June 5, 2015 Eimear Fallon

Played: Jenny LeClue - Playable Teaser (2015).First: this is free, and won’t take more than 20 minutes to play, so you should grab it either here for computers (Windows/Mac/Linux) or here on iOS. In terms of its substance, it’s less of a game than a… — **Played:** *Jenny LeClue - Playable Teaser* (2015).
First: this is free, and won’t take more than 20 minutes to play, so you should grab it either here for computers (Windows/Mac/Linux) or here on iOS. In terms of its substance, it’s less of a game than an extremely-slick interactive preview of *Jenny LeClue*, *Detectivú*, a Kickstarted adventure game marked by impressively slick visuals, great comic timing, and a genuinely interesting story (that, guess what, I backed). Check it out, and if you enjoy it, consider preordering the game. I have a feeling you won’t regret it.

June 1, 2015 Eimear Fallon

Played: Life Is Strange, Episode Three: Chaos Theory (2015).(See, previously: 1, 2.)Did you ever watch the movie The Butterfly Effect? That’s not a facile question, believe it or not; there’s more common ground between the two than the idea of chaos… — **Played:** *Life Is Strange, Episode Three: Chaos Theory* (2015).
(See, previously: 1, 2.)
Did you ever watch the movie *The Butterfly Effect*? That’s not a facile question, believe it or not; there’s more common ground between the two than the idea of chaos theory and time manipulation. Also integral to both the film and this episode is the idea of focusing on an otherwise-normal kid (or man-like kid, as Ashton Kutcher was) in an extraordinary situation. The problem with the film is that it escalated past the point of being a thriller and ended up being just *weird* (though I still have a soft spot for it, don’t tell anyone); it remains to be seen what this game, which has two episodes left to wrap up a *lot* of loose threads, will end up doing with the conceit.
The greatest thing about this game, though, is the small stuff - there are countless little character interactions you can miss if you blast through the puzzles (which are usually character-based, too), and an environment that feels brilliantly-crafted (the visual style on display here is incredible). Occasionally, the juxtaposition of big science fiction beats with a mundane college existence feels a little off, but by and large it’s really refreshing. We’ll see where we end up.

May 31, 2015 Eimear Fallon

Played: Assassin’s Creed: Freedom Cry (2014).This is a spin-off to Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag (which I wrote about at considerable length here), focusing on Adewale, a former slave who joins the Assassins to further the cause of emancipation on… — **Played:** *Assassin’s Creed: Freedom Cry* (2014).
This is a spin-off to *Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag* (which I wrote about at considerable length here), focusing on Adewale, a former slave who joins the Assassins to further the cause of emancipation on his own terms. That makes for a curious game, here - on the one hand, it’s a joy to see a character who doesn’t fit the usual narrative existing in this environment, but it also fails when it comes to *Black Flag*’s key narrative strength: Adewale, for all his earnestness, just isn’t a very engaging character.
Unlike Edward Kenway, the main game’s protagonist, Adewale has little nuance. That’s chiefly because he’s more of an embodied ideology than an actual person. He gets good banter - with the owner of a brothel (before you roll your eyes, she gets some of the best dialogue, and actually *does* receive a decent degree of character development), the first mate of his ship, and an assortment of characters whose chief reason for existing is to pass on the next quest. Beyond that, though, there’s little indication - either here or in *Black Flag* - as to Adewale’s inner life, beyond a need to free more slaves.
Maybe that’s enough, though. There is definitely something to be said for a protagonist who isn’t another white savior, and while it’s a shame that the *Assassin’s Creed* franchise has historically shoehorned minority characters into secondary media, I’ll concede that the fact that it exists at all is probably a good thing.
As for the gameplay, it’s basically *Black Flag* all over again. But that’s fine. It just means I don’t have to write about it twice.

May 9, 2015 Eimear Fallon

Played: Last Voyage (2015). iOS.

This is fairly short - someone fairly dextrous will get through the whole thing in under an hour - but has immense atmospheric power, making it something I plan to come back to in future. I heard someone describe it as like playing through a Pink Floyd album cover, which is apt enough; the developers describe it as an “adventure through space and mind”, and while that’s a little cheesy, there is a weirdly awe-inspiring quality to the otherwise-simple puzzles it consists of.

May 7, 2015 Eimear Fallon

Played: Broken Age: Act 2 (2015). PC.The more critical distance I get from this, the second part of what promised to be an extraordinarily good game, the more I feel disappointed that it didn’t live up to its (admittedly lofty) promise. There was a … — **Played:** *Broken Age: Act 2* (2015). PC.
The more critical distance I get from this, the second part of what promised to be an extraordinarily good game, the more I feel disappointed that it didn’t live up to its (admittedly lofty) promise. There was a lot to love about the game to begin with; there were two compelling leads, and a story that had both humor and ideas, and puzzles that felt more logical than the usual messiness of a lot of adventure games.
Here, the humor is still there, and it’s still very professional - the voice acting in particular is still great, and the few new environments we see are equally gorgeous - but the narrative focus on the two kids and their seems to have been lost in favor of some vague lecture on how technology distances us from our parents and a plot about aliens, or something. The whole first act was about the two kids discovering that the world spun for them by authority figures was a sham, and that had the potential to go in some very interesting directions. Unfortunately, that direction seems a little muddled, abandoned in favor of some increasingly tricky puzzles that resort back to the adventure game logic of using one of a dozen inventory items with the environment.
It’s a shame - this is still leaps and bounds better than a lot of point-and-click games, but it’s not the masterpiece I had hoped for. The saddest thing, though, is that it’s the writing where the game falls down, rather than any of the more cosmetic features. I’ll re-iterate: the art in this, by Nathan Stapley, is gorgeous, and Peter McConnell’s soundtrack is as brilliant as ever and tries to make the most of the new setting and attitude. Elijah Wood and Masasa Moyo are excellent as the two leads, and infuse their dialogue with as much pubescent attitude as they can muster. But the bones of the game look a little arthritic.
All that said, Grim Fandango just appeared on the App Store, so at least Double Fine, the company behind this game, is doing something right.

