And now a game that I was dreading that I have to review for the month of Halloween. And yes, I do mean Amnesia: a Machine for pigs, but I had to cut Amnesia out of fear of the infection of spreading, as this occurrence did happen to Silent Hill, just the original developers WEREN'T around for the so-called sequel. The developers for the game where the same ones that made the "Walking Simulator" Dear Ester, But that will be explained later.
The player stars as Oswald, the wealthy industrialist and explorer, , He awake in the room with Amnesia, which is a running thing with the Amnesia series, and receives a call from someone who informs him that a machine that he helped build is sabotaged and is risk of exploding, that would risk his twin sons' life. On the way to fix the machine, you find Man-pigs (or pigmen? OR MAN-BEAR-PIGS!?) beings which chase after him.
However, while it dose have the Amnesia name, the game itself is more of a visual novel than an actual game, even though the player can mess with the dressing at times. Oswald tends to get pushed down a hallway more than exploring, which was the same problem with Dear Ester. While the puzzles have been watered down as well as the sanity effects, the sanity effects are used to at least try to cover the look of the menpigs, which are sadly copy-and-pasted all over the place. The pigmen loose their credibility, or CREEPiblity, in this case, and becomes less creepy as time moves on.
If the game would have been called A Machine For Pigs as it's main tittle just with the note on the box-art "Made by the developers of Dear Ester!" then the game would have done well for itself. The story, while it dose have it's issue shoehorning bits of Amnesia like The Room shoehorned bits of Silent Hill, is actually very creepy in it's own right. However, the company wanted to make a sequel to the game, but they couldn't get the original developers, as they moved on from the company.
Sadly, the game missed it's mark, as many fans and critics bashed the game for not being a true amnesia sequel. This caused a huge back-lash as The Chinese Room attacked back, giving the company bad repetation within the gaming community. While people do see some people will defend the game, it STILL dose not make it a game, as there is no replay value and feels like a paid for a custom story. Speaking of custom story, this game dose not have a custom story mode.
Sadly, I personally do not recommend this game. If anyone want to get the game on a sale, they are free to buy the game. Is it an Amnesia game? No, but it's a interesting interactive story on it's own. The game is easier to complete, but the name betrays itself, as it could never reach it's expectation caused by it's hype. In the end, the game should have been it's own thing...Instead, it's just a thing.
With this review, this ends Horror game mouth. Thanks twords those who read my reviews. I do have a one thousand view special in mind, so please continue to read on. For those wondering about my Youtube, it's on hiatus until later as there are too many factors holding me back from family issues to moving to another town to build my own home. I hope to evolve Beastly Bash and even renaming it as the name is also currently used by Halloween party group. Until then....
Wednesday, October 29, 2014
Saturday, October 25, 2014
Amnesia: The Dark Decent
Horror games used to be an ignored franchise since the Xbox 360 launched, because during the time, shooters like Halo, and Call of Duty over-shadowed horror while gamers new to the gaming industry doesn't know what true horror is in games anymore. Back then in the PlayStation era, gamers where flooded with games Like Silent Hill, Resident Evil, and other horror games. While there was some horror themed games, action has always been the main focus, whenever it's a shooter, brawler, or even to plat-formers...somehow...
This brings us to Amnesia: The Dark Decent. From the same makers of penumbra. While it might not be the game that helped pushed horror back upon the market, it was the final push that helped Amnesia to be one of the most loved horror games of all time. This game is all over youtube and helped many youtubers find their first start as lets players for better or for worst. Dispute being an old PC game, it still holds up to the test of time.
The player starts as Danial , a Amnesia stricken protagonist (who is found either bleeding or leaking potion all over the place) then finds a letter from himself to kill a man name Alexander, the cause of all the troubles within the manor he's stuck in. While trying to uncover the past, Danial runs into horrible monsters as well as horrible torture machines, hinting that Daniel gone too deep within the story as he question his own roll within the game.
The gameplay itself is what makes the game, however, it first all started with the same gameplay as penumbra but with improvements, like removing the annoying combat mechanics with the awkward controls. While a game without combat could sound like a nightmare to call of duty fans, this helps magnify the horror within the game. While the player could stall the monsters by trowing chairs and objects, they cannot be killed upright. The only way is to run and hide, to prevent from getting killed from the beast within the game.
