Saints Row: The Third (PC) (2011)

Overview: An open world game with similarities to Grand Theft Auto but injected with a lot of humor.

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20171028:
Recently I was playing a classic favorite of mine, The Adventures of Shuggy (2012), with my fiancee Ada. But today I had some time to myself and picked a game using my most recent method: looking through my friend's list of played games. This led me to Saints Row: The Third.

Buying a new outfit.

Unfortunately, I oddly hadn't downloaded the game yet and while I waited I noticed I also had Saints Row 2 and Saints Row IV and so I looked into the game's story. With respect to playing the second game before the third, one forum thread suggested that it's unnecessary to play the second before the third, because while the series has a continuing story, it doesn't emphasize the story. As such, I went ahead and decided I would play Saints Row: The Third, and not Saints Row 2.

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20171104:
Last time, I didn't actually get around to playing Saints Row: The Third. Today, however, I was able to play it for twenty minutes before being interrupted. Upon quitting, the game prompted that my progress wouldn't be saved, but I had no choice (I didn't want to simply leave the game on with no idea on when I'd be able to resume it).

Setup: Increased some of the visual settings, including the resolution.

Steam Game Time: 20 minutes.

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20171105:
Today, although discouraged from yesterday's interruption, I decided to play again. Skipping cutscenes, I managed to just about reach the same progress I had made yesterday in about six minutes. Unfortunately, I had to quit once again. At least I only had to spend six minutes this time around.

My car.

Steam Game Time: 6 minutes.

After returning home, I saw that my heat sink fan had arrived and I excitedly set out to install my new CPU and HSF.

Eventually, I started playing Saints Row: The Third and completed the first mission. I proceeded to enjoy the game for more than four hours (with one or two breaks here and there).

Remark: As with yesterday (20171104), I tried recording my gameplay with OBS (Open Broadcaster Software) but only had mild success. While I can't remember what got the capture to work yesterday, today my one success came when having OBS set to game capture Saints Row, and then start the recording before launching the game. I'm not entirely sure, but I believe it subsequently failed after I alt-tabbed out of the game.

Steam Game Time: 5.1 hours total

Take that you big meanie.

---

Thoughts:
Pros:
+ Funny
+ Easy to enjoy
+ Wide variety of missions

Neutral:
~ The wardrobe interface isn't perfect. I wish it were easier to create matching clothes.

Cons:
- Some missions could benefit from one or two additional checkpoints.

I hope this parachute works...

---

Summary:
I don't know how Saints Row: The Third compares to Saints Row IV (2013), but Saints Row: The Third is a balanced and enjoyable game.

While I'm not an expert when it comes to open world games, I'd recommend Saints Row: The Third to fans of open world games, especially those who enjoy games like Grand Theft Auto.

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Saints Row: The Third (PC) (2011)

Relevant Links:
Saints Row: The Third (Wikipedia.org)
Saints Row: The Third (PC) (MetaCritic.com)
Saints Row: The Third (Steam Store Page)

I'm pretty sure I blend right in with the civilians.

Broken Age (PC) (2014)

Overview: A point-and-click adventure which tells the strange story of two teenagers that come from different worlds, and yet share many similarities.

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In Broken Age, plays as Vella (left) and Shay (right)

20171022: Part 1
Invoking my previous method of game selection (using my friend's Steam game list ordered from most to least played), I decided to play Broken Age.

Game Play Log:
I first clicked on the left side (girl's story) and just assumed I had to play as her. I played up until Vella's escape from Mog Chothra.
Upon exiting the game at this point, I noticed that the game allowed me to switch to the boy's story.

Tip: You can switch between Vella and Shay at any time via the menu at the bottom of the game.

Steam Game Time: 32 min

Every 14 years, maidens from a town are chosen and prepared as a sacrifice to Mog Chothra. Vella (center) sits in her dress cake plotting her escape as three girls have already been consumed by the monster.

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20171022: Part 2
Upon resuming the game, I decided to continue playing as Vella.

Steam Game Time: 49 min (81 total)

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20171023:
Resuming the game today, I was hooked until I finished it. Towards the end, I encountered some tricky and obnoxious puzzles. In fact, I threw in the towel for a couple of them.

