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Introduction
Hello my name is Celicni, I am from Serbia, 27 years old and have been playing video games since 6 years of age. First game I remember was watching my uncle play RTCW (to this day the catacombs sections gives me an uneasy feeling), and first two games I personally played where Call of Duty 1 with United offensive and Rome Total War. Those games shaped my gaming tastes so that today I mostly enjoy shooters of all kinds (from the military COD types to the story driven Metro ones, all up to the retro shooter renaissance we are enjoying today), as well as strategy games ( Total War, although I have dabbled into Civ 5 and Age of Empires).
This blog is mostly for myself, so I can keep track of my progress and have a diary of sorts to myself, it will be updated as often as time lets me.
Rules:
1. Only 1 more game purchased this year (Selaco), no more game purchases until 2025.
2. If I don't enjoy a game, I leave it be, no point in forcing anything.
3. Goal is 3-4 games per month, more of a benchmark than a rule.
4. Trying out new genres to get out of my comfort zone.
5. Have fun, not treat it as just another commitment.
There is three backlogs:
Backlog - main one, currently has (48 games)
Sidelog - games I plan on finishing eventually someday (17 games)
Eventually - games I plan on finishing or playing when I clean the mentioned above (9 games)
With that out of the way, here is bellow what I finished since i started this year.
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What I finished since the start of this year
Rated: 80%
Pretty fun and decent game, has a lot of style, gunplay is fun and has a unique twist to it, boss battles where fairly interesting, and challenging.
Completed: Jan 07, 2024
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Rated: 80%
Game has its issues, but for me it was a trip down memory lane, since I played it when I was younger.
The shooting is pretty bad, story is corny, dialog over the top, graphics decent, and the game overall is objectively okay.
Squad mechanic is basic and effective, covers the D-Day drops from the point of view Matt Baker, you can see a lot of research went into the levels, and if you like the time period, it still holds up okay.
Call it nostalgia, but I still love it.
Completed: Jan 09, 2024
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Rated: 80%
A sequal/expansion to Road to Hill 30, introduces some changes for the better, you can now request ammo from allies, but still has the same issues as its predecessor, again for me its a trip down memory lane, and that's what makes me rate it this highly.
The shooting is still pretty bad, story is a lot better than Road to Hill 30, graphics are the same as Road to Hill 30, and the game overall is objectively okay.
Squad mechanic is basic and effective, covers the D-Day drops from the point of view Joe Hartsock, a character from the first game.
Completed: Jan 12, 2024
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Rated: 70%
As someone who in general doesn't play RPGs of this type, and never had before, although its difficulty for me personally was a bit too much, I enjoyed it and finished it.
The gameplay was decent, story was okay, the style was excellent, and the world felt really alive, all in all for a free game you can see the effort put in by the developer.
Would recommend it, since it doesn't cost you anything but your time.
Completed: Jan 17, 2024
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Rated: 65%
Game is overall okay, best thing i could say about it.
After 5 years of EA the game finally got released, and honestly I expected a bit more from it.
The positives
- Guns are fun and varied
- Movement feels tight and responsive and the blade dash mechanic is really fun letting you approach the path in a different way without punishing you for it.
- Art style is great and the game is very pleasant on the eyes, the graphics while on the Quake engine look beautiful.
- Dismemberment mechanic for the enemies is fun, and looks good.
The neutral
- Bosses are neither hard, but also neither memorable, which isn't a deal breaker for me personally
The negatives:
- Maps are too big, and a little bit confusing to an extent, an average completion of a single level takes about 45 minutes to an hour.
- The amount of enemies per level is between 300 on the smaller ones up to 500-600 on the longer levels, which makes it somewhat of a slog, especially since you take two steps and enemies spawn behind and in front of you, so it turns into two steps forward and then running back into a cleared room.
- Each episode adds maybe 1-2 enemies, so you will be mostly fighting the same enemies throughout the entire game, which gets dull after a while.
- Every time you are on a slope you are basically sliding on soap, which combined with instant death chasms makes for a really fun combination.
Overall the game isn't terrible, its decent to okay, but considering the development time and that there are superior retro shooters on the market, I wouldn't be in a rush to pick this up, unless you have played most of the other things on offer.
Completed: Mar 10, 2024
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Rated: 80%
Vomitoreum is a metroidvania shooter, which is a weird combination by itself, but somehow in this game it works, although a bit at the expense of the shooting aspect.
