Recent reviews by Consigliere

I haven't even unlocked half the achievements yet but it says I have 30 hours in this, subtract 4-6 from that from when I was grinding the trading cards, but I dig this!

I am dating myself here (34 in July), but who among us remembers playing The Oregon Trail in grade school (primary school for non-Americans)? This is.... not that, but close. That was an edutainment title that I actually think deserves to be called "edutainment" because it was fun and educational. And anyone who looks at my Steam stats (all 1.3 of you) knows I STILL play the zombie parody of that, called The Organ Trail, also a zombie apoc survival thing (and also a bit nostalgic, sue me), I been comparing Death Road To Canada to that for a while now, trying to decide which I like better and which is objectively better... the fact that I am still undecided on that should say something, I like both dammit!

This is fun as hell, I only get SOME of the Canadia references, but I stand by the concept of "when s*** hits the fan in America, FLEE TO CANADA, bring a coat and enough money to buy some poutine"

Haha, its a choose-your-own-adventure game in the zombie apocalypse, I think the devs themselves describe it best - "4 jerks in a car escaping the apocalypse to Canada", and if you like those kind of games, you shall not be disappointed, worth the $15 at full price =>

(also, the dev team is named RocketCat Games, I mean........ c'mon)

(disclaimer, I used a controller for this, that wasn't really an option for the original, at least not on PC)

For anyone who played the original, I can sum up two things for ya:
1.) That damn race is a lot easier now. Omfg. I played both the PC and PS2 versions, the PS2 one was child's play, this sits somewhere between that and the rage-fest that was the PC version of it.
2.) They change minor details about the plot and characters, it plays out pretty much the same; and if I'm honest, the biggest change was to your player character Tommy, that change might be divisive but all in all, I found it to be both faithful and an improvement, no disrespect to the OG team

Your cars have limited gas and there are gas stations around, but I completed the Campaign on Classic mode and I never ran out of gas, ever. There are collectibles, but really they are just for achievements, you don't get anything, stealing various cars unlocks them in your garage for Free Roam/mission replays but apart from that, they're there to irritate 'cheev hunters.

I think this is a great upgrade/re-imagining of the original, the spirit is still there but just tweaked a little bit here and there - as a guy who calls himself "Consigliere", I fully endorse this love-letter to old mob movies!

I rate Doom 2016 higher, but only because this game has a lot of platforming, and that kinda....... I mean I kinda hate first-person platforming anyway, but, who buys and plays Doom to do platforming challenges?

I loved shooting hellspawn (and zomg the BFG is epicsauce in this iteration, I will give it that), but the Unmaykr - or as those of us that might have played Doom64, the Unmaker, ohhhh it whups some butt)

but in between arenas, I hated jumping into the abyss looking for a wall I can grab or bar I can swing off of just to get to more demon-killin'. And I spent as much time doing that as I did shooting things.

The second DLC is horrible about this, your super-shotty has a grappling hook which is a fun OPTION in the base game - the DLCs, particularly the second one (which tbh I did not enjoy), force you into using it on irritating platforming segments.

The harder difficulties - and the level-specific challenges - everything you unlock from doing the hard stuff is cosmetics, so I imagine if you play this without worrying about the secrets/collectibles, the base game will be worth your money.

I found myself using the chainsaw a lot more in this game, but thankfully there are more gas-can pickups relatively frequently so you can refill your ammo, and it adds some strategy to how you approach fights and how you prioritize enemies (and I will say, once you figure out how the chainsaw works in this compared to D2016 you get into a groove, I think that is intended, in the last game it was mostly a Get-Out-Of-Hell-Free card if you got into a bad situation)

I enjoyed this when I wasn't solving platforming puzzles, but just for comparisons' sake, I think the newer Wolfenstein games blow this outta the water. And the DLC here, they hook you in with story, but who is playing Doom for story? I would honestly suggest not buying the two DLCs and just reading what happens on a wiki somewhere.