Game Play Log:
1) I was stuck with the knots puzzle. I was trying to plot it out until I realized there's no pattern. At that point, I looked up the solution.
: Solution Hint #1: "Find someone who is good at tying knots and ask them for advice."

Meanwhile, Shay is stuck alone on a ship and, despite being a teenager, is literally treated like he's still a kid. (This screenshot also contains a reference to short A Trip to the Moon (1902) directed by George Melies.

: Solution Hint #2: The someone in Solution Hint #1 is Carol.
: Remark: I thought the puzzle would require walking back and forth, but the first failure after beginning the correct solution results in Shay quickly transitioning between the two necessary locations.

2) I was stuck with the jokes puzzle. Instead of exhausting all the possibilities, I decided to look up the solution.
: Remark: This puzzle was annoying, because there is no indication as to which dialogue branch would be successful. In other words, without searching for the answer, it was pure luck and/or painfully tedious.

3) The hard puzzles just kept on coming. Shay says he wish he were on his ship (to figure out the proper configuration for the robot). But I already got Vella stuck in a room with seemingly no actions. I looked up the solution.
: Solution Hint #1: Apparently the necessary information was contained in that one room! My goodness.

After Vella's escape, Vella finds herself in a city in the clouds.

4) The final puzzle of the game was annoying, because failure meant having to repeat most of the actions, and trying to debug and/or rectify the error in the long chain of actions felt painstakingly impossible. This first began with me reading about what I had missed with Vella's robot: I tried to place the robot on the navigation computer in Harp mode, but had no success. Apparently, the solution involves placing the robot on the tapestry area below the navigation computer.. As such, after trying about three to five times, with each attempt taking several minutes, I looked up the answer to find that I missed a small detail: Put Shay's robot into Hazard mode and give him the hammer. Place the robot next to the drum to distract Alex.

5) In the end, I finished playing at 5AM and I was incredibly sleepy. In fact, this sleepiness was probably why I failed to solve some of the puzzles. It was probably also the reason why I started looking up various solutions. With that being said, I couldn't stop playing because the story was gripping.

Shay has plotted his own escape by placing a blow-up doll version of himself on his bed.

6) Unfortunately, I didn't like the ending. Fortunately, every aspect of the story up until that point was enjoyable. Furthermore, with the exception of some of the puzzles at the end which felt ridiculously evil, the game had some good puzzles. Though to be fair, perhaps I was just too tired to appreciate the difficulty or the subtlety in the solutions to the supposed "ridiculously evil" puzzles.

7) Elaborating on how I feel about the ending, it seemed abrupt. I was expecting there to be a more explicit resolution with the main bad guy. I would have liked it animated in the same high quality and have it given the same spoken dialogue that was showcased throughout the entire game. In addition, I was confused by a part of the plot. Two ships were being fired on by the enemy, then there's a meltdown, and then the enemy ceases fire. How did the meltdown result in a cease fire? [20190514: I watched a clip and it might have had to do with some sort of energy being emitted prior to the meltdown]

Steam Game Time: 11.45 hours (12.8 hours total)

Guards Dead Eye  Courtney (left) and Dead Eye Dawn (right) prevent Vella from entering the Dead Eye God's chamber.

[20190514 Edit]

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Thoughts:
Pros:
+ Great dialogue; speech and movement are a joy to watch
+ Excellent story, except perhaps the ending.
+ Ability to fast forward move between most areas. Sometimes the characters still have to walk, which is unfortunate.
+ I enjoyed the little twist at the end of Act 1.

Con:
- Switching between the two characters, Shay and Vella, falls somewhere between unclear and gimmicky. I would have praised the game for rewarding the player who was able to make use between switching between the stories. However, while I played the game, the mechanic mainly served to keep me from becoming overwhelmed or frustrated when I couldn't figure out how to progress.

Dead Eye Dawn and Shay engage in battle.

---

Summary:
Overall, the game was rough around the edges, but I would recommend it to any fan of point-and-click adventures.

