It's the end of another month, so you know what that means. More
importantly, it's the end of February 2026. Why does that matter?
Because this date marks the 20th anniversary of these monthly threads!
That's right, we've been sharing our gaming play-lists for two decades
now.* Can you imagine that what started back in February 2006 as a way
to escape the endless discussions about whether or not Steam was
purest evil (or not) here in CSIPGA has lasted this long? And while
the format, responses and responders have changed over the years, the
heart of the discussion remains as true as ever. Here's hoping it
continue for another two decades!
Anyway, enough with this self-congratulatory puffery... on to the
games!
Superbrief
---------------------------------------
* Curse of Monkey Island
* The Expanse: A Telltale Series
* Doom: The Dark Ages
* Doom (2016)
* Doom: Eternal
Maximum Verbosity
---------------------------------------
* Curse of Monkey Island https://store.steampowered.com/app/730820/The_Curse_of_Monkey_Island/
It's been a while since I played this game and, honestly, I can't
remember what prompted me to give it another try. I'm not sorry I did
so, though. This third game in the "Monkey Island" series always was
my favorite, and it failed to disappoint me this time once again!
That said, I remember the game being a lot more robust. Partly,
though, this was my fault. The game has two modes: normal and 'extra puzzles'. I picked the former, thinking it was the regular game, but
it's the super-easy version with at least half the puzzles chopped
out. But by the time I realized that, I was too far into my
play-through to want to restart.
Even so, I remember there being more characters and more conversations
than I got. Obviously my memory was at fault --doubtlessly I was
combining events from the other games in the franchise into my
recollection of this one. It's probably for the best, though. As much
as I enjoyed the goofs and gaffes in this game, my play through was
just the perfect length. Any longer and I think I might have started
to get bored.
While the pixel-art of the first two games will always have a special
place in my heart, I have to admit I rather like the loose animation
style of this third game. It matches the voice-acting far better than
did the tiny sprites of the second game (and much, much better than
the eye-gouging art style of the latest title in the series). The voice-acting itself was extremely well done. Well, mostly; a few times
the actors seemed a bit bored with their readings and could have used
a second attempt. But it was far, far better than most games of its
era, and still holds up pretty well today.
The gameplay was a bit more mixed. Even in the simple-puzzle mode I
played, at times the only solution was to simply click on things or
combine items willy-nilly. About half the puzzles had semi-logical
solutions (or at least hints enough that you could figure out what
nonsense the developers expected of you), but a few of the puzzles
were inscrutable without random guessing. This is par for the course
with Monkey Island games (and adventure games in general) obviously,
but still I wish there had been a little more sign-posting. Stumbling
upon the solution because I randomly combined objects wasn't very
satisfying.
But on the whole, I got a lot of enjoyment from this game. It's funny, well-produced and --despite Ron Gilbert's disowning of its story from
Monkey Island canon-- it has a well-told narrative with great characterizations and locations. I don't know what prompted me to
replay this game, but I'm very glad that I did.
* The Expanse: A Telltale Series https://store.steampowered.com/app/1708010/The_Expanse_A_Telltale_Series/
Apparently I'm on an adventure game kick this month. While I'm not
entirely sure what prompted me to play "Curse of Monkey Island", I do
know why I'm playing this game: I started re-watching the TV series.
(Don't ask me what made me want to watch the show again, though ;-)
Although calling "The Expanse" an adventure game is stretching the
definition quite a bit. Even for a Telltale game (you may be familiar
with some of their other games, such as "The Walking Dead" or the
"Tales from Monkey Island" series), "The Expanse" is extremely linear
and lacking in gameplay. Heck, even compared to /walking sims/, "The
Expanse" isn't much of a game. It's mostly a series of
semi-interactive cutscenes where you have a limited ability to pick
the direction of a conversation.
Well, okay; that's not entirely fair. There are some areas where you
can wander about --either onboard your spaceship, or space walking
amidst wrecks-- but there's not a lot of places to actually /go/, and
very little to interact with. Too much of the gameplay is stumbling
upon the few pickups that are scattered about; these items sometimes-but-not-always give you a few new options in conversations,
but often finding them is just up to dumb luck. There are a few action sequences, but these are mostly (extremely slow) quick-time events,
where the only challenge is if the computer will recognize your key/mouse-click (there's about a 25% chance the game just doesn't
acknowledge it no matter how strenuously you pound on the controller,
a bug that makes these sequences all the more annoying).
Like other Telltale games, there isn't really a way to "fail" the
game. You can die in an occasional action sequence, but you're quickly revived at the last checkpoint, which makes those bits pretty
pointless. Beyond that, all the effects of any of your few choices are pre-scripted, with the plot pretty heavily railroading you through the narrative and only occasionally diverging to acknowledge some of your choices. There is no 'optimal' path, so trying to meta-game and find
the 'best' ending is pointless. Really, you just need to relax and
enjoy the show.
