This Sunday (July 29) is the second Seattle Indie Expo, and it's got a new location.
Rather than the SoDo area where it took place last year, it's now being put on at DigiPen in Redmond. Doors open at 10 AM and the event continues until 5 PM.
The selection of games this year looks absolutely fantastic. If you haven't already seen it, you can check a trailer for the event below. For more info, click on over to the website and if you're anywhere near the Seattle area that day, come on over.
I'll see you there!
I'm still putting some time into Metro 2033, but I've got to be honest here, folks… the appeal is really wearing off. What a difference a few hours makes, eh?
Like I said in the last blog post, the game started like a knockout and grabbed me right away. It really did. The first few hours are pretty amazing, and I had no problem getting sucked in. Once past the first few hours, though, it hasn't been nearly as tight.
Basically, it feels like the middle section of the adventure is unnecessary padding that doesn't add anything except more gunplay than is desired. Desired by me, anyway. Since stealth is hard to pull off successfully, things often degenerate into a gunfight when enemy humans are around. Plugging big swarms of mutants isn't very thrilling, either. Despite the fact that the game is presented in the first-person perspective, it seems like a waste to have such a rich world and potent atmosphere fall back onto common shooting so often.
The other issue is that the story gets off on the right foot, but it soon starts going astray. I've never read the book that this game is based on, so I have no idea whether or not the developers have included all of the various story detours as a way of being faithful to the source material, but I'd rather have something that was six hours and laser-focused than what it is now—a game that's a lot closer to ten or twelve hours, with the dramatic momentum in danger of totally evaporating long before the end.
I was pretty close to quitting tonight for no other reason than the game doesn't seem to have any new tricks to share with me, and I'm not getting enjoyment out of going through a lot of similar-looking tunnels and ruined buildings as the story rambles forward, but I decided to take a break instead. I'm nearly done, and it would be a waste to stop now.
I'll try to chip away at it, a few levels at a time.
I'll be starting a brand-new feature at GameCritics soon, focusing on iOS titles. I plan to review three or four at a time, so if you've got a favorite that you want to see reviewed, then drop me a line here at the comments section, through e-mail, or on twitter.
Also, I'm looking for a title for this series. I've got a few ideas at the moment, but nothing's really clicking quite yet.
I'm open to suggestions, so if something clever occurs you, let me know about that, as well.
If I use your title or if I review a game that you brought to my attention, I'll give you a shout out and my most heartfelt appreciation!
Transformers fan. MOTU stan. Black Lives Matter, pro-LGBTQIA. Anti-fascist.
- SVG 365: Strawberry Views Cow - December 4, 2023
- SVG 364: Temporarily Deluxe - November 26, 2023
- SVG 363: Turkeyhead - November 20, 2023
non diluted and safe, maybe? uhg…even I don’t know what I am saying half the time! ><
I loved 2033 as it felt like a non started safe game sold down to the masses, it felt like a solid quirky B game that mostly works.
Also liked Singularity for this feeling.
Are they great games? No are they above most in the genre, yes.