Recent reviews by R o b i n

It's been a while since I last reviewed a game on Steam - or anywhere else for that matter - and to break this trend I decided to write up some of my experiences with the things I've been playing. As a bonus, I will try to make use of the text formatting that has been introduced by Steam in the meantime.

First up on that list is E.Y.E Divine Cybermancy (abbreviated as EYE from here on), an FPS/RPG crossover made by the relatively unknown ‘Streumon Studio’, which should sound familiar if you have played the Half Life 1 total conversion mod called ‘Syndicate Black Ops’. On a sidenote here: people have been notifying me that some of the games I write about are rather old and as such my efforts might not be read by anyone. I’m fully aware of this and it is no problem to me. Some games stand the passing of time well and others even manage to become more appealing as they age, a phenomena caused by nostalgia and the fact that this industry is being saturated by bad titles.

I would consider EYE one of the latter category. While it is certainly not ugly, I wouldn’t dare call it a beautiful game either. A disadvantage with realism as far as graphics are concerned is that they do not measure up to titles that release later on. Of course that’s an unfair comparison, but it’s one that will be made regardless. Games like World of Warcraft that go for the full comic book style graphics can sport ‘kiddy’ visuals for years to come, but has it done their setting any justice? Only a fanboy would concur. Instead, realistic graphics has to come with dramatization in order to increase the shelf like for the demanding gamer. The most obvious examples would be the brilliant bloom effects in Lineage 2’s Angel Waterfall, the gold shaders in Deus Ex: Human Revolution, or the blend of drawings with old graphics used in the Mount & Blade series. While EYE has constituted their theme pretty well, the use of some low resolution textures and models here and there can still break the immersion. That aside, it’s a very good effort that is very commendable, especially during the dream and certain parts of the HQ. In fact, in some parts it's quite extreme, think of huge power cables running through the streets and even fighting on Mars.

The strength of EYE definitely appears to be the character customization but the sounds and shooting mechanics are actually more fleshed out. At first this might seem like an odd thing to say as there are many powers and augmentations to choose from, however, as you progress through the levels you will come to find that specializing your character in a specific playstyle does not pay off. With the current state of the variables it is much more viable to build a generic tank/gunner as the other powers are either too taxing or influence your character too little to make much of a difference in battle. My character is currently level 40+ and having failed to be a drone master – since every enemy in the game gets tougher and my drones only gained a one time marginal HP increase and cannot be replenished during firefights – I noticed that straightforward upgrades related to gun performance and health will give you better results. It’s rather sad, but I understand that these niche playstyles are uncommon so they are represented less.

If you read my reviews before you will probably be wondering why I haven’t mentioned anything about the storyline yet, the reason for that is that I can’t. The storyline isn’t bad, just very complicated! I will really need to finish a couple more playthroughs to really get the gist of it.

All in all, E.Y.E Divine Cybermancy is a well designed game assuming a setting that is underrepresented in comparison to other themes. If you enjoy cyberpunk then you have probably come at the right address, though keep in mind that the theme is anything but subtle and the customization could be better.

Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days is by far the hardest review I had to do. Not because it proved difficult to analyse or form an opinion of, but because it teases me with something that could have been great - yet is not. I don't like destroying a game I have a thing for, even though it's just on paper in the shape of a review, but there's no going around it. The franchise screams for a more flexible versatile game but instead I'm left with a repetitive hallway shooter.

Adam 'Kane', as ex-mercenary, and James 'Lynch', as felon convicted of manslaughter, form a crime duo to arrange an arms deal in Shanghai. However, sh¡t hits the fan and Kane accidentally shoots the informant's girlfriend. Unfortunately she turns out to have been the daughter of some thé mobster in Shanghai all of China, whom is not fond of his daughter dying from a bullet Kane fired. The game follows our protagonists through Shanghai as this crime lord throws in everything at his disposal as a means of revenge, which is a lot. From local thug to police officer, a few military companies to several special forces, this guy has them all in his pocket and intends to use every man to kill Kane and Lynch.

