Lego Star Wars (PS2)

This game came out more than 10 years ago, and that makes me feel old, I managed to blitz through this with my brother in about 3 - 4 hour, we'd suffered through completionist pain with the 2 lego batmans and didn't fancy going for 100% this time. The biggest flaw I've seen is that it seems really bad when compared with the newer lego games, the characters don't speak or make any noise at all, other than the characters and enemies, very few things are made of lego, and characters can't punch so you have to weild a lightsaber or gun to actually break anything. And if you hadn't seen the films the story is hard to understand (I've never seen attack of the clones. And in the first level you just see obi wan showing a crystal to a bunch of aliens and then he chases after a blue clone trooper and his son for some reason, my brother told me they were Boba and Jango Fett but I was still confused) and there are few boss battles compared to about 1 per level in the later games.

The game makes me feel old because I remember it being really great as a kid yet when I play it, I don't feel the same way. One thing that didn't help was the quality of the disk, the pod racing level caused the console to make concerning noises throughout the whole thing and it repeatedly crashes just before the 2nd confrontation with Count Dooku.

If you happen to be young (or young at heart) then this is a great game, it is definitely recommended to play with a friend (Or brother who has nothing better to do). Though I would recommend the later lego games instead of this one.

Sanitarium

I have mixed feelings with this one, i enjoyed playing it but there was too many flaws in this game for me to consider it good.

- I hated the movement, too sloooooooooooow and hard to control, sometimes i end up going to the wrong way ot having trouble in some puzzles that required me to be in a precise place (Maze and the last level). I wish it was point and click and the character moved faster.

- The puzzles were ok, my only problem was seeing the objects that i needed to use, i had to use a guide for some parts because i didn't know where to get the item to proceed since those items looked like the rest of the objects on the scenery.

- The story is what grabbed me the most, the 2nd chapter is so deliciously twisted that you want to see more and know what the hell is happening... but as you proceed in the game you start figuring out what's happening and it's less interesting than you imagined, the story gets bland and it's a weird mix, you see really violent scenes but the dialogues look like out of a T-rated movie.

- The worst part was that my game was constantly crashing in the last level of the game, i mean, i would still hate it anywhere else but in the last level? So close to the end? Luckily a delete+install fixed the problem.

Like i said, mixed feelings, it looked promising but in the end it didn't deliver, first game that i finished this year.

Edit: On a side note, it has been years since i used pen and paper to solve puzzles, part of it was because i couldn't alt tab without crashing.

Divinity: Original Sin EE (replay, Tactician difficulty).
Evoland
Droid Assault
1Heart
Splatter (replay)
Abyss: The Wraiths of Eden
Melissa K. and the Heart of Gold
Dark Heritage: guardians of Hope
Fallout 4
Bioshock Infinite (X2)
Frankenstein: Master of Death
9 Clues 2: The Ward
Walking Dead Season 1
Walking Dead Season 2
Morphopolis
Fairy Tale Mysteries 2: The Beanstalk and the Giant
Dishonored 2

Finished Evoland.

That was a surprisingly fun trip down memory lane. The game had 2 annoyances. The spawn rate of turn based combat was so far beyond ridiculous that we need a new word for it. And the boss was terribly implemented. Even after knowing what to do, there was still some luck and hair pulling to be had.

I'd also like more features to "upgrade to". Experience bar, more than one static town portal, more character details, combat options, etc.

But the charm, visuals, sounds, and the rest of the gameplay was very well done. I may have to pick up the 2nd one outside of a bundle ;)

If you want to journey from 8 bit to 3D HD animation in a few short hours of fun... this is the way to go.

Three short ones:

10,000,000

Relatively fun if you like match 3 games. It got kind of repetitive but you can play it in small doses. Maxing everything and reaching freedom is not that hard. Completing all achievements is probably harder by I felt no point in going for the rest.

Recommended.

Lume

Short adventure, prologue to Lumino City. Puzzles go from easy to medium although one clue did not work until I clicked in the right spot.

Recommended if you can get it very cheap as is extremely short.

Two Digits

Very simple math puzzle. Find two sets of numbers with the same sum among a group of nine numbers (all of them less than 100, hence the name). Very badly programmed as it uses only the left mouse button, it tends to react slowly and even put some demand on my graphic card for simple-not-even-pretty 2d graphics. Puzzles were not hard and you can finish the game quickly if you don't get bored.

Hammerwatch: Temple of the Sun

This is a free add-on campaign included with the game “Hammerwatch”. It’s shorter than the original, but still a lot of fun. As with the original game the only negative aspect is the boss fights (I really really really REALLY hate boss fights), but the rest of the game is so fun I managed to force myself through (I played the game on “Easier” difficulty so that the bosses would only be annoying instead of frustrating for me). Very fun game and highly recommended!

Finished Psychonauts. A great story with clever and original levels but gameplay had some issues. In the first few hours, I was a bit lost (control-wise as well as where to go next) and I had to use a walkthrough to discover a special place where I got some progress. Also, I suck at boss battles. And the last level was a pain in the ass...

