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Xotic is an FPS I got in one of the Groupees bundles, I believe. It’s not your regular first person shooter, though. This one is focused on breaking records, getting score and racing to the finish.

The plot is secondary to the gameplay. Basically, there’s this intelligent orb which went mad and started destroying planet after planet. You are created to fix the damage and maybe eventually deal with the orb. That’s all there is to the story, really. At least, that’s all there was to the story in the first world I’ve completed.

Xotic Screnshot

Xotic is a beautifully colorful game.

There’s a whole bunch of worlds, so I’m nowhere close to being done right now. From what I can tell, each level has several objectives. You have to kill the enemies to get the exit to appear, but you also have to collect all the items, kill all the pods and destroy all the brain orbs. For each of these done, you get extra awards and increase your score.

Each level is also worth a certain amount of experience points. You can use those to upgrade your weapons and stats between each level, meaning Xotic also has an RPG aspect to it.

I find it fun for now, but something worries me. Raptor classified me as a Hardcore Xotic player after less than an hour of playing it and getting a total of 10 achievements. This means that a lot of players probably abandon the game before the end. I’m worried that this indicates the game gets old to fast. It didn’t get old for me, though, so I’ll be playing it for the next few days, probably.

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Ben There, Dan That is the first of a series of two adventure games made in Adventure Game Studio. They follow a comical duo of British guys on their journey through time in space.

I’m sorry to say this, but the game was barely playable for me. It has humor. It also has style. Nothing can take away from that. Sadly, it also has bad animations, painfully slow gameplay and an annoying set of controls and interface. These things made the game a pain to get through, so I’m glad it didn’t last long for me complete it.

Ben There, Dan That

It may have been worth the money, but certainly not the trouble.

That being said, there’s still the sequel to get through and, from what I hear, it’s longer than Ben There, Dan That. This means I won’t be playing it any time soon. I just don’t have the willpower to get through it, even with a guide.It took me 20 minutes of painful walking back and forth before I decided I’m done and used a guide to complete the rest of it. As I said, it’s a funny story, the style is OK, but the way it’s made just makes it an annoyance.

EDIT: I was told this is a horrible review, so let me do a short attempt to “fix” it.

In short, the game is great in almost every way, but for me, it’s ruined by bad and sluggish control. The humor is great, the story is silly as it should be and the puzzles are cool, but I can’t get past how badly and slowly it controls. Someone else might be able to, but I can’t.

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If I keep up at this pace, I might run out of games in a couple of years.

And Yet It Moves is a puzzle platformer, I’d say. It’s another game I got in an ancient bundle. Unlike the few others I’ve played recently, I actually already had some experience with this one. You see, one of the holiday sale achievements from a year ago, I think, required me to complete the first world of this game.

There’s three worlds total in the game, meaning I was already one third of the way there when I started today. The remaining two worlds were completed quickly enough, taking me around two hours total to complete the entire game.

And Yet It Moves Credits

You rarely get to play through the credits of the game.

It’s entertaining enough, but it’s obviously short. I can’t really hold that against the game, though, because I think the mechanics and the gameplay would have gotten old soon enough. This way, the game kept me entertained long enough for me to finish it, and no longer.

The mechanics are simple. Your character can walk and jump like in a regular platform game, but you can also rotate the entire world around him, allowing you to reach areas you couldn’t otherwise. The mechanic takes a bit of getting used to, but it’s not too complex and it doesn’t require too much mastery to get through the game. Every once in a while a new element is added to the game, such as parts of the level which respond differently to rotation, enemies, puzzles, etc., which keeps things going and stops the game from getting stale.

In short, And Yet It Moves is somewhat fun and definitely innovative, but it’s not something I’ll be returning to. It has a certain charm, but it’s not extremely memorable. I won’t be getting the achievements of this one any time soon. They aren’t to annoying to get, but do require repeating levels and getting through other game modes that I’m not interested in.

