kubikill

July 2019 Progress

A bit late with the post this month, but I’m glad to get it released already.

Finished games:

RONIN

9.7 hours, 8 of 8 achievements

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An action platformer.

Well, despite similarities, it's not as good as Gunpoint (the game even points that out), but it's decent. Combat is fun, but it has a lot of flaws. Once you get into combat, movement is restricted to jumping. While walking wouldn't be too useful mid-combat, you can't climb ledges and you have to waste several turns jumping around just trying to get yourself over the ledge. It doesn't help that "the jump arc is a lie", like the game says, which should be treated as a bug, not a feature. The story is very vague, most of it is never explained and you have to piece it together yourself if you want it to make any sense. Graphics-wise, it looks fairly good and the few songs that play in the game are OK.

It's definitely worth giving a shot, especially if you liked Gunpoint.


Aperture Tag: The Paint Gun Testing Initiative

3.4 hours, no achievements

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A Portal 2 mod which replaces the portal gun with a gel gun and adds a new story and new test chambers.

Solving puzzles with the new gel gun was pretty fun, though I feel like they didn't use all of its potential. The story is mediocre, the only character in it tries really hard to be like Wheatley or GLaDOS but isn't as likeable as either of those two. I have to praise the soundtrack though, it's really good and on top of that, most of the test chambers have their own music.

This game is OK. It's not as good as the Portal games, but it's still worth a try. Fortunately there is workshop support if you want more puzzles to solve.


Polarity

4.4 hours, 10 of 10 achievements

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A first person puzzle game.

It's nothing special. It tries to be similar to Portal and its test chambers aren't hard at all, but they're pretty fun to solve. The graphics and the soundtrack are poor and uninspiring, and feel like something straight out of an asset store.

It's a mediocre, short game. If you own it, give it a try, but if not, I wouldn't recommend buying it for more than $1.


Serial Cleaner

6.2 hours, 28 of 28 achievements

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A 2D stealth game.

Serial Cleaner is a unique combination of Viscera Cleanup Detail and 2D Metal Gear games. Evading donut cops and sneaking around various murder scenes like a nightclub, camping site, docks or even a set straight out of Monty Python and the Holy Grail is actually fun. Add a nice pastel artstyle and a great 70s-inspired soundtrack and you've got yourself a gem of a game.

Short and sweet. If you're looking for a quick trip to the 70s, look no further.


Mafia II

35.1 hours, 64 of 67 achievements

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A open-world action adventure game.

A great continuation of the series. Gameplay has improved a lot since Mafia 1 - AI doesn't act unfair anymore and driving is more fun. I love how many little details this game has - cars can run out of fuel, wheel covers can fall off when driving fast or after a jump and shooting objects causes a lot of debris to fall and stay on the ground (which is mindblowing for a 2011 game!). Story and atmosphere is just as good as the first game. As for the DLCs, they're actually pretty bad. Betrayal of Jimmy has you play through repetitive arcade-style missions with little to no story at all as a edgy Agent 47 wannabe, Jimmy's Vendetta should be renamed to Betrayal of Jimmy: Electric Boogaloo and Joe's Adventures is the only DLC that is halfway decent. There's more story and cutscenes (but still not enough), more variety in arcade missions and there are a few missions that are more similar to the missions from the main story.

I heavily recommend playing this game, but I would recommend to stay away from the DLCs unless you're going for all achievements.


Unbox

9.5 hours, 15 of 15 achievements

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A 3D platformer.

From what I hear, this game was inspired by Rare's 3D platformers made for the N64. I don't know how close Unbox is to those games, since I never played them. But anyway.

Gameplay is pretty simple, the game teaches everything to you at the beginning and doesn't introduce any new mechanics later, which makes things a bit repetitive if you're going for 100% completion. Otherwise, the game doesn't overstay its welcome.

