Recent reviews by Azghouls

So, what do you get when you cross between Nova Terra from StarCraft and Mass Effect – Everreach: Project Eden. Yes, when you look at this game basing on the advertised screenshots and clips, you really cannot help yourself saying “wow – poor man Mass Effect” or “That’s Nova” (or something like that). Heck, it got me as I looked at it and felt a little gooey thinking it’s Mass Effect on a budget as I need more “Mass Effect”. And even the plot is so cheesy that it hurts so much – that is, humans discover first hospitable planet filled with beautiful vistas, alien artefacts, colonists living in harmony then all communications halted from Eden – you have been send in to investigate and blah, blah, and more blah.

This kind of storyline is so overused it’s no longer funny – like storylines when you have amnesia or there’s a plague – nonsense stuff. So, I marched on as I mentioned before, I need more Mass Effect. And about halfway through, it’s the same ole path – nice vistas yet some squad attacks you from time to time accompanied by some flying robots, and the list goes on and on as this have been done this a million times before.

Then, something happened…something changed about 2/3 into the game. Something that really got me hooked. Out went the cliche storyline and in comes “WTF just happened?” – and I really mean it. It was something straight out of left field and then hits you like a sledgehammer. All I can say is this; it reminded me when I first played Bioshock back in 2007 – the game starts off like some cheap thrill – all that glitter and no gold then 2/3 in, the game does a complete 180 degrees turn for the amazeballs effect. Everreach has done the exact same thing – the amazeballs was in full force that it was simply astounding to see. And here I’m referring to is the storyline.

The game’s length as advertised is about 8hrs so it’s pretty “typical”. I took around 14 hrs to complete as there was a glitch that seems to only affect me. The glitch was, when I load a saved game (checkpoint saves – not a fan), my character had negative stats – yes you read it right – all stats are in the negative. I loaded the entire chapter again and it seem to correct this. Not sure how this was triggered yet this added into my playing time. For achievement hunters, there are 10 to collect and all can be earned during a single playthrough. Mind you, there are some that can be easily missed as I think I got lucky with two of the achievements (not saying which one though).

So, Everreach boils down into two paths – you play it for the “tactical” gameplay or play it for the story. I want both however the gameplay is somewhat lacking – to put it simply, clumsy. The skill tree where you need to locate materials to improve them is a great idea though. The storyline though is brilliant – sucked me right in. This was the saving grace of this game and it really excelled. A couple of morale choices (as some are shrouded extremely well as I groaned at the end only because of my lack of tact) and as explained before, the storyline that suddenly does 180 degrees turn roughly 2/3 in, that’s worth the playthrough just to experience that. Whilst the price tag of about $36 AUD is steep for this game, it regularly goes on special. I feel between $20 - $25 is a good price to pay for this.

So, bypass the obvious Mass Effect / Nova Terra “influence” and the clumsy controls and enjoy the story – it’s a blast.

Full review here - https://www.gamespot.com/everreach-project-eden/user-reviews/2200-12841850/

8 / 10

So long, and thanks for all the fish!

Imagine, if you will that you owned a house, sitting on the edge of a cliff overlooking the ocean. Filled with sliding windows to allow the ocean breeze to enter, many levels (including an internal elevator) and even a boat jettied below in case you want to go for a ride. Now imagine that the entire house is filled with hidden secrets that a stealthy agent will admire. Well, this house has a tenant named Ruby La Rouge and she is simply an agent disposer. You play as Agent A and your task is to stop Ruby knocking off another agent named “B”, and of course you as well.

The length of the game can be completed in less than two hours. Why I said this is because there is an achievement for that (Speedy Time). In my first playthrough, it took me about five hours to complete. It has five chapters in total and once completed them, there is no real reason to play it again unless you missed an achievement (or more). You can replay a chapter by selecting it, yet you cannot save your progress – the game “saves” the game once you exit it. So, if you happen to miss an achievement and you know what chapter it’s in, you need to start that chapter all over again hence overrides your save. Thankfully, each chapter are quite short in nature.

And speaking of achievements, there are thirty to earn and technically, you can get them all through just one playthrough however I doubt that (unless you used a walkthrough yet remember, one achievement governs your speed to finish the game and some puzzles have a random element that’s tailored just for that run). The storyline has thirteen achievements I believe, and the rest are simply “experimenting” – I feel the “experimenting” achievements are awesome as it will come to a pleasant surprise when you unlock one because you mucked around a bit. Yet, there are a couple of achievements that links up to the fish…I won’t say anymore.

