🚀 go-pugleaf

Well, that's another 30 days gone. I'm already missing summer but the
cooler weather is undeniably encouraging me to stay inside and play
more games, so I guess there's some benefit.

Anyway, here we are again with our usual monthly thread. It's been a
while, so let's do a quick who-what-where-when for any newcomers to
the newsgroup. The idea here is to list out any games you've played
over the last month, for the edification and amusement of your fellow
c.s.i.p.g.a readers. I - and a number of others - like to share a few
thoughts on those games - but feel free just to leave the list if you
prefer. Given the nature of this newsgroup, we've all a preference for
PC games but should your habit have taken you to the darker corners of
the hobby, we'll turn a blind eye... this time ;-). The main idea is
to keep the conversation focused on the games themselves.

Look, it's simple. Here, watch; I'll go first.

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Short and Sweet
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* Hunted: The Demon Forge (new)
* Tomb Raider Underworld (replay)
* Civiliztion: Beyond Earth (new)
* Injustice: Gods Among Us (new)
* Ghost Recon Future Soldier (replay)


TL; DR 
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* Hunted: The Demon Forge (new)
I can't remember when I bought this game, but I hope I didn't pay that
much for the privilege. At best I can say it's an unexceptional
brawler. It lacks any and all flair; it's all characterless and
generic grimdark fantasy, with a 'roid-pumped hero and unnaturally
buxom heroine as the leads whose main goals in life seems to be taking
all the obviously wrong and bad choices that life throws at them. The
combat is unexciting, with a lack of interesting combos and sluggish
movement that drains all the energy from the fights. Fortunately, the
enemy AI is equally as moribund. Unfortunately, your AI partner isn't
any better, rarely backing you up and far more often just getting in
your way. Simply navigating the level is a chore because your
team-mate is constantly in your way. The game was obviously intended
to be played as in co-op (a feature that has apparently been
discontinued) and little was done to make the single-player more
entertaining. Even taking into consideration its age - the game was
released in 2011 - Hunted fails to impress with its graphics either;
it looks like a game from 2005. It's a dull, unexciting game in every
respect and not in the least bit fun.



* Tomb Raider Underworld (replay)
I actually started with Tomb Raider: Anniversary but various technical
issues and a lack of polish frustrated me enough that I decided to
skip ahead to the sequel, Underworld. In many ways, TR: Anniversary
played too closely to the original (it's a remake of the first Tomb
Raider game), and it felt very rough around the edges. Tomb Raider
Underworld had a lot of problems too, but it hewed closer to modern
game-play esthetics, and was the more fun for it.

I was surprised at how good the game looked, despite being almost ten
years old. Lara still looks too much like a sex-doll but the
environments were very pretty, and Underworld featured a number of
impressive set-pieces. I rather enjoyed how the developers managed to
wrap together the divergent storylines of the previous games into a
cohesive whole, although the ending did feel a bit rushed and
unsatisfying. 

Not surprisingly, the major problem I had with the game was an issue
that has dogged the franchise from the start: its awful camera. Too
often I was forced to make blind leaps of faith because the camera -
rigidly locked on Lara - refused to allow me a better view of my
surrounds. It was often difficult just figuring out where I needed to
go next because the camera was so stiff. Having played so many other
third-person games with far better cameras, this old-school
methodology seemed quaint at best and ludicrously unfair at other
times. Still, I found the puzzles and platforming rather enjoyable,
even if them both fairly simplistic and linear. I was less endeared by
the combat, but fortunately it plays a less prominent part than in the
earlier games. There's also almost an entire dearth of quick-time
events, a well-received improvement over the earlier titles and it was
disappointing to see them return in the later series.

Underworld wasn't a great game, but it was largely enjoyable and
probably one of my favorites in the whole franchise. 



* Civilization: Beyond Earth (new)
In many ways, Beyond Earth is a disappointing game.

That's an unusual thing to say, given that - like all the other games
in the franchise - Beyond Earth was so additively engrossing that it
has since been banished from my hard-drive. It is too dangerous a game
to leave installed, since its "just-one-more-turn" gameplay speaks to
my compulsive side; if I am not careful then before I know it, it is 4
AM and I've been playing non-stop for 8 hours. One might - quite
correctly - assume that this is a hallmark of a good game.