The levels look really good and unique. I don't think I ever found a spot that seemed empty. Each level has over 200 collectibles scattered all over it and hints are available which makes the hunt much more enjoyable and less of a nightmare. One of the NPCs can show you a spot which has a collectible from a random angle and if you collect at least half of a certain collectible, they'll start making noise to let you know you're near one.
There's supposedly a couple multiplayer modes, but I don't know if they're good or not since I never touched them.

If N64 platformers are as fun as Unbox, I think I'll actually give them a go.


Mainlining

6.1 hours, no achievements

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A adventure game with a OS-like interface.

Hacking itself in this game is pretty fun, but the missions themselves are too small and don't really tie together too well. Story seems generic and it doesn't seem like you, as a protagonist, make an impact on something. Some solutions that should work actually do not, and sometimes it's hard to find the solution intended by the developers.

I'm slightly disappointed with this game. I heard that this game is similar to Hypnospace Outlaw and Hacknet, so you might want to check those games first before trying Mainlining.


To Be or Not To Be

6.6 hours, 33 of 33 achievements

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A choose-your-own-adventure gamebook.

I don't read books often, but I enjoyed this one. It has a great sense of humor, capable of keeping at least a grin on your face for the entire book. Every ending has its own unique artwork (and there's 102 of them, made by around 65 different artists), which is nice. Text sometimes autoscrolls faster than the narrator can read it, which was annoying at times.

If you want to read a comedy version of Hamlet then you're in for a ride.


LUMINES REMASTERED

21.8 hours, 30 of 30 achievements

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A Tetris-like puzzle game.

If I had to describe this game in one sentence, I would say "Tetris, but with amazing sound design and a great soundtrack". This game feels so addicting - I could keep clearing blocks and listening to the soundtrack for hours. Those who are seeking a challenge will get one by trying to unlock all avatars in the game.

It's great to see this game back. Lumines Remastered is a good example of a game remaster done right.


Unfinished games:

Current progress:

29%
8%
13%
50%
0%

does not include "won't play" games

Vito

Mafia II sounds really good. Also, thanks for your take on Serial Cleaner, I’ve heard mixed things about it. Have fun with your next games, I see some heavy-weights in there (Fallout 4).

kubikill

Thanks! I was overwhelmed in Fallout 4 at first, but it got much better later on. Getting all achievements will take me a while…

UlverHausu

i have played so much Lumines on my PSP.
If you have a ps4 check, Tetris effect and Rez Infinite on steam, also from Tetsuya Mizuguchi

kubikill

I don’t have a PS4 but both games are on PC now. I never checked Rez Infinite closely, but it looks cool. It’s going into my wishlist for sure. As for Tetris Effect, when the PC port was announced, I was disappointed that the game was going to be Epic exclusive, so I’ll wait until the exclusivity deal expires.

UlverHausu

Tetris effect on Epic? Damn those pockets run deep.

kubikill

What’s funny about this is that this was most likely a last minute decision as the VR mode requires Steam to be installed if you want to play with a HTC Vive. I can’t help but laugh at this.

UlverHausu

valve must be Ned Flanders to Epic’s homer simpson.
they are just borrowing steam features.

Trent

Wow, I’m impressed with your Unbox completion, and completion time. I was terrible at that game…I just couldn’t do any fine control and am terrible at aiming with a controller. I don’t even think I got the first master stamp but I haven’t abandoned the game completely.

kubikill

Yeah, I get you. Moving around is awkward sometimes since you’re a cube. And you don’t jump perfectly upwards if you’re on a slope. Maybe try playing with a keyboard and a mouse?

Also I was playing as normal and didn’t realize that I was getting through the game so fast :o
Just checked SteamHunters and it says median completion time is 13h, fastest is 8h 41m. Same thing happened with Surgeon Simulator, when I came back to it to clean up the remaining achievements.

adil

Oh wow! I didnt know Lumines was on PC! it was my most played game on the PSP. Awesome soundtrack and really addictive game indeed.