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I’ve recently completed Faerie Solitaire and wrote the sort of review I usually write when I’m done with the game. To put it bluntly, I was harsh. Now that I got back to reading it, I was way too harsh. This is why I would like to give it another shot.

The only real flaw I see with Faerie Solitaire is that it’s not at all deep. To call this a flaw is completely subjective, though. The story, for me, was basic and sort of predictable, but for what the game is supposed to be, it’s up to snuff. As for the gameplay, I find it a bit too random, but still fun enough that I invested 10 hours into it and got to the end. Yeah, I believe it would be way more fun if the pets did something, but that doesn’t mean the pets are a bad mechanic and should go away, that’s just me thinking about how I would enjoy it more.

As far as the good parts go, everything else I can only praise. The graphics of Faerie Solitaire are beautifully and professionally drawn, the sounds are enjoyable and as a time waster, it’s great choice. The pets are also nicely drawn and described, and the extra bonuses you can buy are an interesting mechanic that makes you play for a while longer.

Also, and I have to mention this, the developers, called Subsoap, are an awesome bunch of people. I got this game for free on Steamgifts, when they gave away 25 thousand copies! They also gave away a whole bunch on reddit, and more importantly, Brian, one of the guys from Subsoap actually replied to my last Faerie Solitaire article, which really shows how much they care about their work and how it’s received. This makes me care to, because, as few readers as I might have, I don’t want them to get the idea I think this game is crap.

I don’t think Faerie Solitaire is crap, far from it. Too many other games deserve that description. It’s a good game. It’s just not the type of game I usually play, that’s all. If you like solitaire and wan’t a fun casual game, go for it. I need depth in my games and Faerie Solitaire doesn’t have it. It’s not supposed to have it, that’s not what it’s about.

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Critical Mass is another bundle game I got ages ago. I’m a bit tired of adventure games, so I decided to give puzzles a chance and this was the one I picked to play through next.

I’m happy with my decision. Critical Mass is a very fun puzzle game. The goal is to combine cubes in 3D space in groups of four or more. The higher the amount you manage to combine, the more points you get. Cubes are dropped on a central shape with a certain amount of cubes already there. This central shape has a constantly increasing mass, which makes it grow and approach the screen as you progress. The destruction that happens after you combine cubes causes it to recede and gives you more time to destroy them all. If you’re too slow, the mass reaches critical levels and you lose, forced to start back at the beginning.

Critical Mass - Meditation Mode

Meditation is a no-pressure, strategic play mode.

This means there’s a decision you’re constantly making – just combine as fast as possible to push the blocks back a bit, or hold out to get bigger combos, which pushes the blocks back more and fills up your bonus abilities. I have to admit, it was a bit disorienting at first, hard to determine where exactly I’ll be dropping the block and what colour I’m currently dropping, but once you get used to the interface, you realize the game tries very hard to help you see everything clearly and then it becomes much easier. The bonus abilities are also there to help. There are three of those and they unlock progressively, as you accumulate more and more points. The next one is always the more powerful one, so that’s another decision you have to make – use the currently available ability, or take the risk and wait for the one that’s more powerful and more helpful.

There are four modes in the game. I’ve played through all of them, but the classical mode is where the level progression is at. As far as I can remember, there are nine or ten total levels, which I completed in much less than an hour. You earn points and based on the total amount you get, you are ranked, globally. There’s also Survival, where you have to stay afloat for as long as possible. For every group of blocks you destroy, more random blocks are added to the field, so you are eventually forced to create longer combos just as fast as you would usually create basic combos, just to stay alive. Every minute, the critical mass resets, which helps a bit, but eventually isn’t enough to keep you alive by itself.

The last two modes are Rush and Meditation. In Rush, you just have to clear a single level as fast as possible. You lose points for ever second spent, so the amount left is your final score. Mediation has not time pressure of any kind. You get a limited amount of blocks which you need to place around the central grey cube. You have to use these limited blocks to get as many points as you can by arranging them into the longest possible combos.

