2012 Reviews in Review

With 2013 beginning, it's hard not to reflect on the past year. 2012 was a very interesting year for me in regards to writing. It is probably obvious to see that my blog has been much quieter than it was at the start, and this is mostly due to the shift in reviewing habits. As the year went on, I reviewed more and more, and became more comfortable with it.

Although it is fun to review games, it did make me think about a few things. For one, with reviews very often on my plate, I felt that I was rarely able to enjoy games that I wanted to play "just because". Instead of flipping through my PS2 collection to find a new gem, I was usually forcing myself to play a game for review. Thankfully, most games I ever review are ones I'm interested in, but there is something to be said for free gaming time as opposed to gaming with a goal in mind. In this post I will share a couple charts which show off various stats for my year of reviewing and links to all my 68 reviews.

ERIE Review

I wasn't sure what to expect upon starting up ERIE. Possibly because of that, it ended up being a very neat half hour gaming experience. The game is pretty simple overall. You begin in a pool of water with no idea of where you are. Quickly, you read papers scattered around which start to inform your understanding of the location and what happened.

Unfortunately I'm still not completely sure as to the specifics, but it seems like a game best played when you are unaware of the story anyway. Without knowing anything you can enter the game with a fresh perspective! I would recommend that as it helps make everything a bit scarier and interesting as events unfold.

In regards to gameplay, it is quite simple. There's little you ever have to do aside from marking your pathways as well as collecting a few key cards. Well, you don't have to read letters or mark your way, but it just seems something most players are going to do. Although you are not given explicit goals, it quickly becomes easy to understand what to do. Level design is also not bad. Even for someone like me who tends to get lost without looking at a map every second I was able to get a feel for my surroundings (eventually).

The game is very eerie and contains a few "boo" moments. For a little while, I felt legitimately annoyed, until discovering things were not as hard as I was making them up to be. Overall, this is a great little gameplay experiment if you want to play something spooky.

PS: The video up top is my first playthrough of the game, which took around 30 minutes.

I Won a Copy of PlayStation All-Stars!

If you are on my blog, then chances are you're well aware of Bryan over at The Gay Gamer. If not, then I don't know how you found me but you should totally check his site out. A little bit ago, Bryan had a contest to win a copy of PlayStation All-Stars: Battle Royale for Vita. As I have been pretty interested in checking it out I threw my name into the pot. Someone else actually won but apparently never responded. He drew a new name and... it was me!

So here's a post to say thank you Bryan for hosting the cute little contest! I'm thinking of doing my own (for a less popular game) soon, but we'll see if that works out. In the meantime, I'll be fussing around with PS All-Stars and hopefully becoming good with one of the characters. Even if I do, I'll still probably be too scared to try hitting up an online match.

As a final note I will say that anyone who is still interested in getting a Vita should make sure they grab a high capacity memory card along with it. Although I only have a few digital titles on it, I'm now required to regularly uninstall them to make room. Of course, it doesn't help that Persona 4 Golden is one game that has taken residence on my card... It is over 3GBs by itself! Here's hoping that the prices for Vita memory come down drastically in the next year.

Nancy Drew: Secrets Can Kill REMASTERED Review

When one attempts to come up with a list of good adventure games there are a few names that tend to come up. Series like Monkey Island are obvious choices, as are many other LucasArts and Sierra titles. But who out there who loves adventure games would think to try out something from the Nancy Drew catalog?

I gave Nancy Drew: Secrets Can Kill Remastered a shot and found it to be surprisingly great. The "Remastered" in the name comes from the fact that is a full on remake of the very first Nancy Drew adventure game released in 1998. This version arrived in 2010 and signaled the end of the original game. This is because, after the launch of the remake, the original was no longer available digitally from Her Interactive. However, as it will not run easily on modern machines, this was probably the only option they had left.

How is the game overall? The characters are more interesting than I expected. I have never read Nancy Drew books but they must do something right to have so many available. As such, I can't compare the characters to the fiction but they seemed fairly "real" and worth listening to. If anything, strangely Nancy Drew herself ended up being the most unrealistic of them all. I'm not sure what it was, but she seemed wholly unfazed by the fact that a murder totally occurred, and that someone was after her life as well. More than anything, she seemed haughty and above everything, including the awkward flirting from men in the game.

