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[Speevy]

Virtua Tennis 4

198 hours played.

People love to slam this series because of its stagnant nature, but it's actually very fun online. Good controls, many play styles.

One drawback is that you have to deal with GFWL and those quirks, but on the whole, there's a lively and competitive online game here.

In just a few months, I've advanced to rank 150.

8/10

 

[MrNyarlathotep]

Not a review but in the same line with what's going on here, if someone can answer. Always heard a fair bit of criticism on the PC version of Borderlands, being lazy port etc.. Do any major issues still remain, particularly with online multiplayer(I think I heard people complaining on its usability)?

You need a GameSpy ID, and you also need to manually forward ports on most routers.
Which is fine, circa 2001, less so circa 2010.

 

[Einbroch]

Ys: Origin - 4 hours (in one sitting)

This game is pure fun. Super smooth and the controls are tight. Story is okay, kinda interested. Really liking it.

8/10 Iiiiii

SpaceChem - 30 minutes

Not getting it. I've tried the first tutorial levels like 3 times, thought I understood it, but then go on my own and have no idea what I'm doing. Maybe I'm too dumb. I can see the promise though.

3/10

Again, reviews are my opinions on my experiences thus far.

 

[Bentendo]

Portal 2 - 10 hours (beat the game, played some of the extra content)

Amazing. I've got a confession to make also. Despite my love for Valve for making Steam, this is actually the first game made by them that I've actually played. I've owned the titles for quite some time but they never worked on my old computer. With my new laptop they work wonderfully and this was the first Valve game I downloaded for it, not expecting to get very far. Astonishingly I'm not as stupid as I thought, and while I did have to use a guide once (ARGH!!!!), the puzzles were hard but not too frustrating. The little quips that the characters gave after each puzzle was solved was a nice reward. The writing was absolutely genius and the music was great too. I tried a few user generated levels, and while they were decent the ones I tried don't really compare to the ones Valve made. I tried to make a level but didn't really understand what I was doing! I didn't try the co-op.

10/10

Renegade Ops - 30 minutes

I'll return to this game when I get a gamepad for my laptop. Keyboard controls were frustrating to say the least. I'm absolutely sure I would get used to it eventually, but for now moving the vehicles is too much of a pain. I get what they did, but I wish there was an option to change it (there might be, I just didn't check). It sucks too because shooting with the mouse is a real joy. From what I did play the destruction is really nice

Not enough time to grade.

 

[inky]

Might & Magic: Clash of Heroes. Time played ~10hrs.

I had played the demo for this long ago, but only now I decided to buy it. It was a good decision. After 10 hrs. I suspect I am only half way through the game's hefty single player campaign (I have only played through 2 of the 5 areas) plus there's multiplayer and DLC I haven't even checked. It's a very interesting mix of strategy (placing your units in a grid with different abilities, formations, links, etc) and match-three style of puzzle games, but has a lot of depth with some light RPG elements. It's done by CAPYBARA Games, of Critter Crunch fame, so it looks quality (nice animations!), feels responsive, it's creative and has lots of content. It feels close to what Puzzle Quest did, but I like this game's style better.

The only negative I can think of so far is that it has a lot of loading screens, probably due to it's console nature. It's noticeable, but nothing game breaking.

Score: 9/10

 

[MattKeil]

Portal (4 hrs played)
I hate the sound of puzzle+first person view platforming, but I've bought the portal pack since it's dirt cheap. Finished the campaign, the puzzles get hard in the last few areas in the last 2 stages, but overall there's some clever puzzles. Getting out from different laid angle portals can sometimes be very frustrating as the camera is rotating you back into a upright position while you have to shoot another portal at somewhere and fighting with the camera.

score: 5.5 / 10

What in the...

 

[Unicorn]

Frozen Synapse (34 minutes played)
Loved the concept, gave me a good impression from quick looks before. Couldn't log in to servers, played the tutorial and first campaign mission. Not happy with the cheating AI.

score 5.5/ 10

Cheating AI?

Within the first missions?


Dude, that SCREAMS incompetence on your part. At no time, ever, did I feel cheated in a tactical turn or slighted by some AI having more knowledge of my actions. Give it some time to come back from the server load and try again. Make sure during your planning phase you try and think from the enemy perspective too and move their units around to see how potential Primed turns would turn out. Could save you a lot of "surprise" scenarios where your dudes die.