---

Broken Age (PC) (2014)*
*Act 1: January 28, 2014
*Act 2: April 28, 2015

Relevant Links:
Broken Age (Wikipedia.org)
Broken Age (PC) (MetaCritic.com)
Broken Age (Steam Store Page)

They're just side characters, but this scene was a funny addition to the story: Dead Eye Dawn (left) and Dead Eye Courtney (right)

10000000 (PC) (2013)

Overview: A tile-matching RPG. You're stuck in a dungeon and need ten million points to escape.

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Inside the dungeon. Encounter enemies at top. Use the puzzle field to attack, build defense, and gather resources.

20171020:
At a slight loss on which game to play next, which happens whenever my current method of choosing a game begins to feel stale,* I decided to go through my friend's list of games and play whatever game he's played that I haven't played, starting from his most played, and skipping certain games at my discretion. In any case, this was the first such game.

Steam Game Time: 2.1 hours

*The method I used before this one was highly rated SteamDB games in my library I had yet to play and the method before that was the most expensive games in my library I had yet to play.

Repair and upgrade the dungeon to make improvements to combat: magic attack, melee attack, passive abilities, shield, armor, and potions.

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20171021: Part 1
Today I played until I finally felt the pain of the grind. My main weakness is that I generally don't match tiles quickly, because I'm too methodical. For this reason, I was always terrible at every Candy Crush level that was timed.

Steam Game Time: 4.7 hours (6.8 total)

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20171021: Part 2
I was compelled to finish, so I went to get my glasses and pressed on. However, my second wind came up short.

Satisfy objectives to earn money and experience.

Steam Game Time: 0.4 hours (7.2 total)

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20171021: Part 3
And later, I returned to try a little more.

Steam Game Time: 0.6 hours (7.8 total)

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20171021: Part 4
And finally I beat the game! But not all the achievements.

Steam Game Time: 0.2 hours (8.0 total)

Achievement: "Score 10000000 with all potions active"

Steam Game Time: 8.8 hours (cumulative game time) / 0.8 hours (session game time) / 8h 48m (Playnite)

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Two achievements remaining: Score ten million at Explorer / Dungeon Master.

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Thoughts:
Pros:
+ Catchy theme song
+ Catchy gameplay
+ Farming-based, yet fun

Neutral:
~ Casual

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Comparison to Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords (2007):
Both 10000000 and Puzzle Quest are RPGs that utilize a tile-matching puzzle game as the combat mechanic, with Puzzle Quest using an adjacent tile-swap mechanism as found in Bejeweled.

Overall, 10000000 is simpler in every way: graphics, story, and game play. But there's still plenty of choices in regards to upgrades and the game's simplicity is not necessarily bad.

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I fell shy of accomplishing the "Score 10000000 with all potions active" achievement. 

Summary:
10000000 (ten million) is a simple yet fun game. In particular, the game moves at a healthy pace, and I only felt the need to grind for resources towards the end.

While I would never have bought the game on my own, it was presumably sitting in my library after a Humble Bundle purchase and I would recommend it if you're currently looking for a casual game. I suppose anyone who generally enjoys tile-matching games would also enjoy this one.

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20140119:
Today I decided to revisit this game. Though, to be honest, I didn't recognize ever playing this game before. It's interesting that, with respect to game time, it sits at 8.8 hours and that 8.8 hours among games that I've played on Steam qualifies for top 100; though game time doesn't necessarily indicate enjoyment or rating, there is surely a correlation.

Unfortunately, I didn't have a save file available and this game is a bit of a grind. According to my prior progress via Steam Achievements, I was nearly at the end of the game (i.e., getting all the Steam Achievements). I wonder why I didn't play the whole way through. In any case, the game is rather fun and I have thus far not cared much about the grind from the very beginning.

Steam Game Time: 12.6 hours (cumulative game time) / 3.8 hours (session game time)

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20240120:
Today I maxed out all the upgrades and tried to get the missing accomplishments. It occurred to me that these accomplishments are hard (actually I'm being greedy and trying for Explorer which is harder than Dungeon Master. What makes getting 10 million score points on these levels harder than Hero is they have a lower score multiplier. As such, it occurs to me that perhaps the reason I had never gotten these two accomplishments was not for lack of trying. Rather, I likely tried and failed. In any case, I believe my best attempt was a little over 5.5 million points.