There really is nothing wrong with the writing, and reading about Kane & Lynch (either of the two parts) will want to make you play the games. The protagonist duo have a background together (as portrayed in Kane & Lynch: Dead Men) which - coupled with their voice actors - look like cold hard m☮therfµckers. There's no other way to describe them. This is actually necessary to make their survival credible as far as the setting is concerned, and it does add up.

Though what doesn't add up is everything around it, with the partial exception of screenwriting: since the fundamentals of Dog Days is its hallway shooter mechanic, there isn't much freedom for screenwriting to begin with. The scenarios are heavily constrained to these mechanics and it doesn't take long for an observant player to notice that the intended storyline doesn't carry over as strong as it could have with different mechanics. The attempt is very admirable however, as even though some scenes are incredibly violent, they never feel forced or out of place.

The graphical quality is above average, though the used shaders and camera movement prove to be rather annoying over time. The bobbing, lens flares and shaders look great when only observed, but when you are in control of the camera yourself it quickly feels as if the game consistently misinterprets movements. There are glitches involved as well, though this might have to do with the fact that Dog Days is an older game and my newer hardware might not render some things correctly.

The sounds are too diverse to criticize in general. On one hand there are flat unconvincing gunshots, average ambience and mediocre soundeffects. On the other hand there's the convincing gritty voices of Kane and Lynch. While dialogue is well dosed, a great majority of the game still consists of shooting and as such there is little the dialogue of Kane and Lynch can do to make the game sound better in overall.

All of these assets could be worked with if it weren't for the repetitive hallway shooter mechanics. All details aside, this game is mainly about sitting behind cover, shooting people that are also behind cover, and moving up through the predefined path. The entirety of the game is played like this while every now and then a cutscene plays. The motives behind these mechanics might have to do with the developers intending to reach maximum cinematic experience by constraining the player, but when a game starts to feel like something that can be played on an light-gun arcade cabinet - graphics aside - a lot of players are going to conclude the game is boring without ever finishing the first playthrough.

And that's a shame because just the storyline, the strong characters being coupled with great voices, and the potential hidden in screenwriting makes this game a hidden gem. My conclusion is that it's definitely worth a play, Dog Days is truly different from a great majority of titles and a developer's second attempt to bring a franchise to life that is much more potent than the games are willing to show. While compelling story-wise, the gameplay itself will most likely bore you. In that regard it's funny how Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days is only three to four hours worth of playtime, because anything more would have been too much in its current form. Collectors will probably not mind putting down €10,- for this, and I would plead the same for gamers with a thing for mentionable titles. If you are on a tight budget and have no idea about what I'm trying to unveil with my review, then you wouldn't be able to appreciate the title(s) and it's best to stay away from the franchise.

I'm clicking the thumbs up for this game here because as broken as it might be: I admire the story, characters and voices, three things I value. Someday I will try the first Kane & Lynch and I'm also hoping the scheduled movie isn't going to ruin the franchise even more.

As requested, I will review Starforge.

...by which I mean the works in progress.

...and by that I mean the most recent one.

I will not try to directly attack Code}{atch nor will I grant any credit where it's not deserved.

Though it seems like a stretch - from the beginning of my ownership all the way up to this point - Starforge has so far taken the shape of two games. From what I understand from the community this number might not be accurate when you regard this game's entire lifespan so far. When I bought Starforge it was more or less a stable tech demo that, probably unintentionally, had an emphasis on experimentation. The player could battle unlimited waves of aliens trying to destroy your spawnpoint, with the help of random generated weapons (like octa-chainsaws and quad-minigun-dual-autocannon-triple-sugmachinegun with scope) and building blocks this mode could keep the average player's attention for 30 minutes at best. On top of that there also was a creative game mode with a pretty mysterious map featuring some bugs, unlimited resources to build with, and a breathtaking night sky.

However, this changed in December 2013. While the previous state of the game was rather shallow and limited to just the aforementioned, by many it was considered a tech demo that fuelled anticipation for the final game. The promised features seemed to hit the spot: plenty of alien flora and fauna, procedurally generated maps, vehicles, and the list goes on. Some of these features have been implemented on this particular date, though a lot of players would argue they didn't get what they expected. More about that later.

