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A very challenging mission pack for Quake 2. Ground Zero had pretty good level architecture, the new monsters were fine EXCEPT FOR THE HORRENDOUSLY IRRITATING TURRET GUNS, and the new weapons and gadgets were sadly weak and boring. Check out my guide to setting up the KMQuake 2 engine for a better gaming experience. Also search Steam Discussions for "Missing Music download" by BloodShed to get the original music that came with the retail CD.

A mission pack for Quake 2 with new levels and a few extra monsters, weapons, and gadgets. The level architecture was fairly dull, consisting mostly of warehouses and generic rectangular corridors. But the new weapons, the Phalanx and Ion Ripper, were pretty fun. The new monsters were mostly just variants of already existing ones. Check out my guide to setting up the KMQuake 2 engine for a better gaming experience. Also search Steam Discussions for "Missing Music download" by BloodShed to get the original music that came with the retail CD.

The most grandiose and cinematic RE game out of 4, 5, and 6, with much emphasis on setpieces and cutscenes. Unfortunately, the action often amounts to a chaotic, incoherent mess. And with the main characters constantly surviving death-defying scene after death-defying scene, the whole thing loses all semblance of believability, and consequentially, any semblance of horror. The lengthy campaign is divided into 4 separate scenarios, but due to significant overlap between them, much of it feels bloated and repetitive. Fortunately, the bonus Mercenaries mode is fun to play.

An ambitious, challenging, mysterious, and splendidly detailed swords & sorcery action adventure with an excessive variety of environments, monsters, characters, weapons, gadgets, and magical spells to experience. Yet despite this variety, the adventure can occasionally feel tedious and repetitive if you insist on thoroughly exploring every single optional region in the certifiably immense open world. Most of the technical bugs and irksome game balance issues have been properly addressed in game patches since initial release, so I can now recommend Elden Ring with full confidence.

The story, characters, and locations in this sequel are more interesting and exotic than those in the first Baldur's Gate game. Indeed, this game excels in these regards. Unfortunately, the combat and inventory management components of the game are burdensome, with an excessive amount of time devoted to necessary pre-combat buffs and mid-combat pauses. Furthermore, there are some game balance problems because some spells and advanced abilities (such as Greater Whirlwind) are so powerful that they utterly invalidate other strategies.

This game offers an interesting story and a good degree of freedom to go where you want to go and do what you want to do. Your decisions sometimes have lasting consequences, so choose carefully! In my opinion, there is too much mandatory combat, and I would have preferred a turn-based combat system over the implemented real-time system that essentially mandates frequent pausing. You will need to become familiar with AD&D 2nd Edition rules to play (see the very lengthy included manuals for that).

Basically, the same as Syberia 1, but in my opinion the sequel didn't have as much novelty. Remember to force high quality anti-aliasing in your video card's control panel to reduce the pixelated look of the image.

This game is loosely connected to the games of the Myst series. Unfortunately, even after many hours, I still haven't completed this game! Either many of the puzzles are too difficult, or I'm just too dumb. One of these days I’ll come back to it, since it certainly isn't an outright bad game. But I suppose that I will have to begrudgingly look online for hints, which is something I really don't like doing.

Fast-paced multiplayer fun! There are many game types and customization options to provide a tremendous amount of variety. I remember playing this game at LAN parties in the mid-2000's. Although this game really is best enjoyed for its multiplayer with real human opponents, the single-player game is also quite good. In single player, you assemble and manage your own team of players throughout a season of gladiatorial combat. Don’t forget to thrust your crotch at the end of each match!

After the amazing first Unreal game, this was a big disappointment. The action is slow and lethargic, the weaponry is conventional, and the story is dull with dull characters and dull dialogue. The graphics are pretty good for the time, though. And there is plenty of variety to the levels, each of which occurs on a separate planet. Nevertheless, I must emphasize that Unreal 2 was a pretty boring game.

