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Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker
Spoilerfree review.

Story
1987 “Metal Gear” was released to MSX (but were perhaps more famous on the NES). In that game Solid Snake were sent to the military base Outer Heaven to deal with a terrorist group. Back then the game was revolutionary not only for being focused on stealth but also because it actually had a story which was unusual for a ‘87 game. In the following titles the series continued the story about Solid Snake in a futuristic setting. But Metal Gear Solid 3 did something different, it was set during the Cold War and began to tell the story about the primary villain in “Metal Gear” also commonly known as Snake. This prequel was later followed up by Portable Ops and now Peace Walker ties up the bag.

The Metal Gear series presents one of the best written stories in video gaming history. For those who have yet to play the games I will not spoil it, if you never played the games before you can either play the games upon order of release or you may play them in chronological order starting with MGS3/Portable Ops/Peace Walker, then Metal Gear, MG2, Metal Gear Solid, MGS2 and finally MGS4.

For those who thought PO was a step down, Peace Walker isn’t. PW represents much more of a true sequel to MGS3 and is definitely one of the series strongest titles.

Engine: Graphics & Sound
The game pushes the Portable Playstation to the max. Most of the time I didn’t feel I was playing a PSP title. That said, the PSP do have a dithering that the PS3 remake do not so you may be better of grabbing that version instead. The voice acting is as usual phenomenal and it’s amazing how much voice they pushed into this game. Every scene is fully voice acted and considering how massive the game is do not expect a game skimped for the handheld format.

Gameplay
Peace Walker isn’t your ordinary game. If you played Portable Ops you know a bit about what to expect though. Peace Walker is part a stealth-game like the earlier titles in the series and part a management game in which you build up the army. Men recruited on the field can be put into different tasks which usually boils down to greater efficiency at developing new items that snake can use in the field. There’s also Outer Ops which allows you to send soldiers to missions all over the world which brings home goodies or your men in bodybags. Finally you get to develop your own Metal Gear if you like.

Then you got a ton of missions aside from the main missions that progress the storyline. These Extra Ops contains various challenges and opportunities for you to find more men and unlock more schematics that can be developed into equipment for Snake.

In time, you will have much more items than you will ever need, which can of course be used in the games online mode that allows you to do co-op missions with others over the web.

Peace Walker is so packed with content that even if I finished it’s main story after 2 months casually playing the game I could easily go on for another month just unlocking items, missions and secrets.

Verdict
If you have played previus titles Peace Walker is a must. While Portal Ops was a bit of a letdown, Peace Walker is a real and important part of the series that ties the bag together and got great story and amazing gameplay.

just finished the dark eye: chains of satinav. Its a very interesting bid for making a point-and-click adventure game out of a pen & paper rpg. It brings a lot of lore and history from the setting and builds an intriguing strong story. The puzzle design ranges from weak to pretty good… usually being too easy, but not boring. A big chunk of the game revolves around 1 room puzzles, where you are put in a situation and now you have to solve a problem without any exploration. Later portions of the game really amp up the exploration though, and you really get the sense of an expansive hand crafted world. The characters really made the game for me.. particularly nuri’s voice acting was excellent and painted the perfect picture of this other worldly being. It made caring about the fate of the protagonists very easy. Over the course of the journey theres a large series of dialogue choices which give the illusion of mattering.. but in the end they dont really.
i’d score the game 7.5/10 and it couldv been quite a bit higher with improved gameplay and fixed performance issues… because the setting and story are pretty fantastic.

Anna

One of the most horrible adventure games i’ve played in years. When i got to the ending i was like..WHAT??? All this agony, all this pointless illogical random magic puzzles for ..what? RAAAAGE My pride wouldn’t let me give up on this game, and in the process it consumed me. Terrible story, terrible gameplay, average graphics, terrible consoles, HORRIBLE PUZZLES! 

I’m just going to stop before i explode. I give it 0,5/10 and that’s being generous. Piece of crap.

The Last Story (Wii)

8/10

This is the best RPG game i have played in years.
Fun and fast paced battles where you sometimes have to plan your strategy before attacking the enemies.
The city you run around from time, to time feels very alive and the story was actually quite good IMO.
I completed the game in just 24 hours, but i think that was enough for this game.