Because, really, that's what this 'game' is: it's a show intended more
for you to watch more than play. It's not a bad story (not great, but passable sci-fi) and I enjoyed mucking about in some of the
nooks'n'crannies of the Expanse universe... but it's a pretty shitty
game. Honestly, I think the overall experience would have been better
if they'd just ripped out all the interactive bits and presented it as
a CGI film. The pretense of giving the player any freedom only for it
not to matter at all annoyed me more than it gave me any enjoyment.
Still, that's sort of par for the course with Telltale games (even if,
as I said, this one leans more towards that extreme than any other of
their titles). I didn't mind immersing myself in another story of The Expanse. I just wish they'd actually made a game of it, for once.
* Doom: The Dark Ages https://store.steampowered.com/app/3017860/DOOM_The_Dark_Ages/
Well, I finally got around to playing "Doom: The Dark Ages"... and I
can't believe I'm saying this, but I actually find myself missing the push-forward mechanics of the previous two games.
This mechanic, introduced in both "Doom (2016)" and "Doom: Eternal"
stressed fast movement, constantly switching it up between melee and
ranged combat, and the levels were designed to take advantage of this.
There were plentiful jump pads and opportunities to take advantage of
the vertical as you leaped and bounded your way across arenas,
constantly circle-strafing around enemies as you peppered your demonic
foes with bullets. It isn't my usual method of FPS combat and, if
pushed, I'll admit it's not what I prefer (I like hanging back and
sniping from afar). But it gave the Doom reboot games their own
character.
"Doom: The Dark Ages" feels quite different. While you're actually
still quite speedy, it /feels/ like you're driving a truck. There's a significant weight to the character and he feels comparatively clunky
when put against the earlier games. You don't strafe quite as readily
(except through dodge moves) and you're expected to either tank the
damage or (better) use your shield to reflect it back at enemies. It's
not /bad/, mechanically, but it feels completely different to earlier
games.
Levels and combat reflect this change. Enemies move slower and don't
clump around you as quickly; their incoming projectiles are larger and
slower (the better so you can get your shield up in time). The levels
are wider, but flatter; there's much less verticality to this game. In
many ways, this game reminded me of "Doom 3" (2004) in how radically different it felt to its predecessors; that game was also much slower.
Not that I thought "Doom 3" was a bad game... just that it didn't feel
like "Doom".
I wasn't that impressed with the level design or the connecting
narrative either. The former felt too broad and... well, not
repetitive but drawn out. It felt with some of the levels --especially
the larger battle-zones-- that they just kept going and going. Also,
while secret-hunting has been part and parcel of the franchise since
the very first game, it seemed the developers had gone a bit overboard
with it in "Dark Ages"; not only were there just too many things to
look for, but almost all the secrets required some trick to unlock
first. Searching for all the hidden loot really slowed down a game
that was already feeling a bit glacial.
Similarly, while there were some neat ideas in the story (<ROT13>Lbh
trg gb svtug Pguhyuh!!!</ROT13>), the overall pacing and direction
felt a bit aimless; as if the developers just wanted to play around in
a giant metal-fantasy sandbox and then had to reason out after the
fact why you were doing all these things. Of course, story in the Doom
games is always secondary, but given how much of it there was in "Dark
Age", it all felt a bit messy and unfocused.
Like I said, I don't think "Doom: The Dark Ages" is a bad game... but
it's very different from what came before and just didn't seem to have
the same polish and uniqueness. I played it to the end, I mostly
enjoyed, but I can't see myself going back any time soon. Eventually
maybe, but there's just not a lot about the game that makes we want to
play it over any other.
* Doom (2016)
https://store.steampowered.com/app/379720/DOOM/
Having just played the latest game of the Doom reboot trilogy, I just
had to go back and play the first of the new games. Mostly I did so
because I wanted to see how the narratives connected, and to compare
the gameplay and visuals of the two games.
The first difference I noted was the speed; Doomguy 2016 moves with significantly more alacrity and grace than his later variation. It's
not just forward speed; he turns faster too, and most of his actions --jumping, mantling, etc.-- just feel more snappy. But I'll admit at
least part of it is psychological; "Dark Ages" Doomguy's every
footstep is loud and solid, and when he falls any distance he hits the
ground with a reverberating boom. The Doomguy from the 2016 game is
almost ninja-quiet in comparison, and that lack of impact makes him
feel a lot faster.
The level design is a lot more streamlined in the 2016 game too, to
the point it almost feels railroaded. Each level has five or six gated
combat arenas, with intervening passages connecting them. If you're
quick (and not too focused on secret hunting), you can get through
most levels in fifteen to twenty minutes. Those combat arenas, though,
are wild; most are three or four floors high, with numerous
switch-back passages looping around a center core. The combat demands
you be constantly on the move, and while each arena is fairly
contained, there's a lot of territory to cover. In "Dark Ages", my
combat style was like a tsunami, bearing down on the enemy line and
bringing inevitable death. In "Doom (2016)", I was more of a rabid
badger, striking hard and fast, then dodging away to take a swing at
somebody across the room, then heading back for the kill. In terms of personality and narrative, I like the former more... but the
quicker-paced combat in the 2016 game was more fun.
