Aliens: Dark Descent – The Lethe Bug Crisis

In space, nobody can fix your bugs. Besides the fairly buggy nature of Aliens: Dark Descent, it is somewhat of an unexpected sleeper hit of the year. The gameplay, and general mechanics work well, and are clearly thought-out, which together with the visuals and audio creates a very nice Aliens experience. It truly feels like the movie when you slowly skulk the poorly lit and narrow space colonial corridors – then for it to suddenly switch from tension to high-octane action when your badass Marines with their cool outfits and iconic weapons open up on the deadly and terrifying Xenomorphs. It actually resembles Aliens to a fault, as it becomes a little too much familiar in the narrative. Seemingly, there is only one way to write games based on the Alien franchise. 

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XCOM: Chimera Squad – Prepare for Anarchy

Chimera Squad is both a spin-off series of Xcom, and a continuation of the Firaxis Xcom storyline, and overall, I think it’s a great addition to the series, both from a gameplay and story perspective. It’s not without problems, though. While the setting, background lore, and plot of the game are interesting, the characters you play leave much to desire. You see, it suffers from something most modern writing suffers from nowadays – quirky Marvel humor. Yet, it’s tolerable by presenting the story as something serious, it’s just that the tone gets constantly shattered by the quippy and sarcastic characters you are forced to drag along.

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Dragon Age: Origins – A revisit

I have written about Dragon Age: Origins before here on this blog (mind you, it’s in Swedish), and back then I didn’t like it that much. I thought the story was way too generic, and in general, it just felt old. However, now that I’m older, and ten times more cynical when it comes to gaming (and everything else for that matter) the game is not that bad. Not bad at all, actually! It feels like a genuine throwback to a time when games were made with love and ambition. I guess I just couldn’t see it then, but that is not hard now, looking out over the microtransaction hellscape that is the AAA gaming landscape. But sure, it’s not the most innovative title ever. The RP parts are pretty rudimentary when it comes to mechanics, and the world is fairly static, but man, if it isn’t a totally charming experience to go through it now. And to add – Dragon Age: Origins was made by BioWare back when they usually produced quality stuff.

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Starship Troopers: Terran Command – Bugs!

Starship Troopers: Terran Command is a real-time strategy game by The Artistocrats, published by Slitherine. People with bug phobia stay away, this game is absolutely riddled with them. No, not technical bugs, but bugs to shoot, maim and burn. Just like the movies! And as you might have guessed, this game is based on the movie IP, and not the book. Which is fine with me. I do enjoy Heinlein’s book, but I find the movie setting better. It has that brutal WW1 feeling to it, and the bugs you are massacring are actually evil. It also has one of the hottest military chicks in any movie ever. R.I.P. Dizzy!

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The Ultimate X-com Experience

There is a way to improve the legendary campaign of X-com without changing too much of the original experience. It works as an enchantment rather than an actual conversion, a bit like what the community patch 1.3 have done for Jagged Alliance 2. Now, I’m not saying my changes/mods, or the main mod itself is on the same level as that patch, but it’s based on the same principles. So, welcome to my take on the ultimate X-com experience!

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