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Age of Mythology is a spin-off of the Age of Empires franchise, focusing on mythological creatures and deities, in contrast to the more realistic approach of the main games. In this game, you can control one of four different civilizations, five if you have the DLC, and each civilization has its own major and minor gods to further diversify gameplay.

The four base civilizations are the Greek, Norse, Egyptian and Atlantean civilizations. The last one was added to the original game with the Titans expansion, though only with this Extended Edition was I able to try them out, as I never got the expansion for the original game. As I said above, beyond picking a civilization, you also get to pick a major god; think of this as a sub-civilization with its own bonuses and such. Besides that, gameplay remains mostly similar to what you'd expect from an Age of Empires game: you need to build your economy, train troops, advance ages and such. However, one of the key differences is that when advancing ages, you get to pick one of two minor deities; this feels like a precursor to Age of Empires III age-up mechanic, as each minor god offers specific bonuses. There's also god powers, one for each age, that can aid you in battle or in regards to your economy.

The game has several singleplayer campaigns; while it originally launched with a single one, the Fall of the Trident campaign, this Extended Edition includes the ones that were added later on through expansions, which are the Golden Gift campaign, and New Atlantis. The first campaign is rather extensive, featuring over 30 scenarios, and taking you through all major civs. It also makes use of cutscenes (rendered in-engine), which add a more cinematic feel compared to earlier games in the franchise. Personally, I enjoyed them all, though there's a few minor bugs here and there.

Beyond the campaign, you can play skirmish against the AI or online with other players. There's a couple of different game modes, from Supremacy, which is basically a traditional skirmish, to Deathmatch (starts with high resources and the map revealed), and even Treaty mode, which adds a timer where you can't attack, so you can build up your economy first. There's also a scenario editor so you can make up your own maps either for skirmish, or for a custom campaign.

Now, talking about the graphics, well, it has some enhancements as an "Extended Edition" compared to the original game, but it's still an early 2000s game at its core; don't expect anything ultra realistic, but at least compared to Age of Empires II, units and buildings are no longer simple sprites, but actual 3D models. The soundtrack is very nice, and each civilization gets its own theme that plays at the start of a match.

All in all, it was nice revisiting this classic from my childhood/teenage years after so long. I can recommend it, although with Retold in the horizon, you might want to wait for that one.

Star Wars: Dark Forces Remaster is a nicely crafted upgrade for a classic Star Wars FPS, which makes it playable on modern systems right out of the box, without needing DOSBOX and the like. The story follows Kyle Katarn, a mercenary working for the Rebel Alliance in their fight against the Empire.

As Kyle, you're tasked with uncovering the secrets behind the Empire's newest secret project, the Dark Troopers. This mission will take you across several different planets, and you might even end up seeing a few familiar faces along the way. Of course, being an FPS from the 90s, the story is told only through a handful of cutscenes between levels, and mission briefings. Even then, it's pretty good (although no longer canon to the main Star Wars continuity, since Rogue One overwrites some events from this game).

Gameplay wise, it hasn't changed from the original. As I said earlier, it's a FPS, so you'll spend most of your time shooting. There's a nice variety of weapons, some packing quite a nasty punch: from a regular blaster pistol, to a mortar launcher and even a missile launcher. Enemy variety is good for a game from this era, as you'll be facing Stormtroopers, Imperial Officers, a handful of alien species, and the Dark Troopers. And there's also some puzzle solving and key collecting, as it was common for games from the 90s.

Graphically, the improvement is noticeable. It still looks like a game from the 90s, mind you, but in higher definition, so it's not all pixelated. And the remastered cutscenes look very nice. The audio seems to have been upgraded as well, and there's the addition of subtitles; at least I don't remember the original having them, so that's a plus.

Overall, I enjoyed this game. I did realize how little I remembered from the original, despite having played it only 6 years ago. I basically didn't remember anything from the second half of hte game, besides the final boss. Anyway, I recommend it.

Having just finished a playthrough on Ultra Hard New Game+, earning the last few achievements I was missing, I feel now is the time to write a review for this game. And, as it usually happens after I finished a game that got me so involved, I find it hard to start the review.

