Resonance

Use of this "How Long to Beat" website seems to have gotten the ball rolling again. I just finished "Resonance" last night. Achievement!

"Resonance" is an excellent game and proof that the adventure game genre is still alive and kicking, which delights me to no end. Can't keep a good genre down! The visual style of this game has a bit of a pixelated retro look that I like. There's something comforting about a 2D adventure game. That may just be my nostalgia kicking in. Resonance revolves around the mysterious and unusual death of a particle physicist who had made a discovery that has the potential to be used for great good or great evil. A group of four individuals get wrapped up in unraveling the mystery of his death which leads to an all out search for a secret vault containing the research of the deceased scientist. What they decide to with this research could have far reaching consequences.

As is standard adventure game fare, Resonance employs an inventory system you'd expect with the additional focus on interaction via dialogue. Finding the right topic to bring up to an NPC is as important as finding the right key to open a door...or the right golf ball retriever, severed hand, magnet combo to jam into a ball of twine. (Sorry...Sam and Max reference)

Anyway, this focus on dialogue is facilitated by the option to ask an NPC about any item you're currently carrying or about entries in your Long Term or Short Term Memory. Long Term Memory entries consist of major plot points or things you've learned along the way that you're likely to inquire about multiple times throughout the game. These are added automatically as you encounter them. Short Term Memory entries are added by you. Any item or person you can interact with in the game world can be put into your Short Term Memory, and you can then ask NPCs about that topic. This adds a little something to the standard formula.

Having four different player characters also adds some interesting puzzle opportunities not commonplace in other adventure games. There are some co-op style puzzles where your people have to work in tandem to solve them, there are some standard only person X can do action Y type puzzles, some straight up puzzle puzzles, and a fox/chicken/grain crossing the river type conundrum. (When you see that puzzle, you'll know what the hell I'm talking about.)

The puzzles aren't too easy, nor are they so difficult or ridiculous that you'd pull your hair out trying to figure them out. There were only a few instances where I was stuck, and once I figured out what they wanted me to do, I was kind of perturbed. This was mostly due to the fact that Long Term Memory options, for the most part, show you a bit of a replay of that scene as you remember it. The first time you're supposed to use them as a topic of conversation to solve a puzzle came more than an hour or so into the game, so it was semi-hidden surprise functionality that got in my way. Once you know that those can be used in that way, however, it's not a problem.

One of the biggest strengths in this game lies with the well developed characters and the excellent voice acting. The writing is strong, and you instantly get a sense of who these people are. When the situation evolves, leading them to make decisions counter to what you'd expect of them, that deviation has quite an impact on you as the player. I'm not going to go much into story because you should just play the damn thing. Haha! The point is...

The longer I played Resonance, the more I wanted to play Resonance. It is a very good game that I'd definitely recommend. LONG LIVE ADVENTURE GAMES!

Dammit, man!

Okay. I admit. I'm the worst. Here I am creating this blog about changing my procrastinating ways, and what happens? I start off strong, and then hit a 4 month slide.

Shut up. I've already admitted to being the worst.

The problem with backlogs is that the reason games get put there in the first place is that you're not frothing at the mouth to play them. Mass Effect 3, Dragon Age 2, Skyrim... All these games I got Day One and obsessively played them until they had nothing left to offer me. My backlog is full of fantastic games. I know this. That's why I bought them. Ah-doy. I've realized the problem lies in deciding what to play first. Looking at them as a mountain of time I'm never going to have is not a winning strategy. I have identified a problem and shall attempt to squash it. I just need to peel off one at a time and move through them methodically.

Enter "How Long to Beat.com".

I just discovered this site. It tells you exactly what you'd expect...how many hours it's going to take you to beat each game. It breaks it down by how long it takes to beat just the main story, the main story plus extras, or for the obsessive amongst us, how long it takes to beat the game whilst finding every hidden treasure, unlocking every achievement, playing every side quest, etc. I spent way too much time entering all my games into this site, but after the site bestowed its quantified gaming knowledge upon me, I decided to start out with "Resonance". It's a point-and-click adventure game from Wadjet Eye Games, and so far, I must say, it's pretty fantastic. As an adventure game enthusiast, it warms my heart to know the genre is still kicking. More on "Resonance" later.