Mafia
Oh boy where do I even start, “Mafia” is an old classic, a very underrated game by today’s standards. I remember playing this game when i was in grade school, much later in 2011 I bought this game on Steam too and I have never actually wrote a review for this game.
Reading through other reviews by people, the media and even newer “retro” reviews I was glad that people do still remember this great game even after more than 16 years since it was released. On the other hand I was annoyed a bit that people still try to compare “Mafia” to the “Grand Theft Auto” series which just blows my mind, this game isn’t GTA and it was never meant to be a “GTA” game. Just because there is a semi-open world with a bit of driving involved, a character that you control in 3rd person doesn’t mean it’s automatically a “GTA” clone.
– Real player with 59.4 hrs in game
Read More: Best Classic Crime Games.
Nothing to complain about Mafia, this is objectively a masterpiece that came out in 2002. The game tells the story about a Taxi Driver, Tommy Angelo. Tommy, while working at night in the 1930s, stumbled across 2 gangsters from the Salieri’s Family. Since that night, his life changed entirely.
Sound and Music:
While playing Mafia, the player will completely dive in the atmosphere of the game: perfect sound and music experience (I’ll talk more technically about sounds and music later in this review). I highly recommend playing the game with Stereo Headphones. Just as an example, during the “A Trip To The Country” mission, that thunderstorm effect really makes you feel like you’re in the game during the whole chapter.
– Real player with 48.6 hrs in game
Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura
Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura… oh, this game…
In spite of my low ownership, I am more than familiar with this bizarre, wonderful masterpiece, a game I sometimes thought was a complete fever dream from the depths of my imagination, among a strange number of other games including an action game involving Skittles and a dark knight. I’m still not sure that one still exists, though.
Arcanum is NOT a fever dream, however, and does in fact exist and is a masterpiece of a forgotten era where computers had the ability to deal with the unique and antiquated graphical features on their own. Because Microsoft doesn’t know how to keep good features from previous operating systems, it is imperative that you look up a tutorial on how to play this game, and while on your way, pick up an unofficial patch and maybe a few mods; one of which being Virgil’s Debug Menu. You won’t regret it.
– Real player with 684.3 hrs in game
Read More: Best Classic Steampunk Games.
In my ongoing and likely futile effort to write a Steam review for every game in my library (#450 out of 612)… it’s time for Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magicka Obscura.
Arcanum is one of the finest CRPGs ever made, and arguably the most impressive product legendary (if somewhat infamous) developer Troika Games ever built. It’s a massive,, brilliantly open game in the vein of Fallout that offers players an unprecedented degree of freeom with regard to how they build their characters, how they play the game, and how they progress through the world. It’s difficult to overstate just how deeply engaging Arcanum can be—this one is a classic roleplaying game for very good reason.
– Real player with 124.4 hrs in game
CHRONO TRIGGER®
This game will be one of my favorite JRPG of all time. I have known that Japanese gamers has voted this game for the best game of Heisei era (1989-2019). I played it and now I know why. I recommended for both JRPG lovers and those who want to start playing JRPGs.
– Real player with 61.9 hrs in game
Read More: Best Classic Great Soundtrack Games.
Honestly, it aged gracefully, from both a gameplay and a story perspective! 10/10.
– Real player with 58.2 hrs in game
Grim Fandango Remastered
TIM SCHAFER’S “GRIM FANDANGO”!
There are tons of guides out there. Why you should read mine? I had beat the old version of this video-game around 8 times. Also, I damn love Grim Fandango. Trust me, you will get good info on this one.
This game is one of those that catch your soul and your heart and attach to it like if it will never let you go. It’s like if this game eat your soul, but in a good way. In this video-game you are in the shoes of Manuel “Manny” Calavera. You are a travel agent that work for a company called the DOM “Department of the Death” right at the Land of the Death, and your mission is to sell the best commission to the people that came right after death. The objective is to give to each person what deserves for being good or bad in life. The good people go to heaven, but things change when you discover a conspiracy behind the DOM and you meet Mercedes “Merche” Colomar. The world as Manuel Calavera knows it changes forever. Grim Fandango it’s a game that contains amazing art, and incredible story and a very fun gameplay.
– Real player with 40.2 hrs in game
🚀 Overview
** Original **
| 👍 Merits | 👎 Flaws |
|
✔️ Engaging story
✔️ Tip-top character design
✔️ Amusing dialogue and voicework
✔️ Multilayered level design
✔️ Schmick art direction
✔️ Fantastic soundtrack
|
❌ Overuse of bizzare logic in puzzles
❌ A complete lack of primitive hints
❌ Clunky controls
|
** Remastered **
– Real player with 23.5 hrs in game
Maniac Mansion
“Maniac Mansion” is one of the first point and click adventures of LucasArts (published back in 1987) and one of the games that set the tone at the beginning of the genre’s golden era. Beautiful colorful aesthetics, clever puzzles, multiple characters, fantastic humor and iconic music are some of its characteristics. Yet, it’s gameplay logic is still a little bit primitive compared to the following LucasArts' games and I’m not a big fun of deaths and dead ends. But it is one the most classical games out there so you have to play it.
– Real player with 13.6 hrs in game
LucasArts classic wacky adventure and a predecessor of an even bigger classic – Day of The Tentacle. Nostalgic point’n’click not without its flaws.
