2016
"Simple, Mindless Murder..."
POSTAL must have been a very controversial game back in 1998 when it released, because it still remains a very disturbing and violent game. There is a heap of dark and demonic imagery paired with a jarring, industrial-focused soundtrack that will have player's heads pumping with blood. The gameplay revolves around "purging" areas of people, which essentially boils down to killing innocent civilians and armed police/military (a.k.a. "going postal"). While playing, I definitely felt a sense of wrongdoing despite me achieving the goals the game set out for me to complete, which is definitely an interesting thing that the game achieves.
However, I also found this game to be incredibly repetitive and boring after not even an hour of playtime. The game frontloads all of its weapons to you very early on, and none of the weapons really pack any real "punch". Enemy AI is abysmal, level design becomes similar as the game progresses, and there is a lack of any real story during its short 2+ hour runtime.
The game plays like a standard twin-stick shooter, with the player swapping between weapons/grenades on the fly. While my playthrough was extremely easy to complete, I wouldn't want to play again on a harder difficulty since the combat became boring for me. With a friend, the game gets marginally better, but it also takes away a bit of the "accomplishment" of single-handedly eradicating an entire town full of people.
Also, while the visuals are dark and gloomy (which fits the game's theme), they don't look very eye catching, and many things blend together. This makes many levels feel indistinct from one another, and made the short playthrough feel much longer in the worst of ways.
Despite its many flaws, Postal can still provide a player some fun for a cheap price. Its a nice game to turn your brain off to, though sometimes it feels like its too simplistic for its own good. I can Recommend it to someone looking for a short power-tripping experience where morality is of no question, but it plays like your everyday twin-stick shooter regardless.
Final Verdict: 6/10 (Above Average)
POSTAL must have been a very controversial game back in 1998 when it released, because it still remains a very disturbing and violent game. There is a heap of dark and demonic imagery paired with a jarring, industrial-focused soundtrack that will have player's heads pumping with blood. The gameplay revolves around "purging" areas of people, which essentially boils down to killing innocent civilians and armed police/military (a.k.a. "going postal"). While playing, I definitely felt a sense of wrongdoing despite me achieving the goals the game set out for me to complete, which is definitely an interesting thing that the game achieves.
However, I also found this game to be incredibly repetitive and boring after not even an hour of playtime. The game frontloads all of its weapons to you very early on, and none of the weapons really pack any real "punch". Enemy AI is abysmal, level design becomes similar as the game progresses, and there is a lack of any real story during its short 2+ hour runtime.
The game plays like a standard twin-stick shooter, with the player swapping between weapons/grenades on the fly. While my playthrough was extremely easy to complete, I wouldn't want to play again on a harder difficulty since the combat became boring for me. With a friend, the game gets marginally better, but it also takes away a bit of the "accomplishment" of single-handedly eradicating an entire town full of people.
Also, while the visuals are dark and gloomy (which fits the game's theme), they don't look very eye catching, and many things blend together. This makes many levels feel indistinct from one another, and made the short playthrough feel much longer in the worst of ways.
Despite its many flaws, Postal can still provide a player some fun for a cheap price. Its a nice game to turn your brain off to, though sometimes it feels like its too simplistic for its own good. I can Recommend it to someone looking for a short power-tripping experience where morality is of no question, but it plays like your everyday twin-stick shooter regardless.
Final Verdict: 6/10 (Above Average)
"Interesting, Innovative, But Far Too Clunky"
'System Shock: Enhanced Edition' is a re-release of the original title from 1994. While the controls are cleaned up slightly and some visual enhancements were made, the game underneath feels unpolished and is very hard to recommend from a gameplay perspective. However, it is an important game that laid the framework for the Immersive Sim genre.
The gameplay is exceptionally diverse for a game that was released at such an infantile time for the video game industry. There is a variety of systems, and the story is actually told in a fairly entertaining way. There is a large selection of weapons and items to use, and the game is actually fairly scary despite being an older title. However, it is extremely clunky. The general design that is a mix of an FPS and a point-n-click game is very unintuitive, and always felt awkward during my time with it. The menu navigation is by far the worst, with lots of information being trapped behind a UI that is rough to look through. Additionally, the graphics are not very good at all, and the extremely jarring colors and textures hurt my eyes after a bit of playing.
Despite these faults, the game has the groundwork of an immensely influential title. Seeing elements of the Deus Ex and Bioshock games within this title is amazing! However, no matter how influential and important this game is, and how awesome it must have been at its release, it feels terrible to play now. I would Not Recommend checking this game out unless you are extremely patient or are familiar with unorthodox control schemes within computer games. It was super interesting to check out, but I wasn’t keen on finishing it after a few levels.
Final Verdict: 4/10 (Below Average)
'System Shock: Enhanced Edition' is a re-release of the original title from 1994. While the controls are cleaned up slightly and some visual enhancements were made, the game underneath feels unpolished and is very hard to recommend from a gameplay perspective. However, it is an important game that laid the framework for the Immersive Sim genre.
