It's been a while since I'm done this post. A lot has happened since the last one. For starters, the Playstation Network broke down, leaving PS3 players unable to connect online. Sony gave out a compensation package with two free PS3 games, two free PSP games (out of 5 for both, if I remember correctly), Some freebie I don't remember, and 1 month of Playstation Plus. I didn't get the 1 month Plus subscription. I was on vacation in the Philippines and was too late to claim that one. At least I got Infamous, Wipeout HD, and two PSP games that I don't remember off the top of my head. I don't have a PSP, but I bought the Kingdom Hearts bundle for my youngest sister. I figured I'd download these games so she can have them, you know?
Anywho, I forgot to list Suikoden: Tierkreis for the Nintendo DS in my previous post. On top of that, I only managed to beat one of the games in my list, and that is Nier. I also got Limbo and nabbed myself a free copy of Portal from Steam. My username on the Steam network is hereForFreePortal... no joke. I've also started playing The Sims Social on Facebook. It's been buggy for me with lots of updates and Halloween-related content that they're rolling out for October. I've already done my review for that game here. I also downloaded Dink Smallwood HD and actually beat the main story in less than 10 hours. It's just as quirky as I remembered it. Besides all these, lots of really good games are coming out within weeks of each other, just in time for the holidays. It's so not fair.
I was planning on creating separate posts to do initial and complete reviews for the games that I've been playing. I figured, why not just put them on one post. Well except for Nier, which will be it's own post.
There's not much that can be said about this game, besides that it's one of the most underrated concept for a 2D puzzle-platforming game. There is no music. Everything is in shades of black and white. The only think you hear are ambient noise, your character's footsteps and sounds of objects you interacted with in the game.
It's a puzzle game at it's heart. What makes this game so special is that it doesn't tell you anything from the get go. You just start the game with this boy (I think) and he has to keep going left ( or right, up or down). The term limbo came from the Christian concept of a place in the afterlife where souls of unbaptized children and souls of those who were not assigned heaven or hell, go to. I'm Catholic. Even the concept is very foreign to me and very little is understood of it with many having different versions than other people. Others want to do away with it, entirely. But enough of that.
The puzzles get harder. It requires a certain level of patience that most gamers in the 3D graphics era just don't have. The good thing is the game automatically saves your progress after passing (more like side-stepping) each obstacles. The game shouldn't take that long to beat.
The game was given away for free for the PC until September 20, 2011 before midnight the next day. The game came out in 2007. I don't have the best computer hardware to run the game at the time. When it came out as part of The Orange Box bundle for PS3 and 360 the same year, I didn't buy it because I had other games waiting to be played down the pipeline.
This is a big departure from Limbo. It's a 3D 1st-Person space manipulation puzzle game. Portal is the spiritual successor to an independent game released in 2005 by students at DigiPen... the computer gaming school. Valve, the company that made Portal, hired those students. Even though I'm late in the game, it's still a remarkable puzzle game. You start the game as a woman inside a holding cell in an unknown place owned by Aperture Laboratories. GLaDOS, is the AI computer system guiding you through the challenges in the game. She gives you hints, in her own mysterious ways.
The core of the game is navigating through the obstacles in a completely different way by manipulating physics using portals. Basically, you create an opening in one place and an exit in another, step right through the opening and you appear in the exit. Once you master this and start thinking with portals, you can beat the game. I'm still far from beating the game. It doesn't help that my laptop is sub-par for running the game. I'll manage, eventually.
From the Wikipedia entry:
Dink starts out as a pig farmer, living a normal life in his village, Stonebrook. His father is said to have disappeared, leaving him behind in a small village with his mother. Somehow, as he is outside, his house burns down, killing his mother. He is then told to go out of his village, into the world to find his aunt, and start living a new life with her. Along the way, he hears of a powerful and sinister group known as the Cast whose nefarious deeds are threatening the kingdom. Dink eventually makes it his quest to defeat this mysterious cult. After that, he goes in the Darklands to kill the mighty evil, Seth.
It's an old game I downloaded 10 years ago. Now it works for later versions of Windows and Macs. It's still as fun as it was when I first played it. All it's quirks and humor. The game has that Zelda-like feel to it. Despite having the Medieval setting and RPG feel to it, it doesn't take itself seriously. One quest from the village old woman has Dink looking for her pet duck named Quackers. When Dink finds the duck, he has the option of asking the duck to go home or yelling at the duck to go home. When you yell at the duck, it says "BITE ME!!!" Non-interactive objects like chairs, tables, trees bookshelves were given life by making them interactive. When you punch objects, Dink will say something funny like "take that, ugly chair," or "die, strange machine that doesn't belong here!"
The game hasn't aged very well. It's 2D and 3D graphic combined without 3D acceleration. Despite all that, it's the wacky story and environment that counts. This time, you can download most well-known fan-made mods to the game. Literally, you get hours of gameplay. Best of all, it's all free. They also have a version for the iPad, I think. If you guys want, you can get them here.
