Category Archives: Reviews
Dishonored: A Review by Comparisons
Empress Jessamine Kaldwin and her daughter Emily look out over Dunwall.
I’m going to put this right out there: Playing Dishonored over the last week has been one of the most gratifying gaming experiences in recent memory. So much so that I’ve been all but ignoring the new XCOM game (also good), and plenty of other games that are excellent in their own rights, and haven’t regretted their absence in the slightest. This is in part because it feels so fresh, so new, so vibrant, and in part because it’s also been an exercise in nostalgia.
When it comes to reviews, I’m not usually a fan of game-to-game comparisons. For one, they seem like a weak approach to explaining a game’s appeal (or lack thereof), since the comparison often comes at the expense of any actual expression. For another, too often the threads of connection are tenuous and frayed, or to a game I haven’t had the pleasure of experiencing, or, perhaps, to one that I didn’t comprehend the merit of. So let me assure you that I have tried very, very hard to figure out a way to talk about Dishonored without at least mentioning the games that it is emulating, copying, or bettering. Tried and failed.
See, in an industry filled with grinning suits and safe bets and a well-entrenched hype engine, Dishonored feels like a fulfilled promise, or at least a reasonable attempt at one. So let’s talk about its heritage. Not its exact heritage, since I’m not a professional at this, but the heritage that was on my mind as I skulked from one end of the half-mystical city of Dunwall to the other.
Once You Go Black (Mesa)
So faithful, they even worked in the lambda.
This is going to be biased.
I went into Black Mesa with a heaping dose of skepticism, because mocking up a few nostalgic screenshots seems like one of those things that anyone can do, though when I say “anyone” I’m referring to lots of people other than me. How could a mod team recreate one of gaming’s most seminal moments? How could a pack of amateurs capture the terror of the Blast Pit, the pacing nightmare of Apprehension, or, crud, even the slow-burn tram-ride intro?
Well, they did it. Mostly. It’s thirteen of Half-Life’s seventeen chapters (the rest are coming later, presumably), recast into a completely free mod that anyone can play — again, for free — so long as you’re willing to peruse some download links and install Steam. For free.
Pardon the Intrusion 2
Riding a wolf into battle against evil!
Look, I’m going to drop any pretension of objectivity here. I love Intrusion 2, a brilliantly fun little romp from Aleksey Abramenko, author of Intrusion 1 (I assume). And I’m going to tell you why, in a sonnet:
I Am Alive. Am I Satisfied?
The unnamed survivor, about to be surprised by the game title.
You might recognize I Am Alive as that game that came out on consoles and was withheld on PC and when PC gamers complained the developer accused them of “bitching” and then suddenly it was announced that it would be released on PC and then even more suddenly it was out a week before its release date. Or you might not. Either way, what a wild, wild ride. But does the game itself live up to its insane and wonderful origin story? Find out below.
The Walking Dad: Starved for Help
Lee tries to decide which snack to eat while waiting for tech help.
Once again, we here at the Space-Biff! Aerodrome have invited Lee Everett, protagonist of The Walking Dead, to come and review the game for us. Today he’s going to tell us about his experiences with Episode Two: Starved for Help. Take it away, Lee!
Aition Agitation: Babel Rising
God smites some Shinarites.
Marketing people! Listen closely, because I’m going to tell you the secret of how to make me powerless against your advertising schemes! Here’s what you do: take your game—any game, really—and slap a glossy religious theme on top of your broken mechanics, tedious gameplay, and repetitive design, and I will lap it up in hopes that you’ve just created one of the few videogames ever to present an interesting take on religion.
On an unrelated note, Ubisoft and Mondo Production recently released Babel Rising on PC. What did I think of it? Find out, after the jump.
The Walking Dad: A New Day
A diorama of Atlanta.
Hi there, loyal Space-Biff! readers! Today we have something special planned—a guest review/impressions piece from a dude named Lee Everett. Lee is going to tell us all about the first episode of The Walking Dead, despite the obvious conflict of interest that arises from him being its protagonist. Oh well. There’s no such thing as an objective review, anyway! Find all about his adventures right after the jump!
Celebrating the 4th with Future Soldier
A pack of patriotic pros.
Here in the States it’s Independence Day, in which we celebrate Benjamin Franklin burning down the White House with electricity, a distraction that allowed George Washington to conquer Yorktown while Betsy Ross falcon-punched Benedict Arnold, making the thirteen colonies free from taxes and stuffiness. The details are a bit fuzzy because nobody really kept notes back then, so we may never know the full story.
Four hundred years later, Americans are still up to some awesome stuff in Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Future Soldier, which, like the story of our glorious nation’s founding, is all about four guys beating the stuffing out of foreigners while wearing snappy uniforms.
Spec Ops: The Lie
Three Delta Force operators hike into Dubai.
I wonder if, at any point during the promo period for Spec Ops: The Line, anyone at Yager Development mentioned the irony of marketing a game for its difficult moral quandaries when in fact it contains no moral quandaries. Oh, there’s some moral mugging. And some moral posturing. Maybe some half-baked moral messages. Alas, the quandary department is skint.
After the jump, I’ll explain why SO:TL, despite being an enjoyable experience, was ultimately a letdown.
Tiny and Big: Channeling… Portal?
Tiny begins his quest to reacquire his grandfather’s legacy: underpants.
This feels a bit insane, but I’m going to go out on a limb here. I could tell you that I finished Tiny and Big: Grandpa’s Leftovers last night, but that would only be half of the matter. I also started it. I played it in a single sitting. It took a little over three hours. I didn’t set any records, though I found most of the recorded collectibles and only got stumped twice in the process. And I loved—loved, and I emphasize that because I didn’t expect it—about 170 of my 192 minutes with it (numbers approximate).
The last game to have that effect on me was the same one that I kept thinking about while playing Tiny and Big. I’m referring, of course, to Valve’s masterpiece, Portal.
SPACE-BIFF! 