Remark: I had spent some time playing while watching Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. This was definitely reasonable while griding out the final gold needed to max up the last of the upgrades. However, I had underestimated how hard the achievements were and time spent trying to get the achievements while watching the movie were, in hindsight, a waste of time.

Remark: while I like the game's song, I agree with a comment in a Steam thread that listening to your own music somehow makes it easier to push for the achievement. Perhaps it makes the game feel less monotone.

As part of my recent effort to rate the games I play, I would give this game a 4.4 out of 5. It is good, and addicting. It's simple and yet can be difficult. I'm not good at matching quickly, but at the same time I don't value such a skill.

Steam Game Time: 16.2 hours (cumulative game time) / 3.6 hours (session game time)

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10000000 (PC) (2013)*
*10000000 (iOS) (2012)
*"Ten Million"

Relevant Links:
10000000 (video game) (Wikipedia.org)
10,000,000 (PC) (MetaCritic.com)
10000000 (Steam Store Page)

BioShock (PC) (2007)

Overview: A first-person shooter set in an underground dystopia called Rapture.

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A Little Sister and a Big Daddy.

20171020:
I played a negligible number of minutes of BioShock at my friend's house once before, so for all intents and purposes, today was my first time playing the game. Fortunately, as I was about to start playing, I had realized there was a remastered version (for which a copy had been given for free to all owners of the original). As such, I started downloading the Remastered version and played Call of Juarez: Gunslinger (PC) (2013) as I waited.

Jack (the player character) made it out of this plane crash alive.

Setup: Difficulty: Medium.

Game Log:
As a note to myself, should I ever pick up where I left off: I was heading into some medical supply store to retrieve a key for something.

Steam Game Time: 65 minutes

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Thoughts:
Pros:
+ Excellent atmosphere

The first plasmid: Electro Bolt.

+ Decent combat mechanics
+ Hacking devices via a mini-game similar to Pipe Mania (or Pipe Dream)
+ Strong story

Con:
- A little bit of micromanaging of health and other resources

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Hacking a machine via Pipe Mania mini-game.

Summary:
As I prepared to write a summary, I came to think of Half-Life 2 (PC) (2004), because intuitively I found BioShock to be a game that provides an experience nearly as good, if not just as good, as that of Half-Life 2.

But as I thought about making the comparison, I began to distinguish that BioShock is the more atmospheric and more complex of the two - although the complexity is a more neutral aspect.

---

BioShock Remastered (PC) (2016)*
*BioShock (PC) (2007)

Ready to kill a splicer who's talking to a baby cradle as if it had a baby in it.

Relevant Links:
BioShock Website
BioShock (Wikipedia.org)
BioShock (PC) (MetaCritic.com)
BioShock (Steam Store Page)
BioShock Remastered (Steam Store Page)

Call of Juarez: Gunslinger (PC) (2013)

Overview: Western-themed first-person shooter. Fourth game in the Call of Juarez series.

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Silas Greaves

Special Game Mechanics:
Concentration - slows down time; the amount of concentration is built up by shooting enemies
Skill Trees - gather experience and level up, put points into three available skill trees to customize style of play
Dodge - opportunity to avoid death when the dodge meter is full
Duel - focus on the enemy and fire when his/her hand reaches for his/her gun

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20171020:
Knocking off another game in my library with a high SteamDB rating, I decided to play Call of Juarez: Gunslinger.*

Setup: Story. Normal.

Steam Game Time: 32 minutes

*Technically I first wanted to play Bioshock, but I didn't have Bioshock Remastered downloaded; so I played Call of Juarez: Gunslinger while waiting for it to download.

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Thoughts:
Pros:
+ Narration (reminds of to Bastion (2011))

Skill Tree

+ Great feeling gameplay
+ Incremental instructions
+ Excellent art design and graphics
+ Environment feels realistic
+ A prime example of great story telling in a video game

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Summary:
I only played the first level, but I immediately picked up on the game's quality. Overall, I enjoyed the gameplay experience, especially because of the seemless coupling of narration and gameplay. I noted above that this element reminded me of the narration in action game Bastion, whose narrator sounds like an old man out of a Western.