An amazing action-adventure game on an alien planet with graphics that were “unreal” for their time. The aliens you fight are fast and challenging. Each of the weapons are unique and most of them are rather unconventional. There is a lot of variety to the levels - you will journey through wilderness, caverns, ancient temples, castles, and spaceships. And the music by Alexander Brandon is phenomenal. Unfortunately, the previously amazing graphics are now outdated, although you can download high-definition skins and textures to mitigate this problem somewhat.

A fun 2-dimensional brawling game with about 40 different playable characters. The game's technical structure and character balance is excellent. I had lots of fun playing this game with friends in the early 2010’s. And this game is indeed at its best when played with real people; arcade mode is fine, but whatever. My grievances with this game are that the graphics are quite cartoony, the characters are excessively 'roided up, and the music is rather mediocre.

I had lots of fun playing the original DOOM games as a teenager, and they were largely responsible for cultivating my personal preference for graphically intensive 3D games above other genres of computer games. The Ultimate Doom consists of the 4 episodes of DOOM 1, and I think the first episode, Knee Deep in the Dead, and the fourth episode, Thy Flesh Consumed, are the best ones. This game is still very fun with the ludicrously awesome Brutal Doom mod.

This game features an exotic Pacific island setting for you to explore, presented with incredible graphics and great attention to detail. Traversing the island by jumping and climbing is fun, solving optional hidden tombs is satisfying, and the controls are excellent. Unfortunately, the combat against human goons and wild animals is a bit too easy and simplistic. Although this game features many cutscenes, the story and characters are rather dull. Nevertheless, it’s plenty of fun to run around the island, admire the scenery, collect treasures, and remorselessly murder all the wilderness animals.

This game has a unique, surrealistic style that makes it memorable. Unfortunately, as a puzzle game, I occasionally got stuck and had to look for a hint online to proceed. If you play this game, use your video card’s control panel to force the highest quality anti-aliasing to smooth out the image and prevent it from looking all pixelated.

This review is for SF5 Champion Edition game plus the season 5 pass. Although the fighters look like they are built out of plastic, synthol, and silicone, and despite a boring plot in The Shadow Falls (free DLC), SF5 succeeds in its primary goal of being a fun unrealistic martial arts fighting game that's easy to learn but hard to master. Online play has been quite smooth with only rare occurrences of lag/stuttering. You can use Fluffy Manager 5000 to easily install additional character uniforms, including silly American flag underpants for Guile.

I really enjoyed the various editions of SF2 as an adolescent, so I was curious how well the other old-school SF games measured up. Although SF Alpha 3 and SF3 Third Strike are the other gems in this bundle, I found that I nevertheless enjoy the familiar SF2 Turbo and Super SF2 Turbo games the most. Unfortunately, the difficulty for the otherwise great Super SF2 Turbo seems busted because the computer is very challenging regardless of which difficulty setting you choose.

This game is a remake of the old Shadowgate game that I played on my old 8-bit Nintendo when I was in elementary school. It’s a point-and-click adventure game in a spooky castle, notorious for its dozens of ways to get yourself killed. The artwork and music are exceptionally well done and faithful to the original. Unfortunately, solving a few of the many puzzles seems to require tedious trial and error, and when I eventually stumbled upon the solution, I found myself asking, "How on Earf was I supposed to figure that out (without trial-and-error)?!"

Like the previous Crystal Dynamics Tomb Raider games, this is more of the same: amazing graphics, wonderfully detailed environment, fun platforming, and satisfying challenge tombs. Combat is more stealth-oriented than previous games because you can now lurk in the foliage and backstab goons when they least suspect it. This is in a way good because it makes the game much more believable. Unfortunately, the emphasis on stealth invalidates the value in improving your combat-oriented skills and upgrading your weapons. The story and dialogue, which are once again emphasized, continue to be mediocre.

I was impressed by the game selection, presentation, and special features such as video filters and save states. So, if you are nostalgic about old SEGA games, I reckon this package will be quite satisfactory. Furthermore, you can expand your SEGA gaming experience with game mods available in the Steam Workshop.

