I had the same experience when I played HALO: CE (the original version) for the first time this last summer. I could write the same words... well, actually I had started writing reviews for games I finished this year, but then lost steam along the way, just when it was time to review this particular game. I ended up giving it a 3/5 rating, just OK, not great.
It's a pity since combat is actually very good, with challenging opponents and satisfying (if not particularly varied or fanciful) weapons. But that level design, so uninspired and repetitive, really killed the game for me. All those copy-paste corridors, rooms, bridges, over and over again...
At one point, I wasn't even sure I was really making progress, I felt like I was backtracking! And it doesn't get better the more you go on, no it possibly gets worse. I started wanting the game to be over soon, which is never a good sign...
There was some twist in the plot, but I stopped caring for that and the characters, with all their banter - I was reminded of Portal 2, and not in a good way.
The outdoor sections were indeed the best, as you write, and the vehicles were great, so fun to ride (especially the tank, of course!). It's also a very beautiful game, both visually and aurally. The more a pity. With a little more creativity in the level design department, it could have really been something great.
Perhaps my disappointment stemmed in part from very high expectations in approaching this revered piece of gaming history.

I finished Drakensang. Of course I haven't played and finished it in the 10 days since 30-10 (when I finished Dungeon Siege 3)! I had played Drakensang till I reached Murolosh (the last area of the game) earlier this year, but then I halted it for some months. These days I returned and finished it.

Completed a few games since last time:
- Suzerain: A political simulator. Very difficult. I played it twice to try different outcomes. The good ending is quite difficult to get though.
- Quake - Episode 1: Fun. I'll continue the other episodes later.
- Once upon a Jester: An UFO very difficult to explain. I enjoyed it though.
- Injustice 2: A solid fighting game but I suck at those :)
- Yi and the thousand moons: A short musical game. Not much to do but the songs were enjoyable.


Full list here.

Dear Esther: Landmark Edition (2017) (Linux/Proton)

OMG. It's sooo slow and frustrating. Do not miss the correct path, jumping the cliff does not help in such case. Literally no gameplay also.

List of all games completed in 2024.

Expeditions: A Mudrunner Game (XSX Game Pass)

The most common complaint people seem to have with this game is that it isn't SnowRunner 2. That is not my complaint as Snow Runner is still getting huge expansions and has hundreds of hours of content, even in the base game. Expeditions is more of a general offroad simulator rather than an offroad Euro Truck Sim. It's actually a very different game.

Unfortunately, they messed it up. SnowRunner is one of my favorite games. All they had to do with Expeditions was take the idea of off-roading with scout class vehicles and medium trucks and keep the same sort of quest and progression system and the same controls and UI. Somehow Expeditions is way more tedious in the way the tasks and jobs are handled. The game needlessly sends you somewhere just to pick up the job, then sends you to all points of the map. It just badly lacks something and soon became nothing more than a slog. The tasks give you little money and doing them can cost you more than you earn and that's before you factor in the time you took. Offloading what you're carrying, such as fuel or repairs, to make way for a quest item is not possible just anywhere- not even at depots if they have no open space...the entire UI and is just tedious and annoying. So, I struggled through the expeditions (which is the story mode) and left almost all of the tasks and optional contracts.

In the end, this is a great idea, but messed up in execution somewhat, I'd rather just buy the expansions for SnowRunner and just play more of that.

The Surge

one of the best combat systems in Souls(likes) games I've played.
Challenging but sometimes borderline unfair - they even have dogs equivalent of those nasty scorpion-like machines.
Second map is absolute maze even with markings and signs telling you where it goes. The DLCs and further levels weren't that convolutet luckily.
The gameplay loop of farming cash (with multiplayer mechanic that can be abused) and parts to improve your gear.
Story was OK and easier to follow than FROM games.

Ok/10
worth the time for sure
won't play Surge 2 because the vibes ain't for me and it's much uglier

Darksiders 3
played with classic controls

Some soulslikes elements here, but nothing special.
It was ok, not great like other DS games in the series. Dialoges were decent along with character developement - something not existing in other entries.
Some connections with Remnants series, maybe, at the end?
Game was easy with exception of DLC bosses (Keeper of the Void) and Arena.

Immortals of Aveum (XSX Game Pass)

First person magic shooter, published by EA. I started off enjoying it, then it got very annoying and just average. Then, by the end, I detested it. I played it on Xbox with a view to switching over to my PC if I was really enjoying it. I ended up just playing all the way on console.

I'll get the only good thing out of the way first. At times the game looks amazing. It uses Unreal 5, so it runs on a very modern engine. Sometimes though, it also just looks bland as well- mainly environments. When I first started it, it ran like shit. On console there is an option to turn on FSR3.1. That transformed the game, well it was mostly locked at 60fps anyway. If anything, FSR also made the game look better at regular view distance. Yes, I know that if you take screen shots and zoom in 50% you will see different, but I don't play zoomed in- in normal play it ran way better and looked sharper with FSR.

The bad stuff:

Whilst the game is mostly stable...it has one critical bug. After a few hours of play, anytime you go to the character upgrade screen...the game crashes to desktop. I looked it up online and it's a common problem that people have- on PC and consoles. The way to solve it is to go to quickly switch to another menu screen and then switch straight back again- works almost every time.

