Going Through My Old Steam Reviews (Part 2)

Back in the day I used to write these short and silly reviews on Steam - now after several years I'm going through them and taking a look at what kind of weird things I've said. Don't forget to check out Part 1!

"Funny online shooter with many flying red pixels (I guess I was trying to describe blood?). Recommended for playing with netbooks in school... I mean recess." Do you guys still remember netbooks? I use to have this blue toy-looking Dell which was my first own computer. It began my game making journey as well my more active gaming journey - I played old games like first Counter-Strike on it!

About CS though, it was never my favourite one to play. It was already old, kinda ugly (but in a good way) and player base was already established. For me this game was an interesting relic of the 90s.

Let's continue to the next Counter-Strike game. ''One of the best online shooters ever, especially with mods." To this day CSS is, at least for me, the online shooter. As you can see, I haven't played it so much but still it holds a special place in my heart. It led me to skins and the Source modding community, which for me was probably the most interesting part of the whole Source engine based games. The things you can do with in some ways very limited options is inspiring.

For me the latest Counter-Strike, Global Offensive, is the one I have played the most but it never captured the same magic as CSS. 

"This is how RTS should be done: fast-paced action, destroyable environments and different enemies. DoW II has no dull moments; you need to keep your eyes glued on the monitor so you're own soldiers die, because without your brothers you're in trouble." Poetic. I don't really remember much of Dawn of War games - I think I enjoyed more of their artwork and atmosphere than the gameplay itself. I'm not even big fan of RTS genre in general, but maybe I should give these games another try? Though Animal Crossing is enough excitement and micro managing for me nowadays.

"Worst part of HL2 trilogy. There's something missing in Episode 1 that made HL2 so good. It's also way too short for a full priced game: four hours! But it's still great." To be honest, I don't know what I'm talking about. Full priced game? Was Episode 1 never sold at 40-60 euros price or something like that? 

In fact it was not. According to all-knowing Wikipedia, it was sold in Steam at discounted price and in retail stores as a part of different Valve-themed collections. So that's it then. I guess I was angry that there were not yet a closure to the HL2 story (oh, how the years fly!) because in retrospective I've learned that though Episode 1 is not the best it has some interesting stuff going on A.I. wise. I really need to replay Half-Life games. All of them.

"Game that leaves too many questions open. Waiting for the sequel..." This pains me. 

As I look back, I realize that I haven't really appreciated how great game Episode 2 is. In many ways it was the best Half-Life related game in story, environment and mechanics wise but I guess it's legacy is to be ''that game that left us waiting.'' 

I need to get my hands on VR kit and try out Half-Life: Alyx. It's one of the few games released recent years that really excites me.

Let's end this part with an another Dawn of War game. "An example of how you include an epic story to RTS." You know what? I don't remember anything about Dawn of War II: Chaos Rising. Like anything. Even looking at the box didn't woke any forgotten memories. But I guess it was good? At least I though so nine years ago.

And that's all for Part 2. Part 3 will be out - hopefully - in October, so stay tuned!

Metro: Last Light Redux on Switch Is Too Dark

I love Dmitry Glukhovsky's Metro books. They're dark, atmospheric and perfect apocalypse-horror in any way. And the fact that the 4A Games' Metro 2033 game, which is based on these books, is such a masterpiece makes just happy. It brings me pure happiness.

I remember starting to play the sequel Metro: Last Light on PC, but for one reason or another I never finished. So, when I saw that the redux version of Last Light were available for the Switch AND it was on a sale, I had to get it. And it's stunning. The graphics are something unbelievable for the Switch. And as the books, it's dark. But not in a good way, not in a story-wise way. The game itself is dark. Too dark. There's something weird going on with lightning that makes parts of the Last Light unplayable, because you just can't see anything. Setting brightness on my TV helped a little bit, but when playing in the handheld mode, it's still too dark as Switch really doesn't offer any kind of graphic settings. And the game itself doesn't have any real video related setting, like contrast, which is kind of weird.

I decided to find out what's going on.

It seems that I'm not only one with this problem, Last Light is too dark to play, especially in handheld mode. According to this Reddit post many others have experienced this too, and though some claim that adjusting Switch's brightness settings help, that's not case for the most. Old-school fix seems to be to throw a blanket over yourself and Switch. Some people seem to enjoy the difficulty and survival aspect this darkness brings (or then they haven't even played the game on Switch) but this seems to be minority. One Reddit user even went to say that ''use your lighter and flashlight - you’re in the Moscow Underground, dude!" which even being true doesn't really help as this game is pretty hard - you can't shoot and use your lighter at the same time, and sneaking in the darkness is hard as you hit the walls all of the time.

