STAR WARS™ Jedi Knight - Jedi Academy™
Probably one of the best Star Wars games out there, in between Republic Commando and Battlefront II of course. This was from a long forgotten era of games where the developers cared about what they were doing, and greed wasn’t as prominent as it is today.
Made by Raven Softworks, Jedi Academy is the 4th installment of the Jedi series of games, and the last in the series. At the time this game was considered more or less an expansion to Jedi Outcasts rather than its own game. Because of this the initial sales for the game on release weren’t amazing, and critics were pretty harsh on it, but like a lot of old movies and games it has managed to build up a cult following surrounding it years later.
– Real player with 53.4 hrs in game
Read More: Best Action Third Person Games.
you know, i have to say. i own this game and Jedi Outcast on cd, and have put 1000’s of hours into both of them. they are amongst my favorite starwars games, ever made. get them, and play them, and don’t forget to use dismemberment cheats in outcast, and a dismemberment mod for academy, (also rebind force pull to mouse wheel down, and force push to mouse wheel up.) What enabling dismemberment in these games does, is remove the hitbox during saber swings, and instead, have the samer constantly do near insta kill damage to anything it hits. therfore, you keep the animations from swings, but they become more diverse, allowing you to use the animations in unique ways to hit enemies all around you. it also affects enemy jedi the same way, making saber duels much like the movies, first one to get hit, loses something. add in a plethera of fun cheats, and the game never gets old. Never before have you felt like such a legitimate jedi. with all the powers available to you, there is so much that you can do, you’ll never want to stop playing. Imagine being able to ligning a room full of baddies into a corner, or backflip shop a guys head clean off, or force push a rocket back into someones face. well you can. but you can do more than that. Try force choking a tough enemy, jumping 3 stories into the air, and force pushing them upwards so high, that the fall kills them shortly after you land. Try slowing down time with force speed, and running around with a rocket launcher, firing one shot at everyone in a room, then speeding up time again to watch them all die at once. Try dueling an enemy jedi with dismemberment on. try turning off enemy targeting in the console, along with noclipping, and setting up unique encounters with enemies in levels you’ve allready played. you can even set up boss fights as you play through the game over, and over again. try spawining in a bunch of enemy sith in the next area, then going back where you were, and spawing in a ton of friendly jedi. then you adventure into the craziest battles you’ve ever seen, and i cant stress this enough, with dismemberment, these fights are thrilling and nuts. try accidently cutting off your allies head, or watching a sith do the same. try force choke, into backflip insta kill. try everything.
– Real player with 46.0 hrs in game
Headlander
Headlander is a 70s style sci-fi Metroidvania game from “Double Fine Games” and published by Adult Swim.
During the current indie renaissance we are currently seeing a decent amount of Metroidvania games none of which from Castlevania or Metroid but that’s a conversation for another time.
A few videos ago we looked at the rather excellent Ghost 1.0 and actually Headlander is in many ways very similar so is it worth jumping in for some more Metroidvania loveliness yet again?
Headlander sees you in a futuristic Dystopia where mankind have replaced their bodies with robotic ones. The main premise of the game is you are the last human awoken from cryogenic storage and thus only your head has survived. So you find yourself as a floating head in a jar which can float around and attach yourself to other robots. The setting of the game is vaguely reminiscent of something like Logan’s Run in terms of style.
– Real player with 53.5 hrs in game
Read More: Best Action Platformer Games.
Headlander is a game made in 2D Metroidvania style and reminds me of a game I played in the past titled Apotheon. They’re both in 2D and look like low budget games. However, the similarities end there. Apotheon is set in ancient Greece whereas Headlander is set in a sci-fi 1970s world with both a retro and futuristic look. Headlander represents retrofuturism. The music has a groovy beat and sounds like 1970s disco.
You begin the game choosing a male or female Headlander. You are just a disembodied head inside a spacesuit helmet. You have no torso or larynx. Therefore, you have no voice. There is a jet thruster in the place where your larynx should be. You are the only human in the game and are guided by an AI named Earl, a male voice with an American southern accent.
– Real player with 30.5 hrs in game
Advent Rising
This review contains spoilers:
I played Advent Rising three or so times over the 30+ hours I’ve played it on Steam. I went through the first time saving Gideon’s fiancé, and the second time saving Gideon’s brother. This is really the only, somewhat, major choice in the game. At least on the surface. There are other surface level choices, but many of the actual choices the game notes happen during play - recorded to be used, presumably, in a sequel that never came.
It really only affects who accompanies you through the early game, and a portion of the post-credits game. The first time I played through legitimately and on normal difficulty. The second time I used a cheat to give Gideon infinite health and energy so I could take a bunch of screenshots without getting killed or running out of energy for the things I was trying to screenshot. The third time I went for the hardest difficulty and a legitimate play through.