So, Horizon Zero Dawn. The first PlayStation first-party game to ever release on PC. Back when it was first announced, I was beyond excited, it was a dream come true, not just because of this game, but because of potential future Sony releases on PC. However, we aren't talking about that here, we're talking about HZD. So I bought it when it was available, started it up when it released... And ended up abandoning it for years, until last year, when I finally got back to it, and it finally "clicked".

First things first, let's talk story and lore. The game takes place in a post-apocalyptic Earth, where humanity has regressed to a more tribal civilization, after some unknown catastrophe devastated cities and left beast-like machines roaming the Earth. You play as Aloy, a young girl from the Nora tribe, who has been an outcast her entire life; even then, she's allowed to win back her place in the tribe by taking part of the Proving, but, of course... Things happen, and Aloy gets thrown in the middle of a conflict that could bring down not only her tribe, but all of civilization itself. On top of that, Aloy is searching for answers about her past. The story is very good, but I must say where the game really shines is with the lore; although saying more about it would spoil the fun of discovering it as you progress to the game.

As for gameplay, it's an open world game, with the typical stuff you'd expect from such a game. Main quests, side quests, collectibles, upgrades and so on and so forth. The first time I tried playing the game, it didn't quite click with me because I wasn't using the full extent of what the game offers, and thus, the combat felt somewhat frustrating (I was only ever using the default bow). There's actually a decent variety of weapons to use, and even for bows there's actually three main variants: one focused on what I'd call "general" damage, one for elemental effects, and a more specialized one for specific situations. On top of the bows, you can get a bomb slingshot, set traps, tie machines down, plus a couple more weapons both from the main game and the DLC. You can also use stealth for certain encounters, and there's a wide variety of potions that can aid you in combat.

Enemy variety is pretty good. It's mostly machines, with some humans here and there, but you'll mostly fight machines. Another part of the combat I didn't quite get at first was how to deal with machines; not just which weapons to use, but how to exploit their weaknesses. For example, some machines might have fuel canisters on them; you can set them off with a fire weapon to cause an explosion dealing area damage, stuff like that. Other machines might be able to detect you while you're hiding, until you destroy their sensors, leaving them blind; well, not really blind, as they can still see you, but they can't find you as easily if they lose sight of you.

I enjoyed exploring in this game; the world they've crafted is beautiful. There are some headscratching parts (like going from snowy mountains to a hot desert), but I chalk that up to games being games; making the trek from one region to the other more realistic would mean a lot of pointless travelling, so distances are shortened. Anyway, the game has some really beautiful locations, even more so the DLC region, which has a volcano looming in the background.

Speaking of the DLC, I enjoyed it as much as the main game, although I gotta say, I'm not sure if I'll ever go through it in NG+. It's certainly way more challenging than the base game, with some new machines that can deal quite some damage. Its story connects with that of the main game, and you can even get some more info about a certain character through the DLC.

Which brings me to the characters: I liked most of them, except one whom I particularly despise for what he caused; I'm not going to talk further than that as it'd be spoilers, but I'm sure you'll know which character I'm talking about after you get through the game. Anyway, going back at it, the game has a diverse cast of characters; each tribe has its own customs that you learn throughout the story. The dialogue, I found very good, and some of Aloy's interactions with certain characters were really funny.

Visually, the game looks stunning. I noticed some details here and there, but that was probably because I played it in medium settings. In higher settings it'd probably look even better. The soundtrack is also very good.

I definitely recommend this game, it certainly became one of my favourite "new" franchises, and I can't wait to play Forbidden West next.

PAC-MAN 256 is an interesting twist on the classic PAC-MAN formula, and if you've ever gamed in the last 40+ years, you should at least know what PAC-MAN is about, so I'll just explain the "twist". Instead of having a bunch of similar mazes that you advance through by eating all pellets while avoiding the ghosts, in this game, the maze never ends, and you must always move forward, as the "glitch" advances through the maze. This Advancing Wall of Doom is a references to the 256th level glitch in the original Pac-Man, and if the glitch reaches you, it's game over.