While other games handles sanity as an on-and-off effect, Sanity doesn't exactly tie into the health, but rather make Daniel's sight and hearing, which goes crazy as it shrinks lower. When your sanity drops, Daniel goes crazy and falls to the floor, preventing him from temporally moving. To prevent this, the player must stay in the light to raise the sanity back up, but this can lead to situations where the player is spotted by the monster. Thus, the player must choose his play-style carefully...
However, this game dose have it's hiccups. For one, it is EASY to get lost within the game. While some items are easy to find, there is no real map within the game. While it was intentional for online guides and walkthoughs, it's padding in the worst possible way. Sanity also gets annoying later on as it can lead into deaths feeling cheap.
The best part about Amnesia is the mods! There are literally hundred of thousands of mods for Amnesia as much as their is mods for the original Doom games. Some range from silly and sad stories to creepy and horrifying experiences. Some of the mods change the game and even lead up into other games like most mods in Garry's Mod for Steam...for both better and worst.
Overall, I recommend Amnesia, while not as anyone's first horror game, but as a game that everyone needs to at least play once as a good experience to horror. However, I cannot recommend to play this blind as it can lead into frustration. That and the reactions on youtube is always hilarious.
This brings us to Amnesia: The Dark Decent. From the same makers of penumbra. While it might not be the game that helped pushed horror back upon the market, it was the final push that helped Amnesia to be one of the most loved horror games of all time. This game is all over youtube and helped many youtubers find their first start as lets players for better or for worst. Dispute being an old PC game, it still holds up to the test of time.
The player starts as Danial , a Amnesia stricken protagonist (who is found either bleeding or leaking potion all over the place) then finds a letter from himself to kill a man name Alexander, the cause of all the troubles within the manor he's stuck in. While trying to uncover the past, Danial runs into horrible monsters as well as horrible torture machines, hinting that Daniel gone too deep within the story as he question his own roll within the game.
The gameplay itself is what makes the game, however, it first all started with the same gameplay as penumbra but with improvements, like removing the annoying combat mechanics with the awkward controls. While a game without combat could sound like a nightmare to call of duty fans, this helps magnify the horror within the game. While the player could stall the monsters by trowing chairs and objects, they cannot be killed upright. The only way is to run and hide, to prevent from getting killed from the beast within the game.
While other games handles sanity as an on-and-off effect, Sanity doesn't exactly tie into the health, but rather make Daniel's sight and hearing, which goes crazy as it shrinks lower. When your sanity drops, Daniel goes crazy and falls to the floor, preventing him from temporally moving. To prevent this, the player must stay in the light to raise the sanity back up, but this can lead to situations where the player is spotted by the monster. Thus, the player must choose his play-style carefully...
However, this game dose have it's hiccups. For one, it is EASY to get lost within the game. While some items are easy to find, there is no real map within the game. While it was intentional for online guides and walkthoughs, it's padding in the worst possible way. Sanity also gets annoying later on as it can lead into deaths feeling cheap.
The best part about Amnesia is the mods! There are literally hundred of thousands of mods for Amnesia as much as their is mods for the original Doom games. Some range from silly and sad stories to creepy and horrifying experiences. Some of the mods change the game and even lead up into other games like most mods in Garry's Mod for Steam...for both better and worst.
Overall, I recommend Amnesia, while not as anyone's first horror game, but as a game that everyone needs to at least play once as a good experience to horror. However, I cannot recommend to play this blind as it can lead into frustration. That and the reactions on youtube is always hilarious.
Saturday, October 18, 2014
Eternal Darkness: Gotta slay them all?
This time for a horror game review, we're focusing on a GameCube gem that was successful unlike it's kick-starter sequel since the company in question fell from grace after Microsoft bought Silicon Knights. To be fair, like Rare-ware, they chose to be bought for the money sake, though they did embrace the dark side of game development. However, this game will always be their crowning achievement in life, as well as the Metal Gear Solid remake.
The player starts off as Alex, the last-in-the-line of the Roivas family line who's grand-father was murdered within his manor. While investigating, she comes upon the tomb of eternal darkness, a book inspired by the Evil Dead series. The book holds the stories by those who has ran into the darkness, including the main antagonist, where the player can choose which dark god they can face. Think reverse Pokemon meets horror , except you can choose your rival's Pokemon and only four elements. This actually add repeatability, but it can be a completion nightmare as they have to replay the game three times to get the true ending.