Agent A: A puzzle in Disguise is a pleasant point-and-click adventure game. All plays upon that stylish “retro” feel that’s certainly not pretentious. It’s literally “what you see is what you get”. No gimmicks, no “clever” marketing – it’s just what’s been advertised is what you’ll get (and a little bit more). All rendered in that versatile Unity engine, and to my surprise, it’s made in Victoria, Australia to my understanding. Yet, the downside to this game is it’s steep (AUD $28.95). If you can get it on sale or, in my opinion, about $20 (AUD), go for it. It’s a very enjoyable experience.

Full review here https://www.gamespot.com/agent-a-a-puzzle-in-disguise/user-reviews/2200-12839591/

7 / 10

I put it out there – I suck at sniping. I rarely play a sniper during multiplayer games as my aim is way too slow and besides, no matter how long I aim, I usually miss. Single player is a bit of an exception as you are challenging the AI instead and quite frankly, AI can be a hit / miss (excuse the pun). Stealth games I am usually quite a master of that. So, my “sniping experience” is limited hence I decided to pick this up – Sniper Ghost Warrior from City Interactive. It promises all things sniping goodness like wind factor, breathing and distance. Overall, it did live up to its promise somewhat however, I would not consider this a sniping “simulation”.

There are sixteen chapters to complete and each should take around 30 mins or less. For me on average took me about 50 mins to complete each chapter as I took my stealth very seriously. Also, I tried to locate all the hidden secrets as locating them somehow enhances the storyline as they are in the form of “intel”. Achievement hunters will be glad that there are 24 to collect yet 5 are earned during multiplayer mode. Looking at the achievements, some are dumb as like the “electrician” – this one requires to shoot 5 cable lines using sniper rifles. Like seriously, who would of thought that was possible without reading the achievement list. Another dumb one is the “Supplier of Death” (kill 2000 enemies) when playing multiplayer. Are they for real? The good news is that all the single player achievements can be earned during a single playthrough.

Sniper: Ghost Warrior is an attempt to be a “sniper simulator” – heck, it even states under the “key features” in Steam – “The most realistic sniping experience in a video game ever, right down to managing your breathing for increased accuracy of sniper shots.”. I did not think it was but what do I know considering I cannot snipe regardless. Seriously though, it is not that “tactical” at all. Just aim and shoot as many rounds as possible as ammo is plentiful. Granted that a timed “head shot” has a nice “Bullet Cam” mode where you can see the ammo flying in slow-motion towards the enemy’s face. As far as a realistic sniping experience, it has a lot of room for improvement along with the lack-lustre storyline that makes you just want to end the game. I guess it could be worse (a.k.a. Sniper: Art of Victory from City Interactive again using Chrome Engine 2 - 2008).

Full review:
https://www.gamespot.com/sniper-ghost-warrior/user-reviews/2200-12830809/

5 / 10

The future certainly bleak no matter where we see or read it. Whilst arguably, global warming is the current “hot topic” (excuse the pun), there are other factors that screams out “Save our Planet”. We should be saying “Save us from destroy us” instead. Regardless, developer Chernov Vyacheslav played upon this “bleak” future and used a plot of a worldwide water crisis. The year is 2039 and the global population is sitting around 12.4 billion. That’s a very tall “prediction” to say the least as the World Population forecast stating in the year 2030 it will be approximately 8.6 billion and 9.8 billion for 2050. Whatever the case maybe, the backstory plays upon the lack of fresh water and mega corp SICON holds domination over it. Where you come in, playing as a mercenary, is hired to check things out with regards to SICON as the world is currently in a state of emergency.

Like always, depending upon your gameplay style (run and shoot vs stealth) will dictate the completion time. During my two playthroughs, I have knocked off twenty-four hours. However, I’m known to be some sort of a perfectionist so I believe, on average it should take around ten or so hours. With a selling price of around $6AUD it’s very good value. There are also seventeen achievements to earn however you cannot earn them during your first playthrough as there are three of them that requires to complete the game with all three characters. Yet there are also some that requires to beat the game without dying and on hard difficulty at the same time and one that requires playing Valkyrie. I have played it twice and that was enough and earned eleven out of seventeen. Also, there are five steam cards to collect and all of them are pretty average at best.