The shooting is okay, even meh at some points, the level design is brimming with a hopeless outlook art style wise, and is pretty decent.
The game is pretty short and can be beaten in under a couple of hours, so I would grab it on a sale.
Its a dying world and you are in it as its last hope, throughout the game you interact with characters that have turned evil, or characters that have a negative outlook on things.
The story is surprisingly decent, and I enjoyed it.
Its a recommend from me, as it is a fresh breeze of air in a genre where the story usually isn't as important.
Completed: Mar 29, 2024
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What I am playing currently:
1. Borderlands 2
Playtime: 76h 12m
Just having fun with it and playing a coop campaign with a friend
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2. Total War: Rome II
Playtime: 675h 15m
Just fire up a campaign when I feel like it, mostly finishing up the achievements now.
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Thanks for reading my ramblings, and hope you have a good one
#Really good blog and see I am not the onely one to have played band of brothers.
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Thanks
There is a sort of funny story about Brothers in Arms, in Serbian Band of Brothers was translated as Brothers in Arms here, so me and a friend bought it hoping to play as one of the characters from show. And to be honest, since both pieces of media are about 101st paratroopers in WW2, you can see how our mistake was justifiable.
Loved it when I played through it, loved it when I replayed it recently.
There is a sort of funny story about Brothers in Arms, in Serbian Band of Brothers was translated as Brothers in Arms here, so me and a friend bought it hoping to play as one of the characters from show. And to be honest, since both pieces of media are about 101st paratroopers in WW2, you can see how our mistake was justifiable.
Loved it when I played through it, loved it when I replayed it recently.
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Update:
Brothers - A Tale of Two Sons
Finished the game today with my girlfriend, who doesn't play video games, was overall a fun experience, especially playing with her, since her knowledge of english is limited, this game worked perfectly since the whole plot is told via non-verbal cutscene, so she could follow along and enjoy herself.
The game is beautiful artistically and graphically, puzzles weren't too difficult, atmosphere was amazing overall a very enjoyable couch coop game, especially if you have a family member that isn't into gaming that much.
The story is something I wont spoil here, but the praise it gets for it is a bit overblown, don't get me wrong its good, it just isn't as great as people claim it is. Still it is pretty emotional, and I highly recommend you grab a friend or family, dedicate one afternoon to it, and blast through it, since it will be a nice experience.
Completed: Mar 31, 2024
Brothers - A Tale of Two Sons
Finished the game today with my girlfriend, who doesn't play video games, was overall a fun experience, especially playing with her, since her knowledge of english is limited, this game worked perfectly since the whole plot is told via non-verbal cutscene, so she could follow along and enjoy herself.
The game is beautiful artistically and graphically, puzzles weren't too difficult, atmosphere was amazing overall a very enjoyable couch coop game, especially if you have a family member that isn't into gaming that much.
The story is something I wont spoil here, but the praise it gets for it is a bit overblown, don't get me wrong its good, it just isn't as great as people claim it is. Still it is pretty emotional, and I highly recommend you grab a friend or family, dedicate one afternoon to it, and blast through it, since it will be a nice experience.
Completed: Mar 31, 2024
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Update:
Prodeus
Pretty much Doom 3 if Doom 3 was a continuing of the first two games and not a horror game.
Retro shooter distilled to its most basic aspects, what you see is what you get, but sometimes brilliance is in that.
Prodeus is amazingly done, the movement, the shooting, the upgrades, everything just mixes in perfectly complimenting itself.
The story is non existing, a snippet here and there, but its just there to connect one level to another.
The basic campaign can be done in about 6-7 hours, I went for secret hunting, so It took me a bit longer.
I went secret hunting so I can unlock the dash, double jump, auto shotgun and a rocket launcher that is amazing, which you wont be able to do unless you do the weapon challenges and get 70-80% of the secrets per level (I never unlocked the final weapon even thou I went back to get ore for some more upgrades)
My only complaint with this game is that sometimes the damage feedback is weak, I wasn't aware sometimes I lost 30-40hp because the feedback was weak.
Other than the main campaign, there is a level editor, so the amount of levels you can play is endless, and having tried a couple of community levels out there, they are pretty good.
If you are a retro shooter fan, this is a must play
Completed: April 04, 2024
Prodeus
Pretty much Doom 3 if Doom 3 was a continuing of the first two games and not a horror game.
