Recent reviews by Mr. Bump

I think the Project Borealis: Prologue shows a promising start to the fan project.

I am excited to see how the story of Marc Laidlaw's Epistle 3 plays out as a Half-Life game, and I thought this was a neat technical and design showcase showing what Icebreaker Industries is planning. It is cool to finally see something playable after following their accounts for so long. This demo does keep the feel of Half-Life 2 and replicates a lot of great aspects from the Source engine into Unreal Engine 5 with some interesting graphical experiments, so I was pleasantly surprised in that regard. It ran a little slow for me, though my PC is probably aging really fast so I won't really blame the game for that.

I'm excited to see what happens with this project, I'm not sure how different it will be from potential future entries in the official Half-Life series, but this short prologue is a good preview to me.

I’ll admit, I waited far too long to play Black Mesa. Subconsciously, I dismissed it as a glorified fan project, just another remake of Half-Life that didn’t do much more than replicate what’s already been done. But after finally giving it a try, I realized how wrong I was. Black Mesa absolutely deserves its praise. I loved every part of it.

While I don’t think Black Mesa will ever replace the iconic status that Half-Life still holds, I do think it has carved out its own identity. It feels fresh and unique in many ways, while still staying true to the spirit of the original. If you can, I’d recommend playing the original Half-Life before diving into Black Mesa. It may seem a bit dated in terms of visuals, sound, and gameplay, but it’s easy to forgive when you consider the historical context. Half-Life was made in a specific time, so it is definitely of its era, and learning the development of the game makes it all the more impressive with the innovations they were able to pull off. For me, Black Mesa was all the more rewarding because I had that foundational experience first. It let me appreciate the creative liberties taken in Black Mesa, from aesthetics to gameplay, and recognize the improvements made with modern technology and design.

Speaking of aesthetics, I was constantly blown away by the visuals. The technical accomplishments here rival what I remember feeling when playing Valve games in their prime. For the Source engine, this is probably the best graphics showcase you can find. The textures, lighting, effects, shaders, and animations are all top-notch, it up to the quality of games that felt eons ahead of what Half-Life 2 modestly feels like in the modern age. It’s funny, if you started your Half-Life journey with Black Mesa, the graphics might drop off pretty hard once you get to Half-Life 2 and its episodes, which were once celebrated for their graphical accomplishments. And even beyond the quality of the visuals, there are countless small details, like fluids sticking to your model and lingering for an extended period of time. Tons of little things like that go such a long way in keeping everything immersive and exciting.

Along with the visuals, many of the gameplay tweaks felt welcome and different. With modern technology, the puzzles and level design were more intuitive and less frustrating. For example, the use of lighting and color cues helped me understand the environment more clearly, reducing confusion compared to the original Half-Life. I’ll admit, Half-Life had a tendency to be a bit more brutal, even on normal difficulty. Black Mesa, on the other hand, made it easier to figure things out, which meant a smoother experience overall. Some might say I’m complaining about difficulty, but I don’t think that’s the case. I simply felt better equipped to deal with the challenges in Black Mesa, which made the game less frustrating while still respecting the core design of the original. And every time I recognized a room or a sequence from Half-Life, it was like coming home. That’s why I recommend playing the original first, it ups that welcoming feeling when you revisit familiar places in Black Mesa.

However, as much as I admire the remake, there are a few elements that didn’t hit the mark. Some sections of the game go on a bit too long, and while I understand that this may not have been intended to be completed in one sitting, it still feels like some parts could have been trimmed down. There’s also a bit too much fan service in certain details, which, though not a huge issue, occasionally distracted from the experience. I get that this is a fan project, and they want to include those small moments they love. But at times, it felt like the focus on minor details was a little overdone. If you’ve already played this game, or are familiar with some Half-Life in-jokes, you may know what I am talking about. But if Black Mesa is your only experience with Half-Life, I doubt you’ll notice. This is a minor gripe, though, and I do appreciate how some of these details bridge the continuity between Half-Life 1 and its sequels.