So, what it all boils down to is the concept of a role-playing game and the advertisement of being a “unique real time combat system”. To summarise, in accordance to Wikipedia (just to name a single source), a role-playing game controls the action of the main character in a well-defined world with narrative elements, player character development, complexity, replayability and immersion. Of course, that’s a tall ask for any developers making a cRPG especially an indie company. Westboro doesn’t have most of this at all as it plays like an action game – that is, point and shoot for the most of the duration. Yet, because of the very cheap price tag, it tips on the favourable recommendation. Play it for the action and not for the “role-playing” and all should be fine.

Full review: https://www.gamespot.com/westboro/user-reviews/2200-12798190/

6 / 10 (the price tag pretty much saves it)

Way back in 2007, an unexpected yet excellent game “Bioshock” from 2K took the gaming genre by storm. For me, what sold it was the narrative as it fooled me right from the get-go as I blamed it on “Consolitis”. Why is that because of the outrageous starting point of the game where the protagonist injecting needles into himself without asking questions so we can get straight into the action. Well I was totally wrong as the game fully explained later on, about why you do what you do. Why I’m saying this is because this game “The Fidelio Incident” has a similar feel to it. Granted it’s coined as a “walking simulator” (for which I loath this term as most of my games I walk anyways to get into the “feel” of it – that’s another story) however it’s plays upon the experience of the main character.

The game is quite short and it’s recommended to be played around the three hours mark. For me, I realty took my time searching all the journal entries thrice throughout (and even listen to them a couple of times) and I have clocked around five hours. Because this game is purchased via the Steam client, there are fourteen achievements to collect (and they are all achievable during the first playthrough) and six cards to collect (along with the typical background / emojis and what like). The cards are just OK as they are extracts from Leonore’s journals (just the pictures). They could of be a little more imaginative here like having cards that was part of a concept art (or something to that effect).

Because the game advertises (in accordance to their website) that it has narrative, exploration, survival and puzzles, the only thing that’s got going for is the narrative as the other three (exploration, survival and puzzles) are in very small quantities. However, there is an enveloped underlining theme – that is, understanding the mindset of the main protagonist Stanley and his quest to locate and save his wife before it’s too late. And as a sidenote, this also can make a great movie flick too.

7.5 / 10 – Whilst it promises narrative, exploration, survival and puzzles, the narrative exceeds everything else. However, play it for the experience as, after all, life is a collection of experiences.

Full review: https://www.gamespot.com/the-fidelio-incident/user-reviews/2200-12788075/

We probably heard this mantra from time to time that bigger is better. It certainly is in some cases however there’s certainly another mantra where quality over quantity suits much better. Well, in the case of this game from Reality Pump “Two Worlds”, it’s certainly a case where it needs more quality. That’s not to say it’s a bad game, however it certainly needs a lot of touches ranging from the storyline to the graphics to the number of quests to make this game more thrilling thus getting that ‘wanting’ feeling to complete this without going through the motions.

Whilst Two Worlds has elements that went against it (graphics / large world that feels empty, storyline) there are features that truly increases the gameplay like alchemy, weapon / armour combinations and even a mini quest to create those teleportation stones, it has more for than against. Of course, there’s still plenty of room for improvement however, being developed by a small team with a small budget is something I can give credit to. In addition to this, the two endings seem like an afterthought as one of them is really a joke.

Yet, it also feels that they wanted to be the next ‘Oblivion’ game. That’s not a good idea as developers Bethesda has a much larger budget and ‘goodwill’. There should be more concentration of Reality Pump being Reality Pump (meaning don’t compare themselves to others) thus making a product that is truly unique instead of that ‘Elder Scrolls / Gothic series’ feel. Overall, it’s a decent game to play nevertheless.

Full review here:
https://www.gamespot.com/two-worlds/user-reviews/2200-12778392/

7 / 10 (thanks to the innovative alchemy / equipment combining features along with not taking itself too seriously).

Wouldn’t it be cool to play as a vampire and using stealth tactics to lure your victims into submission? After all, vampires are (in a ‘typical’ sense) are tailored for this type of strike as they can turn into a mist, bat, rat or whatever the case maybe. Pretty much the ultimate stealth machine. And as strange as it may seem, I only recall just one video game that utilise this and it forms part of a side quest (if you will) – the Elder Scrolls games (e.g. Oblivion). There could be others however I’m really stumped to think of any (as most are played as an adventure / RPG game). Well here arrives one to fill that ‘stealth vampire’ gameplay gap thus forms the bases of this review – Dark from Kalypso Media (Dungeons / Tropico series). The net result was a pretty average game to say the least as far as stealth gameplay is concerned. It should provide more innovative ideas instead of the same ole understanding the ‘patrolling pattern’ then go for the kill – that is vary the gameplay at least.