This game is alllll about the mind game.




To Contribute:

WizorbTime Played:~30 minutes.
So far, the Breakout gameplay is a lot of fun, but I don't know how I feel about the whole overworld aspect. It's just slightly different than what I was expecting I suppose, but I'll certainly play more down the road.

initial impression score:
2/5

Dirt 2Time Played:~1 hour.

I hate to dock a game because of just how it runs on a computer, but booting this up was a goddamn hassle. GFWL wouldn't let me log in, so I just didn't. The game booted in a tiny ass windowed mode at 800x600 and NONE of the options allow for fullscreen mode. Only windowed mode. FUCKING LAUGHABLE. I'll have to dig around in the .ini to change that shit.

Apart from that, the actual game seems good. For a rally game, it seems too floaty in terms of car physics. I don't feel substantial weight in my vehicle in how I would be able to "throw" myself around corners, just felt like my car was 80% filled with helium and the slightest oversteer would send me into ice rink mode. Still, it's a really nice looking game and it has been a long time since I've played a good rally game.

2.5/5

 

[MarkMclovin]

Hacker Evolution + Untold - Nearly 2 hours - I have no idea why I bought this game. Maybe because I thought it would be Uplink, but better. It isn't. Certainly not for the first 2 or so hours anyway, but I don't know if I can go back to it. The fact that you have to type every command in, puts me off.

Company of Heroes - 4 hours - Love this so far. It looks like I'm going to be ploughing quite a few hours into it, and it'll be my jump into PC RTS for years.

VVVVVV - 21 minutes - Only briefly played it to see what the fuss is about. I link it so far, very charming. I have a feeling I'm going to sink a good few hours into it. Some of the jumps are bastards already!

The binding of Isaac - 30 minutes - Not sure what to think of this yet. It's fun, I suppose.

 

[Akey]

The Binding of Isaa 2hrs - I have enjoyed it though that is starting to change. If there is a wiki for this game I need to read it because half the stuff I pick up end up killing me.

Orcs Must Dies 2hrs - Great game for the price. Its a tower defense game at the core but it has charm. Easy to pick up and play.

Braid 3hrs - Good game...very short sadly but a challenge.

Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light 9hrs - Great game. It is on the short side but has some great challenges that can be cheesed with some of the later level achievement weapons. Would recommend highly.

Darksiders 0 hrs - Have not been able to get this to run sadly. Even after search and trying different things for a few hours.

 

[gravitybear]

anyone got magicka? On flash sale right now. on the fence

 

[old manatee]

Frozen Synapse (34 minutes played)
Loved the concept, gave me a good impression from quick looks before. Couldn't log in to servers, played the tutorial and first campaign mission. Not happy with the cheating AI.

score 5.5/ 10

?

 

[Speevy]

Dirt 2Time Played:~1 hour.

I hate to dock a game because of just how it runs on a computer, but booting this up was a goddamn hassle. GFWL wouldn't let me log in, so I just didn't. The game booted in a tiny ass windowed mode at 800x600 and NONE of the options allow for fullscreen mode. Only windowed mode. FUCKING LAUGHABLE. I'll have to dig around in the .ini to change that shit.
5

These things are not true.

Dirt 2 runs fine in 1280x720 full screen (or whatever your native resolution is), and has several options for dialing down the graphics to your preferences. (including shadows, textures, etc. The usual things)

 

[epmode]

Yeah, I don't think I ever had to play around with INI files for any of the Dirt games. Lots of graphic options, good controller support, etc. The only real problem is GFWL.

 

[Nappuccino]

Frozen Synapse (34 minutes played)
Loved the concept, gave me a good impression from quick looks before. Couldn't log in to servers, played the tutorial and first campaign mission. Not happy with the cheating AI.

score 5.5/ 10

I've played quite a bit of Frozen Synapse and I don't know what you're talking about...

 

[PaulLFC]

Darksiders 0 hrs - Have not been able to get this to run sadly. Even after search and trying different things for a few hours.

Does it just not load the main menu? I think I had that problem, had to rename the AMD Intro video in the Darksiders folder to get past it if I remember rightly.