I also personally felt like some of the music just didn't fit the style of the game, though maybe I am just supplanting the style of the original game's music in my mind. For as big and grandiose they were able to go with the visuals, I feel like some music beats tried to hard to meet that same level and didn't accomplish much ambience or tone for the background. Instead some ethereal choral tracks come to the forefront and feels like you are watching someone's video edit, rather than having a solid music track be the wallpaper of the scene in the background to enhance it instead. They still pull off what I am saying very well at many points, particularly during action scenes. There are just many moments outside of the action scenes where it just felt like it didn't match for me, both in style and presentation. But, I will acquiesce that this is what helps give Black Mesa its own identity and not feeling like a lazier clone of Half-Life, so I give it points for being different and not always going back to the techno rock feel of the first game's score.

Overall, Black Mesa is such an amazing technical achievement with its own stylistic changes that helped give it its own identity, and I had an amazing time with it especially after playing the original Half-Life. If you're at all a fan of the first game and the rest of the series and have somehow never played this game before much like myself, you'll have such a deep appreciation and excitement for what you experience here. The fact that all of this is done purely by fans and not some big studio is mind boggling, and I infinitely praise their endeavors, I can't wait to see what else Crowbar Collective does. I highly recommend you give Black Mesa a try, it brings so many ideas up to modern standards in the best ways.

In case you haven't seen it and are at all interested in how this fan project was developed, I highly recommend the documentary "Black Mesa: The 16 Year Project to Remake Half-Life" by Noclip. It is a great watch to see how certain ideas came to be and how really talented people got involved in this project. I really enjoy any behind-the-scenes look at games, so this one is a big treat. Even if I don't fully agree with some things they tried, I always enjoy hearing where the ideas are coming from, and I applaud them for delivering on their vision.

Out of all of the Life is Strange games, Double Exposure is the hardest time I've had recommending one of them. While it stays true to the style and gameplay of the previous games, I personally struggled to follow a lot of the plot and motives of this game until I played it multiple times. Even then, I still need to think about why certain things happened and I'm still not sure if I have the right ideas.

The overall vibe and attitude that I enjoyed from the series was still present, and you may already know if you enjoy that style or not, and it still played consistently with fun gimmicks that I enjoyed trying. There were plenty of new characters I enjoyed talking to and figuring out, and definitely some I wasn't as big a fan of. The music also still really helps sell the mood and setting successfully. It's also nice seeing Deck Nine improve the graphics and performances of the people and settings. Speaking of graphics, the game ran a bit slow on my desktop, which is understandable as my technology is aging quite fast, and I did not get the chance to try this game on a Steam Deck so I am unaware of how it may perform if that is all you have.

So on the pros side, I think if you are a fan of this series, you'll probably still enjoy this entry as much as I did. Unfortunately, on the cons side, there's some glaring problems you may have heard that I don't think are totally unfounded. There are definitely some narrative choices already in place that you may not agree with, and that's perfectly fine to be irritated over. However, judging this as a creative effort and having to be okay with the background the game wants to give in order for this story to work, it still introduces some problems of its own.

Like I said above, I struggled to follow some of the story and mystery presented here. I know that is part of the fun, to try to solve the story as it happens and be taken by surprise when intended, but even when I got the answers I was looking for, I wasn't always satisfied. I still struggle to see the motivations that cause some extreme actions of the characters, and certain characters that I needed to depend on liking just flat out did not win me over. It's also interesting that I think Double Exposure intends to expand on many aspects later on, which maybe that can make these events more satisfying in hindsight. I won't explain too much here to avoid risking spoilers, and there's a chance you could always have a different reaction than me.

That being said, I didn't hate my time with this story. I am genuinely happy to be seeing more of this world and certain characters all these years later, and that outweighs what they are actually doing for me personally. That might be a narrow and shallow way to absorb this content, but as just one person, it works for me. The feeling of the games overpowers the afterthoughts in my playthroughs, and I'm okay with that. If these aspects legitimately bother you, that's completely understandable, and I won't besmirch any of the negative reviews validating that.