The proposed concept of Starforge is that of a survival game taking place on Atlas, an exoplanet in a far away galaxy. The player is part of (or - depending on the player count - just 'the') the first colonist(s) in charge of making sure the planet is suitable for human life. By gathering resources with a set of special tools you should be capable of establishing a base of operations around your spawnpoint - a clone vat to be more specific - which includes a power source and automated defense systems to keep aliens out.

A second proposed gamemode is the already mentioned more fast paced action where the player and his team (you'll need one) is dropped in the middle of nowhere with a single clone vat to protect from waves of hostile aliens. Randomly spawned resources make it so the team can build walls to keep the aliens out, though this can't be kept up if the players themselves don't motivate the aliens to stop being alive.

These two game modes go hand-in-hand with flashy graphics (very flashy... more about that soon) and ambient sounds that could sometimes give you the creeps. After all, being on an alien planet with lifeforms is the absolute unknown, at first you don't know what to expect. Alas, with the game still being in alpha phase I guess there is one thing to be expected. 'alpha' is a stage in software development where the full list requirements hasn't been implemented yet, and those that are available likely do not work as intended yet. This is why Starforge is released under Steam's Early Access program.

This shouldn't be a problem. If you're new to Starforge you would likely conclude the same at this point and ask yourself, "why mention something that's simply a matter of time?". I'm mentioning it because it has grown into a problem. Code}{atch has been hiring personnel - 20 fulltime and 3 parttime to be exact - and even rented an office building, yet so far did not manage to release anything with consistency where needed: quality and release frequency. The big 0.5 patch released in December of 2013 should have been a game changer, and while this was very much the case, players expected it to be of higher quality considering the copious amounts of man-hours between the previous patch and the fact its release had been stalled months multiple times. All the expected alpha stage quirks are represented in Starforge at the moment, from flickering graphics to memory leaks, bad designed NPCs, physics bugs and multiplayer client synchronization mismatches. In short, the game changer became the game breaker: a lovely tech demo had been replaced by an iffy game that plays like you're navigating a maze of bugs and glitches.

While Starforge might eventually turn into the game it was supposed to be, the past shows a game that suffers mismanagement and bad quality control. The proposed 2014 beta release date does not seem feasible to me unless Code}{atch has been holding back, which would be an incompetent practice of handling resources. They seem to have the creativity and manpower to work this out, but not the discipline.

It's up to you to decide if you buy into this or not. My €10,- was something I could miss at the time, but ever since the price has risen I don't find it unthinkable that you might stall this purchase for a year or two because of the reasons addressed here.

Okay, wow. So a little while ago my profile stated I would review games for people if they asked me, under the condition that the game was in my library. This review is the reason I had that removed.

"Here's Science Girls, have fun reviewing it ♥♥♥♥♥♥" happened and now I'm not that willing to spend so much time on reviews anymore unless something can be bargained.

Regardless, I'm a man of my word and I do have principles so, just this once, here's a dead honest and genuine review of Science Girls.

Science Girls, a visual novel RPG combination by Hanako Games, did a large appeal on my scepticism when I first started it. I couldn't help but notice it was programmed in Python, which explains its filesize and gameplay mechanics. I'm not going to let that be a negative point in my review though, a title deserves an honest review based on the proposed concept and how it's converged to a playable environment. In that regard they have succeeded in what I presume to be an attempt to recreate an atmosphere that belongs in a crossover between a Japanese visual novel and an oldschool RPG from an indie developer. It's not all good though, and I will elaborate this later on.

The mechanics of the game are solid: it offers free roaming on a 2D map, a turn based battle system, interactive dialogues, save slots and it does this all without bugs as far as I could see. In fact, I don't have anything to complain from a technological point of view. On every screen everything is very responsive and the game can be saved at any moment, which is pretty neat! Parts where you explore maps work as you expect them to, dialogues being printed can be fastforwarded by clicking your mouse, all pretty intuitive. The fighting is not complex but still offers the freedom to use tactics, which is in fact required as you progress through the game and don't want to get slaughtered by aliens that look like plants.

