State of Decay Review

Game: State of Decay
Year (s): 2013
Company: dev. Undead Labs
pub. Microsoft Studios
Engine: Cry Engine 3
Type: Sandbox Zombie Survival
Viewpoint: Third-Person
Metacritic Score: 79
My Score: 70


Price (as of February 23, 2014)


Regular list price on Steam: $19.99
Lowest Buy-It-Now on eBay (new, with shipping): Not Available


My Game Time: 20 hours, first time, on normal


Obligatory Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=edVYXynxzio






Plot


This game essentially has no plot. Zombies happened, and you help the survivors stay stocked with ammo, food, and medical supplies.


Engine

Cry Engine 3 is one of the most realistic, and most demanding, graphics engines that exist. State of Decay underutilized its capabilites to wind up with a generic looking game that could have been anything released for Xbox 360, Playstaion 3, and PC in the last six years.


I hit a few bugs with this game. It crashed a few times, and goals would sometimes fail to appear or resolve.






Save System


Manual Save? No
Quick Save? No
Area Load Save? No
Checkpoint Save? Yes




Combat and Gameplay


Generally, you're doing fetch quests to help the fortified groups of survivors. While there are guns, it's largely a skull-bashing pursuit. As your character progresses, they gain bonuses in fighting, cardio, weapon classes, and, “influence.” Influence is money.


Zombies are much worse at night, and you are certain to die at some point. While you usually have a couple of chances to recover, at least one enemy can tear you in half. If you die, the game carries on with you playing as a different survivor.


State of Decay has a text-heavy help section that explains how to play. There isn't anything in-game. I don't read so well, so it took me eight hours and a google search to learn how to build things. I never figured out how to set up an outpost, though I was constanly prompted to do so.






Expansions / DLC / Sequels


In State of Decay, there are a finite amount of resources and you will at some point have to complete missions that end with escaping the vally. In the Breakdown DLC, gameplay is endless, though it gets harder and harder.


A second DLC, Life Line, is in development with few details.






Final Thoughts


I'm not a zombie expert. I haven't seen all of the Romero movies, I haven't played any Resident Evil, and I'm fine with that. State of Decay does a very good job of being a sandbox game, but the absolute lack of plot made the gameplay, for me, rather mindless.


If you just want something to do with your time, this might be a more difficult option for those tired with Skyrim. While not a bad game, and a good first show from Undead Labs, this isn't one I'd highly recommend.  

Whelming Wave Deck

Whelming Wave is silly.  It returns all creatures to hands except for Krakens, Leviathans, Octopi, and Serpents.  I figured I'd build a deck with it in mind.

Magic has only printed three octopus cards in its history.  I wasn't impressed with any of them.

Serpents aren't so good either.  Almost all of them have islandhome (they can't attack a player that controls no islands, they die if controller controls no islands).

Stormtide Leviathan gives one obvious way to go with the deck (he's a big islandwalker that makes everything an island, and only flyers and islandwalkers can attack).  He pairs up with Inkwell Leviathan and Benthic Behemoth (both big island walkers with appropriate creature types).  This would be a mono-blue deck.  The big guys would take a while to get out, and while this might be compensated by blue counter and control, I can't think of a way in which it would be better than a much quicker Merfolk-oriented deck.  I would have to buy the Stormtide Leviathans and the Benthic Behemoths, and I don't see that I would ever use them except for this slow alternative to merfolk.

Kederekt Leviathan returns all other creatures to owners' hand.  I think he's funny but it would affect me just as much as everyone else.

Quest for Ula's Temple is a rare enchantment that can bring out the creature types we want quickly.  Or not quickly.  It's a gamble on how long it will take to get three counters, and I don't like to gamble.

In the end, I went with blue and green.  Green added mana-producing creatures.  It also added a few land-fetchers and a disenchant-type creature that, if returned to my hand by Whelming Wave, could be reused to great effect.  I added a half-dozen weenies with flying and deathtouch so I can hold out until I have enough mana out.

Adding green also allowed me to add two flying levithans.  I've been sitting on four Simic Sky Swallowers for several years and am finally putting them to good use.

In the end, I made a stompy deck that only differentiates itself from all the rest by having one funny card in it (Whelming Wave, of course).  The good news is that I had to buy very little to build it, and some things I bought (specifically, Bane of Progress) will almost certainly see use in other decks on down the line.



Here There Be Monsters
60-Card Format
Blue, Green


4 Whelming Wave

4 Deep-Sea Kraken
4 Nimbus Swimmer
4 Simic Sky Swallower
2 Tidal Kraken

3 Wood Elves
2 Birds of Paradise
3 Quirion Elves
2 Urborg Elves

4 Thornweald Archer
2 Deadly Recluse

3 Silverglade Elemental
3 Bane of Progress

RAGE: The Scorchers DLC Review

RAGE: The Scorchers DLC


The Scorchers!


The Scorchers is the one and only DLC for RAGE. No more have been announced.


