Games! (and things which are not games)
Jul. 9th, 2015 04:13 pmBooks:
A Season for Scandal by Stephanie Laurens: marriage of convenience regency romance I was enjoying until the Evil Irish Villain got a bit too irritating, will go back to it eventually.
Anime:
Tsurimita: cheerful and deeply confusing story about teenage boys in a seaside town where one of them is...a fish? Or an alien? Or something?? I only got through the first episode, I may watch more when I don't mind being confused. The main character seems to have some sort of magical anxiety disorder (EDIT: apparently not magical)
Games:
Alphabear: a cute, fun word game from the maker of Triple Town. "Free", but I quickly paid $7 not to have to wait for the timer to refill. I can't think of how to describe the mechanic succinctly, look at the site. Doing well wins/levels ups adorable bears with different bonuses that you use to help you win harder boss battles. For iOS and Android.
The Broken Sword: Shadow of the Templars (directors cut): nicely revamped 90s noir-ish point and click adventure game. The PC switches between a feisty female French photojournalist and a snarky, idealistic male American tourist as they try to solve a set of murders. I haven't finished it yet but so far it's pretty enjoyable if a bit cliched and sexist-noir-tropey. I've had to use a walkthrough here and there but the answers usually made sense in retrospect asides from a few "keep talking to characters A and B until conversation option C comes up" moments.
Grim Fandango (remastered): less nicely revamped 90s noir-ish point and click adventure game. The protagonist is a salesman in the Mexican Land of the Dead. Would make for a funny, inventive animated movie but I found the puzzles so annoying I used a walkthrough and then that was STILL irritating so I watched a Let's Play (whose player kept laughing at how nonsensical some of the solutions are) Also a bit sexist-noir-tropey. I'm not sure how Mexicans would feel about their culture being used as backdrop to a very US American story. But the plot, writing, and characters are entertaining enough that it was still a worthwhile experience.
Awakening: The Goblin Kingdom: more of Princess Sophia's hidden object adventures. Much the same as the others, but with better hints and some unfortunate racist subtext (there's simplistic forest creatures wearing Native American headresses etc :/)
Dragon Age Inquisition: Jaws of Hakkon expansion: Finally finished this! It had some interesting history and information on the Avvar, as well as some challenging fights, but very little plot. Also while the tropical landscape was pretty I found it geographically confusing for the mountains of Southern Ferelden.
RUSH: pure puzzle game I forgot we owned. Send coloured balls into the right holes through complex maps. Cam used to LOVE it, I find the puzzles a bit too tricky and reliant on imagining things in 3D but it's certainly an interesting brain workout.
Lume: A short, cute, frustrating puzzle game with a mildly interesting aesthetic. It turns out this is only a teaser for a planned longer game I have no intention of playing when it comes out. The plot is slight (you are a girl fixing her inventor grandad's house) and the puzzles irritating. I only paid about $1 and that's about what it was worth.
A Season for Scandal by Stephanie Laurens: marriage of convenience regency romance I was enjoying until the Evil Irish Villain got a bit too irritating, will go back to it eventually.
Anime:
Tsurimita: cheerful and deeply confusing story about teenage boys in a seaside town where one of them is...a fish? Or an alien? Or something?? I only got through the first episode, I may watch more when I don't mind being confused. The main character seems to have some sort of magical anxiety disorder (EDIT: apparently not magical)
Games:
Alphabear: a cute, fun word game from the maker of Triple Town. "Free", but I quickly paid $7 not to have to wait for the timer to refill. I can't think of how to describe the mechanic succinctly, look at the site. Doing well wins/levels ups adorable bears with different bonuses that you use to help you win harder boss battles. For iOS and Android.
The Broken Sword: Shadow of the Templars (directors cut): nicely revamped 90s noir-ish point and click adventure game. The PC switches between a feisty female French photojournalist and a snarky, idealistic male American tourist as they try to solve a set of murders. I haven't finished it yet but so far it's pretty enjoyable if a bit cliched and sexist-noir-tropey. I've had to use a walkthrough here and there but the answers usually made sense in retrospect asides from a few "keep talking to characters A and B until conversation option C comes up" moments.
Grim Fandango (remastered): less nicely revamped 90s noir-ish point and click adventure game. The protagonist is a salesman in the Mexican Land of the Dead. Would make for a funny, inventive animated movie but I found the puzzles so annoying I used a walkthrough and then that was STILL irritating so I watched a Let's Play (whose player kept laughing at how nonsensical some of the solutions are) Also a bit sexist-noir-tropey. I'm not sure how Mexicans would feel about their culture being used as backdrop to a very US American story. But the plot, writing, and characters are entertaining enough that it was still a worthwhile experience.
Awakening: The Goblin Kingdom: more of Princess Sophia's hidden object adventures. Much the same as the others, but with better hints and some unfortunate racist subtext (there's simplistic forest creatures wearing Native American headresses etc :/)
Dragon Age Inquisition: Jaws of Hakkon expansion: Finally finished this! It had some interesting history and information on the Avvar, as well as some challenging fights, but very little plot. Also while the tropical landscape was pretty I found it geographically confusing for the mountains of Southern Ferelden.
RUSH: pure puzzle game I forgot we owned. Send coloured balls into the right holes through complex maps. Cam used to LOVE it, I find the puzzles a bit too tricky and reliant on imagining things in 3D but it's certainly an interesting brain workout.
Lume: A short, cute, frustrating puzzle game with a mildly interesting aesthetic. It turns out this is only a teaser for a planned longer game I have no intention of playing when it comes out. The plot is slight (you are a girl fixing her inventor grandad's house) and the puzzles irritating. I only paid about $1 and that's about what it was worth.
no subject
Date: 2015-07-09 09:22 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-07-09 09:56 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-07-10 03:16 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-07-10 05:09 pm (UTC)Good to know, thanks!
no subject
Date: 2015-07-10 05:20 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-07-10 05:08 pm (UTC)I'd actually totally forgotten about it after saving the link to my "check out when bored" folder. starts download of demo before I forget again
no subject
Date: 2015-07-10 07:40 pm (UTC)