And that's where I'll break out the criticism: the premise is really silly though it doesn't seem intended as such. For all intents and purposes and regardless of the engine, this is a game about girls doing science majors in highschool having to fight off an alien invasion. As one of these girls, a masked psychology student, you first gather other girls in the school while fighting aliens. This setting is empowered by the dialogues that sometimes feel forced so much that the game gets an educative feel, and by this I of course refer to the girls explaining you how rockets work, why plants can't 'move and attack people', or that a ceiling fan does not provide enough mechanical modules to build a mecha. Of course, having a mecha around to fight the aliens would make the game much easier (in this setting, before any MuvLuv fans send me death threats), but mentioning these things feels out of place and pointless.

The artwork expresses the game's indie origin, being reminiscent of a release from college game design club. I'm not arguing that this is a bad thing however, in my opinion it actually gives life to the Japanese indie atmosphere (Oreimo S1, anyone?). The same can be said about the music and sounds. While it might not be your preference (and it certainly wasn't mine), this is exactly what the game is meant to be like. Dialogue screens present you hand drawn characters, the battles are done in 2,5D perspective, and though I must admit that the free roaming map feels a little cheap, it gets the job done.

With that I can summarize my review, Science Girls met my expectations as far as the atmosphere was concerned. I could appreciate the authentic Japanese indie feel and the fact the engine was as solid as it gets, what I wasn't so fond of was the educative dialogues that seemed forced and out of place as well as the premise altogether. If Hanako Games has more games based on this engine, though with a less silly and more genuine setting, I am pretty sure they have one or more gems with their name on it. While it might not suit your tastes, it will definitely hook those that look for a Japanese indie visual novel RPG without translation hassle. Hell, when you look at the website of Hanako Games you will see that they actually sell these games on CD's at anime conventions, it doesn't get more authentic than that.

Sleeping Dogs was a game I bought in Steam's 2013 Autumn Sales, after being curious about this game for a long time and being aware that looking up YouTube footage might have spoiled the story for me, this sale was a good opportunity for me to just gamble on this one.

And it was jackpot for me. Having played Just Cause 2, GTA 1 to 4, Saints Row 3, L.A. Noire and countless other free roaming games, I was completely overwhelmed by how convincing Hong Kong was portrayed in Sleeping Dogs. Hong Kong, which in this review refers to the map in Sleeping Dogs, is a graphically pleasing platform that carries the player through a gritty storyline revolving around Chinese gangsters. Even though the city is small compared to most of the aforementioned free roaming city games, there is a healthy amount of detail put in every square foot of Hong Kong, making the city feel as big as it would have felt in real life. The city dynamics are downright convincing, you will encounter a large amount of variation among the residents, each with their own reason for being on the street. This, and the amounts of interaction provided for the player, is something that at the time of writing is not appreciated enough in the industry.

Sleeping Dogs features oriental themed music to reinforce that atmosphere. The genre of the background music as well as the radio stations vary from hip-hop to classic, all with Chinese roots. Luckily, a great majority of the used vocabulary is English, although you may encounter a Chinese swearword here and there. This is translated in the subtitles and may seem a bit forced, if not out of place. Personally I find it understandable considering a full English or Chinese transcript would've alienated the player from the casting in this context, or otherwise not being able to follow the story at all.

It's important that this appeals to the player as the emphasis of the game heavily lies on the implied Chinese gangster culture. This means that gunplay and car-craze is reduced to a minimum when compared to other games in this genre. Rather than mowing down your enemies it's more common to have to fight people barehanded, the use of several martial arts and enemies with different specialities makes this less linear than it may sound. I wouldn't go as far as calling this game less violent either, if anything, this game deserves its 18+ rating more than the others in its genre.

Having that said, the mechanics of the game definitely require getting used to, luckily this is achieved through a clever tutorial that gradually increases the freedom you have while playing.

