DreamBreak

As part of my Digerati splurge, I also picked up DreamBreak without knowing much about it. True Achievements recently ran a ‘12 days of Christmas’ Challenge and one of the challenges was to unlock a set amount of achievements in Action Adventure games.  Now I’ve completed it... I still have no idea what it’s about. So this will be a very short review.

As stated DreamBreak is an action adventure set in a crazy version of Russia. You start the game by walking to work from the train station and doing some work... then some weird shit happens and you end up on a quest to stop some evil corporation from doing... something. I’m not quite sure, but as I used a guide (again, I know) to sweep all the achievements in a few hours, it would be unfair of me to comment on the story in any way.

The graphics and controls however, I found very fiddly. It’s from the same guys that made Uncanny Valley so the graphics suffer from the same issues I put in that review. With the controls as well, again you can tell it’s a game that wasn’t originally designed for the console market as when you have to use a gun, it’s awkward and fiddly. However, they do give you an infinite shield so dying is fairly difficult once you know how to use it.

Achievements – 1,000 Points – 11 Achievements

It takes about 1-2 hours to run through the game using a guide. Without one, I imagine it would be an indefinite amount of time to complete as working out what you need to do in some circumstances is just plain difficult.

Anyway, if you play through the game without going out of your way, you will get three achievements. There are three different achievements for different choices at the end of the game but you can use tactical saves to get these.

The other six achievements are all situational that require you to find and interact with certain items in the gaming world. There is an arcade machine you need to play and complete for two achievements. This is a simple game of shooting guys while using your shield to not get hit but it takes a strangely large amount of time to get through the game which feels a bit ridiculous.

You also have to bet on a lama race (yes, a lama race) and hope your lama wins. The race outcome is predetermined though so if you know which lama is going to win the first race before you bet, this is easy. There is another achievement for riding a hover bike which involves an interaction which some random dude at some point in the game.

The last two achievements are for getting some collectibles scattered throughout the game. They do stand out but again, knowing where they are ahead of time makes this easy. There aren’t many of them and the game world isn’t that big so it’s not too much of a pain to get them.

Downloadable Content – N/A

DreamBreak is another weird game. Even after playing it through the whole way, I’m sure I understand what the point of it was. But it is an easy completion for Gamerscore enthusiasts and it doesn’t take too long to get through.

Uncanny Valley

This one was part of my Halloween sale spending splooge that saw me buy a load of Digerati games. It’s also the second game picked by my number selection program.

My resounding impression of the game is that it’s really fucking weird. You play a guy called Tom. At least that’s what I think his name is. My biggest criticism of the game is the fact that all dialogue is communicated via text boxes and the font is ridiculously hard to read. It’s an old style computer type from those text adventure things that makes ‘h’s ‘m’s and ‘n’s interchangeable.

Anyway, the story sees Tom travel from his home to some weird place in the middle of nowhere for a change of scenery and to escape some gangsters he has pissed off for some unknown reason. At the same time, he keeps having weird visions and nightmares of these black, shadowy zombie-like guys who chase him and look like they are going to kill him. This opening to the game is good at creating a feeling of horror and the music is apt as well. This, coupled with the fact that as the player, you have no idea what’s going on, does create a terrifying atmosphere.

Gameplay wise, you...have to do the job of a nightwatchman at the abandoned complex you work at. Or do you? You can actually do pretty much anything you want in the game within its own context. You get clues as to how to progress the game in certain ways but essentially you are free to do whatever you want. Like kill your supervisor with a fire extinguisher on the first day. Or steal his car.

The game is played in a 2D plane where you can go left or right and through doors. It’s a Steam port so the controls are a bit wonky especially when you have to use a gun. In fact, using the gun was probably the most difficult part of the game. It’s a bit of a shame that the controls are what influence this though.

Achievements – 1,000 Points – 12 Achievements

With the open nature of the game comes a very varied and tricky achievement list. It is entirely possible to get through the whole game without unlocking any of them. There are essentially three endings that you need to unlock for respective achievements.

I admit, I did use a guide for this as I wanted to smash it out as quickly as possible. There are two achievements for collecting weird cassette tapes that are scattered around the place and one of them is needed in order to open a door during one of your playthroughs. I found the collectibles a little hard to see and there is another control failing here. I couldn’t work out whether I needed to use the A button or the RB button to pick stuff up and it seemed that the game didn’t either as it was wildly inconsistent when I was trying to pick stuff up.

All of the other achievements are situational ones that you will come across as you play. I will say this though, it’s an experience.

The one I struggled with was for shooting an android and actually this is where I wasted a lot of time with the playthroughs. The gun mechanics are difficult and unwieldy and when I tried to kill the android, he ended up killing me. This isn’t a game over though. It just changes the events you experience in game. This was massively problematic as it auto saves if you move too far and then you have to start your playthrough over again. So I had to do three and a half playthroughs rather than three.

Downloadable Content – N/A

Uncanny Valley was an interesting and varied few hours of gameplay even if I confess to not wholly getting it. It’s a solid 1,000 points to add to the score as well and doesn’t take overly long to get through all of the bits and pieces. The dialogue takes the main prize for originality despite being hard to read in places.