Retro shooter distilled to its most basic aspects, what you see is what you get, but sometimes brilliance is in that.
Prodeus is amazingly done, the movement, the shooting, the upgrades, everything just mixes in perfectly complimenting itself.
The story is non existing, a snippet here and there, but its just there to connect one level to another.
The basic campaign can be done in about 6-7 hours, I went for secret hunting, so It took me a bit longer.
I went secret hunting so I can unlock the dash, double jump, auto shotgun and a rocket launcher that is amazing, which you wont be able to do unless you do the weapon challenges and get 70-80% of the secrets per level (I never unlocked the final weapon even thou I went back to get ore for some more upgrades)
My only complaint with this game is that sometimes the damage feedback is weak, I wasn't aware sometimes I lost 30-40hp because the feedback was weak.
Other than the main campaign, there is a level editor, so the amount of levels you can play is endless, and having tried a couple of community levels out there, they are pretty good.
If you are a retro shooter fan, this is a must play
Completed: April 04, 2024
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Update:
Dusk
A classic of the retro shooter revival genre.
The whole movement to an extent owes its existence to it, and I remember when it came out playing it and feeling a breeze of fresh air in the FPS genre, after the stale formulas of the previous 10 years.
I enjoyed playing through it, decided to do a play-through in the HD client, didn't notice too much difference between it and the regular one. Levels are short and sweet with a lot of secrets, I don't think I found even 1/3rd of them in my play-through.
Dusk has so much going for it, its weapons feel amazing, the level designs hold up very well, some of the best in the genre in my opinion, art style is beautiful, music is amazing, enemy variety great.
My only three complaints are that the damage indication is a bit off, sometimes I would take a hit that didn't seem too bad, just to look at my HP and see that 2/3rds are gone.
Also the rats are hard to target, and pretty annoying even thou they don't deal a lot of damage.
The Mother enemy is a bullet sponge, through and through, deals out tons of damage, so a pain of an enemy to fight.
It still holds up amazingly well, even thou its one of the first retro shooters on the indie scene, as they say, good design doesn't age.
Completed: April 13, 2024
Dusk
A classic of the retro shooter revival genre.
The whole movement to an extent owes its existence to it, and I remember when it came out playing it and feeling a breeze of fresh air in the FPS genre, after the stale formulas of the previous 10 years.
I enjoyed playing through it, decided to do a play-through in the HD client, didn't notice too much difference between it and the regular one. Levels are short and sweet with a lot of secrets, I don't think I found even 1/3rd of them in my play-through.
Dusk has so much going for it, its weapons feel amazing, the level designs hold up very well, some of the best in the genre in my opinion, art style is beautiful, music is amazing, enemy variety great.
My only three complaints are that the damage indication is a bit off, sometimes I would take a hit that didn't seem too bad, just to look at my HP and see that 2/3rds are gone.
Also the rats are hard to target, and pretty annoying even thou they don't deal a lot of damage.
The Mother enemy is a bullet sponge, through and through, deals out tons of damage, so a pain of an enemy to fight.
It still holds up amazingly well, even thou its one of the first retro shooters on the indie scene, as they say, good design doesn't age.
Completed: April 13, 2024
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Update:
Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway
The "AAA" "blockbuster" Brothers in Arms game.
Oh boy, oh boy is this one a doozy.
Hells Highway is the third game in the Brothers in Arms series, and it is a game in a serious identity crisis, not knowing if it wants to be a Brothers at arms game or a COD game.
Lets get the good first out of the way, the graphics are better, production value is higher and the shooting finally works, no bullshit voble anymore, so you actually hit your target.
And thats about it for the good.
The game has completely moved away from the squadron aspect, yes squadrons are in the game and you can use them, but bellow the Authentic difficulty, you can spam shoot the enemy in short controlled boosts, and eventually you will achieve headshoots, trivializing an MG position because there is no point in flanking it if you can snipe it no problem, and to add to the issue, every gun gets 20 magazines, doesn't matter if it has 8 round in one mag or 50 rounds in one mag, automatic weapons can be as accurate as snipers on the first shoot, so there is no point in carrying a Garand, when you can carry a 50 round Thompson and 20 round BAR.