Duel

Overall, Call of Juarez: Gunslinger is a high-quality shooter and any fan of Western-themed games and first-person shooters should consider picking it up.

---

Call of Juarez: Gunslinger (PC) (2013)

Relevant Links:
Call of Juarez (series) (Wikipedia.org)
Call of Juarez: Gunslinger (Wikipedia.org)
Call of Juarez: Gunslinger (PC) (MetaCritic.com)
Call of Juarez Gunslinger (Steam Store Page)

Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy (PC) (2003)

Overview: Play as Jaden Korr, apprentice to Kyle Katarn, and choose between a path of light and dark in this Star Wars video game.

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20171019: Part 1
Looking for possible games to stream among games in my library highly rated on SteamDB, I decided on playing Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy. It was not until writing this post, however, that I realized this game is the fourth and last game released in the Jedi Knight series.*

Jaden Korr (technically the character is a human male, but during character customization I chose Twi'lek female)

Setup: Difficulty: Jedi. Prior to starting the game and choosing the difficulty, the first order of business was getting the proper screen resolution. Since 1920 x 1080 was not available by default, I did a little search and learned that I could open up the console and make some adjustments:

Bring down the console by pressing Shift+`. Then enter each line one at a time:
r_customwidth 1920
r_customheight 1080
r_mode -1
vid_restart

Light saber battle!

Corresponding to this widescreen resolution, it was also recommended to adjust the field of view. I did the following:

Enter a game (either New Game or Load Game).
Bring down the console by pressing Shift+`. Enter the following:
cg_fov 110

Play around with the value to get an acceptable field of view with the resolution.

It was also recommended to remove the FPS cap and I did that as well: com_maxfps 0.

Luke Skywalker (left) and Kyle Katarn (right)

Game Log:
Kyle Katarn [he is the playable character the other Jedi Knight games]
Luke says "I detect a disturbance in the force," and Katarn replies, "You always detect a disturbance in the force."
During the training, I fell down and couldn't make my way back up. It was frustrating. I just reset to the start of it. Remark: the "force jump" is just a regular jump.
I didn't know where I needed to go when trying to disable the tractor beams. Apparently I needed to trigger a cutscene. I was upset that simply trying to go through the tower door was insufficient.
In any case, my favorite way to take down opponents was to force push them and then slash them. Unfortunately, the force push appears to be a single-target ability.

Steam Game Time: ~65 minutes (including time for OBS setup: 94 minutes)

*With respect to Disney's destruction of the Expanded Universe, this series will likely not be seeing any new entries, unless it gets rebooted.

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20171019: Part 2
I then played for an extra 18 minutes to test adjustments to my OBS streaming settings and when I was done (with a little headache, probably from the caffeine I consumed), I realized I hadn't started streaming. I thought I set an OBS keyboard shortcut to trigger it, but it didn't work. How unfortunate.

Steam Game Time: 18 minutes

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Thoughts:
Pros:
+ Captures the essence of wielding a light saber.
+ Force powers, both light and dark.
+ Mods

Neutral:
~ Older graphics; downloading various texture mods can potentially alleviate this aspect
~ Part of the former Expanded Universe (which was removed)

Cons:
- Controls feel old
- Using guns doesn't feel satisfying

---

Summary:
Having played newer action games such as Batman: Arkham Asylum (2009) and Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor (2014), I envision a satisfying Star Wars game to utilize a combo system that allows chaining of Jedi abilities in a way that is visually satisfying and replicates the full visual experience that one would encounter when watching a Star Wars film.*

Unfortunately, this game didn't come close to that, but it was released in 2003, and I could see it being a solid light saber experience for it's time.

Personally, I have had more fun playing LEGO Star Wars: The Video Game (2005) and LEGO Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy (2006) than I did playing Jedi Academy.

In the end, there's a lot of fun that can be had with this game, but mileage may vary depending on the amount of tinkering with mods and add-ons the player is willing to try. As it stands, I found out about the mods in the process of writing this post and didn't want to investigate any of them. However, it reminds me of when I installed texture mods for Deus Ex (2000) and remembered being absolutely amazed.

