Pandemic Catch-Up 1: Chemical Puzzles, Doom, and Nostalgia

Due to a small case of burn-out with this project of mine I took an unplanned months-long vacation fro this blog, but I'm back now. For the next couple posts I'll be doing these smaller catch-up pieces where I give short reviews for up to three bits of media I've had strong feelings about since this pandemic began and I dropped off with the reviews. This is a bit experimental for me so bear with me and as usual I welcome feedback.

- - -

A favorite change of mine to Eternal's gameplay is how the minor demons of 2016 now are just pinatas for resources, and it ultimately amplifies the badass feeling the game is supposed to create.

DOOM Eternal:

Not going to mince words, I absolutely loved the 2016 reboot of DOOM, and I was pretty anxious and excited to find out that there was going to be a sequel. In truth, I still had a lot of fun with it, and it made marked improvements to the gameplay, but on the other hand Eternal felt less like a power fantasy and closer to a challenge-based game, which I did not like. I found myself dying a lot more, and though I eventually surmounted the final obstacle, I felt less achievement and more relief that I had finished climbing the mountain of demon bodies, harried all the while by those annoying-as-hell marauders. Is it better than 2016? No, but also yes. I really liked how each of the weapons in the arsenal sees a lot more use (due to weak points on all demons as well as reduced ammo), and the resource refill triangle of glory kill for health, flamethrower for armor, and chainsaw for ammo forced me to use everything in my arsenal, including the super shotgun which was my least favorite part of 2016. It's still the same symphony of carnage that 2016 is (with more instruments this time), and is most likely better, but it made less of an impression on me, despite the story being a larger focus this time around. Still a strong recommendation from me though.

- - -

Watching your completed and valid solution felt to me like poetry, and it makes all the intensive planning (and trial and error) of the last hour it took to create the sequence feel entirely worth it.

Molek Syntez:

Very unique in terms of presentation and execution, Molek Syntez feels very much like a time capsule from an earlier generation of video games, emulating an ancient computer program perfectly. The puzzles are simple, clear, and compelling, with each level having the simple goal of creating the desired compound (the game also tells you the chemical's purpose and discoverer) through rearranging and combining other compounds. The fact that entering the 'solution' involves creating a DDR-like set of instructions helped me consider the problems in a step-by-step format, which prevented things from becoming overwhelming. I do wish that I had ought this game earlier when I was doing my first and second semester of general chemistry, because this game is a godsend to learning the octet rule and Lewis structures for common molecules and chemicals. There's a slight learning curve, but even on the final couple of puzzles I found myself learning new tricks for molecule manipulation, and to be honest it's one of the rare puzzle games I found myself thoroughly enjoying, a strong recommendation from me.

- - -

Xen enthralling, and the visual highlight of the game to me, with a great soundtrack to go along with this piece of concept art brought to life.

Black Mesa:

After Age of Empires Gold and Age of Empires II, Half-Life was the first non-E-rated game I got y hands on growing up, and to say that I have a soft spot for it is an understatement. It took me a while longer to get around to the sequel and episodes one and two, but still the original remains my favorite. Just as school for me was ending however, the team that was making a remake of Half-Life, called Black Mesa, finally finished their project after sixteen years of development with the release of Xen, which comprised the final three chapters of the game. In the original, Xen was where the game really lost steam for me, especially with its drabness, but here it's almost visual stimulation overload as the final chapters (and the rest of the game) offer stunning vista after stunning vista, with a kick-ass soundtrack to boot. Improvements in levels and gameplay across all chapters have been added too, though this is all without compromising the most iconic locations and spirit of Half-Life's core gameplay, essentially everything a remake of a nearly twenty-two year-old game should be. Yet another strong recommendation from me if you can believe it, and since it's the first game in the Half-Life series newcomers can appreciate it without playing any of the other games.

- - -

If I had to pick a favorite of mine from the three, it would probably be a tie between Molek Syntez and Black Mesa, sorry DOOM.

Thus concludes my first catch-up post, and in a couple of days I'll have my second one of these ready and posted. I've also revamped the way pages bar since I've finally figured out how to link pages, so now my display of hobbies will hopefully not be so cluttered. I've also started (perhaps unfortunately) another hobby: creating battlemaps! I'm currently working on organizing the pages into digestible chunks/categories so it'll be easier to find specific things on the blog (looking at you still-unfinished-collection-of-Mordhau-characters). Stay safe out there in the meantime!