Recent reviews by OozeMan

Playing through Kingdom Come:Deliverance reminded me a lot of The Witcher 1. It has a plethora of fetch quests, game-breaking bugs and the gameplay might not find many fans amongst the gaming community.

But, one finds a lot of potential underneath its glaring shortcomings. The writing is absolute top notch, many of the characters are memorable and the game provides a compelling lesson regarding Medieval Bohemia, based on a realistic historical setting. And did I mention the game is absolutely gorgeous?

CD Projekt Red finally did justice to the Witcher series with Part 3. Personally, I can't wait to see what Warhorse Studios manages to achieve with a higher budget and the experience they've gained from making KC:D.

Do you love 2D platformers? Get this game.
Are you not a fan of 2D platformers? Get this game.

There exist games that make you fall in love with a genre. Ori and the Blind Forest is one such game.

I'm exceptionally bad at platformers but that didn't stop me from falling in love with this game. It's not too long, on average probably 10 hours tops.

The art style is phenomenal; the music likewise. Get this game.

Immensely relaxing game with an incredible soundtrack and beautiful art-style! The campaign is very short as I clocked in around two hours but I'm sure 100% completion might take an hour or two more.

ABZU epitomizes everything games should be about. There's that felling of fuliflment of sorts once you end it. A must-pick and not-to-be-missed title especially during sales.

World War 1 games are rare. Those with a compelling and touching story are even rarer.

'Valiant Hearts: The Great War' is a 2D puzzle adventure game developed by Ubisoft Montpellier. Set in France during WWI it tells the story of four characters (and a dog), a French, a German, an American, and a Belgian Nurse and how the war affects their lives, dependencies they build and friendships that are made in the process.

From a gameplay point of view, Valiant Hearts is less of a game and more of an interactive animated movie/comic. Gameplay mechanics are restricted to solving a few easy puzzles in the form of tossing objects, pulling levers, issuing orders and executing QTE sequences. There are absolutely no hair-pulling moments or frustrating puzzles which is a positive because, in games belonging to the same genre, narrative often gets buried underneath tough gameplay and extremely difficult riddles.

Art is one of the two areas (music being the other one) where this game truly shines. The art-style is, simply put, phenomenal. The story events are set in France and the areas include trenches, underground tunnels, field hospitals, prisoner of war camps, towns and farms.

Now coming to the soundtrack.............it was brilliant! Easily the best in-game music I've listened to in some time. Really captures the mood and reminds you of war-themed movies like Schindler's List and Saving Private Ryan.

The game touches the themes of war including conscription, desertions and mutiny. The characters are very close to life and it's easy to empathize with their condition. The story is touching and, suffice to say, I almost shed a tear when it ended. Not to mention it was fun and very informative reading the diary and historical facts related to WWI that were included in-game.

Valiant Hearts: The Great War is the best six bucks I've ever spent. Who says Ubisoft only makes rubbish games?

"Mr. Francis York Morgan, you are the protagonist of the generation. So says Mr. Stewart"

To summarize Deadly Premonition, the graphics suck balls. The driving sucks balls. The combat sucks balls. The animations suck balls. In fact the entire control scheme sucks monkey balls. But underneath all this ball sucking lies an absolute gem of a game.

The plot is great and the script is actually extremely well-written. I dare say these two factors were probably the only driving force behind my decision to see this game to the end. A higher budget and better production values might've done wonders with the game.

This game is one huge package of silliness. A lot of the time it will make you laugh but mostly you will be laughing at the game itself. Deadly Premonition is a game where you see your fortune in the morning cup of coffee. And there's an hour-long level where you're running after a dog. Did I mention that dog had its own rap theme song?

And just when you think this game couldn't get any stranger, the final two chapters take retardedness to a whole new level. Lovely!

Deadly Premonition is not a game you recommend to anybody. But it most definitely is a game that should be played at least once.

Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne is a direct sequel to Remedy Entertainment's critically acclaimed 2001 third-person shooter Max Payne and picks up after the events of its predecessor. The game could be best described as noir-style love story, in contrast to the first that was more of a film noir revenge tale.

NYPD detective Max Payne is once again the primary protagonist, although a few very interesting segments sees you play as his love interest, Mona Sax. Max Payne 2 borrows a lot from the original and there are enough hints and references to the previous game which helps keep the narrative interesting and fresh for old-timers.

Max Payne 2 is, in many ways, a huge improvement over Max Payne 1. Gone is that constipated look replaced instead with full 3-D modeled faces. The game also sees an immense graphical upgrade with excellent usage of the Havok 2.0 physics engine. Game characters are more detailed while environment objects, including enemies, tumble and fall very realistically.

Gameplay is largely the same with a few refinements to combat. Bullet Time sees an upgrade allowing you to dodge bullets and reload quickly, with a cool whirling animation to go alongside it. This results in a higher body count but also makes gun-play segments a whole lot less challenging. Level designs are, once again, brilliant with mission locales ranging from warehouses, mansions, hospitals and clubs to constructions sites. And the enemy AI is, on a whole, pretty decent although in a few instances they end up killing themselves with their own grenade.

The plot is riveting with almost non-stop action throughout. The storyline unfolds in much the same fashion as the original. The usage of graphic novel comics complete with melodramatic over-the-top dialogue sucks you into the game's environment. If anything, the writing is more polished this time around with lots of witty and philosophical quotes thrown into the mix. The story focuses too much upon the love-story angle though which tends to get a bit jarring towards the end. In comparison, the original Max Payne's story, although slightly rough around the edges, was more dark, grittier and compelling than its sequel.

For a game that is over twelve years old, Max Payne 2 still holds remarkably well today. It overshadows the original in many aspects while also introducing a few cool mechanics of its own. Simplified mechanics make for interesting combat segments making Max Payne 2 one of the very best third-person shooters ever made.

The critically acclaimed PS3 title 'Valkyria Chronicles', inclusive of all DLCs, was ported over to the PC by Sega and released on the platform late last year. It is a turn-based squad strategy game incorporating strong flavours of a third-person shooter.

The game is set in a neutral and non-partisan fictitious small country, Gallia, situated in the continent of Europa. The land is rich in the mineral ore Ragnite, a much sought after ingredient due to its vital properties that see it being used both as fuel and medicine. The Empire, an alliance of autocratic Eastern Europan nations, declares war on The Federation, an alliance of democratic West Europan nations, to kick-start the Second Europan War (EWII). The Empire has its sights set on Gallia's ragnite rich deposits.

You play as Welkin Gunther, a Gallian and son of celebrated war-hero, General Gunther, as you command a troop of organized Gallian militia soldiers known as Squad 7 whose job is to thwart The Empire's advances in Gallia. During the course of the playthrough you command foot soldiers and tanks as you set forward to complete objectives and, thus, win battles in the process. The game is divided into chapters which is further sub-divided into small episodes.

First things first, the game is gorgeously good-looking. The art-style is inspired by Japanese animes while the visuals are unique, feeling as though the entire game is a sharp watercolour painting brought to life.

The game has five combat Classes; namely Scouts (Rifle), Shock Troopers (Infantry), Lancers (Anti-Tank), Engineers and Snipers. In addition, you also get to control Commanding Officer Welkin's tank. All equipment is upgradeable, relying on XP points which are gained as missions are completed. The Combat system is an amalgam of turn-based and third-person elements. You deploy a squad of your choice and each time you click on a squad member, the camera pans to third-person and he can be moved to an appropriate place. The camera then swings back to the bird's eye view of the map allowing you to plan your next move. Combat is challenging and is easily the best part of the game. Level environments are well-designed and test your strategic skills to the hilt.

