Some quick questions. Please answer when you have finished the game

[ShadowLance]

1) What puzzles did you like the best? Why did you like them?

Tough call, I enjoyed all of the puzzles. I was very happy to finally see the surface though, I think the atmosphere alone made those my fav puzzles. Was satisfying to strap the lighter to the spray-can lol. Would have been nice if it was a temporary weapon to stun one of the beasties or fight off spiders as your fuel gradually ran out.

2) What puzzles where the hardest to solve? Why where they so hard and what kind of solutions did you try before finding the correct one?

I think the ones that stumped me the most were the ones where you had to break something with an object. Like the first circuit breaker box. The FIRST thing I did was pick up that brick and beat the hell out of the circuit breaker but it didn't open, so I spent almost an hour running around that hall trying to figure it out. Then when I gave up and read the solution I was even more confused. Turned out I had to THROW the brick at it, not just hit it against it.

Had the same problem with the gas leak later in the game, the first thing I did was throw a chunk of debris at the pipe, but nothing happened so I went on to other ideas for a few hours before giving in to the spoilers forum again.

In both cases, what I tried was basically scouring every inch of the room for any kind of switch or object I could use. When that failed I backtracked as far as I could go and scoured the rest. Tried to follow the way the wires were going along the ceiling/wall, pipes, etc.

I think the problem I had was that those kinds of puzzles were very rare, so it wasn't habit to try brute force with much seriousness. Maybe if those kinds of objects showed deterioration, like the first hit dents the circuit breaker, the third cracks it, etc.

3) How did you find the pacing in the game? Where there any particularly slow moments or some moments where too many things happened?

Hmm, it got kind of tedious having to avoid the monsters that were patrolling. I REALLY enjoyed hiding behind stuff when they searched the room for me, but the random patrols were just annoying when I was running around stuck on puzzles trying to figure stuff out. It'd be nice if there was some way to dispatch them, even if it was just luring them close to a ledge with a thrown flare then pushing them over.

4) How did you like the variation of events and gameplay elements? Could there have been more diversity or should there be more focus on the gameplay?

Gameplay was wonderful. Just like Overture and the tech demo I LOVED playing with the physics, reminds me of good 'ole Trespasser. The computers were a GREAT addition.

On terms of combat, I think Overture was too much, and Black Plague was not enough. Not because I crave a FPS with machineguns, but because of the static nature of certain monsters. I had no qualms with the more scripted events, like barricading the 'sample container' room, or locking the beastie in the freezier in the computer room. But when I was sneaking past the same flashlight-wielding-monster a dozen times trying to figure out puzzles, I would have given anything for a gun with 1 bullet in it.

Or at least a lever to pull that would shoot flames out of a pipe or something.

5) How did you like the characters in the game? Were their voices fitting? Was the voice acting good? What character did you like best / worst?

Hmm, tough call. Clarence was a great idea, and I think he was a success in that I hated him

As for Ms.Doctor, the voice acting and writing was great, I really was starting to like her (all the more pissed I was at Clarence) but I think she resonated too much of Red. Like she was going crazy the exact same way as Red, with the cheeriness and everything. I think I would have liked her more if she was a kindred spirit to Philip, talked to him very frankly and honestly, like we could imagine Philip would talk if the situations were reversed, but in her sexy voice.

All of the voice acting was AMAZING, better than most movies, let alone the usually low standard games have.

6) How did you like the ending?

Great! I had a 'F-yeah!' moment when I saw philip type "Kill them. Kill them all."

I agree with a couple people who said they wished they had gotten a new character with a gun and the mission to carry out Philip's wishes. Sure it would be kind of typical Doom game, but DAMN it would be satisfying.