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Gareth von Kallenbach (980 KP) rated the PC version of Atomic Heart in Video Games
Mar 5, 2023
I first heard of Atomic Heart several years ago and aside from brief and sporadic updates; the progress of the game seemed to be a slow process until a few months before release.
I was eager to try a game that was described as a mix of Fallout and Bioshock as a fan of the two franchises, the new entry seemed like a game that I would enjoy.
The game is set in a fictional future filled with advanced scientific discoveries and playing as an agent assigned to the rollout of a new facility; players will soon find things have gone very wrong when the robots assigned to serve have begun brutally attacking and killing all they encounter.
Players must travel deep into an underground facility to find weapons and materials which they can craft into more powerful weapons as they take on an increasingly difficult series of enemies and puzzles.
Using a special glove that can heal and move objects, players have to at times do a series of timed jumps to navigate the damaged facility and complete necessary tasks.
While all of this sounds good, the game at times throws too many puzzles at you as having to decipher locks repeatedly tends to take away from the action, and dealing with the over-amorous upgrade machines goes from being amusing to tedious quickly.
Another issue I had was a recent patch broke the game for me as I was unable to start the game from the main screen and had to delete and install the game again to resume my play. There is also the matter of why the agent sounds like he should be in an office in California as his tone and mannerisms do not reflect the character.
Atomic Heart does provide entertainment I found the combat and graphics to be dated and that aspects of the game grew old very quickly. The best strategy for me was to play the game in segments and take a break of a few days between sessions which gave me a fresh perspective versus trying to do things in a series of extended sessions.
In the end, the game is enjoyable for those willing to be patient and accept the game for what it is and hopefully, with a few more updates the full potential of the game will be achieved. The game is available on the Microsoft Game Pass and is worth a look.
3 stars out of 5
I was eager to try a game that was described as a mix of Fallout and Bioshock as a fan of the two franchises, the new entry seemed like a game that I would enjoy.
The game is set in a fictional future filled with advanced scientific discoveries and playing as an agent assigned to the rollout of a new facility; players will soon find things have gone very wrong when the robots assigned to serve have begun brutally attacking and killing all they encounter.
Players must travel deep into an underground facility to find weapons and materials which they can craft into more powerful weapons as they take on an increasingly difficult series of enemies and puzzles.
Using a special glove that can heal and move objects, players have to at times do a series of timed jumps to navigate the damaged facility and complete necessary tasks.
While all of this sounds good, the game at times throws too many puzzles at you as having to decipher locks repeatedly tends to take away from the action, and dealing with the over-amorous upgrade machines goes from being amusing to tedious quickly.
Another issue I had was a recent patch broke the game for me as I was unable to start the game from the main screen and had to delete and install the game again to resume my play. There is also the matter of why the agent sounds like he should be in an office in California as his tone and mannerisms do not reflect the character.
Atomic Heart does provide entertainment I found the combat and graphics to be dated and that aspects of the game grew old very quickly. The best strategy for me was to play the game in segments and take a break of a few days between sessions which gave me a fresh perspective versus trying to do things in a series of extended sessions.
In the end, the game is enjoyable for those willing to be patient and accept the game for what it is and hopefully, with a few more updates the full potential of the game will be achieved. The game is available on the Microsoft Game Pass and is worth a look.
3 stars out of 5
Gareth von Kallenbach (980 KP) rated the PC version of GhostWire: Tokyo in Video Games
Apr 15, 2022
The talented team at Tango Gameworks has returned with a new horror game, Ghostwire Tokyo, and advances upon their already impressive Evil Within series.
The game is set in a post-disaster Tokyo where the player character Akito is saved from death by a spirit known as KK who possesses the body of Akito and gives him supernatural powers to complete his quests.
Playing from a first-person perspective, players must explore a highly-detailed city to complete various mission objectives all the while staying clear of a deadly fog and evil creatures who know roam the city.
Players will be able to use special attack and defensive abilities which they can upgrade over time but must also be aware of the need to replenish the magic that powers them so being selective with attacks is a wise idea vs trying to rapidly cut down all enemies that are encountered.
Players can also obtain a Bow which can help when powers need to be recharged and seeing how dangerous and abundant enemies are, this is a good thing.
Akito is also hoping to save his sister who has been targeted by the main enemies in the game and this enables conflict between Akito and KK as they must work with one another despite seeming to have differing agendas.