Somehow the AI is worse then in the previous two games, its stiff, barely reacts to tactical decisions, and the map design doesn't allow it to preform correctly, either it doesn't move at all, charges at you, or when you are close it moves back, getting out of cover and getting deleted by your squads.
There is almost more cutscenes in this game then game itself, you can't pass 1-2 checkpoints without a cutscene being played. The story in these games was never that great, but it was at least passable. Here it becomes boring fast, and God have mercy on your soul if you didn't play the first two games, because you will be completely lost in the narrative. It tries more to be a movie then a game.
The solo and tank sections are just plain COD with another coat of paint. The game had to be designed to an extent around them and I am suspecting thats why the AI got dumb-downed. Its supposed to make you feel like you are on a power trip, but they just bored me, especially since in the tank missions, infantry can kill you when you have the tank commander on the machinegun, defeating the point of being in a tank. The solo part there is one point when you just have your pistol left and the enemies have MP40s, good luck with that one on Authentic.
Overall I love this game because I played it when I was younger, but for newcoomers, its a hard pass.
This one has Randys grease all over it.
Completed: April 14, 2024
Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway
The "AAA" "blockbuster" Brothers in Arms game.
Oh boy, oh boy is this one a doozy.
Hells Highway is the third game in the Brothers in Arms series, and it is a game in a serious identity crisis, not knowing if it wants to be a Brothers at arms game or a COD game.
Lets get the good first out of the way, the graphics are better, production value is higher and the shooting finally works, no bullshit voble anymore, so you actually hit your target.
And thats about it for the good.
The game has completely moved away from the squadron aspect, yes squadrons are in the game and you can use them, but bellow the Authentic difficulty, you can spam shoot the enemy in short controlled boosts, and eventually you will achieve headshoots, trivializing an MG position because there is no point in flanking it if you can snipe it no problem, and to add to the issue, every gun gets 20 magazines, doesn't matter if it has 8 round in one mag or 50 rounds in one mag, automatic weapons can be as accurate as snipers on the first shoot, so there is no point in carrying a Garand, when you can carry a 50 round Thompson and 20 round BAR.
Somehow the AI is worse then in the previous two games, its stiff, barely reacts to tactical decisions, and the map design doesn't allow it to preform correctly, either it doesn't move at all, charges at you, or when you are close it moves back, getting out of cover and getting deleted by your squads.
There is almost more cutscenes in this game then game itself, you can't pass 1-2 checkpoints without a cutscene being played. The story in these games was never that great, but it was at least passable. Here it becomes boring fast, and God have mercy on your soul if you didn't play the first two games, because you will be completely lost in the narrative. It tries more to be a movie then a game.
The solo and tank sections are just plain COD with another coat of paint. The game had to be designed to an extent around them and I am suspecting thats why the AI got dumb-downed. Its supposed to make you feel like you are on a power trip, but they just bored me, especially since in the tank missions, infantry can kill you when you have the tank commander on the machinegun, defeating the point of being in a tank. The solo part there is one point when you just have your pistol left and the enemies have MP40s, good luck with that one on Authentic.
Overall I love this game because I played it when I was younger, but for newcoomers, its a hard pass.
This one has Randys grease all over it.
Completed: April 14, 2024
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Thread Update
Haven't played anything new, just been replaying Fallout New Vegas with all its DLCs, clock in about 80 hours, soon will be back to tackling my backlog.
Haven't played anything new, just been replaying Fallout New Vegas with all its DLCs, clock in about 80 hours, soon will be back to tackling my backlog.
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Thread Update:
Started going through Quake 2, amazing remaster, am about half way in, and Selaco released today, so will probably finish those 2 at least till the end of June.
Started going through Quake 2, amazing remaster, am about half way in, and Selaco released today, so will probably finish those 2 at least till the end of June.
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Update:
Selaco
In my opinion this is game of the year contender easily
First of all, Selaco is running on the a modified GZDoom engine, its functionality and beauty are unmatched on anything that has ever been done on that engine. The environments are interactive to a ridiculous point, everything you can see, you can pick up or use, making the world feel so alive. The graphics look great (especially great for something on a 30 year old engine at this point). The maps are amazing and flow without any issue (although they can be a tad bit confusing).
I wouldn't call this a boomer shooter, although most people might put it in the same category. Selacos main inspiration is F.E.A.R., and that shows through the gameplay. The John Woo philosophy, of everything that is there has to explode when hit with a bullet, and it does that masterfully. The visual effects in a firefight are amazing, they work splendidly, and make every fight an experience for itself, you will never, and I repeat never have the same firefight. That is amazing.
