josefzorn
Recent Activity
josefzorn
backloggd
Half-Life: Alyx
2 days ago
josefzorn is
now playing
Oxygen Not Included
2 days ago
josefzorn
completed
Metro: Last Light Redux
Better than the first. Nicer guns. Cooler stealth and accessibility options. Better story... kind of.
Still way to heavy-handed presentation, still more annoying than challenging survival mechanics, still a eastern block macho hero vibe throughout.
Still way to heavy-handed presentation, still more annoying than challenging survival mechanics, still a eastern block macho hero vibe throughout.
4 days ago
12 days ago
josefzorn
completed
VirtuaVerse
Oh man, what a drag. Rough time for a genre fan.
Some moments, short glimpses of an idea and (very few) lines were cool, but almost all mistakes you can make in an adventure game are in there.
Bad or no puzzle signposting, most of the time just a random solution you will have to happen to hit upon. Puzzle logic seems often not thought through. There's some pixel hunting screens in there. Some really bad writing and SO MUCH of it. As well as the items, variety is good, this was clutter from the get go. And then the rooms that are not clearly enough marked visually, that they exist. All of that makes enjoyment of an adventure impossible. Only frustration remains.
Reexplaining every unexciting plot point (no nudges for the puzzles sadly) at least 3 times. Even the art style (very solid basically with a few very nice shots peppered in) gets quite lazy and clunky like the gameplay itself.
Maybe I am a snob or too critical, because we are working on an old school looking point and click adventure game ( The Funny Boneyard™ ), but this is so odd.
The tonality in Virtuaverse is all over the place. It's serious cyber punky at first, critical, cerebral -- and then it feels like a bad Sierra game suddenly, with childish nerdy jokes by adolescents acting smart (e.g. wet panties). The strong language, the f*cks make no sense, not at all earned horribly utilized. And
Then the game seems to bully itself a bit, to make fun of itself, but badly because the jokes point out flaws. It comments on in-game logic problems, more than once, also about the plot complexity. At least stand behind your crazy sci-fi story. Speaking of: The makers seem to love 90s tech and have this "make computers great again" nostalgia, which comes across ill-fitting in the futuristic setting. With this dude loving cables and VCRs.
Stuff like the AVR goggles and their overlay mechanic, a decent soundtrack and a few clever sci-fi-ideas I liked at first, but a minute later I got angry about bad game design and dumb dialogue again. Can't recommend it, sorry guys.
Some moments, short glimpses of an idea and (very few) lines were cool, but almost all mistakes you can make in an adventure game are in there.
Bad or no puzzle signposting, most of the time just a random solution you will have to happen to hit upon. Puzzle logic seems often not thought through. There's some pixel hunting screens in there. Some really bad writing and SO MUCH of it. As well as the items, variety is good, this was clutter from the get go. And then the rooms that are not clearly enough marked visually, that they exist. All of that makes enjoyment of an adventure impossible. Only frustration remains.
Reexplaining every unexciting plot point (no nudges for the puzzles sadly) at least 3 times. Even the art style (very solid basically with a few very nice shots peppered in) gets quite lazy and clunky like the gameplay itself.
Maybe I am a snob or too critical, because we are working on an old school looking point and click adventure game ( The Funny Boneyard™ ), but this is so odd.
The tonality in Virtuaverse is all over the place. It's serious cyber punky at first, critical, cerebral -- and then it feels like a bad Sierra game suddenly, with childish nerdy jokes by adolescents acting smart (e.g. wet panties). The strong language, the f*cks make no sense, not at all earned horribly utilized. And
Then the game seems to bully itself a bit, to make fun of itself, but badly because the jokes point out flaws. It comments on in-game logic problems, more than once, also about the plot complexity. At least stand behind your crazy sci-fi story. Speaking of: The makers seem to love 90s tech and have this "make computers great again" nostalgia, which comes across ill-fitting in the futuristic setting. With this dude loving cables and VCRs.
Stuff like the AVR goggles and their overlay mechanic, a decent soundtrack and a few clever sci-fi-ideas I liked at first, but a minute later I got angry about bad game design and dumb dialogue again. Can't recommend it, sorry guys.
12 days ago
josefzorn is
now playing
Final Fantasy VII
12 days ago
josefzorn
played
Spelunky
Alright, I died around 1.700 times.
Got to Olmec around 5 times, never close to beating him. (That's why I am not marking this game completed, boy scout's honor) Incredible game design and how one gets better and better in this unforgiving world = chef's kiss.
I didn't throw my Vita out of the window either. I guess I must "like" this game?! Not uninstalling it either, just moving on in my backlog... and maybe some day this "played" button will become green, as in a game finished.
Until we meet again...
Got to Olmec around 5 times, never close to beating him. (That's why I am not marking this game completed, boy scout's honor) Incredible game design and how one gets better and better in this unforgiving world = chef's kiss.
I didn't throw my Vita out of the window either. I guess I must "like" this game?! Not uninstalling it either, just moving on in my backlog... and maybe some day this "played" button will become green, as in a game finished.
Until we meet again...
12 days ago