Последние обзоры Happiness Officer

If you ever wanted to cultivate a British attitude to weather, play this game. You'll moan about the rain in Spring, how hot it is in summer and how cold it is in winter. You'll pine for any other season except the one you're currently in

Reign of Giants is like finding a Scout camp and unleashing a tiger into it

Does this make Don't Starve more challenging? Yes! Very much so

If you're not good at the original though, don't panic - it doesn't ruin it, not by a long shot. Whilst you'll certainly find yourself challenged more and your longevity will likely drop - You're also given far more to play with, far more to do and far more to plan for. It makes it all more exciting and diverse. In essence: This expansion enriches the Don't Starve experience more than just slap on a harder difficulty setting

If you're really concerned: You can always switch off RoG content (so play some games with the original content) and are given enhanced controls of the seasons - So can always tailor them to be friendlier if you find it too much

All in all, this takes an already formidable game and gives it a ton of exciting new elements

If, like me, you got a kick out of finding berry bushes and gold mines in Age of Empires, you'll love this game

It takes the nitty-gritty aspects of the beginning of most decent RTS/RPS's; where you start with barely anything and have to claw your way up to get some basic form of autonomy, but applies that pressure continually (and adds bees for good measure)

You start in the middle of nowhere and have to figure it all out for yourself. How can you capture that tasty-looking creature? Is this safe to eat? Is there a way you can take down that spiders' nest? How do I make that mandrake shut the hell up? Half the fun is piecing things together and figuring it out - learning tricks that give you the brief satisfaction of feeling like you're beating nature (until nature grows tentacles, then you run away screaming again)

Gratefully there's no let-up. If it's not trying to find a food source, it's trying not to go insane. If it's not roving packs of wolves, it's the dreaded winter season. You're always kept busy and there's, thankfully, always something to do. It's gently paced, but respite is few and far between

My only warning for casual players: It's perma-death. If you snuff it, that's it (short of a Touchstone or resurrection item). Whilst it's certainly an integral element of the game - as it gives a nice sense of threat and forces you to try and think/avoid more situations than to just run at them with a spear... at the same time it can be quite discouraging for casual players who lack the time or devotion to keep losing all of their progress when they think it's a good idea use a blow dart on a pig...

A charmingly cute little gem of a physics-based puzzler! The premise is elegantly simple: Link the adorable goo balls together to create structures and bridges to allow the rest of them to navigate the structure to reach the pipe at the end of the level - guided only by some mysterious sign-painter, who lavishes this with a quirky mix of humour and ennui

What's particularly brilliant is that the levels feel distinctly unique. For a straightforward idea, the puzzles are exceptionally diverse and really challenge you to think. Some are fast-paced, others are ponderous and require meticulous planning. Most are just plain fun. Solving it is also only half of the challenge... executing it is where it gets tricky; as you helplessly watch your lovingly crafted structure teeter and crumple into a pile of oblivious-looking blobs

New goo ball species are also introduced often, and really add their own distinct flavour to the game

My only gripe are the OCD flags. Level completion jumps between 'barely scraped by' to 'completed perfectly'. There's no half-way point to encourage players, so I didn't feel motivated to get them half of the time. You either have to do it perfectly or you might as well have not bothered (and the global highest tower isn't something I care for either). But that's a small gripe: The OCD flags are entirely optional (and hidden away) so doesn't detract from the casual element of the game if you want to just play it to enjoy

Get Commandos 2 first. The learning curve here delicately holds your hand through the tutorial then hands you a live grenade and asks why you haven't defused it yet

The good news then, for veterans of the game, you'll really find your skills pushed here. Time is the big stricture here for many levels, where before you generally had the luxury of ticking off every enemy in your own time. Clearing a rail-field in minutes to intercept a train, with just the Green Beret, was an incredible level

In many respects, Commandos 3 improves upon the 2nd installment. The levels are smaller, so less onerous. The variety is also pushed so it's not just repetitions of "clear out this encampment". Quickly move to the front of a moving train, assassinate a traitor, destroy as many vehicles as possible before they leave the compound...

Ironically though, these work against it in some respects. The game is ridiculously short (compared to the previous titles) - there are only 12 levels in all, a handful of which take 5 minutes (if that), so you barely feel you get started with a campaign before it's over. Too many also become a bit "Commandos and Conquer" - less about stealth and more playing an RTS of hero units. They were fine in moderation in Commandos 2, but I felt they took up a few too many levels here

But whilst I say it's probably the least memorable of the 3 titles - The quality and challenge is still definitely there

A huge and incredible jump following the success of Commandos: Behind Enemy Lines - And still looks just as exceptional

We see a welcome return of much that made the first game amazing: A true David & Goliath situation where, using your wits and the skills of a handful of commandos, you must work your way through heavily-guarded encampments, cities and even Colditz Castle itself - eliminating enemy soldiers as you attempt to neutralise key targets, rescue captives and capture the enigma machine. Gratefully all of the commandos from the first game return, charming as ever, including a few extra faces. This goes way beyond point-and-click stealth - The game requires a lot of patience, careful planning and studying of enemy movements. For 10 missions (not counting bonus ones), there's a huge amount to do - so expect to divulge many hours into this... it's a beast!