The Scorchers are a tribe of bandits that were cut from the original game. A handful of new locations are added in order to combat the Scorcher threat, adding a few hours of gameplay. Each bandit clan is unique, and the Scorchers distinguish themselves with heavy flamethrower guys, short distance jet pack maneuvers, and a flying gunship boss.


The Scorchers DLC introduces a new and difficult armored mutant, and a new Bash TV set of arenas. The player gets a nailgun (in homage of Quake) with alternate ammo or rebar (usually a one hit kill) and railgun. Railgun ammo/mode shows targets through walls, and the shots pass through walls, multiple enemies, whatever. After completing The Scorchers, you get a house in Wellspring with trophies for achieving certain things in the current game, as well as personal access to two minigames.


Two new minigames (roulette and five-card draw) are introduced at a new location in Wellspring. That about wraps up the additional content of the DLC.


But not quite. This DLC wasn't just new content, it also did a few things to address complaints. For one, after you beat the game, you can keep playing and complete unfinished sidequests. Makes sense. People complained that Nightmare difficulty wasn't hard enough, so that brings us to our last topic:


ULTRA NIGHTMARE


There's an achievement for beating the campaign on ultra nightmare, so I had to give it a go. It was a learning process. Initially, 2-3 hits= death. I learned to take cover all the time. Bandit vehicles are more aggressive and use quick-use shields. At a pretty early stage, my vehicle was out of ammo, on the verge of exploding, and I went and explored a sewer because that's what I would normally do. I ran out of ammo in the sewer and punched the last half-dozen mutants to death before emerging to call for a tow.


After some armor and health upgrades, things were easier, but never easy. Enemies deal more damage, are more accurate, and take more shots to kill. The player is easier to kill and less accurate with every weapon. That headshot you had lined up? Good luck with that.


The Scorchers adds no new races or vehicles, but Ultra Nightmare makes Time Trials essentially impossible. After running nearly perfect races with a pimped-out dune buggy, I was nowhere close to the new time trial limits. I failed to complete any time trials on this setting.


The Scorchers DLC adds a few hours or new gameplay for fans, and a new difficulty level for those looking for a challenge. If you already like RAGE, it's a cheap addition to the experience.

Outlast Review

Game: Outlast
Year (s): 2013
Company: dev. Red Barrels
pub. Red Barrels
Engine: Unreal Engine 3
Type: Run and Hide
Viewpoint: First-Person
Metacritic Score: 80
My Score: This will appeal to some players, but
it's not for everyone


Price (as of January 7, 2014)


Regular list price on Steam: $19.99
Lowest Buy-It-Now on eBay (new, with shipping): No physical copies of this game


My Game Time: 7 hours, rabidly cheating


Obligatory Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZkSydla4sxo




Plot


The game opens saying that the Nazis were doing crazy stuff during the war, and some of the scientists came to the US.


You play the part of a modern-day investigative journalist. An anonymous letter tells you that Mount Massive mental hospital for the criminally insane is doing bad things and needs to be exposed.


You pack up your handheld camera and drive out there one night, sneaking in an open window after scaling scaffolding. The place looks quiet and empty- until a mutilated man throws you over the railing to a lower floor. There are bodies and blood everywhere. You have no idea what has happened here, but you plan to find out, get out, and tell the world.




Save System


Manual Save? Yes- Save and Quit
Quick Save? No
Area Load Save? No
Checkpoint Save? Yes




Gameplay


If you've played Amnesia and liked it, you'll like this. Read no further.


There is no combat in Outlast. You can run, and you can hide. If you turn the wrong way while being chased you might reach a dead end, or another enemy, and be screwed. Once I even fell into a pit.


The player's camera has a night-vision function, which is absolutely necessary. This game is incredibly dark, and if you run out of batteries (l did several times) you'll be stumbling into walls and enemies and have an almost impossible time spotting objectives or routes of escape.


I realized very quickly that the extreme darkness made the game too difficult for me to enjoy. I turned on god mode, and tried to turn out infinite batteries as well (both involved editing the config files). I can't think of a game this millennium where I cheated so quickly, but I wanted to see what the story was.


This game comes with a warning for the graphic imagery, and I can't stress that enough. Violence is the primary vehicle for apprehension; there's nothing psychological about it. If it had been just a little more graphic I would have stopped playing. Two dudes about to engage in necrophilia with a headless corpse. Mutilation on nearly everyone. The player getting strapped to a chair and having fingers chopped off. Some people might find that scary (they probably like the Hostel movies too) but I find it gross and gratuitous.




Expansions / DLC / Sequels


A prequel DLC named Whistleblower has been announced, but there is currently no release date or much information about it.




Final Thoughts


In the end, it's all about one's personal likes and opinions.


I do not like gore. I find it unpleasant but not scary; I opt for the psychological fear of the things you can't see.


Extremely dark games, in which you can run out of your light source, put me at a huge disadvantage. I see poorly as it is, so I can't function in a game this dark without cheating. I ran into the same thing playing Amnesia.


While I can appreciate the scariness of running for escape, hiding, dying a lot, and learning by trial and error, it's something I am poor at. I prefer to at least have the option of combat.