What really stole the show though were the puzzles. I had an expectation in my mind that the puzzles would be ridiculously easy. As such, I almost chose the harder difficulty of the two. Thank goodness I didn't though because a few puzzles ended up being fantastic and difficult. In fact, very few games I play manage to scratch that puzzle itch so creatively at any point. I would almost compare one of the puzzle ideas to things that Team Silent would put together. They worked on Silent Hill 1-3 primarily and those were the games which included the most creative and worthwhile puzzles of the series.

If there's one detriment to the game it is simply that it ends too quickly and with a silly twist. At least, it sure felt silly to me. Apparently this Remastered version features a different ending from the original and makes me wonder what the end for the first game had been before. I wonder if it was better, or somehow managed to be even worse. It's a shame, because as soon as the game starts to get into a great groove, it ends. Still, the two or so hours leading up to it are a blast.

Overall, Nancy Drew: Secrets Can Kill Remastered is a perfect introductory game for a "gamer" into the more casual world. Obviously the puzzles are not casual, which would appeal to them, but I assume they grow easier as the series goes on. Or perhaps these puzzles are actually much harder than the original game! I don't know as I haven't played the rest yet. Still, this is a fun, if brief adventure game.

PS: Pay attention to the little things in this game. There are a handful of Easter eggs (including one literal egg) which are quite cute.

All I Wanted to Do Was Play Nancy Drew

Yesterday, I wrote about how I have been putting my attention on "casual" games more and more lately. Excited by the post, I decided to start with the Nancy Drew series of games. There are some twenty (maybe even thirty now) titles in the series. It seemed a good idea to me to simply start with the first game! The very first Nancy Drew title is subtitled Secrets Can Kill and looked fairly promising. At least, if you listen to Nancy Drew game diehards, they seem to say the originals are the best.

The original game is not available on Steam (only the Remastered version). Thankfully, I already had it available to me so I went to work installing it. It didn't work, so my next step was to go to Her Interactive's website to see if they could help. Now, they did give tips for running their games on Windows 7 but it still wasn't working. What was my next step? Install a Windows 95 virtual machine!

The first two games are apparently the hardest to run on modern machines. As they were made for early Windows systems, it seemed to me that 95 was my best bet. It's actually harder than you might think to install an old operating system, though. I have a disc-based version of the OS, but it initially only sold as lots and lots of floppy discs. My current machine doesn't even have floppy drives but thankfully it's incredibly easy to create virtual discs and drives.

Either way, I'm not going to get too much into the installation process, but I did it, although certain features were unable to be installed. I put the game in and installed it perfectly. Unfortunately, when the time came to run it gave me the same error received from my modern Windows 7! The error is that the game cannot pump sound through my speakers. It seemed to me I could make it work on 95 because you can set up different audio methods and whatnot to better recreate the actual environment. However, I was unable to find out how to install them, even though Windows detected the old school sound option.

In the end, I was unable to get the game to run. Maybe later I'll try to learn how to properly install 95... Or I could just play the Remastered version.

I Think I'm Turning "Casual"

Video games have been my go-to hobby for as long as I can remember. Basically all my earliest memories revolve not around school or family but playing Atari 2600 and Apple IIe games. I don't remember everything about them, but little moments like being mystified by the Apple command line being used to call up games are easy to visualize even now.

I never really classified myself "hardcore" in the typical sense as that makes people think of Call of Duty or whatever FPS is in vogue at the time. However, I definitely have felt very hardcore when reflecting on my gaming habits. If nothing else, I think anyone who manages to collect some 2,000 video games and maintain them must have some serious interest in the hobby. But lately I've really started to shift toward liking games I never would have cared much about before.

During the latest Steam sale I loaded up my wishlist with items that would make me really happy to buy. Obviously it was initially too much, so my actual cart of digital goodies was whittled down until only a few were left. The main things I struggled with purchasing/putting away were the Nancy Drew, Mumbo Jumbo, and Popcap bundles. Nancy Drew games are basically adventure games but for a certain type of crowd. As such, they're fairly easy experiences overall. My interest in Mumbo Jumbo came from wanting to play simple games like Luxor but also hidden object games like the Midnight Mysteries series. All of these games are decidedly "casual".

