henke on 2/5/2022 at 15:32
Started playing
Indiana Jones & The Emperor's Tomb. After some modding and tweaking I've got it running in 1440p widescreen with gamepad controls. It's fun! Kinda a halfway point between Tomb Raider and Uncharted. Seeing how the Indy movies were such a throwback to old TV-serials, it somehow feels very charming and
right to be playing an outdated Indiana Jones game. The combat is scrappy and fun, with environmental hazards and improvised weapons. The shooting has fantastic gunsounds and an early version of cover-shooting. The platforming and exploration is neat. Tho by the 4th chapter, Hong Kong, I'm kinda starting to feel like I've seen what the game has to offer gameplay-wise, and it's starting to drag a bit. Apparently I'm not even halfway through the campaign yet? Folks who have played it, is it worth sticking with? Are there any real standout moments or gameplay revelations still to come?
Quote Posted by Thirith
It's possible that it's just the tutorial that is this bad, but if I don't enjoy moving through the world, then I won't enjoy the game.
If you're not enjoying the handstuff in the tutorial then you're not gonna enjoy the rest of it either, cause it's
aaaaall handstuff!Thirith on 2/5/2022 at 15:39
Based on this snippet from the Wikipedia synopsis of the game, it sounds like it's not worth sticking with the game, henke:
Quote:
Von Beck gives chase to him in a
boring machine bent on getting rid of Jones once and for all.
I've not read on in the synopsis, but the game probably ends with "Jones rid[ing] into the sunset on a tremendously dull horse."
henke on 2/5/2022 at 16:47
Indiana Jones & The Boring Machine
EvaUnit02 on 2/5/2022 at 20:13
I actually tried playing Indy and The Infernal Machine the other week. It is a carbon copy of OG Tomb Raider, right down to the PS1 era tank-like digital movement. I'm sure that there's a decent game there, heavy on puzzle solving and exploration, I just couldn't be arsed putting up with the dated player inputs.
EvaUnit02 on 3/5/2022 at 08:21
I'm back on the GTA IV grind after a few weeks off. Played a mission where you rescue Roman from being held hostage by some mobsters he owed gambling debt too. As I was trying to find a way back to the road my car suddenly exploded. I think I drove over an exploding barrel I didn't see, LOL.
[video=youtube;CGpEogBw764]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGpEogBw764[/video]
henke on 7/5/2022 at 14:35
Started playing Zelda: Skyward Sword on Switch and it is friggin delightful.
EvaUnit02 on 7/5/2022 at 22:40
A Cyberpunk 2077 clip I found from my launch period playthrough. I wonder if you can still get amusing glitches like this in the game's current state? Let's find out once they drop the expansion pack probably in 2023.
[video=youtube;ZIKoke9Mx9U]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZIKoke9Mx9U[/video]
Thirith on 10/5/2022 at 08:18
I'm really enjoying Black Mesa, but since it's been such a long time since I played Half-Life, with the bits of level that were probably created first, I sometimes find myself thinking that it doesn't look all that different from the original. Obviously it does, and it'd blatantly obvious if I saw them side by side, but in isolation some things look and feel quite bare - which is okay, because this is still a relatively retro experience, just not quite as retro as the original. And on the whole they've done a really nice job of recreating Half-Life as I remember it, not as it actually was.
Thirith on 16/5/2022 at 15:57
I finished Black Mesa - and didn't even find "Interloper" such a bad chapter, although it does overstay its welcome - and am now playing Inmost, an... action adventure? Story platformer? It's intriguing and gorgeous to look at, but other than that I can't say much about it after playing for about half an hour. But gorgeous it definitely is, in an O.G. Gameboy with bells and whistles kind of way.
[video=youtube;VhVEgxwmlXg]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VhVEgxwmlXg[/video]
Thirith on 19/5/2022 at 08:06
I finished Inmost yesterday, and while I would recommend it on the strength of its gorgeous pixel art (with some non-embelishments, in particular in terms of the lighting and particle effects), I wasn't too keen on its story and storytelling.
[spoiler]I got the impression early on that this would be one of those indie games that uses symbolism to talk about Big Topics, e.g. this game seems to be about a princess, a falling star and a monster, but really it's about depression/alcoholism/grief. However, the final story reveals (that all arrive in the last 10-15 minutes, and in non-interactive ways) are vastly more convoluted, and for me at least, they turned out to be worse than the generalised, generic thing that e.g. Gris had. Which is a shame, because I enjoyed much of the moment-to-moment writing, but the weight of the plot finally crushed these smaller, more successful moments.
In addition: it's extremely difficult to reconcile gameplay and themes, but it's necessary to make these games work really well. Here, there's little connection between the two. It's not entirely absent, but it never really gelled for me. There's some stuff of the "He's slow and not very mobile because <thematic reasons>" or "This character has a strong attack due to <symbolism>" variety, but it's relatively thin.[/spoiler]
Still, I'm glad I played this. It's short enough to play because of the aspects that you enjoy, while tolerating those aspects that you could do without. And there is a lot to like here, as long as people are prepared for an ending that may well ruin some of their enjoyment.