Overall, I still had a positive time with Life is Strange: Double Exposure. You may already know if you are ready to dislike or laugh at this game based on the previous titles, but if you enjoyed the previous titles like me, I think you should give it a try. I am curious what they could do in the future, and I'll be willing to see what happens. I also played the Ultimate Edition with the new content and cat content, and while cute, it was definitely too expensive and would probably only be worth it at a large discount.

While very late to the platform, Red Dead Redemption on PC is a perfectly done port and is definitely still worthy of all of its praise 14 years later.

I had not played Red Dead Redemption since it launched on the PlayStation 3, and I have been awaiting a PC port as long as everyone else, and I am so happy to finally have it in my possession. The game performs exactly as I remembered it, with even less glitches surprisingly, and the higher resolution & smoother framerate offered a great bonus. I think Double Eleven did a great job at optimizing the game and implementing great quality-of-life bonuses for modern technology. I wish this had landed in my lap sooner, but I am so happy it can finally be properly played this way. It is remarkable having an aging Rockstar Games title on PC without mods and community fixes being required to play the game. Some of my favorite Rockstar titles were utterly unplayable without silent patches and custom configs, which I think is inexcusable in the current day. Even some slightly later titles like Grand Theft Auto IV are infamously chuggy and unoptimized on newer machines, so this particular port was such a blast of fresh air. I would be okay with Double Eleven porting and optimizing any other Rockstar titles that suffered similar fates, it just works right out of the metaphorical box this time.

Aside from my technical woes finally being answered, Red Dead Redemption is still one of the most worthwhile single player experiences of its generation, so you would definitely be doing yourself a favor by trying it out. The following Red Dead Redemption 2 achieved such a high fame, deservedly so as I gush about it every chance I can, and while people gladly spend hundreds of hours getting lost in that game, I think you would be doing a disservice by skipping out on the former. I also think it should be played before Red Dead Redemption 2 as the rest of the world played it. The story unfolds in a great way regardless of the order you play them in, but I feel like it is better to see where the journey started for players. While it is nowhere near as detailed and immersive as the 2nd game, Red Dead Redemption is a very engaging experience from just the story alone. Even knowing what happens, I still get wrapped up in the plot and wish it never ended. I won't recap it here, so I'll just say the bare basics of being a former outlaw running around the wild west in the style of a Grand Theft Auto game should really sell you on this game and let you know if you think you'll enjoy it. That description is what sold me on the game in 2010 and I never regretted giving it my attention.

The controls felt very smooth on an XBox controller for me, and everything functioned exactly as I remembered. Nothing felt unfair or frustrating, sometimes you are overloaded with instructions in the upper-right corner, but if you're invested in the game you'll know what you're doing. The combat is very fast and snappy, the world is massive for the time and surprisingly never dull in your travels, the music is great in the background, the humor lands despite being quite on-the-nose in the typical Rockstar fashion, and the storytelling & characters stand tall with some of the best in the Western genre. The only really frustrating aspects never fell on this port but rather on the design of these Red Dead games overall, and that is just a bit of luck you need to complete certain challenges and stats. You're going to need some to locate certain animals or complete gambling challenges if you are chasing a completionist achievements like I did. That can definitely be pretty time consuming if the cards aren't in your favor for a while.

The inclusion of the zombie Western chaos, Undead Nightmare, is such a nice bonus to be included in this game, as well as all of the DLC content from Game-of-the-Year editions from years ago, it's nice not missing out on those. I had actually never played Undead Nightmare before this port, and finally doing so was very worth it. The gameplay shift of a zombie apocalypse with far different priorities, as well as the characters and humor flipped on its head throughout was such a nice surprise. It felt like a custom conversion mod with fully voiced cutscenes, and I don't mean that in a bad way at all. It's so awesome to me that Rockstar took one of their big open world games and twisted it into a nearly entirely different game, it feels unreal and I would love for that to be done more often across the industry. The whole add-on has the attitude of a schlocky B movie and I wouldn't have wanted it any other way. I laughed at all of the circumstances and I had a ton of fun playing with the new mechanics and weapons.

