Surface: Game of Gods Collector's Edition

I really loved the first two games in this series and, while this one was fairly good, I wasn't as struck on it as the first two. There were a lot of good points about the game, the atmosphere, appearance and puzzles I can't fault. The only things about it that bugged me a bit were the music (which just felt wrong to me) and the fact that you can't get past some of these cutscene bits with people talking at you without patiently waiting for the game to let you keep going. So I'm not sure why I didn't quite like it as much, personal taste I suppose. And I just wasn't mad about the characters. But, after playing the bonus chapter in the collectors edition, I found myself liking this game drastically more. It really improved the plot and I actually preferred the character. So I would advise anyone purchasing the game to get the collectors edition and play the bonus chapter, as it was really worth it.

After the other 3 of the Surface series I've played, this came as a bit of a disappointment. It's still a fairly good HoG, and I'm still recommending it as such, but there's an undefinable lack of... something... in this one compared to the others. Here's a quick brain-dump of some of my thoughts: - Compared to the others in the series, it seems very linear. Although you sometimes have quite a few items in your inventory, it's usually the case that only one ever does anything at any given time. The other games somehow seem to mask things so that there [i]always[/i] seems to be plenty to do. In GoG, I frequently (i.e. almost the whole time) was road blocked because a single specific task had to be done to proceed. - Seemed like less variation in the activities you do. In Pantheon there was always something new and different turning up. Here it's the same 'Use item A on location B to do C' or generic HoP D. There were one or two nice moments, but overall the whole thing felt decidedly cookie-cutter. - Far less plausible. The premise is no less realistic than the other games. Yet somehow those seemed to obey a general principle of logical cause and effect. Here you can, for instance [/spoiler]play a whistle to a vulture and suddenly it transfers to your inventory. wtf?[/spoiler]. - Occasionally I noticed slight glitches. Clues incorrect, or text completely wrong. - The writing/voice acting was significantly less polished and engaging. The characters, like the rest of the game seemed generic and off-shelf. - Frequently when you got to a new scene, you'd look about for a while and then click to make your first interaction. And [i]then[/i] it jumped to a cut scene. I don't know why exactly, but I found this [i]really[/i] annoying. - Cursor positioning (for interactions) seemed a bit off/inconsistent, sometimes. - There are very few collectables. 16 in the whole game. Which means they are easier to miss, as you aren't always looking for them. I guess that might be the point, but it just felt cheap to me. -- Others games in the series had a truly excellent approach to music; trigger a piece of fixed-length, appropriate music when certain events happen, and then stfu. Here we seem to be back to the 'play a constant, repetitive dirge in the background endlessly, regardless of what's happening. Maybe an exaggeration, but this is the first in the series where I found the music genuinely getting on my nerves. It's not all negative. +- The premise of the story is interesting. (Although not especially original; Think a dark version of Jumanji set in multiple locales). But I never felt it made the most of its potential, and the ending is just far too weak. But the outright highlight for me has to be: + The hilarious accent of the Viking guy you meet near the start of the game. It's somehow a mixture (to my ears) of Scottish, Irish, Dutch, and.. South African? So what we have is a lot of slightly niggle negative points that wouldn't probably even get a comment in another HoG. But in this series, where all of these things have already been completely nailed, it seems like a bit of a lacklustre effort.

Nice ;)

nice one