Preface, I have never played any of the tabletop stuff normally associated with Jordan Weisman, in the same way I have never played the Shadowrun tabletop games (never had any exposure to it, and even if I did I wouldn't have had anyone to play with), its strictly because of how much I LOVE the Shadowrun videogames that I bought this (and I have a thing for turn-based strategy games, be it squad-based or even 4X type games)

With no knowledge of the lore, because there is a lot (I dunno if or how this ties into the MechWarrior universe, I think MechWarrior fits into the over-arching BattleTech universe but again I don't REALLY know, I just know there are factions/clans with giant mechs who don't get along), I can only speak of the gameplay.... Pretty solid turn-strat game, you have a squad of 4 mechs of varying size/damage output. Bigger/more powerful mechs move slower, smaller/faster squaddies basically flick boogers at the bigger mechs (not always the case, there are glass-cannons, but in general they just draw aggro) but they can move faster and (generally) have better view distance which allows your bigger units to indirect-fire at otherwise hidden targets

I think the tutorial could have been better, there were things about the UI that I only learned towards the end of the campaign which would have saved me a LOT of heartache, but as far as fitting your mechs, balancing weapon types, managing the weight-to-armor ratios, all that stuff was fantastic.

The mission types get a little bit repetitive after a while, it starts to become more about how much more awesome-er your mechs are mission-to-mission with upgraded weapons, pilot stats & abilities, etc - still, it was enough to keep me invested through the main campaign. Although I have to say, this is very much something you will only play a few missions of at a time and then go do something else, otherwise I feel it would get tiresome after a while.

If you like turn-based strategy games, get this one on sale, at the time of writing its $40 US, I wouldn't pay that for what I got out of it, but for maybe $20? I say go for it (I myself bought it on sale, I forget for how much but I can tell you it wasn't more than $20 and at that price I am very happy with my 55 hours in this game, I didn't buy the DLC packs but I can see myself doing it on a return visit to this in the future)

I am a bit conflicted.

I enjoyed my time with this, but at the same time, I find it hard to recommend this to anyone who doesn't already have some experience with System Shock.... I have a medium-sized list of things I would criticize, but almost all of those things would apply to the 1994 original - if I judge this as a remake for fans, I would give it an 11/10, but we have to keep in mind, 1994 was almost 30 years ago (I was 4 years old when it released, I played the floppy version on my dad's Windows 98 PC, and I epic failed but cut me some slack, I was 8 or 9 years old), and some of the design is rough for those of us that are used to modern game design.

Just as an example, this game never directly tells you what you need to do, it doesn't have an objective marker or even a list of objectives, you have to figure out what you need to do (and what order to do them in) from various audio logs you find. For those used to the BioShock games, for example, the audio logs are rarely more than flavor for the story, and when they aren't, they are hard to miss and they usually directly give you a door code or give you a side objective to complete. In System Shock, you HAVE to find them to figure out wtf you're supposed to be doing, and within that, sometimes it takes multiple audio logs - sometimes on different levels - that drop hints and you have to figure it out yourself from there. It can be rough if you don't know anything about the story progression when you begin. Even I had to reference a guide a couple times when I couldn't figure out what to do next, and I preach to anyone who listens how great System/BioShock, Deus Ex, Prey 2017, Dishonored, etc are.

I am glad I played it and therefore am gonna give it a thumps up here, but unless you have SOME pre-knowledge of the game, or are willing to follow a guide, I can't bring myself to recommend it, try the version of System Shock 2 on Steam (also by Nightdive but not a remake) first, its a little easier to chew and swallow for a newcomer to games of this genre.

From the developer of Gunpoint, comes Heat Signature!

(tl;dr, its a rogue-lite puzzle game.)

So one of the highest reviews for this game on Steam compares it to Hotline Miami, which makes me feel better because I got that same vibe immediately - if Hotline Miami had a baby with a rogue-like and sent that baby into a galaxy far, far away.... you get Heat Signature.

