a "3D" game (which I personally do, even though its tech wasn't quite what would later become the standard 3D rendering method), then yeah...that game blew my balls off. I still play it regularly to this day. I'm not sure which game I technically played first but Star Fox was also right around that same time and I found that game both impressive and quite fun. It's still one of my favorite SNES games, even with the choppy framerate.

That's probably it. It felt a bit like "Star Wars: The Side Quest-ening". I dunno, maybe I just liked it better the way it was done in The Force Unleashed (which wasn't a perfect game either but managed to compensate with its level of chutzpah and some nice set pieces). I'll return to it for sure. Not a bad game...I guess I was just expecting to be more thrilled for a new Star Wars adventure than it made me feel in the opening hours. It also had the unenviable fate of following pretty closely on the heels of Sony's Spider-Man...which was probably the most fun I've had in an open-world game other than BotW in the past 6-8 years.

I need to revisit Deus Ex. This era and genre of PC games was home to some of my favorite games. Deus, Thief 1 & 2, System Shock 2, No One Lives Forever. That shit is my jam. But while I finished all the others multiple times, I never saw Deus Ex all the way through (partly because I lost my saves during a system crash at the time). I've got it in my GOG library, so I really should make an effort to pick it back up. I keep hearing that it has aged well enough. I'm also curious to know how you're feeling about Fallen Order thus far. I'm not very far into it myself (maybe 3 hours or so) and I haven't come across any *specific* complaints...but there's just something about it that has kept me from feeling as enthusiastic as I should be. I don't know if it's a subconscious comparison to other similar games or if maybe it's a little too generic in its "open-world" elements but yeah...something's off and I haven't been compelled to dive back into it after putting it down for several months.

It's a pretty decent Mario game for what it is. Not as good as Galaxy 1/2 or 3D Land but certainly more enjoyable than some other later mainline titles. But if you ask me, I think the best thing about the game is the music. There are a few really catchy tracks and for that alone, I'm glad it exists. 7/10. Good but not exceptional. Haven't played Bowser's Fury and probably won't get the chance...but looks neat.

I can't help myself. This reminds me of another bit. Random dialogue in most MMORPGS: "Hail, [A Festering Hag]!" "I am the living death! I cannot be slain by the likes of you!" (Defeated 30 seconds later and for the 17th time in past 24 hours)

Finished Yoku's Island Express. Despite not being very good at them, I'm quite a fan of pinball and video games that use pinball mechanics. Yoku was a nice addition to the genre, with a hint of Metroidvania and some other neat features. Colorful art style, pleasant music. A pretty nice game all around.

I've never had a Dreamcast and probably never will, so in all likelihood this is one I'll never play. Cool enough idea, though.

Thanks, Sumez! I know it's been kinda quiet on my end but I'm simultaneously working my way through a handful of titles. I'm about halfway done with Grim Fandango and Dusk, a quarter of the way through Oracle of Seasons and, well, I keep banging my head against the wall of Gremlins 2 but I'm hoping for a breakthrough soon. That game gets pretty obnoxious by Stage 4.

To be fair, I rolled with it to generally refer to any game that had what might be considered "graphic" or "adult" content (excessive violence or gore, nudity, profanity, etc.), as I don't pay much attention to actual ratings...and games weren't rated in the U.S. at all until the ESRB in 1994.

It's hard to say for sure but mine was likely playing the first Mortal Kombat. There was an MK arcade cabinet in one of the University cafeterias while my mother was working on her degree. She would go up there on weekends sometimes to study and I'd get in some games to pass the time while hanging around. A couple years later, when MK2 came to SNES, I used my pocket money to buy a copy from KB Toys but when my mother found out, she made me take it back (having it in the home was crossing the line, I guess?). The salesman was kind enough to let me exchange it and I picked up Donkey Kong Country instead. I'd say that was a pretty good trade.

I believe I own this game in some capacity (maybe digital?) but I've never booted it up and I'm not sure it's one I'll ever get around to. I've heard wonderful things...but I could say that about hundreds of games sitting in my "unplayed" pile.

To be fair, I've never finished 2 or 3 either. I was really enjoying 2 up until I hit a point where I was unsure as to how to proceed...and the game's light/dark mechanic discourages exploration a little too harshly for my taste, especially since Metroid is supposed to be a series all about exploration. 3 seemed interesting but I never got all that invested in it because (and yes this is very petty, but) the Wii controls were just not pleasant for me. I honestly couldn't get past how awkward it felt (and a little uncomfortable/exhausting). If they do remaster the others, I'll most definitely pick up 2 and give it another go to actually finish it. 3 I'm not sure about, even with updated controls. Maybe I'd pick it up. Hard to say.