May 5, 2015 Eimear Fallon

Played: Space Age (2014). iOS.This was a bundle of fun, reminding me alternately of Forbidden Planet and Command and Conquer, with a healthy dose of humor thrown in. Sometimes, the level design leaves something to be desired (the last level eventual… — **Played:** *Space Age* (2014). iOS.
This was a bundle of fun, reminding me alternately of *Forbidden Planet* and *Command and Conquer*, with a healthy dose of humor thrown in. Sometimes, the level design leaves something to be desired (the last level eventually culminates in a boss battle that is more annoying than challenging), but it’s largely a cute little adventure that knows its predecessors (there’s even some *Twin Peaks* in here, unless I’m imagining things) and knows to honor rather than parody them.

May 4, 2015 Eimear Fallon

Played: The Talos Principle (2014).Assuming that first-person puzzle games are already your thing (and if they aren’t, you’ll hate this), this game largely lives or dies on the narrative told through computer terminals and time capsules littered aro… — **Played:** *The Talos Principle* (2014).
Assuming that first-person puzzle games are already your thing (and if they aren’t, you’ll hate this), this game largely lives or dies on the narrative told through computer terminals and time capsules littered around the (beautiful) environments. It’s a story with two main strands - one, on an apparent end-of-the-world scenario which contributed in one way or another to your awakening in this bizarre testing simulation, and the other on a wider discussion of the nature of the self, and what ultimately constitutes personhood. It’s that last part which will be a turn-off for some people; ultimately, the game drills down into some truly interesting questions, but to get there it has to retread a lot of ground espoused by drunk first-year philosophy majors.
I had a lot of fun with it; I missed most of the (sometimes-wonderful) Easter eggs the developers included in the game, and had to use a walkthrough for some of the latter third, but it has a difficulty curve that shouldn’t alienate most people. And it is gorgeous. The environments alone are a reason to pick it up.

April 11, 2015 Eimear Fallon

Played: Dreamfall Chapters, Book Two: Rebels (2015). — **Played:** *Dreamfall Chapters, Book Two: Rebels* (2015).

April 5, 2015 Eimear Fallon

Played: Life Is Strange, Episode Two: Out of Time (2015).This game - an episodic series that relies heavily on narrative and is all about choice and consequence - is doing a far better job of making things feel like they matter than any recent outin… — **Played:** *Life Is Strange, Episode Two: Out of Time* (2015).
This game - an episodic series that relies heavily on narrative and is all about choice and consequence - is doing a far better job of making things feel like they *matter* than any recent outing by Telltale Games, the company who pioneered this model. While that sucks for Telltale, here it’s magnificent.
There’s also genius in the choice of protagonist and setting - Max is an eighteen-year-old photography student who wilfully embraces her indie-kid aesthetic in a way that feels deliberately nostalgic while staying utterly genuine. The relationships in this don’t feel like they’re on rails, either - you make a series of social choices, but they rarely play out in such a threadbare way that you can see the structure underneath.
Episode three is out in May. I can’t wait.

March 17, 2015 Eimear Fallon

Played: Contrast (2013).This is short, and sweet, and suffers from a little glitchiness with regard to its core mechanics, but I feel like that can mostly be excused by the story, which is beautiful and simple and gives a voice to a young girl, rath… — **Played:** *Contrast* (2013).
This is short, and sweet, and suffers from a little glitchiness with regard to its core mechanics, but I feel like that can mostly be excused by the story, which is beautiful and simple and gives a voice to a young girl, rather than another generic white dude. You play as the girl’s imaginary friend who might not exactly be imaginary. She’s a character who has the ability to blend into shadows at will, creating some mind-bending object manipulation puzzles that have a surprisingly comfortable difficulty curve.
The story focuses on the girl’s attempts to bring her parents back together - a task easier said than done, given her mother’s profession as a lounge singer worked off her feet, and her father’s constant cycle of get-rich-quick schemes that keep falling apart. It’s sweet, and it’s honest, and it doesn’t condescend. And the environments are gorgeous, calling to mind Bioshock Infinite as seen through the lens of Paris in the 1920s.

March 11, 2015 Eimear Fallon

Played: Alto’s Adventure (2015).

It’s a fair assumption that I won’t be posting about every mobile game I ever play - there are too many to count, and not nearly enough that warrant any comment - but this endless runner is one of the most beautiful I’ve ever encountered. Parts of the visual style remind me of Monument Valley, but it finds its own style through a stunning day/night cycle and a wonderfully soothing soundtrack.