The absence of any multiplayer elements from the original version is a big hindrance. Much like the repackaging of Grand Theft Auto IV, it's only a detriment in my opinion. I doubt it is that hard for Rockstar to provide the services to allow these older games to keep those game modes. I may be completely ignorant, or maybe they just don't want to deal with the logistics and upkeep, but it would have been nice to have those servers. Also the price is definitely way too high for a game this old. I would say anything above $20 at most is gouging, and I understand I am contributing to the problem since I played and reviewed it, but I agree with others that it is just way too much and I want to warn people to not be irrational like me. I would definitely wait for a sale or for the base price to start dropping.

Overall, Red Dead Redemption on PC is a great port. It scratched so much nostalgia and fond memories for me, and it's a much more complete experience now that you can play both Red Dead Redemption games on the same platform, as well as the Undead Nightmare DLC. It really is the port I dreamed of for so long, and I am excited to see what kind of mods and crazy things people make with a more accessible official copy like this. I'm very glad with how smooth and bug-free this release is. I wish the multiplayer was included, and the price is ridiculous, but if you can justify the purchase and are a fan of Red Dead Redemption 2, I definitely think this is worth your time. I hope Double Eleven is kept on board to finally port other titles or fix other old floundering Rockstar games.

While being very short and not spectacularly difficult, I enjoyed my time with Half-Life: Blue Shift. It was nice send-off to the Half-Life 1 era/story, and I am happy I finally played it.

While not having as many surprises and new gameplay mechanics as Half-Life: Opposing Force, it is always nice for me to step back into the Half-Life universe with a new perspective. I just wish this game was either longer, harder, or brought a bunch of new ideas to the table as the previous games had. With how short and easy this game was, it honestly surprises me that it doesn't currently function as any kind of free add-on to the original Half-Life. It feels more like an extra level pack that the original game would feature in some kind of bonus menu, so it is odd to pay for it as a standalone game.

However, with a low price and frequent discounts, I would definitely recommend Blue Shift to anyone that enjoys Half-Life and has yet to experience it.

Despite being a bit shorter than the base game, Half-Life: Opposing Force was a really refreshing bit of variety and I was very happy with everything this addition offered.

Playing the same Black Mesa adventure from a different perspective was very cool to see, and having an entire faction of enemies from Half-Life now on your side brought a lot of fun mechanics that I liked. I enjoyed the squad features and having new factions of characters help you along with certain tasks, I enjoyed fighting new types of enemies with a bunch of new weapons and tools, and I had a great time fighting for new goals in this story.

If you are a fan of the original Half-Life, or want any piece of different content from that franchise that you haven't touched yet, I think Half-Life: Opposing Force brings a lot of new fun to the table, and I regret sleeping on it for so long. It is definitely worth your time despite being very brief.

I thoroughly enjoyed Batman: Arkham Asylum despite not being much of a Batman or DC Comics fan. The gameplay loop was very fun, and the story to accompany it was very engaging. The combat was easy to understand, the upgrades & unlocks were fun to try out, the graphics and setting felt very unique and fitting, and it left me eager to try the future games in the Arkham series.

While I gushed about how much I loved Marvel's Spider-Man game from the PlayStation 4, I was fully aware how much of its style came from Batman's Arkham games, or at the very least I knew there was a very similar influence. Now having played Arkham Asylum, it's uncanny how similar the two games are, and I was delighted to see Spider-Man borrowing some very gripping portions of this style without feeling like a rip-off. I am blatantly a Spider-Man fanboy so I am predisposed to favoring that series, though I will admit I was taken aback how much slower and clunkier the combat felt in this game. That does feel very fitting however as I always though of Batman as being a stockier brute and his opponents equally so, whereas Spider-Man's whole fun is the movement versatility and speed going hand in hand with his more campy, fantastical fights. It may not sound like it, but I am weighing each point as a positive for their respective characters.