In short, it's an old game, but it has the potential to serve up hours and hours of fun for fans of Star Wars. It should, however, be noted that the game's original story is no longer considered canon, but the game remains a modding platform for Star Wars stories and gameplay, particularly those dealing with Jedi.

*Apparently there is a mod called "Star Wars: Movie Duels 2" where players can relive famous duels from Episodes 1-3 and Rise of the Empire.
**Fast forward to 2019, Star Wars: Jedi Fallen Order is released that is essentially what I wished for. I didn't play it until 2021.

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Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy (PC) (2003)

Relevant Links:
Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy (Wikipedia.org)
Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy (PC) (MetaCritic.com)
STAR WARS Jedi Knight - Jedi Academy (Steam Store Page)

TIS-100 (PC) (2015)

Overview: A puzzle game that revolves around programming.

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20171018:
Among the different top-rated Steam DB games in my library, I decided to play TIS-100. While there was some initial investment in simply learning the basics of the programming language, the result was a satisfying puzzle experience.

The first puzzle that familiarizes the player with the node-based nature of the in-game programming language.

I stopped playing after completing the first eight segments.

Steam Game Time: 3.1 hours

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Thoughts:
Pros:
+ Novel puzzle game
+ Statistics on solutions (nodes, cycles, commands) lends itself to replay value

A slightly more complicated task: output A minus B at P and output B minus A at N

Neutral:
~ Easier for those already familiar with programming

---

Comparison to SpaceChem:
It's been a while since I've played SpaceChem (PC) (2011), but I remembered enough to recall the similarities and identify some differences.

Starting with similarities, both games are presented as a series of puzzles where the player's solutions are rated on three metrics: cycles, reactors/nodes, and symbols/instructions (for SpaceChem/TIS-100, respectively). Personally, I found it strategically reasonable to simply first come up with a sub-optimal solution.

The game tells a story via debug messages found in each level.

Although the structure of the two games are similar, their primary game mechanic are logically distinct. In particular, SpaceChem contains a greater spatial component than TIS-100. On the other hand, TIS-100 arguably requires more logic and less trial-and-error than SpaceChem.

Their greatest difference, however, would lie in their respective target audience. In general, I would expect that SpaceChem will be more accessible to the average player than TIS-100. Elaborating, without any prior exposure to any programming language, the player would be required to process the TIS-100 manual and make sense of the various commands - a task that would be approximately equivalent to learning the basic vocabulary and grammar of a foreign language.

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Summary:
TIS-100 stands out from other games I've played recently for it's novel gameplay mechanic. Just like with SpaceChem, I found myself easily spending hours playing the game without even noticing it. Reflecting on the experience, the experience reminded me of solving math problems in undergraduate and graduate school: spending time to solve a problem and reaping the joy of solving it.

Complete levels to unlock more levels.

In the end, TIS-100 won't appeal to everybody, but any programmer would probably enjoy it and I'm certain a fair portion of puzzle gamers will enjoy it as well.

---

TIS-100 (PC) (2015)

Relevant Links:
TIS-100 Webpage
TIS-100 (Wikipedia.org)
TIS-100 (PC) (MetaCritic.com)
TIS-100 (Steam Store Page)

Each successful solution measured on Cycle Count, Node Count, and Instruction Count

Door Kickers (PC) (2014)

Overview: A real-time tactical strategy game.

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20171015:
I had some trouble choosing a top Steam DB rated game to play from my library, because none of them screamed out to me as being interesting. However, I eventually tried Door Kickers and had some fun with it.

Waiting for my signal...

Steam Game Time: 85 minutes

---

Thoughts:
Pros:
+ Fun
+ Customization
+ Level builder / user-created content

Neutral:
~ Possibly some level farming, though I read it's not so hard via random level generation

Many levels to tackle!

Cons:
- Not the most intuitive interface; works about 80% of the time
- In particular, to be mentioned on it's own, no undo

---

Summary:
Playing this game reminded me of Frozen Synapse, a turn-based tactical shooter, and between the two, I enjoyed the real-time experience of Door Kickers more than the turn-based experience of Frozen Synapse.

