Recent reviews by Solaa

Have you ever felt two ways about something? Thats exactly how I feel about this game.

I absolutely despise that the developers decided to capitalize on Brutal Doom’s popularity. Its not that I dont like it, its just never been what Doom is about to me… At the same time, I cant help but love it! The animations and sounds are just too good! The soundtrack also mixes so well with the gameplay… Mick Gordon’s a genius! Ive lost count how many times Ive watched his presentation on making-of Doom’s soundtrack.

Its a neatly packaged game, I cant describe it.

Conversely, whenever I bump into something that I dont quite like, it hits me like a truck. Ill give an example, just to name one, but I know it will sound nitpicky… Its so “modern gamey”! Heres a reward for your efforts. Heres an easy way to kill the Cyberdemon. Its flashing! Do you see it? Are you stupid? Where are you trying to go? Youre not meant to go there. Physics? Whats that? This box is not meant to move. Bethesda? Yes, please sign in.

Do you understand, yet? Its VERY hard to put into words my feelings towards this game. I hate it, and I love it all the same.

You also have no idea how long Ive been trying to review it.

Very fun!

One of the last games I pirated... I remember feeling bummed out. Bought it to make up for the pirating, and oh, I'm glad I did. Took me a while to give it a second chance, though.

Missions, Challenges and Achievements really make this game feel alive. By pirating the game, I got an older version, which I believe didn't have the missions, but I might be misremembering, because I don't recall expecting this game to have a puzzle side to it. I like astronomy, that's it really.

You sort of have to find the fun, because the game doesn't bump you towards doing the missions. I was playing it just like I did when I first tried it (that being grow from an asteroid all the way to a black hole), finished, saw the achievements and thought "why not?". Found out there's even a "final boss"! xD

I recommend Solar 2 if you like astronomy and enjoy puzzle games. The achievements are really unique. No "Move 100 light years" or "Destroy over 9000 Stars" or even "Kill 1000 people"... No grinding achievements, thats what I meant. The missions are pretty fun too. Challenges were more of the same, but were nice to have, especially with some of them having specific goals to reach the highest scores.

You can also unlock "God Mode", which is basically a cheat menu. It allows you to experiment a lot, such as testing certain tactics without having to "die" and replay a mission/challenge, or making a 46-star system... Yes, 46 stars orbiting each other lol. You don't have to cheat to have a 46-star system, but it saves a lot of freaking time.

The music is cozy too, very space-y.

Portal is a great game. One of my favorites, actually...

Now, Portal isn't a particularly "pretty" game to begin with, so even though ray-tracing here is noticeable, Portal just isn't the right game to show it off... It just isn't doing justice to the technology. If you want to do it like me and just revisit the game once again with some extra eye-candy, then go for it... It's still the same game afterall, but unfortunately it's just painting ray-tracing a bad picture, in my opinion.

PS.: I also felt like it was way too demanding. Medium settings looked just as good as Ultra, but one's running at 60-100 FPS, while the other 15-30 fps. I had a crappy computer for many many years way back in the day, so it was fine for me, but after a while barely noticing the difference, it just isn't worth the major performance hit. You might notice some (VERY) minor differences, but during gameplay? Haha, fat chance.

No, sorry.

As much as it pains me to not recommend an indie game, there simply isn't anything of value here. The story is told in an "unusual" way, but it is bland, and really short. There's nothing to "get", no "aha!" moment, nothing. Just a shallow story that you can barely immerse yourself in. It's portrayed in a way that reminds me of people who appreciate what I like to call as "garbage art". It's garbage, but people still go "wow, that's deep. Here's a million whatever-currency-you-prefer."

If you just want the achievements, make sure to read a guide so you won't have to play it again. Sigh...

I can only recommend Terror From the Deep if both of these options below are true:
-You've thoroughly enjoyed X-COM: UFO Defense/UFO: Enemy Unknown;
-You enjoy a challenge;

Why?
Dear God is this "expansion" difficult. If you don't approach the research tree correctly, and don't use the proper equipment against enemies, you won't get far into the campaign. The end-game doesn't get any easier... Some missions are swarming with the toughest of enemies, such as the Lobster Man and Tasoth.

The last mission is such a chore, though... You have to keep going with the same soldiers and the same equipment you brought over with you for about 3 levels straight. It isn't MORE difficult, but it feels like it never ends, and if you have lower-level soldiers, their stamina will deplete so quickly that you'll only be able to take 3 steps forward per turn.

