Reseñas recientes de BaronessRomanova

A good sequel to Portal, a nice balance between old and new to keep the series feeling fresh and interesting.

You wake up in a derelict and abandoned Aperture Science Relaxation Centre, where everything is either broken, rusted or destroyed. You have been there for an unknown amount of time, possibly past the apocalypse, and now at the end of the world are alone in facility. Fear not, for Aperture Science has already planned for this situation and science can still be done. A new face, well more of a machine eyeball calling himself Wheatley, helps you get out of the Relaxation Chamber you are in and gets you into a new series of testing chambers. All you have to is navigate this overgrown obstacle course and find the Portal Gun to achieve your freedom.
Portal 2 quickly builds on the lore of the first game as you immediately see the scribbles fallen wall tiles from the same person in the first game. You can even see a reference to Chell's first testing with GLaDoS and a painting of you whilst you were asleep in Relaxation. The black humour is still strong and as deadpan as ever, which the chirpiness of Wheatley balances out with his enthusiasm. The fact you go out of bounds early on gives you a clear idea of what was probably happening behind the all the observation glass in the testing facilities, so many desks, computers and machines which would have all been in operation when the building was populated all those years ago. The service announcements scattered around the various elevators between tests highlight how much time and effort has gone into world building and character development. Yes, GLaDoS herself does make a return appearance in this game, with all her charm, caustic wit and scathing commentary. The facility is still under her control after all this time and she WILL ensure science gets done, because she knows exactly how much you love testing.

It is strange to hear so many sounds of life in the new game, especially in comparison to the cold and silent testing chambers in the first game. Now you can here the rustle and chirping of birds, the movement of plants as you go past them and the dripping of water from the old pipes. The new voices for both your companion, Wheatley, and the pre-recorded messages for the testing chambers are a welcome change. It really give you a feeling of the size and scope of Aperture Science Laboratories when it was fully functioning, to have so many things calculated in advance. The addition of the electricity hum stands in stark contrast to the silence and bleakness of the game's setting, managing to make you feel more alone than the previous instalment. Plus the use of sinister and ominous music creates a dangerous atmosphere, reminding you of exactly how powerful GLaDoS both was and still is. Her voice actress is amazing; she keeps such a calm and steady voice, yet it always had a edge of threatening to it. Malicious and professional at the same time, full of personality to make up for her lack of facial movements. Also getting J K Simmons as a voice actor in this game was a stroke of genius!
Visually, it is a spruce up of the old game - as much as a ruined facility can be polished. More details have been added and lots more colour with the new environment design, to show the deterioration the facility has undergone. A lot of what we loved in the first game is still there, now in higher quality and definition.

The rest of the game changes comes from the new puzzles and puzzle mechanics. The older styles of puzzles, with the usage of companion cubes, portal shenanigans and timers, can be seen for the earlier chambers. The game pacing allows us to reminisce in the nostalgia and doesn't overstay its welcome, as it smoothly moves us on to the new physics puzzles the development team has worked on. The creation of 2 new gels, which enhances your speed and jump distance, opening up a new level of mechanics to factor in and still keeping things fun. The aerial plates were a cute little addition, though didn't add much new when compared with the usual aerial portal employed in both games. The light bridges were much more interesting to navigate, worrying about being dropped into the electrified water added a bit more pressure to the puzzles.
The addition of a co-op mode is a fantastic idea and comes with it's own series of puzzles requiring teamwork and timing to complete. It was nice to play a little campaign with a friend, though it does feel a bit too brief.

All in all, it is a fleshing out of our favourite character GLaDoS amongst a good sized helping of more fun puzzles to work through. A great addition to the series, world Valve has been building and a great quality single player game. If you liked Portal, I can imagine you would like this too as I certainly loved it.

What a game! Such a beautifully crafted walking simulator, and yet you don't even feel like you are following a linear path laid out before you. The combination of atmospheric music, well placed character commentary and attention to detail really creates an atmospheric island for you to explore and piece together the narrative based on what you discover.

