AMFP Member Review Thread

[emaper]

Just finished it.
It took 6 hours to me to finish the game, (I explored all the areas, I observed every single detail, I read all the notes and document and then I got stuck in a puzzle).
The atmosphere was amazing and the ambients have been masterfully designed. Sounds are awesome, really well made, and music is a work of art, worthy of a superb artist. What about the story? Firstly, storytelling has been one of the best I've ever heard or seen in any other game. Secondly, the story intrigued me and it has impassioned me... Sometimes I had goosebumps and nausea gripped me. High-level vocabulary and great choise of the terms, verbs and adjectives, (words of really high register). Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs, is another - completely different - face of the terror.
Unforgettable experience.

Overall Vote: 8/10 - A classy and elitist game that brings the terror to an entirely new grade. A mile-stone.
Story: 9/10 - A great story and a well made story telling. The best plot ever.
Music and sounds: 10/10 - Music and sounds made this game. They're wonderful!
Graphic: 8/10 - Detailed and accurate level design.
Mechanics: 5/10 - Weak point of the game. I can clearly notice when a script is starting or something is going to happen.

I stumbled upon few bugs but the major one is about the subtitles... I'm Italian, and subtitles are really out of sync and sometimes the didn't appear. Also, sometimes the phonographs don't reproduce any recording.

[LarryV]

I was very happy with AMFP; though the blue filter really hurt my eyes that I had to take a few breaks in-between to not get a headache or relax to make my eyes and make my headache go away.

Story: I enjoyed how the story was revealed to us through notes, thoughts, conversations, images, signs, and allowed us to fill in blanks in places not told to us. I loved reading the notes and were grotesque that I got a small chill down my spine.

The story is grand, it is a story to ponder at and talk about with other people. I love that a lot; I love when games do that.

The mechanics and puzzles was something I didn't like at first. I thought they were simple but looking back they were very streamlined. They were simple and stripped to their basic because that's what the story and game needed; a keep on truckin' mentality. I never felt stuck or frustrated because of some small detail or some mechanic I didn't know about. It's a subconscious mechanics/puzzles they used, a second-hand nature.

The sound and dialogue was luscious. I loved the aches of the pipes, the groans of the machine, the almost breathing sounds the machine made and the manpigs sounds were stress inducing. Now match that with the amazing soundtrack of Jessica Cury; jesus fuck, wonderful.

Now, the scares. At first, I was expecting something visceral and raw like TDD and Outlast but was taken aback. While, playing it and after beating it, I was disappointed but upon thinking about, what TCR did worked perfectly; it's what the story and atmosphere demanded. It was subtle, quiet, and cerebral. They wanted to attack your mind in different way. It reminded me of some of Robert Ackermans and Simon Strantzas's new book. Just quiet somber melachonic horror stories that attack you afterwards and leave you wondering.

Now, alot of people complained about this not being exactly like TDD and at the surface I can see why they said that. But I think some peoople need to realize is that this is not the same team who did TDD. This is a whole different team with a whole different interactive story philosophy and outlook of what is terrifying. So, I do think this is what the Amnesia "namebrand" needed: a new outlook instead of the same with new story or maybe mechanics.

[Argoon]

Like the Chinese Room's Dear Esther this game is posed to divide opinions, there will be the "i love it it is fantastic! Anyone that says otherwise just didn't get it." there will be the "Is total rubbish a complete far cry from the Original" and lastly there will be the "its nice but could be better if..." and i'm with the last camp.

[bluel0bster]

Do you whiny lot complaining about a lack of gameplay realize that's just as bad as people complaining that the original game didn't have guns? The direction TCR took this game is to emphasize narrative and atmosphere. They sacrificed minor gameplay elements (inventory, puzzles, etc.) to this effect. If they had had more complicated puzzles and tons of interactable objects, it would rob (or at the least hinder) the game of its purpose: to tell a compelling, thought-provoking narrative. This doesn't make it less of game, it's just a game with a slightly different focus than the original game.

And if you're going to complain about the lack of gameplay compared to TDD, TDD wasn't exactly an action-packed experience either. TDD wasn't about gameplay as far as puzzles and the inventory went, it was about atmosphere and narrative. TCR just took one step further.

And this isn't a direct sequel to TDD. This wasn't advertised in any way as "Amnesia: The Dark Descent 2.0 (Now With Pigs!)". This was obviously a separate entity from TDD, and comparing them to the extent that people have been isn't fair.

And I'm frankly shocked that anybody is surprised. TCR told us a long time ago what they were doing and why. We knew there wouldn't be an inventory. We knew the puzzles would be simplified. It should have been obvious narrative was the focus here. But instead, too many of you all can't look past the lack of gameplay (which honestly really isn't that far removed from TDD) to realize what an amazing game "pigs" is.

If you want more gameplay, go play Dead Space: it has an inventory, puzzles, and gameplay to boot.

[LarryV]

And I'm frankly shocked that anybody is surprised. TCR told us a long time ago what they were doing and why. We knew there wouldn't be an inventory. We knew the puzzles would be simplified. It should have been obvious narrative was the focus here. But instead, too many of you all can't look past the lack of gameplay (which honestly really isn't that far removed from TDD) to realize what an amazing game "pigs" is.

My ignorance was because I never read those articles and I like going into a game blind. But that isn't TCR's fault, it's mine.

[bobbo]

If you want more gameplay, go play Dead Space: it has an inventory, puzzles, and gameplay to boot.

No need to be silly here. People are saying they missed Tinderboxes/Oil, Puzzles, Insanity not that they want to shoot a load of oh-I'm-looking-so-weird-therefore-I'm-scary-monsters.

Would be cool if this thread could stay free of quit-liking-what-I-don't-like/quit-not-liking-what-I-like posts.

To each their own.

[MonkEsquire]

Do you whiny lot complaining about a lack of gameplay realize that's just as bad as people complaining that the original game didn't have guns?

Congratulations on trivializing and straw manning every single negative opinion of hamnesia. Yes, removing 90% of the core game play elements for an emphasis on "story" (of which there was no real emphasis) is exactly the same as "duhhh there were no guns in amnesia"

[bluel0bster]

No need to be silly here. People are saying they missed Tinderboxes/Oil, Puzzles, Insanity not that they want to shoot a load of oh-I'm-looking-so-weird-therefore-I'm-scary-monsters.

No, people are saying the game is worse off (and in some cases considerably worse off) for not having these gameplay elements.

My point is that "pigs" isn't about this core gameplay everybody seems to be annoyed with the lack of, and it's not fair to give this game a poor review for taking a different direction. Even TDD, by today's standards, is lacking in conventional gameplay. This isn't a bad thing at all. People use to praise this in fact, called it "true survival horror." Now people seem upset about it.

[bobbo]

...and it's not fair to give this game a poor review for taking a different direction.

It's fair to give the game any review. That's the great thing about opinions.

[bluel0bster]

Congratulations on trivializing and straw manning every single negative opinion of hamnesia. Yes, removing 90% of the core game play elements for an emphasis on "story" (of which there was no real emphasis) is exactly the same as "duhhh there were no guns in amnesia"

Congratulations on pulling numbers out of your ass and putting words in my mouth.

And you really think there wasn't an emphasis on narrative in this game? You should play it again.