To progress through the game there are countless of missions and events to participate in, and not all of these are fun to do. In fact, there's some dreadful shooter-on-rails included. Luckily this wasn't so common that it started to bother me more than I could take but these are things that make Sleeping Dogs far from perfect. It's a missed opportunity to go down in history as a classic, though looking back on what Sleeping Dogs did manage to achieve, it would be greedy to ask for much more. I already feel like a cheapskate having paid so little for what I got.

I greatly enjoyed playing Sleeping Dogs and within the 25 hours I needed to finish the story it has managed to claim a place on my list of all-time favourite games.

[IMPORTANT NOTE: I have played Sleeping Dogs on the highest settings and with HD textures (free DLC). This makes Hong Kong more crowded and makes everything look a lot better. I imagine this influences the experience quite a bit, so make sure to get the most out of your game.]

Scribblenauts Unlimited is a title in its own genre: to the general public there is no game quite like it (and to this day I have not found any alternatives myself either). While the gameplay should be known to most of my readers, for the sake of completion I will elaborate on the game's objectives and means to succeed in them.

The protagonist is Maxwell, a kid that gets his hands on a notebook with a magical power, being that everything written down in the notebook will magically appear. As retarded and malicious little children are, he seized the opportunity to make the lives of others miserable, that is until a magician curses his sister and she is slowly consumed and converted into rock. The only way to stop this from happening is for him to make people, as well as animals and sometimes even inanimate objects, happy again. The player is presented with a sidescrolling 2D level including Maxwell, the aforementioned entities, and loads of hints that should indicate the player what to spawn for those in need. Some of these entities initiate a small storyline, while others are as simple as spawning a glass of water for someone that claims to be thirsty.

There has obviously been a lot of work put into the levels as to not make them linear, and while this succeeded, the overall premise of the game makes it that it will still appear linear to the player. After all, your mission is to spawn the things you're asked for. The sandbox aspect of the game has some potential as far as humor is concerned (have you ever worn a pants that's armed with a sword and is fighting your t-shirt?), but to some this will be entertaining for a shorter period of time than it is to others. The music and sound complements the visuals and while these aspects aren't exactly extraordinary, they are good enough.

In general I'd spend €10,- to €15,- if I was less cynical of a person. The reason I wouldn't scoop out that small amount from my budget is that I easily got bored with the sandbox aspect, but you'll have to keep in mind that I'm one of few uncommon gamers that is unable to enjoy the sandbox aspect of many other games like GTA1/4, Saints Row III and Just Cause 2, so I'm sure this will still appeal to a lot of folks out there.

It took me a bit of thinking to decide how to review Proteus as it's clearly not following the conceptual template of game design where the player's efforts to fulfill a particular objective would be rewarded, nor is it a simulator. Instead, Proteus should be considered no more than a toy to kill time with.

With its daring graphics and dynamic way of handling sounds and music, Proteus succeeds in constructing a mysterious setting which is empowered by the random events that may occur on your playthrough. Having that said, the player needs to be willing to explore the island, else there is little chance that these emphasized phenomena of Proteus will ever be discovered. And that's what makes this game a gamble for the price it's sold for while this was written, there doesn't seem to be a lot of variety as far as content is concerned whereas the lack of objectives will definitely put off potential players.

Skipping through the four stages will make this game last about an hour (on default settings), though the intention of the developer is that you explore the island and decide for yourself what the meaning of this game is.

Its purpose is clear however, Proteus is a colorful toy. My verdict will be open this time as I really can't decide whether this is your cup of tea or not, instead, the only sensible thing I can say about Proteus is that it requires you to be open minded and curious by nature.

While I'm not a fan of comparing games, it goes without saying that one of the biggest questions about the Saints Row franchise revolves around its resemblance with the Grand Theft Auto series. Is it better? Is it much different from GTA? While the first is a question I don't want to involve in a review, I can confidently assert that Saints Row is in its own league.

Saints Row is a free roaming co-operative third person shooter packed with cheap humor and gang violence. However, that does not necessarily make this a bad game. I would actually say Saints Row III has very much succeeded in making cheap humor great and gang violence entertaining as far as video games go.