You are an unnamed male, standing at the shore to your desolate island. Before you is an old lighthouse, dilapidated and in sever disrepair, with the only signs of life are used paint cans. As you explore this island, it becomes apparent you are the only living being here, left with the company of your occasional commentary - often starting with Dear Esther. The only thing guiding your exploration in this abandoned place is a flashing red light, which appears to be far in the distance and residing on top of a radio tower.
As you wander around you can find various items, paintings and objects located amongst the island's rocks, grass, caves and buildings. Sometimes this will cause your character to speak and other times it is left for you to ponder upon what this means and why it is on this mysterious island. It is worth noting some items and diagolue are randomly generated, which adds both replayability to the game and layers to the story as you encounter new items and different dialogue on each playthrough.
I love the foreshadowing the creators have done, it is so subtle you don't event notice it at all until the very end. It is beautifully crafted and fits in with both the story and gameplay. The symbolism really adds to the island and it makes you wonder if you really are in a physical location or moving through a metaphorical interpretation with a man's mind?

The narrator fulfilled the role spectacularly. He delivered the layered and elusive commentary with the certainly of someone experiencing the mixed emotions of grief, longing/ obsession and unwillingness to accept the reality he is faced with. The cryptic words, match with the out of places objects found throughout the island and the voice actor really brings to life what his character is experiencing.

The sound and music is gorgeous, I love the use of mostly the howling wind surrounding the island, sounds of lapping waves or running streams, and the characters footsteps to be most of the sounds within the game. It really creates an eerie and lifeless atmosphere within this island, you definitely feel isolated here.
The piano and strings are beautifully composed, they are melancholic and used sparingly to enhance the feelings of sadness and loneliness you encounter during your exploration. It sets the mood and tone of the story expertly, creating an underlying sense of despair.

Definitely worth giving a try as it is a beautiful game and well made. Would wholeheartedly recommend if you are looking for a nuanced, story driven experience which gives you the freedom to make up your own interpretation of events.

The premise of creating your own character within an rpg, based on myths and legends, and save the magic kingdom of Avalon from disappearing really appealed. It felt like it would be a fantasy based game aimed at a wide audience, so would be a lot more story focus and less complex than some rpg/ open world games can be. After playing the game, it feels like it was a western take on a jrpg and missed the mark completely. It is a bold attempt to explore western philosophy and lore, but because they didn't flesh out the philosophical and thematic questions of corruption, fallible gods, man vs nature and possibly man/ technology vs magic, the game falls flat.

The options for your character are rather limited, but enough for a range of looks. Exactly as I was expecting, enough options for variety but not enough to cause analysis paralysis. This also translates over to equipment and companion options; enough to make an impact, but not enough to require investing time into find the best combinations - just pick the equipment with the biggest green bar.
Whilst pragmatic, the problem is the equipment and character options doesn't seem to actually add much overall. The equipment and character upgrade feel much more akin to cosmetic work, rather than overcome challenges. It is easy to create a party which does every type of damage and still make it through the game with no real problems, there doesn't feel like there is much difficulty increase as the game progresses.

Movement is clunky and can be difficult to navigate on some of the worlds due to a lot of objects to navigate around - Yggdrasil is an example of how easy it is to get lost as so many branches. The dialogue is also a bit slow and clunky, though you can skip through it if you are a quicker reader. There is the standard dialogue option wheel, as per Bioware games, and it is jarring sometimes when your character is female and the responses given address you with male pronouns. The blue and red options in the dialogue wheel sometimes glitch out and you can't see the colour, though it is usually obvious which is the nice or mean options.
The character screen, inventory, map and story/ notes section is highly legible, it is easy to find all the information you need in the game. The character upgrade system is not the best due to not being able to reset you skills if you find they don't match your play style. In addition, tying the skills to a set look might draw people away from the skill they wan't because the look might not match what they were wanting for their character.

The turn based combat is easy to navigate as it is in the same style as old school turn based fighting, and can it is simple to adjust the difficulty of battles if you are finding them easy. I personally found combat easy enough to manage even on the hardest difficulty setting, so I am guessing the difficulty curve takes into account younger players for the game. Status effects don't seem to affect the combat in my experience, though it could have been because of how easy it was to remove them.
Combat also occasionally bugs out, causing people to skip their turns entirely.

The artwork is gorgeous, I do like how character sketches and concept are used in the loading scenes and cut scenes to give insight into the creation of the game. The characters models are distinct and I love the look of Oberon and some of the bosses, effort was clearly taken to try and make them special. There is a set concept for each of the worlds, they are all unique from each other and a nicely tied into existing myths and legends.
There is no voice acting, which could be either good or bad depending on your preference - personally I would rather have no voice acting than bad voice acting.

