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Feb 22nd, 2022 at 21:46:15 - Telling Lies (PC) |
Another compelling FMV detective game by Sam Barlow. Whereas in Her Story, you're watching videos of one woman being interviewed for murder, in Telling Lies, you're watching videos of four main characters who exist in a labyrinth of relationships to one another. I can't say anything about the story because I would inevitably spoil something.
The game plays the same as Her Story. You're given a database of videos to search by inputting keywords. You can try whatever words you like. As you watch videos, you'll think, "Oh, that sounds important" or "I want to know more about that," and you'll note that word to search.
One thing that's so cool about Telling Lies is that most of the videos are recorded conversations (think NSA spying) between two people, so there are two perspectives to every conversation. It's easy to guess what to search to see the other side of the conversation you're currently listening to, and that gives more context, you learn more about the other character, and sometimes you learn more important info. The other video type is the "hidden camera."
Piecing together the timeline of these videos was a task I became utterly absorbed in. I'd give it a 100% if you had the ability to rewind videos with the push of a button instead of sitting there with your finger on rewind for a minute as if you're watching these on a VCR. These videos are digital files, and you're telling me the NSA video player doesn't have a timeline that lets people click to start at the beginning? Honestly I wonder how much gameplay time was rewinding videos.
Anyway, there is a cool story here, and the way that it comes together based on your search terms and viewing order is fascinating. No two people will have the same experience playing this, will see the story unfold in the same way. There are a good amount of big revelations, and tons of small details to fill in along the way. I loved this.
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Feb 6th, 2022 at 10:29:39 - It Takes Two (PC) |
It Takes Two is hands down one of the best co-op games I've ever played. Everyone should play this. It's so FUN. I started a couple months ago with my girlfriend. She liked the story and the creativity, but doesn't like 3D action game controls, so I finished it over several sessions with her brother (with her [and one time her mom] watching).
In this game, the two players control separating parents, Cody and May. Well, little dolls of separating parents created by their sad child and brought to life by magic. You play through a huge variety of levels, guided by "the book of love," a crazy anthropomorphic book-cum-therapist, who helps them reflect and work on various aspects of their relationship.
Some of the levels are among the most creative I've seen and are like magical representations of locations around their house, as Cody and May try to solve their problem of being turned into dolls, overcome their dislike of one another, and work together to get the attention of their daughter, Rose. Rose, by the way, is unintentionally the funniest part of this game. Whoever was in charge of her facial animations did a terrible job. Her eyes are always wide and she always has a slight smile. Hilarious when saying things like "I'm the reason you're getting a divorce." We also joked a lot about her wandering around her house with her parents passed out and unable to wake up (they're physically there but are really inside the dolls out in the garden or wherever). Her mom is passed out on the couch like she had a drug overdose and dad is slumped in his office chair like he had a heart attack. She's like 5. Is she hungry?! Worried that her parents are completely nonresponsive?! Does she have school!? Is anyone coming to the house?!
Poor Rose, but the character that got it the worst is Cutie the Elephant (aka the Queen). You find Cutie atop her castle in Rose's room after you've played through the pillow fort, Moon Baboon's space area, the train station, dinosaur land, pirate land, and fought through the Queen's dungeons (an action-RPG part that's got a better feel than many complete action-RPGs). I won't spoil it, but you'll feel like a terrible person before leaving Rose's room. Poor Cutie.
There are innumerable level highlights and no way I could pick my favorite, as they are all a joy to play through. The crazy thing about It Takes Two is that each level has different, fully realized mechanics. For example, in the shed, May uses a hammer to smash through things and swing on nails, while Cody can throw nails into the wall for May to swing on and can hurl them at switches. In the snow globe (which is in their living room and is from the vacation they took where Cody proposed), each of them get a colored magnet, and all the puzzles revolve around manipulating the push/pull forces to progress. In the garden, May gets a sickle to attack things and a water gun to make plants grow, while Cody gets a plant grappling hook and (super cool) can morph into various plants with special properties (a cactus which shoots needles like a minigun, a flower that can grow and sprout leaves that helps May traverse obstacles, etc.). In Rose's room (the longest level), Cody and Rose each get a few unique powers over the course of it. Every level is fresh, lasts like 1-2 hours, has mini-games to find and play with your partner, and is beautiful and creative. I mean, I was amazed over and over and over, all the way to the end.
It Takes Two is a MUST PLAY. I really enjoyed Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons and thought A Way Out was interesting, but this is a whole new level. I mean, for me this is right up there with the best co-op games I've ever played like Portal 2.
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Feb 6th, 2022 at 08:36:44 - Death's Door (PC) |
This is a stylish action game with a neat story. I have an opinion, but I don't know how much of a generalization it is versus how much it is actually based on empirical observations (that I have subconsciously patterned into a conclusion). Here it is: Games with death themes have higher ratings than they would if they were not about death themes. My hypothesis, regardless of the accuracy of my opinion, is that the taboo nature of the topic makes the game seem more forward-thinking, and the personal, emotional nature of death makes the game feel more meaningful. It's pushing boundaries, confronting death. It makes players think by virtue of it being about a less-discussed topic. I understand that this doesn't apply to a really shitty game, but if a game is good, the taboo theme causes people to perceive it as even better. Now, if only I had time to begin a new research project.