There's a ton of new features and abilities too - including completely revamped graphics and a superb soundtrack, the biggie is that you can now enter (and operate) within buildings - bringing huge levels of new scope to the missions. Each Commando also now has an 'inventory' and can carry / exchange any item (even if they cannot necessarily use them) and there's much more this time around in terms of raiding boxes / cabinets for useful items or pinching them off some guards

The missions bring with them an exceptional variety too. Amongst the sneak-and-kill we're used to, the first night mission forces you to play without any killing. Another leaves you with just one Commando having to set free the rest of your companions, held captive in several different houses. You also get a number of 'defence' scenarios where you have to place your guys and a handful of friendly soldiers to defend against an attack force. It's varied and brings refreshing new elements to an already formidable game

I have two small gripes though. The first is that, compared to the original, it's not as difficult where you no longer have garrisons. Previously, patrols would start swarming the place if you set off the alarm - here, the consequence is less fatal. That's not to say the guards are any less dangerous, but you can sometimes ragequit a situation with a few well-aimed shots or explosives if you get fed up. The 'rooms' tend not to interact with each other much, so it splits up the levels into smaller easier-to-manage chunks

The second... Spike the rat (and a castaway with a trumpet). Come on... a specially trained rat that does backflips to distract enemy soldiers? You can get infinite uses, send it through doors and it pretty much distracts nearly any group... Talk about overpowered. It removed a lot of the challenge - not to mention being quite ridiculous

Truth be told though, that's nit-picking. It's an otherwise exceptional title which successfully manages to retain much of what made the first so ground-breaking, whilst valiantly bringing in a cavalcade of new features and dynamics. Superb work

You might like if: You enjoy a casual puzzler… and don’t mind a gentle 60-level learning curve before the levels actually get interesting!

A very simple, unassuming point-and-click puzzle game. You control love and hate: One pushes, one pulls - and you need to combine their skills to arrange 'the other ones' in such a way that you can reach the exit. Aesthetically it's utterly delightful - Though the rest of the game is unlikely to blow your socks off. It’s super-casual and the lack of level music leaves it feeling a little sterile and uninviting.

Annoyingly, it has a very gentle learning curve... So it was only around the late level 50's (over halfway) that they started to make me scratch my head and require me to study the screen a bit more. From that point though, it's been a lovely little title to dip into and get a few good "Ah! That puzzle was cool!" moments. Not quite "get stuck in" PC-gamer stuff, but enjoyable enough.

It's far from perfect and could do with more work... but snagged in a sale isn't a bad addition to a puzzler’s library.

Compatibility settings people!

Whilst the team porting this have done a superb job fixing the speed and saves, if you still have issues with it freezing / crashing - Try setting the conman_mp.exe file to run in Windows 95 compatibility mode (it's located in the game files) - Whilst you annoyingly have to validate this each time you want to play (it asks if you're ok with it making changes) this has given me 100% stability on this great game again

This game is ultimately an expansion pack for 'Behind Enemy Lines' - Giving you 8 new difficult (yet brilliant) missions. It also introduces a few deceptively simple, yet interesting, abilities. You can knock enemies unconscious (to gain control to distract other guards), divert with stones or lure with cigarettes (a particular favourite). Fortunately this doesn't detract from the ruthless difficulty that this game has thankfully retained. You're still left carefully studying enemy movements and scratching your head as you try to figure out the best approach - all without raising the dreaded alarm... that is, of course, until you get to blow the hell out of the place - Which still continues to be a satisfying sight

Quite frankly, if you loved the first one then you'll have no reason not to like this one

I'm Loidy!