In the game, There are four main demonic gods known as The Ancients, specializing in different ways to torture the human race: Ulyaoth is the magic user jellyfish, Xel'lotath is the brains that drains the human's sanity with his lean arms, Chattur'gha the strong crab-like deity who crush humans with crushing force, and last and sadly least, Mantorok, a chaos entity who was rendered useless thanks to Augustus raiding his temple. The story becomes an epic as the player lives and die as the characters within the story as Alex learn from those who face the Eternal Darkness.
While the interface can be somewhat hard to learn but easy to master, the game could have explained itself much better, as most of the gameplay is learning from trail-and-error. While you don't need everything to beat the game, it is required since it makes the game easier. However, there is a hidden forth element based on the one fallen god within the story and if the player is not aware, it can easily be missed. In this game, it is recommended to replay just when figuring out everything
The icing of the cake, in this game, is the ever present sanity effects. And good lord, there are a lot of them within the game. When your character sees a monster, depending on one of the characters' condition, their sanity drains and they start losing their minds. Some of the sanity effect are creative, as some come as game bugs, oddities like loosing a head and then quoting Shapshere, to even forth-wall breaking as the game fakes deleting your saves! This game shattered the forth-wall as hilariously and creepily as it can get.
However, it dose have an annoyance: once the character looses all sanity, his OR her health starts to drain, meaning you will have to use spells (or items) to heal your sanity back up enough to see them all or just plan ignore the sanity effects by filling up the sanity meter all the way or even use cheats to keep the sanity in a certain spot. Not only that, but some of the effects often repeat themselfs, making it hard to see all the unique sanity effects in the game. It's very sad to see the sanity effects working agents themselves, often fighting for the screen.
Despite the flaws of the game, if anyone would love to enjoy a horror game without the annoying tank controls within past games like Resident Evil, this game is for that person. While it may not be anyone's game, anyone with experience with horror games will love this game. Even if it means emulating the game on your PC with HD graphic, it's an gripping experience for it's time. Just don't blame me when your computer gets possessed or you start having odd nightmares. Now excuse me as I take the pope to Best-Buy...
The player starts off as Alex, the last-in-the-line of the Roivas family line who's grand-father was murdered within his manor. While investigating, she comes upon the tomb of eternal darkness, a book inspired by the Evil Dead series. The book holds the stories by those who has ran into the darkness, including the main antagonist, where the player can choose which dark god they can face. Think reverse Pokemon meets horror , except you can choose your rival's Pokemon and only four elements. This actually add repeatability, but it can be a completion nightmare as they have to replay the game three times to get the true ending.
In the game, There are four main demonic gods known as The Ancients, specializing in different ways to torture the human race: Ulyaoth is the magic user jellyfish, Xel'lotath is the brains that drains the human's sanity with his lean arms, Chattur'gha the strong crab-like deity who crush humans with crushing force, and last and sadly least, Mantorok, a chaos entity who was rendered useless thanks to Augustus raiding his temple. The story becomes an epic as the player lives and die as the characters within the story as Alex learn from those who face the Eternal Darkness.
While the interface can be somewhat hard to learn but easy to master, the game could have explained itself much better, as most of the gameplay is learning from trail-and-error. While you don't need everything to beat the game, it is required since it makes the game easier. However, there is a hidden forth element based on the one fallen god within the story and if the player is not aware, it can easily be missed. In this game, it is recommended to replay just when figuring out everything
The icing of the cake, in this game, is the ever present sanity effects. And good lord, there are a lot of them within the game. When your character sees a monster, depending on one of the characters' condition, their sanity drains and they start losing their minds. Some of the sanity effect are creative, as some come as game bugs, oddities like loosing a head and then quoting Shapshere, to even forth-wall breaking as the game fakes deleting your saves! This game shattered the forth-wall as hilariously and creepily as it can get.
However, it dose have an annoyance: once the character looses all sanity, his OR her health starts to drain, meaning you will have to use spells (or items) to heal your sanity back up enough to see them all or just plan ignore the sanity effects by filling up the sanity meter all the way or even use cheats to keep the sanity in a certain spot. Not only that, but some of the effects often repeat themselfs, making it hard to see all the unique sanity effects in the game. It's very sad to see the sanity effects working agents themselves, often fighting for the screen.
Despite the flaws of the game, if anyone would love to enjoy a horror game without the annoying tank controls within past games like Resident Evil, this game is for that person. While it may not be anyone's game, anyone with experience with horror games will love this game. Even if it means emulating the game on your PC with HD graphic, it's an gripping experience for it's time. Just don't blame me when your computer gets possessed or you start having odd nightmares. Now excuse me as I take the pope to Best-Buy...
