Last Month's Games: "50/50. I'll Take It."

It's Friday night, so my only goals are getting this posted as quickly as possible, heating up some burritos, and playing video games. So let's talk about games I played in the last month. (Some, at least. I'm trying to build a backlog here). Then I can play random games off my Steam library. (Waiting for my budget to allow me to buy DarkMaus, which is basically mouse-themed top-down Dark Souls and thus the coolest thing ever).

L'Abbye des Morts

This game is...it's quite hard. 1-hit kills, no attacks, only platforming skill. 12 items to collect, a gritty retro vibe that somehow manages to be terrifying with only a limited palette... it's very Gothic and very sparse. The whole thing is very tight, very compact, in terms of both controls and presentation. And it's free. 

Javel-Ein

A strategic game where you platform around and kill enemies with your lone javelin. Graphics are blocky but visible. you have to plan your throws and time everything very well. If you get caught without the javelin, you're in big trouble. It's pretty brain-teasing. Also free. 

Mad Max

The vehicle combat is amazing, the locations are great, the graphics are distinct from Fallout or Borderlands. Problem is, the melee combat is awful, the minibosses are just copy-pastes of each other, there are WAAAAY too many collectibles, the story is average at best, and it just all starts to feel really grindy after a while. I put about 30-40 hours into it, maybe 1/3 completion, before things just...eh. 

Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning

Um, honestly? This feels like the worst bits of Diablo meshed with the worst bits of Warcraft, to the detriment of both. The combat is neither fluid nor clicky clicky, the graphics look straight ripped from Warcraft, as do the races and plot, the camera angle is atrocious, the dialogue choices look to be striving for BioWare or Bethesda but failing terribly… Also, that's not how the Tuatha de Danann work, yo...