 

[Nappuccino]

I hate to dock a game because of just how it runs on a computer, but booting this up was a goddamn hassle. GFWL wouldn't let me log in, so I just didn't. The game booted in a tiny ass windowed mode at 800x600 and NONE of the options allow for fullscreen mode. Only windowed mode. FUCKING LAUGHABLE. I'll have to dig around in the .ini to change that shit.

I'm having the same issue here. And then it crashed (which is more likely due to my terrible gfx card that loves to crash)

 

[ClosingADoor]

Renegade Ops - 6 hours / finished

This might be one of my favourite games from 2011. It's just so much fun, driving around and shooting enemy vehicles, blowing stuff up everywhere. It is a bit on the short side, but I rather have a short and fun game then one that keeps going doing the same thing. Another point is that you have to play this with a controller, it was made for that and if you don't have one, I wouldn't recommend playing.

Hitman: Blood Money - 30+ hours, finished multiple times
Blood Money is probably the best Hitman game around. It has everything, fun missions, cool ways to kill your targets, multiple ways to reach your goals, everything you expect from a Hitman game. If you haven't played it yet, for just 2,50 everyone should pick it up and give it a try.

 

[Lain]

anyone got magicka? On flash sale right now. on the fence

I got it during the winter sale, played for only 46 minutes and stopped. Didn't exactly like the type of game it is, as for some reason I was expecting something... different.
My negative feelings for the game could be related to that, though for the price it's at I think it's worth taking a chance on it to find out if it's the game for you. Or wait for someone else to post an exhaustive review.

 

[epmode]

I'm having the same issue here. And then it crashed (which is more likely due to my terrible gfx card that loves to crash)

I think Dirt 2 still patches with GFWL, doesn't it? The older GFWL games do this.

Anyway, try alt+enter to switch to full screen. I've seen that issue with a few DX11 games but I don't have Dirt 2 installed to test it.

 

[Unicorn]

These things are not true.

Dirt 2 runs fine in 1280x720 full screen (or whatever your native resolution is), and has several options for dialing down the graphics to your preferences. (including shadows, textures, etc. The usual things)

Then where are the windowed/fullscreen options?

I think Dirt 2 still patches with GFWL, doesn't it? The older GFWL games do this.

Anyway, try alt+enter to switch to full screen. I've seen that issue with a few DX11 games but I don't have Dirt 2 installed to test it.

That worked, but pressing it again made it crash.

Thanks.

 

[naku]

Alan Wake - 3.8 hours played

Alan Wake always seemed like a great game and from what I can tell after two chapters, it is. The only problem I'm facing is the camera. I turned the sensitivity back several nods and it's still a bit flakey. Bit of a bummer. As for the rest... the atmosphere is pretty cool. The Taken are cool enemies.

I bought it yesterday, played one and a half chapters, quit. The enemies are too hard for me. I don't know what's the problem. But I'll soon start a new playtrough on lower difficult. I really like the setting and plot, so I need to play this.

 

[1-D_FTW]

I don't know why you guys are writing up "reviews" to dock games for technical problems. It's honestly helping no one spot any obscure gems. And if the same complaints were made in the Steam thread (since they seem to be very common issues), they'd probably get answered even quicker. It'd be win-win for everyone involved.

That worked, but pressing it again made it crash.

Thanks.

I'm confused by what that means. So it works now or not? Just be aware that Codemasters games can have issues with random crashes while loading if running in DX11 mode. It's been generally assumed it's GFWL related (since it won't ever happen if not logged into Live), but it also doesn't effect all hardware. And it's definitely not GPU related. Because I had this issue for years and it disappeared when I finally upgraded to Sandy Bridge (despite keeping my old GTX 460).

 

[Cjdamon042]

Any Walking Dead opinions?

 

[Mechanized]

Ys: Origin is awesome. Buy it. It's so goddamn good, if you like action RPGs or the overhead Zelda games at all just buy it. It's awesome.

 

[chessnut]

someone say something about cities xl 2012

 

[Unicorn]

I don't know why you guys are writing up "reviews" to dock games for technical problems. It's honestly helping no one spot any obscure gems. And if the same complaints were made in the Steam thread (since they seem to be very common issues), they'd probably get answered even quicker. It'd be win-win for everyone involved.




