Friday, June 10, 2011

MY (not so) TRIUMPHANT RETURN, WITH A WHOLE NEW REVIEW

Alrighty, time to get myself back into the groove of writing these, I guess I don't beat enough games as of late (Starting, but not finishing, whoops) but today I have completed a game finally! (Insert studio audience applause here) Thank you, thank you, you are too kind. Anyways I guess it's time for me to get on with my Review!


*SPOILER ALERT, YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED*

My god, I adore this game. I had started to play it solely out of the purpose to scare myself, then I became immersed into the story, but I shall get into that later.

Aesthetics

The whole castle itself is beautiful, and it perfectly sets up the mood required to scare someone silly when the situation calls for it. I found exploring Brennenburg Castle to be amazing at times, and the way the castle decayed just added to it. There was one point where I had passed a couple chairs in a hallway and decided to throw one to amuse myself, it was here that I noticed the shadows and how nice they looked, despite my graphics settings, and I ended up getting the chair stuck in a chandelier.

Is it bad that I'm proud of this?

The only problem with the game is how the people looked, as imaged below.

Okay, I can't use a picture, I'm very sure no one would appreciate seeing dead man penis.

But the monsters themselves are genuinely scary, although after awhile you become numb to their look, but their presence isn't any less scary.

Ain't he just the cutest?


My graphics were all set to medium/low so I can only assume when on high the game looks better than it already did when I played.

Verdict: 9/11

Gameplay

I loved how this game controlled, unlike what I expected you do NOT open doors HL2 style (Look at door, press E, it's open), you have to hold down the mouse button and make a mouse movement like you are opening/closing a real door, making the infamous "water part" as scary as people say it is, running from a somewhat invisible monster while panicking, trying to run away while opening/closing doors and throwing debris to the side to give yourself a clear-ish path to the exit. Another thing I liked were the puzzles, more so when you are stuck on one for a while and you would have one of those (As TV Tropes would call it) Fridge Brilliance moments. One puzzle that would be a good example is when you're in a watery area (Not the water part, mind you) and there's a bridge that's stuck in the "up" position and after wandering around looking for a lever it finally dawns on me, break the chain by throwing a rock! I had a lot of moments like these when going through it all.

Verdict: 10/11

Story

The story of Amnesia follows the story of a man named Daniel, who had recently written a note for himself to find after drinking an Amnesia Potion. This letter states as follows:

19th of August, 1839.
I wish I could ask you how much you remember. I don't know if there will be anything left after I consume this drink. Don't be afraid Daniel. I can't tell you why, but know this..I choose to forget. Try to find comfort and strength in that fact. There is a purpose, you are my final effort to put things right. God willing, the name Alexander of Brennenburg still invokes bitter anger in you. If not, this will sound horrible. Go to the Inner Sanctum, find Alexander and kill him. His body is old and weak, and yours, young and strong. He will be no match for you. One last thing. A Shadow is following you. It's a living nightmare, breaking down reality. I have tried everything, and there is no way to fight back. You need to escape it as long as you can. 'Redeem us both Daniel. Descend into the darkness where Alexander waits and murder him.
Your former self,
Daniel.

Pretty dark, eh? I remember reading it for the first time and thinking "Whoa... What the hell did Alexander do?!" I soon learned that Alexander was a pretty sick person, further proven in a flashback when he forces Daniel to cut open a human being "Paint the lines, cut the flesh" he chants as you slowly kill this man accused of crimes he did not commit to make Daniel less hesitant to kill the poor soul. (I cringed at this part, seeing as its one of the few flashbacks where you SEE it not just HEAR it). The story of this game is really immersive and I find myself deeply fascinated by it, more so now that I have learned that Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa and The Order of the Black Eagle are both real. (Makes you wonder, don't it?)

EDIT: Someone has informed me that it was Daniel chanting the "Paint the lines, cut the flesh" bit, not Alexander, still creepy as hell.

Verdict: 10/11

Music

I loved the music in this game, mainly the "music" that plays when a gatherer has spotted you (Nightmare inducing, it is). And it always seemed to be perfect with no out of place music moments.

Verdict: 10/11

Overall

I fell in love with this game, it's been awhile since I played a game religiously just to see it to the end. Everything was executed to near perfection, (Did we really need to see the dead man penis?) and it just made the game great, I'm looking forward to playing it a second time around (as well as the Justine story).

Overall Verdict: 9.75/11

*Insert hint of upcoming Justine review here*

1 comment:

  1. I dont think i wanna play this game. It uses my name for the main character and i dont wanna be the main character of this game

    ReplyDelete