The detailed city allows players to gather food for their health as well as Charms that can be redeemed at phone booths which will aid in their quest and the highly-detailed city is great to explore when not engaged in combat.
I did not see an option for English narration and while I had no problems at all with the Japanese spoken in the game, looking at the translation on the screen at times distracted me from some of the more intense segments and action.
The powers Akito deployed were very enjoyable and seeing the colorful discharges and defense modes really added to an already intense and engaging game. My only real issue with the game was the detailed story caused abundant and at times lengthy narrative scenes and when you just completed one to have another arise soon after a brief moment of player-controlled action often gave me the impression that I was watching the game versus controlling the action.
Fortunately, as the game unfolded the action and story were more than enough to keep my attention and made Ghostwire Tokyo one of the more unique and engaging games in recent memory and one that I recommend any Horror fan play.
4 stars out of 5
The game is set in a post-disaster Tokyo where the player character Akito is saved from death by a spirit known as KK who possesses the body of Akito and gives him supernatural powers to complete his quests.
Playing from a first-person perspective, players must explore a highly-detailed city to complete various mission objectives all the while staying clear of a deadly fog and evil creatures who know roam the city.
Players will be able to use special attack and defensive abilities which they can upgrade over time but must also be aware of the need to replenish the magic that powers them so being selective with attacks is a wise idea vs trying to rapidly cut down all enemies that are encountered.
Players can also obtain a Bow which can help when powers need to be recharged and seeing how dangerous and abundant enemies are, this is a good thing.
Akito is also hoping to save his sister who has been targeted by the main enemies in the game and this enables conflict between Akito and KK as they must work with one another despite seeming to have differing agendas.
The detailed city allows players to gather food for their health as well as Charms that can be redeemed at phone booths which will aid in their quest and the highly-detailed city is great to explore when not engaged in combat.
I did not see an option for English narration and while I had no problems at all with the Japanese spoken in the game, looking at the translation on the screen at times distracted me from some of the more intense segments and action.
The powers Akito deployed were very enjoyable and seeing the colorful discharges and defense modes really added to an already intense and engaging game. My only real issue with the game was the detailed story caused abundant and at times lengthy narrative scenes and when you just completed one to have another arise soon after a brief moment of player-controlled action often gave me the impression that I was watching the game versus controlling the action.
Fortunately, as the game unfolded the action and story were more than enough to keep my attention and made Ghostwire Tokyo one of the more unique and engaging games in recent memory and one that I recommend any Horror fan play.
4 stars out of 5
Purple Phoenix Games (2266 KP) rated Nyctophobia: Vampire Encounter in Tabletop Games
Jun 12, 2019
When it comes to board gaming, there are many tried and true mechanics that appear in most games. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, right? That being said, it’s always neat when a game creates an entirely new mechanic that has never been seen before. Nyctophobia is one of those games. When I heard about it, I knew I had to try it. It’s quite a clever idea and it makes for a unique and fun game!
DISCLAIMER: There are technically 2 versions of this game – the OG version and the Vampire version. Thematically, they may be different, but mechanically and gameplay-wise, they’re the same! For the purposes of this review, we will be playing the Vampire Encounter version. -L
A lighthearted trip to the woods has taken a startling turn when you and your friends come across a Vampire! And to make things worse, the Vampire has managed to lure one of your buddies deep into the woods with him! You can’t just turn tail and run – you’ve gotta save your friend! The sun has set, though, and the woods are way more ominous than you thought. You and your friends must cooperate to carefully and quietly navigate in total darkness to avoid disclosing your position to the Vampire while searching for your friend. Will you manage to not only find your buddy, but make it back to the car for your getaway? Or will the Vampire manage to pick you all off, one by one, as he creeps around in the darkness waiting for the opportunity to pounce?
Nyctophobia: Vampire Encounter is a semi-cooperative 1-vs-All memory game with a twist – all players (except for the Vampire player) must wear black-out glasses and cannot see the board. All turns and movement are taken based on feel. You ARE in the dark woods after all – it’s not like you can see your surroundings. Basically how it works is that the Vampire player kind of acts as a GM for the game. They can see the board, and help guide the players’ hands to their pieces and move the player pieces as requested. The players are blind and must rely on feeling their way around the board (avoiding trees and the Vampire!) and communicating the perceived layout to their comrades. The Vampire player then sneaks around the board, silently trying to corner the other players and abduct them. Each player gets a special ability to use on their turns, and there’s a small combat element involved if a player ever runs into the Vampire. The goal of the game, for regular players, is to work with your friends to find the kidnapped NPC (represented by a cardboard standee) and get back to the car to escape. The goal of the game for the Vampire player is to pick off all other players until none remain.
