I just finished Alien Isolation the other day and would actually say that's a better example of an adventure game with FPS elements where it is not an actual FPS. Unlike Deus Ex, despite carrying a gun, the game cannot be played like an FPS because it truly is about outsmarting the AI, exploring and completing puzzle objectives.
Plus, it's the scariest game I've ever played Best game of 2014.
Just started playing it. I'm impressed with the visuals and gameplay mechanics but I'm stuck because I'm just starting to have to sneak past people with guns and so far I'm not very good at it...
I'll admit this one flaw about the Alien game; there's a LOT of trial and error to which it will frustrate. Even on the normal/medium setting, the Xenomorph is a little too smart sometimes, to the point that it can be unfair. I found the AI of the humans and synthetics to be reasonable since you have various options as to how you choose to either defeat or avoid them. Whereas, the Xenomorph cannot be outrun or killed at all. Seriously, just try running from it. But if you're willing to be patient with it, confront your fears and learn by it, the game will deliver. Though, the game is an applied taste and I wouldn't blame gamers for quitting it.
I'm not a "gamer" by any means. I don't have the MENSA qualifications to get through most of the games that those here seem to enjoy. But that's me. I got started with Tex and Under A Killing Moon. There had not been a game before that I thought worth the time to invest. Was it the best game? No! That game has not been invented, but Tex appealed to my love of the classic hard-boiled detective story that made me crave more. I didn't have to wait for Raymond Chandler to tell me where I was going; with Tex, I decided that path.
None of the Tex Murphy stories have been perfect in my opinion. There were too many points where there was one and only one safe way through. The interview with Jackson Cross in The Pandora Directive is the best example of failure I can mention. There was one, and only one, way to live, and you had to be the most masochistic of masochistic death wishers to try all of them without cheating. I CHEATED, BIG TIME. When I replay the game, I look at my notes and click through as fast as I can. It's a shame, because The Pandora Directive is still the best game I've ever played, and Barry Corbin is an actor of the highest qualifications.
I really did like The Tesla Effect, but it suffered from the parody of that old wine commercial. "We will sell no wine before its time." And the wino said: It's TIME! No, it wasn't time, but they had to ship something to satisfy the throngs of adoring admirers.
I want to be entertained. I don't want to be frustrated with puzzles that were solved before Einstein started grammar school. I don't have the library of resources to figure out how to align the match sticks in the proper order. Sigh. I'm the guy in 6th grade Algebra class who answered the question of: "If train A leaves New York at 50 miles per hour...", and "Train B leaves Chicago at 65 miles per hour".... "Where will they meet?
I DON'T CARE. Wait for them to collide head on and look for the smoke! That's where they will meet.
Entertain me with great characters and an achievable solution, and you've got me. Forever: like Tex.
I tried Myst. My brother loved it. I hated it to the point I gave up in the mansion on the first day or minute: whatever. I could not find the magic onion rock, or whatever it was, to get out of that blasted mansion. I was NOT willing to spend the rest of my life looking.
In the "shoot 'em up, killem dead" genre: I loved Wolfenstein 3D. Hated Doom, and Duke Nuke'm trashed my computer so thoroughly I gave up on that type of game.
Tex Murphy is, and has been, an enjoyable adventure for me. That's why I want more Tex. As a consumer, not a gamer, I don't have the weeks to invest in one single puzzle on the first day of a game. I want to be entertained, without frying my brain, and be satisfied with the outcome.