The sequel to the famous computer game Myst. I remember that when I first played Riven, the world felt tremendously immersive, despite being basically a slide show with a few animations. Unfortunately, some of the puzzles were so difficult and cryptic that I needed to look online for hints, which made me feel like a very stooopid person. I plan on essentially replaying this when the Starry Expanse Project is complete, which will convert Riven from a slideshow to a more fluid experience, just like what the game RealMyst did for Myst.

Just like the first Tomb Raider game by Crystal Dynamics, this game has astounding graphics, impeccably detailed environment, fun platforming, and rewarding challenge tombs. Unfortunately, also like the first game, it has simplistic combat against predictable, inept goons, and a fairly cliche story with unremarkable dialogue; Lara is a bit too Lawful Good and the other characters lack compelling personalities, with the notable exception of the wonderfully sadistic villain Konstantin.

RE5 would be better defined as "action" than "survival horror". You play the role of armed-and-dangerous action heroes who fight zombies and mutant freaks head-on, which is certainly gruesome, but not particularly scary. Fortunately, despite abandoning its horror heritage, RE5 is a fun game to play (especially with a bro) with excellent graphics, structure, and presentation. The optional DLC is pretty good as well. IMPORTANT: The Steam Guide "Resident Evil 5 - Fixes" by Syndeh may be critical if you have difficulty running the game.

RE4 features an immersive gloomy atmosphere, freaky monsters, and distinctively campy characters. You will encounter a wide variety of environments and grotesque monsters along the way. The controls feel a little stiff and restrictive, but it's nevertheless a fun game despite such annoyances. Completing the game unlocks a special Mercenaries mode and some other fun toys. You should definitely invest the time to download ultra-high-quality textures from **** for significantly improved graphics.

This game combines awkward controls, confusing navigation, restrictive inventory management, and awful B-movie-style dialogue. And yet I rather enjoyed playing it! But why? The spooky mansion you explore is wonderfully detailed and memorable, the sound design is superb, and (most importantly) the process of solving puzzles and unlocking new regions feels challenging and rewarding, without ever feeling unfair or too cryptic. I never played the original on Playstation, so nostalgia is a non-factor for this review. TIP: Mash WASD keys or rotate the joystick to escape monster grapples!

IMPORTANT: Cyan published an updated version titled simply "MYST", so you might want to buy that instead. Anyway, realMyst is a timeless classic computer game in which you explore several surrealistic locations, each featuring intuitive puzzles that are challenging but not so cryptic that I would consider them unfair. Nevertheless, you will need to solve all the puzzles to complete the game, so don’t be ashamed to look for hints online if you really get stuck. Incidentally, I eventually made it to the end without any hints!

Let’s start with the good: This game had very impressive graphics and animation, and the driving and gunplay were well executed. But the game was too easy and repetitive. Although the environment was stylish, the story was unfortunately bland, with a horrendously anti-climactic and unfulfilling ending. And to make it even worse, there was no and still is no mod support, a veritable kick in the **** because up until then ID Software had been very supportive of modding their games.

Quake 4 continues the story of Quake 2. It offers reasonably fun combat against cybernetic alien freaks with a variety of satisfying weapons. The graphics and sound are quite impressive for a game released back in 2005. However, I didn't find it memorable because the story was dull, your fellow soldiers were lackadaisical about their imminent danger on a hostile alien planet, and the music was uninspiring. I also tried the online multiplayer but didn’t enjoy it nearly as much as I enjoyed Quake 3: Arena.

An expansion for Quake 3: Arena featuring 4 new game modes for team play. I tried this game out with the included bots but didn't enjoy the experience very much because the bots just aren't too bright. Also, the only game mode I really enjoyed was old-fashioned CTF, so this doesn't really add much of value to Quake 3: Arena. I suspect this expansion was much better when played with real people at LAN parties.

An extremely fast multiplayer game that serves only a single purpose: to blast your enemies faster than they blast you and each other! I played through the game against bots and found it to be fine for brief bouts of mindless fun. I think that people who will truly love this game are highly competitive people with great reflexes and the inclination to memorize the layout of each level. See my Steam guide for setting up Q3 to make use of full HD monitors.