I'm confused by what that means. So it works now or not? Just be aware that Codemasters games can have issues with random crashes while loading if running in DX11 mode. It's been generally assumed it's GFWL related (since it won't ever happen if not logged into Live), but it also doesn't effect all hardware. And it's definitely not GPU related. Because I had this issue for years and it disappeared when I finally upgraded to Sandy Bridge (despite keeping my old GTX 460).

Alt+Enter put it into fullscreen, but when I pressed Alt+Enter again to come back and post the result it gave me a crash dialogue.

So, It should fix the problem as if I'm actually playing I wouldn't be doing that back and forth. Steam Overlay and such.

 

[dark_inferno]

Any Walking Dead opinions?

Buy it!

First Episode gets a 7/10 from me because it has a boring beginning and ends in a mediocre way.
But the second Episode gets a 10/10 because it was well written/made with the most memoriable moments in the history of adventures.

 

[Durante]

Alice: Madness Returns - 8 hours played

I honestly cannot see were most of the complaints are coming from. The platforming is fun, and the battles are even more fun and quite varied, with different strategies required for different enemy types. However, the main draw of the game for me is the huge amount of hidden secrets that you can discover, which makes exploring the imaginative settings more rewarding.

I don't know what it is exactly that makes me feel this way -- maybe it's the lack of corridors and wave-based combat, or maybe it's the large number of hidden secrets, or maybe just the colorful and interesting setting -- but it does feel like a late 90s/early 00s game transported to present day technology. And I mean this in the best possible way.

Of course, it also helps that it's one of the most straight-up gorgeous games I've played in a long time. I'm playing on the highest difficulty level btw.

9/10

 

[Lancehead]

Hitman: Codename 47 (played to completion)

For those who may not be familiar with the series, Hitman is a stealth/assassination game. The stealth here is not hiding but blending into the crowd, mainly through disguises. A typical level is very open-ended with multitude of ways to eliminate the targets. Mission rewards vary based on how messy or clean you do the job.

This game has not aged very well. The jungle levels are the worst. But there are some really good levels that are fun to play. The initial triad levels and the hotel level later on are what makes this game worth buying.

Hitman: Silent Assassin (played to completion)

The second game introduced a rating system for the missions. "Silent Assassin" is the coveted rating where the player manages to eliminate the targets without any alerts or collateral damage.

This game is a significant step forward from the first. The weapons, items (like syringes with sedatives and poison), level design are all improved for the most part. For those not familiar with the game mechanics, the first mission doesn't make any effort to explain said mechanics. So that could be a rough start. A nitpicking I have with the game is the painfully slow sneak speed.

Hitman: Blood Money (played to completion)

Blood Money is the definitive Hitman game to date (hopefully Absolution changes that). The controls are much better than any other previous game. Pretty much all levels are brilliant with one of the best open-level design to be found in games. The fact that any mission rating can be achieved in a number of ways, and there are multiple ratings, is a testament to the excellence of the level design. For the uninitiated, the first mission is linear handholding stuff that explains all the core mechanics. As for negatives, I don't like the final mission in this game. Much like in the second game, achieving the Silent Assassin rating on Pro difficulty is a most satisfying experience.

 

[Xplatformer]

Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 (GRAW2): 2 hours played

Heard pretty bad things about the game but for $2.49, decided to jump in and it's surprisingly decent. It's a Ubisoft game but refreshingly there's no additional DRM. Setup went well, no crashes or issues so far.

Gameplay is very tactical; you need to advance slowly and really pay attention to your surroundings since taking 1-2 bullets means insta-death. No running behind cover with a jelly filled screen to regenerate health; this isn't a run 'n gun shooter. To be fair, enemies go down just as quick and luckily like a true PC game, it supports quicksaving so you don't need to rely on checkpoints. Game has a bit of notoriety for its difficulty even on easy and normal so be warned. Also, the PC version of GRAW2 is nothing like the console versions aside from the name and storyline; it was developed separately as a PC exclusive and is an FPS (console versions are third-person). The AI isn't the best but then again, I could count the number of games with great AI on the fingers of one hand.

Graphically, it's not amazing but not bad considering it's a 2007 game; id's say it's a bit like COD4. Runs 60fps at all times on my 2 aging GTX260s with everything maxed plus forced MSAA (heavy hit) and FXAA. SLI scales well. There's no gamepad support but since it's an FPS and there's a ton of keyboard and mouse commands, it'd be hard to rely solely on a pad anyway. Controls are fully re-Mapable and graphical options are set in-game.