I got the complete Sam & Max during the Steam Summer Sale, and have been working my way through them. I just finished Episode 103. I’m enjoying it, mainly for the humor. Not the greatest games puzzle-wise, but certainly worth what I paid for them (don’t remember exactly, but it was very little).

Bar Oasis 1, 1.5 & 2 (iPhone)
Bar Oasis combines a heartful story with detailed drink-mixing simulation using authentic recipies.

Story in Bar Oasis 1
When Vic signed up as the new bartender at Bar Oasis he didn’t knew what he was walking into. Despite his lack of training and experience he is quickly put in charge with greater and greater responsibility since his boss is a real slacker. But the regulars know enough and help him out.

If you played Phoenix Wright you will recognize this side of the game as the story in Bar Oasis is all about it’s characters. The plot moves very slow forward, giving bits and pieces about their complexities and flaws. Some of them are just troublemakers, some are wildcards that helps you one time then make a mess in another and there are those who are always glad you came along.

The story in Bar Oasis 1 was really strong, towards the end I felt I was in a bar with friends and the game often made me smile or feel sad.

Engine: Graphics & Sound
Bar Oasis is beautifully painted in a way similar to Phoenix Wright. You often see who you talk to right in front of you and the game uses still-images and text. The soundtrack is superb and they even produced one for the 2nd that you can buy on Amazon and in iTunes.

Gameplay
Beyond clicking through dialogue Bar Oasis is actually an educational game. If you consider learning how to make real drinks like a pro that is. Bar Oasis is a bar, 7 seats with customers to serve and shelves full of liquor. To engage a customer you slide forward a coaster and listen to what they would like. You can then either look at the recipe or for extra money try to go without. You need to pick the right bottles from the shelves, perhaps a shaker or stirring glass and the right glass. The game actually uses real brands complete with photos and all and have like 50-100 true recipies of famous and standardized drinks. It will also sometimes tell a story about the drinks (and you can read about it in the game). I will probably not forget how to make a martini, a manhattan, a singapore sling etc because I learned both the amount of liquor and preparation. One note though; Bar Oasis 1 do not get you to pour the non-alcoholic content, only the liquor. Bar Oasis 2 is better in this regard.

To make the drink you need to pour the right amount out of each bottle tipping your telephone over. You can also use your thumb on the screen to stop the flow. Sometimes you have to also squeeze a slice of lime, lemon or orange on screen, tip over a spoon of sugar, stir the drink up and down or left or right or shake the phone when you shake the drink.

If your ingredients are right, the amount are right and timing is good you make a good drink (excellent if you didn’t look at the recipe) and get extra money. If your ingredients are wrong or you have too much or too little of ingredients you may end up with decent, poor and at worst “sewage”. A poor or sewage drink may end up costing you money rather than earning so you might wish to pour such drinks out.

If you too little money you can actually end up with a game over. If you earn too much you use it to invest in new brands on the shelf.

Verdict
Depending on what kind of player you are you either love or hate the story. If you are a sucker for a heartwarming story you should try out at least Bar Oasis 1. I loved the first and 1.5 but I did found the one in 2nd a bit let down. Not that it was poorly written, but it was quite sad.

Making drinks is a really interesting idea and very educational. I actually bought new bottles in real life and tried some of the drinks out. It’s too bad you do not get to pour the sodas. But if you are in for the story the drinkmixing may become a bit tedious, especially when BO2 is a really long game compared to the first. The 2nd game actually allow you to skip mixing if you pay an extra dollar for the game (which I did just to support the studio). You can also pay to fill the shelves automatically and adjust the amount of customers.

I have saved the story for 1.5 and 2 to last and I will do so in a spoiler tag.

Story and verdict of Bar Oasis 1.5
Vic is off in China to find his girlfriend and now it’s up to Carla to take his place. Carla isn’t as skilled as Vic at being a bartender, but she is better at listening to customers. While she get to know the regulars Vic did, she also hears a lot of rumours about this mysterious Vic. Who is he? Is he like the rumours? And when he comes back, will she get to keep her job?

Since Bar Oasis 1.5 is free it’s a nobrainer to download. The story was longer than I expected for a free game but you will not be making advanced coctails in this one as the shelves are empty and Carla do not really know how to make them.