I think this is a super neat game. It’s pretty unique and it’s fun to play! You’re trying to cooperate with your friends to create a strategy for a board that you can’t see. It’s definitely a challenge, but it’s presented in such a novel way that makes it enjoyable. The overall atmosphere of the game is great. The nerves and pressure can really get to the players as they are (quite literally) flailing around in the dark. The Vampire player can have a lot of fun as the GM – do you taunt your players and make them second-guess every move, or do you lay low and stay quiet until juuuust the right moment? Nyctophobia feels like more than just a game while you’re playing, and that is what makes it so exciting.
The only real issue I’ve run into with this game has to do with the components themselves. The board is an 8×8 grid, with the layout set up in secret by the Vampire player. On a regular player turn, you can feel up to 1 space in each adjacent direction to your current location. The only issue is that sometimes, unless the player is diligent, they could accidentally (or purposefully?) feel too many spaces than are allowed – either diagonally or 2 or more spaces away, for example. The way I’ve come up with to alleviate this issue is to have players use only 1 finger when interacting with their piece/the board. That way there can be no extra feeling. And I also, as the Vampire player, will move player pieces for them – the player tells me in which direction to move and I move the piece before guiding their hand back. Maybe if the board were a little larger, this problem would be eliminated? I’m really not sure, but the method I’ve come up with to combat it has worked well so far!
Overall, I enjoy Nyctophobia. It’s a neat game with a unique mechanical aspect and fun player interactions. Is it my favorite game to play? No. But it’s one that I like breaking out for newer gamers and for some lighthearted fun! If you haven’t done so already, give Nyctophobia a try because it’s a refreshingly new take on the modern board game. Purple Phoenix Games gives it a haunting 15 / 18.
https://purplephoenixgames.wordpress.com/2019/05/14/nyctophobia-review/
DISCLAIMER: There are technically 2 versions of this game – the OG version and the Vampire version. Thematically, they may be different, but mechanically and gameplay-wise, they’re the same! For the purposes of this review, we will be playing the Vampire Encounter version. -L
A lighthearted trip to the woods has taken a startling turn when you and your friends come across a Vampire! And to make things worse, the Vampire has managed to lure one of your buddies deep into the woods with him! You can’t just turn tail and run – you’ve gotta save your friend! The sun has set, though, and the woods are way more ominous than you thought. You and your friends must cooperate to carefully and quietly navigate in total darkness to avoid disclosing your position to the Vampire while searching for your friend. Will you manage to not only find your buddy, but make it back to the car for your getaway? Or will the Vampire manage to pick you all off, one by one, as he creeps around in the darkness waiting for the opportunity to pounce?
Nyctophobia: Vampire Encounter is a semi-cooperative 1-vs-All memory game with a twist – all players (except for the Vampire player) must wear black-out glasses and cannot see the board. All turns and movement are taken based on feel. You ARE in the dark woods after all – it’s not like you can see your surroundings. Basically how it works is that the Vampire player kind of acts as a GM for the game. They can see the board, and help guide the players’ hands to their pieces and move the player pieces as requested. The players are blind and must rely on feeling their way around the board (avoiding trees and the Vampire!) and communicating the perceived layout to their comrades. The Vampire player then sneaks around the board, silently trying to corner the other players and abduct them. Each player gets a special ability to use on their turns, and there’s a small combat element involved if a player ever runs into the Vampire. The goal of the game, for regular players, is to work with your friends to find the kidnapped NPC (represented by a cardboard standee) and get back to the car to escape. The goal of the game for the Vampire player is to pick off all other players until none remain.
