Hey, everyone!

So, I got tagged by topsemag55, and below are ten random facts about me:

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1. I'm a Brazilian gamer since I was four years old;

2. I live in Teresopolis (Rio de Janeiro), a small town surrounded by beautiful mountains;

3. After an unsuccessful relationship, I'm single right now, but I do wish to have kids someday (it will take as much time as possible, trust me);

4. I love to take a ride with my bike during the mornings;

5. Instead of going to a gym, I work out in my own house;

6. I don't drink alcohol and sodas alike;

7. I love to play casual games on the PC, being World of Goo my favorite so far;

8. My favorite movie genre is Horror, followed by Drama/Romance and War;

9. I work as a teacher and study System Development and Analysis;

10. I'll probably migrate to Linux if I'm forced to uninstall Windows XP to use Vista/Seven. =)

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I tag geoff-uk123!

So, after combining themes from a few games I like (The Neverhood, Left 4 Dead, Penumbra, Duke Nukem 3D, Myst etc.), I decided to let a creepy blog header's image from the Penumbra series. As for my profile's banner, I edited one of my favorite screenshots from Left 4 Dead, and also maintained a bad*** face as my avatar (can't help it, LoL). Although Clayman isn't bad, I thought the zombie apocalypse-survivor Francis would suit better. =) I like the way my profile is looking now.

About the games I'm playing, I finished Penumbra: Overture quite easily, except to a certain timed action sequence that made me reload the game a lot. I'm now playing Penumbra: Black Plague and it's as good as the first one. So far I recommend the Collection edition.

I played Loki: Heroes of Mythology (2007, Cyanide) and I must say that the game gave me a terrific first impression. If you don't know what this game is about, this is just a rip-off from Titan Quest, although with some nice concepts thrown in. The main menu screen looks amazing and you can feel the great atmosphere this game has to offer right away, even before creating your character. There're four characters and each one starts the game in a different set. Since I played with an Amazon-like Greek fighter, my first moments were in a small town, talking to my trainer Achilles and the goddess Athena. As you can see, unlike Titan Quest, you really meet with deity characters in Loki. After doing the first mission and enjoyed the lengthy killing sessions, along with the great musical score, the game crashed to my desktop after loading the next area. I was using the latest update available already, so there is nothing I could do to fix the bug. I've lost all my progress, so I uninstalled the game. Small bugs are tolerable, but I don't admit crashes. A shame, since I was really enjoying Loki.

Considering I didn't finish Loki, I'm not going to review it. However there're four reviews coming up, which I'm already working on (in this order): Zombie Shooter 2, Zombie Shooter, HeXen: Death Kings of the Dark Citadel and Wheel of Time. Hopefully, during the production of these reviews, I'll finish Penumbra: Collection and review it as well. No videos and screenshots to upload so far.

Keep gaming!

Hi, everyone!

In this year (2009) and in the last one I've spent most of my time with First-Person Shooters, which is a genre I love. I even made a list of my favorite FPS titles and the ones I would try to finish. Thankfully, even with two jobs and constant studies at the university, I was able to finish most of the games I wanted (so much dedication in the weekends... LoL). Considering I'm a bit out of time right now, I'm sticking mostly with my Adventure titles. If you're tracking my profile since the beginning of this year, you may remember my list of the Adventure games I was interested in playing. Now I have the opportunity to play them. =)

What's so cool about this kind of game? It's because it almost ignores the player's skill and put their brains on the test. It's a very different approach on the gaming world, and unfortunately the Adventure genre is dying slowly but surely since the golden days of Lucasarts (Full Throttle, The Dig, Day of the Tentacle etc.). But that doesn't mean you don't have anything to play in this genre anymore. You can bet that you'll spend weeks (why not months?) playing the Penumbra Collection (2009), Broken Sword 4 (2007) and Dreamfall (2006). And, if you're into old-schooling, why not try the Myst series? If you put in your heart that you'll never refer to a walkthrough when stuck, these games may take more than years to finish. Now we're talking about quality in gaming.

What will change for me? Not much: First I'll change my profile's theme, probably with pics from The Neverhood (1996). Secondly, you'll notice that I'll update a bit more often my profile here in GS, with more videos, screenshots and blog posts; I'll also try to visit more the profiles I'm tracking. Finally, I'm going to stick with at least one Adventure game from the list I linked above, and I'll probably start playing the three Penumbra games first. Naturally I'll keep playing a FPS game now and then, especially Left 4 Dead and the sequel later on.

The great advantage of playing Adventure games is that they give the player more time to breath. If you know where and when to stop, you may continue playing the game after one or two weeks of abstinence without any trouble. And, as I said above, it's well spent money because these games can take weeks and even months to beat. You can buy the Myst series for less than $100.00 and keep playing it during a year, although you may spend the same cash on FPSes and beat them in a single week. As I aforementioned, Adventuring is a different approach; I'm not saying it's the best choice for everyone, though. =)

To finish, my reviews posts will be less frequent now, but I'll write at least one per month. On the other hand I'll be uploading more gameplay videos, which I consider a nice way to show the qualities of a game.

Keep gaming!