– Real player with 33.8 hrs in game
Read More: Best Action Third-Person Shooter Games.
spoilers to anyone who hasn’t played or seen it
Honestly, I enjoyed it. The story is what kept my attention; I’ve been wanting to play it since I first saw the trailer back in 2004. It struck my fancy because I was dying for something like Star Wars (I didn’t have a PC to play Jedi Outcast or Jedi Academy).
I can see where they cut corners in the story; they were banking hard on it being a trilogy, but if certain things were fixed (namely the ending), Advent Rising could be a good standalone story. The parts that made me raise my eyebrow is the sections when Gideon got new powers - it was literally powers as the plot demanded it. I tried to rationalize it by saying that with each tragedy he suffered (the capture of his brother, the human race getting Death Balled, the high priest of the Aurelians getting stabbed in front of the council, and his girlfriend drowning), it triggered more of his potential. But the corner-cutting became more and more obvious.
– Real player with 16.0 hrs in game
Halo: Spartan Strike
I am going to write this review using only facts and at the very end I will give a quick ‘my opinion’ portion.
So here they are, a buncha random facts about the game.
**### Game - Halo: Spartan Strike
Review Date - 07/15/2015
Platform - PC/Steam**
Features:
-The game was developed by 343 Industries and Vanguard Entertainment
-As of 07/15/2015 the pc version of this game does not have co op and there are 6 operations with 5 missions each.
-You can rebind most of the keys. You cannot rebind the functions Pause (escape) fire (left click) throw grenade (right click) when using keyboard and mouse.
– Real player with 15.7 hrs in game
Halo: Spartan Strike
Like its predecessor “Spartan Assualt”, the game is a from above “twin stick” shooter spin-off Halo game.
As mentioned in that review I recommend playing it with a Xbox-360/One Controller.
The story line is about palying as a Spartan/s, denying the enemies the conquest of Earth.
Now you will start to face the Prometheans, the enemies introduced in “Halo 4” and the graphics and overall game experience has improved with this installment.
There are still 30 missions, but the side-missions (still 3 per level) are now displayed with the start of each mission and if you replay the mission you can even track the progress towards each mission. This is a great improvement and the grind missions are fewer, but still some annoying ones. Overall I also felt that the difficulty was lower in this game eventhough I excpect theme to finish in about the same time. You can also make things easier by buying “perks-per mission”( do not remember what they are called) increasing damage or score awarded etc. This is really helpful for achieving some of the harder gold medals.
– Real player with 11.5 hrs in game
Mass Effect™ 3 N7 Digital Deluxe Edition (2012)
9/10
Graphics
☐ Beautiful
☑ Average (The textures have aged poorly, set pieces however hold up very well, ‘ALOT texture overhaul mod’ HIGHLY recommended)
☐ Outdated
Gameplay
☑ Very Fun (Just a lot of fun, especially biotics everything feels so much smoother over previous entries, never got bored)
☐ Average
☐ Repetitive
Audio
☑ High quality (Great audio mixing, everything from enemies to weapons, biotics to music are all some of the best a game can offer)
☐ Average
☐ Repetitive
Difficulty
☑ Hard (On Insanity, enemies *Seem to hit a little harder than in ME2 though weapons and biotics are more effective in ME3)
– Real player with 212.9 hrs in game
I recommend this game, But not on Steam.
In its Current State, The game is unplayable.
Edit:
There is an Unofficial workaround, installing ReShade seems to Solve the FPS problems, You don’t even need to install any of the filters, Just reshade, and point it at ME3 and the Stuttering is fixed.
(This isn’t a Guaranteed fix as some users found that this didn’t work or that ReShade isn’t compatible with their PC’s)
Still not recommending this as;
- Performance Issues
Without going to extra effort. The game Runs at a solid 60 FPS easily, but dips down frequently during cutscenes and gameplay, down to 22 and even full freezes for a half second or so.
– Real player with 51.7 hrs in game
Shadowgrounds Survivor
Shadowgrounds Survivor is the unmistakable sequel to previous years top down horde mode shooter Shadowgrounds. Unmistakable because if you didn’t see the title you’d be hard pressed to tell them apart.
That’s not to say Survivor doesn’t introduce a few new features, multiple playable characters and a more detailed level progression makes the game a good deal more engaging as you go along. The storyline is as was in the original utterly forgettable and can be easily ignored.
The greatest strength of Shadowgrounds Survivor is once again it’s use of atmospheric lightning which does a good job at turning otherwise bland encounters with the alien horde into something a little more suspenseful, lending somewhat from the horror genre.
– Real player with 22.5 hrs in game
Like its immediate predecessor, Survivor is a top-down shooter that hearkens back to the days of Smash TV and Total Carnage, except that there is a much more detailed plot and a heavy nod to role-playing games. As opposed to the blanket machine-part upgrade system of Shadowgrounds, Survivor has implemented a more refined approach, with unique class abilities, general class abilities and weapon abilities tailored to each of the three characters.