The set-up is simple and is largely left off-screen – you and a few of your friends (which you get to choose at the beginning of the game) need to rescue your girlfriend Sandy from being kidnapped by Dr. Fred for experiments. Starting at the gate of not-very-maniac-looking-yet mansion, you’re making your way in to find a place that manages to have nuclear reactor, gigantic telescope, man-eating plant and strange, walking tentacles all under the same roof. Oh, and there is a basement. In which you, no doubt, will be held on multiple occasions. So… Where’s Sandy? Why is everyone talking about some meteor? How can a tentacle be depressed? All these questions will be answered as you’re finding your way around a strange house, trying to avoid its mad inhabitants, opening lots and lots of doors and collecting a hell of a lot of useless stuff, in the best point’n’click fashion.
– Real player with 7.0 hrs in game
Shenmue I & II
[SHENMUE I]
Shenmue is a strange, gently plodding beast of a game that we’ll never see the likes of again. Even when Shenmue 3 comes out, it will likely focus on different things, different aspects of gameplay. Shenmue is currently gaming’s one and only kung-fu small town life simulator, and that’s commendable.
This makes the fourth time in my life I’ve finished Shenmue 1 and every time I’ve played it I’ve seen different scenes, talked to people and discovered what to do next in different ways. I’ve gotten different toys out of the capsule machines and won different prizes in the lucky-dip draws in the stores. The plot of Shenmue is the same every time, the way you work through that plot is different and organic.
– Real player with 89.2 hrs in game
Shenmue. It was a great game that preceded many other open-world titles. It is still the game with that much immersion from the open-world as you can get in 2021, if we’re not talking about visual details. Every person there, every single NPC has a unique appearance, behavior pattern, and biography defining his/her actions. Additionally, every person involved in fights has his own set of moves. How’s that for starters? For a game released in 2001? Even more, Shenmue is still the great tale of adventures and martial arts.
– Real player with 73.3 hrs in game
STAR WARS™ Knights of the Old Republic™ II - The Sith Lords™
Good game but there’s a game breaking bug that I cannot find a fix for. I Tried around 6 different fixes to no avail. After combat, around 80% of the time, the game will not allow the player to move. You are stuck unless you save and then load. If it happened 20% instead of 80% it wouldn’t be a problem, but as it stands, at times it’s every 20 seconds you have to spend another 20 seconds to restart.
– Real player with 169.2 hrs in game
Phenomenal game- probably the best Star Wars game I have ever played!
– Real player with 164.2 hrs in game
FINAL FANTASY IX
TL;DR: Every long-life gamer has that particular game considered life-changing. To me, Final Fantasy IX is that game. And to me, this is the best game that a life being have ever crafted. Yes, I say “life being”, not “human”, because I’m assuming aliens have their own videogames. But they won’t be as good as Final Fantasy IX.
–————-
Okay, here comes a very long review. I’ve been waiting this for so long.
First of all, completely ignore my time count on Steam for this game. I’ve put 1000h+ into it, and I can easily make a perfect run by memory. Do you know that particular favorite movie you watch every single year? Well, I do that but with this game.
– Real player with 123.9 hrs in game
While I do recommend this game, I’d suggest getting it only if it’s been discounted. Final Fantasy IX is my absolute favorite game of all time but this “remaster” leaves a lot to be desired.
As mentioned in many, many other reviews, the new interface is really big and ugly and is clearly just the same interface they used for the mobile port. The original interface was actually quite good and it’s a shame it wasn’t restored for the PC port.
Sadly, there’s also a lot of bugs that have gone unfixed since launch, most notably the overworld music glitch. It likely won’t be terribly noticeable to those new to the game but in the original upon entering a random encounter the overworld music would actually pause so that when you exited battle it would pick up where it left off. That is sadly not the case in this version. Every time you have an encounter the music will restart. This is incredibly annoying and quite upsetting since Over the Hills is a beautiful and LONG song but it is perpetually restarted nearly every 10 seconds as encounters are fairly common. This IS a jrpg from 2000, afterall.
– Real player with 118.2 hrs in game
FINAL FANTASY VII
This was the first real game I bought with my own money. I was 13 years old and after a long wait, it finally hit the shelves in 1997. It will always hold a special place in my heart. I love the storyline and character development. So few games at the time (and even now) were able to elicit such a full range of emotional reactions as this one.
– Real player with 90.0 hrs in game
Like Skyrim, but the remake is garbage. Play this instead. Try mods.
– Real player with 78.3 hrs in game
Halo: The Master Chief Collection
I’ve played all the various Halos since ~2002, and have 3000+ hours on MCC. Despite all that, I can’t recommend it. Here’s why:
The Good
-
The ports of the games are reasonably solid. The games look great in 4k. Several longstanding H1 graphics bugs have been fixed. MCC is now the best-looking versions of any of the legacy Halos.
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There is online co-op for all games - something that H1 & H2C historically lacked. However, H2 co-op can be very buggy. The others work well.
-
The achievements are varied, mostly fun, with some good challenging achievements also.
– Real player with 3946.3 hrs in game
Worth A Buy. HOWEVER…
This is one of the best value purchases you would ever find. MCC is a steal even with no discount.
For 40$ you get 5 masterpieces… and Halo 4.
…MCC is packed with content. So if you’re wondering if it’s worth a buy, the answer is a resounding yes.
That said, as per 343i’s MO, this release has many hiccups that hold it back from being definitively great.
These issues are inconsequential to some, but I’ll list some of them and why I think they matter.
I was dreaming of the entire Halo franchise coming to PC ever since I played CE. Till finally MCC’s PC port was announced in 2019.
– Real player with 442.3 hrs in game