Category: Computer

Thanks to Xbox’s Games with Gold promotion I end up with a lot of games that I never wanted and will probably never play, but every now and then it is fun to start one up and see what it is all about.  That was the case with Pneuma: Breath of Life.  It is a first person puzzle game that all Xbox Live Gold members got for free last November, but I just now decided to give it a try.  It was fine, and it was a relaxing way to spend just under four hours, but not something I would enthusiastically tell people to spend their money on.

Pneuma starts out with you taking control of a being that has just now come in to existence, and since everything seems to react and be focused around him, he decides that he must be a god.  As the puzzles get harder and more devious he starts to question his deity.  I will not spoil his somewhat interesting conclusion.  Though the game seems to think the pay off is more thought provoking than it is.

First person puzzle games are all about two things: good graphics or art, and clever puzzles.  Pneuma does okay on both fronts.  The game’s Greek temple aesthetic works well for a would be deity, but there is nothing groundbreakingly pretty to look at.  As for the puzzles, they start off really easy as you learn the game’s systems, but just when they start to get difficult, the game ends.  I guess there are three hidden puzzles that I didn’t do, so I may go back and give them a shot, but I doubt it.  The game just needed a couple extra chapters to have players truly test their metal.  Puzzle games shouldn’t make players have to go find a challenge.

All in all, I enjoyed my time with Pneuma: Breath of Life, and it gave me 850 Gamer Score for very little effort, but I would have enjoyed it less had I paid money for it.  This game is worth a couple of dollars at most, so if it is on sale for $5 or less and you love puzzle games, I would say it is worth a try.  Though if you really are a puzzle gamer I don’t think Pneuma will present much of a challenge, more of a breezy walk in the park.  Much like walks in the park you shouldn’t have to play a lot for it.

While I wait to hear from Nintendo for my E3 wrap-up, I thought I would give my thoughts on Hitman’s third episode, Marrakesh.  Sadly Marrakesh is the worst episode so far.  Having been spoiled with both Paris and Sapienza it was kind of a bummer to get just a standard paint by the numbers Hitman level.  It is still better than almost anything Absolution did, but that is not high praise.

What is really a bummer is that there is such potential with Marrakesh.  The market area is crazy and bustling with activity, but neither target makes use of this.  Instead you infiltrate a dilapidated old school and an embassy.  Far away from anything that makes Morocco unique or interesting.  Plus to finish the hits in those two locations it is just a matter of finding the right person to disguise yourself as to take the target down.  There weren’t any of the fun mouse-trap like ways to kill these two gents, and if there were they weren’t very obvious.  Not to mention it was supper easy.  I got the Silent Assassin rating with very little effort.

Things are not all bad though.  The level does have good bones, and the market is pretty great with hundreds of NPCs, so I am sure that there will be added Contracts that make better use of what Marrakesh has to offer.  It is just a shame that the main story targets were so bland.  In the end it was still more Hitman, and that is something to be thankful for, but if you are paying by level, I would skip Marrakesh for now until people fill out the Contracts board or IO Interactive adds a few more of their own.  I hope the next level is a return to form for 47, and I get to do something dastardly to some deserving people.