Erkki

This game is actually way more fun than I expected. I don't usually like the Zombie theme, but it is not badly done at all in this game. They seem to have a lot of influences: Far Cry 2, Zeno Clash (this game is easier than Zeno though), Dead Rising, and I guess Borderlands from what others have said -- I haven't played borderlands myself. I have a feeling that I'm missing a little bit by not playing with a controller, but I don't really want to spend money on an adapter or another controller because I'm usually fine with Mouse+Keyboard. Anyway, the Mouse + Keyboard controls work just fine in this game too. And while I haven't tried the analog combat hack, I feel like it's a detail I'm not missing very much. The most annoying thing is Zombies leveling up, but I can see how it would be very difficult to balance if they didn't. Maybe they could have leveled them down where you've already been before. Of course the game doesn't have a really good story and isn't at all emotional like the trailer suggested, but it's fine, because the rest of it is good stuff, even though logically stupid (repairing at a workbench by somehow using money as raw material?) I've played for 11h and just got to the second act, I guess I'm 1/3 through the game or so.

I played a little. At first I thought there was something wrong with the mouse sensitivity, but adjusting that didn't make it any better. It's actually the keyboard movement controls that are a bit too jerky if you want to move only a little and the FOV is horribly narrow. But I guess one gets used to that.

So there's this game store near where I work. It has been closed for a while, they have been doing inventory for a long time, but today as I walked past I saw people in there and no closed sign on the door and knocked. They let me in and I looked at the shelves and there was Skyrim, finally. All the other stores here still don't have it. So I can finally start playing this, but now I'm also in the middle of Arkham City, Dead Island and replaying Red Dead Redemption. I know I can't play 4 open world games at the same time -- is Skyrim buggy enough to save it for last when there have been more patches?

I tried to play it a bit, but I like very little about it so far. Don't even like the art style that much.

The one in the basement/maintenance room somewhere? Happened to me too.

Started playing it. Got it from JonCole as he had an extra digital copy to gift. Thanks, man! I accidentally started in Hard mode and noticed it later when loading a saved game. The first fight with catwoman was pretty hard and I couldn't even follow the tutorial (I've forgotten the controls since Arkham Asylum) because I had to counter all the time. Took me 5 attempts or so to get past that. Then I tried Normal and it was a piece of cake. Is the first fight indicative of the rest of the game? The next couple of fights with Bruce seemed easier. I want a bit of a challenge, but I don't want to spend the game retrying again and again. What should I choose?

Thanks to JonCole for sending me his digital gift copy of Arkham City! And to Kroms' friend for Blocks That Matter and Winterbottom!

That's what RPS is saying as well. I'm wondering whether I should even play it at all. One thing that would interest me would be if there were more of those capture-the-guard-tower type things to do.

Aand 100% (in adventure mode). I had to peek at only two walkthrough videos to get all the stars. Still missing 3 or 4 bonus levels.

Assassin's Creed: Revelations on Steam sounds like a pretty good "General Vido Game Deal". Only 18€ more than a physical copy in the store. :(:fart::fart: Not picking the physical one up yet, though. Perhaps there'll be a Christmas deal on Steam.

Congrats, Dan!

Aaargh. Those bonus levels that are unlocked by collecting stars... they seem impossible. All of them. I haven't figured out a single one yet (not all unlocked). They don't give you another power after you've beaten the story mode, right? Another explanation I can think of is that they require some kind of insane jumping-between-falling-blocks skills. I'm probably peeking at walkthrough soon. [edit] some minutes later... Ok, watched a walkthrough for An Ice Glitch until I realized what kind of GLITCH was meant. Probably never would have figured that out myself. After that I realized that the star-unlocked bonus levels just require different thinking. Also completed Quicksand and Back to the 90s

It's my game of the year candidate along with Witcher 2, mostly because it made me cry. Don't remember if it's the first game that made me cry, but if it's not there's only been one other.

You're welcome! I'm actually suprised how short the delivery was. When I order something from the US it usually comes in 3-4 weeks.

I bought Divinity II. I liked the first one, and so far was avoiding it mainly due to lack of time. But now there's room for another RPG, as I might wait with getting Skyrim even when it finally becomes available for me either locally or digitally -- got enough other games to play from this sale. Dead Island is rather good so far, except the zombies leveling up with the player bit. Also, anyone who doesn't have Thief: Deadly Shadows yet should definitely buy it: only 2.50€

I only played Prince of the Yolkfolk of the Dizzy games, but that was a good one. Not sure I'm interested in a mobile version, though.

Well, I might agree with half of that, but then I'd be ok with if a particular reviewer valued something else over gameplay (as long as it is clear).

Hmm... Overlord pack, then. 5€ seems cheap enough but it's not that appealing to me and I probably wouldn't find the time for playing it among all the other games.

You can always play on Easy, which really is easy, even to the point where simply spamming a button can win battles. I played on Normal if I remember correctly, and there were a couple of boss fights that I had to switch to Easy, otherwise it wasn't bad at all. Definitely recommended, three thumbs up! Game of the year candidate etc.

Puzzle Game of the Year: confirmed. I still have some things to do (big mama blocks that matter, the stars and most of the bonus missions). It's kind of weird that this game has repetition as filler though -- first the no checkpoints thing, then the fact that you can sometimes get either the block that matters or the star (and sometimes you can't get either on the first time, I think). But on the other hand, I guess it does give the game a bit more longevity -- if you could get everything the first time, you would play through it quickly and forget about it.

I don't agree with you at all. You seem to be speaking for Old Game Journalism (as opposed to the New one) where the pretense is that the person reviewing is mostly irrelevant and the review is objective -- which is actually nigh impossible, in my opinion. I'm much more fond of the other kind of games journalism. Don't agree with your extrapolation that vast majority of people found it to be a let down, either. And if it's a let down, does that even equal some specific score range -- depends on individual expectations, does it not? * And also, how can a single site give unanimous praise? It can be unanimous only collectively. Even metacritic doesn't claim "unanimous praise", but "Generally favorable reviews" (I checked the PS3 version). [edit]Furthermore, if you look at Metacritic, aggregate review scores and user review scores are not vastly different -- about 1.5 points, which is not exceptional in any way. * even assuming there exists a universally just scoring scale.

I don't have one that connects to the PC. I think. Does the PS3 controller work? And the quick look made it seem like analog control was disabled in PC version. But I bought it anyway, seemed like a relatively minor thing, although he did say that "if you're not playing with analog combat you are playing it wrong"

I'm pondering whether to get this as well. But what really appeals to me is that it's open world and it looks beautiful. Zombies were old in Thief 1 and only perhaps Left 4 Dead made them interesting again, but any zombie games before and after that -- meh (disclaimer: haven't played them). However, if Dead Island is a good open world game, I just might get it. I'm reading some reviews right now. [edit]RPS impressions and GiantBomb review seem generally favourable, I'm buing it. I like the idea of tactical melee combat. [edit]Hmm, but the Giant Bomb quick look makes it sound like the console version might have better combat controls (analog combat).

Reminder to anyone who wants one of the games: PM (Private Message) me your name and address and the game you want. You don't have to do anything else. When I receive the PM, I will cross that game out and then it's no longer available. Of course, you can also let me know what game you want here and just PM me the address.