The game's setting is inspired by real-life incidents, with a mix of fantasy and fiction elements thrown into the mix. The plot is, frankly speaking, nothing to write home about. It's B-grade anime with trope characters and a cliched predictable story. There are a few instances in the game where the plot impresses but, highly unfortunately, those are few and far between.

I really liked the game. The war-setting negated some of the cheesy anime moments and the combat was fun and challenging. I'm glad Sega ported this over to the PC. Valkyria Chronicles is a definite recommendation from my side, if just for a refreshing change of art-style and grueling turn-based gameplay.

"Yeah, (I am) the real kind (of spy), not the tuxedo kind. I'm the kind that makes you bleed all over your Andretti unless you give me information."

Chaos Theory is a third-person stealth video game and the third installment in Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell series. It, again, puts you in the boots of NSA (and Third Echelon) special agent Sam Fisher as he undertakes missions around the world to avert the possibility of an all-out war between military superpowers.

The single-player campaign is divided into ten missions with locations ranging from the America's to East Asia. The game was released almost ten years back but it definitely holds well from a visual point of view. Missions usually take place at night (or in the dark) which probably help mask a few of the game's graphical deficiencies.

Chaos Theory has probably some of the best stealth mechanics in any game. A sliding light bar indicates whether Sam would be visible to the enemy or not while a noise bar shows how much noise is being produced as the protagonist moves around. Sam's pace of movement is tunable by scrolling the mouse-wheel, giving players a much greater control over how the character moves. Enemies can be sneaked upon from behind and knocked-out or put in the choke-hold to extract vital information. Apart from moving around in the shadows, the game provides you the option of traversing through vents, zip-lines, hang from ledges and overhead pipes; all the while avoiding enemy encounters.

The game is designed around stealth so players would experience gun fights to be clunky in nature. Apart from the usual arsenal of silenced pistol, sticky cameras. stun grenades and assault rifles, there's a very useful EMI feature that allows you to remotely disable lights and electronics temporarily. It helps a lot in moving around the environment unscathed. Hacking is a fundamental portion of the game. Computers, keypads and security terminals can be hacked, with the mechanic favouring those with quick reaction times. Multi-vision goggles are once again an essential part of gameplay with Sam able to alternate between night-vision, thermal and EMF modes.

The enemy AI is excellent with sentries coming to snoop around if they see open doors or turned-off lights. Enemies can also be distracted by whistling and flinging objects around the environment. Instances of direct combat are extremely rare but if such a scenario does crop up, enemies take cover and periodically change positions to improve their chances of winning gunfights.

The plot was interesting but not something that hasn't be done already or since. The script is well-written and character voice-overs are extremely well done (Michael Ironside ftw!). But I felt character interactions felt a bit too formal and serious. Mission briefs involve relevant characters droning off about mission objectives, although there's some fun banter between Sam and his handlers during missions; but that's few and far between. The game could've done with more cutscenes, in my opinion.

Chaos Theory is a definite recommendation if you're looking for a pure stealth experience. The SP campaign length is around 12-15 hours, subject to one's playing style of course. The game is definitely much much better than the p.o.s that was Splinter Cell: Conviction.

"He (Nightingale) took out his hip flask when he reached the page that described how he reached the page that made him take out his hip flask."

Alan Wake is a linear third-person psychological survival-horror game set in the fictional setting of Bright Falls. The game is divided into six Episodes and is heavily inspired by mystery TV shows, with Twin Peaks considered a major influence. The game follows our protagonist, Alan Wake, as he tries to uncover and solve the events behind his wife's enigmatic disappearance whilst on vacation to the, seemingly picturesque and calm, town of Bright Falls.

Gameplay is fairly simple. The protagonist is armed with a mandatory flashlight and, depending upon availability, an assortment of weapons ranging from a revolver, shotgun, rifle, flare gun, flares and flash grenades. Most of the game takes place in the dark so the flashlight aids in navigating the environment as well as battling the Taken, who are your foes in the darkness. So the flashlight and a weapon of your choice are enough to ward off enemies, which range from blade and chainsaw-wielding foes to poltergeists that throw stuff at you. There are instances when you can drive a car to move around but those segments are completely optional and thus, can be skipped.

