Tag: video games

This review originally appeared on Steam. See more reviews by Dan.

You know the way that everybody plays Grand Theft Auto (at least, 1 through 3) or Saints Row at least once? That is: they ignore the plot and just zip around blowing stuff up? Well: Just Cause 2 is a game that you’re supposed to play like that. Sure, there’s a plot (and it’s as stupid as it is zany, all the way from pulling statues over with tractors through to the climactic fistfight on the back of a cruise missile), but who cares: you’ll spend your time using a hookshot to pull soldiers out of aircraft, steal the aircraft, fly the aircraft into a radio tour while you jump away with your parachute, all the while shooting, hacking, and slashing anybody that gets in your way.

It’s completely silly, the voice acting is almost as appalling as the scriptwriting, and the plot makes no sense. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t one of the most-awesome games ever. Play an hour or play 5 minutes: this game’s great for “dropping into” when you need a few minutes of quick destruction as much as it’s great when you want to execute a thought-out mission. And nowadays, it’s cheap, too – no excuse not to give it a go.

This review originally appeared on Steam. See more reviews by Dan.

The original X-COM series (Enemy Unknown, Terror from the Deep, and even Apocalypse) were among the most-immersive, deeply-strategic, and thematically-beautiful games of the 1990s. 2012’s reboot was fun, but it failed to capture the sophistication and complexity of the original: it lacked the ability to perform micro-customisation upon your soldiers (Want a strong guy whose job is just to carry ammo for everybody else? That’s fine!), bases (“Science” base at a secret location, surrounded by interceptor bases? No problem!), or mission strategy (Plan to fight a retreat back to the dropship, dragging the bodies of the stunned aliens with you for later research, losing the battle but advancing the war? Go on then!). And it suffered, for it.

Xenonauts, however, takes the genre back where it belongs: gritty, strategic, and with every game completely unique. More-impressively, it does so in a world that’s subtly-different from that of the original series: starting deep in the Cold War, and with aliens whose motivation and strategy is innovative and new, even to fans of the original series.

It’s not perfect: you’ll read science reports that make reference to weapons you haven’t yet invented, because you’re doing things in the “wrong” order… but at least the game lets you do things in the order that makes most-sense to you! I’d have enjoyed being able to use alien psionics against them, as you can in the original series (and even in the reboot), but (unless I simply missed out on the appropriate research opportunities), that’s sadly absent. And there are a few bugs, although I didn’t come across any game-breaking ones.

But what Xenonauts is is one of the best strategy games I’ve seen in recent years. Whether you loved the original X-COM series, or the reboot, or didn’t play either… it’s got something for you to enjoy. Go play it, Commander.

This review originally appeared on Steam. See more reviews by Dan.

So much fun. A quick, silly, stealth-and-hacking romp through a ludicrous world of jumping, falling, leaping, climbing.

This review originally appeared on Steam. See more reviews by Dan.

Fun, beautiful first-person-shooter. I disliked Bioshock and I hated Bioshock 2, so I was glad to discover that Bioshock Infinite is not terribly like either of them, but is something else – something more fun – entirely. Playtime was a little shorter than I’d have expected for a game of its price, but it was still worth having.

If you haven’t played it, you should. Or failing that; wait for it to be on sale.

This review originally appeared on Steam. See more reviews by Dan.

This game was so much better than I anticipated. I was given it as a gift by my sister, who raved about it. “It’s okay,” I thought, as I stuffed things into a fire and watched them burn, “But is this all there is to it?”

No: there’s so much more. This is a game about materialism; about finding the courage to step outside your comfort zone… and, yes, about serial arson.

Go play.

This review originally appeared on Steam. See more reviews by Dan.

Not so much a game as a semi-interactive ghost story in a beautiful, Source-powered landscape, Dear Esther is worth playing… so long as it’s on sale. The gameplay’s not long enough to justify a £6.99 price tag, and there’s almost no challenge at all in the gradual exploration of a Hebredian island and of the mind of the story’s narrator… but it’s still a great story.

Play it slowly. Take your time. Turn the lights off and have a glass of wine with this game. Make sure that you keep your eye on the screen, because there are incredibly subtle and short-lived elements that appear for moments, and then are gone.

But do play it. At least: if you can get it on sale.