Though some people have said that the game runs well and is fun, there's still some reports of lag and even crashes - I have never in my life had any Switch game crash while playing, so that's interesting. Darkstation in their review don't recommend you to play in handheld mode as the issues with loading times and especially with lighting are pretty noticeable. 

For me one fix was while playing on TV just adjust TV's own settings, like adding brightness and adjusting contrast, though this also is just a temporary fix - game is almost playable, but there are still some moments, especially if you play in the daylight, where game is too dark. And this doesn't help situation with the handheld mode at all, as expected. It's so weird that this game has no gamma setting or anything like that. Maybe I'm just so used to the options that are norm on PC...

It's disappointing. I don't know what the developers were thinking - it's like they didn't even try the game on Switch. I really expected much because surprisingly Last Light runs well and looks absolutely stunning on Switch, but the darkness makes it just unplayable. I guess I'll need to finish it on PC. 

*Sigh.*

By the way, there is Metro Redux on Switch tech review video made by Digital Foundry on Youtube which you should check out if you're interested in game tech. I need to take a loot at it myself when I got time and maybe then I'll return to this topic. Maybe. This is not a promise. I just wanted to get this irritating problem out of my chest.

Curse of Seasons

Seasons. Every modern multiplayer game seems to have them, and why not? It’s a great way to keep player occupied and make them come back every day to get those special unlocks and join once-in-a-lifetime events and then get them interested in the next season. But at the same time this temporality drives away players like me, who just want to jump in from time to time and play few games. But as you don't have those fancy grinded hats or outfits it almost feels like you're an outcast. At the same time it's fantastic to have something to reward players who invest their time on specific game, but maybe it could be (still) done like in old Call of Duty games instead? You play when you want, everything is available for you even if you're finding the game years after it's launch and there's no rush or need to be active all the time. 

But then again, I play mostly multiplayer shooters from the mid-2000's when the whole game industry in general was very different. For example, if you wanted some flashy skins for your Counter-Strike characters you went to sites like Gamebanana and installed them yourself. Of course others were not able to see those skins, but it didn't matter. Point was to made your personal experience truly yours. 

Maybe it's not really seasons that I'm mad about. Maybe it's skins. If you think about it, for example Team Fortress 2 is pretty silly game with silly graphics, but it wasn't until the hat invasion that the game's art direction kinda melted away and became this mess it is nowadays. On the other hand we have games like Overwatch in which skins are more in line with the general art style. And both of these games don't even have seasons - most of the time things you unlock or buy won't effect the gameplay.

I normally start playing multiplayer games years after they've been released, when the hype has died and in the worst case players have already left (poor Brink). So maybe after all there's nothing wrong with the concept of season for your target audience, but for players like me: those who want to be able to do and unlock everything on their own pace rather than following the trends. 

Then again, it's hard to keep players focused on your game when there's so much else to play, so the seasonal concept works well for that as Fortnite and other such games have proven.

Oh, I still remember when Fortnite was just a ''little'' PVE that no-one knew about...

To conclude this babbling, I'd say that seasons are cool and stuff, but I personally rather have games where mostly only seasonal events are Halloween or Christmas themed. But that's me, and you probably have your own preferences. Let's remember that the most important thing is to enjoy the games you play.

Going through my old Steam reviews (Part 1)

Sometimes you forget things that you have done in your life - like I forgot Steam reviews I wrote years ago. I thought it would be fun to go through all of the small reviews I wrote between 2012 - 2014 and see, have my opinions changed or have I written just some smelly garbage. This is gonna be a few parts long blog series, so follow my Twitter (@MZ_plays_games) to stay tuned when the next part is published!

I had ''a concept'' with my reviews: few ''funny'' lines and a number rating with maximum being 10. These first ones are in Finnish and it seems that I've posted almost all of them during the same day.

Ah yes. Team Fortress 2, ''the lan-party dream game''. Back in 2012 younger me thought that TF2 is ''the best and funniest online FPS ever, which you can not get tired of, thanks to comic characters, many hats and mods. Especially when your team plays well together TF2 is one of the most addictive games ever!''

Well, is till think that TF2 is the best online FPS, though I haven't played it much lately because of the bots and because I found Overwatch, which have given me some of the same feeling that TF2 had when I started gaming. I have many good memories of TF2 and I don't think that any game can ever come close to it, but nowadays it is just a mess that is probably never gonna get cleaned up. And that's kinda sad.

