Zero Punctuation: Amnesia: The Dark Descent
- Thread starter Yahtzee Croshaw
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I think Yahtzee should do more games like this one. This video really seemed to bring back the old ZP feeling.
I love Penumbra, even though I didn't feel like playing it for more than an hour.
I find it hilarious that Penumbra (and I assume Amnesia does the same thing) handles physics and enviroment interaction so perfectly with the mouse - the standardized PC controller for the last 20 years. A lot more immersive than the wiimote or move wand even though these are exactly the type of games they were supposedly made for.
I want to open that drawer, so I click the handle and pull the mouse - and it opens. No need to twist and shake the wiimote in strange ways.
I find it hilarious that Penumbra (and I assume Amnesia does the same thing) handles physics and enviroment interaction so perfectly with the mouse - the standardized PC controller for the last 20 years. A lot more immersive than the wiimote or move wand even though these are exactly the type of games they were supposedly made for.
I want to open that drawer, so I click the handle and pull the mouse - and it opens. No need to twist and shake the wiimote in strange ways.
i've never played this Amnesia, however i did play Penumbra 1, and that game scared the crap outa me. there were many parts of the game that i had to quit playing it and take a break, simply because it about made me about shit myself with fear.. hell, i still haven't finished the game, after being severely creeped out by a certain room...
"OH PISSING BLIMEY! THERE'S JAM COMING OUT OF THE WALLS!"
That line (and this whole review) was solid gold!
That line (and this whole review) was solid gold!
Nice, funny review, and it actually made me start up the damn thing. Amnesia has been sitting and waiting on my harddrive since release, just never got round to it. Until now.
Played for an hour. Now I'm scared. I damn well love it, but I'm scared. Horror games is a funny thing.
Played for an hour. Now I'm scared. I damn well love it, but I'm scared. Horror games is a funny thing.
I need to somehow get this as my phone's ringtone. I merrily slapped my knee at this point.N1ceDreamz said:
Amen brother, amen - I always enjoy Yahtzee's reviews, but this is the first time I have actually fallen off my chair with laughter in QUITE a long time!N1ceDreamz said:
So glad he did this game. I got Overture when it came out and it scared me so bad in the first ten minutes that I never could continue the game. It still sits in its box in my closet. However, I finally played Black Plague, Requiem, and now Amnesia and I truly believe Frictional Games is on the forefront of creating immersion in a video game. The shorter game time and relatively easy difficulty (the only real challenge is summoning your courage) allows for a unique, incredibly immersive experience.
Go try the demo.
Go try the demo.
I have a love/hate relationship with the Penumbra series (and Amnesia, the demo of which I played recently). See, I love good horror, built up with good atmosphere, and these games deliver that in spades. There were plenty of times that I spent a while curled up in a corner not really wanting to go on, not because I'd glimpsed some unholy horror or eldritch abomination, but because there was a flickering light at the end of the hallway. It's not easy for a game to get that deep into my psyche, so I give all due "props" there.
However, one thing I cannot stand in games is interface screws that make the game artificially difficult. In Penumbra, there was the main character's tendency to have panic attacks if you looked at an enemy while it was within thirty feet of you while you were crouch-hiding (which made planning your way around their patrols difficult, since the combat mechanic made sure that, much like an army without profanity, you couldn't fight your way out of a piss-soaked paper bag); in Amnesia, there's the "darkness makes you crazy, and crazy makes your vision look like your eyeballs froze over" bit. They're both annoying, arbitrary limitations that reduce immersion and detract from the atmosphere rather than add to it. They're why I never finished the first Penumbra game or the Amnesia demo and why I very likely won't buy the full version of Amnesia.
And no, I didn't like it in Dark Corners of the Earth either, but then at least you could sometimes shoot or run away from what was making your vision all swirly like you'd had one too many Irish Car Bombs [http://www.drinksmixer.com/drink7774.html]... before the next three you had.
However, one thing I cannot stand in games is interface screws that make the game artificially difficult. In Penumbra, there was the main character's tendency to have panic attacks if you looked at an enemy while it was within thirty feet of you while you were crouch-hiding (which made planning your way around their patrols difficult, since the combat mechanic made sure that, much like an army without profanity, you couldn't fight your way out of a piss-soaked paper bag); in Amnesia, there's the "darkness makes you crazy, and crazy makes your vision look like your eyeballs froze over" bit. They're both annoying, arbitrary limitations that reduce immersion and detract from the atmosphere rather than add to it. They're why I never finished the first Penumbra game or the Amnesia demo and why I very likely won't buy the full version of Amnesia.
And no, I didn't like it in Dark Corners of the Earth either, but then at least you could sometimes shoot or run away from what was making your vision all swirly like you'd had one too many Irish Car Bombs [http://www.drinksmixer.com/drink7774.html]... before the next three you had.
"I guess I'll just run around and- woah, what was that thing I just glimpsed running down a hallway? I don't know, but it looked cross about something, so I think I'll go down this other hallway instead."
"Oh, it's blocked. Guess I'll turn around and- WHERE DID YOU COME FROM?! AAAAAHHHH RUNRUNRUN I'M SORRY I DIDN'T MEAN TO MESS YOUR CHAIRS UP- OH PISSING BLIMEY THERE'S JAM COMING OUT OF THE WALLS!!!"
Had me in fucking stiches. And what you ahd to say about the game is pretty close on the money, too. One of the best reviews in recent momory - excellent work.
"Oh, it's blocked. Guess I'll turn around and- WHERE DID YOU COME FROM?! AAAAAHHHH RUNRUNRUN I'M SORRY I DIDN'T MEAN TO MESS YOUR CHAIRS UP- OH PISSING BLIMEY THERE'S JAM COMING OUT OF THE WALLS!!!"
Had me in fucking stiches. And what you ahd to say about the game is pretty close on the money, too. One of the best reviews in recent momory - excellent work.
I liked this review, but I can't help but feel it was more addressing what most horror games this generation are doing wrong than a review of the game itself. It was really only talking about the stress caused by the monsters before anything else. The fear in the game doesn't come from those abominations alone but also from the environment itself. Sure, actually encountering one of them is stressful enough, but it was really the torture chambers later on and even the ambient sound effects that contributed most to the increase in the moisture level of my pants. I just find it strange he, a big fan of this genre, would talk about the monsters and little else in regards to the atmosphere. It's good that he brought attention to the game, though.
Anyone who had issues via an ATI card, there is a patch out that fixes the X series cards.
Also Don't put on SSAO its murder for your system no matter who you are.
I bought this game and so should you. it's 8-10 hours of gameplay and it owns hard.
Throw yourself off a cliff, troll.
Also Don't put on SSAO its murder for your system no matter who you are.
I bought this game and so should you. it's 8-10 hours of gameplay and it owns hard.
Your whole argument is basically "if a game sells less than a million copies, it sucks and no one cares about it"DBlack said:
Throw yourself off a cliff, troll.
heh, nothings better than pissing of those adolescent 13 years because OMG what r b tis gmae, wer teh fuk is HALO yatzee, wers ma HALOOOOOO??? [yeah went a little overboard right there...]
Anyway, pretty decent review, although not as good as your review of Mafia 2, which was hilarious.
Anyway, pretty decent review, although not as good as your review of Mafia 2, which was hilarious.
Nice review. I've been wanting to get this for a long time but my pc is in the shop and Cyberpower is to stupid to send it back. And another good example of horror #2 is when you are near the end of STALKER Call of Prpyat and all you hear is a baby crying but you never find it. That scared me so much because you're stuck in this pitch blackroom where you could be eaten alive any second.