I think this is a super neat game. It’s pretty unique and it’s fun to play! You’re trying to cooperate with your friends to create a strategy for a board that you can’t see. It’s definitely a challenge, but it’s presented in such a novel way that makes it enjoyable. The overall atmosphere of the game is great. The nerves and pressure can really get to the players as they are (quite literally) flailing around in the dark. The Vampire player can have a lot of fun as the GM – do you taunt your players and make them second-guess every move, or do you lay low and stay quiet until juuuust the right moment? Nyctophobia feels like more than just a game while you’re playing, and that is what makes it so exciting.
The only real issue I’ve run into with this game has to do with the components themselves. The board is an 8×8 grid, with the layout set up in secret by the Vampire player. On a regular player turn, you can feel up to 1 space in each adjacent direction to your current location. The only issue is that sometimes, unless the player is diligent, they could accidentally (or purposefully?) feel too many spaces than are allowed – either diagonally or 2 or more spaces away, for example. The way I’ve come up with to alleviate this issue is to have players use only 1 finger when interacting with their piece/the board. That way there can be no extra feeling. And I also, as the Vampire player, will move player pieces for them – the player tells me in which direction to move and I move the piece before guiding their hand back. Maybe if the board were a little larger, this problem would be eliminated? I’m really not sure, but the method I’ve come up with to combat it has worked well so far!
Overall, I enjoy Nyctophobia. It’s a neat game with a unique mechanical aspect and fun player interactions. Is it my favorite game to play? No. But it’s one that I like breaking out for newer gamers and for some lighthearted fun! If you haven’t done so already, give Nyctophobia a try because it’s a refreshingly new take on the modern board game. Purple Phoenix Games gives it a haunting 15 / 18.
https://purplephoenixgames.wordpress.com/2019/05/14/nyctophobia-review/
Gareth von Kallenbach (980 KP) rated the PlayStation 3 version of Deadpool in Video Games
Jun 19, 2019
Marvel comics classic antihero Deadpool has made a jump to the big leagues as the star of his own videogame by high Moon Studios. For those unfamiliar with the character, Deadpool is a mentally unstable mercenary who is deadly efficient with all manner of weaponry and takes delightful glee and dispensing violence. As the game opens, dead pool breaks down the fourth wall and openly speaks to the players often chiding them for their performance as well as cracking several raunchy one-liners and quips in the process. In his rundown apartment, we learn the dead pool has coursed through the use of high explosives the creation of a videogame written by and starring himself.
At numerous times throughout the game Deadpool will open the script to offer his creative input and decide to go off script and make some very creative and often bloody changes to the storyline which often causes the unseen but often heard studio exec complain about the budget of the game being surpassed.
While this is a very interesting set up and does add a lot of unique new wrinkles to a game of this type, at its heart Deadpool is simply an action adventure game in a style that we have seen many times before often in better games.
In pursuit of a contract, Deadpool graphically dispatches waves of enemies using his signature swords and guns which allow him to do all manner of complicated and impressive combat moves. As enemies are dispatched, players can earn the ability to purchase and equip new weapons such as shotguns, bear traps, grenades, dual machine guns, and more as well as have the ability to upgrade some of Dead pools abilities such as his healing speed. Like fellow mutant Wolverine, who briefly shows up the game, Deadpool is capable of regenerating health, so when combat becomes too intense it is often advisable for players to retreat to heal before wading back into the never-ending siege of enemy opponents.
Deadpool can also do some very creative stealth kills such as coming up behind an opponent and decapitating them or dispatching them with a quick shot to the head. This does have its own risks as excessive noise tends to attract large mobs of enemies and even as good as Deadpool is there comes a point where discretion is the better part of valor. Thankfully Deadpool has the ability to teleport away from danger and this comes exceptionally handy during the games numerous and at times frustrating jump sequences when a jump goes wrong.
There are elements of the game that are frustratingly hard but then there are moments that are absolute delight for fans of action games as well as, book heroes. The bawdy and over-the-top humor was excessive at times but was also entertaining and the character animations were true delight especially when Deadpool became a spinning dervish of death and dismemberment courtesy of his bladed weapons and guns.
Many of the enemies though became highly redundant and some did require a considerable amount of effort to dispatch so it is important that players conserve their ammunition as much as possible as running dry often required a hasty retreat rather than staying and finishing the job.
There were several clever cameos in game which I do not want to spoil and it was really nice to step into the bizarre and mayhem filled world in which the title character lives. My biggest issues with the game were that the gameplay became very repetitive after a while and the timed jumps and certain fights became extremely frustrating. If I want to do precision jumps from platform to platform to accomplish a goal, I will fire up the Wii U and play a game of Mario brothers.
