Category: Games

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I Am Not Sure If Prey Is Its Own Game Or Series Of References!

I get the distinct impression that I have played Prey before, and not because I played the 2006 original.  No, because I have played the three games that Prey uses as its foundation extensively.  That being the case I find when I play Prey, I play a lot of it, but I am not sure it is because I like it, or because there is not a new System Sock, Bioshock, or Deus Ex to play.

In Prey you play as either a male of female Morgan Yu (I am playing as a girl) who has taken a job with her brother, Alex, aboard the scientific space station Talos I.  Morgan was going to be doing advanced science and research, but instead she finds the station overrun with unknown aliens.  It is up to Morgan to figure out what has happened and stop the aliens from getting to Earth.

To help Morgan on her way she can gain new abilities by getting Neuromods that jack in to her brain and help it function better.  Much like Praxis Kits in the newer Dues Ex games you need a set number of Neuromods to unlock an ability, so to get the more advanced skills you need to collect or manufacture a lot of Neuromods.

The most unique part of Prey is the ability to recycle everything and then make new stuff from the parts.  Practically what this means however is that you will find less ammo and useful stuff around the game, and end up just stuffing your inventory with a lot of junk until you can find a Recycler.  Then holding on to the recycled materials until you find a Fabricator, so this functionally ends up working like the vending machines in Bioshock.  Except instead of cash you carry around junk.

Like all games these days you get what I call a puzzle gun.  The gun you will use as your tool to get out of all your unfortunate circumstances.  Instead of a gravity gun, a portal gun, or a bow and arrow with cool stuff attached, you get a GLOO gun that can patch holes, make bridges and ladders, and entrap enemies.  It doesn’t quite do everything, but if you are stuck, it is safe to say it is at least worth pondering if the GLOO gun can help you out.

Almost everything in Prey is a reference to another game.  Right down to cribbing Bioshock’s Art Deco look, System Shock’s atmosphere (though a lot of games have stolen that), Dues Ex’s progression system, and Half Life’s special gun mechanic, and if I am honest, I think those games did their shtick better than Prey does.  However, Prey weaves them all together pretty well, and it is competently made, so it is worth your time and money.  Especially if you like the games it barrows from.  I am enjoying myself, but I just wish it was more original.

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Batman Works On His Relationships In Enemy Within Episode 3!

While what happens in Batman: The Enemy Within, Episode Three, The Fractured Mask, depends on what you did in the previous episodes, and in this episode’s case the last game, no matter what, Bruce Wayne will be dealing with his relationships.  Which is something new for Bat-fans.  Especially in the dynamic that Telltale has setup for us.

Bruce will somehow have to try and keep Batman’s friendship with Jim Gordon on the up while being forced (maybe not) to work for Amada Waller’s Agency.  All while his favorite thief Catwoman arrives back on the scene, and trying to help (or not) John Doe (Proto-Joker) with his relationship with Harley.  In other words it is an almost impossible task, and how all those relationships fit together depends on how you have been playing the game.

This is the first episode where my failures as Bruce/Batman have really come back to bite me, and it was fantastic.  Doing everything I can to keep everything working to the good, and watching myself fail to do so.  Things just keep crumbling around me.  Not to mention with all my previous knowledge about Batman, wondering if I can save poor John Doe from his fate.  I am guessing not, and I hope Harley’s fate has nothing to do with his pre-destined fall.  Because I love her as an independent, and quite scary, criminal mastermind.

While I will say I do miss the old style adventure games of the past, Telltale really knows how to weave a good story together, and this Batman tale has been one of their finest.  If you haven’t played either of their Batman games yet, you really need to because Batman: The Enemy Within has been fascinating.  I keep looking at my Steam queue hoping to see Batman update, and then I play it right away when it does, and so should you!

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What’s Up With Loot Crates?