The setting of SRIII takes place on an island where a consortium of three large gangs are in charge of the city, and you as player have to topple these gangs in order to make your gang (the Saints) dominating. Whereas the GTA series does this through accepting certain missions from one gang against the other, the power of SRIII lies in its characters and scripted storyline as well as the complete individuality of the side missions. The fun is doubled when you bring along your friend over Internet/LAN co-op gameplay and you both develop your character traits such as combat skills, your looks, and your personal stack of vehicles (which conveniently respawn in the garage regardless of how you maul and destroy them, pretty handy).

This all works out pretty well, though not flawless. Besides an unconvincing world (which makes immersion very hard), SRIII has a couple of nasty bugs that can ruin your savegame so I recommend not writing your progress to a single slot the entire time. This should not be a buzzkill for the fun though, not when the gameplay is so fluent and the theme accompanied by proper fitting music. I would personally rate this game as one of the better games in its genre, much like what I did with Deus Ex: Human Revolution and Hitman. Luckily, Saints Row III is on sale during vacations quite often, the perfect opportunity to lock yourself up in your room and play through this game.

While I'm known to write longer reviews, I do not intend to spend too much effort here. This game is physically impossible to enjoy, just like Minecraft. In fact, I feel like a lesser human being for owning this. Even the price tag of €2,49 during the sales is excessive and I would therefore not recommend this game under any circumstance.

Never.

Ever.

After a few people on my list noticed I did not put much effort in my earlier Steam Recommendations, I had promised to work on that. Having recently finished the first Deus Ex (DX), it would only be logical to delete my savegames in Deus Ex: Human Revolution (DX:HR) and completely start over: I can now compare the newest installment of the franchise to its original. Regardless, I am not going to burn DX:HR for all the things that it does different in comparison to DX. The gaming industry has changed and it would only be fair to keep things relative, just like how I did not hammer the graphics or some bugs in DX.

There are a couple of things that form the essence of the Deus Ex franchise, and luckily most of these things are found back in DX:HR. To keep this review brief I will mainly focus on content, one of the things DX:HR excels in. The graphics are not awe inspiring as far as today's technology goes, but they are exactly what you need to immerse yourself in the setting DX:HR provides. There is a yellow/gold taint throughout the game that, although not positively received by everyone, makes the atmosphere consistent whereas the different designs of individual in-game locations make sure it does not feel repetitive.

Audio-wise this game scores a lot of points. The used sound effects are decent to good, but what really stands out is the voice acting and music. Adam Jensen (voiced by Elias Toufexis) has thé sexiest voice I have heard in media for a while, but let's not forget about the others. A proper dosis of emotion make the characters sound convincing which makes it easier for the player to put themselves in their position, as unfortunate as that may be at times. To top it off, Michael McCann has provided an OST that does not only sound amazing, it also fits the atmosphere in a way that it's modern and just seems appropriate for the year 2027.

As far as the story is concerned, some players might find that it resembles DX too much, but they might be forgetting the fact that DX:HR is a prequel to the original DX. A lot of organizations and wrongdoings that concern the player in DX have their roots in DX:HR and therefore might make the story appear similar. However, an important difference is how Adam Jensen is operating from a corporate perspective in a world that is in the grasp of the power that large corporations have, this allows for some interesting problems to occur. Coupled with ethical dilemmas, the plot of DX:HR might be confusing for your average FPS gamer but will definitely intrigue those that are still reading at this point.

The gameplay is a clever mixture consisting of RPG elements, actual RPG gameplay (unlike many self-proclaimed RPGs - this is also mentioned in my DX review), basic shooter elements, and minigames that don't seem intrusive or out of place. So far it does not seem too different from DX, however, one point that bothers a lot of franchise fans is the fact that boss fights are in no way avoidable (edit: unless you have the director's cut!). This does not blend well with the fact that the AI can be pretty iffy at times. Regardless, this does not keep the player from experiencing, what I would call, a very worthy prequel of Deus Ex.

I regard this game very highly, especially in today's market that seems mostly dominated by uninteresting games as far as shooters are concerned. My verdict is to buy this game, you must have tried it at least, there's a good chance you will embrace it and its franchise.