Ammo is not plentiful so it's up to the player to judge when to take enemies head-on or settle for evasive action. Light is your best friend in the dark. In addition to the usual ammo boxes, fluorescent paint directional cues also lead you to essential supply caches. Exploration rewards you with supplies and also enhances story progression but there's a certain risk involved as foes can jump at you from the dark at any instance. Manuscripts scattered across the environment complement the story and are considered essential towards understanding the intricacies of the plot.

Remedy outdid themselves by designing Bright Falls. It's a stunning, albeit grim, town and the attention to detail is amazing. So it comes as a bit of a let-down that the game isn't open-world because Bright Falls is one place that deserves to be explored thoroughly. The story character voice-overs are brilliant and it almost feels like one is watching a mini-TV show. The writing is spectacular; not unexpected for a Sam Lake game.

Alan Wake happens to be the most atmospheric game I've played in a long time. The game really pulls you in after the first few episodes. Although missions tend to get tedious because you're forever warding off enemies and/or finding alternate routes to the objective. There are also a few glaring plot holes and characters whose fate was left dangling mid-air. But thankfully, the story is gripping and the presentation and production values are top notch.

Agent 47 meets Commandos............ God, this game was hard!

'Death to Spies' puts you in the shoes of Russian counter-intelligence agent Semion Strogov who, whilst under interrogation, re-lives the covert operations he undertook as field agent. Mission objectives range from assassinating high-ranked enemy officers including spies, traitors and deserters, stealing secret documents and missile/weapon plans from scientific facilities, freeing (or assassinating) prisoners from concentration camps/lock-ups and blowing up bridges.

The game is divided into ten missions, none of which are inter-linked in any way. Similar to other games of the stealth genre, disguises are an essential part of gameplay. The protagonist can change into any enemy (or civilian) uniform provided the fabric isn't damaged via acts of shooting or stabbing. Enemies, depending upon their ranks, can see through disguises so it is better to don the disguise of a high-rank official to pass unscathed.

Gunplay and explosives are barely functional so don't expect to complete missions Rambo-style. Enemies converge from all sides the moment you're spotted and a huge barrage of them bring you down within seconds. A silenced revolver, muffled sniper-rifle, chloroform rag or knife are usually all that is required but useful ammo is scarce so essential targets have to be chosen wisely. Stunning enemies produces noise in a limited area around which could alert nearby adversaries. Knives can be thrown, with their trajectory depending upon the intended target's distance from you.

An overhead radar map shows enemy positions with vision cones that exhibit their fields of view, which may either contract or elongate depending upon the protagonists posture. Whistling and smoke bombs are efficient methods to distract enemies, making them leave their positions. Running also produces noise which can result in an enemy sentry come investigating. Discovery of enemy bodies results in the alarm being raised which might fail the mission or consequently increase the number of highly-alert patrols.

Environment interaction is extremely restrictive which makes missions all the more harder. I've often looked at windows/ledges and wished they could be opened or accessed in some way. Actions have to be timed perfectly to fulfill objectives. A few vehicles can be driven but they have little use unless driving them is part of the mission objective. Enemy bodies can be picked up and stoved inside boxes or trucks. Drinks can be poisoned on more than a few occasions. And locks can be picked through a fun, yet challenging mini-game.

The game is gorgeous, if you don't go over the textures with a magnifying. There are a variety of locales which include wide open camps with buildings that can be entered, academic institutes, bombed-out towns, scientific facilities, hotels and an embassy. And the period attention to detail is flawless and extremely well done.

Death to Spies is a deeply flawed game. What makes the game so frustrating at times is its restrictive gameplay elements. I've heard its sequel has improved upon a lot of areas. It requires some time and effort to calculate one's next move and the quicksave/quickload button would be abused mercilessly. But regardless, completing missions is a very rewarding experience.