But, if you played Gunpoint, you can feel the lineage, you have to figure out how to achieve a given objective with whatever your current character has in their inventory, and there are some really creative solutions I have come across (assassinating a target by teleporting them into space and letting them asphyxiate is a current favorite of mine).

You definitely gonna lose characters, but the game actually kinda gives you incentive to allow that and not save-scum (a sin I commit frequently), because once one character has done a certain amount of missions, they can't progress the "story" any further, where a new character with whatever items/weapons they start with will START with *massive* boosts to progression.

There isn't much of a story apart from what a few NPCs tell you, you complete missions until you have the option to take over a new space station, the ultimate goal being to take over every station in the galaxy (which I have only currently accomplished about half-way). But taking over a station (or "liberating" it in the game's terms) usually unlocks new items in the shops (or boosts your starting currency with a new char), which in turns makes future runs easier.

I play it casually, a mission or two a night, and I think this game is great for that. Trying to grind it will get boring, in my not-so-humble opinion.
(and for a certain someone on my friend list, I was wrong about calling it a stealth game, still don't think ya would like it though)

Disclaimer #1 - I am in a minority that prefers HL1 over HL2.
Disclaimer #2 - I used MMod with this (hence my paltry recorded playtime on Steam, took me about 7.5 hrs on this run)

I liked it better this time around, if you liked Half-Life 2, try this out - it is mainly a graphic overhaul, but it adds a couple cut weapons back in too ;)

Get MMod too, the HL2: Update only applies to the base game, I plan on doing the expansions *for the first time* and MMod works with those as well.

GTA2, but in the south. And by in the south, I mean rural.
But it has some minor RPG elements, you can upgrade your abilities and money is more than just score in this game, for a lot of Grand Theft Auto games back in the day, money was basically just your score, there are legit things to buy in this game. Three hours in, and I can pull up my phone and order a tank for delivery, just saying. (I realize that for younger folks, that is gonna sound like Saints Row, but..... yeah)

Funnily enough, it has the same Wanted Level mechanics as modern GTAs, when you are wanted there is a ring on the map you have to escape from, and the higher your wanted level the bigger that ring gets (and it works well).... there is a respray shop but I have yet to use it

Some other reviews say it gets repetitive, I havent felt that yet... on one hand I can kinda see it getting that way, but on the other hand, its not like the old GTAs (which this is obviously trying to imitate) were any less repetitive and they were still fun, so bottom line, if you are old enough to have played GTA1 or 2, 2 especially, you will probably get a good hit of nostalgia sprinkled with modern fun with this game.

tl;dr - even after 15 years, it has aged quite well. It includes The Lost Chapters expansion. It has some odd bugs and glitches, but name me an RPG like this that doesnt. Runs fine on WinTen. The controls take some getting used to on a gamepad, especially if you are a heavy magic user.

I remember first reading about this game in Game Informer, it was the cover story that month..... at that time it was an Xbox exclusive, and I was a Sony/Nintendo man back then.... I eventually did get an Xbox for another game because I couldnt afford a proper PC (I believe it was around 2004-5), Fable came with it, and maaaan I wound up spending a lifetime in it. This time around, I got everything done in 23 hours of gameplay, but nowadays we got an entire wiki dedicated to the Fable franchise, back then this was not the case (and like I say, already played it once, even if it was 15 years ago).

Truthfully, I dont know how well it holds up if you play this without having prior experience with it, but I would have no problem recommending it regardless, with the disclaimer that a) its 15 years old with updated graphics, and b) Peter Molyneux, and everything that comes with him.

About halfway through it, but I had (and still have) it on PS2.

It was epic back then, its even better now - pretty good graphics (it doesnt LOOK like a PS2 game and I am playing on fairly old hardware), they have updated the UI and there are a couple small improvements from DAH2 (also on PS2, hope to see it on Steam) that they put in.

This was originally a Pandemic game (tragic name atm, yes), they dont exist anymore but they did another game called Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction, it was published by LucasArts but the second one - which sucked - was published by EA so they probably own the rights to it, and that means I wont likely ever see that game remastered and put on Steam, but a man can dream.