Beyond the single player campaign, there are a series of challenges where you basically complete a selection of single player maps and beat the time. Personally, I haven’t tried this as the nature of stealth games is to inspect your surroundings then go for the move, not rushing through the levels. Basically, it’s not my style. For achievement hunters, there are thirty-one to collect and the perfect single player run can net twenty-seven of them (I grabbed twenty-six). There are also six steam cards to collect (for which the artwork is pretty nice) and five badges to earn.

So, as an overall assessment of this game, the concept of playing a vampire using stealth will make a great opportunity as this concept rarely has been done. Dark, grabbing this opportunity, didn’t quite hit the mark to make it memorable enough. The game plays upon a little too much ‘stereotypical’ ideas (e.g. main character looking intense with a deep guttural voice). At least vary the locations a bit or spice up the gameplay however that was not the case. It plays and feels like an average game at best. You can say I was a little disappointed.

5 / 10

Ever since I finished off Far Cry back in 2004, I was yearning for more of that idyllic paradise theme – clear waters, palm trees, vast mountain ranges and of course, plenty of explosions in an open world environment. Whilst Far Cry done some of that, it just didn’t fill my paradise palette. Well after close to two years of waiting, my palette salivation has been answered in the form of this game ‘Just Cause’, developed by Swedish Avalanche Studios and published by Eidos Interactive. Whilst this game suffers a similar fate to Far Cry, being a lacklustre storyline, the true open world environment and causing mayhem really shines in this one. Granted it’s not perfect however it’s still great over-the-top fun.

The plot is all about drugs, controlling the country, meeting up with hot women and a couple of other things I won’t delved into as it’s a minor spoiler otherwise. You play the main character named Rico Rodriguez, who looks and sounds remarkably like Antonio Banderas, especially in the film ‘Desperado’. And to take one step further, he even dresses like him. The director of that film Robert Rodriguez, well the similarities is beyond calling it a coincidence. Heck I cannot blame Avalanche Studios as Desperado was indeed a great film to boot.

Just Cause is a game that you shouldn’t take seriously. It is over-the-top fun and sometimes questionable (e.g. like how Rico enters a moving helicopter from the top without getting bladed?). As the title states, there will be many times Rico does the unbelievable – why is that is because…just cause. Just ride the wave of absurdity and all will be fine. A game that’s filled with exotic locations, exotic cars with exotic women and armed with a grappling hook in an open world environment where everything goes, you cannot go wrong with that.

8 / 10

Full review:
https://www.gamespot.com/just-cause/user-reviews/2200-12757675/

While the world was ogling over first-person shooters like Doom 3, Half Life 2 and even Unreal Tournament 2004 for which, incidentally, all developed by famous companies like id Software, Valve and Epic Games respectively, straight out of left field arrived a FPS game named Far Cry from Crytek and the net result was a brilliant display of technical prowess that requires an equally powerful PC to run it. However, as good as it sounds, it has its flaws like a pretty lame storyline as the game felt like a tech demo – that is, they have a great engine to toy with however needs a purpose to play the game; a.k.a. plot / storyline.

Why I’m giving a detailed opening about Far Cry’s first game is because Far Cry 2 (and thus forms the bases of this review), as good as it sounds with its visuals with plenty of explosions (if you manage to see the promos / trailers and all that wonderful stuff), it suffers from the same fate as in Far Cry however to somewhat a lessor extend. It also derived from the same gaming engine yet heavily modified Dunia Engine, the visuals certainly meet up to the awesome standards with brilliant lighting effects, beautifully rendered weather patterns and even has fire physics that’s simply rivals the real thing. Yet there are elements of improvement needed to bump this game from simply good to great.

According to an interview with Clint Hocking for Rock Paper Shotgun, Clint explained that to fully appreciate this game can take the player 50 plus hours to complete it. For me, arguably being the world’s slowest gamer, took me just shy of 100 hours to finish it; and that’s including locating every diamond, unlocking every safehouse, locating all the buddies…basically everything that you can possibly do in that game. However, it is a bit of a rinse, repeat type of gameplay for which is a shame (as explained before).

Far Cry 2 is certainly a move up from the previous game in terms of gameplay (e.g. buddy system, semi open world etc) however it still suffers the pitfalls of the previous instalment – that is it really needs to flesh out the world rather than looking pretty – that is give it a bit more backstory behind it. Well it actually did with the Jackal tapes however you have to locate them to appreciate it. Make the game more believable instead of relying on graphics to tell the story, for which graphics, in itself, is a good thing however not in isolation though. Overall, it’s a good game to play and explore however there’s still a lot more room for improvement.

