Videogames

I want to review briefly a couple of games that i have played lately and that - since i always whine on about how bad games are - were pretty nice and worthy of their shelf price.
All these games can be either purchased from your local retailer, or downloaded illegally from any of a number of websites, the choice is yours; in the end, game companies must be rewarded when they put out a good product, and there is nothing wrong with paying for something you like.. honesty is its own reward.

The First Templar
This is a easy going third-person combat game, rather arcadeish, where you run around in a closed environment killing scripted encounters; it's easy, the combat is rather simplistic, and that's about it. Not a great game by any extent, but it's got some nice writing, and even though you have seen it all before, it's all done rather tastefully.
The graphics are delicious, even if the coding behind them seems pretty horrid since this game will try to murder you graphics card, but i love it, great atmosphere. TFT also tries to do away with classic hollywoodian scripts and even if the sidekick is a bit out of place, the main character is very well written, in person and historically. The story flows well, and keeps you interested; this is one of a very few games where i wasn't skipping the cutscenes at the first chance. The "costumes" being locked in chests which are quite hard to find is sux, but costumes are just a bonus, and you can whizz through the game and not miss out on anything. Truly recommended, and hating the fact that most reviewers have ripped on this game and called it shit.
On a sidenote, i'm playing The Witcher 2 and i'm hating it.

The Black Mirror (part 3)
I have not played parts 1 or 2, but part 3 is truly engrossing. This is a point&click adventure reminiscent of the olden days, with very good graphics and a rather nice and realistic story. Why i like TBM3 is because of two things: first, the puzzles - which are the core of these games - are REALISTIC, not some weird "use hat to move stone" combinations, along with the fact that item locations make sense; this helps with the gameflow and makes you feel like you really are solving the mystery. Second, the writing is really, really good. I mean it, the game directing is truly superior and the script is good, and the whole game design is absolutely fantastic, at times you feel like everything you see onscreen is real. These people really know how to write a P&C game.

I am also playing some games which are absolutely horrid, and therefore feel that i have to warn you;

Brink
Which has had a massive, nationwide publicity campaign, is tripe; "Revolutionary" if you have lived under a rock for the last twenty years, and nothing more than a ripoff of Team Fortress 2(and every other online FPS ever). It's shit.

The Witcher 2
Fantastic graphics, really eye-watering splendor, but truly horrid gameplay. Two things.. three things i hate about this game. The Combat, which is not that far from TFT, in being arcadeish, truly random, but also way too fucking hard; The Interface, which is the worst fucking interface i have ever seen in a game since i was born, and lastly, The Interface, which is so fucking bad it makes me want to open my blog and write up a post on how fucking bad it is.
Also, The Witcher 2's writing is dark, mature, blah blah blah, but horribly hollywood - same old shit, but with swear words.

Dungeons & Dragons, Daggerdale
Fuck me this is really shit. Would have been a great title on launch date for your PS2, thirteen years ago.


I'v been out of the loop for a while, but meh.