But for all that Beyond Earth shares its brethren's habit-forming
qualities, it does not go beyond them. It feels all too familiar in
all the important areas, and the few changes it boasts are superficial
and unappealing. The units and factions might all have new names, but
it still doesn't stray the least from the tried-and-true formula. Were
this a simple remake of the series - where you build up eponymous
civilization from the stone ages -  this might not be so noticeable
but set in a high-tech 22nd century interstellar future, it's hard to
rectify this with building up your entire society - again - from a
single city. 

That is not to say the developers did not attempt to shake things up,
but the new features aren't particularly well done. They feel more
like they've re-skinned the old game, renaming the old familiar
options with confusing new - and poorly explained - terminology. I
have a good idea what a catapult or cruiser does in classic
Civilization, but Beyond Earth has units with names like AEGIS,
CARVR, and Throne, and I've no idea what those do? Instead, I'm
constantly forced to resort to the badly designed (white text on a
dark background? Whose idea was that?) glossary just to figure out
what unit does what. It's tech-web is similarly over-designed,
offering little sense of progression. Is my civilization truly more
advanced now that I have figured out "Transcendental Math" or
"Mechatronics", or does it just offer some generic stats upgrade? Too
often I can't tell. Its factions and affinities, and its marvels and
virtues are likewise a mess of confusing ideas that never quite gel
together well.

So while it was a welcome return to the Civilization's gameplay loop,
ultimately Beyond Earth felt more like a hacked-together mod than a
refinement or advancement of the franchise; a conglomeration of new
ideas tossed into the mix simply for the sake of adding something new
rather than because it made for a better game. The compelling nature
of its gameplay remains solid, but ultimately I think I'd have been
better off just playing Civilization 4.


* Injustice: Gods Among Us (new)
There are certain genres of games for which I am just not suited.
MOBAs are one; so too are realistic driving simulators. For all that I
can admire the craftsmanship that goes into designing such games - and
have an earnest desire to appreciate them - I just do not find them
that compelling to play. Punch-n-kick brawlers are another example;
they are colorful, fantastical, and frenetic, often with rewarding and
challenging gameplay, but I have neither the temperament to master or
even long endure their game-play.

Still, Injustice: Gods Among Us looked as if it might have been the
sort of game to keep me playing through to the end, if only for its
over-the-top combat and action-packed (if somewhat predictable)
comic-book storyline. I mean, who /wouldn't/ want to play as Superman
and punch an opponent into outer-space? I mean, that's the sort of
thing a lot of us have probably wanted to do ever since we read our
first issue of Action Comics!

Alas, it wasn't to be, and I'm not sure I'm to say whether it was
because of my own failure or the game's. When it comes to brawlers, I
tend towards button-mashing anyway, but even given my primitive grasp
of brawler mechanics, I didn't think Injustice's combat was
particularly well done. There were just too many options and powers,
and rather than  super-powered I felt overloaded with options. Even
were I not, the game felt gimmicky, too overloaded with action
cut-scenes, weird mini-games and quick-time events. I never felt as if
I were given an opportunity to hone my skills because every other
fight it seemed that the game changed everything on me. 

Ultimately, I gave up on actually playing the game and just watched a
let's play of the cut-scenes, which was okay. It certainly didn't
encourage me to keep playing, or try other brawlers. On the other
hand, that got me into reading the comic prequels, which I found far
more enjoyable than either game or video, so I guess something
worthwhile came from the experiment.



* Ghost Recon Future Soldier (replay)
It's hard to review Future Soldier because there's so little
substantial about the game. It's an absolutely forgettable Call of
Duty clone that suffers all the problems of its better-known
inspiration, and a number of its own problems besides. It has the same
dull story-line, with cliched and idealized super-hero soldiers,
ultra-linear levels, brain-dead AI and brown-is-real graphics. You
can't open a door on your own, and dare not stray far from the
expected mission path lest you get an automatic game-over. It
fetishizes guns to an obnoxious degree, even for a military
first-person shooter. Nominally a co-operative shooter, its levels do
little to encourage teamwork. It gameplay is full of unrealistic
gimmicks and annoying gameplay restrictions (most apparent in the
enforced stealth sections). It is unexciting, trite and predictable
and so unremarkable that its barely worth writing a review for it. 


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And that's how it's done! See, not hard at all. Now you try. Tell us
all:

What have you been playing... IN SEPTEMBER 2016?