Sunday, October 5, 2014
Pineview Drive : Creepy Disappointment
Well, hello one and all, as the mouth of Halloween is upon us. And everyone knows what that means: SMASH BROS. And since I did my Smash Bros 3DS early, It's time to do some special Halloween reviews on horror theme games. One of the games on the chopping block is Pineview Drive, where one "play as a troubled man is standing at its gates, looking over the property. 20
years ago he had visited this estate with his wife Linda. During their
stay his beloved vanished without a trace – her mysterious disappearance
unresolved." And that's about it on the story...
From the start, the game dose show some promises as the player roams from room to room as the day quickly turns into night, where the majority of the game takes place. The only way to progress is to look for keys to open the next room while looking for more plot that is scattered about while facing many scary things such as, but not limited to, killer creepy clowns, a scarecrow, and a creepy ghost lady that might be after you for revenge.
The fun part is when the player roams within the dark, looking for batteries (which comes very often) for a flashlight, matches for candles for later on in the game. As the game quickly give and take away comfort within the home, as sudden changes occur within the house with either guide or scare the player as he or she explores the mason. As soon as anyone expect, creepy things like doors disappearing and reappearing will catch one off guard with...jump-scares....
However, this is where the game falls apart, as some of the jump-scares become predictable at times and are even required to continue within the game. While they are somewhat scary, it's wears out very quickly to the point of annoyance. Another issue is that the game's map is so big that most of the days are padded. It would have helped IF they would at least either provided a map within the game itself or if the house was smaller so getting lost would not be an issue.
Also, the sanity bar should have been shoved aside, as it is a useless indicator of your character's sanity as there is no real fail state within the game. It becomes a literal walking simulator that you often see within steam. It's easy to miss a scare because you get distracted looking for keys because of how too subtle it is...
But the worst offense of the game is it's ending, as the game just ends with more questions more than the proper answers.The thing about a good horror game is that there's a method to the madness that is occurring within a good storyline. For example, Silent Hill had a mad cult who made a personal hell trying to make a god, resident evil had an evil corporation, and amnesia has a man old men hungry for power. Here, it just gives you the item in question...and fades to black. No real answers; Just questions and theories.
While this game has a nice, admirable start, the game then trips and flops into an average horror game with no real consequence, yet no real ending. It works for a real good scare, but afterwards, there's no real replayiblity for the game is nonexistent. If anyone would like to look at it, feel happy to apply, but Steam Sales are the best time for fun times.
From the start, the game dose show some promises as the player roams from room to room as the day quickly turns into night, where the majority of the game takes place. The only way to progress is to look for keys to open the next room while looking for more plot that is scattered about while facing many scary things such as, but not limited to, killer creepy clowns, a scarecrow, and a creepy ghost lady that might be after you for revenge.
The fun part is when the player roams within the dark, looking for batteries (which comes very often) for a flashlight, matches for candles for later on in the game. As the game quickly give and take away comfort within the home, as sudden changes occur within the house with either guide or scare the player as he or she explores the mason. As soon as anyone expect, creepy things like doors disappearing and reappearing will catch one off guard with...jump-scares....
However, this is where the game falls apart, as some of the jump-scares become predictable at times and are even required to continue within the game. While they are somewhat scary, it's wears out very quickly to the point of annoyance. Another issue is that the game's map is so big that most of the days are padded. It would have helped IF they would at least either provided a map within the game itself or if the house was smaller so getting lost would not be an issue.
Also, the sanity bar should have been shoved aside, as it is a useless indicator of your character's sanity as there is no real fail state within the game. It becomes a literal walking simulator that you often see within steam. It's easy to miss a scare because you get distracted looking for keys because of how too subtle it is...
But the worst offense of the game is it's ending, as the game just ends with more questions more than the proper answers.The thing about a good horror game is that there's a method to the madness that is occurring within a good storyline. For example, Silent Hill had a mad cult who made a personal hell trying to make a god, resident evil had an evil corporation, and amnesia has a man old men hungry for power. Here, it just gives you the item in question...and fades to black. No real answers; Just questions and theories.
While this game has a nice, admirable start, the game then trips and flops into an average horror game with no real consequence, yet no real ending. It works for a real good scare, but afterwards, there's no real replayiblity for the game is nonexistent. If anyone would like to look at it, feel happy to apply, but Steam Sales are the best time for fun times.
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