Game Notes, Part 2

The goal was essentially to reach Road 96 and cross the border in order to escape Petria. The game took me from one set piece to another, each an area with some sort of challenge, and I could continue further on by hitchhiking, walking, taking a bus, etc.

There was a cell bar for energy. Food, drinks and rest brought it up – but money was low at first.

The trip to Road 96 could end prematurely, so there was sort of a light rogue-like aspect to it. The first teenager I controlled ended up in jail. I finally crossed the border with the second teenager – essentially completing the game. There was much more story to reveal, however.

I got really lucky guessing a safe code with the second teenager, so I was quickly loaded with dollars.

The game was inspired by the Telltale games. Some dialog choices gave me a hint in the top left corner that this was an important choice that would be remembered.

Most interaction was via dialog trees. I could also learn abilities such as e.g. lock picking, finding valuables in trash cans, etc. And there were various specialized puzzles, like adjusting antennas, changing batteries in a radio, shooting a nail gun at a road pirate, etc.

I loved the mini-game for playing a trombone along scrolling note lines. It sounded lovingly false and I was totally LMAO about it. I don’t think I’ve laughed so much at a video game for years.

The game was stern about invisible walls. It was very easy to stumble into those.

The music could be either default in the background or tapes collected on the way. Most of the music was really excellent. There was especially one tune on a loading screen that was so beautiful.

A presidential election was on the way, with the two candidates on posters being Tyriak (the Trump clone) and Florres (female candidate but hopelessly behind).

There were high action pieces too. Apart from having to shoot with a nail gun at a road pirate from the back of a truck, I also had to alternate between left and right lanes in a fast car pursuit.

After lunch I tried the third teen. I played a tank game beta and suggested improvements for Alex, saved Adam from being thrown off the roof by thugs while filming him for Sonya, watched Zoe get arrested, ran a race and played soccer with John, and went crazy with a baseball bat in an abandoned camp.

Then I almost died of hunger.

I was down to one cell on the bar two or three times. I had lots of money but nothing to buy. I even arrived at an abandoned burger joint and got power running only to find one measly drink.

I’ve never been fond of hunger mechanics in games. I once quit a game because of it. Biosys.

I did get the bar up a little and finally arrived at the border. I picked the lock on the back of a truck and got in. It turned into the sadistic scanning mini-game I just knew it would. First, I had to be silent. Next, I had to escape a dog by using a hatch in the truck. Finally I had to hold my breath for a long time. The energy bar dropped like I was sitting in an electric chair.

And just as I was only missing a fraction of a second and down to one cell on the bar, I lifted the left mouse button. It wasn’t enough. They saw me breathing and arrested me.

So I got through about 99.99999% and still lost. 😞

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – life is too short for rogue-likes. If the game have had a normal save system and gave me a chance to retry failures like that, I would have given it a higher rating. But apart from that, it was still a nice game – I am glad I checked it out.

I actually paid 2 € for this, yet it was significantly more bare bones and crude than many free games I’ve played lately. It was definitely not worth the money. Sorry, David.

I had to run around a small island, visiting tiny barracks, most of which didn’t have light in them. Sometimes a bit of an uninteresting story appeared using a big wide screen font that made it difficult to read.

Later I opened a hatch by operating four buttons. The hatch led down to a pointless maze.

All areas had to be visited before the final mountain door was accessible. It often said, “Come back when night falls” – even when it was indeed dark night together with intense rain.

I could use a flashlight that sometimes had to be recharged at an outlet. A few boxes and doors had to be opened with keys. The run speed was quite high, so at least it didn’t take long to get around.

If I have to praise at least something, it would be the background sounds and a little bit of music.

I liked the minimalistic style with red parrot people on a green background.

The game was standard adventure fare to begin with. I explored a sewer, a driver took me to a multi-floored building for a job, a guy in a parking cellar wanted me to find a disc, and I then explored all floors looking for it. I even crawled through ventilation shafts.

I found the disc – and then I also started finding murdered red parrot people in blood pools.

After giving a guy a lighter so he could leave his computer for a smoke, I inserted the disc. My existence glitched and I was transferred to “The Fragmentation” – sort of a virtual realistic dream world.

The fragmentation had a lot of walking on cubes and bridges, looking for a way out. Here and there I found lost red parrots guys whom had found peace with being inside this insanity.

One thing I have to confess I wasn’t fond of was the multiple playthrough design. The first time I arrived in the fragmentation, flicking a switch just quit the entire game. I found a different exit through a portal and this opened up a lot more exploration, but unfortunately I hit the same kind of snag as I clicked a strange eye monster. I was missing something and thus was just dumped to the game menu.

I was thinking about giving the game an 8 out of 10 as the fragmentation was quite fascinating to explore, but the multiple playthrough design reminded me too much of rogue-likes. If you have been reading my game blog posts, you’ll know how much I despise rogue-likes.

So, one down in rating, and not completed properly after two hours.

Started with a sledgehammer, then got the pistol, shotgun, assault rifle, rocket launcher, etc. I had only the pistol for longer than I felt was necessary. They should have gone with the next weapon a little sooner.

It’s ironic, given how many FPS I’ve completed in my lifetime, but I actually suck at them. I didn’t die often on the easy difficulty level, but I was often overwhelmed by the enemies.

Also, the constant reloading drove me crazy.

A few decades ago I was probably the worst quick-saveaholic on the planet. Now it annoys me having to remember saving like that. Good thing the game also had plenty of its own autosaves.

The game was a lot less silly than I anticipated. Did they dial it down since the previous game?

Great idea with the automatic flashlight in dark tunnels.

A new enemy type I haven’t seen before in this series are the soldiers, which moved slowly, shooting from a distance – maybe even from behind cover. They reminded me of the marines in the original Doom.

So, knowing this game is a prequel, why are those soldiers not in the earlier games?

I played for three hours until I had my fill of the game. I never wanted to complete it. I got to the enormous arena with the alien mothership and the pyramids in the distance.

I really didn’t like this much. It gave me the worst first hand impression. There was a door and a birch, and that was it. I couldn’t interact with any of them. How cool is it to be stuck in the first minute of a game?

After a look in a walkthrough, the solution was to stand near the birch and stare into the darkness for minute. Then a monster with a vertical smile appeared and gave me three vials.

Bad design, if you ask me – but never mind now. Onward.

There was a green area with bridge and a cat. A fall area with a cabin and an immortal skeleton, and a well with a smoking dude. Another area had an island with a boat I could cut loose to get a fishing rod. Caught a fish and gave it to the cat. In return, the cat revealed a pot of oil. Got a vial out of that.

It was also possible to kill the cat with a blade and get a vial of blood.

By walking into a bush, I also found an area with a submarine. It brought me to the bottom of the sea, but I didn’t find much of anything to do there.

If I slept in a bed in a cabin on the island, I had a dream where the 3D graphics went bat crazy and a bizarre guy was asking about a painting.

The vial of oil offered to the birch gave me the first ending about parasites. The vial of blood gave me the second ending about murderers. I couldn’t be bothered to check out the other eight endings.

At least is was interesting and had unusual tasks. It wasn’t a dud like The Moon Sliver.