By now I am sure you have heard Star Wars Battlefront II had to remove the ability to buy in game currency with real money because that was how you bought Loot Crates, and in Battlefront II Loot Crates are how you make your characters better.  In other words it may not have been pay to win, but it was definitely pay to get better, and worse it was pay to get randomly better.

In every other game so far Loot Crates have been random rewards, like new character and weapon skins, or in Forza 7’s case random cars, but never the way to progress in a game, and I personally always liked them.  I like opening them up to see what I can see, and for the most part I was always fine unlocking them through my in game play.  It didn’t bother me that other people were buying them with real money because it mostly just meant that they had cooler looking stuff, but we were still on a level playing field.  Battlefront II changed all that, and fans rightfully came down on that game.

Like I said I am all for Loot Crates.  I can’t wait to see what I get once I earn one, but game makers just need to make sure they are not taking things too far, and Star Wars Battlefront II definitely went too far.  I hope other developers learn from their mistake.

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Shmee Checks Out The Xbox One X Updates For Rise Of The Tomb Raider And The Elder Scrolls Online!

I loved Rise of the Tomb Raider when it came out a couple of years ago, but since I completed most of the game I felt little reason to go back.  However, since the game has been prominently used in Microsoft’s advertising for the Xbox One X I thought I should give it a try.  Because I don’t have a 4K TV the Native 4K mode looked okay, but it wasn’t mind blowing.  The Enriched Visuals mode on the other hand was a massive step up.  It looked great: a cleaner picture, better shadows and lighting, and better effects.  The High Framerate mode was also impressive.  It was much easier to control Lara, and it was silky smooth, but it was hard give up the visual fidelity of the Enriched Visuals mode.  I am not sure I am going to play much more Rise of the Tomb Raider, but it was quite the tech demo for what the Xbox One X can do, and hopefully more developers give us the type of graphical options that Nixxes did.

Next up The Elder Scrolls Online!

The Elder Scrolls online got new textures for Xbox One X and displays in Native 4K, so what that meant for me, the lowly 1080p TV user, is that it looks much crisper.  The textures are all crystal clear, and there are very few jagged lines.  As an MMO, this game was never pushing the boundaries of graphical fidelity, but this is a solid update for people who still play this game.  The ‘just one more quest’ hook almost had me trapped for a while.  It is not the showcase that Rise of the Tomb Raider is, but The Elder Scrolls Online still looks pretty good.

After playing these two games, I am hopeful that more games push out their Xbox One X patches soon because I am liking what I have been seeing!

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Shmee Takes The Turing Test!

Apparently I went broke buying my Xbox One X because all I have been playing lately are indie Games with Gold games.  Thankfully they have all been pretty good so far.  Including the game I am reviewing today, The Turing Test.  It is a first person puzzle game by Bulkhead Interactive which is made up of the studios behind the first person puzzle game Pneuma: Breath of Life.  I am sensing a pattern with their work.  Though their next game is a WWII multiplayer shooter called Battalion 1944, so I guess they are trying to branch out.

In The Turing Test you play as Ava Turing who has been woken up out of cryosleep to help the ground team on Jupiter’s moon Europa.  They apparently have gotten in to trouble, and they have locked the mission’s AI, TOM, out of the base, so to get in you have to solve a bunch of puzzles to prove that you are a human, AKA a Turing Test.

The puzzles start out pretty easy, but as they add more gameplay mechanics, the puzzles get more complicated and challenging, though never overly hard.  The ending puzzles seem to strike the right balance of making your brain work, but never making you so frustrated that you throw your controller at your TV.  At least for me, but I am definitely not a Mensa member, so your puzzling abilities may vary.

The Turing Test is much better than Pneuma: Breath of Life, so the folks at Bulkhead have been working hard to hone their craft, and I am interested to see if their games continue this upward trend.  I hope so because if they are releasing a WWII shooter in to a market that just got a new WWII Call of Duty game it had better be really good.  Anyway, The Turing Test is still free on Games with Gold, and it is well worth picking up.  Even if you miss out on getting it for free, it is a challenge worth paying for.