Platform: PC

I was initially drawn to the isometric art style of this turn-based RPG. My hope was that it would play like Wasteland 2 but I wasn’t sure what to expect. The combat is similar, but it has nowhere near the depth and strategy. I some ways that’s good. Shadowrun Returns feels much more casual and less nitpicky with things like ammo and inventory management. But, even though it’s party-based, you only really control the development of your one character. The other combatants are just expendable hired hands with little to no backstory.

As a smaller, episodic type game it works well. The game ships with development tools and has a rather large Steam Workshop page, so the idea probably is that this is a framework to build on. The story here is very linear. I was surprised that there was no overworld to explore or major side quests to complete. If it wasn’t for the fighting, this could almost be considered a point-and-click adventure. Thankfully the story works well enough as a cyberpunk take on a film noir: A friend from the past has been murdered and, as a last request, he has a video message hiring you to find his killer. It’s nice that an RPG doesn’t need to have a “save the world from evil” plot (although it veers that way towards the end). Overall I liked the game, it just needs a bit more refinement and polish to make it great.

At first you’d think Home was a retro-looking point and click adventure, but that would be giving it too much credit. It’s really one of those trendy, arty indy games that supposed to be a deep meditation on interactive storytelling. In other words it’s a bore. Like Dear Esther or even Photopia (although Photopia is actually good). The pixel graphics are neat and it seems to be a nod to Atari’s Haunted House in the way it treats stairways and the use of atmospheric sound. It’s just not fun to play. Thankfully it takes less than a half hour to finish, so good riddance.

I went into Bulletstorm not knowing anything other than I heard there was a lot of cursing in the dialogue. Well, that much was true. This is a first person shooter based around the mechanic of building elaborate kills in order to score points. The points can then be used to buy ammo and upgrade weapons. Higher scores can be had by utilizing your grappling tether or your powerful kick to throw enemies into the various sharp objects that litter the landscape. After a while, much of the novelty is lost, trying to manipulate bodies as they drift by in slow motion. It doesn’t help that there is absolutely no exploration in the level design and therefore not much strategy. Basically the game is one giant long hallway with your final boss at the end. Imagine an on-rails light gun shooter with a bit more control over your character. Every four or five levels there is a slight variation on the game play, such as a runaway train set piece or one where you remotely control a giant monster, but then it’s back to the boots to the head. The story is simple, but the focus is more on the relationship between you and the other surviving member of your doomed pirate crew, Ichi. Hey, it’s not My Dinner with Andre, but it suffices and, though there’s not much depth here, Bulletstorm is a rather fun romp that doesn’t overstay its welcome.

Wadjet Eye continues their run of solid point and click adventures with their latest, Shardlight. This may be their best looking and best sounding game yet. You play as Amy Wellard, a member of a lower caste in a city recovering from a nuclear-scale bombing. On top of the misery of scavenging for food and dealing with the iron rule of “The Aristocracy,” you also have caught a case of the green lung for which vaccinations are in short supply. The plot is pretty linear and avoids that open, branching middle that adventure game devs of yore seemed to love. Really, we are just here for the story anyways and, at times, even puzzles get in the way of that.

The puzzles are fair and only a couple really require a little deeper analytical thought. I was only stumped once and I feel so stupid for missing the solution (hint: paper is far more rigid in the post-apocalyptic future). The focus here is dialogue, storytelling and characters. Unlike Technobabylon, conversations are concise and to the point and I was not clicking past the voice acting as much as I am wont to do. I almost would consider this Wadjet Eye’s best game but there are a couple of weird choices near the end of the game that kind of spoiled the immersion and narrative for me. It made the ending somewhat unsatisfying, but all-in-all the game up until those final moments is stellar.

Wadjet has produced another solid point and click adventure game that makes up for its somewhat lackluster predecessor, A Golden Wake. This one is a sci-fi, cyberpunk thriller in which there is a killer on the loose “mindjacking” his victims’ memories.