Full list here.

Droid Assault.

I'm not sure if there is an end? The last achievement in terms of levels was level 50. I went a few past that. Its a fun game for a time. Achievements are good motivators for me, but the game mechanics make the last few I need too tedious to bother with.

Old school, frantic, robot shooter with very short levels and upgrades to multiple types of bots. But, the games biggest drawbacks, IMHO, are the friendly fire and lack of control over squad, which really prevents you from playing the game the way I think they intended for you to.

Nice distraction that I'll likely pluck at here and there as it fits into very short bursts of time as allowed.

The Broken Sword 2 (original version). I started this one a while ago, was going through it swiftly, and then hit that damn jungle maze, which made me take a break from the game for a couple of months. Then a few days ago I remembered I hadn't finished it, so I used a walkthrough to beat the maze (I hate mazes in adventure games), and ran through the rest of the game without much issue.

Aside from the maze puzzle, I liked it a lot, putting it just slightly behind the first game. I kind of wish Nico's sections were more detailed but I still appreciated the breaks from George. I played the original version because, after starting the director's cut, I found the new graphics too jarring.

An Assassin in Orlandes - One of the Tin Man CYOA games. This was a decent story with some unexpected twists. Enjoyable for the couple of hours it takes to play.

Quake: The Offering - Continuing my playthrough of id's classic shooters, I moved onto Quake. Unfortunately, the base game is nowhere near as frenetic as the Doom series. It's more about atmosphere, and moving through the level (the design of these levels are excellent), with the occasional enemy appearing. I felt the two expansion packs greatly improved on the base game with more frenetic fights and some interesting new enemies. None of the weapons in the game offered as much satisfying feedback as Doom, due to the introduction of 3d enemy models as opposed to animated sprites.

Spiderman 2 (PS2)

I only have 1 thing to say. Why the hell do Window Washers order pizza whilst they're still working halfway up a skyscraper!

All jokes aside though it was a pretty good game, especially for one based off a movie.

I highly recommend the Lego SW Complete Saga on PC. It looks better and has all 6 episodes in it and is an updated version of the original Lego SW. It's great fun, looks good, and plays well on PC with a pad.

Plug & Play

Um ... okay. I'd call it an interactive animation short, one of the weird kind. Deep reflection about human relationships? Stickmen porn? Human Centipede fantasies? Or maybe just something mildly entertaining that I spent 5-10 minutes on and that I probably won't remember a few weeks from now.


Dark Arcana: The Carnival Collector's Edition

Artifex Mundi is really good at what they do; just like Nightmares from the Deep, Dark Arcana is one of the best HOGs available (which doesn't necessarily mean it's a very good game). Perfect for killing some time, enjoyable enough for one playthrough (due to its casual difficulty, colorful graphics and rewarding sounds), quickly forgotten afterwards. To me HOGs are the fast food of videogames; a guilty pleasure, but only consumable in small doses, and they leave a stale aftertaste ...


Lilly Looking Through

I found the artwork and music really beautiful and the characters cute. The game has a very relaxing atmosphere, which I liked as well. The simple gameplay was quite alright, it's very similar to the games by Amanita Design, especially Samorost and Machinarium. The puzzles were nice enough and mostly logical, and the hint button indicating the next usable objects offset the pixel hunting without spoiling anything and made sure I didn't have to use a walkthrough to complete the game. I didn't mind the short length of about two hours, I felt it suited this kind of game. It could have been even shorter though, because the animations, while nice to look at, are also quite slow, which can get somewhat tedious if you need to repeat them several times in a row, as some puzzles require (click, watch, click, watch, click, watch). And just like many others, I felt the cliffhanger ending was a major letdown because it felt out of place. Lilly Looking Through tells enough of a (simple but cute and wondrous) tale that it wouldn't need a sequel or any apology that it isn't completed. It's just unnecessary. The hints at the ending that there is more to the story than is told and that it's only just begun, actually ruined its charm for me. They prove the saying that sometimes less is more. Without this the experience would have been more satisfying. A pity ...

Good review! I haven't finished yet, but I played a bit more over the last 2 days. I like tackling one screen at a time with long breaks in between.

I will add that I enjoyed the sound design a lot.

Bad Mojo

A simple to control FMV game with it's own charm, although charm isn't the right word for it.
The controls are simple and really the whole game is a bit too simple. The only way you can interact with the world is by walking and occasionally pushing something.
The FMV sequences are nice, but the acting is not. Michael X. Sommers plays the protagonist and his performance has enough cheese to officially supply a cheese shop(not the Monty Python one). Luckily his scenes are limited to the opening and the ending.
The game is rather short and easy and the FMV sequences tend to spoil all the puzzles by giving you hints that are a tad too obvious.
Limited interactivity, limited exploration, cheesy FMV, short, easy, weird.
It's easy to understand why this game became a cult classic, but I would not call it good.
Worth a playthrough, but nothing more.
I give this game a rating of 6/10

P.S.
Don't play this game if you are squeamish.