Go crazy and blast cybernetic alien freaks! I remember enjoying both singleplayer and multiplayer Quake 2 in the early 2000's. The Quake 2 mapping and modding community continues to be active to this day. Check out my guide to setting up the KMQuake 2 engine for a better gaming experience, which includes a link to files for playing deathmatch against bots. Also search Steam Discussions for "Missing Music download" by BloodShed to get the original music that came with the game CD.

A mission pack for Quake with new levels, weapons, monsters, and music. My enjoyment of this expansion was diminished by a few infuriating traps which killed me practically instantly, which essentially made memorizing these spots critical... which wasn't fun. Nevertheless, it was still a decent expansion with a few memorable levels and a brutal final boss. IMPORTANT: This mission pack is now included for free with Quake!

A mission pack for Quake with new levels, weapons, monsters, and music. I was very impressed with the architecture of the levels, the music, and found the difficulty to be just right. The new weapons and monsters were also good, although the final boss was unfortunately a little too simple. Nevertheless, a must-play for fans of old-school Quake. IMPORTANT: This mission pack is now included for free with Quake!

I had tons of fun with this classic in the late 90's. I liked the gritty, grimy, gloomy environment, the hectic kombat, the creepy music, and the loathsome monsters that popped into juicy, bouncy gibs before the wrath of my phallic rocket launcher. Quake recently received an update including Steam Achievements, plus the original two mission packs for free, plus two brand new mission packs on top of that! And if that weren't enough, check out mods like Quake 1.5, Arcane Dimensions, Seal of Nehahra, and Epsilon.

This game should be played by everyone, even by people who don’t regularly play computer games. The puzzles are appropriately challenging and feel rewarding when solved. The characters and humor are supreme, and the grand finale is terrific. But before playing this game, you should either play Portal 1 or at least read its plot synopsis. Don't forget to check out the trailers for this game starring Cave Johnson, for they are copulating hilarious. And finally, check out the mod Portal Stories: Mel if you find yourself craving more high-quality Portal puzzles.

A short but sweet puzzle game which is very original in concept, and with puzzles that are appropriately tricky to solve. If you pay attention to the dialogue over the loudspeaker, you will notice that this game has some goofy comedy mixed in. Portal is not nearly as good as its sequel, but it's nevertheless a very good game that’s worth playing… before moving on to the sequel. Seriously, the sequel is a must-play for everyone.

An illegal street racing game where the goal is to win races and escape the police! This game is made for fun, not realism, which is perfectly fine by me. It's technically possible to start with a very generic sedan and upgrade it until it can outrace $200,000 Corvettes and Lamborghini's, which is bonkers. The cutscenes are soooo cheesy and I love them for it. My biggest grievance is that there are a few specific locations around the city where you can easily ditch the fuzz, and these locations end up as a necessary crutch when the game eventually gets difficult.

This is a disjointed smorgasbord of levels. Some are great, but others are disproportionately difficult or excessively cryptic. I eventually made it through but can't say the experience was thoroughly enjoyable. If you want more DOOM 2 action, you might be better off finding some quality wads on the internet than playing these Master Levels. I played with Zandronum and Brutal Doom v21, with instructions provided by the guide "Run Master Levels For Doom II With A Source Port" by Dr. Ambiguous.

This game features many improvements above the first Mass Effect game: the universe is more richly detailed with more worlds to explore, there are more unique characters to recruit and interact with, the graphics are sharper, and the previously dull action is improved to the point where it is now acceptably fun. Unfortunately, many of the missions in this game involve traveling all over the galaxy to do menial favors for your crewmates, which feels utterly preposterous given that the main story involves confronting an urgent, cataclysmic threat to the entire universe.

I think this game takes a tremendous amount of inspiration from Star Trek. This game features a fresh new science fiction universe with richly detailed descriptions of alien species, futuristic technologies, spaceships, and so on. The plot, characters, and dialogue are also exceptionally strong features. The action, however, is simple and boring, and inventory management is a tedious pain in the buttocks if you insist on optimizing your equipment.