(Y'know... for years I never knew what The Spy was actually saying)

Commands: Behind Enemy Lines is an absolute gem of a game. It was a proud addition to the Windows 95 and still is welcomed back with open arms to my modern rig. God, it's old but the graphics still look beautiful (albeit pixelated if you zoom in)

THIS is how tactical games are meant to be. You're completely outnumbered and out-gunned. If, like me as a 9-year old with no concept of strategy, you try and just run in shooting things: you'll quickly become overrun. No, this game is about leveraging the skills of your commandos to silently dispatch the enemy guards as you make your way into increasingly heavily fortified locations - Blowing up dams, radar stations and even taking down a battleship. It's an exceptionally unforgiving game though... if you trip the alarm just once, everywhere will be crawling with patrols. Though the frustration can be high in places, there's nothing quite as rewarding as cracking it and seeing an enemy HQ get blown to pieces

I have to say, even for an old game, the explosions are truly satisfying

You get 20 missions (+tutorials) which provide obscene amounts of hours you'll spend studying enemy moments, making the killing blows... or more likely getting caught and shot. Once you're past the first level or 2, each of the missions are sprawling with soldiers. In fact, in all the years I've had it, I've still only got to around level 14 - so length of gameplay is not an issue by far!

Your team consists of a selection of 6 Commandos... Each with their own unique set of skills and abilities (and cool personalities derived well from just the portraits and responses). You control them from the 'birds-eye' view, much like most RTS games. Gratefully, the game tends to be generous enough to give you multiple ways to approach a situation, allowing the freedom to play to your style (to a degree)

The only snag - It's not quite 100% stable on modern machines yet (though the team porting it have done a grand job of fixing the speed and lack of saves) - If you have trouble, try to skip the Intro Movies and Mission Briefing. You can still find the objectives by clicking the small triangle on the map on the right of the screen - the map itself also circles any main objectives), so you're at least not without the actual gameplay

Oki Doki!

Anyone remember those old sliding-tile puzzles? If you enjoyed them, then I think you'd really get a kick out of this lovely little game

Bear in mind, they're ALL sliding-tile puzzles. The variety among them is delightfully done though. It's not just a case of constructing bigger pictures... Instead you're there working with an assortment of different pipes and gears... Sometimes on a single 2D face, other times working around a whole 3D block. It's an elegantly crafted Zen game and the animations and music are spot on. It's a casual, yet challenging, piece to wind down with

My only gripe - I hate the timer. Unless you play the special 10-move-limit mode (which you need to unlock), you always have it ticking away... letting you know that you're too slow to win the Gold stars. To me, this is a frustrating addition. It adds an unnecessary time-based element of tension that doesn't suit such a slow-placed game. Don't get me wrong, it's not like your level terminates if you're too slow... but it's enough to mar the relaxing enjoyment of it slightly

Add a 'Zen Mode' (basically 'Inventor Mode' without Time/Move challenges) and we're onto a winner. Other than that, it's a charming little piece

I begrudge to admit that this is one of the few games I actually put down

At its heart, it's a soul-sequel to Broken Sword 1 (in that the dynamics are, by and large, identical) - But a number of changes to the execution has left it feeling underwhelming compared to its predecessor. The way I see it, if you really enjoyed the first one, this should be fine. Otherwise, tread with caution. For me, it simply came down to the fact that it required more time than it rewarded, and I no longer cared enough about the protagonists or story to see it through to completion

We once again join George and Nico in another escapade to solve mysteries (I'm tempted to hum the Scooby Doo theme tune here) - though George's usual charm seems to be laced with a bit more obnoxiousness here. Him and Lobineau find it more fitting to trade terse ripostes than actually try to find out if Nico is ok. You're then breaking into private land, smashing artefacts and plunging a dog into the ocean... I found George becoming more unlikeable as I went along. The antagonist Karzac and his henchmen aren't particularly interesting either. All in all, the characters felt weaker this time around, and for such a story-driven game, this is a considerable problem

The shark-jump for me, however... was being on the docks and repeatedly having an overweight watchman fart in my face (no, I'm serious) - At that point, the game seemed to move beyond serious plot laced with humour, to just plain silly. It just didn't seem to know whether to take itself seriously

I'm also not sure on the graphics. The game itself is fine - But the portraits lacked the visual appeal from before, particularly in the speech animations. George in particular had a rather creepy expression (a small grin, from the side) which looks like he intends to watch you inappropriately in your sleep

The one thing Broken Sword 2 DID do, was remove some of the unnecessary dialogue options. So when chatting to people, you at least don't have to potentially click through every item in your inventory, but just the important ones and a handful of funny ones too. The catch is that a lot of the puzzles seem to be lacking too. It fell again to a lot of dialogue. The worst was landing in Quaramonte - Pretty much having to talk to the entire town repeatedly, walking back and forth between screens until I managed to trigger another talking point with another character... who happened to be on the other side of town... it was a very tedious section and I just didn't feel very challenged or engaged

It's a shame. But personally, the plot just wasn't strong enough to carry to slower pace. And likewise, the puzzles weren't exciting or challenging enough to compensate for the weaker storyline