Preplay : Galactic Civilizations I : Ultimate edition

Two months ago, steamgifts user UselessB gifted me Galactic Civilizations I : Ultimate Edition. (GCIUE) As a way of thanking him I gave the game a high spot on my backlog. GCIUE was released in 2012 and includes Galactic Civilizations I (2003) and the Altarian Prophecy expansion pack (2004). The 2003 release of Galactic Civilizations was in its turn a Windows port of the in 1994 released Galactic Civilizations by Stardock. So despite its 2012 release, the game I'm about to play is actually quite old.

This tells me several things. For starters I'll probably need some time adjusting to old game play and graphics as is often the case with older games. But more importantly it tells me that this is a game that must have a dedicated fan base. Porting a 9 year old game to a new system is one thing, but rereleasing that same game another 8 years later implies that this game has a special place in someone's heart.

I have never played GCIUE though, nor had I ever heard of it before receiving it from UselessB. A little bit of research made it clear that this is an RTS, something that I already suspected. Another thing that was quite obvious from the title is that this game is set in space.
For certain people that combination would be an instant win but I'm not one of those people. Although I played some RTS games over the years, I never really got to the bottom of any of them and I wouldn't consider myself an RTS enthusiast.
As for the setting,  I've seen the Star Wars movies and I've dabbled in the Star Trek universe but space fantasy never really did it for me until I played the first Mass Effect. So setting a piece of entertainment in space isn't necessarily a selling point for me.

What did catch my attention while researching this game was the praise the AI of this game got. Apparently GCIUE's AI is its most noteworthy feature because the computer players play surprisingly realistic and intelligent. I'm curious if I will notice any of this or if by now the bar of AI systems has been raised too much for this one to remain exceptional.

So where does that leave my expectations? I'm already sure that this game is a gem within its genre if fans have been supporting it for nearly two decades. I'm afraid that this relatively high age might get in the way for new players though and I'm hoping that Stardock has made some changes to the interface in order to make it more compliant with current industry standards. Even if they did I'm not sure if it will be enough to make me like the game. RTS games aren't part of my comfort zone and this game will have to be really good if it wants to win me over.

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Preplay : Dear Esther

When reviews for Dear Esther started hitting the internet back in February 2012 the game immediately grabbed my attention. They described something new, something different and I'm always on the lookout for these kinds of innovative experiments. 

After doing some research it turned out that experiment was the right word to describe Dear Esther. It was originally developed and released by Dan Pinchbeck as a Half Life 2 mod in 2008. Dan is a researcher at the University of Portsmouth. The mod was created to explore experimental game play and storytelling and was funded by the Arts & Humanities Research Council.
When it was clear that the mod was becoming a success, a team of game industry professionals was added to the project in order to make it a standalone product.

Dear Esther is more of an experience rather than a traditional game from what I can gather reading reviews and looking at screenshots. It's been a while since its release but I remember discussions about whether or not it even should be called a game. These discussions only spiked my interest even more so when the game went on sale I bought it without hesitation.

Since then there has always been one game or another keeping me away from playing Dear Esther. I'm still really curious about what it is and I'm glad that I'm finally committed to find out. When looking at the screenshots they all seem to come out of a backpacking tourists' photo album. The only thing I seem to find are pictures of scenery. This leads me to believe that there will be little to none interaction with other characters. As I have tried to stay clear of substantial spoilers I'm not sure if there even are any real characters in the game.

My guess is that I'll be playing some kind of stranded survivor and that my goal will be to find out where I am. Maybe my character will be writing down what he sees in letters to a girl named Esther. This is pure speculation from my part though and I'm curious to see if my guess is anywhere near the truth.

It's fair to say that I really don't know what to expect. Dear Esther might be one of the best or worst experiences I'll have this year. But whatever the case may be, I'm sure it will be interesting. I love it when developers take a chance and try something that's off the beaten path. That in and of itself already gives Dear Esther a head start in my opinion.

I have finished this game by now, read the Postplay here

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Preplay : Tony Hawk's Pro Skater HD

The year is 2000. Blink 182, the Bomfunk MC's and the Bloodhound Gang fill the radiowaves while Johnny Knoxville and his friends set the youth up to no good with their hit show Jackass. I just turned thirteen and I'm sitting in the passenger seat of my dad's car taking in every word of advertisement that's written on the big cardboard box that contains my newest game. After months and months of playing only one level of that game, the day has finally come that I have saved up enough money to buy the full version. I still remember where I bought it. I still remember where we parked. I still remember it being a nice and sunny day and I still remember how I felt while sitting there in that car. This was the day that I bought Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 and it's a day I will never forget because that was the very first game I bought with my own savings.

The Tony Hawk series was created in 1999 in response to a worldwide revival of skateboarding culture. For many of my friends it was a way to get to know more about the skaters they saw in Thrasher Magazine and get familiar with names of tricks.

