Review - Duke Nukem 3D Megaton Edition (PC)

Retro gaming can be a double-edged sword at times.  I can't count the number of times I've popped in an old NES game only to realize the game that I loved so much as a child has not aged well and is painful to play now 20 years later.  Once the feeling of nostalgia wears off, all you're left with is an inferior game that simply isn't enjoyable to play.  Duke Nukem 3D was and still is a fantastic game, even 17 years later.  I think I may even appreciate it more now that I'm older than I did when I was a tween.

For the past five years or so, the first person shooter market has been dominated by modern military shooters.  Duke Nukem 3D is a first person shooter of an entirely different breed.  Gone are the linear level designs and scripted action sequences, Duke Nukem 3D was innovative nearly 2 decades ago for its open and interactive level design.  These levels still hold up today, with numerous paths you can take and levels littered with secret areas hidden behind cracked walls and access panels.  You can interact with nearly everything in a level, from buttons, light switches, pool tables, strippers and even urinals.  This encourages players to explore every inch of a level.  Surprisingly, for a game this old, it's a breath of fresh air from the majority of shooters on the market today.

At its core, Duke Nukem 3D focuses on its fast and frantic game play   You won't have to pick and choose what weapons you want to bring with you, you can bring them all!  You'll need them too since the gameplay can be brutally hard and unforgiving.  Duke Nukem is a bad-ass and you'll need to play like one if you hope to survive to the end of the level.  All the weapons in the game are a lot of fun to use, from your standard pistol and shotgun to the more outrageous freezethrower that freezes enemies in their tracks and allows you to kick them into pieces.  My favorite weapon is the shrink ray, which can shrink even the most difficult enemies and allows you to squish them under your boot.

The game play and level design in Duke Nukem 3D have held up well over the years, but the graphics definitely look a bit dated.  The 3D in the title is a misnomer, since the game actually employs 2D sprite graphics to emulate a 3D environment.  This is blatantly obvious when you look at objects from above, and the enemies and objects appear to be cardboard cutouts.  The graphics have been touched up slightly and the game runs well on modern PC's in HD, but the original art assets in the game have remained the same for the most part.

Duke Nukem 3D Megaton Edition is the definitive version of the game.  The main campaign is split up into 4 episodes, with each episode containing multiple levels.   Also bundled with the main campaign are the three expansion packs: Duke It Out in DC, Duke: Nuclear Winter, and Duke Caribbean: Life's a Beach.  There is a lot of content to be played here, with each episode taking an hour or two to complete, more if you want to be thorough and find all the secret areas or if you're not a wimp like me and played on a harder difficulty.

Final Score: 8/10

Review - Poker Night 2 (PC)

Poker Night 2 is not a realistic poker simulator; it's a casual poker game that focuses on tie-ins with its video game characters and incentives in the form of in-game unlockables. In addition to Texas Hold'em, you will also be able to play Omaha Hold'em. The simplicity of Poker Night 2 is great for those who are new or inexperienced with the game, since it will let you learn the basics without pressure or fear of monetary loss. Poker veterans though may be put off by the sometimes idiotic AI and the terrible plays they make for seemingly no reason. Like the first game, Poker Night 2 is single player only and your opponents are always the same four characters. The beauty of real Texas Hold'em is that there is so much more to the game than just the cards that are dealt. It's a mind-game that forces you to analyze who you're playing and how previous hands, chip stacks, the way people bet, body language and other such tells all play a part in determining what your opponents are representing that they have in their hand.

I normally play a fairly defensive play-style in real poker, protecting my chips and slow grinding my way to a healthy chip count. Poker Night 2 is fast paced and favors aggressive play. Blinds increase every five hands, forcing players to make moves much earlier than normal. This is reminiscent of a few online poker tournaments that I've participated in, so fans of that style should be well accustomed to the speed of Poker Night 2. The AI in Poker Night 2 is largely predictable, often placing more emphasis on what they're holding in their hand than what's on the board. After a few tournaments I realized that it was quite easy to bully the AI opponents around with moderately large bets.