I'll be posting the Nier review shortly. Until then.
I'm done.
Anywho, I forgot to list Suikoden: Tierkreis for the Nintendo DS in my previous post. On top of that, I only managed to beat one of the games in my list, and that is Nier. I also got Limbo and nabbed myself a free copy of Portal from Steam. My username on the Steam network is hereForFreePortal... no joke. I've also started playing The Sims Social on Facebook. It's been buggy for me with lots of updates and Halloween-related content that they're rolling out for October. I've already done my review for that game here. I also downloaded Dink Smallwood HD and actually beat the main story in less than 10 hours. It's just as quirky as I remembered it. Besides all these, lots of really good games are coming out within weeks of each other, just in time for the holidays. It's so not fair.
I was planning on creating separate posts to do initial and complete reviews for the games that I've been playing. I figured, why not just put them on one post. Well except for Nier, which will be it's own post.
Limbo (Initial Review)
Be careful of that protruding bright stuff...
There's not much that can be said about this game, besides that it's one of the most underrated concept for a 2D puzzle-platforming game. There is no music. Everything is in shades of black and white. The only think you hear are ambient noise, your character's footsteps and sounds of objects you interacted with in the game.
It's a puzzle game at it's heart. What makes this game so special is that it doesn't tell you anything from the get go. You just start the game with this boy (I think) and he has to keep going left ( or right, up or down). The term limbo came from the Christian concept of a place in the afterlife where souls of unbaptized children and souls of those who were not assigned heaven or hell, go to. I'm Catholic. Even the concept is very foreign to me and very little is understood of it with many having different versions than other people. Others want to do away with it, entirely. But enough of that.
The black and white contrast draws you into the game...
The puzzles get harder. It requires a certain level of patience that most gamers in the 3D graphics era just don't have. The good thing is the game automatically saves your progress after passing (more like side-stepping) each obstacles. The game shouldn't take that long to beat.
Portal (Initial Review)
Checking out your back without a mirror... interdimensional-style.
The game was given away for free for the PC until September 20, 2011 before midnight the next day. The game came out in 2007. I don't have the best computer hardware to run the game at the time. When it came out as part of The Orange Box bundle for PS3 and 360 the same year, I didn't buy it because I had other games waiting to be played down the pipeline.
This is a big departure from Limbo. It's a 3D 1st-Person space manipulation puzzle game. Portal is the spiritual successor to an independent game released in 2005 by students at DigiPen... the computer gaming school. Valve, the company that made Portal, hired those students. Even though I'm late in the game, it's still a remarkable puzzle game. You start the game as a woman inside a holding cell in an unknown place owned by Aperture Laboratories. GLaDOS, is the AI computer system guiding you through the challenges in the game. She gives you hints, in her own mysterious ways.
GLaDOS command center. It's obvious that there is no cake...
The core of the game is navigating through the obstacles in a completely different way by manipulating physics using portals. Basically, you create an opening in one place and an exit in another, step right through the opening and you appear in the exit. Once you master this and start thinking with portals, you can beat the game. I'm still far from beating the game. It doesn't help that my laptop is sub-par for running the game. I'll manage, eventually.
Dink Smallwood HD (Full Review)
You can choose to let these knights kill the villager, help him, OR... punch the ducks.
From the Wikipedia entry:
Dink starts out as a pig farmer, living a normal life in his village, Stonebrook. His father is said to have disappeared, leaving him behind in a small village with his mother. Somehow, as he is outside, his house burns down, killing his mother. He is then told to go out of his village, into the world to find his aunt, and start living a new life with her. Along the way, he hears of a powerful and sinister group known as the Cast whose nefarious deeds are threatening the kingdom. Dink eventually makes it his quest to defeat this mysterious cult. After that, he goes in the Darklands to kill the mighty evil, Seth.
It's an old game I downloaded 10 years ago. Now it works for later versions of Windows and Macs. It's still as fun as it was when I first played it. All it's quirks and humor. The game has that Zelda-like feel to it. Despite having the Medieval setting and RPG feel to it, it doesn't take itself seriously. One quest from the village old woman has Dink looking for her pet duck named Quackers. When Dink finds the duck, he has the option of asking the duck to go home or yelling at the duck to go home. When you yell at the duck, it says "BITE ME!!!" Non-interactive objects like chairs, tables, trees bookshelves were given life by making them interactive. When you punch objects, Dink will say something funny like "take that, ugly chair," or "die, strange machine that doesn't belong here!"
Sometimes, a girl neighbor walks in here. Dink can flirt or punch her.
The game hasn't aged very well. It's 2D and 3D graphic combined without 3D acceleration. Despite all that, it's the wacky story and environment that counts. This time, you can download most well-known fan-made mods to the game. Literally, you get hours of gameplay. Best of all, it's all free. They also have a version for the iPad, I think. If you guys want, you can get them here.
I'll be posting the Nier review shortly. Until then.
I'm done.
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