I also liked how dark and gothic Arkham Asylum was as a setting, which should probably come as a no-brainer for being in the Batman franchise, but it was remarkably well realized and detailed for a game from 2009. Admittedly I am unaware if this GOTY Edition is a graphical remaster of any kind, but it looked and sounded great here. Honestly it made me want to find an original copy for the PlayStation 3 just for the novelty of having a world this detailed on hardware of that time. Most of the acting was a lot of fun too. I liked how some of the cast of these characters had persisted for so long from the beloved animated series. Kevin Conroy always brought a lot of refined dignity to Batman, and Mark Hamill always sounds like he's having fun recording for Joker, it always makes me smile. Some of the other characters sounded weird or annoying, but that's just personal preference for me, I was never a fan of Harley Quinn at all and this game just reminds me how annoying I find her. It was also fun discovering a ton of easter eggs and lore referencing the endless comic book stories.

I faced very minimal bugs and glitches while playing. I had the game crash once due to something weird happening with the NVIDIA PhysX settings, but that was only one instance. I never felt like I was getting stuck or treated unfairly, though I did feel generally unskilled at the stealth attack sequences, but I was probably not understanding certain things.

Overall I highly recommend checking out Batman: Arkham Asylum if you haven't already. I was so very late to checking it out, and not even much of a Batman fan, but it won me over very easily. It was awesome seeing how it influenced one of my favorite games, and having a different gothic approach helped it feel so unique and fun. It is definitely worth your time, it doesn't overstay its welcome.

Portal 2 - The Final Hours is a fun, short read if you are interested in the Portal franchise or other Valve games. Many embedded elements are not functional as of now, which is a bit frustrating to see, but I love these behind-the-scenes looks at any game I enjoy. With the Portal games being some of my favorite games of all time, I personally didn’t learn much more than I already knew due to community research osmosis, but if you aren’t as familiar with these development stories, it is much more a fascinating time. If you somehow haven’t played the Portal games before stumbling upon this digital book, please do that first, they are impeccable and perfect in my opinion, and this book functions as a delightful addition to learn how art came to be. I highly recommend it, sans the technical issues a decade later. With its cheap price, it’s hard for me to condemn. It should probably just be free and come with the base game, and it should be fixed though I do not see that happening.

I had a great experience with Superliminal and I highly recommend it. The puzzle mechanics were very interesting and well thought out in my opinion. Using visual tricks such as perspective, space, lighting, and so much more was such a unique experience for me. I was pleasantly surprised by both the game for presenting new ideas to me, and surprised by myself for figuring things out at many points.

The presentation was surprisingly chilled and soothing with nice relaxing music and welcoming voices. I felt almost the same way I did when playing the first Portal, with a testing clinic type facility, and automated voices making fun jokes at me, and I mean that as a compliment. It already felt cozy and familiar right from the beginning, and I'm glad I did not know the stylistic routes it would take with the gameplay.

I also loved that there is a developer commentary available, which I just adore. I love hearing the thought processes and behind-the-scenes secrets that go into making games to create a good experience. I cannot think of many examples of these commentaries outside of Valve games, so I was very happy to see that mode included here to my amazement.

I highly recommend Superliminal, I am so glad I decided to give it a try after waiting for so long. If you are unfamiliar with it, I'd say go into it without any spoilers, and have fun figuring things out.

I had an awesome time with SUPERHOT: MIND CONTROL DELETE. It was a very fun extension of the original SUPERHOT which I also enjoyed very much, and I thought the added roguelike mechanics were really interesting. While I personally have not played many roguelike games, I think this helped me understand the appeal.

I still like the base gameplay loop of having time slow down unless you are moving and looking around, and it is still fun to throw objects and switch weapons to try to beat all of the enemies. Some of the new additions were a bit frustrating and a bit too hard for me, I definitely couldn't get far in the challenges or infinite modes, but I felt rewarded getting as far as I did.

I enjoyed the audio and visual presentation and style of the game, it controlled just as well as I remembered the original game did, and the hidden story/lore was neat to try to figure out.

I don't have much left to say other than that I do recommend SUPERHOT: MIND CONTROL DELETE. It expanded on the original game in a fruitful way, and I had fun despite not being good enough to beat everything. I think you'll enjoy it too.