Also 9/10? This game deserves 100/10!

Another online FPS that I hold dear, Day of Defeat: Source. I said that ''this Counter-Strike stylish WWII shooter is nice change to all the games that are based on the modern days.'' I think that what I wanted to say was that I was tired to both Battlefield and Call of Duty (and maybe CS itself) just releasing new games with boring modern day scenarios? 

''It's just awesome to walk towards the sunset in the Mojave wasteland with your follower. You should install the best mods so the game shines straight away.'' Very poetic, indeed. I don't really care about number ratings anymore, but how have I given to my all time favourite Fallout game only 9/10? I must have been sick on my head!

I think that Fallout games peaked on New Vegas. In fact I think that open-world games peaked on New Vegas - it has something that any game after or before haven't been able to achieve. But what exactly? I think that is a blog post for the future.

''Best part of the best game series. Realistic characters, great atmosphere, intelligent enemies and countless mods make sure that you return to Half-life 2 again and again.'' But as you can see, I haven't returned to this game after 2012, which is a shame as I think about this game almost everyday. I should replay it soon.

It seems that back in the day mods were a thing that I was looking out on the games. I miss that, because as I've grown older and smellier, I mostly want my games to be as finished as they can be - I sure enjoy bugs and glitches, but I have no time and energy to search for new content. 

Though nowadays I want to play older games on the consoles so I think it's okay.

”One of the best co-op games ever. Killing zombies with a good team is fun. Great setting and multiple weapons are the icing on a cake.” To this day Left 4 Dead 2 is my favourite zombie game - though I have played it less than it feels like. One of my best memories is going through the demo of the game and cutting zombies into pieces… It would be cool to relive those moments!

I think that with right mods Left 4 Dead 2 works as a great singleplayer experience - no special infected, no teammates, just you and hordes of undeads. It’s challenging and kinda scary as it’s pretty much game over if you die because there’s no-one to revive you.

Left 4 Dead 2 is one of the few games that I come back from time to time, playing few custom campaigns. During this pandemic it has been almost therapeutic experience.

That’s all for Part 1! Part 2 will probably be out in September.

''No one has rated this review as helpful yet.''

RimWorld has taken over my life

My colony burned to the ground because of lightning.

All of my colonists were kidnapped.

Half of my colony were killed while exploring.

And still I can't stop playing this game. Why it's so fun to suffer?

After few very failed attempts I've been able to get my colony work, though dropping difficulty and playing with Phoebe Chillax for a while was a must. And I thought that watching Vinny Vinesauce's RimWorld streams were enough tutorial! I also decided to play without saving or loading, which gives the game some more meaning. Normally I hate playing with permadeath, but with RimWorld it's how the game and the stories it creates work best - at least for me. Everyone has their own way to play, and the most important thing is to have fun! And not loosing all of your colonists.

For me the magic of RimWorld is the stories - it's a story generator after all. Micromanaging is all fun and stuff, but the interactions and random events that take place during all the gameplay are the the salt and pepper of the experience. It's like a TV-series that just keep going on and on and on... Most of the time you can just lay back and watch as your little ant colony works, but when something catastrophic happens, you get a real adrenaline rush - just like in a football (not the American one, I mean ''soccer'') match! 

Truly a masterpiece.

My experience with Fallout 76 lately

This was originally meant to be kind of a review of the newest Fallout 76 season ''Steel Reign''. I returned to the game after a little break - thank you lag! - and played happily for a while, but then the same problems that have been plagued game returned.

To be honest, I haven't been able to play Fallout 76 much this year. Two newest big updates (Steel Dawn, Steel Reign) have turned the game into unplayable, laggy mess. The servers are slow, game runs like a Powerpoint slideshow and it's more and more harder to justify returning to the game. It feels like a chore at this point.

I've tried different fixes and magic tricks, but nothing works. It's irritating because I love this game so much - it's one of my favourite multiplayer games ever and I enjoy the social - unsocial aspect of the gameplay. When the game works, it's fun. But right now, for the most of the time, it don't.

Though it all might be just Brotherhood's fault. Cocky bastards.

Ps. I'm back! And it didn't take five years this time.

Summer Break

Hi! 

I'm taking a little time off / summer break from blogging. It's been fun to write about games and gaming again, but now it's time to sit back and relax for a while.

See you again in August!