The gameplay is exceptionally diverse for a game that was released at such an infantile time for the video game industry. There is a variety of systems, and the story is actually told in a fairly entertaining way. There is a large selection of weapons and items to use, and the game is actually fairly scary despite being an older title. However, it is extremely clunky. The general design that is a mix of an FPS and a point-n-click game is very unintuitive, and always felt awkward during my time with it. The menu navigation is by far the worst, with lots of information being trapped behind a UI that is rough to look through. Additionally, the graphics are not very good at all, and the extremely jarring colors and textures hurt my eyes after a bit of playing.
Despite these faults, the game has the groundwork of an immensely influential title. Seeing elements of the Deus Ex and Bioshock games within this title is amazing! However, no matter how influential and important this game is, and how awesome it must have been at its release, it feels terrible to play now. I would Not Recommend checking this game out unless you are extremely patient or are familiar with unorthodox control schemes within computer games. It was super interesting to check out, but I wasn’t keen on finishing it after a few levels.
Final Verdict: 4/10 (Below Average)
1995
"Unfairly Difficult"
"Rayman" is a title that I was unsure about playing, but was delighted by its visual presentation. The colors were incredible for an older title, and the sprites and environments were lush with detail. This gave me high hope that the surrounding gameplay would be worth playing...boy was I wrong.
Mechanically, the game plays fine as the controls work as they should. However, it is not long before you realize the true difficulty of the game. There are countless platforming segments, fights, and scripted segments of traversal via various methods that are punishingly difficult. Without cheats, this game is pretty much impossible to beat for a newbie (unless you decide to devote hundreds of hours of your life to understanding the precise jumps and level knowledge required to best many challenges.
The game has so much promise, yet it is wasted due to incredibly frustrating level design, inconsistent platforming behavior, unfair boss fights, and an overall punishing life system. The soundtrack is alright, but the story is pretty empty and run of the mill. Rayman himself has no character, nor do any other characters in the game.
Overall, "Rayman" is a very frustrating experience full of anti-fun mechanics. The game has some really good art and design for 1995, but it is all wasted with the massive difficulty level and requirements for completion. I would Not Recommend this title unless you want to devote countless hours to perfecting every aspect of it, or are willing to abuse cheats in order to see further portions of the game (doesn't make the levels any easier).
Final Verdict: 3/10 (Poor)
"Rayman" is a title that I was unsure about playing, but was delighted by its visual presentation. The colors were incredible for an older title, and the sprites and environments were lush with detail. This gave me high hope that the surrounding gameplay would be worth playing...boy was I wrong.
Mechanically, the game plays fine as the controls work as they should. However, it is not long before you realize the true difficulty of the game. There are countless platforming segments, fights, and scripted segments of traversal via various methods that are punishingly difficult. Without cheats, this game is pretty much impossible to beat for a newbie (unless you decide to devote hundreds of hours of your life to understanding the precise jumps and level knowledge required to best many challenges.
The game has so much promise, yet it is wasted due to incredibly frustrating level design, inconsistent platforming behavior, unfair boss fights, and an overall punishing life system. The soundtrack is alright, but the story is pretty empty and run of the mill. Rayman himself has no character, nor do any other characters in the game.
Overall, "Rayman" is a very frustrating experience full of anti-fun mechanics. The game has some really good art and design for 1995, but it is all wasted with the massive difficulty level and requirements for completion. I would Not Recommend this title unless you want to devote countless hours to perfecting every aspect of it, or are willing to abuse cheats in order to see further portions of the game (doesn't make the levels any easier).
Final Verdict: 3/10 (Poor)
"Too Old To Enjoy"
I decided to try the original Civilization, but I was only able to find a copy through a DOS-emulator online. It ran through a web page, and was a chore to understand how to run. Finally I was able to load the game and start playing.
This game is ancient in all of the worst ways. There is no real tutorial, and instructions on how to play are bloated and hard to decipher. The graphics are blocky, the music is loud and irritating, and the gameplay was barely functional.
Overall, I would Not Recommend playing this entry. It is much too old to really provide anything other than a glance at the franchise's early roots, and honestly it deserves to be left behind in history. Later titles add tutorials and clearer communication to the player about expected goals, as well as a plethora of new features.
Final Verdict: 1/10 (Terrible)
I decided to try the original Civilization, but I was only able to find a copy through a DOS-emulator online. It ran through a web page, and was a chore to understand how to run. Finally I was able to load the game and start playing.
This game is ancient in all of the worst ways. There is no real tutorial, and instructions on how to play are bloated and hard to decipher. The graphics are blocky, the music is loud and irritating, and the gameplay was barely functional.
Overall, I would Not Recommend playing this entry. It is much too old to really provide anything other than a glance at the franchise's early roots, and honestly it deserves to be left behind in history. Later titles add tutorials and clearer communication to the player about expected goals, as well as a plethora of new features.
Final Verdict: 1/10 (Terrible)