Neofeud
I finished Neofeud yesterday. So, this is a cyberpunk game about an ex-cop turned social worker named Karl Carbon. He looks out for the robots, chimeras, and other humanoids who languish in poverty while the elite 1% have named themselves royals and live in luxury. Unhappy with the corruption his career has led to, he crosses paths with a robot kid named Proto-J, aka the Six Billion Dollar Baller and together they get recruited by Princess Sybil and her Egalite Cooperative, determined to start a revolution and overthrow her father, King Warren.
It's a traditional style point-and-click adventure with some mixed media graphics that are quite unique. The interface is similar to a Sierra game and was made with the AGS engine. The puzzles that are there are very easy, but I was fully engaged with this Blade Runner-esque style and story. There were a couple situations though that I found pretty irritating because they required some action and stealth and I felt they were poorly designed. The first was a shootout scene that has you switching between characters and it's unnecessarily complicated. In the second one, I had to follow this character, but I couldn't get too close nor be too far away from her, or I would fail and have to start over. I was supposed to follow a very specific path to do it right. Both sequences I was forced to look up a walkthrough video on YouTube because I didn't know what the hell I was supposed to do. I hated that those sequences were there, but at least it was only two and I managed to get through them.
This game is fully voiced. Unfortunately, with a couple exceptions, it often sounds like the actors are just reading their lines off a script without much acting. However, I don't think this is the fault of the voice actors rather than how the dialog is very verbose. It doesn't lend itself well for everyday dialogue. It wouldn't come across naturally unless the dialogue was significantly edited. I've heard one criticism from Adventure Gamers is the length of the dialogues and cutscenes. I'd have to agree there. They ran very long, and as a result I couldn't play the game for very long at times. I think the game would be much shorter if the dialogues were shorter. I was into the story enough that I was willing to put up with those long scenes though.
The characters were good enough. I don't know whether or not I love Proto-J's character or find him obnoxious. He has a very over-the-top “gangster from the hood” way of speaking. He does have some funny lines though. There are a lot of pop-culture references in the game, although with names slightly altered. Strangely enough Bruce Willis and Ice Cube exist in this universe though. I think the Trayvon Martin reference might have been a step too far though, especially since it seems like our good guy Karl Carbon is the one who allegedly shot the facsimile of that character in his backstory. Also, the game's message is about as subtle as a bludgeon to the head, but it is what it is.
Overall, while there were a couple elements to this game that annoyed me, the story and satisfying cyberpunk vibes pulled me in and the ending left an opening for the sequel. I know it was being worked on. I'm not sure if it still is. It has been years, so I don't know if or when it will come out, but I would definitely jump on it if it does. Here's a screenshot. Karl Carbon is in trouble. Maybe. With Proto-J in the back.
Next up, I've started a game called The Invincible. Another sci-fi of course. This one is actually based on a book. I've never read the book, but I know Stanislaw Lem is a pretty well known classic sci-fi author. So far, our main character is stranded on a planet.
It's a traditional style point-and-click adventure with some mixed media graphics that are quite unique. The interface is similar to a Sierra game and was made with the AGS engine. The puzzles that are there are very easy, but I was fully engaged with this Blade Runner-esque style and story. There were a couple situations though that I found pretty irritating because they required some action and stealth and I felt they were poorly designed. The first was a shootout scene that has you switching between characters and it's unnecessarily complicated. In the second one, I had to follow this character, but I couldn't get too close nor be too far away from her, or I would fail and have to start over. I was supposed to follow a very specific path to do it right. Both sequences I was forced to look up a walkthrough video on YouTube because I didn't know what the hell I was supposed to do. I hated that those sequences were there, but at least it was only two and I managed to get through them.
This game is fully voiced. Unfortunately, with a couple exceptions, it often sounds like the actors are just reading their lines off a script without much acting. However, I don't think this is the fault of the voice actors rather than how the dialog is very verbose. It doesn't lend itself well for everyday dialogue. It wouldn't come across naturally unless the dialogue was significantly edited. I've heard one criticism from Adventure Gamers is the length of the dialogues and cutscenes. I'd have to agree there. They ran very long, and as a result I couldn't play the game for very long at times. I think the game would be much shorter if the dialogues were shorter. I was into the story enough that I was willing to put up with those long scenes though.
The characters were good enough. I don't know whether or not I love Proto-J's character or find him obnoxious. He has a very over-the-top “gangster from the hood” way of speaking. He does have some funny lines though. There are a lot of pop-culture references in the game, although with names slightly altered. Strangely enough Bruce Willis and Ice Cube exist in this universe though. I think the Trayvon Martin reference might have been a step too far though, especially since it seems like our good guy Karl Carbon is the one who allegedly shot the facsimile of that character in his backstory. Also, the game's message is about as subtle as a bludgeon to the head, but it is what it is.
Overall, while there were a couple elements to this game that annoyed me, the story and satisfying cyberpunk vibes pulled me in and the ending left an opening for the sequel. I know it was being worked on. I'm not sure if it still is. It has been years, so I don't know if or when it will come out, but I would definitely jump on it if it does. Here's a screenshot. Karl Carbon is in trouble. Maybe. With Proto-J in the back.
Next up, I've started a game called The Invincible. Another sci-fi of course. This one is actually based on a book. I've never read the book, but I know Stanislaw Lem is a pretty well known classic sci-fi author. So far, our main character is stranded on a planet.