Music fits with game, bright and upbeat, even when in combat. The choice of instruments gives a whimsical and slightly fantastical feel to Avalon and Yggdrasil, while a more melancholic/ sombre option exists for The Flying Dutchman.

The game play is extremely linear game which abruptly cuts off at the end, so there is not even a resolved story. It seems to end on a huge cliffhanger, though I don't feel it is more of a cliffhanger and the game being cut early to try and make sequels - my evidence for this is in the hub world of Avalon there are 9 mirrors and you only get to explore 3 of them in this game.
It is easy to find people to interact with, quests and chests as highlighted in some fashion, though the people are very much used for info dumps about the world. There is no organic way to really explore the world you are supposed to have forgotten about, it feels like you are a stranger most of the time, and going along a series of main quests and side quests. Said quests are repetitive and sometimes feel like they have been added to pad out the game and make it longer by adding unnecessary obstacles.

Overall, it is such a waste of potential. The generic combat and quests drag down an innovative setting due to being tedious, there is nothing special which would allow you to overlook an half-bake story which doesn't even have an ending. The glitches in the game can be a little annoying too.
Whilst this is supposed to be the first in a series of games, the unfinished ending pulls the rug from under you and you are feeling a little cheated. As an adult I am let down by paying for an unfinished story, though I imagine other might really be intrigued to know more.

Initially, I was not wowed by this game. It is a short game, more virtual history lesson, looking at the life of the first democratically elected President of Iran, from the time of his election to his death. It did not feel like much in 2013, when I was not as interested in history and politics.
After a second play through a few years later, and a brief look oil in Iran in the 1950's (thank you Wikipedia), I realised this game is a poignant look at democracy, Middle East foreign policy, the politics of nationalisation and the role of oil in our world.

While the cat is used as a medium to look trigger the events, it is the art which explores the questions of Iranian oil and who controls it, the UK and US policies in the Middle East (represented by the Bulldog and Eagle) and how do we know when democracy is threatened. The mechanically simple controls for the cat and the easy tasks, don't take away from the narrative and allow you to focus on the digestible history lesson. I learnt a lot in this game due to the information being presented in a highly engaging format, I could see this kind of game being used to teach a lot world history which gets missed in education (unless you move to higher education). It certainly kick started my interest in politics.

The art style in bold and eye catching, laden with symbolism to keep the text to the key facts. The use of textures is fabulous; intricate fabrics and wallpapers merge with photographs, animals and flags. Everything fits together and yet the cat stands out, so you can keep track of what you are doing.

It is an extremely deep and thought provoking, political and historical game, which is especially relevant with the rise of extreme right wing politics and the attacks on human rights in nations across the world.
The reflection of who students supported both then and in the UK (Corbyn) is hard hitting and it really makes you think about actions and their consequences. It makes you think about how much democracy matters, what happens both when it is threatened and what happens when it is gone.

A sequel to Analogue: A Hate Story, once again building on the world she has create and tackling difficult issues once more. It is nice and refreshing to have a game deal with mature content in an adult manner.

A visual novel based in space is always a good start, the story is and world is well flashed out and believable.
Very well created, based on a period in Korean history, you feel like you are genuinely reading about people's lives.

Great vision by a creator who is not afraid to tackle difficult themes.

Welcome to Aperture Laboratories, our facilities where science gets done because we do what we must (because we can). This little puzzle game from Valve packs a huge punch for an experimental inclusion in the compilation set The Orange Box.
You are an unnamed lady test subject, #-----, and have been awakened from your stasis pod in your Relaxation Vault. The source of your awakening is an overly preppy sounding AI (GLaDOS) who sarcastically 'hopes your brief detention was a pleasant one' and you are to go through the Enrichment Centre. This is a series of test chambers, you start in 00, which contain puzzles and are to complete a total of 19 puzzle rooms which gradually increase in difficulty as more elements get added to each room. Your 'learning' is aided by a radio pumping out an upbeat version of Sill Alive, a series of cubes (including the companion cube) and the infamous Portal gun.
Each room at the entrance contains a board with symbols giving your foresight into the puzzles which lay ahead and a customer service veiled couldn't care less style of commentary about your progress and the Enrichment Centre (the taste of blood being a perfectly normal side effect). GLaDOS clearly functions on sarcasm, lies/ manipulation and suspicious break downs in the middle of sentences.