Basic gameplay is still kill or be killed, run and gun, etc. Every kill nets you some experience, which is banked toward increased levels, and each level brings with it some upgrade points. Weapon upgrade parts are still found on the battlefield, dropped by enemies, but now you also get class-specific abilities and character tweaks. These are what increase with each level. Using the marine as an example, you’ll be able to buy quick weapon reloads, tough skin and fragmentation grenades. This is in addition to the basic set of character improvements that all three avatars have: radar display, increased health, critical hits, and an “auto-doctor” that will dose you with a health kit (if you have one stockpiled) if you fall below 50% health at any time.
– Real player with 9.0 hrs in game
Incoming Forces
NOTE: This game is a collection of original Incoming and Incoming Forces.
My first PC game is the original Incoming. It’s still good today.
For Incoming:
Pros:
-
Various game modes. It includes three single player modes and four multiplayer modes. You can select arcade, campaign action/tactical, split screen, team deathmatch and other modes.
-
Two secret mini-games. You need to type a cheat code “numberonedacrestreet” on the main menu in order to play them.
-
Very beautiful explosion and debris.
– Real player with 46.4 hrs in game
Whoever got ahold of the IP for this ancient game felt they could print some money by dumping it on Steam. They didn’t bother making it actually work, however! Numberous critical bugs and incompatibility issues from Windows 8 upwards prevent it from running at all, unless you want to spend more time fixing legacy compatibility issues than there is content in the game. Even then, don’t expect any stability or enjoyment. It’s just too buggy.
Other publications have had some effort put in making them compatible on newer systems, so there’s no excuse here.
– Real player with 28.3 hrs in game
Apollo Red Moon
Apollo Red Moon - is a retro sci fi fast paced shooter. That takes action in alternative history. As a member of Apollo Mission, after successful landing on the moon, you were amubushed and taken prisoner by Soviets who builds military base on the moon.
Your mission is to survive and find out what’s going on, establish contact with orbiting comand module and get back to earth.
You have to gather intel, and sabotage soviet structures.
You have to watch out for oxygen levels and other factors that allow you to survive in space
Remeber to keep your suit fully sealed and powered up
Take control on space rovers, armored suit and many more
Choose your patch, stay stealth and deadly or just jump in and destroy everything around
Or maybe it’s just dreams caused by the failure of life-support systems.
Maybe you’ll never make it to the moon
Find out by yourself!
Drone Swarm
Not really swarming with fun…
I like the upgrading of your ship and all the new abilities that you acquire, and I like the graphics too… and the gimmick in the main-menu is fun to play with for all of 2 minutes… but yeah man, other than those points, I just didn’t really find the game to be fun. I mean, it’s certainly not anti-fun or a fun-vampire at all, but I just kinda found myself plodding along doing mission after mission and watching cinematics for a story that I didn’t really care for. But the game is pretty high quality and it certainly has a lot of redeeming qualities so I’ll give it a recommended. I do however think the $25 price tag is slightly too high and the fact that the game has the Deadnuvo virus is almost enough basis on its own to not recommend the game… guess I’m feeling generous today, but seriously: Deadnuvo is a bag of Meekrob..
– Real player with 111.7 hrs in game
**This is an excerpt of my much more detailed review and analysis, that you can find here (ENG & DE) and also as Video below.
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Opinion and conclusion**
Drone Swarm has a very original and unique concept that can be really fun if you like the setting and controls. The drone controls are usually very catchy and the fights are strategically scattered between easy and super tricky. But here you sometimes wonder if you could get some additional explanations.
– Real player with 21.3 hrs in game
MechRunner
Strangely addictive. Fun blast ‘em up.
– Real player with 15.3 hrs in game
Imagine taking a Transformers type game, and then transforming it into an on-rails-shooter! What you’d soon find yourself immersed inside of is the action-packed sci-fi game I’m about to review now, aptly called MechRunner, which was recently developed & published by Spark Plug Games this past year.
Its storyline is admittedly a rather interesting one, in that it based on partially factual events from the past. And it plays out like this: alien technology fell into Russian hands during the Tunguska incident in Siberia which had caused an unexplained massive explosion in the area. But in fact, it was actually a crashed alien spaceship that was found to be the real cause, and soon the Russian KGB were building highly advanced weaponry from this other-wordly technology discovered on subsequent expeditions there in the following years. However, it somehow caused those in charge to go completely mad as a result, and a conquest of Europe soon ensued. But one of the engineers went AWOL from the program and soon created his own super mech to battle head-to-head against theirs, in order to halt the unfolding chaos. Fantastic stuff, and it soon had me excited to give this game a try as I wanted to see how impressive this alien technology really was. Suffice to say, I was not at all disappointed!
– Real player with 8.8 hrs in game