Did this as a bounty and while it was a pretty short and simple game, it definitely got really challenging at a couple of points due to very tight maneuvering. You could also play it using your voice, but I wasn't prepared to make a fool of myself in front of my family yelling at a balloon so I stuck with the more traditional controls.

Fun Factor: 5/10

Difficulty: 4/10 (8/10 at times)

Grinding: 2/10

(Replaying the same pain in the butt maneuver 50 times is grinding, right?)

Should you try it?

If you like simple puzzle/physics based games, then I would suggest giving it a go as it's often on sale for $0.25

Another bounty game where I enjoyed just about every aspect of this game. The writing was done rather well, as I enjoyed the characters and plot right up until the end. Characters had fun and unique personalities which made them memorable. Level design was solid throughout with enough changing mechanics and new ideas as you went along to keep things interesting. Several kinds of collectibles you could find throughout the game which was fun to do as a completionist. Everything was solid right up until the very end where the whole game drops several pegs in quality as it looks and feels incredibly rushed.

Fun Factor: 7/10

(9/10 if you ignore the last bit)

Difficulty: 3/10

Grinding: 3/10

Collectibles: 9/10

Should you try it?

Absolutely! It can be easily snagged at $5, or even $2.50 if you're patient. Well worth the price either way.

Another early 2016 completion = another bounty. Being the masochist I am, I did my play-through on the Impossible difficulty so the fun and difficulty ratings reflect that difficulty level.

System Shock 2 is a game I played the heck out of back when it was still relatively new and it was refreshing to see that while the graphics haven't aged terribly well (alleviated by some mods) the gameplay is still pretty rock solid. The shooter with a levelling mechanic that inspired the Bioshock series was a ton of fun to play through and requires a ton of strategy regarding psi choices on the higher difficulties due to the reduced number of modules you receive.

The actual enemies and combat don't change much with higher difficulties, I believe there's simply more of them to deal with while struggling with less ammo and other resources. It pays off to learn how to melee effectively!

Fun Factor: 7/10

Difficulty: 8/10

Grinding: 2/10

Collectables: 6/10

(if you count cybermodules/logs/emails as collectables. Some of the hidden cybermodules are REALLY hard to locate, but damn near vital on Impossible)

Should you try it?

Honestly, it depends on your tolerance for older shooters. If you can tolerate something like replaying Half-Life 1, you won't have an issue with SS2. Either way, often on sale for a buck, so you can't go wrong.

and now we break away from Bounties to resume my scheduled 2016 itinerary for working on my backlog!

I really enjoy GTA (and similar open world) games. I knew I was going to either buy or be gifted GTA V this Christmas, so I planned to get through III, Vice City, San Andreas, and IV before then. Little did I know how bloody long this would take me.

GTA III is a bit rough around the edges compared to the later entries, heck, even compared to Vice City, but it's still a solid game. Apart from the main storyline, it features a lot of extra side content (side missions, rampages, emergency vehicle missions, etc...) for the completionists out there as well as a lot of "hidden packages" collectables that can be found all over the place. It can be pretty tough to locate all of the packages, even with fairly thorough exploration simply due to the size of the environment, but it is doable. I'd still recommend using a guide once you've become "stuck" however, if only in the interest of saving time.

The ps4 version features trophies that aren't terribly difficult to unlock as you'll earn all but a handful if you're going for a 100% play-through in the first place.

Fun Factor: 8/10

Difficulty: 4/10

Collectibles: 5/10

(Some packages are pretty frustrating to find without a guide)

Should you try it?

If you're a trophy hound, get it as part of the trilogy on ps4 (Often goes on sale for $15 total.) There is a pc/steam option that goes for cheaper $2-$3, but I found that the controls on the pc version were pretty crap so I don't recommend it.

I was gifted this game as a joke by my friend because I absolutely hate mayonnaise. This game is stupid and dumb, and incredibly short of content, so it doesn't take too long to get through. I did this one in bursts so as to not destroy my mouse/wrist with the amount of clicking that was required. (Sadly, the mouse ultimately did not survive. RIP)

Fun Factor: 2/10

(It only gets 2 points for some of the funny-ish unlocks... it's still crap)

Difficulty: 0/10

Grinding: 10/10

Should you try it?

Just no.

Fun little point and click adventure game with a great atmosphere that leaves you feeling unsettled. The puzzles are varied, but pretty fair requiring little in the way of guesswork (Generally, if you have to guess, you missed a hint or clue somewhere else.)

Fun Factor: 6/10

Difficulty: 4/10

Should you try it?

I have a hard time recommending this for purchase, if only because the developers apparently got screwed over by UIG for selling the English translation without actually having the rights to do so? UIG posted on steam saying they would work it out with the developers and "get back to the community to update" but never did update so I have no idea if this is still shady or what.

I learned all of this long after my bundle purchase that included this game, otherwise I would have avoided it on moral grounds.

An extremely short game that was designed for multiple playthroughs where you are trying to frame each of the other characters for murder and not get caught yourself. All of the NPCs have set schedules/locations, so you have to carefully plan what object you'll use to orchestrate the killing as well as hiding the evidence in such a way so as to frame your patsy and not draw suspicion to yourself. Most of the murder/framings are fairly easy to figure out, but one in particular is pretty challenging. The dialogue options are varied and change depending on your actions. It's actually pretty impressive how thorough the creators were in fleshing out that aspect of the game.

Fun Factor: 5/10

Difficulty: 3/10

Should you try it?

The graphics suck, but it's under a buck. After some thought, I'd say give it a shot!

It's like picross and minesweeper had a baby and produced this fantastic puzzle game. Early on, the puzzles are small and quick enough to solve that you can use them as a bit of a break and relax. The later, larger puzzles can be a bit of a time investment to solve depending on your skill level, but the game saves your progress so you can resume at any time. Simple, but elegant. Very solid game for any puzzle enthusiast.

Fun Factor: 7/10

Difficulty: 3/10

Should you try it?

If you like minesweeper, yes. That's probably the closest kind of game I could compare this to. Individually, this goes on sale for under a buck on steam. There's also a triple pack of this + Hexcells Plus + Hexcells Infinite which add a few new tricks (as well as a random puzzle generator in Infinite!) If you think you'll like Hexcells, just get the bundle when it's on sale for a couple bucks for all three.

Explore the creepy house! Discover stuff to unfold a story. Throw crap all over the floor!

This game was alright. I liked the general idea/concept, but I greatly disliked the narrative in how they teased you along before actually unveiling the "answer" of what happened. Red herrings and other deceptive narrative practices are just a pet peeve of mine, so that's just my bias shining through on this review. The developer's commentary mode was fairly thorough if you like revisiting a game to hear about their development and design choices, etc...

Fun Factor: 6/10

Difficulty: 1/10

Speedrun achievement is maybe 3/10, if that.

Collectables: 8/10

You kind of want to find them all since each collectable reveals more story detail.

Should you try it?

Sure, if you like short interactive story type games. It's on par with a walking simulator, but with a little added interactivity to keep things interesting. Apart from my gripes with the way the story was told, it was pretty decent. It's been under $3 before, so you'll get your money's worth at the very least.

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