The graphics can look great, as I've already said. Unfortunately, they took the path of "the more pretty special effects we can cram on screen the better". Towards the end of the game there was so much on screen that I couldn't see the enemies or where I was.

The combat gets tedious really early on. Most enemies become damage sponges very early, made worse by the colored magic system. Everything is so obvious and predictable- similar to my complaints about the Dead Space sequels, where every time you hit a plot switch a horse of space zombies bursts through the vents. In Aveum you can clearly see the combat arenas and where the doors will magically close, sealing you in. Every single time. No variety ever, and the games only answer is to just increase the number of waves and damage sponge elite enemies the longer it goes.

Everything else in the game is just as predictable- the story, the loot...not once in the game did I ever find anything through exploration that made go "wow" that's awesome. Everything was just a slight iterative upgrade on things you already have. The epic equipment wasn't even epic.
Then there's the characters. You play as a Whiny Soy Boy. The bad dude is a white guy with beard, because what else can you use for a bad guy these days? The other characters are also predictable "modern audience" tropes. There's the strong black woman in charge, the other strong black woman in charge, the really strong butch dyke woman that's also in charge. You get the picture. And why did they all have to be so ugly? If you look up the voice actors, they are more attractive than the game characters!

So, I didn't like it. Hardly anyone bought it.

Immortals of Aveum, Nov 16 (Xbox Game Pass)-The game's not as bad as people say and I had some fun with it. It looks great...about half the time. The other half the game is stuttering and choppy and laggy. Cinematics are a mixed bag and they frequently were desynced with the audio and slowed to a crawl. This happened even during the opening credits scene. Anytime there was a big battle with lots of enemies and explosions I was afraid the game would crash. It did crash a few times but it was randomly and not during a chaotic fight. The voice acting is pretty good with the exception of Rook. The plot was average. The gunplay I mean magic was enjoyable. Anytime the game tried to turn into a platformer was a low point. Travelling on the...leylines I think they were...was silly and also caused stuttering. Some of the puzzles were interesting. If you can get it to run smoothly you might enjoy it, but its not worth struggling with otherwise.

Full List

Huh, two reports of the same game on the same day...

Spirit of the North Enhanced Edition, Nov 17 (Xbox Game Pass)-As far as end of the world fox games go I preferred this to Endling Extinction is Forever but it's not great. It's got some light puzzles and some collectibles. It could have been just a meh game but Chapter 7 was terrible and brought the meh down to outright bad. That chapter was a giant open spirit world with no map and no real indicators for where to go. You could activate some fox statues and some lights would illuminate in the sky briefly pointing the way to something but if you got to the end of the lit path before they extinguished there was often nothing there. The whole spirit world was washed out gray-blue and everything looked the same. This chapter was terrible, all the other chapters were forgettable.

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Those Who Remain, Nov 18 (Xbox Game Pass)-It's like a budget Alan Wake mixed with a budget Amnesia mixed with a budget Saw. With a little more polish it could probably be a bit of a cult classic but as it is it's a little lackluster. The plot is interesting but pretty heavy handed. The puzzles aren't much. There are some creepy and tense moments when you're being chased but usually you're just wandering around looking for a light switch. It also has this obnoxious habit of throwing dozens of drawers, cabinets, and lockers at you to search for the single item or note. They could have really cut that down quite a bit. It's probably not worth the time unless you really need to play every last horror game.

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Evil West (XSX Game Pass)

Pretty decent AA brawler set in an alternative American West, Vampire Apocalypse scenario. It actually has a really good combat system that gets very frenetic and tense. The enemy variety does run out as the game goes on, but my playthrough on normal difficulty only took about 13 hours...so it doesn't go too long. It looks nice, the story is simple, but okay. The levels are very linear. It's a decent time filler if you get it cheap enough.

Tomb Raider 3. I had heard a lot of horror stories about this one but I actually liked it more than anticipated. Maybe it's just the console players having to put up with limited save crystals. Compared to the last one, it seems to get back to the balance of exploration and action. TR2 had too much shooting, IMO. The downside is that the levels are so extensive that I kept forgetting about stuff I'd seen in the early parts and would run around like an idiot until I checked a walkthrough and would be reminded of a lever or something I needed to use. I still like the original game best, but this would be my second favorite of the original three games.

5 Days a Stranger. I figured I'd replay this one for something quick. It's still pretty good for a free AGS game. It's too bad Croshaw has apparently lost interest in adventure games. It's mostly well-written although it feels a tad contrived in certain ways, and the graphics are as basic as you can reasonably get away with. The puzzles are generally fair and it's refreshing to have a nice bloody horror game.

Sex with the Devil (Steam)

This is the type of masterpiece that I always use with my Steam Wallet pocket change from selling those trading cards. That way I can pretend I didn't pay for them. Yes, it's very sick and disturbing, as expected. Fun for the whole family right here. It took 2 hours to get all three endings. I think next time a get a few dollars from trading cards, I'd better buy that "Save Jesus" game to atone for this one. Or maybe that "Mom Got Stuck in the Washing Machine" game. Tough decision.

The Gunk, Nov 21 (Xbox Game Pass)-Space Janitor The Game but with more vacuuming and less humor. The game is pretty dull over its 4-5 hour length. You don't do a whole lot other than suck up gunk. The game is very easy, the characters are bland, and the plot is mostly an excuse for more vacuuming. It's not bad, its just boring.

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