Report #34

Release Date: 2014

Assassin's Creed Liberation is part of the AC3 saga. It is a typical Assassin's Creed game in most of its gameplay, but much shorter. You play as Aveline de Grandpré, the daughter of a wealthy merchant and a black slave living in New Orleans in the 1770s. New Orleans is first a french, later a spanish, colony at this time. You investigate the disappearance of slaves in several episodes spanning more than 15 years.

ACL adds to the usual AC formula a new gameplay element: changing personas. The assassin persona is good in fighting, but guards notice you immediately. The lady persona cannot fight or climb, but is very inconspicuous. And lastly, the slave persona is a compromise of the other two. Depending on the persona you choose for a mission, different paths are necessary to achieve your goal. Which adds a lot of variety to the usual gameplay. I liked this new feature.

ACL has only 56% positive reviews on Steam -- as we all know, that is really really bad. And I totally disagree. I cannot see what makes this game so bad in comparison. E.g.: I've seen quite a few complaining that the game is so short. Yeah, maybe that's because the game is meant to be short? It's not full-priced for a reason?? People can be so dense…

On a sidenote: I normally don't get involved in the diversity-in-video-games debate, but it was nice to play a coloured AND female protagonist for a change.

Achievements: None

Verdict: If you go by popular opinion: No recommendation. If you go by Vito: Recommendation.

Release Date: 2007

Sam & Max: Season Two is a point'n'click adventure, following two private investigators, Sam (a dog) and Max (a bunny-like creature). In 5 episodes, the two uncover a devilish plan to overtake the world.

First: The game has a ton of references to Sam & Max: Season One and even the 90s Sam & Max game. So I would advise to play at least Season One beforehand. Though I got to admit, I played Season One about 1.5 years ago and a lot of the references went over my head. It would probably best to play them in rather quick succession.

The five episodes each feature a case, all of which are connected. The gameplay is typical for your adventures games: Clicking on objects, trying to combine them, talking to NPCs. The dialogues are sometimes witty, more than once the humour falls a bit flat though. The puzzles are really weird at times and I wouldn't have gotten them all by myself. The world is full of funny ideas, but in the end a bit too crazy for my taste. This became very apparent for me with the two main characters: I enjoyed Sam, but Max felt too much over the top.

I think this is a solid adventure game, but nothing spectacular.

Achievements: None

Verdict: Recommended.

Release Date: 2011

Dungeons is a Dungeon Keeper clone. You are a Dark Lord and manage your dungeon to appease adventuring heroes. This means: placing treasures, ancient tomes or other loot, putting enemies for the heroes to fight into your dungeon, and in the end slay the satisfied heroes to collect their soul energy which is needed to buy better equipment.

I tried the game twice several years ago and was quickly leaving it alone again, because I didn't like it. In my current backlog clearing effort, I decided to give the game another chance: Boy, was I surprised! I liked the game! The concept is fun: Planning out your dungeon, where you put the treasures and enemies so that the "visiting" heroes have a fun time, but are ultimately slain in the end. Because when the heroes are completely satisfied, they leave your dungeon and once the left, all your effort was in vain. So better get them, before they're gone!

Still, there are several flaws: The story is really lame. The gameplay lacks variety. The graphics are not bad per se, but cannot hold up to other 2011 games. The game felt too hectic for me and most importantly, I found the UI and controls confusing. While it was not enough, to make me lose fun, I'm still glad, that it is a rather short game. I don't think I could stomach 50 hours of this.

From what I've seen glancing at their reviews, the sequels improve greatly on this game, so if you're interested in the concept, maybe have a look at them. I don't own them and have enough other stuff in my backlog, so I won't be playing them soon. But they are definitely on my radar from now on and should I ever run out of games to play...

Achievements: None.

Verdict: Unless you care about playing games chronologically, the sequels seem to be the better choice.