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Release date: 20th May 2014

Pre-order bonus: DOOM BETA.

Trailer:



Waiting for this one. Still remember how much fun i had with return to castle wolfenstein
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I'm playing the first Metal Gear Solid and the game holds up. Due to the camera the game can be frustrating at times but it's still a great ride. On that note, MSG 3 is one of my favorite games and one of the best made I think. Among other fine aspects of that game are the bosses. In fact, the old man sniper may be one of the greatest and most memorable boss fights in gaming history. The 360 generation games seemed to abandon bosses, at least creative ones, and I think that loss was felt.

I might have just done a very silly thing - I pre-ordered a game.

I pre-ordered Thief.

See, the advance publicity hasn't exactly been glowing and apparently the game's elephant-like gestation was not without problem. Further alarm bells started ringing when the discounts happened - If you pay the full £29.99 you're obviously not trying and the game's still 5 days from release. Last time I saw a game so frequently discounted before release it was XCOM Declassified, and that was a total stinker.

"You should have learned your lesson with XCOM Decaf then, you idiot" I hear you mumble...

Well, here's the thing. I paid £14.99 for Thief so am prepared for the lukewarm Dishonored rehash for the price of 12 Tesco Finest steak burgers. It's a no-lose situation - I've got girth to shed and the game, unlikely at this stage, might turn out ok.

SimplyCDKeys, if you're interested, with a 5OFFTHIEF code at the checkout.

In other news, Hero Siege is great fun.

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"Critics are like eunuchs in a harem; they know how the Tatty 100 is done, they've seen it done every day, but they're unable to do it themselves." - Brendan Behan

Shame about Thief isn't it. Actually looks pretty lush, but narrowness was the mistake some of the sequels made wasn't it? (I only know the original from the massive demo of the time, but with all the load-out options, varied approaches & easter eggs it felt like having access to a complete game. Great stuff )

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I never gave Thief 3 much of a chance but apparently it's decent enough, despite the fan dislike (probably nothing more than Nerd Rage over the franchise losing its PC-only status). The first game's mechanics are very dated now but Thief 2 still holds up well. I've had the discs since they were new but bought the trilogy in a Steam sale a while back. Installed them last night but haven't done anything other than wade through dead web links trying to find the various fan patches that I remembered needed to be applied.

Then I found out that there are widely available all-in-ones for each game now.

I've got a nagging feeling that Thief 4 will be ok - Competent but utterly forgettable, £4.99 by Christmas and destined to wither on the Square Enix vine. Squeenix tend to do excellent PC ports though so the thing should at least be mechanically sound.

Oo sorry yeah I meant Thief 2. (I did have a brief look at the original original a few years back, but it felt just too sparse now thanks to the intervening years).



Yeah it does look worth a punt. Sounds like it needs to be turned up to max difficulty to get any sort of sense of detection-danger though, which is a shame. (I remember many a slippery-palm moment in the demo when trying to time a dash or intervention). Might make other sections too difficult. Still, looks purty enough anyway

Just played and finished the Left Behind DLC for The Last of Us. It's pretty short, and it doesn't have the same surprise I had during the main game, but by no means is that a bad thing. It's more of the same great writing and action from the main game, but with a further look into who Ellie is. And I'm now fully convinced she's one of the best video game characters I've ever had the pleasure of knowing. I did take issue with a seemingly forced fight near the end, but other than that, this add-on is a fantastic addition to an already fantastic game.

Started Jazzpunk with the wife the other day, played the first two missions. Fun stuff. Just varied enough to stay amusing even if there's not a lot of challenge or gameplay to it. Laughed pretty hard a few times, too.

"The government!"

Hey, is it worth going back and playing those Gabriel Knight games? They're regarded as classics, but I'm not sure how well they'd hold up today. But I'm always looking for good old-school adventures. Just wanna know if it's worth the time.

I've only done the first couple of Jazzpunk missions myself but really like what I've seen so far. The humour's pretty scattergun, with most side quests being nothing more than setting up a gag, but it's been far more hit than miss for me.

They play fine (if you go for the GOG releases anyway, that's what I have) and, the genre being what it is, the only really dated thing about them is the low resolution graphics.

I got the Gabriel Knight and Tex Murphy games last year, having never played than on release. Not a big fan of point & clicks but I can see the quality in these games.

If you're after something more modern, have a go at Daedalic games. They've very well regarded, as are the games from Wadjet Eye.

Was it the sort of game I could play without cringing?

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The humour's pretty broad, but it's not adult, I'd say.

Oh, I wasn't clear. I don't cringe at humor of any sort (unless it's bad puns). I meant because I hate being too scared in games -- even the "boo!" sort of thing in some adventure games can really freak me out if I'm in the wrong mood.

You know, which is why I'm such a big Myst fan.

Oh, ha. No, this is the polar opposite of that. It's totally goofy and low-stakes. Lots of little mini-games that make you pay attention but aren't ever the kind of thing that would stress you out, or that you'd get stuck on.

It's more an interactive comedy routine than anything.

Hmph.

Oh well...

The only thing which might turn you off is if you've got a particular fondness for pigeons. And frogs.

EDIT: Well, I've spent far too much time on this but have managed to categorise my Steam library (and save a backup).



Really don't know how long I'll stick with it though. I still like having everything on display and sorting by Last Played.

Sounds like the perfect game for me....

Oh, and now that I'm reading some Arthur Conan Doyle, I have a hankering to reload a few of my Sherlock Holmes adventure games... I think the Jack the Ripper one was the only one I ever finished.

I still don't understand... Badger Simulator

Is it as good/bad as Enviro-Bear 2000?

I've only got one game in that category.

I'm the sort of idiot who debates whether to put Deus Ex in the RPG, Shooter, Stealth or Action section, though. There's a case for all of them.

EDIT - I've actually changed the category to 'Simulation (Badger)' to fit in with everything else. Deadly serious, here...

Oo, love the Bjork-meets-mute-Nature promo vid!

What about Tokyo Jungle tho, surely that fits in every category?

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EDIT: And incidentally, the Thief reboot woulda died for this quote (Excluding the badgers, obviously. Although I suspect they still woulda taken it )

Heh, Tokyo Jungle is brilliant! Unfortunately (unless I'm wrong ) it's a PS3 exclusive so has no place on my list.

A chihuahua humping simulator?