The online version of the famous fantasy trading card game Magic the Gathering. The gameplay can be dreadfully tedious due to lag and because you must manually pass through each phase of each turn. Nevertheless, this program is a useful tool for improving your skill at Magic, and I think that every card ever printed on cardboard is also available in this game. I occasionally play the Pauper format, which is fun and very inexpensive.

The gameplay of Magic Arena is faster, flashier, and more responsive than the older Magic Online game. But Arena isn’t necessarily better than Magic Online if your true goal is to improve your skill at real (paper) Magic; since Arena rewards players with loot for every game won, players disproportionately play fast, aggressive decks and also tend to concede games at the first moment their luck takes a turn for the worse. Sometimes custom formats are available, and these opportunities are my favorite way to play because they give me a chance to capitalize on my strong deck building skills.

An excessive amount of content in one convenient package! Halo's action masterfully incorporates firearms, grenades, melee, and vehicles. Each weapon, vehicle, and alien enemy is distinctive, level design is solid, the story is consistently good, and the music is epic. However, the campaigns are imperfect due to the regenerating health game mechanic, which incentivizes a tedious 'cover-shoot-cover' strategy', and also due to a finicky and unpredictable checkpoint system. As for the multiplayer, it's simply terrific. You can enhance the graphics with ReShade presets from Nexusmods.

This level is included for free with a purchase of Half-Life 2. I remember when I first played Lost Coast many years ago, I was extremely impressed with the visual upgrade Lost Coast had over vanilla Half-Life 2. The action was also fun and appropriately difficult. If you want to try a level with impressive visuals and architecture, give this an hour.

(I played this game with MMod.) A continuation of the excellent Half-Life 2 story with a few new levels. This episode is simply better than the first episode, and the levels feel fresh with new environments including caves, an alien insect hive, and a pine forest. There are two cool new monsters as well. Unfortunately, the grievances I had with vanilla Half-Life 2 remain, which include too many checkpoints (which makes dying inconsequential) and the fact that explosive stuff is disproportionately dangerous. I'm still eagerly awaiting the sequel, 15 years later...

(I played this game with MMod.) A continuation of the excellent Half-Life 2 story with a few new levels. The levels are well constructed but feel very much like those in the main Half-Life 2 game. The star of the show is your sidekick Alyx, who is a superb AI partner with a genuinely likable personality. Unfortunately, the grievances I had with vanilla Half-Life 2 remain, which include too many checkpoints (which makes dying inconsequential) and the fact that explosive stuff is disproportionately dangerous.

This game’s greatest strengths are its groundbreaking physics system, varied and satisfying weapons, memorable and well-scripted characters, and an interesting story that takes place in a dystopian future where humanity has been subjugated by mysterious aliens. The issues I take with this game are that checkpoints are too abundant (which makes dying inconsequential), and that explosives are disproportionately deadly. Nevertheless, a very good game with lots of great mods online, such as HL2: Update, MMod, Smod Redux, and Minerva: Metastasis. Also check out Freeman's Mind and Civil Protection by Ross Scott.

The sheer realism of this game just goes to show how far computer technology has come. And if a simulation that feels so profoundly real can run on my modest desktop computer, I find myself contemplating that perhaps ... perhaps we ARE living in the Matrix! Do you know goat-fu?

Many more challenging levels for Doom 2! Tragically, it doesn't add any new weapons or monsters above and beyond vanilla Doom 2. Nevertheless, I had fun with Final Doom and finally triumphed after enduring over a hundred deaths along the way. I enjoyed Plutonia more than Evilution, since Plutonia was more intense and had better map architecture. I played with Zandronum and Brutal Doom v21, with instructions provided by "How to run Brutal Doom or Project Brutality on Steam for Windows! (Older Versions)" by slyfuldragon.

This game is copulating hilarious, especially for people who are into 1980’s sci-fi action movies. You play the role of Rex Power Colt, an all-American Mark IV cyber commando! It’s also quite brief – in other words, it’s short and sweet. It's a fairly easy game even on Hard difficulty, but that's perfectly fine since if you approach this silly game as a hardcore gamer, you're probably doing it wrong. You DON'T need Far Cry 3 to play.