As I said, I’ve played through all of the modes and enjoyed all of them as well. The thing I like the most is the global ranking system, which is based on the skill points you accumulate. The thing is, the skill points aren’t something you just get more and more off. If you do worse in one of the modes, compared to how you did previously, you actually lose these points, meaning that, apart from playing against the world, you’re also sort of playing against yourself.

In short, Critical Mass is a pretty good puzzle game, with a system in place that makes you go back to it every once in a while. I’ve completed the Classic mode, which has levels, so I’m counting it as completed on my list. I’ve also completed all the other modes at least once, but as far as achievements go, they’re designed in a way that discourages a rush to get them, so I won’t aim for 100% completion any time soon. I’ll keep the game on my hard drive, though, just so I can return to it every now and then, and perhaps get an achievement or two that way.

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Gemini Rue is another adventure game by Wadjet, the same guys that made the Blackwell series. Since I greatly enjoyed the Blackwell games, and I had Gemini Rue in my library for just as long, I decided to give that one a shot to.

I started playing yesterday, soon after writing my last article, and completed it today. Sadly, I didn’t get all the achievements in my first playthrough, missing Space Cowboy, which requires me to find four cameo characters from Cowboy Bebop at random locations in the game, as well as Memento, which requires finding four hidden notes in one of the game’s areas, Center 7. Since I already knew how to go through the game, and I had fast movement enabled, I decided to go for these two achievements soon after I’ve seen the ending. I finally got these last two achievements in about half an hour after starting a new game. I’m not sure how I even missed these things on my first run.

Gemini Rue Screenshot

I should watch Blade Runner

There are a few annoying puzzles, but for the most part, it’s logical and straightforward, with very little pixel searching needed to complete the main story. There’s plenty of pixel searching for achievements, of course, but that shouldn’t matter, in my opinion. There are issues, though, mostly related to the engine the game uses. Adventure Game Studio is buggy on my system, extremely so. Every time I reload a save, the graphics get messed up, I can’t alt-tab properly and sometimes I get stuck in the escape menu for no apparent reason. I also had a couple of crashes during my sessions.The game is excellent, by the way. The story is deep, interesting and much more developed than in the Blackwell series. Since I already praised the story of Blackwell, this should say something about how good the story of Gemini Rue actually is.

Still, as flawed as the engine is, it’s a great game and one of the better adventure games I’ve played. However, after completing five adventure games in two days, I think I’ve got enough of them for now. My next game will be something different.

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I went through with it, and the second game in the Blackwell series is now cleared of all achievements. It was pretty tough to.

First, I went for the Trying to Cut Down achievement. I thought it would be simple and all I had to do was be careful, but I was wrong. On my second playthrough, I counted all the cigarettes and got 13 on my side, but I didn’t get the achievement. At this point, I thought the game is bugged or something, because I was sure I wasn’t even close to 20. I tried to force the game to detect it in several different ways and nothing worked, so I decided to do a second attempt, with a third playthrough. This time, I decided to work on both cases simultaneously, which helped me save some time and I finally got it.

Blackwell Unbound - Map Screen

This is the map screen in Blackwell Unbound

With that out of the way, I went for the Chain Smoker achievement. This one, unlike the previous one, does have bug issues. The most straightforward way to get the achievement would be to just light a cigarette manually, and then handle the TV, phone or radio to put it off and repeat this. The problem is, it often happens that the lighter and the cigarettes become unusable. On the cases that this doesn’t happen, a second bug occurs, where Lauren is constantly claiming she already has a lit cigarette, even though that obviously wasn’t the case.

What I did in the end was that I loaded a save game from the moment after the second case is done and the balcony scene is over. Then I parked Lauren on the balcony and switched to Joey. I left her idle like this for about 45 minutes and then completed the game for the fourth time. I ended up with 111 cigarettes and finally unlocked the last achievement.