With that being said, the game's controls had limitations. In particular, I would have liked to have seen action layering at a single waypoint.

The perfect plan...

Overall, the game was fun to play, and while I just got a taste of the game's depth (with respect to deploying members with different loadouts) before I stopped playing, I would recommend it to tactical enthusiasts.

---

Door Kickers (PC) (2014)

Relevant Links:
Door Kickers Webpage
Door Kickers (Wikipedia.org)
Door Kickers (PC) (MetaCritic.com)
Door Kickers (Steam Store Page)

I lost a team member on this attempt.

Forced (PC) (2013)

Overview: A puzzle and action game for 1-4 players (local or online co-op). Most puzzle mechanics revolve around manipulating a spirit named Balfus.

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20171010: AM Hours in Texas
After trying to play Mercenary Kings, I decided to switch over and try Forced. Our group consisted of a non-gamer, a casual gamer familiar with Counter-Strike, an advanced gamer, and myself (another advanced gamer). As such, part of the game's fun was in coordinating goals and conveying that information to the players less familiar with this type of game. It was especially helpful that I was able to use the mouse to point out objectives.

Balfus (near center) has been charged (by the hand) and is floating towards my character (near right)

Remark: the game is presented in an isometric view, so very useful directional commands can be given by "Northeast," "Southeast," "Southwest," and "Northwest." Sometimes "North," "East," "South", and "West" are also useful.

Setup: Mouse/Keyboard (me), Xbox 360 Controller (Avi), Logitech Controller (Ayin), Steam Controller (Michelle)

Steam Game Time: 95 minutes

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20171011: AM Hours in Texas
Avi was leaving to the airport in the early morning and so we decided to play a game. Everybody who had played the game yesterday enjoyed it and so we decided to load the game up and play a couple of the missions.

Setup: Mouse/Keyboard (me), Xbox 360 Controller (Avi), Logitech Controller (Ayin), Steam Controller (Michelle)

First Area Boss (left) arguing with Balfus (right)

Steam Game Time: 85 minutes

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20171015:
Today I played the game as a single player and learned a couple of things that we didn't catch as a team.

1) Balfus moves towards the location the player was standing when he was called, it doesn't follow the player. This is still true when he is a bomb.
2) The hourglass objects are called Spawners. I previously suspected they spawn enemies, but wasn't sure. I can now confirm they spawn enemies.
3) The blocks that can be moved when attached to Balfus can be moved with a single button press. Before we thought only the red character could move it, but apparently the rest of us were holding the button down which will pull Balfus out of the socket.

I also discovered that the game keeps track of time trial records with respect to the number of players. That is, a player's best individual time on a level is recorded separately from the player's best two-player time (and so on).

Starting the game with three of my friends.

Setup: I started playing with the Logitech Controller but it was giving me trouble and so I switched to mouse/keyboard.

Steam Game Time: 1.7 hours

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Thoughts:
Pros:
+ Challenging
+ Builds teamwork (when playing co-op)

Neutral:
~ Reasonably balanced
~ Graphics are decent

I ran into a small bug: I killed the spawner just as any enemy spawned and it froze there. I soon learned it was still alive (when I went up and touched it... and it exploded in my face).

~ Story is okay

Con:
- Couldn't find a way to give local co-op players different names.

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Summary:
While the game was rough around the edges in terms of control, graphics, and story, it provided an excellent puzzle solving experience. Furthermore, it was especially fun to play with friends.

You will, however, need a patient group of friends if you're interested in achieving good times on the leaderboards. Fast times tend to require planning, teamwork, and repetition.

Overall, if you (and your friends) have ever enjoyed playing Gauntlet Legents (Arcade) (1998), or any game from the Gauntlet series, then you might have fun with Forced, which has a similar style of action, but shifts the focus towards puzzle-solving.

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Forced (PC) (2013)

Technically touched the blue banner, but died doing so and so I didn't achieve the challenge.

Relevant Links:
FORCED Website
Forced (Wikipedia.org)
FORCED: Slightly Better Edition (Steam Store Page)