February 2022
Metro 2033 Redux
February 23, 2022 Filed in: Video Games
Time for another first-person shooter. Next up in my playlist was Metro 2033 Redux, a video game based on a Russian novel. This was an update of the original Metro 2033 game, which was released in 2010. The Redux version came out four years later and used the updated game engine from Metro: Last Light. Metro 2033 had great atmosphere. People are living in Moscow's Metro system after a nuclear war took place 20 years ago. Among your enemies are creatures known as "the Dark Ones," which provide plenty of combat challenges. Unfortunately, I only finished a couple of chapters before motion sickness brought this game to an end for me. It's too bad because it was a quality title. I definitely got a Doom 3 vibe in the parts I played. The areas were very dark and a flashlight didn't offer much illumination. I think that probably added to my eyestrain and sickness. Oh well. It was fun while it lasted.
Shatter
February 17, 2022 Filed in: Video Games
A lot of video games take many hours to finish. I was hoping to play something on the shorter side and found a great game in Shatter. Originally released for the PlayStation, Shatter is a brick-breaking arcade game in the style of Breakout and Arkanoid. I've played several titles in this genre and Shatter was definitely one of the best. It uses the familiar ball and paddle game mechanic, which dates back to Pong. Shatter adds multi-ball action, power-ups, physics effects, plus "suck" and "blow" controls. I completed the game's story mode in under five hours. There were ten worlds, each with multiple levels, a final boss, and a bonus level. I found Shatter's difficulty level to be just about right. A few of the boss fights were challenging and even frustrating. However, I always felt they were winnable so it kept me coming back for more.
Supreme Commander 2
February 10, 2022 Filed in: Video Games
The latest computer game I played was Supreme Commander 2. It was the sequel to Supreme Commander, which was considered the "spiritual successor" of Total Annihilation. All of these games were developed by Chris Taylor. Although I never played the original Supreme Commander, I had previously played Total Annihilation. Although SC2 wasn't as highly regarded as its predecessors, it was still a lot of fun. The campaign was split into three parts, each of which focused on a different faction. The factions are the United Earth Federation, Aeon Illuminate, and the Cybran Nation. In this respect, it reminded me of StarCraft with its story centered on three races. In each operation, you lead an army headed by an ACU (Armored Command Unit). Plenty of units were available in land, air, naval, structure, and experimental categories. The unit cap was 300 so it allowed for quite a bit of onscreen action. As with other real-time strategy games, you build structures and units. In StarCraft, the resources are minerals and vespene gas. Here it is mass and energy. The story was ok but I didn't find it too memorable. The final operation was a battle against a Cybran who served as the game's major antagonist.
Dominic Maddox in a UEF Armored Command Unit (ACU)
Dominic Maddox in a UEF Armored Command Unit (ACU)