The game wasn't a realistic depiction of what skateboarding is but seemed to capture the feeling you fantasize about while skateboarding. It was a power fantasy more then a simulation. Kids went out on the streets with their skateboards during the day and played THPS when it got dark out. Their love for the sport translated into a deep passion towards the game.

For me the opposite happened and I like to believe that I'm not alone in this. THPS2 is the reason I bought a skateboard. After only a few days of playing the game I started buying skate magazines. A couple of weeks later my regular shoes had been replaced with és sneakers and yet another couple of weeks later I was practicing my ollie in front of my house on my own board. Although I only stand on a skateboard on rare occasion nowadays, I still love the feeling of riding one and I would never have known it if it wasn't for THPS2.

I kept playing the THPS games up till 2003's Tony Hawk's Underground. I still liked that game but somehow the magic was gone. I had grown up and my interests had shifted to different things while the THPS franchise had grown greedier and the downfall had begun. In the course of the years the franchise had lost the ability to embody what skating was all about and instead changed its focus to ridiculous story modes, over the top maps and expensive peripherals.

By the time Tony Hawk's Pro Skater HD was announced on the 2011 Spike Video Game Awards show, promising to bring back the best op THPS, THPS2 and THPS3, I had lost all interest in the series and din't even consider picking it up. But only a few months after being released it went on sale on Steam and nostalgia got the better of me. I have played a little bit of it and I remember having a good enough time but I haven't given it enough attention to form a definite opinion. 

I hope the game will be able to bring back some of what I loved about the THPS series when I was younger. I realize a lot of that was formed by zeitgeist and puberty though so I'm not getting my hopes up too high. I know I wont be blown away by this game as I have been by it's predecessors but I do expect it to hit enough of those notes to honor those memories.

I have finished this game by now, read the Postplay here

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Preplay : Bad rats: the Rats' Revenge

When I started Full Steam Ahead I let my friends know on Facebook. One of them, Styn, commented the following

You are crazy and you're getting Bad Rats when it's on sale on Steam!

He didn't wait that long though, a few days later I've got an email from Steam saying one of my friends had gifted me this invent4 game and I knew the only reason was to mess with me. Thanks Styn!

While looking at screenshots for this game it's obvious that Bad rats: the Rats' Revenge (BRTRR) is a budget title. It was released in 2009 but the graphical quality looks at least 5 years older. When searching Youtube for some gameplay footage the first link I found was to a video called 'Why do I own... Bad Rats'. Things aren't looking good for BRTRR.

What I can gather from the screenshots is that this is a physics game. My guess is that I'm to get the rats in a certain position in order to kill the unfortunate cat seen in the screenshots. I have played a few physics games in the past with a similar goal and I mostly enjoyed them. I like putting the solution together one piece at a time and creating my very own Rube Goldberg machines.
If the programming is bad and the physics are unreliable though the whole concept falls flat and I'm in for five hours of bugs and physics engine flipouts. Unfortunately my time preparing for this preplay has let me to believe that this will be the case as the only positive reviews I can find for this game appear to be trolls.

In all honesty I'm looking forward to my time with BRTRR in some weird way. I expect it to be an atrocity of a game but that might just make it interesting to see. You can learn a lot from good games but often times you can learn just as much from really bad ones. If by any chance I happen to find some good gameplay hidden deep within the game that would be for the best of course. But I'm a warned man and I know I'm buckling up for a bumpy ride.

I have finished this game by now, read the Postplay here

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Preplay : Red Orchestra: Ostfront 41-45

Steam user WhiteGuy gave me a guest pass for Red Orchestra: Ostfront 41-45 (ROO4145).
This meant I had 10 days to enjoy this WW2 FPS by Tripwire Interactive.
I was however still finishing up another post for Full Steam Ahead, leaving me only 7 days to hit my five hour mark.

I expect ROO4145 to resemble games as Call of Duty 1 and 2 or the early Medal of Honor games in that I think the action will be slower paced and more methodical than modern shooters.
I suspect it will take some time getting used to this slower kind of gameplay again but I have fond memories of those older shooters so I'm looking forward to my time with ROO4145 and I hope it will invoke some of the same enjoyment.

I would call myself a mediocre FPS player, so I'm curious to see how far into the Single Player I'll get within five hours. I suspect the campaign to be longer than five hours as the focus for most FPS games weren't on multiplayer back in 2006 when this game was released.
I've heard good things about the Red Orchestra multiplayer from a number of friends though and I would love to try it with them.

So overall I'm excited to play this game. Letting go of recent conventions will take some time I'm sure, but I'm hoping that nostalgia will help me bridge that gap. If not, there should at least be some fun to be had in the multiplayer mode and with this game being on Humble Bundle not too long ago I suspect enough people will be playing it to find some quality online matches.