Of course, the classic elements of Pac-Man are still there: there's pellets to eat, ghosts to avoid, fruit to eat, and power pellets. Oh, there's also several new power-ups that can help you deal with the ghosts: from lasers, to bombs, and even an aura that turns ghosts into cherries for you to eat. These power-ups can be upgraded by collecting coins as you play, although you can only have three power-ups show up per run.

As for the ghosts, there's several types, although not quite like in classic Pac-Man. While some are easy to avoid (the light blue ghost goes around in circle, the orange ghost always heads to the bottom of the screen), some might prove more challenging, such as the pink ghost or the glitchy one.

The main goal of the game, besides getting away from the glitch as I said above, is getting points, to get to the top of that scoreboard. You get points by eating pellets, getting combos, killing ghosts... If you manage to eat 256 pellets in a row, you trigger a special bonus that destroys all ghosts on screen giving you bonus points as well. There's also a local multiplayer mode that can be played with up to four players.

All in all, this is a fun, casual game that anyone can enjoy, so I recommend it.

Not sure if I should give this game the thumbs up or the thumbs down, so I'll probably decide as I finish typing this review. Anyway, what's Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing? Well, it seems to be Sega's response to Nintendo's Mario Kart, a party racing games featuring popular and obscure characters from Sega's catalog (mostly Sonic the Hedgehog characters). As someone who's never played a Mario Kart game due to a serious lack of a Nintendo console (but not of "Nintendos", as I've owned some non-Nintendo consoles), I don't have much experience with these types of games, and I can't compare the two.

The gameplay is decent, though I found it extremely janky at times. While there is a sort of tutorial when you first start the game (although you can skip it), it seems to skim over some details. I was, for example, very frustrated when I couldn't get a boost at the start of races, while my opponents could. It turns out you need to time your boost right in order to get it, and this depends on which character you're using, with some needing the full countdown to activate the boost (also, some characters' boost is pretty insignificant, to the point it basically makes no difference whether you get it right or not). Beyond this mechanic, the game also makes great use of drifting mechanics: when taking corners, you can start a drift to generate boost in order to get a lead. There's also items you can get during the races to either aid you or harm your enemies.

The character selection is pretty big; there's 20 different characters, and the same goes for track selection, with 24 tracks to choose from. Still, most of the characters and tracks are locked at first, and you can unlock by spending "Sega Miles" (no, not Miles "Tails" Prower, just regular miles) on the in-game shop. You can also unlock several new music tracks that you can choose from while playing.

When it comes to game modes, it offers both singleplayer and multiplayer (split screen) modes. In SP, you have Grand Prix, Single Race, Time Trials and Missions. Grand Prix mode has you race through four different tracks, earning points depending on how you finish, at the end of all tracks, the racer with more points wins. Single Race is just what the name implies, you can pick any track and set the number of laps, items and such. Time Trial has you compete against the staff time (and then your own) to set new track records. Finally, Mission mode has 64 different missions to complete, going from simple races, to stuff like boss fights. As for MP, I didn't mess around with it that much, as it only offers split screen (no online play), but from what I saw, there's a few more gamemodes, like one for collecting the Chaos Emeralds, and one for fighting between cars.

On the graphics side, it hasn't aged very well. It is a colourful game, I'll say that, but I noticed several graphical glitches at some points. As for sound, the track selection is very nice, so I have no issues there.

All in all, I think I've made my decision. While I found it an extremely janky port at first, I ended up enjoying my time with this game, to the point I went ahead and completed all the in-game challenges despite the game not having Steam achievements. So I guess I recommend it.

As a kid, I used to love playing several Apogee Software games. Of course, I never had the full versions, only shareware, but I still spent many hours playing them, the platformers in particular. And yet... Monuments of Mars is one I'd never actually played. And, if I did, then I don't recall it.

So, coming to it with a fresh perspective, I can say... Time has not been kind to this game. While I can still see myself enjoying other classics from this era, like, say, the original Duke Nukem or Secret Agent, this one I pretty much forced my way through. Fortunately, it's not a very challenging game, otherwise I don't know if I'd have made it through it. Plain and simple, the controls are very clunky, with inconsistent jumps and movement. The level design is also rather simple; the game is divided in four chapters of 20 levels each, each level being a single screen. Most of the time, you'll be figuring out how to get to the exit, perhaps interacting with different switches or looking for a key to spice things up.