In any case, I’m done with the Blackwell series on Steam now. There are a few other adventure games I haven’t completed yet, though, so I might try those, since most are pretty short if they don’t drag you along with bad puzzles.

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I did it. The final game of the first Blackwell Trilogy is completed. Even better, it’s completed with all the achievements done to, meaning I can add it to my 100% completed list.

Blackwell Convergence brings us back to the present, and you follow Rosangela Blackwell, the character from the first game. Her ghost saving business is advancing and you finally get acquainted with the Countess from Blackwell Unbound. Her story is explained, her spirit set free and everything is fixed, but the game makes it obvious that we’ve only scratched the surface and there’s a lot more to come.

Blackwell Convergence - Start

I love cinematic starts!

You get to switch control between Joey and the Protagonist again, just as it was possible in the second game, but I find the game an improvement overall. The puzzles are a lot more straightforward and clearer, the control switching doesn’t complicate things and makes more sense, and the “you should search for this term on your computer” parts are more heavily hinted, so you don’t have to guess. All in all, it was a more polished adventure experience.

Now that the third game is completed, I have the fourth one left, but I don’t have it on Steam, so it’s probably time to play something else. The thing is, since I got all the achievements in both Blackwell Legacy and Blackwell Convergence, I’m kind of feeling like getting the final two achievements in Blackwell Unbound also, just so I could them all on the 100% done list.

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Well, since I was already on a roll, I decided to do another one.

Blackwell Unbound is the second game of the Blackwell series and it didn’t suffer from the issue of the first game – the bad ending. It’s a prequel of sorts, following Lauren Blackwell, who is, I believe, the aunt of the character from the first game, during two of her cases in the seventies.

Blackwell Unbound - Different Dimension

The area “between the worlds” received an upgrade.

The overall story is expanded in Blackwell Unbound, and I’m actually starting to be interested in what will happen next. In this game, you often have to switch control between Joey and the Protagonist, in order to get by some puzzles, which is an interesting change, but not one I really like. I mean, I don’t mind it, but I prefer to keep adventure games simple.

I didn’t get all the achievements this time. The two I have left are one that asks me to finish the game with less than 20 cigarettes smoked, and one where I have to smoke more than 100. I guess the second one can be done by reloading a save and idling for a while, but the first one will take replaying the game. With the knowledge I have now, I should be able to complete it fast enough not to smoke to much. However, I won’t do that next.The second of four games is done now and, since I also have the third on Steam, I’ll definitely tackle that one next.

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The Blackwell Legacy was another quick one. I started playing it this morning and completed it in a couple of hours. It’s a never adventure game, but with a classic look. The looks seem outdated, but they have a certain charm which I greatly enjoyed. It’s a good, fun adventure game, but there were a few flaws.

Blackwell Legacy Screenshot Bridge

The game is graphically ancient, but it holds a certain charm.

I also managed to get all of the achievements in this one, meaning I can mark it as 100% completed. It can all be done in a single playthrough to. The important part is to enable all commentaries in the options menu before starting and to talk to Joey constantly, but only in your apartment room, not anywhere else. Everything else is easily doable. Once the game was finished, I still didn’t get the Family History achievement, but reloading at the autosave, examining all of my photos and then exhausting all the conversation options with Joey was enough to get it.First of all, while the voice acting was fine, the voice quality could use some work. I guess that’s how it is with lower budget indie games, so I can’t take that as a significant flaw, but still, it takes away from the game a bit. Secondly, the ending was cheesy and not at all in the tone of the rest of the game. I won’t reveal to much about it, but it basically ended too abruptly and with a completely unimaginative twist. It could’ve been done better.

All in all, The Blackwell Legacy is a quality adventure game, which any fan should play. There’s four more games in the series, but I only have the next two on Steam. I’ll probably tackle those next. The next one is Blackwell Unbound.