The online community is sill active plus the game apparently supports online co-op for the main campaign so you don't need to play through using the squad AI (if I actually had Steam friends and a mic, I might be interested in trying this out). There's also a ton of community made campaign/mission and multiplayer maps so there's a fair bit of replay value.

Score: sorry, I can't score a game after 2hrs.

I've bypassed this title on sale for years because
1) unlike the console version of the game, they went FPS.
2) unlike the console version of the game, there is no in game support for controllers

Seems odd that they figured PC gamers wouldn't want to play with those two features as options. A missed sale.


Anyway....

Warhammer: Space Marine $7.49

Best gaming value I've gotten this year. Hectic melee combat + shooting thousands of orcs = tons of carnage..., good graphics and a story that doesn't suck. The single player campaign runs 8+ hours and there is still a good Steam community online playing the title (the only complaint I have for Binary Domain).

I've only put in a combined 3+ hours over the past 3 days, but I'll be damn if this game and Binary Domain aren't the best combined value purchases I've ever made. I'm enjoying both of them that much.

Grade: 8/10

It'd have been higher if I liked the Warhammer Universe. If, say, this game mechanic and the graphics were in the Alien's universe or Gears of War....this game would have been close to a 10 to me.

Third person shooters on PC for the win.

 

[ampere]

Portal 2 - 10 hours (beat the game, played some of the extra content)

Amazing. I've got a confession to make also. Despite my love for Valve for making Steam, this is actually the first game made by them that I've actually played. I've owned the titles for quite some time but they never worked on my old computer. With my new laptop they work wonderfully and this was the first Valve game I downloaded for it, not expecting to get very far. Astonishingly I'm not as stupid as I thought, and while I did have to use a guide once (ARGH!!!!), the puzzles were hard but not too frustrating. The little quips that the characters gave after each puzzle was solved was a nice reward. The writing was absolutely genius and the music was great too. I tried a few user generated levels, and while they were decent the ones I tried don't really compare to the ones Valve made. I tried to make a level but didn't really understand what I was doing! I didn't try the co-op.

10/10

You played 2 before 1? Gasp! Go back and play 1 as well, it's not as good as 2, but it is still a great experience.

 

[old manatee]

I don't know why you guys are writing up "reviews" to dock games for technical problems.

Because video games are like the only product where it is seemingly acceptable to give the customer something that just straight up doesn't work and call it a day.

In the past few years I've bought:

• Red Orchestra 2, which was so busted it reverted to beta for 6 months

• Bioshock 2, which I have never been able to play because gfwl gets stuck in a weird update loop when I try to start it (on 2 different pcs)

• Resident Evil 4, which was released without mouse controls or even lighting

• the Oddbox, which was an unplayable mess of a port

• Far Cry 2, which became unplayable halfway in when an npc I needed to talk to spawned underground. I started the game over a year later assuming that they must have fixed the problem and 10 hours later the same goddamn npc spawned underground.

I almost impulse bought Fray yesterday and I'm glad I checked the Steam forums and metacritic first, because I couldn't find a single person who had anything to say about it that didn't involve game-breaking technical problems.

 

[Astery]

What in the...

It's just never a type of game I can get into.

Cheating AI?

Dude, that SCREAMS incompetence on your part. At no time, ever, did I feel cheated in a tactical turn or slighted by some AI having more knowledge of my actions. Give it some time to come back from the server load and try again. Make sure during your planning phase you try and think from the enemy perspective too and move their units around to see how potential Primed turns would turn out. Could save you a lot of "surprise" scenarios where your dudes die.

This game is alllll about the mind game.

From the little time I've played, that was my impression. The enemies just seem to know where my dudes are and heading every single turn. My friend had the same impression of that. Surely I will give it a more detail run when the server is back up.

 

[whalleywhat]

The Binding of Isaac ~1hr
I was always under the impression that this was sort of a slight game (made really quickly or something?), but there's a fair amount of depth here. Interesting take on the Roguelike in a charming/fucked up setting.

