#pc
#pc
by Amr (@siegarettes)
For my money the war in the Middle East, at least within fiction, is separated by two eras: The Bush and Obama Eras. The first marked by “shock and awe” bombing campaigns and boots-on-the-ground military action, and the latter defined by the increase of drone warfare and escalating tech fetishism. Insurgency: Sandstorm is strictly rooted in that Bush Era, War on Terror understanding of the Middle East, and while it’s not any more morally comfortable, there’s a certain fervor to the era’s perspective that feels anachronistic today. It’s in the very name: the idea of an insurgency feels outdated, and its presentation of the insurgent enemies certainly is.
by Amr (@siegarettes)
The island of Pipe Push Paradise has an infrastructure problem. They have a single plumber, and he’s been asleep for about a week. And of course every pipe seems to have come undone since then. That’s where I enter, on a lonely sailboat, coming to fix the plumbing problems of a town that seems almost indifferent to my existence.
Out of sheer indignance and stubbornness I’d like to say that I’ll complete all of Pipe Push Paradise’s puzzles. But sometimes you’ve got admit when you’re over your head, and I am waaaaay over my head with these problems. The flat shaded, Golden Books-esque aesthetic might seem inviting, but it quickly became clear that this island’s plumbing problems are mind bending nightmares.
by Amr (@siegarettes)
I know my tastes. FM synth. Grappling hooks. Momentum platformers. That’s what Grapple Force Rena’s got and what I expected to enjoy about it. What I didn’t expect was it to be so goddamn funny.
There’s none of that groan worthy videogame humor that other games use as a crutch. Rena is clear-eyed comedy–using smartly written character dialogue, situations, timing and visual gags to deliver punctuation to a scene. It’s got a wonderful cadence and playfulness to it. Honestly, I’m laughing to myself just remembering them.
by Amr (@siegarettes)
Before I even began Mutant Year Zero it was broken. Starting a new game greeted me with a bizarre “Do you want to continue without saving?” prompt which didn’t allow me to continue unless I said yes. It was only after I played a session without dialogue or area transitions triggering, dying to enemies I obviously wasn’t supposed to fight, that I was able to play the game intact. Even then it was clear that this game was going to be a rough ride. This is a harsh game that made it clear it would beat me down every step of the way, sometimes with exhilarating, but often frustrating, results.
by Amr (@siegarettes)
Good hand drawn art always gets to me. Despite how impressive games look now, with all the variety of art styles, there’s a certain warmth to hand drawn art and the effort put into them that never fails to charm me. Nairi: Tower of Shirin is one of those charming entries, and it takes full advantage of that warmth with a strong storybook vibe.
by Amr (@siegarettes)
It took a lot of reprogramming for me to get into Override: Mech City Brawl. Out of the gate it reminded me of other arena fighters like Gundam Versus or ARMS. Override is slower paced, focused more on physicality than speed. If other arena fighters present their characters as nimble fighter jets, then Override’s mechs are thrashing heavyweight boxers, crushing the city underfoot as they battle. It’s awkward to start with, but as I adapted to it the game started to show promise.
by Amr (@siegarettes)
It’s winter in Chicago. As I return to Mudrunner for the first time since last year, I can’t help but think of the way it reminds me of driving through a Midwest snowstorm. There’s a different vibe, but the physicality of it, the emotional content, it’s the same. Mudrunner is all the frustration and triumph of parallel parking on a snowed out street. It’s a translation of the way the tires crest and crush the waves of wet earth. The way the suspension tries to push back, until it can’t. The grinding of the wheels as they steer back and forth trying to clear a path.
Mudrunner is ostensibly a game simply about driving piles of logs between destinations, but it is also a game about the journey and the struggle between you and its primary character: the ever changing muddy terrain.