I never quite understood the appeal of cyberpunk. My experience in the genre is limited mostly to The Matrix movies and a fruitless attempt to play Neuromancer on the Apple IIgs. Thankfully, most of Technobabylon takes place in meat-space with a focus on criminal investigation and dialogue. At various points in the game you control one of three characters: Regis the old-fashion police detective, Max his assistant who uses her cyber-skills to investigate, and Latha the girl who is addicted to “The Trance.” I’m not sure how one could get addicted to standing on empty platforms and hacking food vending machines, but then again I don’t understand let’s play videos either.

As with all the other games from Wadjet Eye, the voice acting is (mostly) professional sounding, the pixelated art is as lovely as ever, the plot moves along at a decent clip, and the puzzles are for the most part fair. As per usual I would only get stuck when I would miss clicking some tiny detail on the screen. The Shivah had a nice feature where you could hold down the mouse button to reveal the clickable hotspots. The AGS system is pushed to the limits here. I really wish they could upgrade the sound and animation. As it is, dialogue can sometimes feel robotic, with no cross-talk and occasional stuttering glitches. These are minor complaints and even these glitches can add a little to the old-school charm of the point and click genre.

Back in 2007 I played a free, ad-supported version of Prince of Persia: Sands of Time which I enjoyed quite a bit. Although I missed seeing commercials for McDonald’s between every level, this is more or less the same game. There seems to be more of an emphasis on combat in The Two Thrones but the core platforming and time-shifting mechanics remain. Since that first game however, this sort of acrobatic platforming has been done a zillion times better in the Tomb Raider games and I started to get frustrated with blind jumps at about the halfway point. The whole time-reversal mode seems like a kludge to cover poor level design and camera control. The game does do a good job at keeping its bare-bones story moving along and will occasionally break up the monotony with a chariot race or tower of Hanoi puzzle.

Opposing Force is a welcome improvement over Blue Shift. First off, it’s feels like a full game rather than just a bunch of new levels. It’s nowhere near as developed as a modern shooter, but there’s a little bit of a story to follow. Half Life was much lauded for its story, but, in hindsight, there really wasn’t much there. Opposing Force doesn’t even have that minimal level of depth, but there’s enough there to push you towards your goal which, as always, is to get the hell out of Black Mesa.

There are also a couple of new mechanics… literally… you can recruit a mechanic to open a sealed door for you. There are also medics to heal you. Both will help you out in a fire fight (if they are not blocking your path) and both constantly spout lines from Aliens. I can’t say if any of the creatures or guns were new, but the ability to swing and climb ropes was added. Doesn’t really get used all that much, but it’s something.

I am finally getting around to playing the Half-Life 1 expansion games. As expected, this is more of the same. This time around playing as a security officer who is caught up in the Black Mesa incident. Once again, you are trying to get back to the surface. There aren’t any new game play mechanics (that I can see), and aside from a couple of references to Freeman, the story here doesn’t really tie into the main narrative. I’m not sure if I am supposed to be the same guy as Barney from Half-Life 2. This is a short game (not worth the $5 it normally sells for), but it’s a good way to revisit the original Half-Life without a huge time commitment.

This is what the kids call a metroidvania-style platformer (what a horrible term). You run around around a large, open-world and gain access to new areas as you upgrade to new powers. I tried to play Super Metroid on the Wii, but I don’t think I had the patience for that older game. Guacamelee! on the other hand was very accessible. The movement is fast and fluid with easy fighting mechanics. The vector art style is really pretty and colorful, but the music is a bit repetitive. The story tries to be funny in that unfunny way that 90% of games attempt humor. There is also this dimension shifting power taken straight from Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams that is just annoying in this context. Thankfully, the game has enough good mechanics to make up for that one bad one and offers lots of reward for exploration and a genuine feeling that you are getting better as you progress through the game.

The Defense Grid sequel seems more like an expansion than a new game. There are new powers and customizations, but core game remains the same; build towers and watch them mow down a seemingly endless stream of baddies. In fact, with the new upgrades, I think this may be easier than the original. I suppose the challenge really is in the alternate game modes where you a limited to certain spots or specific towers. Given the choice, I think I prefer the first game and its simple character-study story. This one tries to up the narrative ante by adding several voiced characters, but it just gets confusing and incoherent. The game still works as a casual strategy game that can be played in small doses.