 

[Pachinko]

anno 2070 time played- 2 hours
- decided to grab it on a whim yesterday because it looked neat. It is neat but it's also kind of confusing, not as user friendly as say command on conquer or starcraft although it's not quite the same kind of RTS either. It's like a bit of simcity mixed with a bit of a more combat oriented rts game. If you can get passed the confusing hud and mission objectives (which didn't take me THAT long) it's pretty fun.

Renegade ops time played - 1 hour (demo version on 360)
- I DID buy this yesterday but haven't tried it yet outside of the demo for the xbox version and what I played of it was a fun top down arcadey shooter, kind of reminds me of the old EA helicopter strike games but faster paced.

Ridge racer unbounded time played - 1 hour (pc demo)
- didn't pick this up but figured I did play the demo not too long ago, it's basically a burnout game , looks nice and plays alright , very VERY hard compared to most modern day racers though. The fact that it was only a demo and I found it that difficult to win a race means the full game is likely harder. I did seem interesting though if you got a decent pc to run it with.

... man seeing this thread is reminding me I still have half a dozen games from the sales in the last 6 months that I haven't played yet.

 

[Prophet Steve]

The Binding of Isaac ~1hr
I was always under the impression that this was sort of a slight game (made really quickly or something?), but there's a fair amount of depth here. Interesting take on the Roguelike in a charming/fucked up setting.

It was made fairly quickly, a few months I think. But there is quite a lot of content now with the updates and dlc.

 

[Dilly]

I bought it yesterday, played one and a half chapters, quit. The enemies are too hard for me. I don't know what's the problem. But I'll soon start a new playtrough on lower difficult. I really like the setting and plot, so I need to play this.

Sure you understand how to deal with them?

Use the flashlight until the Taken emit a yellow light, that's when you can kill them. If you don't use your flashlight long enough they're not killable.

 

[Adam Prime]

Good thread yall. Interested in purchasing The Orange Box, and I guess I don't need anyone to review that really.

 

[naku]

Sure you understand how to deal with them?

Use the flashlight until the Taken emit a yellow light, that's when you can kill them. If you don't use your flashlight long enough they're not killable.

Yeah, I do know that, but still three enemies at the same time is too much for me. I try to dodge, run away and everything, but it's too hard.

 

[Idioteque]

Portal 2 10/10

Beat it on PS3. It's one of the best games ever made.

Thief 2 4/10

Really disappointing. I love stealth games, but this feels so dated. I've given up on it, no fun at all.

 

[Jaagen]

Max Payne 3 (about 4 hours)

A fun TPS where you can do some cool acrobatics that will result in you crashing into a wall or some furniture. Dual pistols are great for mowing down enemies, and it makes Max seem like a badass. The transitions from cutscenes to gameplay is also very well done(reminds me of Perfect Dark, actually)

The only thing I didn't like was that stupid Rockstar Social Club. Just let me play the game without registering for service I don't feel like I need to use(except needing it to play the game)

8/10

 

[Mimir]

From the little time I've played, that was my impression. The enemies just seem to know where my dudes are and heading every single turn. My friend had the same impression of that. Surely I will give it a more detail run when the server is back up.

The AI doesn't cheat.

 

[Plissken]

Serious Sam 3. 12 hours played. Completed.

Starts off slow, almost makes you think they are making a shitty CoD rip-off. But once you get past the first level, the Serious Sam stuff kicks in, and it's a wild ride from then on. If you've played the previous SS games, you know what to expect, and it delivers in spades. If you haven't played previous games, but you miss the days of shooters that let you carry a dozen guns, mow down hordes of enemies, and don't have to duck behind cover every time you get hit, you should buy this game.

Score - 8/10

Saints Row the Third. 36 hours played. Completed.

This is up there with Just Cause 2 as my favorite sandbox game this generation. A story that doesn't take itself seriously (and has quite a few genuinely funny missions), weapons and vehicles that are just fun to use, and full co-op. Buy this game (but avoid all the pointless DLC).

Score - 9/10

The Walking Dead. 5 hours played. Not Completed (series is ongoing)

Not quite a full on adventure game, this is more like playing through a side story in the comic series. None of the puzzles are going to tax your brain, but the story is really well done so far, and the gameplay is varied enough that you won't get bored. There are only 2 of 5 planned episodes out right now, but even if the series stopped right here it would still be worth the money.

