Recent reviews by vogonp42.gif

Less of a game, and more of a fantasy world simulation. There is no win condition, so the game goes on until you inevitably fail in some spectacular and memorable way. Every playthrough, even on the same world, is different from the last. There is a really high replay value here. You could spend years playing Dwarf Fortress, and still not come across everything possible in it. The game is somewhat hard to get into at first, but there is plenty of tutorial information online, as well as built into the game iteslf.

GameMaker is a great engine, but the Steam version is a little buggy. Just download it from their website instead.

GameMaker is easy to learn and has plenty of built-in features. Designing levels is easy, and there are tools for audio and visual asset manipulation built-in to the engine itself. External programs are not needed for simple games. The visual programming is great for beginners, but I honestly find the text based to be more convenient. It just makes more sense at a glance, is faster to write, and works better on my smaller laptop's screen. This is just my personal preference though. They are ultimately the same language, so you can switch code you wrote in the visual language to text based at any time. All the same concepts apply, so it isn't too hard to start using text based after learning the visual version. The documentation which is provided helps a lot for this.

Pricing is subscription based, which honestly isn't too much of an issue for me. The free version is exactly the same, and is great for learning. You can just get the subscription when you are ready to export your project to your chosen platform.

Edit: Now subscriptions only apply of you are exporting for console. Now, you can use the free version to export to all non console platforms. In order to use the engine commercially, you can purchase a one-time licence. Console is still subscription based, but that is fine if you are at the point where you want to export to console.

How the heck is this a mod?

I played the original non-Special Edition version of this mod multiple times, so I only have eight hours here. The more I play it, the less it seems like a mod. Enderal is basically its own game, and is sometimes more professional than a lot of AAA releases I have played recently. If you have played Skyrim a lot, and want a similar experience that is fresh, then Enderal is a great experience to look into. The Special Edition version increases the performance and visual fidelity a lot from the original release, and is the version that I would recommend playing.

Duke Nukem 3d is in the odd position of having aged very well, and very poorly at the same time. In many ways, its level design is honestly better than a lot of modern shooters. There are a lot of interactive elements, which hold up quite well to this day. In many ways, things are more detailed than some modern games. There is a focus on exploration, and finding secrets. Sometimes you will find some by accident, other times, you will have to seek them out.


The humor has aged poorly in a few ways, but there are certainly elements which feel quite timeless. There are plenty of puns, and action movie references. There is also a lot of environmental humor. Little details which you may not notice at first, but becomes apparent at a later time.


Overall, it is a good game. It has aged a little weirdly, but is still a fun and well designed. It is something I feel that everyone who likes classic FPS games should play. I wish that Duke got a modern re-imagining.

Out of all the late 90s Build Engine FPS games, Blood has probably aged the best. In many ways, it does not feel, sound, or look dated at all. Sprites are highly detailed and well animated. This is true of the enemies, weapons, and world in general. Weapons are fun to use, and are different from those seen in other FPS games of the time. Especially the explosive weapons. The movement and combat style is frantic, and satisfying. Staying still for a second means instant death, so the player is encouraged to never remove their hands from the movement keys. The game can be difficult at times, but in a way which is extremely satisfying. The levels can be surprisingly atmospheric at times, though not in a way which detracts from the high-speed chaos that much of the game is comprised of. Each level feels unique, and I was always excited to see what kind of environments I would encounter next.


Caleb, the protagonist of Blood has probably aged better than a lot of his Build Engine siblings, and is a joy to inhabit the shoes of. His personality embodies the game's fast-paced chaos very well.

Overall, Blood is a great game. It's design, characters, levels, music, and graphics have aged really well. If I had no knowledge of Blood, and someone told me it was a modern indie game, I would believe them. If you like older FPS games, you should play this one. If you like newer reboots of older FPS games, you should play this one. Just play it.

It's like Team Fortress 2, but with no aimbots.

Behold, the game that ruined the words "suspicious" and "impostor" for an entire generation.

I want to like it, but it crashes every time that I try to play.

Terraria is a great game. It seems that every time that I play it, I find something new.