I also had issues with some glitches in the game such as weapons animations disappearing and one extremely annoying sequence where the control systems on the PC version of the game went haywire and the character started to move on his own without any input from the controls. There were also some problems with the camera angles which in the heat of pitched battles became highly frustrating as I found myself boxed in and unable to see which way to go.
The graphics and sound in the game were solid but to control systems did have an element of frustration to them. While you are able to customize the controls on the PC version of the game, I did have to wonder how much easier the game would be on a console as it seems as if this wasn’t the intended platform of choice as it is a button mashers dream which is very conducive to a game control but not as friendly to a keyboard and mouse combination.
If you can look past the frustrations of the game, there is a lot to like here. Specifically the character, the action, and the ability to play as a truly demented individual who writes his own rules and does not care what anyone else has to say.
In the end the game is entertaining though nothing spectacular and while it may appeal mainly to hard-core fans of the character, I cannot help but think that the game could’ve been so much more.
http://sknr.net/2013/06/28/deadpool/
At numerous times throughout the game Deadpool will open the script to offer his creative input and decide to go off script and make some very creative and often bloody changes to the storyline which often causes the unseen but often heard studio exec complain about the budget of the game being surpassed.
While this is a very interesting set up and does add a lot of unique new wrinkles to a game of this type, at its heart Deadpool is simply an action adventure game in a style that we have seen many times before often in better games.
In pursuit of a contract, Deadpool graphically dispatches waves of enemies using his signature swords and guns which allow him to do all manner of complicated and impressive combat moves. As enemies are dispatched, players can earn the ability to purchase and equip new weapons such as shotguns, bear traps, grenades, dual machine guns, and more as well as have the ability to upgrade some of Dead pools abilities such as his healing speed. Like fellow mutant Wolverine, who briefly shows up the game, Deadpool is capable of regenerating health, so when combat becomes too intense it is often advisable for players to retreat to heal before wading back into the never-ending siege of enemy opponents.
Deadpool can also do some very creative stealth kills such as coming up behind an opponent and decapitating them or dispatching them with a quick shot to the head. This does have its own risks as excessive noise tends to attract large mobs of enemies and even as good as Deadpool is there comes a point where discretion is the better part of valor. Thankfully Deadpool has the ability to teleport away from danger and this comes exceptionally handy during the games numerous and at times frustrating jump sequences when a jump goes wrong.
There are elements of the game that are frustratingly hard but then there are moments that are absolute delight for fans of action games as well as, book heroes. The bawdy and over-the-top humor was excessive at times but was also entertaining and the character animations were true delight especially when Deadpool became a spinning dervish of death and dismemberment courtesy of his bladed weapons and guns.
Many of the enemies though became highly redundant and some did require a considerable amount of effort to dispatch so it is important that players conserve their ammunition as much as possible as running dry often required a hasty retreat rather than staying and finishing the job.
There were several clever cameos in game which I do not want to spoil and it was really nice to step into the bizarre and mayhem filled world in which the title character lives. My biggest issues with the game were that the gameplay became very repetitive after a while and the timed jumps and certain fights became extremely frustrating. If I want to do precision jumps from platform to platform to accomplish a goal, I will fire up the Wii U and play a game of Mario brothers.
I also had issues with some glitches in the game such as weapons animations disappearing and one extremely annoying sequence where the control systems on the PC version of the game went haywire and the character started to move on his own without any input from the controls. There were also some problems with the camera angles which in the heat of pitched battles became highly frustrating as I found myself boxed in and unable to see which way to go.
The graphics and sound in the game were solid but to control systems did have an element of frustration to them. While you are able to customize the controls on the PC version of the game, I did have to wonder how much easier the game would be on a console as it seems as if this wasn’t the intended platform of choice as it is a button mashers dream which is very conducive to a game control but not as friendly to a keyboard and mouse combination.
If you can look past the frustrations of the game, there is a lot to like here. Specifically the character, the action, and the ability to play as a truly demented individual who writes his own rules and does not care what anyone else has to say.
In the end the game is entertaining though nothing spectacular and while it may appeal mainly to hard-core fans of the character, I cannot help but think that the game could’ve been so much more.
http://sknr.net/2013/06/28/deadpool/