Score - 8/10

 

[Unicorn]

The AI doesn't cheat.

http://www.mode7games.com/blog/2010/11/02/artificial-intelligence-2/

Also interesting.

 

[pakkit]

Portal 2 10/10 (time played: 25 hours)

When I played Portal 2 at launch, I came away satisfied but disappointed that the game had taken a more humorous direction instead of the mysterious, sinister edge the original had. Looking back, it would have been impossible for Valve to capture that same feeling of entrapment and discovery that the original conjured up without building a new environment and story. Playing through it again, I was floored by Valve's attention to aesthetics. There is a cohesiveness in design that guides the player through this labyrinthine underground facility, whether they know it or not.

Furthermore, the amount that Valve has added to the game since launch is staggering. More co-op levels, better performance (it now runs flawlessly on my MBP), and a level editor that can turn out levels that are on par with the single-player campaign. I played "12 Angry Levels" and was absolutely floored by the amount of ingenuity the creator was able to eke out of the level editor. Truly, Portal 2 is a timeless game.

The Walking Dead 9/10 (for now) (time played: 5 hours)

I've played Telltale's episodic games on and off for a while now. They've always been cute diversions that flirted with greatness, but with TWD, it seems that they're finally pushing the genre forward. TWD marries relatively simple Point and Click puzzles with a relentless commitment to narrative. Luckily, the story so far has been as good as the comics. The graphics are beautifully cell-shaded - giving each character an amazing range of expression and allowing the developers to really amp up the gore and blood when they need to. It's not often that I get invested in videogame narrative, but The Walking Dead has me itching for the next episode.

Which leads to the only problem: Telltale has been off-schedule for this one. It's been around 6 weeks between episodes. Still, I'd say this is definitely worth supporting.

Bought but haven't played yet: Binding of Isaac, Left For Dead 2

 

[SScorpio]

It's just never a type of game I can get into.

From the little time I've played, that was my impression. The enemies just seem to know where my dudes are and heading every single turn. My friend had the same impression of that. Surely I will give it a more detail run when the server is back up.

I died a few times on the very first mission until I started figuring the game out. There are a few missions that were extremely challenging, but the planning out enemy movement really helps in the game and I wish I knew about being able to do it earlier.

The AI in the game can be very smart, but a countering measurement I learned was to map out your movement with how you would instinct-ably move. Then click on an enemy and map out his actions to counter what you would do, this should give you a good approximation on what the AI's move will be. Then leaving enemies movement path in place, map out new routes for your guys to counter the enemy.

 

[sorijealut]

Ys: Origin - 4 hours (in one sitting)

This game is pure fun. Super smooth and the controls are tight. Story is okay, kinda interested. Really liking it.

8/10 Iiiiii

Yep, I agree with your review. Something about it is just really smooth and tight, what I felt too.

Yes, don't get this game for the story, as far as I can tell within 4 hours.

 

[Enco]

Borderlands - 12 hours

Great game. The coop is brilliant. If you have someone to play with, it's a definite buy. I haven't played it much but every second was very fun.

Just Cause 2 - 44 hours

One of the few games that I consistently re visit and enjoy. 99.9% of games I get fed up with but I love popping into JC2 for some chaos or a nice relaxing drive or walk. Very very fun. An amazing varied world but with a cheesy story. This is a must buy.

Didn't pick the games up during this sale but I would recommend them both.

 

[Jibber Hack]

Trine 2 - 6+ hours. Completed

Can't recommend this game enough if you can play it cooperatively. Some of the best fun that I've had in a long time. Beautiful graphics, awesome level design, and the tools that they give you to solve puzzles are great. I'd even like to see a game in this vein where the wizard goes on his own journeys. Anyway, pick it up.

Score 10/10

 

[Thoraxes]

Saints Row: The Third - 20 hours (played Bro-op)

Takes everything that prevents me from getting into a GTA game, and gives it to me just the way I like it. The story was so dumb (in the best of ways), I sang Sublime music with my homies, drove a tiger in a car, met an auto-tuned pimp, and just overall, it was awesome. I can't even believe I passed it up.

The customization options were great, the variety was fun (although the introduction missions got bland sometimes), and overall, I enjoyed a sandbox game for the first time in a very long time.

Also the music, holy shit it was great. (I'll be going back to this after backlogs become more clear)