This streamlined, linear level design is cleverly hidden behind a stark scientific cleanliness and minimalist setting. The various shades of grey are seen all over the facility, with blues and oranges peppered about the give life the bleak locations. I like the fogged windows in each of the testing chambers where you can see observation rooms full of equipment behind them and the various cameras all over, it gives the unsettling feeling of being constantly watched and judged. The rare glimpses of your character through the portals gives an interesting hint to the setting, you can see a bright orange jumpsuit and devices attached to your legs for enhanced movement around the facilities. I really like how you have to piece together the background to this game through the sparse hints you pick up during the game and how they aren't necessary to have a brilliant time.
To add to the spartan setting most of the sounds you hear are either GLaDOS speaking to you ore the radio, it creates a feeling of isolation and being separated from other humans.

What I appreciate the most is the addition of bonus maps and challenge maps, which add an extra layer of difficulty to the base game. It gives both repeatability to the game and provides more for those who are seeking greater challenges.

This is a must play; you go around solving puzzles at the whim of a snarky and psychotic AI, who has a pitch black sense of humour. What more is there to love?

The concept behind this game was enough to make me want to play it straight away, as it is so different from the jrpg adventure games where you play the world's story. You play as Recette Lemongrass, who lives in an item shop and need to pay back the loan your father took out and then ran from. Your fairy "companion" Tear is there to guide (drag) you into the world of responsibility. It is very much about your story in the world, and is about family.
This is a game has a good mix of shop management, loot management and dungeon crawling, and you also need to keep track of the different people who enter store as they will accept at different price percentages.

Within the shop you mange your shop stock (a wide variety of weapon types, armour types, books, food and accesories), bills, interior decoration and the prices (baseline prices for everything is the 100% mark). As your merchant level increases you have access to more items, can fuse items together and it is easier to identify stuff you come across in dungeons .
The item encycopedia is great for keeping track of all the 33 different items you have come across and the baseline prices for them, it is handy when in dungeons as you only have a set amount of items you can carry.

Dungeons are completely randomised and there is a risk element to exploring as can you can find unknown items, which you can only identify after retrieving it from a dungeon. It is a gamble on what you get and what you switched items out for. Dungeon map easy to understand as you explore - x for chests and red triangle for enemies, watch out as the enemies do respawn on the maps.
There are a variety of enemies within the dungeons and you have the option of exploring different dungeons and to different level keeps the exploring fresh.

The controls are intuitive for the most part, though the need to press Z instead of Enter and X instead of Backspace is a little strange at first. It is easy to navigate your store, dungeons and town centre map.
The guild at the start has a lot of helpful information about the key points of the game; where adventures are, best places to buy certain types of good . The tutorial fits in well with the game as Recette is completely cluessless about running a shop, so having to learn everything from the beginning. The increase in difficulty is nicely paced, do keep an eye out on what the cutomers want as you can easily buy an item for a high price if you thought you were selling it.
When on the town map screen, different sections flash when there is an event in that area. It is handy as when you exit your store and nothing is flashing and you don't want to leave the shop, you can go back in the shop and not lose any time.

The perky, happy go- lucky electro music fits with Recette's personality so much. It adds a charming and endearing quality to the game, fitting in with the aesthetic well. The voice acting is in Japanese and all the text is in English - this game has a fantastic sense of humour which keep things light-hearted and contains 4th wall breaks (Capitalism Ho! is Recette's catch phrase).

The game has a bold and vibrant anime art style for the characters, their interactions and the town map. The fact you have the option skip these 'events' is great if you want to do a subsequent playthrough. There are lots of nice small details in the backdrops for different locations, it really brings to life the world.
The shop and dungeons are in high quality 2d sprites, on an isometric background to give an impression of 3d. The sprites of the different customers, characters and enemies are highly detailed and each have a distinct look to them.

A high quality game, full of good fun about running an item shop. The balanced is done well and the story is woven into the game well; information is given in cut scenes and you can find more by exploring the different town areas. I would definitely recommend buying it, though there is a demo if you want to try first!