One of the biggest draws to the first Poker Night at the Inventory game was the 4 unlockable Team Fortress 2 items. Poker Night 2 improves on this by having 10 different items you can unlock, 5 for Team Fortress 2 and 5 for Borderlands 2. In the first game, players will randomly buy in with an item as opposed to with money, and eliminating that player from the tournament will earn you their item. This was incredibly easy to exploit, since you can constantly restart the tournament in the first game until someone bought in with an item, and then attempt to eliminate that one specific player. If he plays, you play, hoping to draw him out into an all-in situation. It only took me 3 hours to unlock every item in the first Poker Night at the Inventory game. In contrast, it took me roughly 7 hours to unlock all the items in Poker Night 2.

Poker Night 2 uses a different system to its unlocks. There are 5 bounty items, each unlocking a Team Fortress 2 and a Borderlands 2 item. In order to get a character to buy in with their bounty item, players must complete 3 random bounty challenges, such as "Stealing a hand at the turn" or "Win a tournament with 25% or higher win percentage." These challenges do not all need to be done in the same tournament and once you complete all three, the next tournament you win will unlock a bounty item. This makes the unlock process much harder to exploit and closer to actual tournament play. In addition to the bounty items, you can also unlock items for use in the game, such as new chips, decks, and tables. These use tokens which are awarded to you after each tournament based on where you place. Get knocked out first and you receive 0 tokens, but if you place second and get knocked out last, you receive 50 tokens.

You will face up against Brock from the Venture Bros, Claptrap from Borderlands, Ash from Army of Darkness, and Max from Sam & Max. Also, GLaDOS from Portal appears as your dealer. Each of these characters are equipped with a wide variety of one-liners that they will occasionally inject into the conversation. While entertaining enough the first few times you hear them, once they begin to repeat, the novelty begins to wear off and it just starts to become stale. At times, you can't make a move until a character has finished speaking, which just ends up delaying the game. It would be much better if the characters simply spoke amongst themselves as they played, keeping the game moving along at a steady pace.

Poker Night 2 may not be the most realistic poker game out there, but it's plenty of fun and entertainment for a very small price. A well-paced and rewarding unlock system will keep you playing for hours, and the AI is considerately better than the first game. There will still be instances where you'll scratch your head at why the opponent made a certain move, but this unpredictability helps switch things up a bit and make it so that you're not constantly reminded that you're playing against computer opponents. My biggest complaint though is that there still is no multiplayer support. In almost every other aspect, Poker Night 2 improves upon its predecessor.

Final Score: 7/10

The Binding of Isaac - Mom's Heart Dead :)

First time playing Cain, first time beating Mom's Heart.  Also got a level 4 Meatboy, that was pretty OP.  If you haven't played The Binding of Isaac, I highly recommend it.  I may do a full write up for the game, but for the time being, I'll bask in the small accomplishment!

Review - To The Moon (PC)

I take a lot of pride in my writing. I wouldn't say I'm necessarily great at it, but I put a lot of effort behind each and every review. With that said, I urge you to stop reading this review. Just go play this game immediately, you will regret every single minute you squandered putting off this incredible experience.

To The Moon is a story-driven point and click adventure game that also incorporates puzzle elements. The gameplay mechanics are simple and incredibly easy to pick up. You won't ever find yourself stumped or frustrated at this game, since the gameplay is used to pace the plot perfectly. Without revealing too many spoilers, at its heart To The Moon is a love story. It's also much more than that, it delves right into topics such as life and death, regrets and even fate. If you're a pessimist, this is a story that will restore your faith in humanity and make you believe in love again. It had just the right amount of humor thrown in, you just can't help but smile at how silly one of the characters can be at times. It plucked on your heartstrings plenty as well, and I'm comfortable enough with my manliness to admit that there were a few moments when I was on the verge of tears, both out of sadness and out of happiness.

The pixel art is beautiful and charming. A lot of care and thought was placed into the art style and I never imagined that 8 bit graphics could be so expressive. The only minor flaw I found with the game, and it's incredibly minor, is that the game runs in a set resolution and there is no option to run the game windowed. It's probably for the best, since running the game windowed can easily break the immersion. It isn't a terribly long game, it took me just under 4 hours to complete. You will want to set aside a healthy chunk of time to dedicate to this game though. I highly recommend playing this through all in one sitting, though if you're anything like me, that won't even be an option. I was so immersed into this game, I don't even think I glanced at my second monitor the last 3 hours of play, let alone get up from my chair. The soundtrack is beautiful, filled with piano arrangements that accompany the story so well. Every aspect of this game has a simple elegance to it that adheres to you at such a fundamental level. This is a game that will stay on your mind long after you've finished playing it.

