EYE is a really bizarre game. I love it, but like many games I love, it's terrifically scruffy and flawed, but there's something about that game that makes me willing to forgive its flaws. It's a first-person shooter that plays more like an RPG--you create a character with certain stats, level him to what you want to do, equip him by unlocking items, and have an array of options from guns, swords, cybernetics, mind powers, and literal no-holds-barred magic. It gives a Shadowrun feel with its blend of dark cyberpunk dystopia with arcane and bizarre sorcery.
To get the cons out of the way: It's completely unpolished and poorly translated, the textures look like ass, and you'll probably fall through the map or get stuck on geometry at least once, and probably more times than that. You'll find missions unbeatable because an enemy fell through the map or because an ally's dialogue tree broke.
Every level sprawls with optional quests which you're left to find yourself. Occasionally you'll get a prompt, but it's rare, and there's usually more quests than the prompt dictates. There's usually layers and layers of areas inside of one mission zone.
The story is arcane, difficult to follow, and yet great, with countless factions plotting against each other as public (and private) secrets. You'll make deals with bandits, generals, and your worst enemies. You'll go undercover and then have the option to stay in that faction forever.
I'd recommend EYE if you like cyberpunk style and don't mind a game that's (very) rough around the edges. It has a lot of content and plenty of silly options to keep you entertained for a while if you match its wavelength.
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For a cyberpunk feature in the opposite direction, Read Only Memories is colorful, fairly well polished and controlled, and very lively--but still undeniably cyberpunk. It's a point-and-click adventure game in the first-person perspective. The puzzles were pretty straightforward, but it was the demo after all--and this particular adventure game is more about the character interaction than anything else.
You're approached by a sentient robot whose creator has been kidnapped for mysterious purposes. Its cookie-cutter plot aside, the characters seem to have real depth and interesting backgrounds, the art is fantastic, and most of the world can be explored and learned about, even if a lot of it might sound like you've read it in 5 William Gibson novels before.
ROM really is in the opposite direction, because while EYE takes a route that's perhaps sloppily executed but so off-the-wall and full of content that you might find it entertaining regardless, ROM takes a relatively safe approach to the cyberpunk experience (except for being a point-in-click in 2015) and polishes it to a mirror shine. It's a little unfair to point out it has less content than EYE since only the demo is currently available, but one can tell even with a brief playthrough it doesn't come with the 'more-is-more' attitude EYE brought to the table. That said, it's wonderfully executed, the dialogue is cleverly written, and the demo--which is free and available here. Give it a shot!
I'm definitely looking forward to the full version of ROM, and I think you should too.
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There are a few things I've wanted to do for a while that I think would be good options for this blog.
First, I'm going to try and start streaming again. This will require a connection with a great deal of bandwidth, which I do not have. I think this motel's connection could be reasonably measured in baud.
In the meantime, I'll try and review games as I'm playing them on the blog here. There's plenty of new games coming out I'm interested in, and while I won't always be able to shell out for a triple-A title, I'll try to do at least one new one a month.
I also have a horrifically tainted attempt at a Let's Play channel that never really got off the ground. I tried to LP Far Cry 3 like, 3 times. Each time I failed horribly, more each time than the last. The LPs before that were mired in technical difficulties (read: I know slightly more about video editing than the history of Mongolian royal families, in that I know that video editing does, in fact, exist in the present day.), poor presentation, and general tomfoolery. The only way I could really see resolving this would be to get someone to partner with me and help with commentary while I play the games--dual LPs always seem to do the best. (The only solo LPer I watch these days is supergreatfriend.)
My ultimate long term goal is to get an original Xbox and play some games that didn't make it to the Xbox 360 backwards compatibility line-up. There were great titles you can't find anymore, on 360 or on the PC. I'm looking at YOU, Jet Set Radio Future!
For now, though, I think I'll take the easy road and do some reviews of games I think didn't receive enough attention.