With a heavy F.E.A.R. inspiration, the AI has to be on point, otherwise the whole illusion falls apart. The AI in Selaco is good, smart but still fun. It will go into mines you set, but it will also flank you, attack you from multiple angles, heavy armor troops will move in first tanking shoots, while the squishier troops will sit back and shoot at you. It works fantastically well.
The environments are masterfully crafted, while having a theme, they still are very varied, and some will surprise you.
Weapons are mostly great, with some exception here and there that where cool, but functionally pretty meh.
Game is currently in early assess, so some teething issues are to be expected, I wont mention those as the developers are deploying patches at a rapid pace.
Some of the bad sides are the close quarter fights, the game obviously isn't really made in mind with them, and thankfully they are rare and far between, mostly giving you space to maneuver.
Levels are pretty big, and even with a map, they can be confusing at times.
The enemies are hit scans, so right off the bat, as soon as they spot you, they will hit you, which feels a tad bit cheap, but I get its there to keep you on your toes.
Selaco is a really hard game, personally I played on Commander (Hard), and even as an experienced FPS player, died more times than in any recent retro-shooter I played.
The EA Chapter 1 can be completed within 7-11 hours, depending on how much you explore (Selaco has a huge amount of regular secrets and mega secrets, but that's part of the course for retro shooters at this point).
Even in EA, the game is a highly recommended buy in my opinion, what is there is great, what will come down the line will be amazing as well, no doubt in my mind.
Better than any AAA experience coming out this year (in the FPS sphere at least), for a third of the price.
You can't go wrong with Selaco.
Completed: June 17, 2024
Selaco
In my opinion this is game of the year contender easily
First of all, Selaco is running on the a modified GZDoom engine, its functionality and beauty are unmatched on anything that has ever been done on that engine. The environments are interactive to a ridiculous point, everything you can see, you can pick up or use, making the world feel so alive. The graphics look great (especially great for something on a 30 year old engine at this point). The maps are amazing and flow without any issue (although they can be a tad bit confusing).
I wouldn't call this a boomer shooter, although most people might put it in the same category. Selacos main inspiration is F.E.A.R., and that shows through the gameplay. The John Woo philosophy, of everything that is there has to explode when hit with a bullet, and it does that masterfully. The visual effects in a firefight are amazing, they work splendidly, and make every fight an experience for itself, you will never, and I repeat never have the same firefight. That is amazing.
With a heavy F.E.A.R. inspiration, the AI has to be on point, otherwise the whole illusion falls apart. The AI in Selaco is good, smart but still fun. It will go into mines you set, but it will also flank you, attack you from multiple angles, heavy armor troops will move in first tanking shoots, while the squishier troops will sit back and shoot at you. It works fantastically well.
The environments are masterfully crafted, while having a theme, they still are very varied, and some will surprise you.
Weapons are mostly great, with some exception here and there that where cool, but functionally pretty meh.
Game is currently in early assess, so some teething issues are to be expected, I wont mention those as the developers are deploying patches at a rapid pace.
Some of the bad sides are the close quarter fights, the game obviously isn't really made in mind with them, and thankfully they are rare and far between, mostly giving you space to maneuver.
Levels are pretty big, and even with a map, they can be confusing at times.
The enemies are hit scans, so right off the bat, as soon as they spot you, they will hit you, which feels a tad bit cheap, but I get its there to keep you on your toes.
Selaco is a really hard game, personally I played on Commander (Hard), and even as an experienced FPS player, died more times than in any recent retro-shooter I played.
The EA Chapter 1 can be completed within 7-11 hours, depending on how much you explore (Selaco has a huge amount of regular secrets and mega secrets, but that's part of the course for retro shooters at this point).
Even in EA, the game is a highly recommended buy in my opinion, what is there is great, what will come down the line will be amazing as well, no doubt in my mind.
Better than any AAA experience coming out this year (in the FPS sphere at least), for a third of the price.
You can't go wrong with Selaco.
Completed: June 17, 2024
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Update:
Was in a car accident as soon as I get better will start posting more
Was in a car accident as soon as I get better will start posting more
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Take all of the time you need to get to feel better Celicnis. Your physical and mental health take priority after all so I hope you have a swift recovery.