That said, despite their small size, the levels in 2016 felt a lot
more mazelike. The game could have used some more sign-posting to
indicate where to go next. It didn't help that --because of the
frenetic nature of the fights-- it was easy to get turned around on
yourself and forget which way you'd come in. More than a few times I doubled-back on myself, or got lost trying to figure out where I was
supposed to be going. Too, the game relied a bit too much on
platforming and jumps over instant-death chasms. The jumping wasn't
that difficult... but neither was it fun, and every time I missed a
jump and had to restart from a checkpoint made me wonder why I kept
playing.
The levels themselves, though, were densely detailed. While "Dark Age"
may be technically superior, I think artistically the 2016 game had
more character and work put into the design. On the other hand, it's
story felt a lot shallower (if better paced). Having played the entire trilogy, I can tell how much work was put into the setting, but the
game itself didn't call much attention to it. In fact, sometimes it
felt a bit nonsensical and it's only now that I've played the later
games that I can see how all the bits fall neatly together. But as a stand-alone product? The narrative is the game's weakest part.
Oh, and I still really dislike the music. It's just too discordant for
my taste.
Overall, I enjoyed my play through. I didn't spend that much time with
the game (just enough to whip through the campaign, without spending
any time hunting for secrets or mastering the various challenge maps),
but that was enough for me. Between this game and "Dark Ages", I think
I prefer the 2016 game more... but it's a close match. The only real
question I have now is... am I going to play "Eternal" or not?
* Doom: Eternal
https://store.steampowered.com/app/782330/DOOM_Eternal/
Yeah, so of course I went ahead and re-played "Doom: Eternal". Having
come so far, how could I not?
Of all of the games of the 'nuDoom' trilogy, I have to say this is my favorite. I mean, I still hold the original 1990s games in higher
regard (and in general prefer slower-paced first-person shooters
overall) but "Eternal" has a lot going for it too.
As I said, I'm not the biggest fan of the fast-paced 'push-forward'
combat mechanics; my usual style is to hang back and snipe enemies
from afar where they can't hurt me. But that's more a matter of taste
than any deprecation of the game-play. Once you get the hang of it,
the gun-play in "Doom Eternal" is almost balletic. Even if I can't
ever love it, I can admire its elegance. And meanwhile, there's a lot
else about the game that appeals to me.
Mostly I like the way the setting is presented. I've teased nuDoom
about the amount of lore it has (after all, this is a game mostly
about 'angry man shooting demons'; how much story do you really need
beyond that?) but the pace at which it's all offered in this game is
just right. This includes more than the various lore-dumps in the
cutscenes or log files. It's all the environmental storytelling; the
visuals, the level design, the works. "Doom (2016)" felt a bit shallow
in this regard; it left a lot unsaid. "Doom: Dark Ages" went too far
in the other direction, with an increasingly messy backstory that
often got in the way of its own gameplay. But "Doom: Eternal" has just
the right balance. The music is still a bit overbearing at times,
though.
I like the gameplay more too. The push-forward combat feels a lot more polished than in the 2016 game; everything feels a lot more balanced
(with the sole exception of the marauder, which is a bit too much of a
'trick boss' that can only be injured on very specific frames, which
feels completely off-track with the rest of the game's design). I may
also be the only person who played "Eternal" that actually liked the inter-combat platforming and exploration. It added (in my opinion) a
nice balance to the frenetic fights; a chance to cool down that made
the combat all the more exciting once it began anew.
Is "Doom: Eternal" the bestest and greatest of the Doom games, or first-person shooters? No, I won't claim that... but if you have to
play any of the nuDoom series, I still say this one is the best.
(And before you ask, no, I'm not going to go back and play the earlier
games next. Or am I? No, no I am not.)
---------------------------------------
Alright, that's how I spent my 20th February since these threads
began. How about you? What games have you been playing (and how long
ago since you started posting about them here?) Basically, we wanna
know:
What Have You Been Playing... IN FEBRUARY 2026?
----
* give or take. There have been a few interruptions over the years.
Then again, the idea behind this thread existed before 2006; it just
wasn't a regular thing. So it probably all evens out, and I've no
qualms about saying that we've done this thing 240 times ;-)
| Sysop: | DaiTengu |
|---|---|
| Location: | Appleton, WI |
| Users: | 1,113 |
| Nodes: | 10 (0 / 10) |
| Uptime: | 492334:16:06 |
| Calls: | 14,238 |
| Files: | 186,312 |
| D/L today: |
3,199 files (1,045M bytes) |
| Messages: | 2,514,806 |