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From: candycanearter07 <candycanearter07@candycanearter07.nomail.afraid>
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action
Subject: Re: What Have You Been Playing... In December 2024?
Date: Wed, 1 Jan 2025 20:50:03 -0000 (UTC)
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Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> wrote at 16:23 this Wednesday (GMT):
>
> The only officially sanctioned* CSIPGA monthly game's round-up thread!
> Accept no substitutes! Sure we're at the start of a new year, but
> forget about looking ahead. Look back, and tell us all what games kept
> you occupied during the busy, busy holiday season!
>
> Shall I go first? Oh, I think I shall!
>
>
> Just The Names
> ---------------------------------------
> * Metal Hellsinger
> * The Hunter - Call of the Wild: Salzwiesen Park DLC
> * The Invincible
> * Trek to Yomi
>
>
> Everything else plus the kitchen sink
> ---------------------------------------
>
> * Metal Hellsinger
> This game is so disappointingly average. It could have been so much
> more but the end result is just so mediocre.
>
> In essence a 'boomer shooter', the 'gimmick' of "Metal Hellsinger" is
> that your weapons do more damage if you time your attacks to the beat
> of the music. That music, of course, being a tremendous selection of
> thrashin' heavy metal tracks. All well and good in concept, but the
> execution leaves something to be desired. It's not that it doesn't
> work well at times -it's undeniably cool when you happen to get in the
> rhythm and are watching demons (it's a boomer shooter, so of course
> the bad guys are demons) burst into multi-colored sprays of ichor as
> you blow them apart with your weapons. But there are a host of
> niggling issues that keep you from achieving this feeling of grace
> long enough to make it worth playing the rest of the game.
>
> Reloading, for once. This game would be so much better if, after every
> five shots or so, you didn't have to break rhythm to reload. It's just
> so immersion breaking; you're groovin' to the beat, bang bang bang,
> watching demons pop one after another and then suddenly: click. And
> then a long and slow reload. Or take about how that some weapons just
> never seem to be able to match up to the beat. Or watching your damage
> multiplier march agonizingly downward not because you can't keep up
> the rhythm, but instead because the enemies aren't spawning fast
> enough (or because the AI is stuck behind some pillar on the far side
> of the map and can't get to you). Then there's the discordant tracks
> that play on the higher difficulty levels; it makes it harder to match
> the beat (which is part of the challenge) but until you do, there are
> no lyrics and -frankly- listening to those tracks is just ear gouging.
> It's not fun; it's not enjoyable. You're constantly being pulled out
> of the moment because of problems with the mechanics, and not your own
> abilities (or lack thereof).
>
> But even that might be a survivable flaw if there was more to the
> game, but there's not, really. The gunplay is --beyond its
> beat-matching gimmick-- completely average. It's story and setting
> aren't original or even notable. Its graphics are passable but aren't
> anything you probably have not seen dozens of times before. The levels
> are small and the bosses are tedious grinds. There isn't much variety
> to the enemies, or the weapons for that matter. It's all so... bland.
>
> "Metal Hellsinger" could be great. It really could. The beat-matching
> mechanic, if tweaked with better weapons, could raise this game to
> becoming one of the classics. But it's not there yet. Maybe one day,
> but right now? It's just not worth playing.
>
>
>
> * The Hunter - Call of the Wild: Salzwiesen Park DLC
> It's been a while since I played "Call of the Wild". The release of a
> new DLC seemed as good a reason as any to give the game another go.
> "Salzwiesen Park", a hunting preserve nominally set in north-eastern
> Germany, looked like it could be a winner. I'll admit; it's not awful.
> But it is disappointing all the same.
>
> Its biggest flaw is its size; the map is /tiny/. It's probably a
> quarter of the size of any of the other maps. I literally explored it
> in just a few hours of play. There is very little to actually see too.
> Other maps had all sorts of nooks and crannies to explore; little bits
> of history and architecture to stumble across as you chased your prey.
> Not so "Salzwiesen Park"; there are just three or four locations to
> discover. 
>
> The map looks nice, for sure; it's got colorful foliage and a nice mix
> of forest and prairie. But there's no variety to the map; what you see
> in the first ten minutes is pretty much what you'll see throughout
> your explorations. There's nothing to really differentiate one part of
> the park from the next. The ecology is almost identical to
> "Hirschfelden", which is the very first map of the game. There's an
> incredible sense of deja vu; haven't I played this already? Why did I
> pay again for something I already own?