I felt the ending, and the last hour of gameplay that briefly explained what was going on, were weak and unsatisfying. A quick search for, “Outlast ending,” shows that I am not alone in this opinion. There are, however, many that were satisfied with the ending.


I would like to end by saying that this is not a bad game, and that many people like it just fine. It is not, however, a good game for me.

A Few Games in Brief

A Few Games in Brief


...or in briefs, if you put underwear on them. These weren't terrible games, but none of them appealed to me.




System Shock 2


I successfully played through the tutorial and class-choosing parts of this game. After that, the game crashed every one to two minutes. I tried a few fixes to no avail. I have heard that this is a fantastic game, but it's not playable for me on modern hardware and Windows 8.


Deus Ex: Human Revolution


I am not stealthy. I quickly found that the gameplay of Human Revolution insists on sneaking. Direct combat is suicide. I was rather looking forward to this, and felt let down. Some might enjoy being a ninja, but it's not something I excel at, and the original game left it open to the player to go about as they wanted.


Red Orchestra 2


It was off to a bad start when a bug in the tutorial left me unable to move and I had to start over. After a successful second attempt and the first campaign map (with bots), I knew this wasn't for me. I'm not accurate. In most games, I rock the shotgun. In Red Orchestra 2, accuracy is realistic. All weapons have built-in inaccuracy, bullet drop, and incorporate not only aiming down the barrel/scope, but also breathing. I found myself constantly being sniped from who-knows-where.


I'm not a fan of realistic shooters because I am not, have never been, and will never excel at sniping in shooters. This may appeal to gamers that are into WW2 weapons, history, and so on.


Happy new year!

Price of Glory Pygmy Hippo Deck

I don't think this is going to be competitive deck, but it might be amusing.  Price of Glory pairs really well with Drain Power, but now that manaburn is gone I have to keep their lands untapped.  Thus, Awakening and Turnabout.  Pygmy Hippo is the only thing like Drain Power (Piracy doesn't work), but is a wimp and has to be unblockable to be useful.  Thus six auras to make it so.  This deck is three colors, and I think it will prove to be too complicated to win any multiplayer game.  I built it because it looks funny (hippos?  really?) and I couldn't come up with a more effective way to abuse Price of Glory.



Price of Glory Pygmy Hippo
Blue, Green, Red
60-card format


4 Price of glory
4 Rhystic study

4 Awakening
4 Turnabout

4 Pygmy Hippo
4 Drain Power

4 Aqueous Form
2 Cloak of Mists
4 Terravore

2 Pendrell Mists
1 Fade Away
3 Propaganda

LANDS

2 Maze of Ith
4 Rhystic Cave
Multicolor lands

Games I Liked 2013

Games I Liked 2013


I continue my annual posting, late but maybe still in time for the holidays, listing games I've first played in the last year (they may have come out at any time) that I would recommend.


Alan Wake


Sam Lake and Remedy Entertainment (creators of Max Payne 1 and 2) bring us a much-inspired game. Alan Wake is a horror-themed shooter with a really cool story that keeps the player guessing. Tongue-in-cheek references are made to The Twilight Zone, Stephen King, and other notable horror works. Note: while Alan Wake is great, the DLC, and American Nightmare pseudo-sequel are not.




Dead Island


Zombies! On an island! Dead Island is an open world hack-'n-slash game, with several different characters and level-up/upgrade options. With side quests, the game has a decent length. The Ryder White DLC takes the story told in the core game and adds a lot of twists that both clarify events and make them far more interesting. This is a good one as far as game time, and it can also be played cooperatively.


Dishonored


Dishonored is set in a steam punk world, and I like steam punk. The player can kill enemies outright, leading to a more difficult game and a darker ending. The player can also sneak, run, hide, and incapacitate foes for a much more rewarding story. Dishonored did a great job of leaving it up to the player, and overall was something a little different than most shooters, and more assecible than most stealthy games.


Honorable Mentions


BRINK


BRINK has a few different game types, marginally different classes, and a crap-ton of weaopn specialization. I saw things I liked, but the single player campaign didn't quite do enough to encourage me to tell my friends to buy it.


Hard Reset


Hard Reset is the first game by Flying Wild Hog. It's all about old-school shooter gameplay, with hordes of enemies and big bosses. Weapon options are wide, and the proprietary engine looked about the same as anything else out there. My only complaints were that the plot didn't make much sense and running wasn't an option. I said in a review that I would look forward to their next game, and now it's out. Shadow Warrior, a remake of a 90's game by 3D Realms, looks right up my alley.




Quantum Conundrum



People buy this game because of Kim Swift. She was behind the first Portal, she was on a group that worked on a demo that inspired Portal, and that's a good track record. Quantum Conundrum is a kid-friendly puzzle game with an emphasis on platforming. The puzzle are usually easy, but are at times made frustrating by difficult timing and jumping elements. Quantum Conundrum isn't a bad game at all, but if you're expecting it to be Portal 3 you're going to be disappointed.