Storywise, well, it's once again simple, which is expected for a game as old as this one. You play as an unnamed astronaut who's been tasked with rescuing missing astronauts from Mars, while investigating mysterious "monuments" left behind by some unknown civilization. As far as graphics go, well, this game was made for PC in an era in which PCs weren't all that powerful, so it has a very limited colour palette; sound is also just a handful of beeps and boops.

All in all, I can't really recommend this game. Then again, it's been delisted from Steam, so if anything, I'm just sharing my thoughts.

This mod is outright terrible. Simple as that, I decide to start my review by pointing out how terrible it is. Its plot seems uninspired, and not for trying to be a prequel to Half-Life (honestly, there's potential there, being one of the early scientists to venture into Xen), but rather because it takes that idea in the most nonsensical way possible.

First of all, this mod's main premise seems to be that you're the guy who got the crystal that caused the Resonance Cascade, and that's the first problem there, since we already know that crystal was delivered by the G-Man himself. Ok, we can still go with that premise, maybe we ended up giving the G-Man the crystal, but at least we get some adventures in Xen, right? Wrong. Why, despite Half-Life (and Blue Shift in particular) establishing that the crystals used for teleportation experiments were from Xen, this mod takes your character to an alternate universe, where, instead of Black Mesa, you have Black Rock. Just pure nonsense, to set the mod on a cargo ship.

Ok, at least the gameplay is gonna be interesting, right? Wrong again. Other than a few reskinned H.E.C.U., you'll be facing regular Half-Life enemies, with regular Half-Life weapons, and while I can enjoy that, over here it's just... I dunno, I guess it's because it's rather easy, as the cargo ship setting gives plenty of big, open spaces to snipe enemies from a distance. Then there's the final boss, which is just the Nihilanth turned on his side, so he's facing down, with a barnacle's tongue sticking out of its mouth. What this is supposed to mean in the context, I dunno, as dialogue from the single friendly NPC you encounter says they created it.

Honestly, as I said above, it's an outright terrible mod. Even the soundtrack, which is half decent, gets annoying as it seems to play on a loop. If I have to say a positive thing of this mod, is that at least they were able to implement subtitles for that friendly NPC.

Pretty cool of the creator of this mod to share the source files for the levels. If you're interested in modding yourself, this is a great thing to get, plus, it's free!

Half-Life: C.A.G.E.D. is a pretty short but incredibly amazing Half-Life mod in which you stage a prison escape to the rhythm of synthwave. There's not much more story than that, as you start out a prisoner, with only a few minutes to execution, and must make your escape.

Now, I've played many Half-Life mods in my life, but I gotta say, the quality in design for this mod is superb. The level design alone is pretty good, and it seems to really push the limits of the GoldSrc engine. While enemy variety isn't that extensive, as you'll be fighting some slightly remodeled H.E.C.U., it still offers a great challenge as you make your way through the prison.

The soundtrack, as I said above, uses a lot of synthwave, and it really works like a charm here, giving it an 80s or 90s action movie vibe. That, combined with the prison escape plot, makes for a great adventure. So, do I recommend Half-Life: C.A.G.E.D.? You can be damn sure I do!

Monument Valley 2 is a wonderful sequel to an already wonderful game, building up on the gameplay mechanics of its predecessor in interesting ways. Just like the original game, it's a relaxing puzzle game with a minimalist style. This time around, however, there's a bit more "story" to it. I mean, the first game had its own story as well, but in that game it was a bit more ambiguous, while here, you get the gist of the plot right away. Basically, it's a story about motherhood, as it follows a character named Ro and her daughter, and through its simplistic style, shows the process of growing up.

Now, about gameplay, as I said, it builds on the original game, as the puzzles are largely similar: you manipulate impossible geometry in order to progress through each level. Personally, I found the puzzles in this game to be somewhat easier than the first game, but it more than makes up for it with the new gameplay mechanics involving control of two characters, plus a few other things like controlling light to make plants grow.

The art style remains consistent with the first game, although with a more colourful palette this time around, with some new environments like a forest or a garden. All in all, I can say this is an excellent sequel for an excellent casual game, and so I recommend it!