So why do I recommend it? Well, its the same game, but underwater. Whats not to enjoy? You feel the oppressive atmosphere even more, your weapons feel even more ancient against the aliens' better technology, your soldiers literally feel like fish out of the water... It is a rewarding game. It puts you against all odds, and once beaten, you'll feel fantastic. Exausted, but like you've accomplished something.

Again, don't say I didn't warn you, it's a rough ride.

“The game is fun. If it's not fun, why bother?" ― Reggie Fils-Aimé

It's a basic game, but it is fun. Grinding EXP and loot Diablo style. Dressing up the ladies is fun as well, with lots of customization options. Clothing, such as lingerie and shoes, and armor, such as swords, boots and bracers. Sometimes it feels very bare-bones, but you can make-do with what you're given. You can also customize your palace, with loads of furniture options that your ladies can pose on for pictures, although I didnt find this feature all that appealing, it is there and you can do a lot with it as of today. You are able to hire minions as well, but as of now, only Skeletons and Draugrs are available. Modding is always a plus. What I enjoyed most was dressing my ladies up and grinding for exp. Enemies are all very samey, and sometimes you get a major difficulty spike. Again, feeling bare-bones is the key word.

I just hope the game doesn't get abandoned as it seems to be. It has a lot of potential, and I was never bored.

I've heard about this game many years ago, but I've never played it. I thought it would be too old and clunky for me to enjoy it, but then I've heard about a mod called "The X-Com Files" and this game's sourceport called OpenXcom, so it was my cue to give it a shot.

Holy crap, I was NOT expecting this game to be so enthralling. It says I've played it for 57 hours, but that was just because I wanted to play it again through Dosbox just to see how much the sourceport modernizes it. Im not a masochist, but I do enjoy taking a look at the past... I find it fascinating, but I digress. I did finish it like this as well, for those wondering.

Anyways, I can't really describe this old gem. I can tell you that its not my type of game, which is already QUITE something to say! It became one of my favorites. It is so deep, and mechanically interesting... I don't know, I feel like whatever I say will not be enough to describe it.

The mods as well, holy crap. Its like Doom mods, there's a whole world of content out there. I have easily over 500 hours playing this, and I started just last year.

An interesting interactive movie with quite a unique story. Quite unique indeed. I felt touched by it, if it matters to anyone. Didn't cry, but it felt... hmm... nostalgic? Not in a positive way, but deep. It's hard to put into words.

Now, my dear GOD does the gameplay hinder it. Does the main character have to move this slowly? (She can run) Do I really need to watch her climb these stairs for the 100th time? Do I really need to watch that character walk away? Do I REALLY need to watch that other character turn around first, slowly might I add, THEN walk slowly towards me? Do I really need to watch the main character put away any items this slowly? You get the picture...

The voice acting and the places you visit are quite charming, feel realistic and are almost palpable, except the main character, unfortunately... I found her to be cheesy.

I'm glad I've used a walkthrough from the start, as I know these point and click adventures can get quite, uhm, ambiguous? Not sure if that's the right word, but hopefully I got my point across. This one was no different. Not sure how much time people spend to figure all of it out, but it's not my jam, and I was here just for the ride.

You need a lot of patience to play this game. It's a labor of love and you can feel it everywhere. Engrossing is the word to describe it.

Now I said that you need a lot of patience. Why?
Weapon accuracy, inventory management, weapon accuracy, stamina, weapon accuracy, your weapon has jammed, weapon accuracy, game crashed, weapon accuracy, this fricking map hud is annoying and finally weapon accuracy.

Now, granted, it doesn't take too long for you to figure all of that out, but oh, boy, good luck until you get there. And If you read up online, trying to understand how weapon accuracy works as an example, you'll see that you're obviously not the only one bothered by this, but not only that, people who have GENUINELY tried to argue that this weapon innacuracy bs is a bit much, get bombarded by elitist douchebags saying that it's a skill issue. No, it isn't a fricking skill issue you moron, it's just bad, annoying and frustrating. ESPECIALLY near the end of the game. Enemies don't get these same issues, so it's just all very frustrating and stupid.

Having said that, the highs of this game are worth it. You'll hardly ever come across such an atmospheric game... Again, engrossing is the key word.

It's okay... Interesting "detective" work, good voice acting, good soundtrack, good story, but nothing really happens. Interactive movie at best, but it's short and sweet.