Recent reviews by bdlio

Still. so. good.
Quake 2 got me into multiplayer gaming when the update including TCP/IP support came out... voodoo graphics... oh my.
It's so great that a lot of comfort updates and support for modern hardware have been rolled into this.
You know you owe it to yourself.

I've been playing MK games since MK1 on SNES/GB/PC and each new MK game just scratches a certain itch... MK11 is no different... that is enough for me to give it the "Thumbs up".
I might suck at playing but I still enjoy it. I am nowhere near qualified to judge the gameplay mechanics on a "pro" level and I mainly play single player these days so I won't even go into that.
Visually it's the best it has ever been and I find the controls/timingto be more accessible than they where in MKX.
(I know, not really a very good review but blame steam for making "write a review" goals in the steam awards... I do like and recommend the game though :-) )

This is probably my most played VR title (through Oculus home though) and I still love it.
Pinball is just so well suited for VR and Pinball FX2 VR delivers a great experience.
If you like pinball and own a VR headset this is a must buy.
The only downside is that this is not integrated in Pinball FX3 but a a standalone title that you need to re-buy tables for and a lot of the really great FX2/FX3 tables are not available.

So I played through DOOM 3 again after almost 13 years and after having finished the latest Doom (2016) and RE7 - and I had a great time!

I still remember playing Doom 3 back in 2004 on a GF4-TI4200 at a meager resolution of 640x480 pixels, no AA and medium details and my system could still not handle 60fps constantly... now I played through it again, everything maxed at 4K 60/60 and on hard difficulty.

I stayed away from any mods that alter image quality on purpose and played trough vanilla Doom 3 at maxed settings for the "true" experience - and I went with the original instead of the BFG Edition for the same reason (Doom 3 just needs the flashlight / weapon toggle in my opinion).

I was surprised how much of the game I had forgotten (like 4 enemy types I did not remember at all) and how enjoyable the game still was - I think it held up surprisingly well.
At times it might drag a little and the build-up and pacing is slower than what we are used to now but it still works.

Of course there´s probably a big chunk of nostalgia blurring my judgement but I think everyone should have played through Doom 3 at least once (talking about single-player, I never cared for its' multi-player part).

True, some of the textures are offendingly low res and the deaths of your enemies can feel anti-climaxing because they dissolve into nothing just too quickly most of the time but the core gameplay is fun and using hard difficulty also challenging.
The lighting tech still produces some great visuals (wearing your nostalgia glasses) and the atmosphere is still frightening and holds its' own.
There even weren't as many cheap jump scares as I remembered but 2 or 3 got me really good :-)

So if you are asking yourself if you should re-play Doom 3 after all those years or if you should rather hold it in dear memory fearing it might not live up to your memory: play it again!

Beware: You may need some console/autoexec.cfg tweaks to get it running properly without micro-stutters and "ultra looks like low" image quality.

Edit: Doom 3 is dirt cheap right now (once again) so grab it! :-)

I had a good time for as long as the game lasted - and that is what counts in the end.
The dark atmosphere, creepy setting and visual presentation really work well.

Be warned that the game is short (and there's not much interaction with the world - it's really more of an experience than a "game"). Personally that did not bother me (I considered it a plus actually because it allowed me to play through the entire game in one session with my limited time) - I prefer a good (short) experience over something that drags on just for the sake of reaching a certain amount of "game time" while stealing my time.
The Park will last about as long as watching a movie so if you consider that "too short" for the price asked then better wait for a (larger) discount but don't hold it against the game - I certainly don't regret spending 10€ on the experience.

I wish the story would have cleared up a bit more because it sort of leaves you wondering about what really happened.
It wasn't until I had finished the game that I found out it is somewhat tied in with "The Secret World" which I have never played so I might have missed parts of the story due to that.
Even though it was short it was still dragging in parts a bit (like the swan ride or some of the scattered text messages) but for the most part it was enjoyable and looked/sounded great.

Game performance was alright (i5-3570k @ 4x4ghz, GTX 670, 16GB ram) - played at 1920x1200 (adaptive sync), "High" settings with 2x MSAA for the most part but switched to "Ultra" in the House of Horrors because the low res mirror reflections offered at "High" were just not nice to look at.
It might have dropped to ~30 fps at times but for large parts it felt 60/60 or close enough and when it dropped below that it did not harm the experience much.
I noticed no bugs/errors in my playthrough.

If you enjoy games like The Vanishing of Ethan Carter, Dear Esther or Homesick you will probably like The Park.
However I have to admit that I prefer any of these mentioned games because they all left a more lasting impression on me.

Loved every moment of it!
The game looks incredibly beautiful - almost every frame looks like a gorgeous painting.
There's hardly any visible texture repetition, it all looks unique - it's one of those games where I'm just glad I got my computer also hooked up to a big TV screen to be able to take it all in.
The story is simple but moving and there's no (english) spoken word in the entire game - it's all conveyed through gesture and mood and I think this really adds to the game and draws you in more than real words could.
It's not a very long game (~5 hours) and neither the puzzles nor the control mechanics are really challenging but this does not take away from the game - for the time it lasts it stays fresh and enjoyable and offers a really good time.
I'm sure it won't be long before I replay the game - 9/10.