To The Moon is damn near perfect. It's not often that I play a game where I struggle to point out flaws or things I wished the developers changed. It's not often that I am so entranced by a game, I am glued to my computer chair until the end credits scroll past my screen. Even now, as I'm writing this review, listening to the game's soundtrack, I still feel goosebumps. This game has affected me on a level deeper than any other game ever has. The story in this game easily stands as one of the most beautiful and touching tales I've ever had the pleasure of experiencing in ANY form of media. This game is absolutely amazing, and it's one that everybody should try, even non-gamers.

Final Score:
9.5/10

Review - Quantum Conundrum (PC)

Quantum Conundrum is a puzzle platformer set in first person view in which you play the nephew of a brilliant but eccentric professor.  He's managed to trap himself on this visit and it's up to you to turn on the generators in the mansion to unlock him.  He'll provide you with some tips along the way, but it's up to you to figure out how to get past the puzzles he's rigged in his own house.  (Don't ask)

The Dimensions:

Fluffy: The first dimension the game unlocks to you, the fluffy dimension makes everything 10 times lighter than normal.  Your character is that of a 10 year old, and short for your age at that.  Normally, you'd only be able to carry empty cardboard boxes and books, but with the fluffy dimension, you're able to carry couches and safes like a champ.

Heavy: This second dimension is unlocked shortly after Fluffy and mixing the two is essential to clearing through the first wing of the manor.  The Heavy dimension is basically the opposite of the Fluffy dimension, causing objects to weigh 10 times more than they normally do.

Slow: The third dimension unlocked slows down time, if you couldn't have guessed.  This is where the trickier parts of the game starts to emerge, as your reflexes matter more than your puzzle solving abilities on certain stages.  The game still manages to incorporate Slow well into the puzzles, and some of the most memorable gameplay moments occur due to the game's well thought out use of slow.  Outrunning lasers and jumping on a safe that you just threw to sail over an abyss is actually immensely rewarding, if not mostly due to the fact that you will fail, a lot.

Gravity: The last dimension to be unlocked reverses gravity, causing everything in the room to fall towards the ceiling.  If you thought the platforming was frustrating when the game introduced slow, just wait until you unlock gravity.  You'll be forced to use falling safes as elevators, having to switch quickly between dimensions with each jump.  Mistiming the switch or messing up your landing means you have to start back at the beginning, and these sequences aren't exactly short, requiring you to land multiple perfect jumps to clear.

The Puzzles:

The puzzles are simply fantastic.  They're well thought out and require you to really analyze what's in each room and how to use the different dimensions properly in order to pass to the next area.  They start off really simple, introducing you to each dimension by itself, before tossing you into a situation where you have to learn how to use multiple dimensions to solve.  The pacing of the puzzles is great, and they never feel cheap or unfair.  Every time you get stumped, when you finally realize just how to proceed, the solutions are always logical, and you'll have plenty of 'A-Ha!' moments.

The Platforming:

The game starts you off with simple jumping puzzles, jumping from block to block.  The platforming actually seems fun at first, but once you start mixing in the slow and gravity dimensions, the shit hits the fan.  Platforming takes up a bigger chunk of the latter part of the game, and the sequences have very little room for error and are frustrating at best.  I actually had to stop playing the game twice because I died something like 20 times just trying to get past a particular platforming section.  I'd imagine that most players who don't complete Quantum Conundrum will have similar opinions regarding the platforming.  First of all, platforming in first person view is difficult enough as it is, but when you mix in having to switch perfectly from one dimension to the next, while trying to hopscotch your way through across falling safes while avoiding lasers and other such obstacles, it makes you want to tear your hair out.

Overview:

Overall, Quantum Conundrum is a great little puzzler despite its frustrating platforming elements.  It makes use of the different dimensions very well and the quirkiness of the uncle makes for a light hearted and fun playthrough.  I'd recommend people at least try the game for the puzzles, since they really are great.  You do need a good amount of patience and skill at platformers in order to make it all the way through the game, but that's the only negative, though a fairly significant one, about this game in my opinion.

Final Score: 7.5/10