>
> Then there's the hunting. Even though that's actually the least
> important part of the game to me (despite it being the core mechanic),
> I do pay /some/ attention to it. And, frankly, it's not very
> interesting. Your prey consists primarily of varmints; ducks and
> raccoons and red foxes. All interesting critters to be sure, but not
> particularly exciting prey. They're the sort of beasties I'd normally
> go after between hunts for bigger animals; their being the focus of
> the whole map makes me feel more like pest-control than Big Game
> Hunter.
>
> This isn't a bad map, but it is bad DLC. It really feels like the sort
> of map you put in the base game to convince players to buy your DLC.
> "Here's a demo of what the game is like; buy the expansions for more
> if you like it!" But as something you are charging customers for? It's
> too small and characterless. It feels like a rip-off; a last ditch
> attempt to milk the last few dollars out of your customers before you
> abandon the game. 
>
>
>
> * The Invincible
> "The Invincible" is one of those games I hate to review, because while
> I can individually point to any of its components and say, "Well
> done!" when look it as a whole I get a feeling sad disappointment.
> There's so much I like about "The Invincible"; why can't I enjoy it as
> a game?
>
> I went into my experience with the game blind; all I knew about it was
> that you took on the role of a lost astronaut on an alien world. I was
> thus thrilled to learn it was in fact based on a story by Stanislaw
> Lem, famed Polish sci-fi author (you may know him for another of his
> stories, "Solaris", which is highly regarded in the genre). This
> immediately elevated the game in my eyes; how could you go wrong with
> a foundation like that?
>
> And I'll be honest; it's hard for me to point at any one thing that is
> bad about this game. It has an interesting story. It has strong
> characters. It has good voice-acting. It has a good -although not
> memorable- soundtrack. The visuals are beautiful. The aesthetic
> -especially the chunky 'Soviet Tractors In Space' motif- is
> intriguing. I can't even fault the style of the gameplay, although I'm
> sure a lot of people won't care for it; it's a "narrative game"
> (a.k.a., a "walking sim"). It's only when you start fitting all the
> bits together that you start seeing the cracks.
>
> I think the biggest fault is that the developers wanted to tell a
> tense story of survival and discovery, but then locked it behind the
> mechanics of a walking sim. Now, do not mistake me; I have no issues
> with narrative games; I actually enjoy the genre. But by their very
> nature, there is no tension; there are no stakes in a game you cannot
> lose and where the story will pull you forward regardless of what you
> do or do not do. And once you realize that is what is happening with
> "The Invincible" (as you very quickly will), all intensity is lost and
> the impact of story is greatly diminished. 
>
> It doesn't help that the game does everything it can -especially in
> its first half- to disguise the player's powerlessness to affect the
> narrative. This makes bumping into the many (often literally)
> invisible walls all the more frustrating; "The Invincible" implies the
> ability to wander where you will and do what you wish, but your actual
> range of travel and actions is extremely limited. All the worse since
> there's often very little reason to actually explore; this is a game
> devoid of any hidden secrets, which makes any attempt to escape the
> dictated plot all the more pointless. Couple all that to the fact that
> the world of "The Invincible" is so interesting that you are
> inescapably drawn into its surreal world that these limitations are
> almost cruel in their nature.
>
> None of this is a fault of the narrative game mechanics, or the story.
> But the two do not complement one another and "The Invincible" becomes
> a lesser work because they have been jammed together in an awkward
> combination. I could see either working quite well (a narrative game
> set in "The Invincible's" setting but with a different story, or the
> current narrative given different game mechanics) but as it stands
> now? It's a poor fit.
>
> I would really like to say good things about this game. I really,
> really would. Not just because I hold anything Stanislaw Lem in such
> high esteem, but because so much else of the game is done so well, and
> how much obvious love and respect the developers have for Lem's work.
> But as it is, this is a game that can't help but disappoint lovers of
> Lem's fiction and gamers alike. 
>
>
>
> * Trek to Yomi
> "Trek to Yomi" is a game all about style; it is a stylish game. More,
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