That said, I very much enjoyed Death's Door. You play as a crow--a "reaper"--who tracks down souls as part of their bureaucratic job. Your first assigned soul is taken by a big, old crow, who explains that there is some conspiracy afoot. You have to go hunt down three giant souls of creatures who don't want to die to unlock this mysterious "death's door" and find out what's clogging up the machinery of the death bureaucracy.
The game plays like a straightforward isometric action-RPG (minus the loot). You have a melee weapon and can also equip (as you find them) a bow, a fireball spell, a bomb spell, and a grappling hook. You can run around and you have a dodge roll. You can also charge your melee attacks and (if you find the secrets, at least) alter your ranged attacks too. You'll occasionally need your abilities to hit switches, blow up walls, and so on. So, easy, run around swinging, dodge rolling, and shooting stuff.
Upgrades are limited too. You collect some arbitrary resource from slain enemies and hidden orbs and spend it to upgrade one of four areas (stronger/faster melee, stronger/faster range/charge, faster dodge, and...something). I got enough resources in my playthrough to max out one area and purchase a couple slots in the others.
There are a lot of secrets scattered around. Exploring the environment will reveal many. There are these sewer cover looking things that you can ground pound on that reveal hidden passageways. I didn't realize they were for ground pounding until like 3/4 through the game, so I missed tons of secrets. In fact, I didn't get a single health or mana upgrade! Yeah, I played this entire game with starting amounts of health and mana. I'm a pro.
Boss fights and some fights against waves of enemies were challenging, though honestly I'm not sure what it would have been like had I actually found most of the secrets I missed and had 50% more health. My favorite boss fight was the final one, which has many phases. I liked how enemies become progressively cracked (with red showing through their bodies) as they are injured. Bosses vary attacks as their health decreases, too.
When you die, you respawn at the last door you entered (checkpoints, basically). The only way you can refill your health is to plant seeds, which you find, in flower pots, and then harvest the plant. This was a neat little system that created tension because you are usually not right near a door (so you'll respawn farther away) or a flower pot (so you can't refill health easily). But you're never so far away that it feels punishing. There are many aspects of the level design that I enjoyed, or that I thought I wouldn't enjoy that I ended up enjoying. For example, there is no map! But that turns out to be fine because you'll open up shortcuts, many levels have central areas, they don't branch too too much, so I always kind of learned my way around and didn't need to rely on a map.
So yeah, this one was solid. And I'm convinced that it wouldn't have come on my radar if it wasn't about death!
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Feb 3rd, 2022 at 11:24:18 - Exo One (PC) |
This one is something different! I got bored of repetitive gameplay within an hour, but it's definitely neat. You pilot an orb (a piece of advanced alien technology) across bleak planets' landscapes. The orb can increase and decrease gravity, making Exo One feel like a snowboarding game (increase gravity on the downhills to speed up, decrease it on the uphills to launch). It can also turn into a disc and glide, it can do a little double hop to gain some height, and it can dive toward the ground (diving and pulling up is how you stay in the air for a long time). This looks and feels super cool. You develop an easy rhythm of arcing across the environment as get better at the controls.
The variety of the game comes in the different planets and weather patterns on them, though it's not a huge variety. The first three planets feel really similar, and then you get to a water planet where instead of going up and down hills, you can glide and bounce on moving waves when storms come, which was mesmerizing. Later on, there is a level on an asteroid where you have to gain momentum to launch into a star's orbit to get to your goal, and there are some other different elements across the 12 planets.
Your goal is always to follow the blue beacon in the distance, which is like a teleporter that takes you to the next planet. You can't die or lose, so you just...go toward the blue light. In every planet, all the time. Go toward the blue light. I can see an allure of Exo One as a relaxing game, mastering the ups and downs of your orb over the terrain, taking in the beautiful planets and chill ambient space music. Oh, caveat on the beautiful planets. The ground on all the planets (except the water) looks like shit. As I pondered how the game can be so beautiful, except the ground, I decided that is incentive for the player to get better at controlling the orb and spend more time hurtling through the air and less time slumming it along the ground. Get better and you never have to see the ugly ground!
There is also an abstract story here that I didn't entirely piece together. Something about a space mission to Jupiter that went bad, and I think that you are (a person? an alien?) piloting this orb to save the crew and get them back home. I could be very wrong about this, but you'll see lots of scratchy images of Jupiter and a picture of smiling astronauts as you play.
So, all in all, I didn't particularly care for this in terms of the experience after the first hour or so, but I like it theoretically. If you like movement-based games (racing, flying, skateboarding, etc.), you might be more inclined to enjoy the mechanics of this one.
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