Even when playing Persona 4 Golden for Vita I've been taking a very simplified approach. Setting the easiest difficulty available and letting most battles play out automatically, I really have little to worry about in the game aside from listening to the story unfold. In a way, it makes me nervous to see my game play style as well as interests change, but on the other hand, does it really matter? As long as I'm happy with what I play then I don't think it does. It's a bit odd that titles like Sleeping Dogs, Dishonored, and others are no longer enticing me, but I'm sure I will still get around to them. Just for now, when I need something to play it will probably be much simpler fare.

This, too, I think has complicated my personal blogging. Between writing reviews of more (serious?) games for sites, I leave myself time for easy, casual titles. But who wants to hear about my time spent playing Criminal Minds' hidden object game? Perhaps seeking out such easy gaming experiences is a reaction to the forced nature of reviewing. Either way, I'm curious... Are "casual" games something that anyone really wants to hear about? If I were asked this question a year ago I'd say no, but you'd be surprised at how good some of them can be.

Indie Test Drive: 0 A.D.

Because I simply don't have enough games I decided it would be interesting to try playing more indie games. Sure, I actually play a fair bit of them once they come to Steam, Desura, and GOG but that's not quite indie enough. Why not try out other titles that have yet to find a publisher - or might not? So, yup, that's what this and future "Indie Test Drive" posts are about.

0 A.D. is a title being independently developed by a team of volunteers. It has apparently been worked on since 2001. Back then, it was a "total conversion mod" (meaning they took an existing game and overhauled it) but it changed later into a wholly new project. The game will probably appeal most to those who enjoy historical RTSes. If you love Age of Empires or Empire Earth then this is something worth looking into.

Initially, it didn't seem like there was much new brought to the table. You have your choice of various historical troops to choose from and then can go about growing your town into a society and going to war, or forging alliances. Apparently there is a multiplayer mode which would sounds like a lot of fun, but I was unable to test it out. There are multiple gameplay modes, but I was only gave one a shot and was a bit disappointed because the "AI controlled" enemies didn't actually do anything until I came and stormed their cities.

The version I played was a bit goofy. There were birds but they simply were stuck in place and didn't ever move across the screen. Upon killing a camel, it just stood there (upright) as my troops picked at it for food. Animals also did not have any walking animation and simply slid across the ground. However, in between me playing the game and looking up the 0 A.D. website I found that a new beta was just released earlier this month. It appears to fix up a lot of stuff and even upgraded the graphics.

0 A.D. is completely free in beta stages and will be once it finally launches as well. The game runs on Windows, Mac, and Linux. I enjoyed it but just wish there was some sort of story function instead of simply focusing on multiplayer.

68 - Chains

Genre: Puzzle
Rating: N/A
Developer: 2DEngine.com
Publisher: Meridian4
Platform: PC (Steam)
Release Year: 2008

Chains is one of those games I put off playing every time I saw it in my Steam collection. It just sounds so dull, the graphics didn't look very great, and overall I didn't know what it was. Out of boredom (and a bit of inspiration) I decided it was time to give the game that has sat in my library for 3 years a shot.

The game is fairly interesting, and full of various gameplay mechanics, despite having only twenty levels overall. Basically, the title is a match game where you must connect orbs of the same colors together. The basic amount is three, but you can often find yourself chaining many more if they're all touching. The mechanic itself isn't the creative part as there are many games like that.

What is interesting is how many gameplay modes can be created out of it. For example, there is one mode where the circles are situated on top of gates. You must manage to keep clearing circles well enough so that X amount don't fall through the gates as they open up every few seconds. Another mode gives you a small tube for the circles to fall through and asks to keep it flowing for five minutes. If you're not able to connect them fast enough they'll clog everything up. Most of these modes are a lot of fun and only a few annoyed me.

I haven't beaten the game yet and that's just because one of the modes is a fairly confusing. I'm hoping that's the only one like it because otherwise the game is much more fun than was anticipated. Those who are fans of matching puzzle games should give Chains a look especially since it's only $5.

Would I play it again? Sure.

Transitional Gaming: How Game Culture Changed as I Became a Man

I’ve been a gamer for as long as I can remember. At two, I was fussing with the secondhand Apple II e and Atari 7800s placed in front of me. Unlike many other parents, my mother was more than happy to let me play these games. There were times when it became an issue, such as me playing The Sims from morning to night, but otherwise it was viewed as a positive hobby. The friends I had in school, both male and female, all gamed as well. I never felt out of place due to gaming.