Vito

Report #22

The start of my next term at university is almost there and I’m hyped: I got into some great courses and my own teaching looks promising as well. And for once I’m actually not behind schedule with my preparations ^.^

It was a weird 3 games this time. I gave rather bad to average ratings despite being really content with my progress. But sometimes a game is good enough to lift your spirits and give you a couple of fun hours, but still not really great. Which is basically true for all 3 of the following games:

M.U.D. TV

11.2 hours, no achievements
★★☆☆☆

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Release Date: 2010

MUD TV is a TV-station simulation, where you got to manage your own TV station. That means buying and scheduling shows and ad contracts, study viewer groups for max target group reach and even produce your own shows.

The concept is great and sounds like a lot of fun. The implementation however is not good. You play as the manager of the station and have to run around all the time to do even the smallest things. You cannot simply get new contracts by clicking on a menu, no you have to physically walk to the ad-contract-bureau, the same for everything else. It doesn't help that you cannot "carry" more than a few contracts or shows at once, which means your basically running back and forth between the different rooms in your station. The actual planning process would be fun were it not for the pesky micromanagment.

In my opinion the game could have been quite good, but some rather poor design choices prevented that. Still, I had some fun playing around in sandbox mode without any competing AI stations, where I had no pressure and could just play around with the different gameplay elements for a bit.

Achievements: None.

Verdict: Not recommended. Good idea, bad implementation.


Max Payne 3

26.2 hours, 27 of 67 achievements
★★★☆☆

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Release Date: 2012

The Max Payne series is well-known with (somewhat) older gamers, maybe not so much with younger ones anymore. Anyway, it's a third person shooter (mostly) set in Sao Paolo. Max Payne is an ex-cop, drowning the bitter memories of his past (he lost his loved ones in the first parts of the series) in alcohol and painkillers. He gets the opportunity for a fresh start in Sao Paolo, working as a bodyguard for some rich people. Of course everything goes down the drain pretty fast and Max has to fight his way through a variety of linear levels.

Pretty standard gameplay for a shooter, with the exception of the addition of Bullet-time™ (which slows time for a short period and allows you to take better aim at your enemies). In the first parts of the series, this was really new and exciting, by now however, not so much anymore. It allows for shooting in style and it feels that this is what the game is mainly about: shooting bad guys in style. The AI is pretty weak, enemies behave almost exactly the same no matter how often you play a certain checkpoint. They are not very clever either and are only dangerous in numbers. Personally I think this is so that you can learn a checkpoint by heart and perform "epic killing combos" or whatever you wanna call it.

The mediocre gameplay is paired with a lot of cinematics. It feels more like watching a movie a lot of times. The cinematics are well staged, I enjoyed watching them, the sheer number of them make the game a bit long-winded though.

Now to the story: It's a dark setting, showing the corruption of police and politicians, the poor and miserable living conditions in the favelas of Sao Paolo and some other horrors I don't want to spoil. Max Payne himself is a drunken disaster, consuming tons of Whiskey with painkillers and somehow still shooting straight. It gets old after a while, though relatable to a certain degree: Loosing your loved ones and loosing your will to live with it.

Achievements: Awful. Most are designed around Multiplayer, which is of course dead by now (and I think it never took off anyhow). I got most of the easier to get achievements and have barely above 40% of them. Some SP ones are left, involving a lot of grind I did not consider worth. In case you really care about your AGC, be warned!

Verdict: Hard to say. It has it's moments, but didn't really click with me, therefore I'm neutral on giving a recommendation.


Yesterday

5.1 hours, no achievements
★★★☆☆

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Release Date: 2012 as well

A Point and Click game, with special emphasis on the story, at least compared to most other games of the same genre I have played. The story centers around John Yesterday, who has lost his memory after attempting suicide (was he really though?). You help him recollect his memory and uncover a dangerous secret on the way.

What really set the game apart for me, was the great and unusual artstyle. While not unique, I think it's rare to see this kind of graphical choice. I'm sure someone can explain it in more technical and better terms, I can only refer you to the store page however :(

While the gameplay is pretty standard, Yesterday has a well-spun story, which I enjoyed a lot. I'm still no fan of PnC, so I heavily relied on a guide and concentrated on the story instead. After all I was positively impressed with the game, won't give it an above average rating though on account of not liking the gameplay and only being able to play through the game with a guide. I hope you can follow my reasoning :)

I was briefly considering this game for the monthly theme, but decided against it. It's more mystery than horror.

Achievements: None

Verdict: You like P'n'C and a good story? Then the game's for you.


As stated above, I’m again quite happy with my progress. Especially Max Payne 3 has been on my “definitely have to play” list for about 5 years. Although it did not turn out as great as I hoped, I’m still glad that I can say I’ve finished it. I’m pretty sure the next report will contain at least one 4 star game again, so looking forward to reading you in a few weeks :)

Happy gaming,
Vito

Edit: Oh and I almost forgot, I actually finished my reading backlog last week, so I got to go shopping for new books yay