Full review here: https://www.gamespot.com/far-cry-2/user-reviews/2200-12747857/

7.5 / 10

To start things off, I copied a quote from the ‘About this Game’ blurb from Steam:

‘A serene and relaxing game experience; take your time to enjoy the sunrise and beautiful vistas, listen to the sound of the ocean, or observe the playfulness of the creatures that inhabit this place. There is only one pace in this game and that’s your own.’

The above statement pretty much sums up this game ‘Submerged’ from Uppercut Games Pty Ltd. It took away all the obligatory kill everything that glances your way, enemies and even death. Yes, you cannot die in this game, no matter what. Then again, some adventure games you cannot die too however that’s another story. So, if you took away all of these elements that conceivably makes video games fun then what has Submerged then have to offer with regards to the ‘fun’ factor? Again, it comes back to the above statement as its sole purpose is to make the player having a relaxing time exploring the world whilst doing a bit of searching for collectables along the way.

And now here comes the contradiction – the storyline. Yes, there is a story to this game however it really feels like as an afterthought; like Uppercut Games had this brilliant idea of exploring the world in your own pace without the fear of death yet need to string a story to make some sort of purpose build into it. The plot, in the most simplistic form, revolves around the main character (i.e. what you control) named Miku, and her brother Taku both arrived via a small fishing boat to the submerged city of unknown origins. The catch is her brother is dying and it’s up to you (Miku) to save him by finding supplies that’s hidden throughout this once bustling city.

Now here’s the contradiction – the game tells you to admire the scenery and soak up in the atmosphere; basically, take your sweet time doing what needs to be done to save your dying brother (?). I found this concept a little difficult to swallow as, and remarkably so, I felt a connection for the two characters even though Miku is almost a mute. However, as the saying goes ‘A picture is worth a thousand words’ and this game Submerged is like viewing a silent movie where this time you control the pace (as opposed to a movie where it dictates the course of action). So, you have this sense of urgency build in (a.k.a. dying brother) yet the main character cannot die period. Crazy stuff.

As the game encourages exploration, it can extend the life of this product. For me, it took around 8 hours to complete however I really explored every nook and cranny to locate every single item (for which I did – yet it will be great to have a little fan fair about this however it wasn’t the case). However, it’s not unheard of that others can finish this under 3 hours. The map is quite small considering however it was developed by an indie developer made in Australia – and being Australian myself, the Australian gaming industry is miniscule with little government support.

Yet to those achievement hunters, there are ten to collect and they are all achievable on your first run. Yet there’s a bug where the progression count for the collectables are not recorded in steam yet it does unlock when locating them all. According to the developers, they mentioned it has to do with the game engine itself (Unreal 4). I have no idea whether this is true though. Also, there are five collectable cards and they are all nice looking (and not some copy / paste garbage from other games that I won’t mention here). All five are concept arts from the game so that’s a nice touch.

With the asking price of $20 and an additional $10 for the soundtrack (for which I highly recommend as it’s composed by Jeff Van Dyck - Total War / Need for Speed series), I cannot recommend this game for that price. Honestly, it’s a really hurts for me to say this as I really enjoyed this game as it did suck me in until the end. I love the characters, love the idea of exploration and taking my sweet time doing so, love just sitting there soaking up the scenery however, because of the storyline involves a dying boy, it did add a sense of urgency. That’s not to say that’s a bad thing however it does contradict to the overall pitch for the game. Yet I even adore the storytelling montage and the uniqueness that brought it into the game. Also, I’m aware the lack of support of the gaming industry in Australia has that may have an effect of driving prices up. If the price was $20 that should include the soundtrack and not as a DLC.

Thankfully this game does go on sale from time to time and I even seen it at 75% off – that’s a total steal in my eyes. Also, because the game has a lot of evidence of love poured into it making this game wonderful, for this reason I can lean towards recommending it. So, you have on one hand a short, contradicting pitch (dying boy vs admire the scenery), missing mini map (that will enhance the gameplay), lack of zoom function (to view multiple paths instead of backtracking) and high purchasing price vs likable characters, dare to be different, beautiful scenery and decent backstory that plays upon real life scenarios (instead of you are the chosen one). I’m opting the latter thus giving my overall recommendation.

But take heed what I have stated.

6 / 10 (lots of love poured into this game however it does need some serious overhaul to the entire game).