Story and verdict of Bar Oasis 2
Vic broke up with his girlfriend and is now back at the bar, working together with the new bartender Carla. Unlike one, the second game isn’t focused on a romance. Vic have to teach Carla (and solve the mess when she makes one) as the Boss is up to no good. A mysterious musician have started to appear in the bar, who is she? The old gang who owns the bar becomes more significant in the 2nd game, finally there might be a wedding coming up.

I found the story in Bar Oasis 2 to be a bit sad. It’s almost like Empire Strikes Back, the sequel in which verything falls down and it’s gets really dark. I hope that Bar Oasis 3 or the promised DLC story addons will fix this. If you were a fan of the first two though you should probably check it out.

Remember the DLC’s. If you prefer the story you can use them to shorten the bartending moments. I did not see +3 dollars as a ripoff, I actually bought two of them just to support the developers.

-edit-
I just found out that I got one of the three endings in Bar Oasis 2… There are happier endings.

Spec-Ops: The Line

This might technically be unfair because I only got through about 75% before quitting but I just found this game too unbelievably boring to finish all the way through. I think because the game cites Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness as a reference and because it tries to subvert the usual military video game tropes that people instantly want to praise it as this dark and intelligent meditation on war but it’s really not, it’s still a fairly dumb game that’s not very well written and, worst of all, is bland, derivative and monotonous to the point that it’s one of the least fun experiences I’ve had playing a game in a long time.

4/10

1953 KGB Unleashed

Too short! One or two challenging puzzles, the experienced adventure player will finish it in 1-2 days. Good voice acting, average graphics (what you expect?) and nice interface. You need to puzzle the story together, it’s kinda weak honestly and they really botched the scary parts. The ending is also disappointing.

I give it a 6,5/10.

I finished Braid on the PS3. Pretty good game, wonderful graphics and music, balanced gameplay, but nor as superb as I thought it would be.

Finished Broken Sword 4 The Angel of Death

Absolutely mediocre, so so far away from the brilliant and legendary BS1 and 2! The story is horrid, the controls are some of the worst i´ve ever experienced, the environments are empty and soulless and the ending… my God! Words cannot express. Having been through all this, having tried my best to find any small bit of enjoyment, to persevere, what i got for solving silly puzzles SPOILER (like hacking the vatican to get a phone number of a monastery) and putting up with all the crap the game threw at me was a damn insulting ending which will forever stay in my mind as the absolute worst ending i´ve ever witnessed in videogames!

Other than a few amusing dialogs and funny characters the game is a total and complete waste of time! I dont think i´ll bring myself to play BS5 when it comes out one day! I´m that traumatized lol

Fat Guybrush - 05 August 2012 11:06 AM

Finished Broken Sword 4 The Angel of Death

Absolutely mediocre, so so far away from the brilliant and legendary BS1 and 2! The story is horrid, the controls are some of the worst i´ve ever experienced, the environments are empty and soulless and the ending… my God! Words cannot express. Having been through all this, having tried my best to find any small bit of enjoyment, to persevere, what i got for solving silly puzzles SPOILER (like hacking the vatican to get a phone number of a monastery) and putting up with all the crap the game threw at me was a damn insulting ending which will forever stay in my mind as the absolute worst ending i´ve ever witnessed in videogames!

Other than a few amusing dialogs and funny characters the game is a total and complete waste of time! I dont think i´ll bring myself to play BS5 when it comes out one day! I´m that traumatized lol

See, now I thought it was pretty good. Was it as good as the older games? Of course not, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t have fun with it. Maybe I’m just crazy though. I have a real soft spot in my heart for anything BS.

Last adventure game I finished? I did a playthrough of Shivers for the fourth time or so. Love that game. Unfortunately, I tried Shivers II for the first time and it didn’t draw me in like the first one. I’ll have to give it another go, but…I don’t know…

Ben Jordan Case 8

The story was average and the conclusion was unexpected. The puzzles are easy , there is one where you have to decipher a code but it was a doozy (for me). The voice acting is great, from Ben Jordan to the hermit lady . I’m gonna miss Ben and his adventures.

8,5/10