I have finished this game by now, read the Postplay here

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Preplay : Blocks that matter

On June 19 2012 the Cube Pack hit the Steam Store front for €8,99.
It included Bit. Trip Runner, Blocks That Matter, Critical Mass, Edge, Q.U.B.E. and Rush.
I was especially interested in Q.U.B.E. after watching a Giant Bomb quick look.
The other games were a nice bonus as I figured most of the games in this pack would be snack sized games that I could play during lunch.

The only game in the pack I had some knowledge about, besides Q.U.B.E. and Bit. Trip Runner, was Blocks that matter (BTM).
Giant bomb recorded a quick look for this game as well and I remember being mildly interested in the game going into the quick look.
By the end of the video I found the gameplay to look rather bland and slow, rendering BTM another game that never set foot on my hard drive.

Blogger user Phoenix commented the following on my postplay of And Yet It Moves in regards to BTM

Blocks That Matter! Yeah!It's much longer and more difficult than AYIM (well, if you're a type-A perfectionist like me...). OLD-SCHOOL hard. You will probably get almost to the end of at least one level only to discover that you needed to have done something different way at the beginning, and have to replay the whole thing.
I loved it.

Even though Phoenix is very enthusiastic about the game, the thing I take away from this is that I can get to the end of a level only to find out I'll have to do the entire level again. In my book that isn't old school hard, that's bad level design.
Don't get me wrong, I don't mind games being difficult, as long as they are fair as well. A prime example of this is Super Meat Boy.
I hope BTM won't force me to grind my way through levels by means of trial and error. If I get to the end of a level and notice that an earlier mistake has made it impossible to complete it, but I could have foreseen this by carefully examining the problem beforehand, then I'm at fault and the game is fair.

Whatever the case may be, I expect BTM to be nothing more or less than mediocre.
There will be some fun parts for sure but over the whole I expect to come out of the game with only 'meh' on my mind.

I have finished this game by now, read the Postplay here

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Preplay : And Yet It Moves

In 2009 indie developer Broken Rules released And Yet It Moves (AYIM), a 2D puzzle platformer with a twist.
I don't know much about the game except that rotating the world is the main mechanic and that it's next on my list.

I bought this game as part of Humble Bundle 4 in 2011. A bundle that also included Super Meat Boy, vvvvvv, Shank, bit.trip runner , Cave Story +, Cogs, Crayon Physics Deluxe, Gratuitous Space Battles, Hammerfight, Jamestown and Nightsky..
I had already played Super Meat Boy and Shank on my Xbox but I liked the idea of being able to play them on my pc as well. Giant Bomb's quicklooks of vvvvvv and bit.trip runner sold those games to me and being able to buy these games and more in a cheap package sealed the deal.

I previously invested 4 minutes in AYIM, which is ridiculously insufficient to pass judgement on a game but that doesn't mean that I didn't though.
I remember having a genuine interest in the game when I installed it but being burned by it after, well, 4 minutes. Something about it just rubbed me the wrong way, something that I hope to overcome during my next 4 hours and 56 minutes with the game, but based on my earlier experience I doubt that I will have a good time.

I have finished this game by now, read the Postplay here

Not sure what Full Steam Ahead is all about? Read this introductory post and get up to speed

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Preplay : A Game of Thrones - Genesis

Ever since my wife and I started watching the HBO series 'Game of Thrones' I have been hooked on the universe George RR. Martin created.
Following the lives of Queen Cersei, Daenerys Targaryen, the Hound, Hodor and many other fictional characters, Game of Thrones caught my interest in a way not many other franchises have been able to.
Needless to say, when season two of the show came to an end and the long wait for season three began I was hungry for more content.

I knew the series was based on the novel series 'a song of ice and fire' so I put these on my new year's wishlist.
Different people got me different books in the series and I was all set to go.
In a matter of weeks I made my way through books one and two and dived head first into new content.
Around this time I noticed a steam sale for two Game of Thrones games. One was simply called 'Game of Thrones' the other 'A Game of Thrones - Genesis' (later refered to as agot-g).
It is the latter I will discuss today.

I remember doing a quick google search when buying the games to find out if they were any good.
The reviews I found for agot-g were mostly mediocre to negative resulting in a metacritic score of 53.
Being a guy that

• listens to a podcast on which people discuss the latest episode of the television series
• plays the shows soundtrack while working
• drinks his coffee out of a Stark coffee mug 

this didn't stop me from spending my money though.
It did however stop me from ever installing the game.

I don't know for sure what part of the story agot-g covers but going from the artwork I suspect it isn't tied in with the television series. I'm not sure if it features main characters from the books or if you play from a perspective along the lines of the main story.
Either way, based on the reviews I found and earlier experiences I had with book or television show adaptations to video games, I can only assume winter is coming and that's not a good thing.

I have finished this game by now, read the Postplay here

Not sure what Full Steam Ahead is all about? Read this introductory post and get up to speed

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